The contribution of multi-sensory aids to a meaningful art program.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Flipping the Script on Pastoral Care: A Quantitative Study on the Effects of Social Support and Self-Care and How It Influences the Presence of Burnout in the Lives of Pastors Serving in the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia

Burnout is a phenomenon that impacts many clergy across the world, regardless of denomination. There are many causal factors that lead to burnout, as well as a number of suggested measures for prevention and treatment. With education on burnout increasing, more awareness can and should be given to the subject. As pastors continue to serve their communities and congregations, it is likely that they will have to combat the onset of burnout at some point during their tenure. It is important for both the pastor and the congregation they serve to be aware of burnout and its symptoms, as well as having an action plan for how to respond to the natural stressors associated with the ministry. As one way to combat burnout, this study explored the influence of social support and whether it could serve to reduce the effects of burnout. Self-care was also analyzed as a moderating factor. The research population was pastors serving in the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia. Analysis was conducted in SPSS using Pearson’s r and regression analysis through PROCESS, a system designed for estimating statical models, such as moderation. The following assessments were used to capture the data: Multi-dimensional Scale for Perceived Social Support, Maslach Burnout Inventory, and researcher developed demographic and self-care questionnaires. A positive relationship was found between social support and burnout, with negative relationships being present when accounted for self-care as a moderating factor

Protogyny in a tropical damselfish: females queue for future benefit

Membership of the group is a balance between the benefits associated with group living and the cost of socially constrained growth and breeding opportunities, but the costs and benefits are seldom examined. The goal of the present study was to explore the trade-offs associated with group living for a sex-changing, potentially protogynous coral reef fish, the Ambon damselfish, Pomacentrus amboinensis. Extensive sampling showed that the species exhibits resource defence polygyny, where dominant males guard a nest site that is visited by females. P. amboinensis have a longevity of about 6.5 years on the northern Great Barrier Reef. While the species can change sex consistent with being a protogynous hermaphrodite, it is unclear the extent to which the species uses this capability. Social groups are comprised of one reproductive male, 1-7 females and a number of juveniles. Females live in a linear dominance hierarchy, with the male being more aggressive to the beta-female than the alpha-female, who exhibits lower levels of ovarian cortisol. Surveys and a tagging study indicated that groups were stable for at least three months. A passive integrated transponder tag study showed that males spawn with females from their own group, but also females from neighbouring groups. In situ behavioural observations found that alpha-females have priority of access to the nest site that the male guarded, and access to higher quality foraging areas. Male removal studies suggest that the alpha-females can change sex to take over from the male when the position becomes available, Examination of otolith microstructure showed that those individuals which change sex to males have different embryonic characteristics at hatching, suggesting that success may involve a component that is endowed. The parently endowed. The relative importance of parental effects and social organisation in affecting the importance of female queuing is yet to be studied, but will likely depend on the strength of social control by the dominant members of the group

Leaving No Veteran Behind: Policies and Perspectives on Combat Trauma, Veterans Courts, and the Rehabilitative Approach to Criminal Behavior

As of June 2012, at least 104 jurisdictions spanning 28 states have created specialized criminal courts for veterans. Known as Veterans Treatment Courts (VTCs), these courts focus on rehabilitation, rather than incarceration, to address the root causes of criminal behavior. Although other articles have described the emergence of VTCs, few, if any, have focused on the jurisdictional differences between them. This Comment addresses the basic treatment process and jurisdictional differences among VTCs in the United States, with a particular focus on VTCs in Pennsylvania. This Comment also discusses trends in the VTC movement, the effectiveness of VTCs to date, perspectives from both critics and advocates, and the need for greater awareness efforts regarding the unique purposes of these courts

An Approach to Tone Reproduction for Converting Transparencies to Reflection Prints

The purpose of this investigation was to study the useful criteria for converting transparencies to reflection prints, and examine the unavoidable departures from the criteria. A single useful criterion was found; that the relative brightness of the reproduction match those of the original. One significant compromise appeared to be in the shadow reproduction in low maximum density reflection prints. It was found that like reflection prints, transparencies do not typically reach relative brightnesses as low as zero. Thus, only a relatively small departure from the 1:1 criterion was likely . Flare in the camera system and viewing conditions limits the maximum density in transparencies to less than sensitometric curves indicate. A simple method for plotting transparency-to-print reproduction was proposed that encorporates the 1:1 relative brightness criterion

The Intrapsychic and Interpersonal Effects of Talking About Guilt

This qualitative study is a venture into the realm of how people of various ages and life circumstances make meaning of confession. Specifically, how do people who confess perceive it to affect their psychological well-being? Because this is an exploratory study in an area with little prior research, a qualitative methodology was employed. The participants in this study were 91 adults with a mean age of 48.8, ranging from 18 to 81 years. Participants completed an online demographic study and then two follow-up emails, consisting of a total of 6 descriptive questions. Results showed a variety of methods for confessing guilt, motivations for confession, and emotional and cognitive changes. The majority reponed confession to be psychologically beneficial and an agent of imerpersonal and intrapersonal growth. Emotionally, most of the respondents reported feeling a great sense of relief and thankfulness which lasted. Others reported that time to process the guilt, receiving forgiveness from God and the person(s) wronged, changing their behavior and attitudes, and understanding both strengths and weaknesses with in themselves aided in overcoming feelings of guilt

