Innovation Exposition: Advanced Research Course in Psychology (PSY 390)

The innovative Advanced Research course was designed in the early 1980s, well before the pedagogical approach of enquiry-based instruction was widely championed in the late 1990s to early 2000s (National Science Educational Standards, 1996; National Research Council, 2000). Enquiry-based instruction entails “learning through doing” and is a method of teaching and learning based on self-directed enquiry (EBL) or research (RBL) by the student (University of Manchester, 2007; University of Reading, n.d.). This course integrates a research experience for students in the psychology curriculum that reflects a cutting edge approach to teaching psychology. The “lone-wolf” model of science is outdated and one of the primary “opportunities” of today’s best practices in scientific discovery is the collaborative research model. The course provides students with critical pre-professional experiences and the research outcomes are presented at regional, national, and international professional venues

The Phase-Contrast Imaging Instrument at the Matter in Extreme Conditions Endstation at LCLS

We describe the Phase-Contrast Imaging instrument at the Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) endstation of the Linac Coherent Light Source. The instrument can image phenomena with a spatial resolution of a few hundreds of nanometers and at the same time reveal the atomic structure through X-ray diffraction, with a temporal resolution better than 100 femtosecond. It was specifically designed for studies relevant to High-Energy-Density Science and can monitor, e.g., shock fronts, phase transitions, or void collapses. This versatile instrument was commissioned last year and is now available to the MEC user community

The influence of depth and velocity on age‐0 Scaphirhynchus sturgeon prey consumption: Implications for aquatic habitat restoration

After the pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) was listed as endangered in 1990, a variety of management actions focusing on early life history needs have been implemented to aid species recovery. Given the scarcity of age‐0 pallid sturgeon, managers and scientists have relied on sympatric congeners to evaluate the effectiveness of management actions in the short term; however, increased understanding of habitat requirements for age‐0 Scaphirhynchus sturgeon is still needed to appropriately focus management efforts. Recently, a lack of food‐producing and foraging habitats were proposed as potential limiting factors for pallid sturgeon, and the purpose of this study was to evaluate the current definition of these habitats at multiple spatial scales using data from age‐0 Scaphirhynchus sturgeon (shovelnose sturgeon [Scaphirhynchus platyrhynchus] or hybrid [shovelnose sturgeon x pallid sturgeon]). Results showed the water depths and velocities that currently define age‐0 pallid sturgeon foraging habitat had little effect on age‐0 Scaphirhynchus sturgeon prey consumption. Similar results occurred when evaluating the relationship between prey consumption and food‐producing habitat present 10, 20, and 30 days before capture. Assuming that individuals captured during this study were a valid surrogate, these results suggest that increasing foraging and food‐producing habitat as defined by the current depth and velocity criteria is unlikely to result in the desired benefits of increased growth and survival of age‐0 pallid sturgeon

Imagining Autism: Feasibility of a Drama-Based Intervention on the Social, Communicative and Imaginative behaviour of Children with Autism

We report the feasibility of a novel, school-based intervention, coined ‘Imagining Autism’, in which children with autism engage with drama practitioners though participatory play and improvisation in a themed multi-sensory “pod” resembling a portable, tent-like structure. 22 children, aged 7–12 years, from three UK schools engaged in the 10week programme. Measures of social interaction, communication, emotion recognition, along with parent and teacher ratings, were collected before and up to 12 months after the intervention. Feasibility was evaluated through 4 domains: (1) process (recruitment, retention, blinding, inter-rater reliability, willingness of children to engage), (2) resources (space, logistics), (3) management (dealing with unexpected changes, ease of assessment), and (4) scientific (data outcomes, statistical analyses). Overall, the children, parents and teachers showed high satisfaction with the intervention, the amount of missing data was relatively low, key assessments were implemented as planned, and evidence of potential effect was demonstrated on several key outcome measures. Some difficulties were encountered with recruitment, test administration, parental response, and the logistics of setting up the pod. Following several protocol revisions and the inclusion of a control group, future investigation would be justified to more thoroughly examine treatment effects

Managed Care for Elderly People: A Compendium of Findings

Although managed care seems to serve well the in terests of non-elderly enrollees and their payers, elderly people face more risks. Chronic conditions, multiple prob lems, and more limited resources make them more vul nerable, whereas multiple payer sources make them more complicated to cover. This synthesis of managed care de livered in Medicare and Medicaid demonstration projects serving elderly beneficiaries shows that managed care plans either select or attract enrollees who suffer fewer frailties than those served in fee-for-service settings, ex hibit reluctance to enter rural markets, provide a broad range of elderly-specific services, offer more compre hensive coverage and services, and result in greater per ceived access problems, particularly for vulnerable subgroups. Plans operate more cheaply by using fewer resources, even after adjusting for case mix differences. Managed care enrollees tend to be more satisfied with financial and coverage aspects, whereas fee-for-service enrollees report higher satisfaction on other dimensions. In acute care settings, process of care findings were mixed, whereas clinical and self-reported outcome indi cators were no better and in some instances worse in managed care. Long-term care enrollees, in the few stud ies reported, consistently faired worse in both the processes and outcomes of care. These findings suggest that further research on the effects of managed care in its rapidly changing incarnations is needed, particularly with respect to how to improve the quality of acute and long-term care delivered to elderly people and the proper role of government and other key actors in the health care system.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66514/2/10.1177_106286069801300304.pd

