Teacher-directed violence and anxiety and stress: Predicting intentions to transfer and quit

Teacher well-being and experiences of violence have become issues of national concern, and teacher shortages have increased since the onset of COVID-19. In this national study, we examined verbal and physical violence against teachers from multiple aggressors and the role of anxiety and stress in predicting intentions to transfer positions or quit the profession. The majority of the sample of 9,370 pre-Kindergarten-12th grade teachers was White (79%) and female (79%). Descriptive analyses revealed that 25% of teachers reported intentions to transfer schools and 43% of teachers reported intentions to quit teaching. Structural equation model results indicated pre-COVID-19 verbal and threatening violence from students, parents, colleagues, and administrators predicted teacher anxiety and stress and intentions to transfer schools (R² ranged from .18 to .23) and quit the profession during COVID-19 (R² ranged from .34 to .36). Anxiety and stress significantly mediated the relation between verbal and threatening violence across all aggressors and teacher intentions to transfer schools and quit the profession. Physical violence from certain aggressors predicted anxiety and stress and intention to transfer schools (R² ranged from .15 to .18) and quit the profession (R² ranged from .32 to .34). Further, teacher and school characteristics, such as identifying as a person of color and teaching at the middle and high school levels, were associated with greater intentions to transfer schools and quit the profession. Implications for school-based research, practice, and policy are discussed to address violence and promote positive work and learning environments for all school stakeholders

Genome-wide association and functional follow-up reveals new loci for kidney function

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an important public health problem with a genetic component. We performed genome-wide association studies in up to 130,600 European ancestry participants overall, and stratified for key CKD risk factors. We uncovered 6 new loci in association with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), the primary clinical measure of CKD, in or near MPPED2, DDX1, SLC47A1, CDK12, CASP9, and INO80. Morpholino knockdown of mpped2 and casp9 in zebrafish embryos revealed podocyte and tubular abnormalities with altered dextran clearance, suggesting a role for these genes in renal function. By providing new insights into genes that regulate renal function, these results could further our understanding of the pathogenesis of CKD

School Effects on the Wellbeing of Children and Adolescents

Well-being is a multidimensional construct, with psychological, physical and social components. As theoretical basis to help understand this concept and how it relates to school, we propose the Self-Determination Theory, which contends that self-determined motivation and personality integration, growth and well-being are dependent on a healthy balance of three innate psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness and competence. Thus, current indicators involve school effects on children’s well-being, in many diverse modalities which have been explored. Some are described in this chapter, mainly: the importance of peer relationships; the benefits of friendship; the effects of schools in conjunction with some forms of family influence; the school climate in terms of safety and physical ecology; the relevance of the teacher input; the school goal structure and the implementation of cooperative learning. All these parameters have an influence in promoting optimal functioning among children and increasing their well-being by meeting the above mentioned needs. The empirical support for the importance of schools indicates significant small effects, which often translate into important real-life effects as it is admitted at present. The conclusion is that schools do make a difference in children’s peer relationships and well-being

On the Absorption of Light in the Orinoco River Plume

The spectral absorption coefficients of particles (phytoplankton and detritus) and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) were measured in the Orinoco River plume in the Gulf of Paria (GOP) and southeastern Caribbean (SEC) Sea in the wet (June, October) and dry (February, March) seasons of 1998, 1999, and 2000. During both seasons and over the three years, there was substantial patchiness in water color off the Orinoco Delta, and CDOM accounted for 61-98% of the total light absorption coefficient at 440 nm in the GOP and SEC at most stations (over(x, -) ≈ 89 ± 7.6 %; N = 44). Detritus dominated absorption due to particles (over(x, -) ≈ 70 ± 20 %; N = 27) near the Orinoco Delta, while phytoplankton dominated particle absorption in the northern GOP and in the SEC (over(x, -) ≈ 65 ± 17 %; N = 42). Absorption coefficients of CDOM, phytoplankton, and detritus at 440 nm ranged 0.23-2.59, 0.016-0.55, and 0.002-0.545 m- 1 during the dry seasons, and 0.38-3.21, 0.013-0.113, and 0.003-0.754 m- 1 during the wet seasons, respectively. The ratio of CDOM to phytoplankton absorption in the Orinoco plume [aCDOM (440) / aph (440)] ranged from 3.3 to 139 (over(x, -) ≈ 30 ± 24; N = 44), which are extremely high compared to other coastal regions. These values are explained by the unique characteristics of the Orinoco River (e.g. low phytoplankton biomass and high discharge of sediments and CDOM which inhibit phytoplankton growth). Our results demonstrate that it is fundamentally difficult to estimate phytoplankton absorption or chlorophyll-a concentrations from space using wavelengths in the blue portion of the light spectrum in coastal and estuarine waters affected by large rivers like the Orinoco. New chlorophyll algorithm development efforts need to focus on the red wavelengths (e.g. fluorescence peak) where CDOM influence is minimal

