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The purpose of this paper is to determine the effectiveness of community outreach efforts in promoting public education on the early warning signs of psychosis and in generating referrals for treatment during the prodromal stage of illness.

Five mental health centres across the United States implemented a community outreach model known as the Early Detection and Intervention for the Prevention of Psychosis Program (EDIPPP). A multi‐site evaluation was conducted to assess whether the model's outreach objectives could be achieved among replication sites in geographically and demographically diverse locations. The assessment included the analysis of data from three main sources: administrative data, structured qualitative interviews, and participant self‐report surveys.

Results demonstrated that the outreach activities in all five sites resulted in increased awareness of participants about the early warning signs of psychosis, the availability of local treatment options and increased knowledge of the referral process. There were benefits of outreach participation regardless of whether the participant was a professional or non‐professional in the community. Additionally, outreach participants showed a significant increase in their likelihood to refer a young adult for a mental health evaluation.

Community outreach can be an effective tool for mental health centres in developing a local network that can generate timely referrals for early intervention programmes and clinical research. Results also show that relatively brief community engagement efforts can significantly increase the knowledge and awareness of the public on complex mental health conditions where early detection may be integral to effective treatment.

This paper aims to conceptualize what it means to be resilient in the face of our current reality of indisputable turbulence and uncertainty, suggest that continual metamorphosis is key to resilience, demonstrate the role of unlearning in that metamorphosis and suggest that problem formulation is a key deliberate mechanism of driving continual cycles of learning and unlearning.

The paper entails a conceptual analysis.

It is found that both the unlearning and resilience literature streams are stuck in a paradigm whereby organizational behavior entails adaptation to the external environment and reaction to crisis. This paper suggests that, given a world of turbulence and uncertainty, a more useful paradigm is one where organizations take action before action is desperately needed, and that they proactively contribute to enacting their environment via their own continual metamorphosis.

Future research should explore further the factors that can facilitate sensing the early warning signs, and facilitate the cyclical learning–unlearning process of metamorphosis.

The primary practical implication is that to ensure strategic resilience, managers must be able to identify early warning signs and initiate metamorphosis. This means understanding the processes needed to support unlearning, namely, problem formulation.

The originality and value of the present paper lies in that it suggests a shift in paradigm from adaptation and reaction, to action and enactment. Further, it proposes a cyclical process of learning and unlearning that together define periods of metamorphosis, and suggests problem formulation, whereby the mission statement is assessed and revised, as a mechanism in that endeavor.

The purpose of this paper is to review the Fuzzy Markov development for assessing the structural integrity of buried transportation bridges. In doing so, the appropriateness of Fuzzy Markov will be assessed, leading to the subsequent model.

This research will utilize the Fuzzy Markov techniques as the conceptual framework. Such methodology is further supported via the utilization and evaluation of 30 buried transportation bridges using the developed Fuzzy Markov model.

Subsequently, through a developed Fuzzy Markov model, this research found that as the basis of structural resilience, specific matrices for age-dependent transition probability can be compiled using conditional survival probabilities in the various structural states; as the basis of structural integrity, specific environmental and economic schemes can also be established based on inspection intervals, intervention systems and failure phases; exact inspection and maintenance intervals can be scheduled to further prolong an asset’s life; and clear and early warning signs can also be formulated for immediate intervention when the structural integrity of the asset are indeed compromised.

The gap within the literature currently surrounds the limitation of computational analysis for some buried structures such as bridges. Specifically, to streamline such evaluation and regimes, a Fuzzy Markov is developed and reviewed.

Suicide by cop (SbC) is a growing problem and presents special challenges to crisis (hostage) negotiation teams. The purpose of this paper is to examine current definitions of SbC, early warning signs of SbC, successful and unsuccessful resolution of cases, and strategies that have proven most effective to resolve these incidents. Recommendations regarding appropriate training and coping strategies in dealing with the post-shooting emotional sequelae of SbC are presented.

With a dearth of empirical knowledge regarding how to properly respond to SbC crisis incidents, an extensive literature review was conducted to ascertain extant strategies to de-escalate and reduce the lethality of these events.

Results indicated that SbC crisis incidents are more likely to be resolved if officers provide reassurance for the way that subject's feel, comply with reasonable requests, and offer alternative or realistic options. Establishing rapport by spending time with the subject and utilizing active listening skills can decrease the likelihood of another episode in the future.

These findings have implications for the efficient training of law enforcement officers in general, and crisis negotiators, in particular, in how to appropriately deal with SbC events. The authors also highlight specific errors in negotiation and how to observe early warning signs in the SbC subject to inform prevention and intervention strategies.

