The National Children's Study Research Plan
The National Children's Study Research Plan

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2008-08-16

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 030912056X

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The National Children's Study (NCS) is planned to be the largest long-term study of environmental and genetic effects on children's health ever conducted in the United States. It proposes to examine the effects of environmental influences on the health and development of approximately 100,000 children across the United States, following them from before birth until age 21. By archiving all of the data collected, the NCS is intended to provide a valuable resource for analyses conducted many years into the future. This book evaluates the research plan for the NCS, by assessing the scientific rigor of the study and the extent to which it is being carried out with methods, measures, and collection of data and specimens to maximize the scientific yield of the study. The book concludes that if the NCS is conducted as proposed, the database derived from the study should be valuable for investigating hypotheses described in the research plan as well as additional hypotheses that will evolve. Nevertheless, there are important weaknesses and shortcomings in the research plan that diminish the study's expected value below what it might be.

Completing Your Qualitative Dissertation
Completing Your Qualitative Dissertation

Author: Linda Dale Bloomberg

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2015-11-05

Total Pages: 582

ISBN-13: 150630771X

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Addressing one of the key challenges facing doctoral students, Completing Your Qualitative Dissertation by Linda Dale Bloomberg and Marie Volpe fills a gap in qualitative literature by offering comprehensive guidance and practical tools for navigating each step in the qualitative dissertation journey, including the planning, research, and writing phases. Blending the conceptual, theoretical, and practical, the book becomes a dissertation in action—a logical and cohesive explanation and illustration of content and process. The Third Edition maintains key features that distinguish its unique approach and has been thoroughly updated and expanded throughout to reflect and address recent developments in the field.

The Status of Student Involvement in University Governance in Kenya
The Status of Student Involvement in University Governance in Kenya

Author: Mulinge, Munyae M.

Publisher: CODESRIA

Published: 2017-05-05

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 2869787146

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This book examines the concept of the democratization of governance in universities in Kenya with particular emphasis on students involvement in governance processes and decision making. Data were collected from members of the student community utilizing a structured self-administered questionnaire and from purposively selected key informants and focus group discussants drawn from Kenyatta University (representing the public sector) and the United States International University (representing the private sector). The guiding argument for the study was that shared governance, one of the principles of good governance, is critical in enabling the universities to deliver their visions and the missions effectively. The results revealed that while in principle, Kenyan universities have embraced democratic governance in which all stakeholders, including students, have a role to play, in practice they continue to violate the core principles of good governance, particularly shared governance. Specifically, students, who are major stakeholders in university education, are largely excluded from significant structures of governance thereby limiting their influence and participation. Although their representation is mainly provided via student self-governance organs (unions, associations and/or councils), their effectiveness is undermined considerably by the lack of trust and confidence of the student body and the unending manipulation by top university administrators and external political actors. Student active involvement in decision making is mainly confined to lower levels such as the school/faculty and departmental/programme. The authors call for a paradigm shift in the involvement of students in the governance of universities in ways that discourage the current culture of tokenism and political correctness that characterizes public and private universities in Kenya.

Understanding and Evaluating Research
Understanding and Evaluating Research

Author: Sue L. T. McGregor

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2017-10-25

Total Pages: 880

ISBN-13: 1506350976

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Understanding and Evaluating Research: A Critical Guide shows students how to be critical consumers of research and to appreciate the power of methodology as it shapes the research question, the use of theory in the study, the methods used, and how the outcomes are reported. The book starts with what it means to be a critical and uncritical reader of research, followed by a detailed chapter on methodology, and then proceeds to a discussion of each component of a research article as it is informed by the methodology. The book encourages readers to select an article from their discipline, learning along the way how to assess each component of the article and come to a judgment of its rigor or quality as a scholarly report.

Conducting Biosocial Surveys
Conducting Biosocial Surveys

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2010-10-02

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13: 0309157064

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Recent years have seen a growing tendency for social scientists to collect biological specimens such as blood, urine, and saliva as part of large-scale household surveys. By combining biological and social data, scientists are opening up new fields of inquiry and are able for the first time to address many new questions and connections. But including biospecimens in social surveys also adds a great deal of complexity and cost to the investigator's task. Along with the usual concerns about informed consent, privacy issues, and the best ways to collect, store, and share data, researchers now face a variety of issues that are much less familiar or that appear in a new light. In particular, collecting and storing human biological materials for use in social science research raises additional legal, ethical, and social issues, as well as practical issues related to the storage, retrieval, and sharing of data. For example, acquiring biological data and linking them to social science databases requires a more complex informed consent process, the development of a biorepository, the establishment of data sharing policies, and the creation of a process for deciding how the data are going to be shared and used for secondary analysis-all of which add cost to a survey and require additional time and attention from the investigators. These issues also are likely to be unfamiliar to social scientists who have not worked with biological specimens in the past. Adding to the attraction of collecting biospecimens but also to the complexity of sharing and protecting the data is the fact that this is an era of incredibly rapid gains in our understanding of complex biological and physiological phenomena. Thus the tradeoffs between the risks and opportunities of expanding access to research data are constantly changing. Conducting Biosocial Surveys offers findings and recommendations concerning the best approaches to the collection, storage, use, and sharing of biospecimens gathered in social science surveys and the digital representations of biological data derived therefrom. It is aimed at researchers interested in carrying out such surveys, their institutions, and their funding agencies.

