Solicitation Of Information Research Articles

Investigating Student-Lecturer Interactions in EFL Classroom: A Speech Acts Analysis

Within educational settings, the exploration of signals presents enough opportunities to analyze the dynamic exchanges between teachers and students. Gaining insight into the consequences of sign usage in educational settings can improve teaching methods and foster a greater understanding of the intricacies of human communication. This study investigates the complexities of speech acts in the process of learning the English language, with a specific emphasis on illocutionary speech actions between students and lecturers. Gathering data from 24 students, who were randomly selected from a single class, was done using Searle's taxonomy of speech acts. Verbal exchanges were documented and examined utilizing pragmatic analytic methodologies. The results demonstrate a prevailing reliance on representatives, underscoring a significant focus on effective communication skills and values. Directives, which are intended to influence the activities of listeners, are commonly used, while expressives and commissives are less frequently employed. This distribution highlights the central emphasis on the exchange of knowledge and the solicitation of information or actions during classroom interactions. The novel finding of this research is the recognition of a distinct hybrid speech act that incorporates components of representatives and directions. This indicates a fresh approach where students can effectively communicate information while also influencing their peers' comprehension and actions.

When and why high civil servants demand information from interest groups in policymaking. A Southern European perspective

ABSTRACT Studying how public administrations proactively search for information from interest groups provides a new perspective for a better understanding of how bureaucratic policymaking works and how civil servants interact with interest groups. Building on data collected through an online survey submitted to approximately 700 high-level public servants in Greece, Italy and Portugal, this paper investigates whether and how organisational and individual policy analytical capacities (dis)incentivise top officials’ solicitation and use of information provided by interest groups in policymaking. The emerging evidence is counter-intuitive: those who seek information from interest groups most frequently are the most competent top officials in the least (individually perceived) competent areas of public administration. Thus, focusing on policy analytical capacities could be very useful for understanding administrative behaviour.

Paper struggles: documents, inscriptions, and citizenship negotiations in Delhi

The paper analyses how documents, particularly ration cards and voter IDs, mediate and constitute urban citizenship claims, especially on the part of the poor to gain access to welfare services in Delhi. It examines how citizenship is claimed, negotiated, performed, and realized through various documentary, inscriptive, and enumeration counter-tactics. Enumeration counter-tactics include letter-writing, office visits, self-surveys, the solicitation of information through the Right to Information policy, and the production of counterfeit documents. In this respect, I argue that the bureaucratic calculations marked by arbitrariness and indeterminacy remain a predominant mode of urban governance and dispossession. Yet these calculations also precipitate counter-tactics by the poor, drawing our attention to the heterogeneous character of the state. The counter-tactics provide an understanding into the ways in which communities implicate themselves with the state by forging relationships, establishing and inventing kinship ties, and subverting social hierarchies in unanticipated ways.

The Role of the Family\u2019s Emotional Climate in the Links between Parent-Adolescent Communication and Adolescent Psychosocial Functioning

The current study was designed to extend the parenting literature by testing the moderating role of the family’s emotional climate, operationalized with parent-adolescent emotional closeness and adolescent feelings of being overly controlled by parents on the longitudinal associations between parent-driven communication efforts (i.e. parental behavioral control and solicitation of information from their adolescent), adolescent-driven communication efforts (i.e. adolescent disclosure and secrecy) and adolescent psychosocial functioning (i.e. emotional problems, conduct problems, delinquency, and wellbeing). We conducted a series of cross-lagged models controlling for adolescent gender and ethnicity using a two-wave Swedish longitudinal set of self-report data (N = 1515, 51% girls, M age = 13.0 and 14.3 years at T1 and T2, respectively). Multi-group analyses revealed that the negative links between T1 parental control and T2 adolescent delinquency, T1 parental solicitation and T2 adolescent conduct problems and delinquency, and T1 emotional problems and T2 adolescent disclosure were moderated by the family’s emotional climate. When the family’s emotional climate was positive, the parenting strategies had a more positive effect on adolescent psychosocial functioning, and adolescents with emotional problems communicated more openly with their parents. These findings suggest that the relational context in the family is an important protective factor and add specificity to the previously established role of parent-adolescent communication in adolescent psychosocial development. In terms of preventive interventions, strategies to enhance the family’s emotional climate should be considered prior to teaching specific parenting strategies.

Using a Chinese time trade-off approach to explore the health utility level and quality of life of cancer patients in urban China: a multicentre cross-sectional study.

