An Investigation of Geriatric Microaggressions, Relations with Depression in Later Life, and the Moderating Effect of Coping

This quantitative study examined the relationships between experiences of geriatric microaggressions, mental health, coping, and demographic characteristics. Geriatric microaggressions are subtle forms of discrimination experienced by the older adult population based upon negative societal perceptions of aging. Previous research has found relations among other forms of microaggressions, such as racial and sexual orientation, and mental health and coping; however, age related microaggressions remain relatively unexplored. The present sample consisted of 163 adults, age 60 and older, who were recruited primarily from the Western Pennsylvania area. The results revealed significant demographic differences in regard to the experiences of geriatric microaggressions. The results also supported significant relationships between coping style, symptoms of depression, and experiences of geriatric microaggressions. These findings imply that experiences of geriatric microaggressions exist within our society and can potentially have meaningful consequences for older adults. Implications for counseling practice and education and recommendations for future research are presented

Brick by Brick: A Comparative pXRF Analysis of Brickworks and Structures in the Belgian-American Community of the Door Peninsula

Wisconsin\u27s Door Peninsula was home to the largest Belgian immigrant population in the United States during the late 19th century. In 1871, a deadly firestorm engulfed large portions of Northeastern Wisconsin and tore through the land where these Belgian\u27s resided. After the fire a household brickmaking industry emerged, creating the red brick that gives the Door Peninsula its architectural character today. Very few of the brickworks that created the iconic red brick are documented in the archaeological record. Vandermissen Brickworks is a late 19th and early 20th century brickworks that made handmade bricks for local structures following the Great Fire of 1871. Remains of the Vandermissen Brickworks (47DR388) along with two other historic brickworks were recovered during the Wisconsin State Highway 57 construction project. A portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analyzer was used in the attempt to associate standing structures on the Door Peninsula to bricks and brick fragments recovered from Vandermissen Brickworks and two other local brickworks. The goal of this project is to determine if it is possible to use a pXRF analyzer to identify a correlation between bricks from the brickworks and bricks from structures. The data did not demonstrate similarities between excavated bricks and bricks from the structures but it did reveal other relationships. At the Vandermissen site, the bricks from the clamps statistically differed from the rest of the brickworks. Also bricks from each of the structures statistically differed from all of the brickworks. These results serve to delimit the kinds of questions that can be answered through pXRF analysis. The results here demonstrate how pXRF analysis can be used to differentiate samples from an archaeological context and a non-archaeological context as well as differentiating bricks over fired in kilns from other bricks. The analysis of the pXRF results demonstrates how this technology can be used in future research of historic brickworks sites

Lessons learnt: Observation of Grade 4 reading comprehension teaching in South African schools across the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006 achievement spectrum

The evidence of the huge challenges of literacy development faced by South African learners is primarily gleaned from the results of learners’ external assessments. There is little research which explores, in-depth, the strategies used by teachers to teach reading literacy and reading comprehension specifically. Questions remain about what is going wrong and, most importantly,what can be changed to rectify the poor outcomes of learners. To gain insight into the poor achievement of Grade 4 learners, in South Africa in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006, six case studies were undertaken. Each school case had a different class average achievement profile ranging from low to high on the PIRLS achievement scale.This article presents findings from the observation of Grade 4 reading comprehension lessons in six schools. The comparison of observations of teaching practices aligned to higher achieving schools, against those of lower performing schools, indicates the discrepancies in the quality of teaching reading comprehension across the schools, and reveals potential foci for teacher development. The value of comparative lesson observation for these purposes is highlighted

The influence of schooling conditions and teaching practices on curriculum implementation for Grade 4 reading literacy development

The findings of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006 highlighted concerns about support for and the quality of reading literacy teaching in South African primary schools. In South Africa there is a paucity of research outlining schooling conditions and teachers’ reading literacy teaching practices especially in the Intermediate Phase. The aim of this mixed methods study was to explore schooling conditions and teaching practices for the implementation of the curriculum for Grade 4 learners’ reading literacy development across a range of education contexts. Two research sub-questions explored in two research phases were used to investigate the overall question which was: What influence do schooling conditions and teaching practices have on curriculum implementation for Grade 4 reading literacy? In phase one, PIRLS 2006 principal and teacher questionnaire data were re-classified for secondary analysis according to language of instruction (English First Language or English Additional Language) and the mean performance of each participating class of learners on the PIRLS 2006 international benchmarks and further benchmarks established to reflect the performance of the majority of South African learners. Response distributions on selected classroom level variables detailing teacher characteristics and reading literacy teaching practices as well as selected school level variables describing teaching conditions impacting the teaching of reading literacy were compared across each reclassified benchmark sub-sample. In phase two, six school and teacher case studies were purposively selected from each of the sub-samples to complement and extend the findings from the analysis of the survey data using multiple qualitative data sources. The findings revealed that differences in schooling conditions and teaching practices across the PIRLS achievement spectrum were generally aligned to differences between advantaged, high achieving schools and disadvantaged low-achieving schools. Thus, the study provides insights into the high levels of between-school inequalities for the development of Grade 4 reading literacy and school and classroom level reasons for such inequalities. On the basis of the findings, recommendations for policy, teacher practice and teacher education, and further research are provided.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010.Science, Mathematics and Technology Educationunrestricte

