Impact of Emotional Support Animals on Student Stress

Stress is a growing problem in higher education. There are a variety of physiological and psychological effects of stress that negatively impact a range of body systems. Fortunately, different interventions are gaining popularity, including animal-assisted therapies (AAT). A range of case studies demonstrates the many roles animals play in these forms of therapies and this study specifically investigated the impact an emotional support rabbit had on the physiological and psychological indicators of stress. Subjects were presented with a mild stressor, and it was hypothesized that they would exhibit fewer and less intense physiological and psychological indicators of stress when the emotional support rabbit was present versus absent. Five variables were measured and analyzed including blood pressure, heart rate, heart rate variability, electodermal activity, and self perception of stress as indicated on a visual analog scale data. Overall, the visual analog scale data was the only statistically significant data in support of the initial hypothesis, but the blood pressure and electrodermal activity data reflected slight trends in support of the hypothesis. The heart rate and heart rate variability data was difficult to analyze since physiological changes in the body are not necessarily associated with one particular emotion. Therefore, there are some apparent benefits for humans when participating in AATs, but often the animals’ well-being is not considered. Some philosophers argue that animals do not have rights or moral standing so this would not matter, but studies have demonstrated animals’ awareness and support of each other, suggesting the opposite. If animals do have moral standing, this needs to be considered more in AATs and human-animal relationships. Policies and a focus on the importance of animal comfort are initial steps in the right direction. Fortunately, an increasing number of universities and healthcare practices are beginning to address this need for animal welfare in AATs

The advancement of women in higher education leadership.

The cross-case analysis is supported by literature on organizational culture, change and life cycle. The importance of pioneers and the context for social change are discussed along with their impact on the diffusion of innovation. The case study suggested that the factors of time and organizational culture act as barriers for organizational change. Without increased access to positions of power, women lack the critical mass to influence reiterated norms that better serve the community in a new social context. Leadership within colleges and universities must remain conscious of the status of women and be proactive in supporting their advancement to administrative positions.A cross-case analysis was constructed based on interviews with five women who founded a committee in 1971 to advance women in higher education leadership. The members of the committee revealed that while they used their roles as change agents to help increase the numbers of women in higher education, their efforts were hindered by a perpetuated model of male professional development and a lack of equality of condition. The committee promoted change through educational efforts such as fiscal training, consciousness raising, and mentoring. In their reflection on the change process, they suggested that a success of a movement relied on effective use of inside/outside organizational communication and strategic multiple impacts.Despite career development efforts for women in higher education leadership, women still lag behind men at the executive levels at U.S. colleges and universities. Balanced representation promotes a variety of effective leadership styles and lifestyles to students, faculty, and staff. As women are encouraged and supported to climb to higher levels of leadership, they may role model to future generations of men and women that opportunities for professional development are attainable and equitable in higher education today. The purpose of this study was to explore answers on the persistence of the gender gap and how to bring about organizational change. A phenomenological case study asked the research questions of a select group of individuals who worked to advance women in higher education

The Mechanism behind Erosive Bursts in Porous Media

Erosion and deposition during flow through porous media can lead to large erosive bursts that manifest as jumps in permeability and pressure loss. Here we reveal that the cause of these bursts is the re-opening of clogged pores when the pressure difference between two opposite sites of the pore surpasses a certain threshold. We perform numerical simulations of flow through porous media and compare our predictions to experimental results, recovering with excellent agreement shape and power-law distribution of pressure loss jumps, and the behavior of the permeability jumps as function of particle concentration. Furthermore, we find that erosive bursts only occur for pressure gradient thresholds within the range of two critical values, independent on how the flow is driven. Our findings provide a better understanding of sudden sand production in oil wells and breakthrough in filtration.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Frailty index of deficit accumulation and falls: data from the Global Longitudinal Study of Osteoporosis in Women (GLOW) Hamilton cohort

