School Counselors-in-Training Career Counseling Preparation Assignment

Career counseling is an important skill to attain in training to become a school counselor; however, research has shown that school counselors-in-training need more preparation in terms of career counseling. The author describes an optional career counseling assignment added to a 300-hour school-counseling practicum course provided to 14 students in a southern region university school counseling program. Ten students chose to participate in the assignment and provided pre and post feedback of their experience. Student feedback and practical implications are discussed

School Counselors’ Response to School Shootings: Framework of Recommendations

Despite the many expectations of school counselors in responding effectively to crisis situations, there is a lack of research and comprehensive standards that address best practices for school counselors in terms of preparing for and responding to a school shooting. Using federal guidelines and crisis literature, including studies focused on school counselors’ lived experiences of a school shooting, the author offers a research-informed theoretical framework of recommendations at different phases of a school shooting. The framework of recommendations points out probable hindrances to school counselors’ decision making. School counselors’ awareness of these impediments before experiencing each phase of such a crisis would be of benefit to them. School counselors may also use the framework of recommendations to help them assess their developmental needs in relation to preparing for and responding to a school shooting crisis

School Counselors-in-Training Career Counseling Preparation Assignment

Career counseling is an important skill to attain in training to become a school counselor; however, research has shown that school counselors-in-training need more preparation in terms of career counseling. The author describes an optional career counseling assignment added to a 300-hour school-counseling practicum course provided to 14 students in a southern region university school counseling program. Ten students chose to participate in the assignment and provided pre and post feedback of their experience. Student feedback and practical implications are discussed

Effect of a School Counselor Training on Self-Efficacy in Crisis Handling

We presented a 4-hour training program designed to enhance school counselors’ self-efficacy in handling school crises, with a specific focus on school shootings. Employing a pretest-posttest research design using the School Counselor Response to Violent Crisis Questionnaire, we found that the training was effective in improving the self-efficacy of participants (n = 35) in crisis handling. We discovered, in our pilot study, that crisis training specifically tailored to school counselors can be effective in enhancing their self-efficacy in crisis handling. We discuss our study’s implications for school counselors, workshop leaders, school leaders, and researchers

School Counselors Lived Experience of a Rampage School Shooting

Minimal research has been conducted to examine school counselors’ lived experiences of rampage school shootings. The purpose of this research is to increase school counselors’ knowledge and skills in responding effectively to such a crisis. A single-case qualitative dissertation study was completed at a rampage school shooting site, a middle school, and the immediate surrounding area in Bono, AR, located in the northeast part of Arkansas. School counselors’ decisions, perceived expertness, and lessons learned were investigated. Data collected included relevant research literature (including comparison research), archival records, direct observation, media reports, and interviews. Participants interviewed were individuals who lived through the crisis: two previous elementary school counselors, the previous middle school counselor, the previous middle school principal, the previous school psychologist, the previous elementary school art teacher and bus driver, a parent of a previous middle school student, and a previous middle school student. Theoretical integration was used as an analytical strategy and assisted in interpreting the data. A working conceptual framework was generated from the study, the ‘School Counselors’ Response to School Shootings’ framework (S.C.R.S.S.). The conceptual framework provides informed and helpful actions that school counselors may take for preparation, in-crisis protocol, and post-crisis responses to a rampage school shooting. Other benefiters of the study include crisis response planners, school crisis teams, counselor educators, researchers, school counselor supervisors, counselor crisis leaders, principals, superintendents, and state and national counseling organizations. Recommendations for implementation, practice, and further research are included

The Impact of the School Counselor Supervision Model on the Self-Efficacy of School Counselor Site Supervisors

Supervision is a critical element in the professional identity development of school counselors; however, available school counseling-specific supervision training is lacking. The authors describe a 4-hour supervision workshop based on the School Counselor Supervision Model (SCSM; Luke & Bernard, 2006) attended by 31 school counselors from three southern U.S. school districts. Employing a pre-experimental pretest-posttest research design using the Site Supervisor Self-Efficacy Survey-revised (DeKruyf, 2011), the authors found a significant positive relationship (t (30) = 9.31, p & .001; Cohen\u27s d = 1.67) between supervision training and supervisor self-efficacy. These findings bolstered the efficacy of the SCSM. The authors discuss research and practical implications of this study