Prior residency improves the performance of a habitat specialist in a degrading environment

The effect of habitat loss on the decline of habitat specialists has been well documented in coral reef fishes, since they have a restricted habitat preference. However, the different competitive advantages of specialists and generalists can impact their performance within varying habitat conditions. The order in which species arrive into a community influences competitive outcomes; these ‘priority effects’ may modify communities within degrading resource scenarios as individuals migrate in search of higher quality resources. In this study, we investigated: how sequence and timing of arrival affects interactions between a habitat generalist and a specialist in healthy and degrading environments, and how prior residency interacts with habitat quality and species identity to affect propensity to migrate. We conducted manipulative field studies using the damselfishes Pomacentrus amboinensis, a habitat generalist, and Pomacentrus moluccensis, a live coral specialist, on live or dead coral habitats, with timing of arrival differing between early and late arrivers (residents and intruders, respectively) by 1, 3 or 24 h. Our results demonstrated that the strength of priority effects (i.e., aggression intensity) increased with increasing timing of arrival when the P. moluccensis arrived after P. amboinensis, suggesting that as the perceived value of the habitat patch increased (owing to increasing ownership duration and defence investment), the tendency to defend it increased. Propensity to migrate from dead to live coral was greater for P. moluccensis compared to P. amboinensis; however, arriving after P. amboinensis significantly reduced willingness to migrate to its preferred live coral habitat, indicating an inhibitory priority effect, directly affecting future persistence. The degree that ecological versatility and priority effects combine to modify competitive outcomes in coral reef fishes has important consequences for the persistence of specialist species in the face of environmental degradation, and has implications for predicting how our changing environment will affect fish communities

Individual consistency in the behaviors of newly-settled reef fish

Flexibility in behavior is advantageous for organisms that transition between stages of a complex life history. However, various constraints can set limits on plasticity, giving rise to the existence of personalities that have associated costs and benefits. Here, we document a field and laboratory experiment that examines the consistency of measures of boldness, activity, and aggressive behavior in the young of a tropical reef fish, Pomacentrus amboinensis (Pomacentridae) immediately following their transition between pelagic larval and benthic juvenile habitats. Newly-settled fish were observed in aquaria and in the field on replicated patches of natural habitat cleared of resident fishes. Seven behavioral traits representing aspects of boldness, activity and aggression were monitored directly and via video camera over short (minutes), medium (hours), and long (3 days) time scales. With the exception of aggression, these behaviors were found to be moderately or highly consistent over all time scales in both laboratory and field settings, implying that these fish show stable personalities within various settings. Our study is the first to examine the temporal constancy of behaviors in both field and laboratory settings in over various time scales at a critically important phase during the life cycle of a reef fish

Parents know best: transgenerational predator recognition through parental effects

In highly biodiverse systems, such as coral reefs, prey species are faced with predatory threats from numerous species. Recognition of predators can be innate, or learned, and can help increase the chance of survival. Research suggests that parental exposure to increased predatory threats can affect the development, behaviour, and ultimately, success of their offspring. Breeding pairs of damselfish (Acanthochromis polyacanthus) were subjected to one of three olfactory and visual treatments (predator, herbivore, or control), and their developing embryos were subsequently exposed to five different chemosensory cues. Offspring of parents assigned to the predator treatment exhibited a mean increase in heart rate two times greater than that of offspring from parents in herbivore or control treatments. This increased reaction to a parentally known predator odour suggests that predator-treated parents passed down relevant threat information to their offspring, via parental effects. This is the first time transgenerational recognition of a specific predator has been confirmed in any species. This phenomenon could influence predator-induced mortality rates and enable populations to adaptively respond to fluctuations in predator composition and environmental changes

Lionfish misidentification circumvents an optimised escape response by prey

Invasive lionfish represent an unprecedented problem in the Caribbean basin, where they are causing major changes to foodwebs and habitats through their generalized predation on fishes and invertebrates. To ascertain what makes the red lionfish (Pterois volitans) such a formidable predator, we examined the reaction of a native damselfish prey, the whitetail damsel (Pomacentrus chrysurus), to a repeatable startle stimulus once they had been forewarned of the sight or smell of lionfish. Faststart responses were compared with prey forewarned of a predatory rockcod (Cephalopholis microprion), a corallivorous butterflyfish (Chaetodon trifasctiatus) and experimental controls. Forewarning of the sight, smell or a combination of the two cues from a rockcod led to reduced escape latencies and higher response distances, speed and maximal speed compared with controls, suggesting that forewarning primed the prey and enabled a more effective escape response. In contrast, forewarning of lionfish did not affect the fast-start kinematics measured, which were the same as in the control and nonpredatory butterflyfish treatments. Lionfish appear to be able to circumvent mechanisms commonly used by prey to identify predators and were misclassified as non-predatory, and this is likely to contribute to their success as predators