BACKGROUND: To investigate the association between frailty index (FI) of deficit accumulation and risk of falls, fractures, death and overnight hospitalizations in women aged 55 years and older. METHODS: The data were from the Global Longitudinal Study of Osteoporosis in Women (GLOW) Hamilton Cohort. In this 3-year longitudinal, observational cohort study, women (N=3,985) aged ≥ 55 years were enrolled between May 2008 and March 2009 in Hamilton, Canada. A FI including co-morbidities, activities of daily living, symptoms and signs, and healthcare utilization was constructed using 34 health deficits at baseline. Relationship between the FI and falls, fractures, death and overnight hospitalizations was examined. RESULTS: The FI was significantly associated with age, with a mean rate of deficit accumulation across baseline age of 0.004 or 0.021 (on a log scale) per year. During the third year of follow-up, 1,068 (31.89%) women reported at least one fall. Each increment of 0.01 on the FI was associated with a significantly increased risk of falls during the third year of follow-up (odds ratio [OR]: 1.02, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-1.03). The area under the curve (AUC) of the predictive model was 0.69 (95% CI: 0.67-0.71). Results of subgroup and sensitivity analyses indicated the relationship between the FI and risk of falls was robust, while bootstrap analysis judged its internal validation. The FI was significantly related to fractures (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.02, 95% CI: 1.01-1.03), death (OR: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.03-1.06) during the 3-year follow-up period and overnight hospitalizations (incidence rate ratio [IRR]: 1.02, 95% CI: 1.02-1.03) for an increase of 0.01 on the FI during the third year of follow-up. Measured by per standard deviation (SD) increment of the FI, the ORs were 1.21 and 1.40 for falls and death respectively, while the HR was 1.17 for fractures and the IRR was 1.18 for overnight hospitalizations respectively. CONCLUSION: The FI of deficit accumulation increased with chronological age significantly. The FI was associated with and predicted increased risk of falls, fractures, death and overnight hospitalizations significantly

Cruise Report: EX-17-11 Gulf of Mexico 2017 (ROV and Mapping)

From November 29, 2017 to December 21, 2017, the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) and partners conducted a telepresence-enabled ocean exploration expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to collect critical baseline data and information and to improve knowledge about unexplored and poorly understood deepwater areas of the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf of Mexico 2017 (EX-17-11) expedition was part of a series of expeditions between 2017 and 2018 that explored deepwater areas in the Gulf of Mexico. During 23 days at sea, 17 remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dives were completed off the Western Florida Escarpment and in the central and western Gulf of Mexico. Over 93 hours of ROV bottom time were logged at depths between 300 and 2,321 meters. Over 20,000 square kilometers of seafloor were mapped. A total of 138 biological and 11 geological samples were collected. The expedition gathered over 280,000 live video views worldwide and the OER website received over 35,600 views. A core onshore science team of over 80 participants from around the world collaborated and supported real-time ocean exploration science. The data associated with this expedition have been archived and are publicly available through the NOAA Archives

Teens’ social media use and collective action

This is the author's accepted manuscript, made available with the permission of the publisher.This research examined how social self-efficacy, collective self-esteem, and need to belong can be used to predict teens’ use of social media. The particular focus was on how these social psychological variables together with social media use account for variation in teens’ participation in a flash mob – an exemplar of 21st-century collective action. Empirical data come from a survey of teens in a major Midwestern city in the USA. Teens’ need to belong was positively associated with the amount of time they reported spending on social networking sites, even when controlling for gender, race, and household socio-economic status. Both teens’ social self-efficacy and time spent on YouTube were positively associated with their intention to participate in a flash mob in the future. These and other findings are discussed in the context of the role of social media in youth culture and collective action

Evaluating the Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day Program

It is well-documented that women in the United States are underrepresented in STEM fields and engineering in particular. This results in the underutilization of the available range of human resources and diverse problem-solving capacity in addressing the types of problems engineers are trained to solve. The lack of female representation in STEM fields may be associated with gender stereotypes and cultural practices that steer women away from engineering, a process that begins in childhood. This study examined the impact of one type of outreach, a 1-day opportunity for young girls in grades 1 through 5 to learn about and get hands-on experience with engineering. As part of this program, gender stereotypes as they relate to STEM fields were also discussed. We were interested in children’s interest in and previous experiences with engineering as well as their and their parent’s general beliefs about the child’s abilities in STEM areas. We collected surveys from parents and children prior to the program and from children immediately and 6 months after the program. Results showed that regardless of child age, participating in the program contributed to a significant increase in children’s self-reported engagement in engineering activities and in knowledge and interest in engineering. However, when followed up 6 months later, children’s self-reports in these areas returned to nearly pretest levels. The findings suggest the need for booster engineering experiences to maintain the gains achieved through participating in the Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day program