Radionuclide Fluxes and Particle Scavenging in Cariaco Basin

234Th, 228Th and 210Pb fluxes were measured in a series of sediment trap samples in Cariaco Basin from November 1995 to 8 May 1996. Sediment traps were located at 275, 455, 930 and 1255 m depth, with the 275 m trap just above the oxic/anoxic interface. Total mass, organic carbon, carbonate, biogenic opal, and lithogenic fluxes were also determined. Our results found that 234Th, 228Th and 210Pb fluxes are highly correlated with total mass (r2=0.92-0.94), major sediment component fluxes (r2=0.82-0.93), and one another (r2=0.94-0.99). Decreases in radionuclide, total mass and major sediment component fluxes with depth were attributed to physical disaggregation and remineralization. While the 210Pb specific activity loss from settling particles is the same as the bulk specific activity of the trapped particles between 455 and 930 m, the 210Pb specific activity loss is substantially higher than the bulk specific activity of the trapped particles between 930 and 1255 m. We attributed this fractionation to a loss of minor components from settling particles. This suggests that minor components are responsible for the initial water column scavenging of 210Pb in the Cariaco Basin. Steady state release of 210Pb from settling particles would produce an anoxic water column activity an order of magnitude greater than previously reported. Therefore, a non-steady state removal mechanism must exist and is potentially caused by high sediment flux events from earthquake triggered turbidity currents or major plankton blooms

Modern Climate Forcing of Terrigenous Deposition in the Tropics (Cariaco Basin, Venezuela)

One approach to deciphering tropical Quaternary paleoclimate records has been to study the composition of terrigenous material in order to infer past changes in hydrologic and atmospheric conditions. Here we present the inorganic geochemistry (major and trace elements) of modern sediment traps and shelf sediments in the tropical Cariaco Basin, Venezuela, in order to characterize seasonal variation in deposition of the terrigenous component and to document linkages within the ocean-atmosphere-climate system. We show that variation in the chemistry of terrigenous input to the Basin is a sensitive monitor of the annual meridional migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Additionally, seasonal terrigenous relative abundances are decoupled from terrigenous absolute fluxes, showing that abundances are not directly related to terrigenous delivery. Changes in mixing between local fluvial sediments, fluvial and/or eolian mafic material, and Saharan dust explains the observed seasonality. The modern seasonal variations are significantly smaller than those observed in the glacial-interglacial paleorecord, indicating that climate sensitivity at the two time scales is very different. A striking contrast in the behavior of Ti/Al between the longer glacial-interglacial time scale and the modern seasonality also suggests that long-term terrigenous deposition is not linked simply to 100-kyr shifting of the ITCZ. The modern data can be reconciled with the glacial-interglacial record by invoking generally drier conditions during glacial periods over tropical latitudes, combined with intermittent wet conditions caused by precessional forcing

Processes of Coastal Upwelling and Carbon Flux in the Cariaco Basin

Monthly hydrographic, phytoplankton biomass and primary production, bio-optical observations, and settling particulate organic carbon flux observations were collected at 10.5°N, 64.67°W within the Cariaco Basin, off Venezuela, for a period exceeding seven years starting in November 1995. These data were combined with a time series of Sea-viewing Wide-Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), advanced very high-resolution radiometer (AVHRR), and European Remote Sensing Satellite/QuikScat data to examine the spatial extent of a cold coastal upwelling plume and a phytoplankton bloom associated with it. The seasonal upwelling cycle was directly linked to the intensity of the Trade Winds, with sea-surface temperature (SST) changes lagging the wind by 1-2 weeks. The seasonal cycle of most properties was punctuated by transient phenomena, some of which caused subsurface ventilation and also high primary production events. Integrated primary production ranged from 650, 574, and 593 g C m -2 yr-1 in 1996, 1997, and 2001, respectively, to 372, 484, and 448 g C m-2 yr-1, respectively, in 1998, 1999, and 2000. The Rutgers vertical generalized production model (VGPM) was modified to reflect an increase in Assimilation Number (PBopt) with SST at the Cariaco time series station, because the original VGPM formulation suggested inhibition of primary production at SST\u3e21°C. Trap observations showed that between 9 and 10 g C m-2 yr-1 were delivered to the bottom at the Cariaco time series station, i.e. ∼1.33% of surface primary productivity. Annual particulate organic carbon flux to the bottom over the area of the Cariaco Basin (waters \u3e100 m), estimated using SeaWiFS and AVHRR variable inputs and the updated VGPM, ranged from 6.77×1010 to 7.61×1010 g C. These are likely underestimates due to lack of bathymetric corrections to flux