Improving Closing Task Completion in a Nation-Wide Drugstore Chain

Performance feedback has been used to successfully modify behaviors in an assortment of workplace settings. Adding behavioral consequences and/or goal settings to feedback improves the overall behavioral effects and consistencies. When goal settings and feedback are combined, they have been proven to affect performance positively by increasing the information and motivation needed to execute work tasks in their entirety. The current study examined the effects of goal setting and graphic feedback on closing task completion in a nationwide drugstore chain

THE GERMAN ENERGY TRANSITION AND ITS STUMBLING BLOCKS—PROMOTION OF POWER GENERATION FROM PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE GERMAN ENERGY TRANSITION

The energy transition that began in Germany in 2000 is widely accepted by the population. Opinion research institutes report that more than 90 per cent agree with the policy adopted. Nevertheless, in the public debate in recent years increasingly critical opinions were voiced. In particular, the increased costs of the energy transitin are discussed, which are to be borne by the population and the economy. Despite increased burdens in all areas of the energy transition, the criticism is mostly due to the increased burden on electricity customers through the increased use of renewable energy. One reason for this is the increase in the Renewable Energy Act (EEG / Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz) surcharge, which finances the expansion of renewable energies and which ultimately has to be borne by the customers of the energy supply companies. This surcharge increased by 74 per cent in the years 2012 to 2014 alone. One of the main reasons for this was the excessive subsidization of electricity from photovoltaic systems from 2008 to 2012, which was primarily used by major investors and resulted in a massive expansion. Although the share of renewable energies in the German electricity mix has thus increased, an economic equivalent, such as a sustainable increase in jobs or high export figures among the companies that produce these plants, was not observed. Today, economists ask to what extent this mistake could have been avoided and to what extent this has damaged the reputation of the energy transition. The economic policy debate on this issue is led by various interest groups whose opinions are widely divergent. Establishing public consensus is difficult, yet essential for a successful continuation of the energy transition

A Study in Worship: Blending the African American Style of Preaching with Epic Preaching

The stories in Scripture are rich in meaning, mood and mystery with messages often concealed from those who would just glide over them with a glancing eye. The art of preaching exhibited in the African American pulpit is complete with theology, struggle, issues, passion, and excitement. This style of sermon presentation is uniquely tied to the many cultures of the West African diaspora into the Americas. This unique style was used in the storytelling of the ancestors and through the struggles of the African in America evolving into the art of black preaching. The purpose of this dissertation is to look at the craft of African American Preaching and pair it with the EPIC preaching model of Dr. Len Sweet. Chapter One begins with the rich history of the African the voyage on the “middle passage,” and the stories told from the shores of West Africa to the shores of North America. Chapter Two provides history into the evolution of African American preaching and the emphasis on story. Chapter Three centers on the building of worship in the African American Church. Chapter Four gives the history of Image in the African American pulpit and where Image is found today. Chapter Five focuses on the components black preaching and how preachers have used the elements of EPIC worship in sermonic presentations and this student’s reflections of the preaching styles of contemporary scholars who are master preachers in the art of African American preaching. Chapter Six includes an overview of the new EPIC preaching model as presented by Dr. Len Sweet. Chapter Seven focuses on the idea of combining the elements of the new EPIC worship style of preaching with the traditions of the African American style of worship further discovering the implication that the two styles may ix have on modern congregants. Concluding, the idea of blending the two worship styles, Chapter 8 includes expression of this student and members of Calvary Christian Church as we reflect on the EPIC worship Services attended during this dissertation program

City of Houston Nature Preserve Ordinance

The City of Houston’s Parks and Recreation Department (HPARD) created a first-of-its-kind Nature Preserve Ordinance to protect existing natural habitat within 26 parks totaling 7,423 acres of land. The purpose of this ordinance is to preserve and protect, in perpetuity, city-owned natural areas by regulating public use and development of these lands. The policy protects threatened ecosystems, important water resources, and locally rare plant and wildlife populations