Parents' constructions of the role of the helping professional in learning support

Within the helping professions there are contrasting epistemological views regarding the role of the helping professional, which have direct influences on learning support practices. Despite these views, it remains unclear what parents expect when seeking learning support for their children. This qualitative study explored parents’ constructions of the role of the helping professional in learning support. It specifically addressed parents’ expectations of the helping professional, what they value in their interactions with helping professionals as well as their understandings of their own roles in consultation and intervention for learning support. A case study approach was employed to gain access to participants. Specifically, three parents of children attending a school for Learners with Special Educational Needs [LSEN] were included as participants. These parents had had experiences with various helping professionals, both at the school and in private practice settings, in the course of seeking assistance for their children. It was thus thought that they would be able to provide in-depth perspectives as to their ideas of the role of helping professionals who assist children experiencing difficulties due to their exposure and experiences with helping professionals. Initial data collection was undertaken via semi-structured interviews with the participants. A content analysis of the interviews was subsequently employed to elicit affinities for use during a further modified form of Interactive Qualitative Analysis [IQA] with the contributors to the study. In total, fourteen affinities were generated and included Parental expectations, Professional characteristics, The helping process, Parents’ role, Status of the helping professional, Professional approach, Parents’ personal experiences, Parents’ emotions, Assessment, Recommendations, Stigma, a Team approach, parent-professional Interaction and Values. These affinity descriptions were corroborated and expanded on with the participants and the relationships amongst the affinities where then hypothesised by the participants themselves. A central outcome of the study was the research participants’ social representations of helping professionals. These representations comprise the thematic elements representing the participants’ discourse about the role of helping professionals in learning support and provide the participants’ in-depth ideas of the relationships amongst these elements.Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007.Educational Psychologyunrestricte

Premarital counseling

As couples become engaged to be married and dream of a life together, many of them fail to take a realistic look at how the demands and stresses often associated with marriage will affect their ideal relationships. Prior to the wedding, romance often overshadows reality, and preparations for the wedding ceremony supersede reflection on the actual relationship (Giblin, 1994). In the media, relationships are reported to be idealistic, romantic or adventurous; yet, the USA has one of the highest marriage/divorce ratios of all industrialized nations (Bagarozzi & Rauen, 1981). According to Giblin (1994), forty to fifty percent of couples in the U.S. divorce within three years of marriage. This divorce rate appears to indicate that one in every two marriages will end in divorce (National Center for Health Statistics, 1989). O\u27Leary and Smith (1991) stated that approximately forty percent of all clients in mental health clinics indicated that marital problems are part of their difficulties. In fact, individuals seek help in mental health clinics for marital problems than for any other single client reported problem (O\u27Leary & Smith, 1991)

Analysis of selected herbicide metabolites in surface and ground water of the United States

One of the primary goals of the US Geological Survey (USGS) Laboratory in Lawrence, Kansas, is to develop analytical methods for the analysis of herbicide metabolites in surface and ground water that are vital to the study of herbicide fate and degradation pathways in the environment. Methods to measure metabolite concentrations from three major classes of herbicides ─ triazine, chloroacetanilide and phenyl-urea ─ have been developed. Methods for triazine metabolite detection cover nine compounds: six compounds are detected by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry; one is detected by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detection; and eight are detected by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Two metabolites of the chloroacetanilide herbicides ─ ethane sulfonic acid and oxanilic acid ─ are detected by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detection and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Alachlor ethane sulfonic acid also has been detected by solid-phase extraction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Six phenylurea metabolites are all detected by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry; four of the six metabolites also are detected by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Additionally, surveys of herbicides and their metabolites in surface water, ground water, lakes, reservoirs, and rainfall have been conducted through the USGS laboratory in Lawrence. These surveys have been useful in determining herbicide and metabolite occurrence and temporal distribution and have shown that metabolites may be useful in evaluation of non-point-source contamination

