Life in a doorway.

Life in a Doorway is a story about Brianna Fairchild who is a senior graduating from high school. The week before graduation her twin brother Hayden dies in a tragic accident at the school. Brianna, who was estranged from her brother, begins dealing with her grief in unconventional ways as she pushes people away from her. She feels disconnected from her parents who are also struggling with the loss of their son. Brianna's relationship with her best friend Stacey becomes strained as Brianna tries to work through her issues. However, she develops a friendship with Tiara, a girl from school who Brianna didn't like before. Brianna develops a romantic relationship with Caleb, Hayden's best friend. Brianna is also forced to interact with Hayden's girlfriend when she surprises everyone with her pregnancy. Brianna has a hard time dealing with this turn of events and pushes away even more, eventually having to face everything to begin healing from the death of her brother. Brianna tries new activities to get outside of her old self as the summer before college comes to a close and must break free from her self-centeredness to help a friend in need and bridge the gap between her parents and herself.--Abstract.

Investigation into background levels of small organic samples at the NERC Radiocarbon Laboratory

Recent progress in preparation/combustion of submilligram organic samples at our laboratories is presented. Routine methods had to be modified/refined to achieve acceptable and consistent procedural blanks for organic samples smaller than 1000 g C. A description of the process leading to a modified combustion method for smaller organic samples is given in detail. In addition to analyzing different background materials, the influence of different chemical reagents on the overall radiocarbon background level was investigated, such as carbon contamination arising from copper oxide of different purities and from different suppliers. Using the modified combustion method, small amounts of background materials and known-age standard IAEA-C5 were individually combusted to CO2. Below 1000 g C, organic background levels follow an inverse mass dependency when combusted with the modified method, increasing from 0.13 0.05 pMC up to 1.20 0.04 pMC for 80 g C. Results for a given carbon mass were lower for combustion of etched Iceland spar calcite mineral, indicating that part of the observed background of bituminous coal was probably introduced by handling the material in atmosphere prior to combustion. Using the modified combustion method, the background-corrected activity of IAEA-C5 agreed to within 2 s of the consensus value of 23.05 pMC down to a sample mass of 55 g C

Progress in AMS target production in sub-milligram samples at the NERC Radiocarbon Laboratory

. Recent progress in graphite target production for sub-milligram environmental samples in our facility is presented. We describe an optimized hydrolysis procedure now routinely used for the preparation of CO2 from inorganic samples, a new high-vacuum line dedicated to small sample processing (combining sample distillation and graphitization units), as well as a modified graphitization procedure. Although measurements of graphite targets as small as 35 µg C have been achieved, system background and measurement uncertainties increase significantly below 150 µg C. As target lifetime can become critically short for targets <150 µg C, the facility currently only processes inorganic samples down to 150 µg C. All radiocarbon measurements are made at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facility. Sample processing and analysis are labor-intensive, taking approximately 3 times longer than samples ≥500 µg C. The technical details of the new system, graphitization yield, fractionation introduced during the process, and the system blank are discussed in detail

EFFECTS OF THE SOLVE STRATEGY ON THE MATHEMATICAL PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS OF SECONDARY STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

Students with learning disabilities are most typically characterized as struggling readers (i.e., 80-90% of students are identified on the basis of reading failure; LD OnLine, 2008 Lerner, 1989; Lyon, Fletcher, Shaywitz, Torgesen, Wood, et al., 2001); however, as many as 50% of students with learning disabilities have IEP goals in the area of mathematics suggesting that general curricula in mathematics present a relevant barrier to the success of this population (Geary, 1999). Given that expectations in the era of the Common Core State Standards promote higher achievement in mathematics, specifically Algebraic thinking (CCSS, 2012), secondary curriculum in the area of Algebra presents a hurdle for students with a specific learning disability to keep pace with peers and graduate on time. This study investigated the effects of the SOLVE Strategy on the mathematical problem solving skills of secondary students with disabilities. A multiple probe across participants design was employed to determine the impact of the independent variable (i.e., instruction in the SOLVE Strategy) on the primary dependent variables (i.e., strategy use, correct response). The intervention was implemented with six 8th grade students with specific learning disabilities. Results indicated a functional relation between SOLVE Strategy usage and improved problem solving performance for all six target students. Additionally, all participants were able to generalize the SOLVE Strategy to other mathematic topics and concepts, and the teacher and students felt the intervention was socially acceptable. Finally, limitations of the study, suggestions for future research, and implications for practice are provided