Exploration of Nurses\u27 Knowledge About Healthcare for Transgender Patients

AbstractThe transgender population is growing, and along with the population growth, the healthcare needs for gender transitioning of both medical and surgical procedures. Registered nurses (RNs) who care for hospitalized transgender patients are required to be knowledgeable about their care, yet little is known about what nurses know about the healthcare of the transgender patient. The purpose of this basic qualitative study, guided by Benner’s novice to expert theory, was to explore the knowledge and perceptions of RNs regarding healthcare of transgender persons undergoing transition to the opposite gender. Social media and snowball sampling were used to recruit 10 RNs from medical surgical settings in the southwestern United States. Participants were interviewed using semi structured and open-ended questions with interviews continuing until saturation was achieved. Transcribed interview data were analyzed using manual coding following Saldana’s method to identify codes, categories, and themes. Two themes were identified: attitude and knowledge. Attitudes were overall positive toward transitioning adults however participant knowledge was limited on specifics related to care of a transitioning adult patient. Social change is possible if nurse educators include programs of study on care of the transitioning transgender population. Recommendations for future research include interventional studies providing education and testing of nurses who care for patients who are undergoing transitioning

Triptanbehandlung der Migräne:eine Vergleichsstudie zu Ansprechraten, Wirksamkeit, Dosierungen und Applikationsformen

Die Migräne gehört zu den häufigsten neurologischen Erkrankungen und Triptane stellen die wichtigsten Medikamente für die Akuttherapie der Migräne dar. Es sprechen jedoch nicht alle Patienten auf eine Triptanbehandlung an, so dass Triptanresponder, Nonresponder und partielle Responder unterschieden werden. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden erstmals die klinischen Merkmale dieser drei Patientengruppen untersucht und es zeigten sich in einigen Bereichen signifikante Unterschiede. Es wurde auch die Wirksamkeit aller sieben, in Deutschland zugelassenen Triptane untersucht und miteinander verglichen. Von besonderem Interesse war des Weiteren die Frage, welche Triptane bei vorherigem Nichtansprechen auf ein anderes wirksam sind. Es wurde zudem die Wirksamkeit der unterschiedlichen Dosierungen und Applikationsformen der drei Triptane Zolmitriptan, Sumatriptan und Rizatriptan näher betrachtet

Exploration of Nurses\u27 Knowledge About Healthcare for Transgender Patients

AbstractThe transgender population is growing, and along with the population growth, the healthcare needs for gender transitioning of both medical and surgical procedures. Registered nurses (RNs) who care for hospitalized transgender patients are required to be knowledgeable about their care, yet little is known about what nurses know about the healthcare of the transgender patient. The purpose of this basic qualitative study, guided by Benner’s novice to expert theory, was to explore the knowledge and perceptions of RNs regarding healthcare of transgender persons undergoing transition to the opposite gender. Social media and snowball sampling were used to recruit 10 RNs from medical surgical settings in the southwestern United States. Participants were interviewed using semi structured and open-ended questions with interviews continuing until saturation was achieved. Transcribed interview data were analyzed using manual coding following Saldana’s method to identify codes, categories, and themes. Two themes were identified: attitude and knowledge. Attitudes were overall positive toward transitioning adults however participant knowledge was limited on specifics related to care of a transitioning adult patient. Social change is possible if nurse educators include programs of study on care of the transitioning transgender population. Recommendations for future research include interventional studies providing education and testing of nurses who care for patients who are undergoing transitioning

Human-Machine Relations and Relational Autonomy

The ever-growing use of interactive technologies and digitization processes in decisionmaking contexts raises key challenges to the conceptualization of autonomy. Starting from the shortcomings of individualistic models, we argue that relational accounts of autonomy provide a more adequate characterization of human beings as socially embedded and integrated. By introducing a decision-theoretic framework, and further theoretical elaboration, we suggest a substantial account of relational autonomy incorporating machines and technologies within the significant relations entertained by agents. Besides optimizing decision-making performances, human-machine interactions could genuinely support and enhance individual autonomy, by fostering human connections, expanding the individual’s social context with additional perspectives, and prompting self-reflection. We conclude that, with crucial caveats, while we should not automate our relations, relational autonomy can benefit from automation and digitization elsewhere

Edge Conductivity in PtSe2 Nanostructures

PtSe2 is a promising 2D material for nanoelectromechanical sensing and photodetection in the infrared regime. One of its most compelling features is the facile synthesis at temperatures below 500 °C, which is compatible with current back-end-of-line semiconductor processing. However, this process generates polycrystalline thin films with nanoflake-like domains of 5–100 nm size. To investigate the lateral quantum confinement effect in this size regime, a deep neural network is trained to obtain an interatomic potential at density functional theory accuracy and it is used to model ribbons, surfaces, nanoflakes, and nanoplatelets of PtSe2 with lateral widths between 5 and 15 nm. Which edge terminations are the most stable are determined and evidence is found that the electrical conductivity is localized on the edges for lateral sizes below 10 nm. This suggests that the transport channels in thin films of PtSe2 might be dominated by networks of edges, instead of transport through the layers themselves