Provisional Admission Impact on College Self-Efficacy: A Qualitative Approach

This qualitative study examined how a provisional admission program (Gateway) at a mid-sized institution in the rural Midwest impacts students\u27 college self-efficacy. Participants were five students who were successfully released from the Gateway Program at the end of the 2016 - 2017 academic year, and were in their sophomore year at time of study. Data was collected from one-on-one semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest that the program\u27s services, with a high emphasis on intrusive advising by program advisors, positively impact students\u27 college self-efficacy. The researcher concludes that students are more efficacious in their abilities after being provided the structure of the program, including: intrusive advising, attendance in campus workshops and required courses, and limited participation in high-demand social activities such as Greek life, modeling and dance teams. Recommendations for the institution and other student affairs professionals are included

Cultural History and Comics Auteurs: Cartoon Collections at Syracuse University Library

After discussing the importance of the comics as a subject for scholarly study, Wheaton describes selected cartoonists and genres represented in Syracuse University Library\u27s cartoon collection. Carolyn Davis provides a complete list of the Library\u27s cartoon holdings

Change and school improvement: An exploration of school leaders' perceptions and experiences of distributed leadership in three special school settings

Whilst the literature around Distributed Leadership (DL) is immense, with some 720,000 articles being written between 2002 and 2013 (Tian, Risku and Collin, 2016), little research was found to have been carried out on DL in special education. Using data gathered through semi-structured interviews and observations, this multiple case study explores school leaders’ perceptions and experience of distributed leadership, against a background of change and school improvement, in three special schools. The findings show DL to be a multi-faceted concept, which is manifested differently in each school. The research highlighted that the nature of distribution is determined by the interplay of four key themes. First, school context, which includes the career path of the Headteacher and other leaders, alongside ongoing change within the school, notably rising pupil numbers. Second, the role of the Headteacher as strategic and moral leader who empowers, supports and develops leadership in others whilst reserving the right to say ‘no’, is crucial. Third are school cultures, which are characterised by positive relationships, teamwork, collaboration, including multidisciplinary partnership and teacher leadership, and are shaped by the Headteacher and staff within the school context. However, a fourth factor, which runs across the above themes, is critical in determining the nature of DL, namely the growing number of pupils with Complex Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (CLDD). Pupil needs drive school improvement, underpin moral purpose, and leads to the internal recruitment and training of leaders, which ensures that leadership is founded on an understanding of this fourth factor. In meeting the needs of these pupils, for whom tried and tested strategies no longer work (Champion, 2005), collaborative practice and teacher leadership are fundamental. Thus, it is argued that DL has a significant role in underpinning this process in special education. The research also highlights participants’ perceptions that DL has a positive impact on school improvement, through the building of leadership capacity, motivating teachers, reducing staff turnover, and improving teaching and learning by the creation and sharing of new knowledge. Most participants feel that this impacts positively on pupil outcomes, although they recognise that whole school data does not evidence these perceptions

Dormancy-defense syndromes and tradeoffs between physical and chemical defenses in seeds of pioneer species

Seeds of tropical pioneer trees have chemical and physical characteristics that determine their capacity to persist in the soil seed bank. These traits allow seeds to survive in the soil despite diverse predators and pathogens, and to germinate and recruit even decades after dispersal. Defenses in seedlings and adult plants often are described in terms of tradeoffs between chemical and physical defense, but the interplay of defensive strategies has been evaluated only rarely for seeds. Here we evaluated whether classes of seed defenses were negatively correlated across species (consistent with tradeoffs in defense strategies), or whether groups of traits formed associations across species (consistent with seed defense syndromes). Using 16 of the most common pioneer tree species in a neotropical lowland forest in Panama we investigated relationships among four physical traits (seed fracture resistance, seed coat thickness, seed permeability, and seed mass) and two chemical traits (number of phenolic compounds and phenolic peak area), and their association with seed persistence. In addition, seed toxicity was assessed with bioassays in which we evaluated the activity of seed extracts against representative fungal pathogens and a model invertebrate. We did not find univariate tradeoffs between chemical and physical defenses. Instead, we found that seed permeability – a trait that distinguishes physical dormancy from other dormancy types – was positively associated with chemical defense traits and negatively associated with physical defense traits. Using a linear discriminant analysis and a hierarchical cluster analysis we found evidence to distinguish three distinct seed defense syndromes that correspond directly with seed dormancy classes (i.e., quiescent, physical, and physiological). Our data suggest that short and long‐term persistence of seeds can be achieved via two strategies: having permeable seeds that are well defended chemically, corresponding to the physiologically dormant defense syndrome; or having impermeable seeds that are well defended physically, corresponding to the physically dormant defense syndrome. In turn, transient seeds appear to have a lower degree of chemical and physical defenses, corresponding to the quiescent defense syndrome. Overall, we find that seed defense and seed dormancy are linked, suggesting that environmental pressures on seed persistence and for delayed germination can select for trait combinations defining distinct dormancy‐defense syndromes

