Minimum Number Of Hours Research Articles

“Surprisingly helpful”: An exploration of trainee and registered music therapists’ perspectives on the current role of personal therapy in music therapy training in the United Kingdom

Music therapy training programmes in the United Kingdom are accredited by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). The HCPC requires registered music therapists to have experience and understanding of the value of therapy for developing insight and self-awareness. In practice, this currently translates into a requirement for personal therapy during training – working therapeutically and confidentially with a suitably qualified and registered therapist for a minimum number of hours – although the amount and type of therapy required varies between course providers. The aim of this study was to explore the perceived value and impact of mandatory personal therapy from the perspectives of trainee and HCPC-registered music therapists. Data were collected through a qualitative survey with open-ended questions exploring participants’ personal therapy experiences. Thirty-nine participants were recruited from across the various music therapy training institutions in the UK at the time of the research and from within the pool of registered music therapists. Thematic analysis was used to develop three themes from the data: “personal therapy is costly, but ultimately beneficial”; “personal therapy provides a supportive space separate from training”; and “personal therapy is part of becoming a music therapist.” We conclude with recommendations about how personal therapy can be most usefully incorporated into training programmes based on our interpretation of the participants’ responses.

A multilayer perceptron-based fast sunlight assessment for the conceptual design of residential neighborhoods under Chinese policy

In Chinese building codes, it is required that residential buildings receive a minimum number of hours of natural, direct sunlight on a specified winter day, which represents the worst sunlight condition in a year. This requirement is a prerequisite for obtaining a building permit during the conceptual design of a residential project. Thus, officially sanctioned software is usually used to assess the sunlight performance of buildings. These software programs predict sunlight hours based on repeated shading calculations, which is time-consuming. This paper proposed a multilayer perceptron-based method, a one-stage prediction approach, which outputs a shading time interval caused by the inputted cuboid-form building in realtime. The sunlight hours of a site can be obtained by calculating the union of the sunlight time intervals (complement of shading time interval) of all the buildings. Three numerical experiments, i.e., horizontal level and slope analysis, and simulation-based optimization are carried out; the results show that the method reduces the computation time to 1/84∼1/50 with 96.5%∼98% accuracies. A residential neighborhood layout planning plug-in for Rhino 7/Grasshopper is also developed based on the proposed model. This paper indicates that deep learning techniques can be adopted to accelerate sunlight hour simulations at the conceptual design phase.

Novel Assessment and Classification of Monthly Average Daily Global Solar Radiation Models Through a Figure of Merit Called Irradiation Time Equivalence: Analysis of 70 Regression Models Based on Air Temperature and Sunshine Hours Predictors

Abstract Irradiation time equivalence pioneers the classification of models that predict monthly average daily global solar radiation on a horizontal surface based on their double cross-validation performances. By exploiting indigenous irradiation data, novel irradiation-based models can be created and used to classify prediction models, thereby facilitating a deeper understanding of model performance beyond routine summary statistics. The concept was demonstrated by formulating novel 1-hour and 2-hour irradiation-based models to predict monthly average daily global horizontal irradiation. Double cross-validations of the two irradiation-based models and 70 existing regression models were performed using a pair of 5-year subsets. The 70 models used the measured meteorological predictors of air temperature and sunshine hours, either alone or combined. The irradiation time equivalence of a model evaluated under double cross-validation has been defined as the minimum number of hours of measured irradiation needed to predict the monthly average daily irradiation in an average year, with a root mean square error less than or equal to that of the model. Despite their intracompetitiveness, all 44 temperature-based models had an irradiation time equivalence of 1 h, while the remaining 26 models that contained the sunshine-hours predictor were classified with a higher-performance rank of 2 h. An irradiation time equivalence scale extending to 13 h was also developed to cater to the classification of higher-performance models. This fresh perspective on model performance directs future investigations toward determining whether prediction models exhibit global classification constancy.

Children’s indoor and outdoor play as potential correlates of mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran: a brief report on national survey

ABSTRACT Over the past 16 months, Iranian children have had their schools closed. Prolonged COVID-19-related restrictions and limited play activities can have significant mental health consequences in children. Using a cross-sectional design, a sample of Iranian parents (n = 1182) of children aged between 5 and 11 years completed an online survey including: Children's Play Scale (CPS), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form (I-PANAS-SF), and the Strength and Difficulties Questionarie (SDQ). Parents reported that their child spent significantly longer time playing outside at home and inside at home than anywhere else. Children were also reported to spend the minimum number of hours at indoor play centres, near water, green spaces, and playgrounds. Compared to the pre-COVID-19 context, significant declines in outdoor play activities during the pandemic were reported for 83% of children. Findings revealed that there is a significant but small negative correlation between mental health difficulties and total CPS scores (r = −.427, p < .0001). Correlations of CPS scores with Positive and Negative affect were weak but significant (r = .211, and r = −.294, respectively; p < .0001). Results indicate that it is necessary to find strategies to increase children's outdoor play activities, especially when they return to their schools with wider-spread social and emotional needs than before.

