Social Autonomy ≠ Social Empowerment: The Social Self-Restriction Model

This paper introduces the social self-restriction (SSR) model, which highlights a drawback associated with the increasingly accessible privilege of social autonomy. Social autonomy enables individuals to connect with preferred social partners and avoid undesirable others. The benefits of social autonomy are undeniable; however, the SSR model makes the novel assertion that people tend to exercise social autonomy in ways that ultimately constrain their potential for social empowerment—a higher-order form of personal freedom. Attaining the ideal of high social empowerment requires both high social autonomy and high social adaptability. People with high social adaptability can feel reasonably comfortable and act competently in social environments they did not choose to inhabit. Unfortunately, people with high social autonomy are unlikely to possess high social adaptability. We propose that social autonomy undermines social adaptability by tempting people to avoid social challenges and socialize selectively with similar others in familiar contexts, a habit that limits social skill development, promotes social intolerance, and distorts social perceptions. In essence, we argue that social autonomy allows people to live in their social comfort zones, at the cost of restricting their social range. Our discussion of the SSR model incorporates evidence and perspectives from a broad range of academic disciplines, and includes consideration of opportunities for future research

A New Pathway for the Preparation of Highly Qualified Teachers: The Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT)

This article reports on the development and initial implementation of a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree, an accelerated graduate program that encourages and scaffolds individuals with existing disciplinary expertise in entering the teaching profession. First, the context for developing the program is outlined. Next, the unique structure of the 15-month program, which consists of three blocks, is described. Expectations about students are then shared, quality control features of the program are highlighted, and the lessons we learned about program development and implementation are detailed. Finally, thoughts about the future of this program and others of its type are shared based upon our experience

Two cardiac arrests, one medical team

Journal ArticleThe most painful of all medical care decisions concerns life-preserving measures which, because of limited resources, require certain individuals to be excluded in favor of others. How does one weigh the relative rights of individuals to such care? Whenever possible, decisions to withhold lifesaving therapy should be made in advance. but in the absence of a clear expression that lifesaving care should be withheld, the person in charge must assume that care was intended

The evolution of green jobs in Scotland : a hybrid approach

In support of its ambitious target to reduce CO2 emissions the Scottish Government is aiming to have the equivalent of 100% of Scottish electricity consumption generated from renewable sources by 2020. This is, at least in part, motivated by an expectation of subsequent employment growth in low carbon and renewable energy technologies; however there is no official data source to track employment in these areas. This has led to a variety of definitions, methodologies and alternative estimates being produced. Building on a recent study (Bishop et al, 2013) we develop a "hybrid" approach which combines the detail of "bottom-up" surveys with "top-down" trend data to produce estimates on employment in Low Carbon Environmental Goods and Services (LCEGS). We demonstrate this methodology to produce estimates for such employment in Scotland between 2004 and 2012. Our approach shows how survey and official sources can combine to produce a more timely measure of employment in LCEGS activities, assisting policymakers in tracking, consistently, developments. Applying our approach, we find that over this period employment in LCEGS in Scotland grew, but that this was more volatile than aggregate employment, and in particular that employment in this sector was particularly badly hit during the great recession

Self-expansion within sexual minority relationships

According to the self-expansion model, people increase their positive self-concept content when they form and maintain romantic relationships, and self-expansion is an important predictor of relationship outcomes. Although thought to be universal, no prior research has examined self-expansion among sexual minority individuals. In the current study, sexual minority (N = 226) and heterosexual (N = 104) participants completed measures of self-expansion and relationship outcomes, and sexual minority participants completed measures of sexual minority stress. Overall, sexual minorities reported similar levels of self-expansion as heterosexuals, and sexual minority status did not moderate the association between self-expansion and relationship satisfaction, investments, or quality of alternatives. However, sexual minority status moderated the association between self-expansion and commitment. For sexual minority participants, self-expansion negatively correlated with sexual minority stressors (i.e., internalized homonegativity, concealment, inauthenticity) and moderated the association between internalized homonegativity and relationship satisfaction and commitment, as well as concealment and relationship satisfaction and commitment, such that the negative association between sexual minority stressors and relationship outcomes was weaker in relationships characterized by high (vs. low) levels of self-expansion

DATA SHARING TO DRIVE THE IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAMS

Background/Context: Teacher preparation programs (TPPs) face increasing pressure from the federal government, states, and accreditation agencies to improve the quality of their practices and graduates, yet they often do not possess enough data to make evidence-based reforms. Purpose/Objective: This manuscript has four objectives: (a) to present the strengths and shortcomings of accountability-based TPP evaluation systems; (b) to detail the individual-level data being shared with TPPs at public universities in North Carolina; (c) to describe how data sharing can lead to TPP improvement and the challenges that programs will need to overcome; and (d) to detail how three TPPs are using the data for program improvement. Setting: North Carolina public schools and schools of education at public universities in North Carolina. Importantly, this individual-level data sharing system can be instituted among TPPs in other states. Population/Participants/Subjects: Teachers initially-prepared b

Towards 'men who have sex with menappropriate' health services in South Africa

Health programming for men who have sex with men (MSM) in South Africa has been ignored or absent until fairly recently, despite this population being at high risk for HIV acquisition and transmission. Anova Health Institute, with support from the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)/United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and in collaboration with the South African National Department of Health, launched the first state sector MSM-targeted sexual health clinic in 2010. The clinic has been successful in attracting and retaining MSM in care, and lessons learned are described in this article. Components contributing to the creation of MSM-appropriate healthcare services are discussed

Developing An Electricity Satellite Account (EISA) : An Application to Scotland, UK

Within the system of national accounts the electricity sector is typically reported as a single entry representing generation, transmission, distribution and trade. The way in which these components interact with the economy differs greatly, a feature lost within the standard accounting framework. In this paper we propose an Electricity Satellite Account (ElSA) approach to better understand the linkages between the economy and the electricity sector, with a particularly focus on generation technologies. To develop this framework, we draw parallels to Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSAs). To illustrate the practical steps in constructing ElSAs, we develop an ElSA for Scotland for 2012. We show how the ELSA framework gives an improved understanding of the electricity sector, which is critical in improving the usefulness of such accounts future climate and energy, as well as economic, policy

Early Verb Learning: How Do Children Learn How to Compare Events?

An important problem verb learners must solve is how to extend verbs. Children could use cross-situational information to guide their extensions, however comparing events is difficult. Two studies test whether children benefit from initially seeing a pair of similar events (‘progressive alignment’) while learning new verbs, and whether this influence changes with age. In Study 1, 2 ½- and 3 ½-year-old children participated in an interactive task. Children who saw a pair of similar events and then varied events were able to extend verbs at test, differing from a control group; children who saw two pairs of varied events did not differ from the control group. In Study 2, events were presented on a monitor. Following the initial pair of events that varied by condition, a Tobii x120 eye tracker recorded 2 ½-, 3 ½- and 4 ½-year-olds’ fixations to specific elements of events (AOIs) during the second pair of events, which were the same across conditions. After seeing the pair of events that were highly similar, 2 ½-year-olds showed significantly longer fixation durations to agents and to affected objects as compared to the all varied condition. At test, 3 ½-year-olds were able to extend the verb, but only in the progressive alignment condition. These results are important because they show children\u27s visual attention to relevant elements in dynamic events is influenced by their prior comparison experience, and they show that young children benefit from seeing similar events as they learn to compare events to each other