Development of Spiritual Competency in Counseling: A Pilot Research Study of Graduate Students at End of Training

Researchers suggested religious practice and spirituality are multicultural or diversity counseling competencies. Professionals who treat religious and spiritual concerns are sought by a majority of clients. Religious and spiritual training is critical for the ethical treatment of the client, a part of developmental wellness and integrated holistic health theories, and also vital to optimum physical and mental health development. Yet, spiritual and religious competencies are often neglected in graduate studies, leaving counselors fearful and inadequately trained to address spiritual and religious concerns with clients. The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) requires training in graduate education that promotes counselor competence in the area of religion and spirituality, but little research exists exploring systematic religious and spiritual training at a graduate level. This correlational study provides information for researchers, counselor educators, supervisors, and CACREP-accredited programs on graduate students’ perceptions regarding having met established religious and spiritual competencies at the end of graduate training. The researcher also explores variables for increased competency including types of curricula, types of institution, and perceived openness of the program to discuss religious and spiritual concepts

Workforce changes and the food supply chain - understanding and mitigating the effects of COVID-19 on the agricultural workforce

Food Systems, Colorado State University

Rapture rhetoric: prophetic epistemology of the Left Behind subculture

This thesis provides a rhetorical analysis of prophetic texts, non-fiction premillennialist dispensational studies, the fictional series, Left Behind and interviews with series’ readers. This thesis argues that prophetic rhetoric constitutes an epistemological position whereby Rapture believers create knowledge, cast knowledge as good or evil and finally act as gatekeepers to determine what can and should be known. Rapture subculture is composed of both a hard core and a set of narrative believers, those who have acquired the nomenclature, but perhaps not the dogmatic belief in a Rapture, Tribulation, Armageddon, and Millennium schema. The process of turning narrative believers into hard core believers relies on the use of a range of topoi, appeals to authority, evil and time. Rapture rhetoric, aimed at bolstering the beliefs of the hard core and cultivating the beliefs of those still undecided, relies on the process of transfer to gain acceptance for one claim based on acceptance of another and then relies on narrative plasticity to enlarge the basis for those accepted claims. These arguments are exchanged for stories in the fictional Left Behind series, whereby the characters, institutions and knowledge of the end-times becomes encapsulated in an easy-to-read and simple-to-relate tale that codes knowledge as either good knowledge revealed from God or evil knowledge acquired through human understanding. These narratives and arguments both get used among prophetic believers to explain their lives and their world, internally and externally to the prophetic subculture, in order to convince more narrative believers of the truth of their claims. Prophetic communities develop knowledge products, cultural entailments and cultural manifestations of prophetic belief to serve as symbols of the end-times narrative. Rapture subculture, based on prophetic beliefs, is not monolithic; however, this thesis is able to draw some broad generalizations about the prophetic community and the rhetoric they use to explain their claims within their ranks and to the outside world

Physical literacy and policy alignment in sport and education in Australia

Sport Australia released the Australian Physical Literacy Framework (APLF) in 2019 to advance a national agenda for physical literacy (PL) and specifically, clarify and promote the development of PL in Australian sport and education sectors. For teachers, this policy initiative followed a period of curriculum development guided by the Australian Curriculum for Health and Physical Education (AC: HPE). The AC: HPE makes no explicit reference to PL, but nevertheless seeks to support young people to lead active healthy lives. This study acknowledged that HPE teachers are now challenged to navigate the divide between the APLF and AC: HPE and find ways to appropriately integrate the APLF into HPE programmes. The premise for the study was that investigating conceptual ‘common ground’ between the APLF and AC: HPE in relation to PL could provide an important foundation for coherent policy enactment. Accordingly, Whitehead’s (2001) foundational conceptualisation of PL was employed as an analytic framework for examination of both policy texts. The purpose was to identify points of conceptual connection between the APLF, AC: HPE and Whitehead’s conceptualisation of PL, and thereby strategically extend the PL discourses ‘at play’ across the Australian sport and education sectors. Findings suggest that while the AC: HPE and the APLF reflect differing policy agendas, the two texts both have some points of alignment with dimensions of Whitehead’s framework. Discussion pursues the significance of distinctions and commonalities identified and addresses issues that HPE teachers and other stakeholders need to consider to promote a coherent approach to PL in Australia

