Investigating Elementary School Teachers’ Interactions Relating to Newcomer Emergent Bilingual Students

Five of the top 16 counties in the United States with the fastest-growing Latino populations from 2000 to 2007 are in Georgia (Pew Hispanic Research Center, 2015). The Georgia metropolitan area where the study occurred has more Latinos than Austin, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, or Tucson (Pew Hispanic Research Center, 2015). Particularly following the New Latino Diaspora (Hamann, Wortham, & Murillo, 2002; Murillo, 2002; and Villenas, 2002) schools in the Southeastern United States have more and more Spanish-speaking students (Pew Hispanic Research Center, 2015). However, most classroom teachers have not received specialized training or professional development relating to these students (Ballantyne, Sanderman, & Levy, 2008; Barrera & Jiménez, 2000; Carrasquillo & Rodríguez, 2002; Dove & Honigsfeld, 2010; Echevarria, Short, & Powers, 2006; Kim, 2010; Walker, Shafer, & Iiams, 2004). During my dissertation study I interacted with three classroom teachers during 12 weekly gatherings and three individual interviews. We developed a newcomer kit for classroom teachers and identified needs of teachers of newcomer emergent bilingual students. After thematic analysis of the data, findings included five themes: newcomers, resources, perceptions, connections with classroom experiences, and professional development. Discussion includes teacher development, teacher dispositions, perceptions of teaching and of self-efficacy, and pre-service teacher education

Preparing School Counselors in training to implement English as a Second Language (ESL) strategies during classroom lessons

School counselors provide academic, social-emotional, and college and career access information to all students via core curriculum classroom lessons. English Learners benefit from differentiated classroom instruction that makes content engaging and accessible. Despite this need for differentiated instruction, few educators have received English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching strategies training. This mixed methods study examined how an ESL teaching strategies workshop influenced the utilization of these approaches by school counselors in training. A triangulation mixed methods design was used to collect complementary data about participant behavior and thinking. Modeling ESL strategies alone did not yield statistically significant differences in the types of strategies implemented by school counselors in training. However, participants did become more aware of the needs of English Learners and actions that could promote classroom engagement. Implications for training, research, and the scholarship of teaching and learning are discussed

Counselors-in-training evaluation of faculty and site supervisors’ competency and effectiveness

Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Special Education, Counseling and Student AffairsMajor Professor Not ListedBecause clinical supervision plays a vital role in the education and preparation of counselors-in-training, interest in best practices in supervision and competency-based supervision has increased. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine how counselors-in-training perceive the competency of faculty and site supervisors and how the type of supervisors and supervisors’ perceived level of experience impacts the counselors-in-trainings’ ratings of supervisory competency. Using convenience sampling, counselors-in-training from CACREP-accredited programs (n = 77) completed an online survey rating supervisors’ competency for a total of 230 faculty and site supervisors. Surveys consisted of demographic information and the instrument, the Supervision Evaluation and Supervisory Competence (SE-SC) short version scale (Gonsalvez, 2020). Overall, the results of this study indicated that the role of being a faculty supervisor or site supervisor did not yield substantial differences in perceived supervisory competency. However, when examining the differences in level of supervisory experience, the results yielded a multitude of differences, notably between novice- and intermediate-level supervisors and novice- and expert-level supervisors. An additional finding revealed a high frequency of inadequate or negative supervision experiences. Implications, limitations, and recommendation for research and practice based off these findings are discussed

Cost-effectiveness analysis of the management of distal ureteral stones in children

