Using Professional Development to Build Pre-Service Teachers\u27 Self-Efficacy for Helping Students with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder to Learn

The current study determined if a professional development on PTSD would improve pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy for helping students with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to learn. Participants consisted of 59 college students from one large, comprehensive, Mid-Southern university who were enrolled in an education program and an educational psychology course. Using a quasi-experimental method, participants either received the PTSD professional development (treatment) or regular instruction (control group). All participants completed a measure of demographics, a pre-test measure of selfefficacy for helping students with PTSD to learn, which was further dissected into four constructs (i.e., self-efficacy for identifying students with PTSD, adapting instruction to maximize learning, creating a safe and secure environment, and finding help), and a posttest measure of the same self-efficacy items. A one-way MANOVA indicated statistically significant differences between the two groups in self-efficacy for identifying students with PTSD. Furthermore, a paired-samples t-test revealed that the treatment groups’ selfefficacy scores on all four constructs significantly improved from pre- to post-test. Information is offered to support this finding; additionally, possible reasons for nonsignificant findings are discussed

Herbivory affects patterns of plant reproductive effort and seed production

Insect herbivory can have a major influence on plant reproduction, and potentially drive selection for strategies that reduce or resist herbivore effects. I used a combination of field experiments and ecological modeling to examine how modifications in the patterns and timing of reproductive investment might ameliorate the consequences of herbivore damage for plant reproduction. I performed experiments to examine how changes in reproductive effort after apical damage and reduction of insect herbivory affected seed production in two thistles native to Nebraska. I then used field data to parameterize a life history model predicting the resource allocation among buds and size and timing of flowering that would optimize fitness under a continual risk of herbivory. In monocarpic Cirsium canescens, insect herbivores had a severe impact on plant seed production. Plants did modify reproductive effort in response to apical damage. High seed production from a large apical head, as well as increased flowering and seed production with apical damage from later flower heads, played a role in improving seed production. However, changes in flowering and investment patterns were insufficient to compensate for high insect damage; plants had lower seed set under ambient herbivory. We found similar effects in the iterocarpic Cirsium undulatum, although plant responses were not consistent between years. The combination of these two experiments allowed us to quantify the influence of plant reproductive response on the consequences of insect damage, and how it varies between plants with different life history strategies. To better understand how the risk of insect herbivory might shape optimal plant allocation patterns, I constructed a stochastic dynamic programming model (SDP) to examine the optimal allocation between flower heads through time, and the size and time at which buds should flower to maximize fitness. The model predicts optimal allocation patterns should vary with survival risk, and plants should favor strategies that reduce the duration of risk. Both the model and experiments demonstrate the pressure insect herbivores can exert over plant reproductive strategies, and broaden our understanding of how ecological interactions can affect influence basic life history decisions. Advisors: Svata Louda & Brigitte Tenhumber

A Perfect Labyrinth of Limitations : Confronting the Restrictions of Societal Roles in James Baldwin\u27s Fiction

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College

Cumulative herbivory outpaces compensation for early floral damage on a monocarpic perennial thistle

Floral herbivory represents a major threat to plant reproductive success, driving the importance of plant tolerance mechanisms that minimize fitness costs. However, the cumulative insect herbivory plants experience under natural conditions complicates predictions about tolerance contributions to net fitness. Apical damage can lead to compensatory seed production from late season flowering that ameliorates early season fitness losses. Yet, the compensation realized depends on successful development and herbivore escape by later season flowers. Using monocarpic perennial Cirsium canescens, we quantified seed-reproductive fitness of plants with vs. without experimental damage to the early-developing large apical flower head, with and without a 30–40% herbivory reduction on subsequent flower heads, for two flowering cohorts. Plants with reduced herbivory clearly demonstrated the release of apical dominance and compensation, not overcompensation, for apical damage via greater seed maturation by later flower heads. In contrast, plants that experienced ambient herbivory levels on subsequent heads undercompensated for early apical damage. Individuals had lower total seed set when the apical head was damaged. Compensation was, therefore, possible through a small increase in total flower heads, caused by a higher rate of floral bud survival, and a higher seed maturation rate by subsequent heads, leading to more viable seeds per matured flower head. With ambient cumulative floral herbivory, compensation for apical damage was not sufficient to improve fitness. Variation in the intensity of biological interactions played a role in the success of plant tolerance as a mechanism to maximize individual fitness

