Navigating Vertical Transfer Online: Access to and Usefulness of Transfer Information on Community College Websites

Objective: To transfer, students often must navigate complex and imperfect information about credit transfer, bureaucratic hurdles, and conflicting degree requirements. This study examined how administrators and transfer personnel think about institutional online transfer resources and examined community colleges’ online transfer information. Methods: For a sample of 20 Texas community colleges, we spoke to key transfer personnel about the information provided to students and reviewed college websites, assessing the ease of access and usefulness of online transfer information. We used a qualitative case study approach to triangulate findings from our data sources. Results: Approximately two-thirds of colleges in the sample fell below the highest standard on our rubric for either ease of access or usefulness, indicating room for improvement at most institutions. Many personnel recognized the strengths and limitations of their college’s online information, though several were ambivalent about the need for improving online information, arguing that online information is not as promising an intervention as face-to-face advising. Conclusions/Contributions: Our research illustrates the need for colleges to develop and update their online information intentionally, determining which information students need in order to transfer (including transfer guides for partner programs/colleges) and how students might search for that information, and ensuring that necessary transfer information is available and up-to-date. The framework provided by our website-review approach, coupled with a proposed rubric to assess ease of access and usefulness of transfer information, may guide institutions in their evaluation of their online transfer information.Educational Leadership and Polic

Expanding Food Agency: Exploring the Theory and Its Scale in Philadelphia, PA

Our contemporary American food system has created complex environments for decisions and actions around food, and those decisions have implications for culture, health, natural resources, social relations, and the economy. And yet, as scholars, we do not understand the particulars of how people actually cook for themselves and their families. This study explores how race and socioeconomic class interact with individual experience of food agency, or personal capacity to plan and prepare meals within one\u27s food environment. It is one stage in a multiphase project developing a comprehensive theory of food agency, applicable in any context; a scale for measuring that agency; and a cooking pedagogy for increasing it. This research was based on an explanatory sequential mixed methods design: a qualitative follow-up to quantitative research (see Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). It is an in-depth qualitative investigation with low-income participants of color, a population that had previously not been included in the development of food agency theory. The study\u27s population was a mix of Drexel University students and community residents of Mantua, in Philadelphia, PA, and was recruited from Drexel\u27s Healthy Cooking Techniques summer course. Data collection included semi-structured interviews and survey administration, and also utilized food agency scale survey responses. Analysis and results are divided into two papers, one narrative, and one a comparison between quantitative components of the food agency scale and corresponding qualitative data. Narrative analysis reinforces the notion that food agency is incredibly complex and self-referential. People with high self-efficacy around food may feel like they have a high level of agency, even if they can identify ways that societal structures impede them. Mixed-methods analysis reveals aspects of food agency that are not reflected by the scale: specifically, strategies for procuring food; environmental and financial impediments to that procurement; and aspiration for greater self-sufficiency and healthfulness in preparing food. Participants are intentional and skillful in resisting economic and environmental obstacles to feeding themselves. They want to be supported in building skills for that daily endeavor. The food agency scale does not gauge many of the strategies with which they resist obstacles, and therefore might be better cast as a cooking action scale, rather than a measure of comprehensive food agency

Social Worker Identity: A Profession in Context

Social work is a broad field encompassing micro, mezzo, and macro areas of practice. Consequently, the field lacks a unifying professional identity due to the expansiveness of the profession. Professional identity is conceptualized as an extension of social identity, vis-à-vis the embodiment of three qualities: connectedness, expansiveness, and effectiveness. This study used 12 in-depth, individual interviews with practicing social workers to explore these qualities. Findings from interviews reveal six primary themes and 21 subthemes pertaining to social worker identity. Themes and subthemes are organized according to three broad families (social work in context, professional trajectories, and external influences). Implications for policy, practice, and future research are presented

Ease of Access and Usefulness of Transfer Information on Community College Websites in Texas

Many first-time community college entrants aspire to earn a bachelor’s degree, but few do. To transfer, students often must overcome information constraints to navigate bureaucratic hurdles and conflicting requirements. For a sample of 20 Texas community colleges, the authors reviewed college websites, assessing the ease of access and usefulness of online transfer information, and spoke to key transfer personnel about the information provided to students. The authors used a qualitative case study approach to triangulate findings from their data sources. Approximately two thirds of colleges in the sample fell below the highest standard on the rubric for either ease of access or usefulness, indicating room for improvement at most institutions. Many personnel interviewed recognized the strengths and limitations of their college’s online information, though several were ambivalent regarding the need for improving online transfer information, arguing that the availability of online information alone is insufficient for successful transfer and not as important as face-to-face advising. This research illustrates the need for colleges to develop and update their online information with care, determining which information students need to transfer (including transfer guides for partner programs/colleges), how students might search for that information, and ensuring that necessary transfer information is available and up-to-date. The framework provided by this rubric may guide institutions in the evaluation of their online transfer information

Dobbs in the Context of Intimate Partner Violence: The Case for a Virginia Constitutional Amendment Protecting Reproductive Choice