A quality of life assessment is useful in identifying a specific health impact on patients who are suffering from various medical conditions. This study estimated the quality of life among patients with cancers of the lungs, breast, colorectum, oesophagus, liver, and stomach in urban China and evaluates the associated factors. This study employed a random cluster sampling strategy to recruit patients with lung, breast, colorectal, oesophageal, liver, or stomach cancer from eleven third-grade class-A (the highest level) hospitals in Beijing between October 2013 and May 2014. We performed a quality of life survey that included solicitation of sociodemographic and clinical information and the use of a EuroQoL five-dimension three-level questionnaire. We applied the Chinese time trade-off method to calculate the health utility values, which were transformed into binary variables (using the median as the cut-off). In addition, multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to examine the factors associated with the quality of life. A total of 637 patients (91 with lung cancer, 152 with breast cancer, 60 with colorectal cancer, 108 with oesophageal cancer, 154 with liver cancer, and 72 with stomach cancer) were included in this study; the medians of the health utility values were 0.780, 0.800, 0.800, 0.860, 0.800, and 0.870, respectively. The most common concerns for patients of all six cancer types were pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. The reported health status of patients was associated with various demographic and clinical variables. This study highlighted that pain relief and psychological support are important aspects of patient management for those with these types of cancer. Individuals with factors associated with a poorer quality of life should be targets for additional support.

Parents' and Youths' Solicitation and Disclosure of Information in Today's Digital Age

Extensive research has identified parental monitoring to be a protective factor for youth. Parental monitoring includes parents’ solicitation of information from their child and the child’s voluntary disclosure of information. In today’s digital society, parental monitoring can occur using technology, such as text messaging, email, and social networking sites. The current study describes parents’ and youths’ communication technology use explicitly to solicit and share information with each other in a sample of 56 parent–youth dyads from the same family (youth were 13 to 25 years old). We also examined associations between in-person parental monitoring, parental monitoring using technology, parental knowledge, and youth substance use initiation. Results revealed great variability in frequency of parental monitoring using technology, with a subgroup of parents and youth reporting doing these behaviors very frequently. Parental monitoring using technology was not associated with greater parental knowledge or youth substance use initiation after controlling for youth age group (adolescent or emerging adult) and gender composition of dyads. However, in-person communication between youth and parents remained an important variable and was positively associated with parental knowledge. Youth workers could empower parents to focus on in-person communication, and not rely solely on communication using technology.

Addressing Health Disparities from Within the Community: Community-Based Participatory Research and Community Health Worker Policy Initiatives Using a Gender-Based Approach

BackgroundThe Coalition for a Healthier Community for Utah Women and Girls (CHC-UWAG) focused on addressing obesity-related health disparities impacting Utah women of color using community-based participatory research, a gender-based approach, and culturally sensitive health promotion activities delivered through community health workers (CHWs). A randomized trial of low vs. high intensity wellness coaching by CHWs was initiated. During this process, numerous policy issues emerged and were tracked. We present a case study illustrating how we identified, tracked, and engaged with emerging policy initiatives. MethodsBetween September 2011 and August 2017, policy initiatives addressing obesity-related disparities among Utah women and girls were identified, tracked in a shared document, and updated regularly. Policies were classified by level (organizational, local, and statewide) and by focus (healthy eating, active living, and promotion of community health workers). CHC-UWAG engagement with policy work was also documented and tracked. ResultsBroad dissemination of study findings generated interest in the role of CHWs in addressing obesity. Partnering community-based organizations implemented policies focused on healthy eating and physical activity. Barriers to the broader use of CHWs in Utah were addressed in policy initiatives including the formation of a Utah Public Health Association Section for CHWs and a statewide CHW Coalition with involvement of CHC-UWAG members. ConclusionsThe regular solicitation of information about policy initiatives resulted in successful policy tracking and engagement in policy work. The utilization of a gender-based approach helped illuminate the impact of emerging policies on the health of women and girls.