Effects of a Multi-Component Training Program on Healthy Older Adults' Prospective Memory Performance: Assessing Change Over Time.

Prospective Memory (PM) is a cognitive function affected by aging. PM is the memory of future intentions and is significantly involved in everyday life, especially among older adults. Nevertheless, there are a few studies focused on PM training among healthy older adults and these studies did not report the optimal duration of training regarding improving PM performance among older adults. The present study aimed to determine the effective duration for training PM performance among healthy older adults. The current study was a randomized, controlled, single-blind, within-participants crossover trial including a training program with a duration of 12 h. The sample of 25 older adults aged 55 to 74 years recruited from the active members of the University of the Third Age (U3A), Kuala Lumpur/Selangor, their family members, and friends. The study design ensured some participants would receive the training after baseline while others would wait for 6 weeks after the baseline before receiving the training. All participants were evaluated five times: at baseline, 6, 12, 16, and at 24 weeks post-baseline. Moreover, the training program ensured all participants were assessed after each training session. The minimum number of hours to achieve training effects for this multi-component training program was eight. Results supported the efficacy of the training program in improving PM performance among healthy older adults. Also, the optimal duration for the multicomponent training program on PM performance among healthy older adults was obtained. This trial is registered at isrctn.com (#ISRCTN57600070).

The Role of the Language Priorities in Development of Society

The need to comprehend contemporary global problems the mankind is facing poses demands to modern science to expand the range of functions and strengthen interac-tion between areas of society. The modern anthropocentric scientific paradigm makes a focus on the interdisciplinary research of the civilizational processes of social de-velopment, which created the need for a comprehensive study of sociocultural and linguistic processes in their functional interaction during the historical development of society.The process of human socialization is, first of all, the mastery of the symbolic cultural code and cultural memory of society, which in modern society is losing its usual monoculturism and is increasingly acquiring a bi- and multicultural character, which poses a pressing multifaceted problem for society - linguistic policy, linguistic consciousness, persona lingua. The language policy of any particular country or region is dictated by the prevailing socio-political situation in the country and contributes to shaping the fate of this country for it regulates the status of the state language, the language of the press, education, and science.In each society, certain language priorities are formed, as well as language prohibitions that regulate the life of society, and the formation of the worldview of the participants in society depends on the languages being assimilated. Not surprisingly, the problems of language (with the light hand of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgen-stein) have long exceeded philological problems of philological problems. The language policy of small countries largely depends on foreign policy fac-tors; it is interesting to follow the example of Georgia to trace the change in language priorities in different historical eras (from Arabic, Persian, Greek, Latin, Turkish to Russian, and now to English). The Second World War became an important milestone for Soviet Georgia in language policy: the spiritual unity of all the peoples of the USSR was so intense that the formation of a single supra-ethnic community “Soviet nation” was successfully supported by language policy: having Russian as the second native language. The education system and the press were fully focused on the Russian language. The schools taught foreign languages (French, German, English) by choice, but the minimization of hours, the grammatical approach and the lack of language practice allowed only units to learn European languages at the level of free communi-cation.The 1990s became a period of forced breaking of habitual linguistic priorities for Georgia, free of imperial influence. English has become compulsory subject matter at all stages of the Georgian educational system, Russian is studied only by choice as a second foreign language with a minimum number of hours. The previously banned Turkish language is strengthening its position, especially in Adjara, neighboring Turkey.

Public school students at a clear disadvantage in English language vocabulary production

The aim of the present study is to offer a comparative perspective on the level of attainment of productive vocabulary in three different high school settings in the Costa Rican educational system. The study compares the results obtained in two tasks that demand controlled production and free productive vocabulary from students who attend these schools. The vocabulary was measured through the Productive Vocabulary Levels Test (PVLT) and a free composition, respectively. The first school is a school where content based instruction is implemented. The second school, a semi-private school, offers more hours of instruction of English as a Foreign Language than the minimum required by the Ministry of Education, although English is not used to teach non-language subjects. In the third school, a public school, the minimum number of hours officially required is offered to the students (532 hours). The results in the controlled productive vocabulary task and in the free composition favor, by far, the performance of the students who are taught using English as a medium of instruction. These results point to a much-needed change in the teaching methodology of EFL in Costa Rica, especially when it comes to the teaching practices implemented in most public schools.

