Central Coast Region South District Basin Planning & Habitat Mapping Project

This is a report to the California Department of Fish and Game. Between 2003 and 2008, the Foundation of CSUMB produced fish habitat maps and GIS layers for CDFG based on CDFG field data. This report describes the data entry, mapping, and website construction procedures associated with the project. Included are the maps that have been constructed. This report marks the completion of the Central Coast region South District Basin Planning and Habitat Mapping Project. (Document contains 40 pages

Flexible Work Arrangements: Improving Job Quality and Workforce Stability for Low-Wage Workers and their Employers

In 2009, workers and their families across the country felt the impact of serious economic downturn, with unemployment reaching a 26-year high. While recent news suggests things may be improving, we cannot forget that for many low-wage and hourly workers -- who now represent over a quarter of the U.S. workforce -- the recession only exacerbated their ongoing struggle to hold down quality jobs while caring for their families. Low-wage workers face many of the same challenges that the rest of us face in reconciling our work, family and personal lives, but for many of these workers, it\u27s simply a whole lot harder. Low-wage workers are more likely to face involuntary part-time work, rigid or unpredictable schedules, or night, evening and weekend work, all of which can have serious consequences for families, including unstable and inadequate child care, poor health outcomes, family instability, missed work, lost and unstable income and job loss

Learning or leaving? An international qualitative study of factors affecting the resilience of female family doctors

Background: Many countries have insufficient numbers of family doctors, and more females than males leave the workforce at a younger age or have difficulty sustaining careers. Understanding the differing attitudes, pressures, and perceptions between genders toward their medical occupation is important to minimise workforce attrition. Aim: To explore factors influencing the resilience of female family doctors during lifecycle transitions. Design & setting: International qualitative study with female family doctors from all world regions. Method: Twenty semi-structured online Skype interviews, followed by three focus groups to develop recommendations. Data were transcribed and analysed using applied framework analysis. Results: Interview participants described a complex interface between competing demands, expectations of their gender, and internalised expectations of themselves. Systemic barriers, such as lack of flexible working, excessive workload, and the cumulative impacts of unrealistic expectations impaired the ability to fully contribute in the workplace. At the individual level, resilience related to: the ability to make choices; previous experiences that had encouraged self-confidence; effective engagement to obtain support; and the ability to handle negative experiences. External support, such as strong personal networks, and an adaptive work setting and organisation or system maximised interviewees’ professional contributions. Conclusion: On an international scale, female family doctors experience similar pressures from competing demands during lifecycle transitions; some of which relate to expectations of the female's ’role’ in society, particularly around the additional personal pressures of caring commitments. Such situations could be predicted, planned for, and mitigated with explicit support mechanisms and availability of workplace choices. Healthcare organisations and systems around the world should recognise this need and implement recommendations to help reduce workforce losses. These findings are likely to be of interest to all health professional staff of any gender

Fine-Scale Behavior of Coral Reef Fishes in a Small Floridian Marine Reserve

Foraging is a fundamental ecological process. Foraging patterns are not only related to the spatial distribution of prey, but are also important in understanding which habitats are utilized in the acquisition of prey. In the present study, we provide context to previous telemetric work by exploring the inter- and intra-specific differences in foraging behavior and habitat utilization of three representative species from different feeding guilds in a small marine reserve at Conch Reef. Field work was conducted during a saturation mission to the Aquarius Undersea Laboratory in November of 2008. The results of this study clearly depict inter- and intra-specifc variation of fine-scale foraging behaviors and habitat utilization for these three species of coral reef fishes. New insights into the foraging behavior were observed for hogfish (Lachnolaimus maximus), which were observed to winnow primarily over sand and continous reef habitats, and and for blue parrotfish (Scarus coer uleus) which were observed to bite primarily over sand and continuous reef habitats. Black grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci) as expected were found to be the only species to display ram/suction feeding. Given the increasingly wide application of small marine reserves world wide, including the reserve in which the study was conducted, enhanced understanding of fine-scale foraging behaviors of fishes targeted for protection by reserves will be needed to improve spatial management efforts. Though this study only provides information for adults of these species at Conch Reef, it still provides details on the landscape features that these three species utilize while foraging. Since foraging is a basic ecological process that directly influences movement patterns, the relative proportions of these foraging habitats should be included by managers when evaluating and establishing new marine reserves dedicated to protecting this species within the Florida Keys Reef Tract

Preservice and First-year Teachers’ Intention to Use and Actual Use of Technology-enabled Learning: A Case Study

The purpose of this qualitative, embedded single case study was to provide a rich description and explore the unique development and evolution of preservice teachers’ intention to use and actual use of technology-enabled learning (TEL) during student teaching and first-year teaching. The study followed four middle level education majors at a mid-size public teaching university in the southeastern United States over the course of the 2021 calendar year, during their student teaching experience (Spring 2021) and into their first semester as novice teachers (Fall 2021). Ajzen\u27s Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) guided this qualitative inquiry. Interviews, observations, and analysis of teaching artifacts (e.g., lesson plans, lesson reflections, and TEL artifacts) were conducted to triangulate the data. In addition to applying theory-based qualitative codes to the data, open coding was conducted to identify emerging themes across the body of evidence. Findings extended previous TPB research regarding preservice teachers’ intention to use TEL and yielded practical implications for teacher educators seeking to increase TEL intention and use in preservice and novice teacher populations