In Response

Incomplete Airway Assessment We thank Dr. Nørskov et al1 for their thoughtful comments concerning our editorial.2 We also are grateful for their clarification of methods used for airway assessment in their Danish Anaesthesia Database study.1 Although it is clear that airway evaluation before intervention is a critical step to minimize adverse outcomes, we agree with Nørskov et al1 that there is ample room for improvement in the evaluation tools we have to date. In other words, because unanticipated difficulties in managing the airway will likely continue to occur in our clinical practice, airway practitioners must be equipped with a strategy to manage an unanticipated difficult or failed airway (ie, plan B, plan C).3–5 Recognizing that the survey mentioned in our editorial2 was an informal solicitation of information regarding the airway evaluation section of preanesthetic assessment forms (an image taken from a smartphone), there is potential for bias in our data collection. The countries involved in our survey included Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Rwanda, and the United States. As summarized in our editorial, the airway assessment section on these forms varied substantially, ranging from descriptive text only to a list of predictors of difficult direct laryngoscopy with Mallampati score, this latter, the most common predictor present on these preanesthetic assessment forms. On the basis of the information collected, we concluded that assessment for difficult direct laryngoscopy remains the main focus of airway assessment at many centers around the globe. The form from our center at Dalhousie University was the only one asking for predicted difficulty in bag-mask ventilation and surgical airway (cricothyrotomy). None of the forms surveyed queried assessment of predicted difficulty in using an extraglottic device, such as a laryngeal mask airway. We agree with Nørskov et al1 that we must find solutions to improve and correct problems related to incomplete airway assessment. In addition to assessing the patient for predicted difficulty with direct or video laryngoscopy, we must stress the importance of assessing difficulties in other methods in oxygenation and ventilation. These include difficulties in bag-mask ventilation, the use of an extraglottic device (eg, a laryngeal mask airway), and front-of-neck access (cricothyrotomy) so that appropriate airway management strategies can be planned before intervention. Adverse patient physiology (eg, full stomach, anticipated intolerance of apnea) with the potential to impact the choice of approach to the airway also must be considered. Orlando Hung, MD, FRCPCJ. Adam Law, MD, FRCPCIan Morris, MD, FRCPCDepartment of Anesthesia, Pain Management andPerioperativeMedicineDalhousie UniversityHalifax, Nova Scotia, Canada[email protected] Michael Murphy, MD, FRCPCDepartment of Anesthesiology and Pain MedicineUniversity of AlbertaEdmonton, Alberta, Canada

The Longitudinal Impact of Perceptions of Parental Monitoring on Adolescent Initiation of Sexual Activity

PurposeThe association between parental monitoring and adolescent behavior is well established. Past research suggests that parents monitor adolescent activities through parental control, solicitation of information, and youth disclosure, which increase parents' knowledge of youth activity leading to decreased risk behavior. However, there is mixed evidence of the impact of these efforts on sexual behavior. We examined these strategies from the adolescent perspective and assessed their impact on the initiation of sexual activity across the transition from middle school to high school. MethodsAnalyses include 533 primarily Latino adolescents, who had not yet had sex in eighth grade and were surveyed yearly through 10th grade. ResultsAdolescents who in eighth grade reported greater parental knowledge and more family rules about dating were less likely to initiate sex between eighth and 10th grade. Exchange of information, through parental solicitation and youth disclosure, and parental control, through rules about friends and dating, as well as maternal relationship satisfaction were significant predictors of parental knowledge. There were no gender differences in the impact of dating rules and parental knowledge on sexual initiation, but the paths to acquiring knowledge did differ by gender. ConclusionsResults suggest that parental monitoring at earlier ages has an impact on sexual initiation. Effective monitoring is an active process within a family that includes setting boundaries and exchanging information. Interventions that encourage family rules, provide strategies for improving parental solicitation of information, and increase youth disclosure by enhancing the maternal-child relationship may be more likely to impact sexual initiation.

Paternal Monitoring: The Relationship Between Online and In-Person Solicitation and Youth Outcomes.

Despite extensive literature on parental monitoring, few studies have focused on father-youth solicitation in particular and none on solicitation via communication technology. To address this gap, this study explored the relationships between fathers' online and in-person solicitation of their adolescent and emerging adult children, and the youth's internalizing, externalizing, and prosocial behaviors. A sample of US fathers (N=158) reported on solicitation patterns, use of technology, and their child's behaviors. The results revealed differences by demographics, and an inverse trend between online and in-person solicitation in relation to internalizing, externalizing, and prosocial behaviors. Regression analyses revealed that online solicitation of information from the youth's friends was related to greater internalizing and externalizing, and less prosocial behavior. These findings support research suggesting that some forms of online solicitation may be interpreted by adolescents and emerging adults as intrusive and a violation of privacy.

Effects of a Workplace Intervention on Parent-Child Relationships.