Objective To determine the most cost-effective approach to the management of distal ureteral stones in children given the potential for recurrent renal colic during a trial of passage versus potential stent discomfort and complications of ureteroscopy. Methods We developed a decision tree to project costs and clinical outcomes associated with observation, medical explusive therapy (MET), and ureteroscopy for the management of an index patient with a 4mm distal ureteral stone. We determined which strategy would be least costly and offer the most pain-free days within 30 days of diagnosis. We performed a one-way sensitivity analysis on the probability of successful stone passage with MET. We obtained probabilities from the literature and costs from the 2016 Pediatric Health Information System Database. Results Ureteroscopywas the costliest strategy but maximized the number of pain-free days within 30 days of diagnosis ($5,282/29 pain-free days). MET was less costly than ureteroscopybut also less effective ($615/21.8 pain-free days). Observation cost more than MET and was also less effective ($2,139/15.5 pain-free days). The one-way sensitivity analysis on the probability of successful stone passage with MET demonstrated that ureteroscopyalways has the highest net monetary benefits value and is therefore the recommended strategy given a fixed WTP. Discussion Using a rigorous decision-science approach, we found that ureteroscopy is the recommended strategy in children with small distal ureteral stones. Although it cost more than MET, it resulted in more pain-free days in the first 30 days following diagnosis given the faster resolution of the stone episode

Media multitasking in adolescence

Media use has been on the rise in adolescents overall, and in particular, the amount of media multitasking—multiple media consumed simultaneously, such as having a text message conversation while watching TV—has been increasing. In adults, heavy media multitasking has been linked with poorer performance on a number of laboratory measures of cognition, but no relationship has yet been established between media-multitasking behavior and real-world outcomes. Examining individual differences across a group of adolescents, we found that more frequent media multitasking in daily life was associated with poorer performance on statewide standardized achievement tests of math and English in the classroom, poorer performance on behavioral measures of executive function (working memory capacity) in the laboratory, and traits of greater impulsivity and lesser growth mindset. Greater media multitasking had a relatively circumscribed set of associations, and was not related to behavioral measures of cognitive processing speed, implicit learning, or manual dexterity, or to traits of grit and conscientiousness. Thus, individual differences in adolescent media multitasking were related to specific differences in executive function and in performance on real-world academic achievement measures: More media multitasking was associated with poorer executive function ability, worse academic achievement, and a reduced growth mindset.Bill & Melinda Gates Foundatio

Developing Community-Based Learning in an Action Model Framework: Faculty Reflect on their Development as Teachers and Scholars

Faculty reflect on their participation in a Community-Based Learning (CBL) Fellowship designed to create a community of teachers and scholars immersed in an integrated model of academic-community engagement at a small liberal arts college. The program created a space to grapple with CBL principles together, provided accountability and encouragement, and became a source of support through isolation and tensions. Traditional philosophies of teaching and scholarship were challenged and faculty embraced their roles as partners in advancing social justice

Oxygen transfer rate model for cell-free and predictive D.O. control in intensified bioreactor processes

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The ability of a limited metabolic assessment to identify pediatric stone formers with metabolic abnormalities

Introduction American Urological Association guidelines recommend a urinary metabolic evaluation after the first stone event in all pediatric stone patients. Prior studies identified hypercalciuria and urine hypovolemia as the most common abnormalities in children with urolithiasis. Recent data suggest that hypocitraturia is most prevalent. It was hypothesized that a limited evaluation would detect the majority of clinically significant metabolic abnormalities in pediatric stone formers. Material and methods A retrospective analysis of all children (<18 years of age) with renal/ureteral calculi evaluated at the study institution from 2005 to 2015 was performed. Children with ≥ one 24-h urinary metabolic profile after a clinical visit for renal/ureteral calculi were included. Those with bladder stones and those with undercollection or overcollection or missing urinary creatinine were excluded. Demographics and data from the first urinary metabolic profile and stone analyses were collected. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive value (NPV) of a limited urinary metabolic evaluation consisting of four parameters (24-h calcium, citrate, and oxalate and low urinary volume) were compared to a complete urinary metabolic profile. The number and type of metabolic abnormalities that would have been missed with this limited evaluation weredetermined. Results Of 410 patients, 21 were excluded for age ≥18 years, 13 for bladder stones, 248 for overcollections, 38 for undercollections, and 10 for missing creatinine. This left 80 patients for inclusion: median age 11.4 years, 60% female, and 96.3% white. Of the entire cohort, 69.6% had hypocitraturia, 52.5% had low urine volume, and 22.5% had hypercalciuria. Sensitivity was 87.5%. Specificity could not be calculated because no patients had a normal complete metabolic evaluation. The NPV was zero, and the positive predictive value was 100%, but these are artifacts resulting from the absence of patients with a normal complete metabolic evaluation. Of the 80 patients, 10 had at least one abnormality missed by a limited metabolic evaluation (Table 1). The missed abnormalities were high pH (n = 6), abnormal 24-h phosphorus (low in 1 patient and high in 1 patient), low 24-h magnesium (n = 3), low 24-h potassium (n = 3), and high 24-h sodium (n = 4). Discussion A limited urinary metabolic evaluation would have detected the vast majority of clinically significant metabolic abnormalities in the study sample. Approximately two-thirds of the study patients submitted inadequate 24-h urine specimens. Conclusions A simplified approach to metabolic evaluation in first-time stone formers with a stone analysis available was proposed. This streamlined approach could simplify the metabolic evaluation and reduce health care costs

