The intersection of race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, trans identity, and mental health outcomes

The present study examined patterns in trans individuals’ multiple identities and mental health outcomes. Cluster 1 (socioeconomic and racial privilege; n = 239) was characterized by individuals who identified as trans women or cross-dressers, lesbian, bisexual, or questioning; had associates degrees; reported household incomes of $60,000 or more a year; and were non-Latino White. Cluster 2 (educational privilege; n = 191) was characterized by individuals who identified as trans men or genderqueer, gay, or queer; had a bachelor’s degree; reported household incomes of$10,000 or less a year; and were people of color. There was a pattern of individuals in Cluster 1 who identified with two privileged identities (identifying as White and having higher household incomes), whereas individuals in Cluster 2 identified only formal education as a privilege. Individuals in Cluster 2 reported statistically significant levels of anxiety. Implications of these results for future research and clinical practice are examined.Accepted manuscrip

Goals and Social Comparisons Promote Walking Behavior

The effectiveness of a pedometer intervention was affected by manipulating the goals given to participants and by providing social comparison feedback about how participants’ performance compared with others. In study 1 (n = 148), university staff members received a low, medium, or high walking goal (10%, 50%, or 100% increase over baseline walking). Participants walked 1358 more steps per day (95% confidence interval [CI], 729, 1985), when receiving a high goal than when receiving a medium goal, but a medium goal did not increase walking relative to a low goal (554 more steps; 95% CI, –71,1179). In study 2 (n = 64), participants received individual feedback only or individual plus social comparison feedback. Participants walked 1120 more steps per day (95% CI, 538, 1703) when receiving social comparison feedback than when receiving only individual feedback. Goals and the performance of others act as reference points and influence the effect that pedometer feedback has on walking behavior, illustrating the applicability of the principles of behavioral economics and social psychology to the design of health behavior interventions

Training the Foot Soldiers of Inquiry: Development and Evaluation of a Graduate Teaching Assistant Learning Community

As part of a Howard Hughes Program for Innovation in Science Education grant at Iowa State University, a series of interdisciplinary graduate teaching assistant learning communities (TALC) were developed. The purpose of these communities was to create an environment to facilitate teaching assistants\u27 pedagogical development and training to enhance the implementation of inquiry experiences in the undergraduate laboratories. The TALC evaluated in this study were held for two consecutive semesters and included teaching assistants who facilitated multi-week course-based research experiences in their respective STEM courses. Topics discussed during the TALC were based on the teaching assistants\u27 concerns related to teaching this type of course. Evaluation consisted of weekly reflection responses, a pre- and post-survey of instructional methods they consider to facilitate inquiry, pre-post definitions of inquiry-based instruction, and end-of-semester evaluations of the learning community experiences. This article outlines the development of the TALC and findings from the various forms of evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR

The Intersection of Race, Sexual Orientation, Socioeconomic Status, Trans Identity, and Mental Health Outcomes

The present study examined patterns in trans individuals’ multiple identities and mental health outcomes. Cluster 1 (socioeconomic and racial privilege; n = 239) was characterized by individuals who identified as trans women or crossdressers, lesbian, bisexual, or questioning; had associates degrees; reported household incomes of $60,000 or more a year; and were non-Latino White. Cluster 2 (educational privilege; n = 191) was characterized by individuals who identified as trans men or genderqueer, gay, or queer; had a bachelor’s degree; reported household incomes of$10,000 or less a year; and were people of color. There was a pattern of individuals in Cluster 1 who identified with two privileged identities (identifying as White and having higher household incomes), whereas individuals in Cluster 2 identified only formal education as a privilege. Individuals in Cluster 2 reported statistically significant levels of anxiety. Implications of these results for future research and clinical practice are examined

COVID-19 Academic Integrity Violations and Trends: A Rapid Review

The rapid shift from classroom course delivery to online education modalities during the COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impacts on academia. Student loss of face-to-face interaction, the lost social benefits of the educational milieu, and restricted instructor ability to control both the learning environment and assessment process have been significant. The purpose of this paper is to discover if due to the unplanned shift to online course delivery, educators and researchers experienced impacts to academic integrity during the peak of the online shift. A systemic review utilizing the PRISMA methodology of peer reviewed literature published during the period of March 2020 till September 2021 demonstrated that violation types continued to fall within the existing academic integrity constructs of inappropriate information sharing, cheating on exams and assignments, incidents of plagiarism, and falsifying or fabricating information. The results showed that pre-COVID concerns with academic integrity were amplified with previous concerns moving to the forefront. In addition, the rapid shift opened doors for greater opportunity for violations and increased instructor concern especially within the hard sciences and courses with lab-based components. Reinforcing the importance of providing formal academic integrity student and faculty training can be a beneficial intervention to ensure students understand the ethical implications of student behavior and performance during the assessment process. Given the emerging trend pre-COVID that skyrocketed during the pandemic, ensuring academic integrity should remain a key priority for learning institutions

The Grizzly, February 22, 1985

Auto Blaze Cuts Phone Service • New Forensics Society Competing Successfully • All is Well With All\u27s Well Cast • Career Program Scheduled • Students Invited to Presidential Symposium • Pi Gamma Mu Seeks New Members • UC Selected for Ed Project • Bloodmobile Here in March • Nutrition Forum Tuesday • Bears Beat Swarthmore to Finish Season • Baseball Trains for Season and Florida Trip • Carr Puts Teams in Drive • Wellness Week Aimed at Promoting Overall Health • Night on Ice Scheduledhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1134/thumbnail.jp

Ecological Drought: Accounting for the Non-Human Impacts of Water Shortage in the Upper Missouri Headwaters Basin, Montana, USA

Water laws and drought plans are used to prioritize and allocate scarce water resources. Both have historically been human-centric, failing to account for non-human water needs. In this paper, we examine the development of instream flow legislation and the evolution of drought planning to highlight the growing concern for the non-human impacts of water scarcity. Utilizing a new framework for ecological drought, we analyzed five watershed-scale drought plans in southwestern Montana, USA to understand if, and how, the ecological impacts of drought are currently being assessed. We found that while these plans do account for some ecological impacts, it is primarily through the narrow lens of impacts to fish as measured by water temperature and streamflow. The latter is typically based on the same ecological principles used to determine instream flow requirements. We also found that other resource plans in the same watersheds (e.g., Watershed Restoration Plans, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Watershed Assessments or United States Forest Service (USFS) Forest Plans) identify a broader range of ecological drought risks. Given limited resources and the potential for mutual benefits and synergies, we suggest greater integration between various planning processes could result in a more holistic consideration of water needs and uses across the landscape

Modality and terminology changes for behavioral health service delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic prompted healthcare professionals to implement service delivery adaptations to remain in compliance with safety regulations. Though many adaptations in service delivery were reported throughout the literature, a wide variety of terminology and definitions were used. Methods: To address this, we conducted a PRISMA review to identify service delivery adaptations across behavioral healthcare services in the United States from March 2020 to May 2022 and to identify variations in terminology used to describe these adaptations. We identified 445 initial articles for our review across eight databases using predetermined keywords. Using a two-round screening process, authors used a team approach to identify the most appropriate articles for this review. Results: Our results suggested that a total of 14 different terms were used to describe service modality changes, with the most frequent term being telehealth (63%). Each term found in our review and the frequency of use across identified articles is described in detail. Discussion: Implications of this review such as understanding modality changes during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond are discussed. Our findings illustrate the importance of standardizing terminology to enhance communication and understanding among professionals

K2 Discovers a Busy Bee: An Unusual Transiting Neptune Found in the Beehive Cluster

Open clusters have been the focus of several exoplanet surveys but only a few planets have so far been discovered. The \emph{Kepler} spacecraft revealed an abundance of small planets around small, cool stars, therefore, such cluster members are prime targets for exoplanet transit searches. Kepler's new mission, K2, is targeting several open clusters and star-forming regions around the ecliptic to search for transiting planets around their low-mass constituents. Here, we report the discovery of the first transiting planet in the intermediate-age (800 Myr) Beehive cluster (Praesepe). K2-95 is a faint ($\mathrm{Kp = 15.5\,mag}$) $\mathrm{M3.0\pm0.5}$ dwarf from K2's Campaign 5 with an effective temperature of $\mathrm{3471 \pm 124\,K}$, approximately solar metallicity and a radius of $\mathrm{0.402 \pm 0.050 \,R_\odot}$. We detected a transiting planet with a radius of $\mathrm{3.47^{+0.78}_{-0.53} \, R_\oplus}$ and an orbital period of 10.134 days. We combined photometry, medium/high-resolution spectroscopy, adaptive optics/speckle imaging and archival survey images to rule out any false positive detection scenarios, validate the planet, and further characterize the system. The planet's radius is very unusual as M-dwarf field stars rarely have Neptune-sized transiting planets. The comparatively large radius of K2-95b is consistent with the other recently discovered cluster planets K2-25b (Hyades) and K2-33b (Upper Scorpius), indicating systematic differences in their evolutionary states or formation. These discoveries from K2 provide a snapshot of planet formation and evolution in cluster environments and thus make excellent laboratories to test differences between field-star and cluster planet populations.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figues. Accepted for publication in A

Group psychedelic therapy: empirical estimates of cost-savings and improved access

ObjectiveTo compare group and individual psychedelic-assisted therapy in terms of clinician time, costs and patient access.MethodsUsing 2023 data from two group therapy trial sites, one using 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) to treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and one using psilocybin to treat major depressive disorder (MDD), we compared overall variable costs, clinician costs and clinician time required by therapy protocols utilizing groups versus individual patient therapy. Using published literature, we estimated the prevalence of adults with PTSD and MDD eligible for treatment with psychedelic therapy and projected the savings in time and cost required to treat these prevalent cases.ResultsGroup therapy saved 50.9% of clinician costs for MDMA-PTSD and 34.7% for psilocybin-MDD, or $3,467 and$981 per patient, respectively. To treat all eligible PTSD and MDD patients in the U.S. in 10 years with group therapy, 6,711 fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) clinicians for MDMA-PTSD and 1,159 fewer for FTE clinicians for psilocybin-MDD would be needed, saving up to $10.3 billion and$2.0 billion respectively, discounted at 3% annually.ConclusionAdopting group therapy protocols where feasible would significantly reduce the cost of psychedelic-assisted therapies. By enhancing the number of patients served per clinician, group therapy could also ameliorate the anticipated shortage of appropriately trained clinicians, thereby accelerating access to these promising new therapies