This study tested whether effects of a workplace intervention, aimed at promoting employees' schedule control and supervisor support for personal and family life, had implications for parent-adolescent relationships; we also tested whether parent-child relationships differed as a function of how many intervention program sessions participants attended. Data came from a group randomized trial of a workplace intervention, delivered in the information technology division of a Fortune 500 company. Analyses focused on 125 parent-adolescent dyads that completed baseline and 12-month follow-up home interviews. Results revealed no main effects of the intervention, but children of employees who attended 75% or more program sessions reported more time with their parent and more parent education involvement compared to adolescents whose parents attended less than 75% of sessions, and they tended to report more time with parent and more parental solicitation of information about their experiences compared to adolescents whose parents were randomly assigned to the usual practice condition.

Maternal Monitoring, Adolescent Disclosure, and Adolescent Adjustment Among Palestinian Refugee Youth in Jordan

The role of parenting (adolescent‐perceived maternal solicitation of information and control), and child‐driven processes (adolescent disclosure and secrecy) in parental knowledge of adolescents' activities, norm‐breaking, and anxiety were examined among 498 poor Palestinian youth (M = 15 years) living in refugee camps in Jordan. With family relationships and demographic background controlled, greater adolescent disclosure and less secrecy about activities, but also more maternal control and solicitation, were associated with greater maternal knowledge. Greater dispositional secrecy was associated with greater norm‐breaking and generalized anxiety, but parental control and parental solicitation were not. In addition, both gender and maternal control moderated the effects of disclosure on norm‐breaking. Differences between these findings and research with Western samples are discussed.

Exploration of Specialty Certification for Nurse Anesthetists: Nonsurgical Pain Management as a Test Case

Certification is the outcome of the demonstration of knowledge and skills, which is an important link to licensing and credentialing. Considering the essential role that Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists play in the practice of nonsurgical pain management, it is important that a certification process be developed that provides the necessary support to licensing and credentialing at the local, state, and federal levels. The goal of this project was to develop the foundational elements for a specialty certification in nonsurgical pain management. The Delphi method for the systematic solicitation and collation of information was used to query experts in the field of nonsurgical pain management regarding the elements necessary to establish such a specialty certification. Results of the query were compiled, analyzed, and compared to feedback about the elements from a sample of certified registered nurse anesthetists involved in nonsurgical pain management to assess reliability. The results provided identification of a target population for competency evaluation, tools for evaluation, resources for knowledge and skills testing, and a table of specifications for testing. A valid process to develop a specialty certification for nurse anesthetists with demonstration of knowledge and skills will help bridge the gap between continuing education and an actual demonstration that an individual practitioner possesses the necessary knowledge and skills to practice nonsurgical pain management.

Avian flu pandemic - flight of the healthcare worker?

One of the ethical issues identified in response to a possible pandemic is healthcare workers' duty to provide care during a communicable disease outbreak. Healthcare employees may be subject to a variety of work obligations under such conditions. Questions of duty to treat remain controversial, and debate continues as to the ethical articulation of a duty to treat. This study aimed to investigate opinions from healthcare workers themselves on the perceived duty to treat, and how they might respond to a severe avian flu pandemic. Using system-wide e-mail, we surveyed employees at our rural tertiary/quaternary care health system regarding their knowledge of our institution's pandemic planning policy and their willingness to work in the event of a virulent avian pandemic. Results (N=908) show that employees felt a responsibility for"duty to care." Over 60% disagreed that it was ethical to abandon the workplace during a pandemic. However, opinions also stated that employees wanted autonomy to decide whether or not to work (65%). When asked about volunteering, 79% would agree to volunteer, given some incentives and protective options, the most salient being protective equipment (with relative training for use) and infectious disease training. Our research demonstrated that the healthcare workers a tour institution voiced an earnest willingness to work in the event of an avian flu pandemic, if provided with the necessary input, protections and tools, and education. The use of an electronic methodology for dissemination of surveys allowed the low-cost solicitation of information from a vast proportion of the workforce with ease, providing the institutional ethics committee with the empirical data needed to articulate more meaningful,thoughtful, and robust suggestions for ethical pandemic planning.

Factors affecting decision makers' preference for unshared information.

Two experiments examined solicitation of information in a group structured as a judge–advisor system (JAS) with 1 group member designated as the decision maker and the other 2 members as advisors. The decision maker solicited information from 2 advisors. One advisor’s information was shared in common with the decision maker, and the other’s information was predominantly unshared. In 2 experiments, decision makers asked for more information from the advisor with unshared information and rated this advisor’s information as more important and influential than the advisor with only redundant, shared information. When decision makers were not limited in the amount of information they could ask for, decision makers significantly increased requests for information from the advisor with shared information but not the advisor with unshared information. Experiment 2 found that whether or not an advisor agreed with the decision maker did not affect decision makers’ preference for the advisor with unshared information.

