Telling timber tales in higher education: a reflection on my journey with digital storytelling

The challenges of the Higher Education landscape are the result of massification and globalisation. The general lack of preparedness in students and lack of academic literacy means that plagiarism is increasingly a challenge in written assignments. In the South African context, this is amplified, as students may be studying in their third or fourth language. Relying on students' affinity for visual learning, digital storytelling was first used as an alternative assessment method (to a written assignment) in 2011. This paper is a reflection on a lecturer's journey with digital storytelling, beginning with the first project in the Industrial Design programme at a University of Technology in South Africa. The short movie clips, known as digital stories, were created with off-the-shelf equipment and techniques, and any open source software available to the students. By evaluating the project using the lens of Authentic Learning, some of the benefits and challenges of using this alternative means of assessment could be identified. The authentic learning, the polished end products, the engagement of students with the material, the decidedly independent learning, and the collaborative practice were recognised as key benefits. The students also saw the visual orientation of the project, the digital literacy-building, and freedom of creative expression as benefits, and revealed their resourcefulness during the student-led project. This paper also acknowledges the two models of digital storytelling, the growth of communities of practice and the possibilities for further research into this growing area of learning in Higher Education

Relational frame theory and stimulus equivalence: Conceptual and procedural issues

The article begins with a brief outline of the phenomenon of stimulus equivalence and its relationship to human verbal behavior. Relational Frame Theory is then outlined as a behavior-analytic account of both stimulus equivalence and human language. The experimental procedures that have typically been used to examine stimulus equivalence are then considered, before focusing on a series of studies that have developed two alternative procedures for analyzing equivalence class formation: the respondent-type training procedure and the precursor to the relational evaluation procedure. Relational Frame Theory is used to interpret the results that have arisen from these two methodologies. The article concludes that the empirical and theoretical analyses of stimulus equivalence and derived relations, more generally, will be enhanced considerably through the development of a wide range of experimental preparations

A precursor to the relational evaluation procedure: Analyzing stimulus equivalence II

A series of experiments examined the precursor to the relational evaluation procedure (pREP). The pREP is capable of facilitating derived relational responding, but it is less effective than matching-to-sample (MTS) in producing equivalence class formation. Part 1 of the present study tested possible reasons for the inferiority of the. pREP relative to MTS. The first two experiments compared the performances of subjects on two modified versions of the pREP with their performances on a simultaneous MTS procedure. The modifications did not improve performances on the pREP. Experiment 3 compared the pREP with a delayed MTS procedure but again MTS was more effective than the pREP in producing equivalence. Part 2 of the study determined whether pREP equivalence responding could be facilitated by preexposing subjects to a history of MTS training and testing. In Experiment 4, subjects were trained and tested on a MTS procedure until they reliably produced both symmetry and equivalence, and were then exposed to pREP training and testing using the same stimuli, and relations among stimuli, as employed for the MTS procedure. Following this, subjects were exposed to pREP training and testing using novel stimuli. All subjects reliably produced both symmetry and equivalence responding on the pREP with both familiar arid novel stimuli. Experiment 5 determined whether using the same stimulus sets across the two procedures was necessary. Results showed that if symmetry and equivalence were shown on a MTS procedure followed immediately by pREP training and testing using novel stimuli, only 2 out of 4 subjects successfully demonstrated both symmetry and equivalence using the latter procedure

Working with Children with Learning Disabilities and/or who Communicate Non-verbally: Research experiences and their implications for social work education, increased participation and social inclusion

Social exclusion, although much debated in the UK, frequently focuses on children as a key 'at risk' group. However, some groups, such as disabled children, receive less consideration. Similarly, despite both UK and international policy and guidance encouraging the involvement of disabled children and their right to participate in decision-making arenas, they are frequently denied this right. UK based evidence suggests that disabled children's participation lags behind that of their non-disabled peers, often due to social work practitioners' lack of skills, expertise and knowledge on how to facilitate participation. The exclusion of disabled children from decision-making in social care processes echoes their exclusion from participation in society. This paper seeks to begin to address this situation, and to provide some examples of tools that social work educators can introduce into pre- and post-qualifying training programmes, as well as in-service training. The paper draws on the experiences of researchers using non-traditional qualitative research methods, especially non-verbal methods, and describes two research projects, focusing on the methods employed to communicate with and involve disabled children, the barriers encountered and lessons learnt. Some of the ways in which these methods of communication can inform social work education are explored alongside wider issues of how and if increased communication can facilitate greater social inclusion

Assessing stimulus equivalence with a precursor to the relational evaluation procedure

Previous research has demonstrated that, after being trained on multiple match-to-sample (MTS) tasks (A-B, B-C), most human adults respond in accordance with symmetry (B-A, C-B) and equivalence (C-A) when measured with MTS tests and with a precursor to the Relational Evaluation Procedure (pREP). The latter procedure involves conditional go/no-go discrimination tasks, requiring subjects to press a bar during a 5s interval after the successive presentation of two same-class stimuli, and not to press after the presentation of two different-class stimuli (e.g. Ci -->Ai -->press, Ci -->Aj -->no press). The present study was an effort to replicate these findings. The study consisted of five experiments. Very few subjects evidenced pREP symmetry and equivalence unless they had (a) already demonstrated symmetry and equivalence in a MTS test before, or (b) received pREP pretraining with unrelated stimulus pairs and symmetry was tested before equivalence. Failures to show symmetry were always associated with pressing at or close to 50% of these trials. Failures to show equivalence were associated with pressing or not pressing on (almost) all trials. Current findings are similar to those obtained in equivalence studies involving MTS probes permitting the subjects not to respond to the designated comparisons