O-Antigen-Dependent Colicin Insensitivity of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli.

The outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria presents a significant barrier for molecules entering the cell. Nevertheless, colicins, which are antimicrobial proteins secreted by Escherichia coli, can target other E. coli cells by binding to cell surface receptor proteins and activating their import, resulting in cell death. Previous studies have documented high rates of nonspecific resistance (insensitivity) of various E. coli strains toward colicins that is independent of colicin-specific immunity and is instead associated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the outer membrane. This observation poses a contradiction: why do E. coli strains have colicin-expressing plasmids, which are energetically costly to retain, if cells around them are likely to be naturally insensitive to the colicin they produce? Here, using a combination of transposon sequencing and phenotypic microarrays, we show that colicin insensitivity of uropathogenic E. coli sequence type 131 (ST131) is dependent on the production of its O-antigen but that minor changes in growth conditions render the organism sensitive toward colicins. The reintroduction of O-antigen into E. coli K-12 demonstrated that it is the density of O-antigen that is the dominant factor governing colicin insensitivity. We also show, by microscopy of fluorescently labelled colicins, that growth conditions affect the degree of occlusion by O-antigen of outer membrane receptors but not the clustered organization of receptors. The result of our study demonstrate that environmental conditions play a critical role in sensitizing E. coli toward colicins and that O-antigen in LPS is central to this role.IMPORTANCEEscherichia coli infections can be a major health burden, especially with the organism becoming increasingly resistant to "last-resort" antibiotics such as carbapenems. Although colicins are potent narrow-spectrum antimicrobials with potential as future antibiotics, high levels of naturally occurring colicin insensitivity have been documented which could limit their efficacy. We identify O-antigen-dependent colicin insensitivity in a clinically relevant uropathogenic E. coli strain and show that this insensitivity can be circumvented by minor changes to growth conditions. The results of our study suggest that colicin insensitivity among E. coli organisms has been greatly overestimated, and as a consequence, colicins could in fact be effective species-specific antimicrobials targeting pathogenic E. coli such as uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC)

Leveraging Factors of Self-Efficacy and Motivation to Optimize Stroke Recovery

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health framework recognizes that an individual's functioning post-stroke reflects an interaction between their health condition and contextual factors encompassing personal and environmental factors. Personal factors significantly impact rehabilitation outcomes as they determine how an individual evaluates their situation and copes with their condition in daily life. A key personal factor is self-efficacy—an individual's belief in their capacity to achieve certain outcomes. Self-efficacy influences an individual's motivational state to execute behaviors necessary for achieving desired rehabilitation outcomes. Stroke rehabilitation practice and research now acknowledge self-efficacy and motivation as critical elements in post-stroke recovery, and increasing evidence highlights their contributions to motor (re)learning. Given the informative value of neuroimaging-based biomarkers in stroke, elucidating the neurological underpinnings of self-efficacy and motivation may optimize post-stroke recovery. In this review, we examine the role of self-efficacy and motivation in stroke rehabilitation and recovery, identify potential neural substrates underlying these factors from current neuroimaging literature, and discuss how leveraging these factors and their associated neural substrates has the potential to advance the field of stroke rehabilitation