Parental monitoring, personality, and delinquency: Further support for a reconceptualization of monitoring

Stattin and Kerr [Stattin, H., & Kerr, M. (2000). Parental monitoring: A reinterpretation. Child Development, 71(4), 1072–1085] suggested reconceptualizing “parental monitoring” and presented evidence from a Swedish sample that challenged current operational definitions. We replicate and extend their findings. Parental knowledge (“monitoring”) related more strongly to child disclosure than to parental solicitation of information in a more ethnically-diverse U.S. sample. We then addressed whether adolescents’ personalities accounted for the links between child disclosure, parental knowledge, and delinquency. Solicitation, knowledge, and disclosure generally did not predict delinquency when controlling for adolescent personality. Personality contributed significant incremental validity to the statistical prediction of delinquency above and beyond solicitation, knowledge, and disclosure; the reverse was generally not true. Adolescents’ personalities largely account for the “parental monitoring”-delinquency association, which supports reconceptualizing monitoring.

John Mitchell's Map of North America (1755): A Study of the Use and Publication of Official Maps in Eighteenth‐Century Britain

John Mitchell's famous map of North America stands as an archetype of the official publication of maps in eighteenth‐century Britain. It was, however, the product of a special effort by the Earl of Halifax, president of the Board of Trade, who sought to advance his own aggressive agenda with respect to the British empire in North America in the run‐up to the Seven Years' War (1756–1763, known in North America as the French and Indian War, 1755–1760), to persuade his ministerial colleagues both directly through negotiation and indirectly by manipulating public opinion. This re‐evaluation of Mitchell's work concludes that its archetypal status is unwarranted. The practices that were developed by administrators in London and the colonies for commissioning, using and circulating regional maps are examined. A distinction is made between the use by officials of printed maps as sources for general geographical knowledge and of manuscript maps for knowledge specific to certain administrative issues. Then the origins of Mitchell's map are re‐examined. The conclusion reached is that the map is truly innovative: it was the result of a uniquely successful solicitation of information from the colonies and its publication broke with the established patterns of map circulation and consumption.

Protecting infants in healthcare facilities from abduction: a facility's search for a sound infant security system.

Metropolitan Methodist Hospital, a 279-bed facility, had an electronic infant security system frequently in need of repairs. The vendor became increasingly difficult to locate, and so the decision was made to replace the system. A literature search of vendors and agencies supporting hospitals in the prevention of infant abductions; solicitation of information from facilities experiencing abductions; and onsite tours of facilities were most beneficial in determining a new system. As a result, the facility purchased a state-of-the-art infant security system and agreed to participate as a beta site for mother-baby recognition identification bands, an added security feature not yet on the market. This article describes the process of evaluating and selecting an infant security system in order to reduce the risk of infant abduction.

Depression and Interpersonal Responses to Others' Moods: The Solicitation of Negative Information about Happy People

A total of four experiments tested the prediction that social comparison concerns lead depressed individuals to solicit more negative disclosures from happy people than they otherwise would. In Experiments 1 and 2, depressed, mildly depressed, and nondepressed subjects reviewed information about another person that included ratings of that person's mood (Experiment 2 also included a control condition without mood information). After reviewing the material, subjects chose a subset of items from a list of positive, negative, and neutral questions to ask the person in an upcoming meeting. Experiment 3 replicated this procedure but used a mood manipulation to define subject groups. Experiment 4 examined the impact of subjects' line of questioning on others. Taken together; the results indicate that when they believe their partner is happy, depressed individuals are especially likely to solicit negative information about that person. This unfavorable interpersonal response increases depressed individuals' risk of social rejection.

Views of selected government officials on the impact of a rural water supply program in Ghana

The United States Agency for International Development has in recent years adopted a simple, rapid, low-cost and effective method in evaluating rural water supply and sanitation programs in the developing world. Included in this method is the solicitation of information from government officials of the country involved in the program. In most cases, the information on the impact of the program is sought from bureaucrats at the national ministerial level, and are not succinctly reported. This article examines the awareness, role(s) and views of selected government officials associated with rural development on the impacts of a rural water supply program in Ghana. The views of the bureaucrats were in most cases compared with personal observations and individual interviews conducted with 126 women in randomly selected rural communities. The results of the study indicate that bureaucrats at the national ministerial level have little or no knowledge on the impact of the program on the intended beneficiaries, despite the fact that they were involved in the program earlier than their regional and district level counterparts.