Using participatory action research to support pupil participation in improving a sense of community in a secondary school

In 2007 specific guidance was issued to schools about the duty of staff to promote community cohesion (DCSF, 2007). An aspect of this concerns the extent to which pupils experience a sense of belonging to their school. ‘Belonging’ can be understood through the construct of a psychological sense of community. Research by McMillan and Chavis (1986) has identified four major components of sense of community, along with an index that can be used to survey this. This index, the Sense of Community Index- 2 (Chavis et al. 2008), was revised and administered to pupils in a large secondary school. Aims- The research described in this report and supported by the Children’s Workforce Development Council, identified a representative group of volunteer pupils to investigate the outcomes of a survey about the sense of community in the school. Data were collected using participatory action research (PAR). The research aimed to learn about the use of PAR itself. Method- Following an initial recruitment meeting, eight data collection meetings were held, with the number of pupils attending ranging from zero to 14, with a typical attendance of four pupils. Recognising that pupils might need support to become action researchers, materials were prepared outlining the steps involved in action research. The co-researchers were also supported by discussion and a variety of forms to assist with their planning and record keeping. The intention was that the pupil co-researchers would gather information and ideas from their own tutor groups and return to a weekly research group that the lead researchers would facilitate. The group would use the tools its members brought to make an action plan to improve the sense of community in the school. Findings- The research group demonstrated a good understanding of sense of community and a commitment to investigating it further, in particular identifying how to improve aspects of ‘influence’, ‘membership’, and ‘fulfilment of needs’. At the same time, difficulties were encountered trying to maintain momentum with the pupils, leading to a decision to terminate this stage of the research and to refocus it. Ultimately, a significant outcome of this research concerns the circumstances that might allow PAR to flourish

Where Homeless Families Come From: Toward a Prevention-Oriented Approach in Washington, DC

The District of Columbia shelter system currently operates on a continuum of care model that assumes all or most people with housing emergencies should enter shelters and move progressively through a series of fully subsidized residential programs, then on to independence. The federal government encouraged the development of this model, and it is one that predominates nationally. This approach, however, is inflexible and has relatively high fixed unit costs because it assumes that all homeless people, regardless of the nature of their housing emergency, should enter a system of supervised residential programs. In fact, not all segments of the homeless population require the extensive social services necessary to help chronically homeless persons. States and localities recognize that not everyone should enter the shelter system, and have increasingly looked to alternative methods to divert families and individuals from shelters. Typically they combine rigorous needs assessment with emergency housing assistance-such as time-limited rent subsidies, rent arrears assistance, relocation grants, utility assistance, or loans and often supplement such financial assistance with case management and/or referral to community programs. Homelessness prevention programs target the nearly homeless - those who with assistance can overcome an acute housing crisis and avoid a shelter stay - and generally are delivered in a neighborhood context. Unfortunately, federal funds for homelessness cannot currently be used for such activity

The Differential Impacts of Federally Assisted Housing Programs on Nearby Property Values: A Philadelphia Case Study

Prior research has found negative impacts of public housing on neighborhood quality. Few studies have examined the impact of public and other assisted housing programs on real estate prices, particularly differential impact by program type. In this study, federally assisted housing units by program type are aggregated by 1/8- or 1/4-mile radii around individual property sales and regressed on sales prices from 1989 through 1991, controlling for area demographic, housing, and amenity variables. Results show that public housing developments exert a modest negative impact on property values. Scattered-site public housing and units rented with Section 8 certificates and vouchers have slight negative impacts. Federal Housing Administration–assisted units, public housing homeownership program units, and Section 8 New Construction and Rehabilitation units have modest positive impacts. Low-Income Housing Tax Credit sites have a slight negative effect. Results suggest that homeownership programs and new construction/rehabilitation programs have a more positive impact on property values

Where the Homeless Come From: A Study of the Prior Address Distribution of Families Admitted to Public Shelters in New York City and Philadelphia