High Value Assets (HVA) Lessons Learned for Small Government Agencies and Small to Mid-sized Organizations

Cyberattacks are a persistent threat to organizations across all sectors, and over the past decade, attackers have increasingly been targeting municipalities. Protecting the most critical information and systems or high value assets (HVAs) from a cyberattack is essential to reduce the risk of impacting critical services that make day-to-day activities possible. Identifying HVAs is a process that assists organizations in recognizing which assets are most critical and therefore require the most significant protective measures. An HVA process was developed for State, Local, Tribe, and Territory (SLTT) jurisdictions of any size, capability, and cybersecurity maturity to assist them in identifying assets that are vital to community operations. The SLTT HVA Process aligns with the Federal HVA Program developed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Four jurisdictions are piloting the SLTT HVA Process and, through this initiative, are generating vital lessons learned to successfully incorporate the process into their cybersecurity program

A micrometeorite record in Ordovician Durness Group limestones, Isle of Skye

Acknowledgements B. Fulton and A. Sandison provided skilled technical assistance. NS was in receipt of a Carnegie Vacation Scholarship, which was the basis of this project. Referees M. Lee and M. Genge and the Editor considerably improved earlier versions of the manuscript, for which we are very grateful.Peer reviewedPostprin

Normal Ribosomal Biogenesis but Shortened Protein Synthetic Response to Acute Eccentric Resistance Exercise in Old Skeletal Muscle.

Anabolic resistance to feeding in aged muscle is well-characterized; however, whether old skeletal muscle is intrinsically resistant to acute mechanical loading is less clear. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of aging on muscle protein synthesis (MPS), ribosome biogenesis, and protein breakdown in skeletal muscle following a single bout of resistance exercise. Adult male F344/BN rats aged 10 (Adult) and 30 (Old) months underwent unilateral maximal eccentric contractions of the hindlimb. Precursor rRNA increased early post-exercise (6-18 h), preceding elevations in ribosomal mass at 48 h in Adult and Old; there were no age-related differences in these responses. MPS increased early post-exercise in both Adult and Old; however, at 48 h of recovery, MPS returned to baseline in Old but not Adult. This abbreviated protein synthesis response in Old was associated with decreased levels of IRS1 protein and increased BiP, CHOP and eIF2α levels. Other than these responses, anabolic signaling was similar in Adult and Old muscle in the acute recovery phase. Basal proteasome activity was lower in Old, and resistance exercise did not increase the activity of either the ATP-dependent or independent proteasome, or autophagy (Cathepsin L activity) in either Adult or Old muscle. We conclude that MPS and ribosome biogenesis in response to maximal resistance exercise in old skeletal muscle are initially intact; however, the MPS response is abbreviated in Old, which may be the result of ER stress and/or blunted exercise-induced potentiation of the MPS response to feeding

Spatial Variation in Germination of Two Annual Brome Species in the Northern Great Plains

Downy brome or cheat grass (Bromus tectorum L.) and field brome (B. arvensis L.; Synonym = Bromus japonicus Thunb. ex Murr.; Japanese brome) are two annual exotic species that have increased the intensity and frequency of fire cycles in the Intermountain West of the United States, with millions of dollars in associated costs (DiTomaso 2000). These invasive brome species have a different impact in the Northern Great Plains of North America where they commonly co-occur in disturbed sites (White and Currie 1983, Haferkamp et al. 1993). In these mixed-grass prairie rangelands, annual bromes compete against other forage species (Haferkamp et al. 1997) and reduce litter decomposition rates (Ogle et al. 2003), which negatively impacts ecosystem services of biomass production and soil nutrient availability. In central plains croplands, downy brome invades alfalfa fields (Kapusta and Strieker 1975), wheat fields (Wicks 1984, Ostlie and Howatt 2013), and perennial grass pastures and seed production areas (Wicks 1984). Downy brome is a regulated plant in Montana (Montana Noxious Weed List, December 2013) and has been found in all counties of Montana since 1950 (Menalled et al. 2008). Field brome is found in all North American states and provinces (USDA Plants Database http://plants.usda.gov). It is used as a winter cover crop in vegetable plots and orchards in the Northeastern United States (NRCS 2006). Field brome has no formal designation in the state of Montana, although downy brome and field brome are commonly grouped together and are referred to colloquially as “cheatgrass” in the state