Effects of Epiphyte Load on Optical Properties and Photosynthetic Potential of the Seagrasses Thalassia Testudinum Banks ex König and Zostera Marina L

The biomass and optical properties of seagrass leaf epiphytes were measured to evaluate their potential impact on the photosynthetic performance of the seagrasses Thalassia testudinum Banks ex König (turtlegrass) and Zostera marina L. (eelgrass). Turtlegrass was obtained from oligotrophic waters near Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas; eelgrass was collected from a eutrophic environment in Monterey Bay, California. Leaf–epiphyte loads were characterized visually and quantified using measurements of their phospholipid biomass. Light absorption and reflectance of the intact epiphyte layer were determined spectrophotometrically. Turtlegrass epiphytes from the oligotrophic site absorbed a maximum of 36% of incident light in peak chlorophyll absorption bands, whereas higher epiphyte loads on eelgrass from the more eutrophic Monterey Bay absorbed 60% of incident light in peak chlorophyll absorption bands. The combination of intact epiphyte–leaf complexes and spectral measurements enabled us to construct a quantitative relationship between epiphyte biomass and light attenuation, and, by extension, between epiphyte bio- mass and seagrass photosynthesis. The model yielded a robust, positive relationship between epiphyte biomass and the absorption of photons in photosynthetically important wavelengths, and it generated a strong negative relationship between epiphyte biomass and spectral photosynthesis of their seagrass hosts. Furthermore, the calculations of photosynthesis highlighted the significant differences between PAR and spectral models of photosynthesis, illustrating that the spectral quality of the incident flux must be considered when evaluating the effects of epiphyte load on seagrass leaf photosynthesis. Verification of the model—using direct measurements of photosynthesis and a variety of epiphyte and macrophyte combinations from different locations--is warranted

Zebrafish immunoglobulin IgD: Unusual exon usage and quantitative expression profiles with IgM and IgZ/T heavy chain isotypes

The zebrafish is an emerging model for comparative immunology and biomedical research. In contrast to the five heavy chain isotype system of mice and human (IgD, IgM, IgA, IgG, IgE), zebrafish harbor gene segments for IgD, IgM, and novel heavy chain isotype called IgZ/T which appears restricted to bony fishes. The purpose of this study was to design and validate a suite of quantitative real time RT-PCR protocols to measure IgH expression in a vertebrate model which has considerable promise for modeling both pathogenic infection and chronic conditions leading to immune dysfunction. Specific primers were designed and following verification of their specificty, relative expression levels of IgD, IgM, and IgZ/T were measured in triplicate for zebrafish raised under standard laboratory conditions. During embryonic stages, low levels of each heavy chain isotype (IgH) were detected with each increasing steadily between 2 and 17 weeks post fertilization. Overall IgM > IgZ > IgD throughout zebrafish development with the copy number of IgM being several fold higher than that of IgD or IgZ/T. IgD exon usage was also characterized, as its extremely long size and presence of a stop codon in the second IgD exon in zebrafish, raised questions as to how this antibody might be expressed. Zebrafish IgD was found to be a chimeric immunoglobulin, with the third IgD exon spliced to the first IgM constant exon thereby circumventing the first and second IgD exons. Collectively, the qRT-PCR results represent the first comparative profile of IgD, IgM, IgZ/T expression over the lifespan of any fish species and the primers and assay parameters reported should prove useful in enabling researchers to rapidly quantify changes in IgH expression in zebrafish models of disease where altered IgH expression is manifested.National Institutes of Health (U.S.

Assessing antibiotic sorption in soil: a literature review and new case studies on sulfonamides and macrolides

The increased use of veterinary antibiotics in modern agriculture for therapeutic uses and growth promotion has raised concern regarding the environmental impacts of antibiotic residues in soil and water. The mobility and transport of antibiotics in the environment depends on their sorption behavior, which is typically predicted by extrapolating from an experimentally determined soil-water distribution coefficient (K(d)). Accurate determination of K(d) values is important in order to better predict the environmental fate of antibiotics. In this paper, we examine different analytical approaches in assessing K(d) of two major classes of veterinary antibiotics (sulfonamides and macrolides) and compare the existing literature data with experimental data obtained in our laboratory. While environmental parameters such as soil pH and organic matter content are the most significant factors that affect the sorption of antibiotics in soil, it is important to consider the concentrations used, the analytical method employed, and the transformations that can occur when determining K(d) values. Application of solid phase extraction and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry can facilitate accurate determination of K(d) at environmentally relevant concentrations. Because the bioavailability of antibiotics in soil depends on their sorption behavior, it is important to examine current practices in assessing their mobility in soil