Recreating Resistance: Rape Culture Resistance Through Human Rights Education

Sexual violence and rape culture are substantial issues in our society and on our college campuses. The goal of this project is to provide research that investigates rape culture on college campuses as a human rights violation and ways to address it in an intersectional manner through human rights education. The research for this project, conducted through a literature review, provides the ability to look at rape culture through a human rights education lens. In response to the research conducted, Recreate Resistance was created as a pedagogical tool for educators in First Year Experience (FYE) programs on college campuses. Recreate Resistance looks to address rape culture resistance within a human rights context and attempts to provide a framework for cultural change. Educators reviewing this will be able to utilize a completed pedagogical tool available online with recommendations provided for implementation. The topic of sexual violence and rape culture is constantly evolving in today’s world, and this project will need to continue to evolve with it

Challenges Foster Youth Face in Pursuing Higher Education

This discussion aims to address the challenges that foster youth face in pursuing higher education. With little to no family and community support college is more demanding for foster youth. About 50% of foster youth graduate from high school and less than 3% of foster youth graduate from four-year colleges. Additionally, first generation foster youth face their own unique identities and trials in college. This discussion will include a personal perspective of how foster youth are viewed in the education system

THE EFFECTS OF SYSTEM OF LEAST PROMPTS ON PRESCHOOL CHILDREN’S PLAY SKILLS

This research study utilized a multiple probe design to teach pretend play skills while embedding the system of least prompts teaching strategy during pretend play. Four preschool-aged children with and without disabilities participated in the study. When the system of least prompts was embedded within pretend play, play skills increased

The Knowledge, Attitude, and Self-Reported Behaviors of Psychiatric Nurses Towards Obese Psychiatric Patients on Atypical Anti-Psychotic Medications

Background/Purpose: Obesity has continued to increase over the years with increase in morbidity and mortality. The advancement of psychiatric treatment has resulted in a higher prevalence of obesity among the psychiatric population related to the side-effects of the newer atypical anti-psychotics. This study addresses nurses’ attitudes towards obesity and people who are obese, focusing on psychiatric patients. Negative attitudes and low knowledge about psychiatric patients on atypical anti-psychotics can interfere with psychiatric nurses’ therapeutic potential to support patients with health promotion behaviors. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure the knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported behavior of psychiatric nurses towards the mentally ill obese patient. The secondary purpose was to determine if psychiatric nurses’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviors are different when the patient is obese versus normal weight. Methods: This study uses a descriptive and comparative design with two phases to develop and psychometrically test one instrument that can be used in future studies. In phase one existing instruments were adapted using 6 expert panelists for content validity. The instrument consists of four subsections; the knowledge (NKAAM), general attitudes towards obesity (NATOP), intrinsic attitudes (IATOP), and the self-reported behaviors (SRBTOP) subsections. In the second phase, the instrument was given to a national sample (n= 149) of psychiatric nurses. Two developed vignette scenarios, of an obese and a normal weight individual with severe mental illness, were randomly assigned to the participants via on-line survey questionnaire or sealed non-identifying paper questionnaires. Data analysis include instrument testing (content validity index, reliability), parametric testing, t-test, ANOVA, and chi square. Results: Reliability could not be obtained for the instrument as a whole. Findings indicate the nurses were generally knowledgeable about the medications and their side-effects but unknowledgeable about dosages. Positive correlation was found between years of psychiatric experience (p=.015) and participant’s weight to thinking that obese patients are aware of associated health risks. A t-test found significance between the 2 groups on items “strong-willed…. weak-willed”, “sociable….not sociable”, “attractive….unattractive”, and “trusting….suspicious” with more biased responses from the obese patient vignette. ANOVA and post-hoc tests found more bias in the older nurses towards the obese patient. On the SRBTOP subsection significance was found between the 2 groups (p=.000) on the mean scores and several of the items indicating bias towards the obese patient in the vignette. Conclusions and Implications: This instrument is a step towards measuring the negative attitudes nurses may have towards psychiatric patients who are obese. Also, understanding nurses’ underlying knowledge and attitude will help educators to identify and direct educational needs of psychiatric nurses, as students and nurses in the clinical areas

Mid-J CO Emission From NGC 891: Microturbulent Molecular Shocks in Normal Star Forming Galaxies

