Relationship of Proximal Predictors of Success in a PsyD Program on Alumni Distal Factors

Due to the new Standards of Accreditation (SoA) by the American Psychological Association (APA), implemented in 2017, there is minimal research to evaluate how proximal competency factors within clinical psychology programs relate to distal outcomes of alumni. This study consisted of 65 doctoral psychology graduates who completed an APA alumni survey 2 and 5 years after graduation. Findings showed strong positive relationships between faculty mentoring, foundational knowledge, program support and clinical training. Results showed proximal factors of faculty mentoring significantly predicted graduates would be employed as psychologists, while program support (peers and faculty) significantly predicted lifelong learning of alumni. Career success of alumni aligned with APA SoA’s expectations for post-graduate competencies, with most alumni practicing as psychologists. Moreover, results indicated a statistically significant relationship between lifelong learning and employment as a psychologist. Study results are useful for informing doctoral program development, as well as identifying what factors within a program predict alumni success, according to the APA SoA competency model

The Effect of a Social-Emotional-Behavioral Framework on Middle School Student Achievement: A Causal-Comparative Study

With heightened accountability requirements, schools are under pressure to produce academic results while addressing behavioral challenges. The implementation of social-emotional-behavioral frameworks has improved behavioral outcomes in students, but the impact on academic outcomes has yet to be answered. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that the full implementation of a social-emotional-behavioral framework produces the desired academic outcome results and growth on state-standards achievement tests in students with disabilities at the middle school level. Ninety-two Virginia middle schools formed the sample population. Three settings implemented a three-tier framework for one-two (MSA) years, three-four years (MSB), and five years plus (MSC) respectively. Reading Standards of Learning assessments were examined to evaluate the effect of the full implementation on student achievement. An ex post facto causal comparative design was utilized. Data was collected through the Virginia Department of Education’s publicly accessible database and exported into Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). With 28 participant schools in MSA, 29 participant schools in MSB, and 35 participate schools in MSC, an ANOVA was utilized to analyze the ELA data. The study did find statistically significant differences between MSA and MSC in English language arts

Investigating the Effects of Non-thermal Air Plasma on Five Grains and Their Economically Important Pathogens

Fungal contamination of post-harvest grain is a global problem, frequently resulting in economic loss and posing risks for human health and food security. Current methods for removing fungal contaminants from grain are often ineffective or may leave behind residues with downstream implications for consumers. This thesis explores the use of a novel air plasma tumbler apparatus to spin post-harvest grain through a field of plasma and inactivate fungal pathogens on the grain surface. Microbiological techniques were developed to inoculate grain with mycotoxigenic fungal pathogens and surface-sensitive analytical instrumentation were used to understand the physico-chemical changes to grains before and after exposure to plasma. Additionally, short-term seedling growth was investigated to understand the effects of plasma treatment on seed viability and seedling development. Maize, wheat, barley, field pea and psyllium were selected for their economic importance and differing surface chemistries. Each type of grain was inoculated with an associated pathogen (e.g., Aspergillus, Bipolaris, Didymella, Fusarium, or Penicillium species) and exposed to a time series of plasma treatments. Cultures from grain samples were assessed for the number of viable pathogens following treatment. Furthermore, contaminated industry samples were procured and subjected to plasma exposure to determine if the technology could reduce high loads of mixed microbes. Results showed varying efficacy of plasma exposure depending on grain type and associated pathogen. This may be attributed to seed surface chemistry, seed morphology and the biochemical makeup of the pathogens. 90 minutes of plasma treatment was the most effective exposure time across all inoculated pathogens and grain types, resulting in up to 7-log reductions of microbial colony forming units. Industry sample microbial loads were reduced by five-fold, with 120-minutes of plasma exposure inactivating all filamentous fungi. SEM micrographs provided visual references, illustrating the plasma-induced weathering of both fungal pathogen structures and grain surfaces. The effects of surface weathering had downstream implications for grain hydration and grain viability. Plasma treatment increased grain water sorption by roughly 25% and reduced water contact angles by over 50 degrees. It was also shown that plasma exposure altered the rate and direction of water ingress. The changes in grain-water relations may come at a cost to seed germination, growth, and development. Maize and wheat were negatively impacted by the long exposure to plasma necessary for microbial inactivation. However, in the context of food security, this may not be of interest. This research applied aspects of microbiology, plasma physics and seed biology to gain insights into the deactivation of grain post-harvest fungal pathogens using air plasma. The outcomes of this systematic study advance the current knowledge of plasma agriculture and promote air plasma as a future technology, benefiting food security and food production, with possible future applications toward biosecurity.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, 202

The Effect of Social Support on Risky Sexual Behavior in Homeless Adolescent Youth.

