Relational Dimensions of Service-Learning: Common Ground for Faculty, Students, and Community Partners

Instructors, students, and community partners often live in separate “discourse communities.” The authors conducted a study to investigate the issues at stake in the relationships among those three primary players in service-learning. Analysis of interviews with student-participants in service-learning yielded four primary dimensions of those relationships: Control, Involvement, Preparation, and Oversight. These were advanced as the beginning of a common language for bridging the disconnect among those separate discourse communities. Role theory was used as a context for the results and to frame remedies in terms of role boundary expansion. The authors offered practical suggestions to practitioners as well as directions for future research

Defining Reference Sequences for Nocardia Species by Similarity and Clustering Analyses of 16S rRNA Gene Sequence Data

International audienceBACKGROUND: The intra- and inter-species genetic diversity of bacteria and the absence of 'reference', or the most representative, sequences of individual species present a significant challenge for sequence-based identification. The aims of this study were to determine the utility, and compare the performance of several clustering and classification algorithms to identify the species of 364 sequences of 16S rRNA gene with a defined species in GenBank, and 110 sequences of 16S rRNA gene with no defined species, all within the genus Nocardia. METHODS: A total of 364 16S rRNA gene sequences of Nocardia species were studied. In addition, 110 16S rRNA gene sequences assigned only to the Nocardia genus level at the time of submission to GenBank were used for machine learning classification experiments. Different clustering algorithms were compared with a novel algorithm or the linear mapping (LM) of the distance matrix. Principal Components Analysis was used for the dimensionality reduction and visualization. RESULTS: The LM algorithm achieved the highest performance and classified the set of 364 16S rRNA sequences into 80 clusters, the majority of which (83.52%) corresponded with the original species. The most representative 16S rRNA sequences for individual Nocardia species have been identified as 'centroids' in respective clusters from which the distances to all other sequences were minimized; 110 16S rRNA gene sequences with identifications recorded only at the genus level were classified using machine learning methods. Simple kNN machine learning demonstrated the highest performance and classified Nocardia species sequences with an accuracy of 92.7% and a mean frequency of 0.578. CONCLUSION: The identification of centroids of 16S rRNA gene sequence clusters using novel distance matrix clustering enables the identification of the most representative sequences for each individual species of Nocardia and allows the quantitation of inter- and intra-species variability

Second-Order Development in Interpersonal Communication

Developmental studies in interpersonal communication have focused on first‐order development—relational development within a given matrix of rules. Neglected has been the interpersonal communication that results in second‐order development—the creation of a new interpersonal system. A rationale, a model, and procedures for the study of second‐order development are presented. A case is analyzed, and several conclusions are proposed. Second‐order development (1) follows a predictable pattern, (2) it is marked by personal struggle, (3) its outcomes are oblique to its happening, and (4) it involves risk. Future research is directed toward the effects on second‐order development of certain kinds of episodes and their sequential order and toward the use of the procedures demonstrated in analyzing the development of long‐standing relationships

Relational Transitions: An Inquiry Into Their Structure and Functions

Over the years there has been a persistent concern over the nature of relational transitions, the use of case study methods to investigate them, and a phenomenology of relationship partners. In this study, these three concerns were brought together and a structural analysis was performed on two spouses\u27 narrative accounts of their near divorce. The analysis indicated (1) that the two accounts had a common underlying structure involving four types of episodes: Anticipation, Separation, Discovery and Reconciliation; (2) that the structure of the accounts was marked by three types of dialectical oppositions: affect, intimacy and time; and (3) that the period of relational transition was a time for the establishment of new meanings and new rules for relational practice. Further research was suggested on the role of crisis in relational regeneration

Between Spearheads: Bricolage and Relationships

A narrative perspective was employed to explore the problematic concept \u27relationship\u27. Relationships are said to exist either in relational partners\u27 patterned behaviors or in their shared perceptions, although neither alternative is well supported in the literature. In response, the claims were made (1) that relationship narratives transcend the behavior/perception dilemma by both depicting partners\u27 behaviors and reporting their perceptions, and (2) that relationship stories are our primary source of knowledge about relationships. Certain advantages of this approach were developed, and to illustrate them, Levi-Strauss\u27s concepts of bricoleur and bricolage were used as analytical tools for examining selected relationship stories. The narratives examined were excerpts from James Agee\u27s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Russell Baker\u27s Growing Up, and Eudora Welty\u27s One Writer\u27s Beginnings. Their accounts were found to depict persons-in-relationship as well as certain commonly encountered episode types. In addition, the concept of the bricoleur called attention to the centrality of process in relationships, and the concept of bricolage pointed to the nature and source of materials for conducting relationships, their portability from one relationship to another, and their social-dialogical dimension

Sociolinguistics and the Counselling Process

Sociolinguistics is the study of language as part of culture and society.Counselling, basically a linguistic-communicative process, has too often failed to consider systematic knowledge from related fields. This article discusses basic concepts of sociolinguistics and considers their relation to the counselling process.La socio-linguistique étudie la langue dans le cadre de la culture et de la société. La consultation, qui a à sa base un processus linguistique et communicatif, a trop souvent ignoré les données systématiques dedisciplines connexes. Cet article veut discuter les concepts de base de la socio-linguistique et indiquer leur lien au processus de la consultation

Relational Dimensions of Service-Learning: Common Ground for Faculty, Students, and Community Partners

Instructors, students, and community partners often live in separate “discourse communities.” The authors conducted a study to investigate the issues at stake in the relationships among those three primary players in service-learning. Analysis of interviews with student-participants in service-learning yielded four primary dimensions of those relationships: Control, Involvement, Preparation, and Oversight. These were advanced as the beginning of a common language for bridging the disconnect among those separate discourse communities. Role theory was used as a context for the results and to frame remedies in terms of role boundary expansion. The authors offered practical suggestions to practitioners as well as directions for future research

Relational Dimensions of Service-Learning: Common Ground for Faculty, Students, and Community Partners

Instructors, students, and community partners often live in separate discourse communities. The authors conducted a study to investigate the issues at stake in the relationships among those three primary players in service-learning. Analysis of interviews with student-participants in service-learning yielded four primary dimensions of those relationships: Control, Involvement, Preparation, and Oversight. These were advanced as the beginning of a common language for bridging the disconnect among those separate discourse communities. Role theory was used as a context for the results and to frame remedies in terms of role boundary expansion. The authors offered practical suggestions to practitioners as well as directions for future research