Ceremony at a Boundary fire: a story of Indigenist Knowledge

National Science Foundation (United States of America

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND HUMAN INTERACTION: HOW TO KEEP THE HUMAN IN THE LOOP

Army leaders are looking to procure and implement artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to solve a variety of problems and enhance existing capabilities across multiple portfolios. While there are benefits to implementing new technologies, including AI, there is often a major pitfall: the human factor as a user is consistently underrepresented. This disparity between how AI-enabled systems are being acquired and how they should be acquired is often related to a gap in the development of systems not aligning with Human Systems Integration (HSI) best practices. The design of systems that facilitate human-agent learning requires further guidance. We use data from the System for Award Management (SAM) along with discussions from subject-matter experts both in government and industry to capture how AI-enabled systems are currently being procured by the Army. The combined results of the team's methodology revealed that there are varying understandings across the Army of what an AI requirement is, and there are no obvious processes or specific AI acquisition guidelines that are universally followed when developing an AI requirement. It was also apparent that HSI was not always included in requirements as required by Army regulations. This disparity appeared to have three major root causes: immaturity of DOD Army guidance, shortcomings in AI-related training for acquisition personnel, and a negligence surrounding the incorporation of HSI elements into Army requirements.CRUSERCivilian, Department of the ArmyCivilian, Department of the ArmyCivilian, Department of the ArmyCivilian, Department of the ArmyCivilian, Department of the ArmyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Modeling Multi-Wavelength Stellar Astrometry. II. Determining Absolute Inclinations, Gravity Darkening Coefficients, and Spot Parameters of Single Stars with SIM Lite

We present a novel technique to determine the absolute inclination of single stars using multi-wavelength sub-milliarcsecond astrometry. The technique exploits the effect of gravity darkening, which causes a wavelength-dependent astrometric displacement parallel to a star's projected rotation axis. We find this effect is clearly detectable using SIM Lite for various giant stars and rapid rotators, and present detailed models for multiple systems using the REFLUX code. We also explore the multi-wavelength astrometric reflex motion induced by spots on single stars. We find that it should be possible to determine spot size, relative temperature, and some positional information for both giant and nearby main-sequence stars utilizing multi-wavelength SIM Lite data. This data will be extremely useful in stellar and exoplanet astrophysics, as well as supporting the primary SIM Lite mission through proper multi-wavelength calibration of the giant star astrometric reference frame, and reduction of noise introduced by starspots when searching for extrasolar planets.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Understanding the direct and indirect mechanisms of xylanase action on starch digestion in broilers

The objective of the current study was to investigate the mechanisms of xylanase action in a maize-soya diet and its effect on starch digestion. A total of 60 broilers were divided into 6 treatment groups; a control group without xylanase, and five other groups supplemented with xylanase (Econase XT 25; 100 g/t) from 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 weeks before slaughter. At the end of the experiment, digesta was collected from the gizzard, upper and lower small intestine, and both caeca. Digesta pH ranged from pH 2.2-4.4, 5.9-6.6, 6.7-7.8 and 5.7-7.3 in the gizzard, upper small intestine, lower small intestine, and both caeca, respectively, with no effect of xylanase (P > 0.05). Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images along with total starch measurements showed the progression of starch digestion through the tract. The SEM did not show any greater disruption to cell wall material with xylanase supplementation. This suggests that xylanase was not working directly on the cell wall and provides evidence for the hypothesis that xylanase works through an indirect mechanism. Peptide YY (PYY) concentration in the blood was higher during the first few weeks of supplementation, with longer periods of supplementation nulling this effect, implying that xylanase may be acting through a prebiotic mechanism. The RT-q PCR results revealed a numerical increase in glucose transporter (GLUT2 and SGLT1) expression at 2 and 3 weeks of xylanase supplementation, respectively, which might suggest a greater absorption capacity of birds. From these results, a potential mechanism of xylanase action in maize-based diets has been proposed