The relationship between unsupervised time after school and physical activity in adolescent girls

BACKGROUND: Rising obesity and declining physical activity levels are of great concern because of the associated health risks. Many children are left unsupervised after the school day ends, but little is known about the association between unsupervised time and physical activity levels. This paper seeks to determine whether adolescent girls who are without adult supervision after school are more or less active than their peers who have a caregiver at home. METHODS: A random sample of girls from 36 middle schools at 6 field sites across the U.S. was selected during the fall of the 2002–2003 school year to participate in the baseline measurement activities of the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG). Information was collected using six-day objectively measured physical activity, self-reported physical activity using a three-day recall, and socioeconomic and psychosocial measures. Complete information was available for 1422 out of a total of 1596 respondents. Categorical variables were analyzed using chi square and continuous variables were analyzed by t-tests. The four categories of time alone were compared using a mixed linear model controlling for clustering effects by study center. RESULTS: Girls who spent more time after school (≥2 hours per day, ≥2 days per week) without adult supervision were more active than those with adult supervision (p = 0.01). Girls alone for ≥2 hours after school, ≥2 days a week, on average accrue 7.55 minutes more moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day than do girls who are supervised (95% confidence interval ([C.I]). These results adjusted for ethnicity, parent's education, participation in the free/reduced lunch program, neighborhood resources, or available transportation. Unsupervised girls (n = 279) did less homework (53.1% vs. 63.3%), spent less time riding in a car or bus (48.0% vs. 56.6%), talked on the phone more (35.5% vs. 21.1%), and watched more television (59.9% vs. 52.6%) than supervised girls (n = 569). However, unsupervised girls also were more likely to be dancing (14.0% vs. 9.3%) and listening to music (20.8% vs. 12.0%) (p < .05). CONCLUSION: Girls in an unsupervised environment engaged in fewer structured activities and did not immediately do their homework, but they were more likely to be physically active than supervised girls. These results may have implications for parents, school, and community agencies as to how to structure activities in order to encourage teenage girls to be more physically active

Seasonal phosphorus and carbon dynamics in a temperate shelf sea (Celtic Sea)

The seasonal cycle of resource availability in shelf seas has a strong selective pressure on phytoplankton diversity and the biogeochemical cycling of key elements, such as carbon (C) and phosphorus (P). Shifts in carbon consumption relative to P availability, via changes in cellular stoichiometry for example, can lead to an apparent ‘excess’ of carbon production. We made measurements of inorganic P (Pi) uptake, in parallel to C-fixation, by plankton communities in the Celtic Sea (NW European Shelf) in spring (April 2015), summer (July 2015) and autumn (November 2014). Short-term (<8 h) Pi-uptake coupled with dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP) release, in parallel to net (24 h) primary production (NPP), were all measured across an irradiance gradient designed to typify vertically and seasonally varying light conditions. Rates of Pi-uptake were highest during spring and lowest in the low light conditions of autumn, although biomass-normalised Pi-uptake was highest in the summer. The release of DOP was highest in November and declined to low levels in July, indicative of efficient utilization and recycling of the low levels of Pi available. Examination of daily turnover times of the different particulate pools, including estimates of phytoplankton and bacterial carbon, indicated a differing seasonal influence of autotrophs and heterotrophs in P-dynamics, with summer conditions associated with a strong bacterial influence and the early spring period with fast growing phytoplankton. These seasonal changes in autotrophic and heterotrophic influence, coupled with changes in resource availability (Pi, light) resulted in seasonal changes in the stoichiometry of NPP to daily Pi-uptake (C:P ratio); from relatively C-rich uptake in November and late April, to P-rich uptake in early April and July. Overall, these results highlight the seasonally varying influence of both autotrophic and heterotrophic components of shelf sea ecosystems on the relative uptake of C and P