Preliminary Results of the Louisiana Sex Offender Treatment Program

The purpose of this study was to offer preliminary support for the Louisiana Sex Offender Treatment Program (LSOTP) in addressing the needs of juvenile sex offenders. Research objectives were (1) to offer statistical evidence for reductions in anxiety, depression, cognitive distortion and negative attitudes towards women comparing a group of 21 adolescents, 12 of whom received services as usual and nine of whom participated in the LSOTP. A controlled experimental evaluation design was utilized. The juvenile sex offenders were randomly assigned to the experimental group for 12 weeks receiving treatment services and a control group receiving care “as usual” in a residential group care program. Participants in the experimental group experienced statistically significant decreases in cognitive distortions related specifically to rape and molestation.The results of this study offer preliminary support of the LSOTP as a best practices alternative to other treatment modalities

CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS AND POLITICAL MILITARY RELATIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF THREAT RESILIENCY

On November 21, 2022, Dr. Carrie Lee, associate professor and Chair of the Department of National Security and Strategy at the US Army War College, presented on Civil-Military Relations and Political Military Relations in the Context of Threat Resiliency. The key points discussed included the importance of good civil-military relations, how they are critical in establishing resiliency, and some of the threats that require good civil-military relations.   Received: 2022-12-05Revised: 2022-12-0

Golan v. Gonzales: Capitalizing on Eldred’s Defeat

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Formative Assessment for Middle School Mathematics Instruction: An Evidence-based Approach to Evaluating Teacher Posing, Pausing, and Probing Moves

This study involved empirical investigation of a moves-based conceptualization of teacher practices of planning, enacting, and reflecting on formative assessment (FA) in mathematics classrooms in a high-needs school district in California. A qualitative case study of six middle school mathematics teachers’ practices of posing questions, pausing to foster equity of participation and quality of response, and probing student thinking, the study provides empirical evidence of qualitatively distinct levels of teacher posing, pausing, and probing moves. The study utilized a National Research Council-based educational assessment design framework that employed construct maps, multi-faceted items design, and scoring guides to examine teacher practice and to provide feedback protocols for teachers engaged in FA. Guided by the 2014 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, the study provides evidence for content validity and tools for future rater reliability investigations. The study found levels of teacher questioning practice, operationalized as posing, pausing, and proving moves, could be represented along generalized continua in the context of middle school mathematics instruction. The study’s work toward the development of a teacher learning progression framework in the formative assessment domain has implications for establishing an empirically-based, common grammar of practice in mathematics instruction and preparation

The Military and Democratic Transition: Paradoxes of the Democratic Ethos

This article argues that existing attempts to define the democratic ethos fall short. The article examines different scholars’ definitions of the democratic ethos vis-a-vis the military, their positions on maintaining it, and the paradoxes inherent in these conceptions of the democratic ethos

The Art and Media Communications course : a case study of one teacher’s perspective

This study investigates the teaching experience of one Texas high school visual art teacher as she integrates the Arts and Media Communication course into her curriculum for the first time. Through an open-ended interview and class observation, this case study inquires how the teacher teaches the lessons and curriculum. This study examines literature on learning theories, digital and media literacy and technology in the secondary art classroom. The explanations of the results highlight the efficacy of the course and how the students responded to the projects. The findings of this study suggest that technology is an effective tool for the Art and Media Communications class and a student-centered instructional approach works well for this course. Therefore, it is proposed that teachers, principals, school districts and other community organizations may find that art and technology curricula are valuable, assessable, and supported.Art Educatio

Assessing The Magnitude and Impact of Seawater/Pore Water Exchange in Salt Marsh Systems

Submarine groundwater discharge is a hydrological process that is important to study and understand as it impacts biogeochemical processes and hydrological cycles. Particularly in coastal salt marsh systems, it is an important process to analyze as these systems serve as crucial interfaces between terrestrial and marine waters and particulates. There is evidence that these systems, typically thought to have little exchange across the interface due to impermeable sediments, could actually allow for significant flow of water and particulates at shallow depths. In order to measure and quantify this flow, a method using 224Ra as a tracer has been tested. The extensive, gas-filled root system present in salt marshes could be a significant factor in an increased water/particulate circulation. This root system could also allow for oxygen gas exchange between roots and sediment and lead to rapid redox oscillations. Metal binding onto iron oxide nanoparticles under ambient conditions was studied using centrifuge filtration and ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) to better understand the potential transport of redox reactive species

Osteopontin ablation ameliorates muscular dystrophy by shifting macrophages to a pro-regenerative phenotype.

In the degenerative disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy, inflammatory cells enter muscles in response to repetitive muscle damage. Immune factors are required for muscle regeneration, but chronic inflammation creates a profibrotic milieu that exacerbates disease progression. Osteopontin (OPN) is an immunomodulator highly expressed in dystrophic muscles. Ablation of OPN correlates with reduced fibrosis and improved muscle strength as well as reduced natural killer T (NKT) cell counts. Here, we demonstrate that the improved dystrophic phenotype observed with OPN ablation does not result from reductions in NKT cells. OPN ablation skews macrophage polarization toward a pro-regenerative phenotype by reducing M1 and M2a and increasing M2c subsets. These changes are associated with increased expression of pro-regenerative factors insulin-like growth factor 1, leukemia inhibitory factor, and urokinase-type plasminogen activator. Furthermore, altered macrophage polarization correlated with increases in muscle weight and muscle fiber diameter, resulting in long-term improvements in muscle strength and function in mdx mice. These findings suggest that OPN ablation promotes muscle repair via macrophage secretion of pro-myogenic growth factors

Blueberry Fruit Development and Splitting

Rain-related splitting of blueberry fruit is a problem facing growers in the southeastern United States and causes an estimated profit loss of up to 20% ($300-$500 per acre). Studies of this phenomenon in other thin-skinned, soft, fleshy fruit showed that no single or set of related physiological or anatomical property explained splitting. Similar research on blueberry fruit was inconclusive, thus a different approach was suggested. l sampled five cultivars at various stages of development distributed across acknowledged split-resistant (SR) and split-susceptible (SS) categories including both rabbiteye and southern highbush types. Several developmental studies were completed at the light microscope level that allowed us to analyze apoplast to symplast ratios (A:S ratio) and thus allowed a study of anatomical features that should be strongly influenced by physiological/hydrostatic phenomena. Several hypotheses of A:S ratios were tested resulting in the observed correlations that (1) at the attachment end of the fruit, the SR ratios were lower than the SS ratios and (2) at the floral end, the SR ratios were bracketed by the SS ratios. These correlations are consistent with an interpretation that (1) a higher A:S ratio increases the amount of hydrophilic (wall) material for water uptake and (2) extremes in A:S ratios compromise the structural integrity of the fruit tissue