Training in the Management of Psychobehavioral Conditions: A Needs Assessment Survey of Emergency Medicine Residents

ObjectiveMental health–related ED visits are increasing. Despite this trend, most emergency medicine (EM) residency programs devote little time to psychiatry education. This study aimed to identify EM residents’ perceptions of training needs in emergency psychiatry and self‐confidence in managing patients with psychobehavioral conditions.MethodsA needs assessment survey was distributed to residents at 15 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education–accredited EM programs spanning the U.S. Survey items addressed amount and type of training in psychiatry during residency, perceived training needs in psychiatry, and self‐confidence performing various clinical skills related to emergency psychiatric care. Residents used a 5‐point scale (1 = nothing; 5 = very large amount) to rate their learning needs in a variety of topic areas related to behavioral emergencies (e.g., medically clearing patients, substance use disorders). Using a scale from 0 to 100, residents rated their confidence in their ability to independently perform various clinical skills related to emergency psychiatric care (e.g., differentiating a psychiatric presentation from delirium).ResultsOf the 632 residents invited to participate, 396 (63%) responded. Twelve percent of respondents reported completing a psychiatry rotation during EM residency. One of the 15 participating programs had a required psychiatry rotation. Residents reported that their program used lectures (56%) and/or supervised training in the ED (35%) to teach residents about psychiatric emergencies. Most residents reported minimal involvement in the treatment of patients with psychiatric concerns. The majority of residents (59%) believed that their program should offer more education on managing psychiatric emergencies. Only 14% of residents felt “quite” or “extremely” prepared to treat psychiatric patients. Overall, residents reported the lowest levels of confidence and highest need for more training related to counseling suicidal patients and treating psychiatric issues in special populations (e.g., pregnant women, elderly, and children).ConclusionsMost EM residents desire more training in managing psychiatric emergencies than is currently provided.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152005/1/aet210377-sup-0001-DataSupplementS1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152005/2/aet210377.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152005/3/aet210377_am.pd

The Grizzly, March 17, 1989

Pledging Violations Abound: Change Imminent • Approaching Commencement Scares Seniors • Letters: Bermans Ship Garbage Here?; Alumni Concerned About Curtis Fire; Bond Facts Straight?; Collegeville Water Now Non-Toxic; Visser Vicous to Hocsters • CAB Earns Kudos • Bears Look to Bright Furture • Lady Bears Always A Bridesmaid • Track Stars Shine! • Easton\u27s Colonial Genuine Italian • Blues: A+ • Guess Who\u27s Coming for Dinner? • Senior Matters Leave Their Mark • Peruvian Junglehttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1232/thumbnail.jp

Pre-treatment clinical and gene expression patterns predict developmental change in early intervention in autism.

Funder: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)Early detection and intervention are believed to be key to facilitating better outcomes in children with autism, yet the impact of age at treatment start on the outcome is poorly understood. While clinical traits such as language ability have been shown to predict treatment outcome, whether or not and how information at the genomic level can predict treatment outcome is unknown. Leveraging a cohort of toddlers with autism who all received the same standardized intervention at a very young age and provided a blood sample, here we find that very early treatment engagement (i.e., <24 months) leads to greater gains while controlling for time in treatment. Pre-treatment clinical behavioral measures predict 21% of the variance in the rate of skill growth during early intervention. Pre-treatment blood leukocyte gene expression patterns also predict the rate of skill growth, accounting for 13% of the variance in treatment slopes. Results indicated that 295 genes can be prioritized as driving this effect. These treatment-relevant genes highly interact at the protein level, are enriched for differentially histone acetylated genes in autism postmortem cortical tissue, and are normatively highly expressed in a variety of subcortical and cortical areas important for social communication and language development. This work suggests that pre-treatment biological and clinical behavioral characteristics are important for predicting developmental change in the context of early intervention and that individualized pre-treatment biology related to histone acetylation may be key

Human neutralizing antibodies to cold linear epitopes and subdomain 1 of the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein

Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants diminishes the efficacy of vaccines and antiviral monoclonal antibodies. Continued development of immunotherapies and vaccine immunogens resilient to viral evolution is therefore necessary. Using coldspot-guided antibody discovery, a screening approach that focuses on portions of the virus spike glycoprotein that are both functionally relevant and averse to change, we identified human neutralizing antibodies to highly conserved viral epitopes. Antibody fp.006 binds the fusion peptide and cross-reacts against coronaviruses of the four genera, including the nine human coronaviruses, through recognition of a conserved motif that includes the S2´ site of proteolytic cleavage. Antibody hr2.016 targets the stem helix and neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 variants. Antibody sd1.040 binds to subdomain 1, synergizes with antibody rbd.042 for neutralization and, like fp.006 and hr2.016, protects mice expressing human ACE2 against infection when present as bispecific antibody. Thus, coldspot-guided antibody discovery reveals donor-derived neutralizing antibodies that are cross-reactive with Orthocoronavirinae, including SARS-CoV-2 variants

A haemagglutination test for rapid detection of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2

Serological detection of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 is essential for establishing rates of seroconversion in populations, and for seeking evidence for a level of antibody that may be protective against COVID-19 disease. Several high-performance commercial tests have been described, but these require centralised laboratory facilities that are comparatively expensive, and therefore not available universally. Red cell agglutination tests do not require special equipment, are read by eye, have short development times, low cost and can be applied at the Point of Care. Here we describe a quantitative Haemagglutination test (HAT) for the detection of antibodies to the receptor binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The HAT has a sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 99% for detection of antibodies after a PCR diagnosed infection. We will supply aliquots of the test reagent sufficient for ten thousand test wells free of charge to qualified research groups anywhere in the world