The University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica: UWI Journals
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Global Warming - How Reliable Are the Surface Air Temperature Data?
No full textAbstract
Global warming is widely promoted by many climate scientists, environmental activists and politicians as the greatest threat facing humanity because it is believed to increase the intensity, frequency and duration of several natural hazards such as hurricanes, floods, droughts and heatwaves. To monitor and quantify the magnitude of global warming, the Climatic Research Unit (CRU), University of East Anglia, analyses temperature data collected at weather stations worldwide. At the end of July 2011, after two years of denying requests made under the Freedom of Information Act for its temperature data, the CRU was legally forced by the United Kingdom Information Commissioner’s Office to release the temperature data from over 5000 weather stations, including the Piarco Meteorological Station of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), into the public domain. While nearly all countries were either indifferent to or gave permission for the release of their data, T&T asked categorically that its data be kept private. The reluctance to make its data available for public scrutiny naturally aroused suspicion that T&T may have something to hide. We investigated our suspicion by performing a routine homogeneity assessment of the CRU-T&T annual mean temperature time series data using a suite of statistical changepoint detection tests which identified the year 1979 as a statistically significant (P < 0.01) changepoint. We then compared the CRU-T&T data with the data obtained from the Piarco Meteorological Office which revealed that in 1980 the CRU-T&T temperature data series changed from being computed using hourly values (4 hourly readings taken at 2:00 am, 8:00 am, 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm) to using daily maximum and minimum values until 1990 when it reverted to the use of hourly values. This finding implies that the CRU-T&T temperature data are unfit for use in the computation of the global annual mean surface air temperature and casts doubt and suspicion on the quality of data from other countries where proper quality control and homogeneity assessment procedures may also be lacking. We conclude that it is quite likely that a T&T official is aware of this glaring error and sought to hide it from the public. This investigation therefore underscores the need for careful quality assessment of all climate data used to quantify the occurrence and risk of climate hazards in the Caribbean region
Imperatives for Teaching and Learning in a Knowledge Motivated World
No full textABSTRACT
Today the generation of scientific information and insights has accelerated to such an extent that we are said to be in a knowledge era or information society. Consequently, reliance on intellectual and creative capabilities, more than physical and natural resources, has left a number of countries, such as Jamaica, unable to satisfactorily compete in the new global dispensation.
To remedy the situation, this paper overviews the prime elements of
the emerging knowledge economy and thereby demonstrate that scientific research and ensuing technologies are the foundations of this new social order. Accordingly, it is proffered that new more creative educational instructions and rapidly emerging scientific teaching and learning techniques, together with innovative arrangements and skills, are indispensable to fully participate in the new economy.
Conduct of relevant research and more equitable opportunities for, and delivery of, science teaching, are forwarded as universal responsibilities to reduce the fast growing knowledge divide and its unsustainable consequences
Improving diabetes control in an under-resourced community: a quality improvement pilot project to introduce the Chronic Care Passport
No full textThe objective of this quality improvement pilot project is to implement the use of the Chronic Care Passport in a community based healthcare setting. It is an innovative tool to improve diabetes management and self-care behaviour. This tool is a patient education checklist designed to assist patients to better understand and manage their condition. The quality improvement project was conducted on a convenient sample of 10 men and 15 women from a population of 79 patients who attend a health centre for diabetes management, and whose blood glucose levels were 200mg/dl and above during the previous 12 months.
A pre/post intervention design utilizing a modified version of the Diabetes Project Participation Questionnaire (2009) was the tool used. Questions using a Likert-type scale ranked 1-4 sought to determine the knowledge, health behaviour, and health status of persons with type 2 diabetes with one being poor and four scored as excellent. For questions assessing the ability to self-care, the rank ranged from 1-5, with one being not at all confident and five completely confident. One open-ended question asked what the participants found to be the hardest part of living with diabetes.
Following a four month intervention period of patient education and glucose monitoring reading (GMR), the post test was administered. Statistical analysis was conducted using paired t-tests for normally distributed variables and chi-square test to determine differences of means, and Wilcoxon signed-ranks for binomial outcome measures. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. Narrative data from open-ended items were examined for patterns, trends, and differences. There was a significant difference in the increase in knowledge after the implementation of the Chronic Care Passport, p = .040. There was also a significant difference in the GMR, z = .042. There was no difference between the means for health status and self-care management. Introducing the Chronic Care Passport as the tool to assist persons with type 2 diabetes has the potential to increase the knowledge base of the patients (as it relates to diabetes self-management and reducing blood glucose level).
The aim of this quality improvement pilot project is to obtain baseline data on the effectiveness of patient education and the introduction of the Chronic Care Passport as tools to empower clients with type 2 diabetes
For Sustainability Science is not a Choice, but an Imperative
No full textThis paper argues that science is absolutely necessary for nations to attain considered levels of socio-economic sustainability. Today every country that has experienced sustained growth has done so by the expeditious harnessing of scientific knowledge. Yet many anomalies, indiscretions and misunderstandings in its application remain, causing inter alia excessive overdevelopment, environmental abuse and dislocating inequalities.
No living thing is immune to the effects of science. It is therefore forwarded that all nations must become involved in the judicious use of the scientific enterprise. There is no middle ground either countries become beneficiary or victims of science.
Key Words: science, technology, poverty, socio-economic sustainability and innovation
The effect of interpersonal relationships between nursing students and lecturers on learning outcomes at a Jamaican nursing school
No full textBackground: Positive interpersonal relationships between nursing lecturers and their students form a very important part of the learning environment creating motivation for students to learn. This study was designed to determine the types of interpersonal relationships that existed between nursing students and lecturers at an urban Jamaican nursing school and their effect on learning outcomes.
Method: A correlational study of 192 students enrolled in a 3-year undergraduate nursing program in urban Jamaica was conducted. Participants completed a 38-item questionnaire on their interpersonal relationships with nursing lecturers and their perceptions of the effects on students’ grades, grade point averages (GPAs) and the development of critical thinking skills. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to compare mean scores given for interpersonal relationships with lecturers among the groups across the 3 years. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to determine the associations between interpersonal relationship scores and students’ learning outcomes.
Results: Respondents (n=176) were between the ages of 18 to 41 years (mean age23.15±4.48 years) and 99% was female. Equal proportions of students (41%) assigned low scores (below 20) and moderate scores (20 to 24) to their rating of their interpersonal relationships with nursing lecturers while 18% assigned high scores (25 to 30). An association was noted between the students ratings of interpersonal relationships with lecturers and their reported use of critical thinking skills (r=0.360, p<0.01). Year One students who rated the relationship as high, achieved grades B and above; however, this trend did not hold for Year Two or Year Three students.
Conclusion: The rating of interpersonal relationships between students and lecturers was associated with learning outcomes in Year One but not in Years Two and Three. Among all year groups, the quality of interpersonal relationships shared with lecturers was associated with the student’s perception of his/her increased critical thinking skills