BIOPOLÍTICA E EDUCAÇÃO: os impactos da pandemia do covid-19 nas escolas públicas

O impacto causado pela pandemia do coronavírus vem impondo drásticas mudanças na rotina da população mundial. Diversas áreas foram atingidas por essas ações, entre elas, a Educação. Logo após a Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS) declarar pandemia de coronavírus, o Ministério da Educação passou a definir critérios para a prevenção ao contágio do COVID-19 nas escolas. O desafio fundamental da educação brasileira passou a ser a adequação ao novo cenário imposto pela pandemia. Uma das medidas tomadas foi a inclusão da EAD nas escolas como alternativa à interrupção das atividades presenciais. Esse dispositivo emerge para que os alunos possam cumprir a carga horária mínima exigida de horas-aula. Desse modo, o presente artigo trata de dois temas que vêm preocupando os dirigentes de educação de todo o país, são eles, o fechamento das escolas devido à pandemia imposta pelo COVID-19 e a proposta de reorganização do calendário letivo dos alunos por meio do ensino a distância. O presente estudo consiste em uma pesquisa bibliográfica e documental, com material disponibilizado pela Internet no período de março a abril de 2020. Adotamos uma abordagem quali-quantitativa de natureza exploratória e descritiva.

The Australian labour market in 2019

1 This article provides an overview of the key features of the labour market in 2019, with historical data providing insight into recent trends. In 2019, the female labour force participation rate reached an all-time high of 61.3%, 10 percentage points lower than the male rate. Disaggregated analysis shows this growth stems from rising participation amongst older women. This, in turn, is underpinned by a growth in feminised sectors of the labour market, notably the Health Care and Social Assistance sector. Since 2000 this sector has contributed 22.6% to total employment growth and at 2019 accounted for 13.5% of the Australian workforce. There has also been a growth in part-time and casual employment over recent years, with the latter now accounting for 25% of all employees. These are concerning developments, with estimates showing that 58.6% of casuals are not guaranteed a minimum number of hours of work in their job. The article notes that wages growth remains below that required to stimulate employment growth, and that a continued focus on conventional labour market indicators has the potential to lead to misguided policy formulation.

Promoting access to family medicine in Québec, Canada: Analysis of bill 20, enacted in November 2015

Primary care can potentially make an important contribution to improving health system performance. However, Canada does not fare as well as other developed countries in terms of timely access to primary health care services. In November 2015, Bill 20 was introduced in the province of Québec. The goal of Bill 20 was to optimize the utilisation of medical and financial resources to improve access to primary care. Bill 20 states the obligations of general practitioners to register a minimum number of patients, ensure the continuity of care of that population, and practice a minimum number of hours in hospitals. Many actors agreed that access to primary care had to be improved in Québec, but disagreed with Bill 20. In particular, family physicians strongly opposed the financial penalties that were introduced for physicians failing to meet the specified targets. In January 2018, 3 years after Bill 20, indicators for patient registration and continuity of care have considerably improved. However, the attractiveness of general practice seems to have decreased among medical graduates, which creates uncertainty regarding the sustainability of the achievements brought on by Bill 20.

Optimizing the physician scheduling problem in a large hospital ward

In recent years, large public hospitals have undergone a strong growth in healthcare services demand, not offset by resources increase. In this context, one of the most critical issues is the optimization of human resources. In this paper, we study the problem of finding the optimal assignment of tasks to physicians over a predefined time horizon in a large general surgery ward. Each task has to be executed by one or more physicians and assigned to one or more time slots in different days. Each physician has a minimum number of hours to work per week. The hours exceeding such a value constitute overtime. The problem minimizes the total time spent by all the physicians (and thus the global overtime) in the hospital to complete the execution of the assigned tasks, while complying with practical and legislative constraints. We propose two mathematical formulations for the problem and exploit both of them to develop repair heuristics of an Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search. A simple matheuristic is used to identify an initial feasible solution within a reasonable amount of time. To test algorithms, we have generated several classes of instances directly inspired by the studied real case. The performance of our solution approach (when setting a time limit of 15 min) has been compared to the results obtained by Gurobi 6.5.1 (with 1 h time limit) when solving both formulations. We show that our algorithm is extremely effective by frequently getting better solutions than Gurobi in a quarter of its computational time.

