Dr. Larry Brewster and California Arts-in-Corrections: A Case Study in Correctional Arts Research

The correctional arts field is strong on supporting anecdotes but light on evidence-based research. In other words, it has more stories than numbers. One exception is the long-running California Arts-in-Corrections program. Not only does AIC have more studies demonstrating benefit, all but one of those studies were conducted by Dr. Larry Brewster, currently of the University of San Francisco. This case study tells the story of how that body of research came to exist. It juxtaposes the importance of having evidence-based research on correctional arts programs with the challenges of conducting such research. Readers will gain an understanding of how correctional arts can benefit rehabilitation and re-entry initiatives for prisoners as well as how rigorous research can aid that effort. This article lays the groundwork for discussion on how an important avenue for rehabilitation and re-entry can be developed by making sure the field has numbers to match the stories

Though Tongues Were Out Of Use: The Body Language of the Guilty

The goal of this paper is to examine how body language can be used in the process of criminal investigation and to argue that proper training in the interpretation of body language is essential to its effective use. I go over the chances that the average person has of successfully identifying deceit, and provide evidence that these chances can be greatly raised with training. In looking at the face, we learn that clues are left for a brief time after someone tells a lie, and due to the short life of these clues I argue that it is all the more necessary that police officers, who are in greatest proximity to these clues of deception, should be armed with the tools needed to properly analyze them. Looking at the movement of the body, I discuss the Reid Technique, which separates movement into illustrators and adaptors. Because the Reid Technique inaccurately assumes that all adaptors are indicative of deception, I use this as a cautionary tale with the warning that the interpretation of body language should avoid assumptions and allow for the fact that the innocent will be nervous during an interview. In my conclusion, I connect this idea to both Othello and Hamlet, since both plays feature the reading of body language but only one achieved accurate results. The television show Lie to Me is mentioned in conjunction with facial expressions, and I proffer that the show, and others like it, may cause a rise in interest in this topic

Revising Integrative Motivation: L2 Motivation Research and Learner Context

“Why am I learning this language? How is my language learning affected by my attitudes and my context?” For the average second language (L2) learner, these questions are probably not often considered in such an explicit fashion. For L2 educators and L2 motivation researchers, however, these student-centered questions are urgent and ever-present. From my own experience, teaching English to speakers of other languages across different contexts has presented vastly differing pictures of L2 learner motivation. What is it that makes teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to first-generation Hispanic immigrant students so different from teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to sub-Saharan African students? From an anecdotal standpoint, the answer appears to lie in the understanding of motivation within context: which students have it, why they have it, and how to inspire the same, if possible, in other learners. Thus, as “numerous studies have provided statistical evidence that indicates motivation is a predictor of language-learning success,” L2 motivation research seems well worth examining in greater detail for both language researchers and language teachers alike (Gass & Selinker, 2009, p. 426)

What About The Women?: The Heroines of Gothic Horror

With a focus on the feminine figure in gothic horror, this paper uses the feminist theoretical work of Gayle Rubin to offer a comparison and analysis of two women from well-known tales: Elizabeth Lavenza of Frankenstein (1818) and Mina Harker of Dracula (1897). The comparison begins with an in-depth look at Elizabeth Lavenza. It is useful to look not only at the nature of this character, the position in which she is placed and the absence of any real participation on the events of the novel, but also what she means in relation to the titular character and how she serves the plot through her passivity. Elizabeth having been granted our attention, Mina Harker takes the stage. A character whose participation in the events of Bram Stoker’s Dracula is incontestable and vital, Mina is a very different being from Elizabeth. I consider not only Mina’s active part but also the views which are held of her by the male characters she joins in the effort against Dracula. In the case of both Elizabeth and Mina, I address their roles from the perspective of Rubin’s ideas of the exchange of women, looking at the ways in which they are both utilized as currency in their respective novels. Having looked at these characters separately from each other and from their respective authors, I then explore them through a contemplation of both Shelley and Stoker in the effort to ask why these monumentally different women were written in the particular manner they were created and whether history and experience of these two authors shape the way they approached women’s roles in the society in which they lived. Answering these questions allows us to better understand our heroines, since the author’s work is inevitably impacted to some degree by their experiences

Nero Tyrannus: The Physiological and Psychosomatic Causes of his Tyrannical Legacy

The plausible causes of Nero\u27s infamous nature are explored through evidence gathered from numismatic imagery and historical accounts. His peculiar weight gain is of particular interest and investigated in relationship to possible Cushing\u27s syndrome. His behaviors and physical descriptions from historians are investigated for possible causes of his notoriously maniacal legacy

Measuring the solid-phase fractionation of lead in urban and rural soils using a combination of geochemical survey data and chemical extractions

