Factors that Contribute to and Mediate Master’S Level Counseling Students’ Interest in Working with Older Adults

This research study served to examine factors that may contribute to and mediate masters-level counseling students interest in working with older adults. A review of literature on factors related to counselors’ interest in working with older adults established potential relationships between Contact Knowledge of aging, Attitudes/Ageism (expected to be a negative correlation), Counseling Older Adult Self-efficacy (COASE) and Interest in working with older adults. Based on the Social Cognitive Career Theory, COASE was predicted to be impacted by Contact measures and correlated with Attitudes and Knowledge. A sample of 303 masters-level counseling students completed the Student Interest in Gerocounseling Scale (SIGS), Ambivalent Ageism Scale (AAS), Gerontological Counseling Competencies Scale (GCCS), and an adapted Contact Scale. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to examine the hypothesized relationships between the variables and revealed that Contact Quality, and COASE predict Interest in working with older adults. COASE was also found to partially mediate the relationship between Contact Quality and Interest. Additional findings were also discussed along with limitations, areas for further research, and implication

Bat Use of Afforested and Encroached Patches and Their Role in Extending Bat Habitat into the Nebraska Sandhills

The Nebraska Sandhills are currently undergoing a state shift to a redcedar dominated woodland due to anthropologic planting of eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) and woody encroachment from the periphery of the Sandhills. To better understand this novel ecosystem and how bats are utilizing it I collected data at Barta Brothers Ranch with acoustic sensor grids consisting of 24 100m spaced acoustic sensors placed adjacent to planted windbreaks. Supplemental data from the Nebraska North American Bat Monitoring Program was used for data analysis at larger spatial scales. I used linear regressions and kriging interpolation maps to see how bats used windbreaks during nightly activity. Eptesicus fuscus, Lasiurus borealis, and Nycticeius humeralis showed close usage activity around windbreaks while Lasiurus cinereus and Lasionycteris noctivagans showed even usage activity throughout the sensing area, while still showing a relationship with trees at a larger scale. I used multi model inference and model averaging to find the best models to explain bat species richness and call count. I found that distance to trees, with a preference for deciduous trees, and time through the summer to be the best predictors of bat species richness and call count. I used linear regressions of first instance calls in my grids to determine if bats are using windbreaks to roost or travel from roosts to feeding grounds. Across all species, Eptesicus fuscus and Lasionycteris noctivagans showed greater numbers of first instances closer to the windbreak, which indicates that, in general, bats are using windbreaks for roosting or for pathways between roosts and feeding grounds. Lasiurus cinereus first instances were not related to windbreaks hinting that this species may travel across open grassland from roost to feeding grounds. Bat presence and use of trees in the Sandhills presents a dilemma of ecosystem service tradeoffs, in which management aimed at controlling the spread of woody plants for grassland diversity and forage quality and quantity may reduce habitat for bat species. Advisor: Craig Alle

Cancer-associated TERT promoter mutations abrogate telomerase silencing.

Mutations in the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter are the most frequent non-coding mutations in cancer, but their molecular mechanism in tumorigenesis has not been established. We used genome editing of human pluripotent stem cells with physiological telomerase expression to elucidate the mechanism by which these mutations contribute to human disease. Surprisingly, telomerase-expressing embryonic stem cells engineered to carry any of the three most frequent TERT promoter mutations showed only a modest increase in TERT transcription with no impact on telomerase activity. However, upon differentiation into somatic cells, which normally silence telomerase, cells with TERT promoter mutations failed to silence TERT expression, resulting in increased telomerase activity and aberrantly long telomeres. Thus, TERT promoter mutations are sufficient to overcome the proliferative barrier imposed by telomere shortening without additional tumor-selected mutations. These data establish that TERT promoter mutations can promote immortalization and tumorigenesis of incipient cancer cells

Building Local Capacity: Planning for Local Culture and Neighborhood Recovery in New Orleans

How can successful partnerships for advocacy planning be formed and sustained in a postdisaster environment? What roles can university-community partnerships play to create a more equitable and sustainable city while retaining the qualities of local culture that make New Orleans distinct? This article describes an innovative partnership between The Urban Conservancy and the Department of Architecture, Urban Planning and Design at the University of Missouri-Kansas City that is focused on local culture as the foundation for disaster recovery and economic renewal. Cultural heritage offers an alternative framework for recovery planning that prioritizes local culture and the historic built environment as essential to the city’s identity and recovery. Successful partnerships in a city like New Orleans require local knowledge, respect for local culture, and an understanding of local politics. In this context, a partnership informed by mutual respect with a goal of local capacity building was a useful approach to the university-community partnerships model

Rethinking the politics of vulnerability: neighborhood empowerment in Kansas City Missouri (USA)

The paper provides evidence for the racialization of urban neighborhoods in Kansas City Missouri, USA and the ways in which voluntary associations of citizens work to resist and reduce conditions of urban vulnerability. The paper presents data from historical patterns of racially-biased real estate practices, including redlining, and demonstrates how these patterns continue to shape the politics of vulnerability in the region today. Three neighborhood profiles provide evidence of the ways in which local neighborhood associations are organized to respond to both social and spatial conditions of vulnerability. In contrast to the estimates of low community resilience in these neighborhoods, the author demonstrates that neighborhood empowerment is an important counterpoint to concentrated vulnerabilities