Beyond Internships: Experiential Learning as a Tool for Emergency Management Education

Experiential learning has emerged as a best practice in higher education and professional development programs. This article describes the 100-hour training requirement of an undergraduate degree program at a mid-sized public research university in the northeastern United States. The four tiers of the training program include: (1) foundational training, (2) professional development, (3) community engagement, and (4) concentration-specific training. Each tier is assigned a minimum number of hours that students must complete in order to meet the requirements of the program. The tiered structure focuses students’ activity, ensuring that they engage in experiences that support the development of each of the content areas deemed important for student success as they transition from the academic to the professional realm. This paper illustrates a new way of integrating experiential learning into emergency management curriculum through a 100-hour training requirement, and demonstrates the benefits this type of educational experience can have for the students and the larger community. Beyond educational theory, external training opportunities professionalize students to the practical knowledge of the field and into a culture of continuous learning. It also offers the potential to serve the broader community, reflecting the value that higher education can have in their communities.

Abstract TP380: Impact of Early Mobilization on 90-Day Outcomes in Thrombectomy Patients

Introduction: Early mobilization of ischemic stroke patients receiving IV alteplase (tPA) did not worsen 90-day outcome at two urban stroke centers in a prior study, but there are no studies evaluating outcomes of early mobilization after thrombectomy. The mobility protocol used in the previous study was also utilized to mobilize stroke patients receiving thrombectomy treatment at these two centers, once minimum number of hours for groin precautions was complete and the groin puncture site was stable. The objective of this study was to determine for post-thrombectomy patients mobilized within 24 hours, whether earlier mobilization worsened outcomes. Methods: Medical records of ischemic stroke patients receiving thrombectomy at two urban stroke centers between May 2013 and December 2017 were reviewed for early mobilization (within 24 hours of groin puncture). Patients who did not expire in hospital and had complete data were included in the analysis. Ordinal regression was used to determine if, with each hour delay in time first up, patients’ functional outcomes worsened at 90 days using the modified Rankin scale (mRS), adjusting for pre-symptom onset mRS, admission NIHSS, age, sex, and post-treatment thrombolysis in cerebral infarction (TICI) grade. The mRS at 90 days was categorized as no symptoms or no significant disability (0 - 1), mild or moderate disability (2 - 3), and severe disability or death (4 - 6). Results: Of 147 patients mobilized within 24 hours, 91 patients were included in the analysis. Overall, 51% (n=46) were female, 74% (n=67) had no disability prior to their stroke, mean age was 68.0 (±14.1), mean admission NIHSS was 15.9 (±6.7), and 85% (n=78) had a post treatment TICI score of 2b or greater. Median time first mobilized was 14.1 hours [interquartile range: 9.4, 19.1]. Ordinal regression showed no evidence that earlier mobilization had an effect on patient outcomes at 90 days, patients were neither worse or better by time first mobilized within the first 24 hours (p=.706). Conclusions: Ischemic stroke patients receiving thrombectomy were mobilized within 24 hours of groin puncture by the early mobility protocol. Patients experienced no impact on outcomes at 90 days by time first mobilized. This result may have been limited by small sample size.

Does Requiring Work, Work? The Data on Medicaid Work Requirements

Medicaid work requirements force enrollees to report a minimum number of hours of employment, or other acceptable activities, to access health coverage. Those who fail to comply are removed from Medicaid. Arkansas, along with other states, has implemented such work requirements for its residents on Medicaid. In only four months, over 18,000 Arkansas residents have already lost access to health care due to noncompliance.1 Similar purges from Medicaid are expected as work requirements are implemented across the country. This will have alarming public health consequences.

An anatomy of zero‐hour contracts in the UK

AbstractWe present the first attempt to locate zero‐hour contract (ZHC) jobs—jobs that lack a guaranteed minimum number of hours—within theoretical frameworks of the employment relationship and occupational class and empirically explore their characteristics using successive UK Labour Force Survey. In line with these theories, we find this contentious form of employment to be strongly differentiated by the nature of occupational tasks and to overlap with nonstandard employment features (e.g. part‐time and temporary). They are also highly concentrated in a small number of occupations and sectors, with over half of ZHC jobs found in just 10 occupations. We further show that ZHCs are associated with indicators of inferior job quality such as low pay and underemployment. Although we find no evidence that ZHCs are a particularly pervasive feature of the UK labour market, further growth cannot be ruled out in certain occupations.

Meeting New York State Requirements for Clinical Laboratory Science Licensure at a Liberal Arts College

<h3>ABSTRACT</h3> Clinical Laboratory Science (CLS) programs are most students’ sources of guidance for entry-level curricular content areas and their related coverage on the American Society for Clinical Pathology Board of Certification exams. However, in states that offer CLS licensure, such as New York, licensure eligibility requirements may not align with board exam eligibility requirements. The differences can include curricular expectations that may exceed the entry-level curriculum and a minimum number of hours of supervised clinical experience. This article will detail the licensure eligibility requirements for CLS programs in New York, and explore how those requirements affected the design of the CLS program at Nazareth College. Nazareth College’s program opened in the fall of 2014 with goals of meeting students’ educational needs, preparing students for certification exams, and meeting all requirements for licensure eligibility. Using a multifaceted approach to provide comprehensive didactic, laboratory, and clinical learning, the program met these goals within its initial four years.

From the Chief Executive and News

From the Chief Executive and News

How salinity stress influences the thermal time requirements of seed germination in Silybum marianum and Calendula officinalis

Salinity is a major problem of many agricultural lands that is usually associated with drought stress in arid and semi-arid regions. In this study we examine the role of salinity stress on temperature requirements of two herbaceous species and how it could be modeled to quantify alterations. We applied four non-linear regression models (segmented, beta, beta modified, and dent-like) to describe the germination rate–temperature relationships of Silybum marinum L. and Calendua officinalis L. over six constant temperatures exposed to different levels of salinity stress. Our results revealed that salinity could affect the cardinal temperatures in both plants and, as a result, it is not possible to suggest one model for all levels of salinity stress. The best model to fit data to predict cardinal temperatures of Silybum marianum and Calendula officinalis at the no-salinity condition were dent-like (AICc = 4.03) and beta (AICc = − 2.30), respectively. Knowing the thermal time constant (fo) value helps us predict the minimum number of hours required for completion of germination at the optimal temperature. All models in this study were estimated higher fo due to higher salinity stress in both Silybum marianum and Calendula officinalis seeds. The highest estimated fo for Silybum marianum (91.5 ± 59.6) and Calendula officinalis (178.9 ± 26.5) was obtained from the results of germination rate prediction using a dent-like model at 200 mM salinity.

Unstructured Socializing With Peers and Risk of Substance Use: Where Does the Risk Begin?

Research finds that unstructured socializing with peers is positively associated with substance use, but important issues remain underexamined. Specifically, does the risk of substance use resulting from time spent engaged in unstructured socializing with peers begin immediately, or is a certain minimum threshold of time spent with peers required? To investigate this, data were collected on a statewide sample of adolescents from Florida. Results indicate the minimum required amount of time spent engaging in unstructured socializing with peers to pose a risk of alcohol or marijuana use is 3 to 5 hr per week. For tobacco use outcomes, the minimum number of hours required to pose a risk is higher, particularly for cigarette use, where risk begins at more than 20 hr per week. Supplementary analyses indicate that for alcohol and marijuana use there is a decelerating risk stemming from additional hours spent engaging in unstructured socializing with peers.

Analysis of the Impact of Hours of Simulation on HESI Scores

Statement of problem: Undergraduate nursing programs are challenged to develop high cognitive skills in students and prepare them for practice readiness. Limited clinical placements that offer a narrow exposure to clinical experiences to prepare nursing students adequately to apply their knowledge are a growing concern. Simulation experiences allow students the opportunity to acquire competencies necessary to apply knowledge to practice. Is there a direct relationship between increased hours of simulation to students’ readiness for practice? Purpose: To determine if there is a relationship between hours of simulation received and student performance on HESI exam to better explain the relationship of simulation to student knowledge acquisition and application. Goals: Provide evidence of impact of simulation on nursing student knowledge. This study will provide information that may guide undergraduate nursing curriculum development specifically surrounding clinical hours. Objectives: To determine if there is a relationship between the number of hours of simulation received and student performance on a standardized exam. Plan: Challenges for clinical placements required innovative strategies to meet the clinical requirements within this organization. The use of simulation in place of clinical hours was being done, but cohorts were receiving different numbers of hours. A retrospective look at each of the cohorts was done to determine simulation hours received. Data was collected from each cohort’s HESI exam results and compared. Outcomes and Results: The analysis of data revealed that 6 hours of simulation is a minimum number of hours that will have a positive impact on student learning, and 12 hours showed the greatest impact on students within this study. The data does not appear to reach saturation one cannot prove that only 6 or 12 hours of simulation should be considered as all levels are statistically significant. One cannot prove that additional hours is a waste of time or that student learning has reached a plateau.