The study used 276 urban soils and 447 rural soils collected from in and around the UK town of Northampton and focussed on the fractionation of Pb. The Pb fractionation obtained from total element data was compared to the fractionation of Pb in a subset of 10 urban soils obtained using a sequential extraction method. The fractionation of the Pb from the total element data and from the sequential extractions was estimated using a self-modelling mixture resolution statistical model. The bioaccessibility of Pb in a subset of 50 of the urban soils, as measured using the unified BARGE method, was shown to be quantitatively linked with Pb fractionation from both the total element and the sequential extraction data. Three intrinsic soil components from the regional total element data model and one physico-chemical component from the sequential extraction data model were identified as the sources of bioaccessible Pb. The source of bioaccessible Pb in both rural and urban soils was tentatively identified as a fine-grained pyromorphite mineral

Entering a Community of Writers: The Writing Center, Doctoral Students, and Going Public with Scholarly Writing

In addition to taking advanced courses, graduate students navigate a potentially challenging transition of learning to write for publication. We, the authors, explored solutions to this transition with a study designed to explore the research questions: How does a systematic effort to help doctoral students enter a community of writers via writing center collaboration influence doctoral students’: (1) proficiency with academic writing, (2) writing apprehension, (3) self-efficacy as writers, and (4) comfort with “going public” with their writing? We used a collaborative, multi-layered self-study research approach because it allowed us to focus on critical examination of teaching practices that are of interest to the practitioner/researcher and to the greater educational community. Authors/participants include the co-director of a university Writing Center; two professors of a doctoral-level qualitative research methods course; four doctoral students who participated in a series of writing center collaborations; and one master’s student who served as a writing center consultant. These four perspectives provide unique insights into how writing center collaborations supported graduate students in developing their writing proficiency and efficacy, helping to initiate them into a community of writers who “go public” with their scholarship

Iodine status of soils, grain crops, and irrigation waters in Pakistan

A study was carried out across 86 locations of the country to investigate iodine supply potential of soils, grains and underground waters for onward design of an environmental intervention in Pakistan. Wheat crops were the principal crop in this study since it supplies 75 % of calorific energy in an average Pakistani diet. TMAH-extractable iodine in soils provided a geometric mean of 0.66 µg g−1, far lower than the worldwide mean of 3.0 µg g−1 for soil iodine. Bioavailable (water-extractable) iodine concentration had a geometric mean of 2.4 % (of TMAH-extractable iodine). Median iodine concentrations in tube well sourced waters were 7.3 µg L−1. Median wheat grain-iodine concentrations were 0.01 µg g−1. In most of the grain samples, TMAH-extractable iodine was below detection limit of 0.01 µg g−1. The highest wheat grain iodine was measured on a soil having highest TMAH-extractable iodine. An iodine intake of 25.4 µg a day has been estimated based on median wheat grain iodine measured and groundwater consumption compared to world health organisation (WHO) recommendations of iodine intake of 150 µg a day. This nominal intake of iodine is alarming since 60 % of Pakistani households do not consume iodised salt

New insights into the reliability of automatic dynamic methods for oral bioaccessibility testing: a case study for BGS102 soil

Dynamic flow-through extraction is attracting a great deal of attention for real-time monitoring of the bioaccessible fraction of metal species in environmental solid substrates compared to its batchwise manual counterparts. There is however a lack of studies on the harmonization and validation of in vitro dynamic methods for physiologically based extraction tests against in vivo bioavailability methods. This work is aimed at evaluating the reliability of dynamic flow-through extraction methods for estimation of oral bioaccessible fractions of Cu, Zn, Pb, Ni, Cr, and As under worst-case extraction conditions in the gastric compartment based on the BGS102 guidance soil using the in vivo validated Unified BARGE (UBM) test, commonly performed under batchwise mode. Good overall agreement between batch and dynamic UBM results was obtained for the tested elements, except for Pb, as a consequence of the slow leaching kinetics identified with the dynamic method and the contribution of readsorption phenomena in the course of the gastric digestion. Metal-soil phase associations and their relationship with gastric bioaccessible fractions were elucidated using the so-called Chemometric Identification of Substrates and Element Distributions method based on sequential extraction with a variety of chemicals of increasing acidity as applied to both static and dynamic bioaccessibility data

Staying in School: A Systematic Review of Interventions for Individuals with Mental Illness

Objectives of Presentation: ● Recognize the impact of chronic mental illness on educational pursuits ● Discuss occupational therapy related interventions to support individuals with chronic mental illness in an academic setting ● Describe implications of educational attainment on social participation and work for individuals with chronic mental illness PICO: What is the evidence for interventions that support the outcome of successful participation in educational settings for individuals with a mental health diagnosis? Presentation: 49 minute