Performance limits of the three MEMS inertial energy generator transduction types

Accepted versio

Modern optical astronomy: technology and impact of interferometry

The present `state of the art' and the path to future progress in high spatial resolution imaging interferometry is reviewed. The review begins with a treatment of the fundamentals of stellar optical interferometry, the origin, properties, optical effects of turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere, the passive methods that are applied on a single telescope to overcome atmospheric image degradation such as speckle interferometry, and various other techniques. These topics include differential speckle interferometry, speckle spectroscopy and polarimetry, phase diversity, wavefront shearing interferometry, phase-closure methods, dark speckle imaging, as well as the limitations imposed by the detectors on the performance of speckle imaging. A brief account is given of the technological innovation of adaptive-optics (AO) to compensate such atmospheric effects on the image in real time. A major advancement involves the transition from single-aperture to the dilute-aperture interferometry using multiple telescopes. Therefore, the review deals with recent developments involving ground-based, and space-based optical arrays. Emphasis is placed on the problems specific to delay-lines, beam recombination, polarization, dispersion, fringe-tracking, bootstrapping, coherencing and cophasing, and recovery of the visibility functions. The role of AO in enhancing visibilities is also discussed. The applications of interferometry, such as imaging, astrometry, and nulling are described. The mathematical intricacies of the various `post-detection' image-processing techniques are examined critically. The review concludes with a discussion of the astrophysical importance and the perspectives of interferometry.Comment: 65 pages LaTeX file including 23 figures. Reviews of Modern Physics, 2002, to appear in April issu

Early Natural Stimulation through Environmental Enrichment Accelerates Neuronal Development in the Mouse Dentate Gyrus

The dentate gyrus is the primary afferent into the hippocampal formation, with important functions in learning and memory. Granule cells, the principle neuronal type in the dentate gyrus, are mostly formed postnatally, in a process that continues into adulthood. External stimuli, including environmental enrichment, voluntary exercise and learning, have been shown to significantly accelerate the generation and maturation of dentate granule cells in adult rodents. Whether, and to what extent, such environmental stimuli regulate the development and maturation of dentate granule cells during early postnatal development is largely unknown. Furthermore, whether natural stimuli affect the synaptic properties of granule cells had been investigated neither in newborn neurons of the adult nor during early development. To examine the effect of natural sensory stimulation on the dentate gyrus, we reared newborn mice in an enriched environment (EE). Using immunohistochemistry, we showed that dentate granule cells from EE-reared mice exhibited earlier morphological maturation, manifested as faster peaking of doublecortin expression and elevated expression of mature neuronal markers (including NeuN, calbindin and MAP2) at the end of the second postnatal week. Also at the end of the second postnatal week, we found increased density of dendritic spines across the entire dentate gyrus, together with elevated levels of postsynaptic scaffold (post-synaptic density 95) and receptor proteins (GluR2 and GABAARγ2) of excitatory and inhibitory synapses. Furthermore, dentate granule cells of P14 EE-reared mice had lower input resistances and increased glutamatergic and GABAergic synaptic inputs. Together, our results demonstrate that EE-rearing promotes morphological and electrophysiological maturation of dentate granule cells, underscoring the importance of natural environmental stimulation on development of the dentate gyrus

Intolerance of uncertainty and mental wellbeing: serial mediation by rumination and fear of COVID-19

The novel coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become globally widespread with millions of confirmed cases and many countries implementing various levels of quarantine. Therefore, it is important to investigate the psychological consequences of this process, given the unique situation that has been experienced globally. Therefore, the present study examined whether intolerance of uncertainty was related to mental wellbeing and whether this relationship was mediated by rumination and fear of COVID-19. The sample comprised 1772 Turkish individuals (aged between 18 and 73 years) from 79 of 81 cities in Turkey, who completed measures of mental wellbeing, intolerance of uncertainty, rumination, and fear of COVID-19. Results of serial mediation analyses showed that intolerance of uncertainty had a significant direct effect on mental wellbeing. Rumination and fear of COVID-19, in combination, serially mediated the association between intolerance of uncertainty and mental wellbeing. The findings are discussed within the framework of the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and related literature