Treatment of anxiety disorders in adolescents

Master's Project (M.Ed.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2016This project explores various cognitive behavioral techniques that may be used for the treatment of anxiety disorders in adolescents. Many adolescents experience anxiety disorders and providing treatment can be challenging. Mindfulness, relaxation, exposure, and music have all been shown to be useful techniques. Short-term treatment, incentives, and parental involvement were also found to be useful. The value of friendships, level of motivation, and drive towards independence should be taken into consideration when working with adolescents. This project includes a curriculum intended for small groups of adolescents with the goal of improving anxiety symptoms. The curriculum will assist counselors in both in-patient and out-patient settings as well as provide resources for middle and high school counselors

Emergency State Cultural Imagination and Expression among Afro-descendant Youth in Pearl Lagoon

Various societal factors demonstrate that Pearl Lagoon is in state of emergency. The youth today live in a Pearl Lagoon that is gradually losing cultural ground. However, the young people are not silent witnesses to this decline. The youth desire to learn more about their cultural traditions. Many of them romanticize their community’s past and emphasize the importance of their traditions, even though others are breaking away from their customs. The younger generation also critiques their community. This is hopeful because Pearl Lagoon needs cultural rescue. Technology is increasing the youth’s exposure to the outside world, which is not necessarily negative. However, the weakening Afro-descendant cultural identity leaves the youth vulnerable to these outside images, which can become adopted behaviors. There are many warning signs to Pearl Lagoon’s diminishing cultural expression: the youth’s disinterest in their traditions, increasing substance abuse, decreasing numbers of youth returning after college, growing health problems, and increasing incidents of teen pregnancy. However, it is not too late for cultural rescue. The challenge presented to community leaders is to decide what to do now that Pearl Lagoon has been identified as an emergency state

Stories of Color: An Exploration of Storytelling and Racial Microaggression

This study examines experiences of racial microaggressions as related to an audience through the art of Storytelling. Integrating Performance Ethnography and Critical Race Theory, it examines how storytelling may serve to illuminate the concept of racial microaggressions. After examining the current body of work on Racism, Storytelling and Microaggression, the author moves through the stories of experiences with racial microaggression from four individuals, gathered and performed as a storytelling event, before a live audience. The communicative management methods individuals use when talking about race and racial microaggressions are explored in presentation of the audience discussion which followed the performance. The author concludes storytelling has merit as a tool for the illumination of racial microaggressions, yet the potency with which racism is ingrained in the psyche of white people in U.S. indicates significant structure must be applied to public discussions of race to support the utilization of storytelling in this manner

Demand for Agriculture Mechanics in Agriculture Education

The creative component explains the importance of agricultural mechanics classes in agriculture teacher preparation and the need for continuing education in that discipline for teachers of all backgrounds. As a result of research and teaching experience, there are 10 Agricultural Mechanics lesson plans for new and experienced teachers. Lesson plans include tool conditioning, construction layout, 4-stroke engine maintenance, chainsaw safety, and even a Native American Studies mechanics lesson

The Macroeconomic Implications of Replacing the U.S. Federal Tax System With a Value-Added Tax

This paper analyzes the potential implications of instituting a value-added tax (VAT) as the sole source of revenue for the United States Federal Government. A credit-invoice, broad-based VAT would fundamentally tax consumption, whereas the current system employed by the U.S. taxes production. A VAT system would allow firms to make decisions based on the most efficient allocation of capital and labor inputs, leading to a greater level of efficiency and productivity for U.S. firms in the long run. While the VAT would initially reduce the amount of consumption spending within the United States due to it raising the price of consumable goods, workers have the potential to earn higher after-tax income as a result of eliminating the payroll and individual income tax. This shift would provide incentives toward savings, investment, and work that would augment the nation’s capital stock and lead to higher levels of real gross domestic product (GDP) in the long run. This paper concludes that the macroeconomic effects of replacing the current tax system with a broad-based VAT are positive despite the drawbacks of such a mechanism. A flat, broad-based VAT is a simple, efficient tax mechanism that could provide a better revenue source for achieving higher levels of economic growth in the United States

Safety and Antitumor Activity of the Anti–Programmed Death-1 Antibody Pembrolizumab in Patients With Advanced Esophageal Carcinoma

Purpose The anti–programmed death-1 antibody pembrolizumab was evaluated in KEYNOTE-028, a multicohort, phase IB study of patients with programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1)–positive advanced solid tumors. Results from the esophageal carcinoma cohort are reported herein. Patients and Methods Eligible patients with squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma of the esophagus or gastroesophageal junction in whom standard therapy failed and who had PD-L1–positive tumors received pembrolizumab 10 mg/kg every 2 weeks for up to 2 years or until confirmed disease progression or intolerable toxicity. Response was assessed every 8 weeks up to 6 months and every 12 weeks thereafter. Primary end points were safety and overall response rate, determined by investigator review per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (version 1.1). Results Among 83 patients with esophageal carcinoma and samples evaluable for PD-L1 expression, 37 (45%) had PD-L1–positive tumors, and 23 were enrolled. Median age was 65 years; 78% had squamous histology; and 87% received ≥ two prior therapies for advanced/metastatic disease. As of the data cutoff (February 20, 2017), median follow-up was 7 months (range, 1 to 33 months). Nine patients (39%) experienced treatment-related adverse events, most commonly decreased appetite, decreased lymphocyte count, generalized rash, and rash (two patients [9%] each). No grade 4 adverse events or deaths were attributed to pembrolizumab. Overall response rate was 30% (95% CI, 13% to 53%); median duration of response was 15 months (range, 6 to 26 months). A six-gene interferon-γ gene expression signature analysis suggested that delayed progression and increased response occur among pembrolizumab-treated patients with higher interferon-γ composite scores. Conclusion Pembrolizumab demonstrated manageable toxicity and durable antitumor activity in patients with heavily pretreated, PD-L1–positive advanced esophageal carcinoma