We have detected the CO(6-5), CO(7-6), and [CI] 370 micron lines from the nuclear region of NGC 891 with our submillimeter grating spectrometer ZEUS on the CSO. These lines provide constraints on photodissociation region (PDR) and shock models that have been invoked to explain the H_2 S(0), S(1), and S(2) lines observed with Spitzer. We analyze our data together with the H_2 lines, CO(3-2), and IR continuum from the literature using a combined PDR/shock model. We find that the mid-J CO originates almost entirely from shock-excited warm molecular gas; contributions from PDRs are negligible. Also, almost all the H_2 S(2) and half of the S(1) line is predicted to emerge from shocks. Shocks with a pre-shock density of 2x10^4 cm^-3 and velocities of 10 km/s and 20 km/s for C-shocks and J-shocks, respectively, provide the best fit. In contrast, the [CI] line emission arises exclusively from the PDR component, which is best parameterized by a density of 3.2x10^3 cm^-3 and a FUV field of G_o = 100 for both PDR/shock-type combinations. Our mid-J CO observations show that turbulence is a very important heating source in molecular clouds, even in normal quiescent galaxies. The most likely energy sources for the shocks are supernovae or outflows from YSOs. The energetics of these shock sources favor C-shock excitation of the lines.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures, 6 tables, accepted by Ap

Evidence for a Mid-Atomic-Number Atmosphere in the Neutron Star 1E1207.4-5209

Recently Sanwal et al. (2002) reported the first clear detection of absorption features in an isolated neutron star, 1E1207.4-5209. Remarkably their spectral modeling demonstrates that the atmosphere cannot be Hydrogen. They speculated that the neutron star atmosphere is indicative of ionized Helium in an ultra-strong (~1.5x10^{14} G) magnetic field. We have applied our recently developed atomic model (Mori & Hailey 2002) for strongly-magnetized neutron star atmospheres to this problem. We find that this model, along with some simp le atomic physics arguments, severely constrains the possible composition of the atmosphere. In particular we find that the absorption features are naturally associated with He-like Oxygen or Neon in a magnetic field of ~10^{12} G, comparable to the magnetic field derived from the spin parameters of the neutron star. This interpretation is consistent with the relative line strengths and widths and is robust. Our model predicts possible substructure in the spectral features, which has now been reported by XMM-Newton (Mereghetti et al. 2002). However we show the Mereghetti et al. claim that the atmosphere is Iron or some comparable high-Z element at ~ 10^{12} G is easily ruled out by the Chandra and XMM-Newton data.Comment: 5 pages, AASTeX, Revised version. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Drugs, Crime, and the Epigenetics of Hedonic Allostasis

Researchers have found staggering numbers of drug addicts among incarcerated populations and have conceded that drug abuse is an important correlate of deviant behavior, but few included an understanding of the biological process leading to drug addiction. Chronic drug abuse and criminality are housed within a much broader propensity of some individuals to engage in a variety of antisocial behaviors, and this article clarifies the link and proposed shared mechanisms between criminal behavior and drug abuse through a molecular-genetic and neurobiological lens. Multiple genes, enzymes, and transcription factors are involved in drug addition, with over 100 genes known to be changed with repeated cocaine exposure. The epigenetics of drug addiction, with a specific emphasis on the addiction of cocaine, are brought under examination here. The epigenetic processes of methylation and acetylation are described and their long term effects are illustrated within the processes of allostatic changes to the brain. After the establishment of the rudiments of epigenetic operation and their effects, a discussion is presented on the opponent process and incentive-sensitization models of drug addiction and how all of these factors are impacted by socio-cultural variables

CO-Dark Star Formation and Black Hole Activity in 3C 368 at z = 1.131: Coeval Growth of Stellar and Supermassive Black Hole Masses

We present the detection of four far-infrared fine-structure oxygen lines, as well as strong upper limits for the CO(2-1) and [N II] 205 um lines, in 3C 368, a well-studied radio-loud galaxy at z = 1.131. These new oxygen lines, taken in conjunction with previously observed neon and carbon fine-structure lines, suggest a powerful active galactic nucleus (AGN), accompanied by vigorous and extended star formation. A starburst dominated by O8 stars, with an age of ~6.5 Myr, provides a good fit to the fine-structure line data. This estimated age of the starburst makes it nearly concurrent with the latest episode of AGN activity, suggesting a link between the growth of the supermassive black hole and stellar population in this source. We do not detect the CO(2-1) line, down to a level twelve times lower than the expected value for star forming galaxies. This lack of CO line emission is consistent with recent star formation activity if the star-forming molecular gas has low metallicity, is highly fractionated (such that CO is photodissociated through much of the clouds), or is chemically very young (such that CO has not yet had time to form). It is also possible, though we argue unlikely, that the ensemble of fine structure lines are emitted from the region heated by the AGN.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa