Civic Engagement 2.0: A Blended Pedagogy of Multiliteracies and Activism

This study looks at the practice of teaching civic engagement through digital and Web 2.0 tools and examines the impact on agency and self-efficacy of first-year writing students. The primary focus is studying student attitudes toward use of these tools, civic engagement in general, and the perceived value of engaging civically through use of these tools with the hopes of better understanding the value of this work and the impact it will have on future civic, community, and political engagement. Based on the findings of a triad of studies published in 2012 – a CIRCLE study (“That’s Not Democracy”), Giovanna Mascheroni’s study of Italian youth and political uses of the web, and a study conducted by DoSomething.org – the researcher designed a first-year composition course that asked students to choose a cause or issue for the duration of the semester and take on roles of informer, reformer, advocate, and activist on three fronts: Twitter (microblogging), Wordpress (blogging), and YouTube (digital advocacy videos). A feminist methodology was used for this study, understanding that the participatory nature of the research was an essential part of the ethos of the researcher. Qualitative data was collected through analysis of student work, reflection essays, and semi-structured focus group conversations. Through the focus group discussions, the student participants and the researcher worked collaboratively to create knowledge. The findings of this study echoed those of the three studies mentioned above. In addition to showing that instruction and experience with digital civic engagement are linked to an increased likelihood to engage in the future, the study showed that there are numerous benefits to teaching new media, civic, and academic literacies through an activist lens in writing studies. Students acquire a host of academic and professional skills that will help them succeed in the classroom and their future careers. Beyond acquisition of research and 21st century writing skills, teaching digital activism empowers students, increases agency, and helps them grasp the value of disrupting existing, outdated, or oppressive power dynamics in effective ways. Finally, it helps develop lifelong learners who are self-motivated

Manipulating within-orchard and adjacent habitats to provide better pest control in organic orchards. Some elements for modulating “orchard tree-pest-natural enemy” relationships

The control of pests in organic orchards cannot solely rely on the use of direct control methods. The effect of manipulating the habitat of orchard pests and natural enemies through tree architecture and the increase of plant diversity has been investigated in an experimental organic apple orchard and in a pear orchard, in order to provide information about the potential benefits of these cultural practices. Tree training affected the development of the most detrimental pests of apple trees, and the centrifugal training system globally provided better aphid (Dysaphis plantaginea) and mite (Panonychus ulmi) control than the more classical Solaxe system, whereas codling moth (Cydia pomonella) was favoured compared to Solaxe. The study of an experimental hedgerow designed to optimise protection of the pear orchard allowed us to validate the basic principles of designing plant assemblages to increase plant diversity in the orchard surroundings, namely the introduction of a succession of resources favouring the natural enemies of the key orchard pests, and to avoid detrimental effects (pests or diseases shared with the crops). This experiment and other studies suggest that manipulating the plant diversity adjacent to the orchard has an effect on entomocenosis. However, the potential benefits for the orchard only concern the control of pests that can be tolerated at high infestation rates

All-electron time-dependent density functional theory with finite elements: Time-propagation approach

We present an all-electron method for time-dependent density functional theory which employs hierarchical nonuniform finite-element bases and the time-propagation approach. The method is capable of treating linear and nonlinear response of valence and core electrons to an external field. We also introduce (i) a preconditioner for the propagation equation, (ii) a stable way to implement absorbing boundary conditions, and (iii) a new kind of absorbing boundary condition inspired by perfectly matched layers.Peer reviewe

Emergence of Symmetry in Complex Networks

Many real networks have been found to have a rich degree of symmetry, which is a very important structural property of complex network, yet has been rarely studied so far. And where does symmetry comes from has not been explained. To explore the mechanism underlying symmetry of the networks, we studied statistics of certain local symmetric motifs, such as symmetric bicliques and generalized symmetric bicliques, which contribute to local symmetry of networks. We found that symmetry of complex networks is a consequence of similar linkage pattern, which means that nodes with similar degree tend to share similar linkage targets. A improved version of BA model integrating similar linkage pattern successfully reproduces the symmetry of real networks, indicating that similar linkage pattern is the underlying ingredient that responsible for the emergence of the symmetry in complex networks.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

What Now: The Role of Attitude and Communicative Actions When Making Decisions During a Disease Crisis

During a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations often communicate about a risk to encourage people to take particular protective actions, and the decision-making process about protective actions can be especially complex. It is important to determine how organizations can encourage specific behaviors and, as such, this study sought to investigate how attitudes and communicative actions influenced behavior related to recommendations from the CDC during the COVID-19 pandemic. To address the purpose of this study, an online quantitative survey was distributed to United States residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results from this study reveal that attitude and transmission and acquisition communicative actions are good predictors of behavior. Organizations should prioritize improving target audience’s attitude toward the organization since this will likely lead to supportive behaviors during an infectious disease outbreak

Rewarding Relationships: A Quasi-Experimental Design Evaluating the Impact of an Extension Public Relations Seminar

While Extension communication units have seen success in implementing brand strategies to raise awareness of Extension, the public value and need for Extension programming continue to be misunderstood. College students have the potential to ensure the future of Extension is viable. To expose undergraduate students to the brand and value of Extension, a public relations seminar was developed and delivered by a state Extension specialist to 95 students enrolled in an agricultural technical writing course at a land-grant university. The seminar served as a treatment in the quasi-experimental design, which included information about the land-grant mission, Extension resources, and potential careers related to Extension. Findings revealed that the public relations seminar had a significant impact on the students’ awareness and value of Extension and their consideration of Extension as a career. Implications from this study support strategic public relations having a positive, short-term impact on students’ perceptions of Extension. While future research should explore the long-term impacts of public relations on students’ perceptions of Extension, it is recommended that Extension professionals and agricultural communicators implement public relations activities targeting undergraduate students and use brand advocates, like Extension specialists, to elevate the brand

Retroviral activation of the mir-106a microRNA cistron in T lymphoma

Retroviral insertion into a host genome is a powerful tool not only for the discovery of cancer genes, but also for the discovery of potential oncogenic noncoding RNAs. In a large-scale mouse T lymphocyte tumor screen we found a high density of integrations upstream of the mir-106a microRNA cistron. In tumors containing an integration, the primary transcript encoding the mir-106a cistron was overexpressed five to 20-fold compared with that of control tumors; concomitantly, the mature mir-106a and mir-363 microRNAs were highly overexpressed as well. These findings suggest the mir-106a cistron plays an important role in T cell tumorigenesis

Phase sensitive absolute amplitude detection of surface vibrations using homodyne interferometry without active stabilization

A detection scheme for obtaining phase and absolute amplitude information of surface vibrations on microacoustic components using homodyne laser interferometry is described. The scheme does not require active stabilization of the optical path length of the interferometer. The detection setup is realized in a homodyneMichelson interferometer configuration, and selected measurements on a 374 MHz surface acoustic wave fan-shaped filter and two different piezoelectrically actuated micromechanical resonators are presented to demonstrate the performance of the instrument. With the current detection electronics, the interferometer is capable of detecting out-of-plane surface vibrations up to 2 GHz with a lateral resolution of better than 1 μm and with a minimum detectable vibration amplitude of ∼1 pm.Peer reviewe

Occurrence of symptoms and depressive mood among working-aged coronary heart disease patients

BACKGROUND: The typical symptoms of coronary heart disease (CHD), chest pain and breathlessness, are well-known. They are considered quite dramatic, and can thus be fairly reliably mapped by a survey. However, people might have other clearly unpleasant symptoms impairing quality of life. The aim of this study is to evaluate the appearance of these complaints of working-aged people with self-reported CHD. METHODS: The study consists of a postal questionnaire of randomly selected Finns in age groups 30–34, 40–44 and 50–54, a response rate of 39% (N = 15,477). The subjects were asked whether or not a doctor had told them that they had angina pectoris or had had myocardial infarction. Four randomly selected age and sex matched controls were chosen for every patient. The occurrence of self-reported dyspnoea, chest pain during anger or other kind of emotion, palpitation and perspiration without physical exercise, irregular heartbeats, flushing, trembling of hands and voice, jerking of muscles, depression and day-time sleepiness were examined. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI), between occurrence of symptoms and CHD with and without heart infarction, were computed by multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The sample eventually comprised 319 CHD patients. Dyspnoea, chest pain during anger or other kind of emotion, palpitation, perspiration without physical exercise, irregular heartbeats daily or almost daily, trembling of hands and voice, and jerking of muscles occurred statistically significantly more frequently among CHD patients than among controls. The CHD patients also reported more depressive mood according to Beck's inventory scores and poorer sleep and more frequent day-time sleepiness than controls. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis chest pain during anger or other kind of emotion (ORs 4.12 and 3.61) and dyspnoea (ORs 2.33 and 3.81) were the symptoms most associated with CHD. CONCLUSIONS: Working-aged people with self-reported coronary heart disease evince a number of symptoms limiting the quality of their every day life. This aspect should be paid attention to when evaluating functional capacity of these patients