Advocates for victims of sexual and domestic violence have longunderstood the critical role that reproductive freedom plays in ensuringvictim safety in the aftermath of trauma. Lawmakers, on the other hand, haveused victims of domestic and sexual violence as political footballs, oftentimessupporting “exceptions” to abortion bans, such as for rape and incest, as ameans of distracting from the actual harms these restrictions cause. Theseexceptions fail to meet the needs of victims and are inadequate protectionsagainst the many forms of abuse, such as reproductive coercion and control,that victims in abusive relationships face. This article examines the dynamicsof abusive relationships through the lens of the power and control model,highlighting examples of reproductive control and coercion experienced byvictims of intimate partner violence in Virginia. It also explores previouspolicy attempts to address reproductive coercion and control that have fallenshort. Ultimately, this article proposes a constitutional amendment to ensureunfettered access to reproductive healthcare as the only viable solution forvictims, and all people in Virginia, going forward

Isotopic and genetic methods reveal the role of the gut microbiome in mammalian host essential amino acid metabolism.

Intestinal microbiota perform many functions for their host, but among the most important is their role in metabolism, especially the conversion of recalcitrant biomass that the host is unable to digest into bioavailable compounds. Most studies have focused on the assistance gut microbiota provide in the metabolism of carbohydrates, however, their role in host amino acid metabolism is poorly understood. We conducted an experiment on Mus musculus using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and carbon isotope analysis of essential amino acids (AAESS) to quantify the community composition of gut microbiota and the contribution of carbohydrate carbon used by the gut microbiome to synthesize AAESS that are assimilated by mice to build skeletal muscle tissue. The relative abundances of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes inversely varied as a function of dietary macromolecular content, with Firmicutes dominating when mice were fed low-protein diets that contained the highest proportions of simple carbohydrates (sucrose). Mixing models estimated that the microbial contribution of AAESS to mouse muscle varied from less than 5% (threonine, lysine, and phenylalanine) to approximately 60% (valine) across diet treatments, with the Firmicute-dominated microbiome associated with the greatest contribution. Our results show that intestinal microbes can provide a significant source of the AAESS their host uses to synthesize structural tissues. The role that gut microbiota play in the amino acid metabolism of animals that consume protein-deficient diets is likely a significant but under-recognized aspect of foraging ecology and physiology

Pilot testing of a nudge-based digital intervention (Welbot) to improve sedentary behaviour and wellbeing in the workplace

Welbot is a nudge-based digital intervention that aims to reduce sedentary behaviour and improve physical and mental wellbeing at work. The purpose of this study was to pilot test the Welbot intervention. Forty-one (6M/35F) University staff (M age = 43-years) participated in this study, which was a single arm repeated measures trial conducted over three weeks of intervention. The primary outcome was sedentary behaviour (measured subjectively and objectively) and secondary outcomes included: mental wellbeing, procrastination, depression, anxiety and stress, and work engagement. A subset of participants (n = 6) wore an ActivPAL to objectively measure activity data, while another subset of participants (n = 6) completed a qualitative semi-structured interview to ascertain experiences of using Welbot. Following the intervention, a Friedman non-parametric test revealed that participants self-reported significantly less time sitting and more time standing and objectively recorded more steps at the week-1 follow-up. A series of paired t-tests exhibited that changes in all secondary outcomes were in the expected direction. However, only improvements in depression, anxiety, and stress were significant. After using Welbot, thematic analysis demonstrated that participants perceived they had a positive behaviour change, increased awareness of unhealthy behaviours at work, and provided suggestions for intervention improvement. Overall, findings provided indications of the potential positive impact Welbot may have on employees’ wellbeing, however, limitations are noted. Recommendations for intervention improvement including personalisation (e.g., individual preferences for nudges and the option to sync Welbot with online calendars) and further research into how users engage with Welbot are provided

Examining phenolic induction in Fraxinus americana in response to herbivory.

General EcologyMany plants contain chemical defenses known as secondary compounds; one of the most prevalent classes is known as phenolics. Certain plants have been known to induce phenolics in response to damage, while others maintain constant levels of phenolics even after damage. In order to determine if phenolic induction occurs in white ash trees (Fraxinus americana) in response to herbivory, leaflets were sampled to test for local induction (at the site of herbivory) and systemic induction (induction throughout the plant). Induction as a response to mechanical damage (e.g. slicing) was measured in order to remove a potential noisy variable from the results. Leaflets for the local/systemic test were eaten by forest tent caterpillars (Malacosoma disstria) and samples of induced leaflets were collected 24 hours after herbivory. The Folin-Denis analysis was used to determine the magnitude of change in phenolics between the constitutive and induced levels. Local induction was not found, but systemic induction was found to occur evenly between leaflets, despite predictions that there would be a spatial differences. One potential explanation for this was volatile gaseous compounds sending airborne cues to the undamaged leaflets, causing induction. Slicing was not found to cause significant levels of induction.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78384/1/Boos_Kerch_Poisson_Reid_2010.pd