Bostonia. Volume 4

Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs

Embedding Academic Literacies through Growing Student and Staff Communities

In the UK, HE practical writing support has not kept pace with advances in our understanding of how students learn to write in their disciplines or greater comprehension of the nature of these discourses they are acquiring. Current institutional provision can be still be characterized as fragmented offering generic, deficit focused, skills-based instruction, despite such approaches being theoretically discredited. One alternative means to develop academic literacies in more inclusive and nuanced ways is to embed this work at a disciplinary level; while long recommended this model is unusual in the UK. This paper reviews approaches to embedding academic literacies work and reports on our attempts to embed writing development work within a social science department through an extended action research project which aimed to increase student mastery of academic literacies within one department. We focused on building opportunities for engagement using Writing Exemplars, Retreats and Writing Circles. Key features of our work are identified that appear transferable and may further facilitate successful interdisciplinary collaborations

An Empirical Analysis of Synergies and Tradeoffs between Sustainable Development Goals

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a universal agenda that nations have committed to achieving by 2030. The challenge is substantial, with no country excelling across all SDGs. Using global UN data, we assess patterns of positive and negative correlations between indicators of SDG status and progress. For nearly 70% of SDG indicators, status is positively associated with GDP/capita. Progress on SDG indicators, however, occurs in both poorer and wealthier countries. When GDP/capita is controlled for, positive associations remain between health, environment and energy usage indicators. Economic growth is negatively associated with changes in some health and environment indicators. For SDGs targets to be achieved, major opportunities and conflicts will need to be identified, prioritized and acted upon.</jats:p

An evaluation of MINDFIT—A student therapeutic running group as a multi-layered intervention in the United Kingdom

Background: Mental health is an ever-increasing concern for UK Universities and is underreported. Creative and dynamic approaches to tackle student wellbeing are important. In 2018, Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) Student Wellbeing Service initiated a pilot study of a therapeutic running programme ‘MINDFIT’ that combined physical activity, led by a counsellor, alongside a psychoeducation approach to support student mental health. Methods: Mixed methods were used which included the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), evaluating low mood and depression, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 (GAD-7), evaluating levels of anxiety. Results: A total of 28 students were triaged onto a weekly programme over three semesters. Overall, 86% of the participants completed the programme. A promising reduction in the scores for PHQ-9 and GAD-7 was found at the end of the programme. Focus groups, with student participants, were held to gather qualitative data for analysis. After thematic analysis, three main themes emerged: “Creating a safe community”, “Making progress” and “Pathways to success”. Conclusions: MINDFIT was an effective and engaging multi-layered therapeutic approach. Recommendations identified the importance and effectiveness of the triage process in recruiting students and sustainability of the programme through the continued engagement of students post programme. More research is required to identify the long-term effects of the MINDFIT approach and how applicable it is to higher education contexts

Extending the Planetary Mass Function to Earth Mass by Microlensing at Moderately High Magnification

A measurement by microlensing of the planetary mass function of planets with masses ranging from 5M_E to 10M_J and orbital radii from 0.5 to 10 AU was reported recently. A strategy for extending the mass range down to (1-3)M_E is proposed here. This entails monitoring the peaks of a few tens of microlensing events with moderately high magnifications with 1-2m class telescopes. Planets of a few Earth masses are found to produce deviations of ~ 5% to the peaks of microlensing light curves with durations ~ (0.7-3)hr in events with magnification ~ 100 if the projected separation of the planet lies in the annular region (0.85-1.2)r_E. Similar deviations are produced by Earth mass planets in the annular region (0.95-1.05)r_E. It is possible that sub-Earths could be detected very close to the Einstein ring if they are sufficiently abundant, and also planetary systems with more than one low mass planet.Comment: 12 pages, 20 figures (in press) MNRAS (2013