The paper adds to the limited literature on crisis negotiation techniques for resolving SbC incidents.

Concern about the use of zero-tolerance policies for discipline has led to a search for alternatives such as training in early-warning signs of aggressive behavior and strategies for effective classroom management in schools. This chapter examines the effectiveness of the provision of alternatives to out-of-school suspensions (OSS) in reducing the use of exclusionary discipline for minor misbehavior and the school characteristics associated with these provisions.

This analysis uses the 2008 panel from the National School Survey on Crime and Safety to explore this question for approximately 1,000 high schools. The analysis is a probit regression analysis to examine the association between the provision of alternatives to OSS, school characteristics, and the use of OSS for low-level suspensions. This analytic approach provides wide generalizability for the findings, though it does also limit an ability to identify individual school- or student-level effects.

Findings based on probit regression analysis suggest that structural characteristics of schools – beyond student characteristics – are only somewhat related to variation in the use of OSS for low-level infractions and, on average, the availability of alternatives to OSS do not strongly decrease the frequency of OSS for lower-level infractions. These findings are important in the current era of discipline policy scrutiny where schools and policy-makers are searching for alternatives to traditional suspension practices in a limited empirical evidence base.

While these alternatives hold great promise, little is known about their effectiveness in addressing behavior problems and/or reducing OSS. More importantly, even less is known about the characteristics of schools likely to enact alternatives.

Stress damages us and our performance. It is a real part of most manager's experience and can be said to occur when significant demands exceed perceived management responsibilities and routines. Stress can be the essence of working life, and certainly need not always be damaging to us. But when it becomes excessive, it is something unwanted.

In this paper, the author examines the steps that Barclays Retail Financial Services has taken over the last few years to help identify potential risk to investors at an earlier stage. Barclays Bank plc is regulated by the Personal Investment Authority (PIA) and has a regulated sales force of around 1,000.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary report and reflect on a recently passed PhD thesis (Sharaborova, 2014b) related to project management topics.

This paper focussed on narrative reflection upon the completed doctoral journey.

This paper presents the thesis findings, the research models, the guide in dealing with the early warning signs that developed as a result of this research and the contribution made to theory and practice.

Limitations of the research and the perspectives of the further diffusion of the research findings are considered.

This TRN is a PhD candidate’s point of view as well as the opinions of the scientific research supervisors about the doctoral study and its outcome. The paper could be useful for novice researchers who wish to conduct their research and did not yet make a decision.

Identifying autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children’s early years significantly impacts their academic performance and future life. It allows them to receive special support services and the required early intervention. Preschool teachers spend considerable time with their students, which allows them to observe their behaviors in different settings like classrooms and playgrounds. However, teachers need to be knowledgeable of ASD early assessment to detect them. Whereas, all well-known ASD assessment tools are designed for populations from different cultures than the Gulf Cooperation Councils' (GCC) culture. This study emphasizes the importance of preschool age, from 3 to 5, in indicating children's early signs of ASD. This paper aims to indicate the early signs of ASD in preschool children in the UAE as a model for other GCC countries.

A qualitative method consisting of interviews with preschool teachers and the ASD children’s parents was conducted to investigate the ASD early symptoms in children.

The findings of the study show that there is a direct connection between the opinions expressed by preschool teachers and the parents of children with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). These results also highlight the presence of early indications of ASD among preschool-aged children in the United Arab Emirates, such as difficulties in communication, repetitive actions, delayed speech, excessive focus on tablets, trouble paying attention, hyperactivity, sleep problems, and aggressive behavior.

The outcomes suggest a strong connection between the feedback from preschool teachers and the parents of children with ASD. The study uncovers initial indications of ASD in preschool-aged children from the United Arab Emirates, such as difficulties in communication, repetitive actions, delayed speech, excessive fascination with tablets, problems with attention, hyperactivity, sleep disturbances, and aggressive behavior.

Do state governments have the ability to predict the onset, duration, and depth of structural fiscal crisis? The State of Indiana had a particularly difficult time recovering from the recession that began in April 2001. Painful expenditure restraint and substantive revenue increases were necessary simply to “break even” from 2002 through 2006. Could early warning signs have permitted more timely actions to avert the subsequent pain? Using monthly cash receipts and balances, we test whether these data hold predictive value in forecasting the onset and severity of fiscal imbalance. The evidence strongly suggests that the structural character of the 2001-02 deficit and its subsequent depth was discernible in the cash receipts stream early enough to take ameliorating action. That the state did not do so reflects budgetary psychology more than the deficit’s predictability.