This study investigates hypotheses regarding the association of census tract variables with the risk for homelessness. We used prior address information reported by families entering emergency shelters in two large U.S. cities to characterize the nature of that distribution. Three dense clusters of homeless origins were found in Philadelphia and three in New York City, accounting for 67 percent and 61 percent of shelter admissions and revealing that homeless families’ prior addresses are more highly concentrated than the poverty distribution in both cities. The rate of shelter admission is strongly and positively related to the concentration of poor, African-American, and female-headed households with young children in a neighborhood. It is also correlated with fewer youth, elderly, and immigrants. Such areas have higher rates of unemployment and labor force nonparticipation, more housing crowding, more abandonment, higher rates of vacancy, and higher rent-to-income ratios than other areas

Plankton imagery data inform satellite-based estimates of diatom carbon

© The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Chase, A. P., Boss, E. S., Haentjens, N., Culhane, E., Roesler, C., & Karp-Boss, L. Plankton imagery data inform satellite-based estimates of diatom carbon. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(13), (2022): e2022GL098076, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098076.Estimating the biomass of phytoplankton communities via remote sensing is a key requirement for understanding global ocean ecosystems. Of particular interest is the carbon associated with diatoms given their unequivocal ecological and biogeochemical roles. Satellite-based algorithms often rely on accessory pigment proxies to define diatom biomass, despite a lack of validation against independent diatom biomass measurements. We used imaging-in-flow cytometry to quantify diatom carbon in the western North Atlantic, and compared results to those obtained from accessory pigment-based approximations. Based on this analysis, we offer a new empirical formula to estimate diatom carbon concentrations from chlorophyll a. Additionally, we developed a neural network model in which we integrated chlorophyll a and environmental information to estimate diatom carbon distributions in the western North Atlantic. The potential for improving satellite-based diatom carbon estimates by integrating environmental information into a model, compared to models that are based solely on chlorophyll a, is discussed.Funding for this work was provided by NASA grants #NNX15AE67G and #80NSSC20M0202. A. Chase is supported by a Washington Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship

Help in Time: An Evaluation of Philadelphia\u27s Community-Based Homelessness Prevention Program

This report provides an evaluation of Philadelphia\u27s neighborhood-based homelessness prevention initiative. Results indicate that nearly all households served do not become homeless. But it is unclear if households would have become homeless had they not been served. Recommendations are made for targeting prevention interventions to families requesting shelter

Observations of a pulse driven cool polar jet by SDO/AIA

Context. We observe a solar jet at north polar coronal hole (NPCH) using SDO AIA 304 {\deg}A image data on 3 August 2010. The jet rises obliquely above the solar limb and then retraces its propagation path to fall back. Aims. We numerically model this observed solar jet by implementing a realistic (VAL-C) model of solar temperature. Methods. We solve two-dimensional ideal magnetohydrodynamic equations numerically to simulate the observed solar jet. We consider a localized velocity pulse that is essentially parallel to the background magnetic field lines and initially launched at the top of the solar photosphere. The pulse steepens into a shock at higher altitudes, which triggers plasma perturbations that exhibit the observed features of the jet. The typical direction of the pulse also clearly exhibits the leading front of the moving jet. Results. Our numerical simulations reveal that a large amplitude initial velocity pulse launched at the top of the solar photosphere produces in general the observed properties of the jet, e.g., upward and backward average velocities, height, width, life-time, and ballistic nature. Conclusions. The close matching between the jet observations and numerical simulations provides first strong evidence for the formation of this jet by a single velocity pulse. The strong velocity pulse is most likely generated by the low- atmospheric reconnection in the polar region which results in triggering of the jet. The downflowing material of the jet most likely vanishes in the next upcoming velocity pulses from lower solar atmosphere, and therefore distinctly launched a single jet upward in the solar atmosphere is observed.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, A&

Temporal aspects and frequency distributions of solar soft X-ray flares

A statistical analysis of almost 50000 soft X-ray (SXR) flares observed by GOES during the period 1976-2000 is presented. On the basis of this extensive data set, statistics on temporal properties of soft X-ray flares, such as duration, rise and decay times with regard to the SXR flare classes is presented. Correlations among distinct flare parameters, i.e. SXR peak flux, fluence and characteristic times, and frequency distributions of flare occurrence as function of the peak flux, the fluence and the duration are derived. We discuss the results of the analysis with respect to statistical flare models, the idea of coronal heating by nanoflares, and elaborate on implications of the obtained results on the Neupert effect in solar flares.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure