Preset Goals Research Articles

Obtaining written parent permission for school-based health surveys of urban young adolescents

To document the process and implications of obtaining written parental consent for school-based health surveys of young adolescents. As part of the evaluation of the Reach for Health prevention program, written parental permission was obtained for student participation in school-based health surveys conducted for three cohorts of seventh graders (N = 3253) enrolled in three urban schools serving predominately economically disadvantaged minority adolescents. Students in general, bilingual, and special education classes were eligible to participate. Rates were recorded for the number of forms returned by parents, parental consents and refusals, student consents and refusals, and surveys completed. Procedures for achieving acceptable rates of written parental permission and survey completion included daily communication between research and school staff during the consent form collection period, student and teacher incentives, provision of alternate activities for students without consent, and scheduling of multiple makeup surveys for absentee students. Survey completion rates met or exceeded preset goals and ranged from a low of 70% for Cohort A to a high of 83% for Cohort C. At least 89% of the parents in each cohort returned forms. Of forms returned, parent refusals ranged from a high of 18% (Cohort A) to a low of 12% (Cohort C). Obtaining written permission from parents for young adolescents to participate in school-based health surveys is possible in urban settings and has potential benefits in terms of community awareness and involvement in research and evaluation studies. It does, however, require a substantial commitment of program resources as well as significant planning and data collection prior to actual survey administration.

Steps Towards Autonomous Sensor Based Robotic Systems in the Ocean

Currently, freely swimming robotsubmarines have an impoverished ability to sense and reason and they require environments which are strictly controlled. They are incapable of taking anything other than the simplest actions when confronted with problems. Fully autonomous underwater robotic-systems, endowed with algorithms that utilise both state and sensor information, able to build modifiable maps of their marine environment, and able to utilise these learned maps to operate efficiently while carrying out their preset goals and tasks in some optimal (or satisficing) manner, are ambitious goals. This document describes efforts currently underway to develop perceptual capabilities in one particular freely swimming robot-submarine

Supervisory Training, Objective Setting, and Grade-Contingent Performance

This study assessed the impact of grade-contingent goal setting on the ability of graduate student supervisors-in-training to modify their conference behavior as a result of a formal academic supervision course. Pre- and post-measures of conferencing skills were collected. The intervening supervisory training consisted of over 35 hours of lecture, role-playing, and participation in a three-part simulation game. Of the 29 participants, 23 achieved three objectives, 5 obtained two, and 1 person obtained one. This finding was significant at the p <.0005 level. Supervisory training did make a difference. With an incentive, supervisors-in-training modified their conference behaviors and achieved pre-set goals.

Long-term evaluation of decompressive surgery for degenerative lumbar stenosis.

One-hundred patients who had undergone decompressive surgery for lumbar stenosis between 1980 and 1985 were evaluated as to their long-term outcome. Four patients with postfusion stenosis were included. A 5-year follow-up period was achieved in 88 patients. The mean age was 67 years, and 80% were over 60 years of age. There was a high incidence of coexisting medical diseases, but the principal disability was lumbar stenosis with neurological involvement. Results were categorized as either a surgical success or a failure, depending upon the achievement of preset goals within the context of lifestyle and needs. There were no perioperative complications. Initially there was a high incidence of success, but recurrence of neurological involvement and persistence of low-back pain led to an increasing number of failures. By 5 years this number had reached 27% of the available population pool, suggesting that the failure rate could reach 50% within the projected life expectancies of most patients. Of the 26 failures, 16 were secondary to renewed neurological involvement, which occurred at new levels of stenosis in eight and recurrence of stenosis at operative levels in eight. Reoperation was successful in 12 of these 16 patients, but two required a third operation. The incidence of spondylolisthesis at 5 years was higher in the surgical failures (12 of 26 patients) than in the surgical successes (16 of 64). Spondylolisthetic stenosis tended to recur within a few years following decompression. To forestall recurrences, it is suggested that stabilization be carried out at levels of spondylolisthetic stenosis and the initial decompression include adjacent levels of threatening symptomatic stenosis. However, the heterogenicity of this patient population, with varying patterns and levels of symptomatic stenosis, precludes application of rigid surgical protocols.

Operation of the Pamela high-level waste vitrification facility

Since 1985, HLLW from the former Eurochemic Reprocessing Plant in Mol/Belgium has been vitrified successfully in the Pamela Plant. After a demonstration campaign of eight months, during which the pre-set goals were fully met, the plant has been further used on an industrial basis. The industrial exploitation is made according to an initial program and in the frame of a Belgian-German joint project. The present paper describes the status after 4.5 years of operation. Approximately 603 m 3 have already been vitrified and there still remain some 247 m 3 to be treated. On the basis of the present Plant Performance the hope is justified to finish the vitrification ahead the original planning. The melter has been remotely exchanged, the relevant data are given in the paper. Conditioning of secondary solid waste and dismantling of the ceramic melters are subject of a program scheduled after termination of the vitrification campaign.

Laboratory evaluation of the Du Pont "Dimension Clinical Chemistry System".

We evaluated the analytical performance of the Du Pont Dimension Clinical Chemistry System to assess its suitability as a replacement for the Du Pont aca III, currently routinely used for analysis of pediatric, high-risk, and emergency specimens. Twenty-six analyses were studied. These generally fulfilled pre-set analytical goals for precision based on biological variation or "state of the art." Significant economies were achieved and we found the Dimension to be reliable, easy to operate, and simple to maintain. It also fulfilled safety requirements for analysis of specimens of high risk to laboratory staff.