Transformative Sea-level Rise Research and Planning: Establishing a University, Tribal, and Community Partnership for a Resilient California North Coast

Sea-level rise (SLR) is and will continue to be a pressing issue in the rural, North Coast region of California, especially since nearby Wigi (or Humboldt Bay) is experiencing one of the fastest rates of relative SLR on the U.S. West Coast. In this paper, we argue that SLR presents a transformative opportunity to rekindle environmental relationships and reshape the future of the California North Coast and beyond. As the preeminent higher education institution of the region, Cal Poly Humboldt has the responsibility to be a leader in education, research, and planning for climate resilience. We describe efforts of the Cal Poly Humboldt Sea Level Rise Institute to establish a university-Tribal-community partnership that braids together different approaches and ways of knowing to develop research and planning that supports a resilient California North Coast. Since Wigi is projected to experience the effects of SLR sooner than the rest of the state, the North Coast region is poised to act as an incubator for new ideas and solutions, including Indigenous knowledge systems, and to play a role in influencing equitable, resilient, and transformative SLR adaptation processes in other parts of the state and the world. This will require developing programming and expertise in specific disciplinary areas, but, more importantly, will require the development of opportunities and spaces for various disciplines, ways of knowing, and sectors (e.g. Tribal nations, academia, government, NGOs, private companies, and community groups) to converge and bring the best of what they have to address climate-induced challenges and opportunities

Metabolism and hydrophilicity of the polarised 'Janus face' all-cis tetrafluorocyclohexyl ring, a candidate motif for drug discovery

This work was supported by the Initial Training Network, FLUOR21, funded by the FP7 Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN-607787). JM is supported by a University Research Fellowship from the Royal Society. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the EU 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC No 336289.The metabolism and polarity of the all-cis tetra-fluorocyclohexane motif is explored in the context of its potential as a motif for inclusion in drug discovery programmes. Biotransformations of phenyl all-cis tetra-, tri- and di- fluoro cyclohexanes with the human metabolism model organism Cunninghamella elegans illustrates various hydroxylated products, but limited to benzylic hydroxylation for the phenyl all-cis tetrafluorocyclohexyl ring system. Evaluation of the lipophilicities (Log P) indicate a significant and progressive increase in polarity with increasing fluorination on the cyclohexane ring system. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that water associates much more closely with the hydrogen face of these Janus face cyclohexyl rings than the fluorine face owing to enhanced hydrogen bonding interactions with the polarised hydrogens and water.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Observation of Fundamental Mechanisms in Compression-Induced Phase Transformations Using Ultrafast X-ray Diffraction

As theoretically hypothesized for several decades in group IV transition metals, we have discovered a dynamically stabilized body-centered cubic (bcc) intermediate state in Zr under uniaxial loading at sub-nanosecond timescales. Under ultrafast shock wave compression, rather than the transformation from alpha-Zr to the more disordered hex-3 equilibrium omega-Zr phase, in its place we find the formation of a previously unobserved nonequilibrium bcc metastable intermediate. We probe the compression-induced phase transition pathway in zirconium using time-resolved sub-picosecond x-ray diffraction analysis at the Linac Coherent Light Source. We also present molecular dynamics simulations using a potential derived from first-principles methods which independently predict this intermediate phase under ultrafast shock conditions. In contrast with experiments on longer timescale (> 10 ns) where the phase diagram alone is an adequate predictor of the crystalline structure of a material, our recent study highlights the importance of metastability and time dependence in the kinetics of phase transformations

Active involvement of learning disabilities service users in the development and delivery of a teaching session to pre-registration nurses : students' perspectives

A teaching session about service users' experiences of accessing and receiving health and social care was designed and delivered by service users to first year BSc Nursing students. The aim was to enhance students' knowledge, skills and confidence in caring for people with a learning disability. An evaluation research study was undertaking at one university in London into the perceived effectiveness of the teaching session, including students' perceptions of the extent to which the service users' teaching session was useful, the impact of the session, its benefits and challenges and the sustainability of teaching sessions delivered by service users. Data were collected through an online questionnaire. Quantitative analysis was undertaken of Likert-style questions and qualitative analysis was undertaken using the Framework Method. The session impacted on students' knowledge and understanding of people with a learning disability. Students reported that they felt more comfortable and confident interacting with people with a learning disability. In addition, they reflected on their feelings about caring for people with a learning disability