This study examines the relationship between social support and youth's high-risk behaviors. The data were obtained from the Midwest Homeless and Runaway Adolescent Project (MHRAP) in 1996. In the Midwestern United States, this study examines the hypothesis that youth with high social support will have low sexual risk behaviors. The study found that youths who had someone to turn to, a greater number of close friends, and someone they could count on were less likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors. The implications of the findings are discussed

Available Nitrogen and Denitrification in Soil Altered by Ground Cover and Nutrient Source in an Organic Apple Orchard

A shift in public demand towards more organic and locally produced fruit and vegetables has been occurring across the United States in recent years. A common practice in organic fruit production is the application of organic ground covers to supply nutrients while enhancing other soil properties. A need for research exists in the southern region of the U.S. examining the effects of regionally applicable ground cover and nutrient management on nitrogen availability and the microbial community to provide information to organic farmers in the region. Two studies were conducted to determine how 12 treatment combinations of four ground covers (compost, wood chips, paper mulch, and mow-and-blow) and three organic fertilizers (poultry litter, organic commercial fertilizer, and a no-fertilizer control) applied every year in April from 2006 to 2013 affected soil properties. In the first study, soils from March 2007 and 2013 were analyzed to determine the long-term effects of the treatment combinations on soil chemical and biological properties at the 0-10 and 10-30 cm depths. In addition, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was performed on soil microbial DNA to determine if treatment additions over time had altered the denitrifying community. In the second study, soil biological and chemical properties were measured at the 0-10 cm soil depth before (March) and after (May) yearly ground cover applications (April) to determine how nutrient contents and microbial populations responded to additions immediately (May) and long-term (March) and if responses were the same each year or changed through life of the orchard. Organic matter increased through time regardless of ground cover treatment, with compost resulting in the greatest increase from 1.84 % in 2007 to 5.29 % in 2013. Soil water content, electrical conductivity, microbial biomass nitrogen (N), ammonium (NH4+-N), and nitrate-N were all greater in 2013 than in 2007. Microbial species richness (R) was greatest in 2013 in soil receiving compost and wood chips compared to the other ground cover treatments and R in those two ground covers also increased significantly from 2007 to 2013. Shannon-Weaver index of diversity in 2013 progressed from greatest to least in the order of compost ≥ wood chips ≥ paper ≥ mow-and-blow control with diversity in wood chips significantly increasing from among the lowest diversity in 2007 to among the highest diversity in 2013. The second study revealed many treatment differences that were not apparent in the first study when comparing only the beginning and end of the study. Soil organic carbon (C) and N, microbial biomass C and N, NH4+-N, and enzyme activities increased through time, peaked during 2009-2011, and declined to levels with relatively few differences between 2007 and 2013 values. Denitrifying communities (nirK) analyzed by DGGE, were a sensitive indicator of treatment effects responding to ground cover treatments in 2007. The trends through time in dissolved nutrients and microbial biomass suggest that the microbial community was not growing continually over time, but shifting in composition and diversity of nirK-containing organisms and possibly other groups facilitating N-cycling

Hidden in Plain Sight For Too Long: Using Text Mining Techniques to Shine a Light on Workplace Sexism and Sexual Harassment

Objective: The goal of this study is to understand how people experience sexism and sexual harassment in the workplace by discovering themes in 2,362 experiences posted on the Everyday Sexism Project's website everydaysexism.com. Method: This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative method was a computational framework to collect and analyze a large number of workplace sexual harassment experiences. The qualitative method was the analysis of the topics generated by a text mining method. Results: Twenty-three topics were coded and then grouped into three overarching themes from the sex discrimination and sexual harassment literature. The Sex Discrimination theme included experiences in which women were treated unfavorably due to their sex, such as being passed over for promotion, denied opportunities, paid less than men, and ignored or talked over in meetings. The Sex Discrimination and Gender harassment theme included stories about sex discrimination and gender harassment, such as sexist hostility behaviors ranging from insults and jokes invoking misogynistic stereotypes to bullying behavior. The last theme, Unwanted Sexual Attention, contained stories describing sexual comments and behaviors used to degrade women. Unwanted touching was the highest weighted topic, indicating how common it was for website users to endure being touched, hugged or kissed, groped, and grabbed. Conclusions: This study illustrates how researchers can use automatic processes to go beyond the limits of traditional research methods and investigate naturally occurring large scale datasets on the internet to achieve a better understanding of everyday workplace sexism experiences

Snapshots of a protein folding intermediate

We have investigated the folding dynamics of Thermus thermophilus cytochrome c_(552) by time-resolved fluorescence energy transfer between the heme and each of seven site-specific fluorescent probes. We have found both an equilibrium unfolding intermediate and a distinct refolding intermediate from kinetics studies. Depending on the protein region monitored, we observed either two-state or three-state denaturation transitions. The unfolding intermediate associated with three-state folding exhibited native contacts in β-sheet and C-terminal helix regions. We probed the formation of a refolding intermediate by time-resolved fluorescence energy transfer between residue 110 and the heme using a continuous flow mixer. The intermediate ensemble, a heterogeneous mixture of compact and extended polypeptides, forms in a millisecond, substantially slower than the ∼100-μs formation of a burst-phase intermediate in cytochrome c. The surprising finding is that, unlike for cytochrome c, there is an observable folding intermediate, but no microsecond burst phase in the folding kinetics of the structurally related thermostable protein