Review of the Bureau of Reclamation's Corrosion Prevention Standards for Ductile Iron Pipe
Review of the Bureau of Reclamation's Corrosion Prevention Standards for Ductile Iron Pipe

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2009-11-19

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 0309147883

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Ductile iron pipe (DIP) was introduced about 50 years ago as a more economical and better-performing product for water transmission and distribution. As with iron or steel pipes, DIP is subject to corrosion, the rate of which depends on the environment in which the pipe is placed. Corrosion mitigation protocols are employed to slow the corrosion process to an acceptable rate for the application. When to use corrosion mitigation systems, and which system, depends on the corrosivity of the soils in which the pipeline is buried. The Bureau of Reclamation's specification for DIP in highly corrosive soil has been contested by some as an overly stringent requirement, necessitating the pipe to be modified from its as-manufactured state and thereby adding unnecessary cost to a pipeline system. This book evaluates the specifications in question and presents findings and recommendations. Specifically, the authoring committee answers the following questions: Does polyethylene encasement with cathodic protection work on ductile iron pipe installed in highly corrosive soils? Will polyethylene encasement and cathodic protection reliably provide a minimum service life of 50 years? What possible alternative corrosion mitigation methods for DIP would provide a service life of 50 years?

Ensuring Safe Food
Ensuring Safe Food

Author: Institute of Medicine and National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1998-08-19

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 0309173973

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How safe is our food supply? Each year the media report what appears to be growing concern related to illness caused by the food consumed by Americans. These food borne illnesses are caused by pathogenic microorganisms, pesticide residues, and food additives. Recent actions taken at the federal, state, and local levels in response to the increase in reported incidences of food borne illnesses point to the need to evaluate the food safety system in the United States. This book assesses the effectiveness of the current food safety system and provides recommendations on changes needed to ensure an effective science-based food safety system. Ensuring Safe Food discusses such important issues as: What are the primary hazards associated with the food supply? What gaps exist in the current system for ensuring a safe food supply? What effects do trends in food consumption have on food safety? What is the impact of food preparation and handling practices in the home, in food services, or in production operations on the risk of food borne illnesses? What organizational changes in responsibility or oversight could be made to increase the effectiveness of the food safety system in the United States? Current concerns associated with microbiological, chemical, and physical hazards in the food supply are discussed. The book also considers how changes in technology and food processing might introduce new risks. Recommendations are made on steps for developing a coordinated, unified system for food safety. The book also highlights areas that need additional study. Ensuring Safe Food will be important for policymakers, food trade professionals, food producers, food processors, food researchers, public health professionals, and consumers.

Report of the Pan-African Workshop on Strengthening Organizational Structures of Non-State Actors for Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in Africa
Report of the Pan-African Workshop on Strengthening Organizational Structures of Non-State Actors for Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in Africa

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2020-03-01

Total Pages: 56

ISBN-13: 9251322899

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This document reports on the Pan-African Workshop on Strengthening Organizational Structures of Non-state Actors for Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in Africa that was held in Kasane, Botswana, on 10–12 July 2019. The workshop was organized by WorldFish and FAO in collaboration with the African Union Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) and hosted by the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Within the context of implementing the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) and the AU Policy Framework and Reform Strategy for Fisheries and Aquaculture in Africa (PFRS), the workshop aimed at supporting the participation of small-scale fishers and fishworkers in decision-making and development processes that concern their lives and livelihoods. The main objectives were to enhance the functioning of the five subregional non-state actor (NSA) platforms in Africa; to develop strategies and recommendations for the establishment of a Pan-African NSA Platform; and to link global and regional processes and investigate how regional representation can be reflected in the SSF Guidelines Global Strategic Framework (SSF-GSF) mechanism, in particular its Advisory Group.

Writing a Successful Thesis Or Dissertation
Writing a Successful Thesis Or Dissertation

Author: Fred C. Lunenburg

Publisher: Corwin Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 141294225X

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This comprehensive manual offers direction for every step of the thesis or dissertation process, from choosing an appropriate topic to adapting the finished work for publication.