Review of \u3ci\u3e Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature Deficit Disorder\u3c/i\u3e by Richard Louv

Like many other children growing up in the suburban United States during the 1970s, my childhood memories include swinging from tree limbs, tromping through the woods, and constructing tree forts in the far stretches of our neighborhood. But what happens when an entire generation of children grows up without such memories? Richard Louv, a New York Times journalist and founder of Connect for Kids, an internet-based child advocacy organization, explores this question in Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature Deficit Disorder. According to Louv, children today are more adept at naming cartoon characters than native species and overwhelmingly prefer indoor to outdoor play. Louv describes the physical, emotional, and cognitive effects of children’s disconnect from the natural world as “nature deficit disorder”. Although this is neither a medical term nor condition, Louv supports his theory with narratives drawn from his own childhood in Nebraska and from some of today’s foremost child development researchers and environmental writers. Louv also reaches beyond anecdotal evidence by providing recent research to support his claims

Extreme pCO2 Variability in a Macrotidal Eelgrass Meadow Mediated by Tidal and Diurnal Cycles

It has been suggested that photosynthetic activity of macrophytes in coastal areas can decrease pCO2 and may provide areas of refuge for organisms sensitive to ocean acidification. To assess the effect of a large eel grass meadow on water chemistry, discreet samples were collected hourly over several 24 hour cycles in Padilla Bay, WA. Calculated pCO2 ranged from less than 100 ppm to greater than 700 ppm, often over the course of only a few hours. Aragonite saturation, DIC and pH were also highly variable. These data, weather station data and in-situ sensors(Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve) were used to develop a model that estimates pCO2 for the summer season. Tidal height and photosynthetically active radiation were the most significant predictors of pH and pCO2, with Salinity and DO. Model estimates suggest that an even wider range of pCO2 values are common in this estuary, especially in the early summer. Data from a mooring in 20 meters of water over a kilometer from the intertidal eel grass environment, provide some hints of the spatial extent of influence

Promoting Population Health in Local Communities: Parental Perceptions of an Embedded Movement and Physical Activity Program for a Preschool Population

Background: Many children reach kindergarten lacking age-appropriate motor skills because of a lack of access to early intervention services or a lack of continued early intervention beyond 3 years of age. Research suggests sedentary children become sedentary adults, which contributes to a growing population of unhealthy Americans with chronic health conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and psychosocial difficulties. Parents often are not aware of the benefits of engaging in physical activity or possess a lack of awareness of their local resources. A community based preschool movement program was created to foster physical activity and promote carryover through participation in family activities. Method: A program evaluation design model was used to explore parental perceptions of their child’s interest and participation in physical activities. Knowledge of local resources was also measured. Results: The parent responses reported an increase in interest for physical activities by their child along with an increase in parental understanding of the value of movement in daily routines. The family’s awareness of local resources increased as a result of the movement program and supporting materials. Conclusion: Collaborating with existing entities can further parental education about movement and non-sedentary routines. Future research is needed to measure outcomes over time

Walk in my shoes: college students\u27 and their parents\u27 predictions of their own health practices if they were each others\u27 age

College students and their parents completed a survey of their present health practices. They then completed the same survey for health behaviors they thought they would practice if they were either between the ages of 18 - 22 (for the parent respondents) or 45 - 55 (for the student respondents). The results generally showed the students predicted they would lead healthier lifestyles if older than their parents actually do, and the parents would lead less healthy lifestyles if younger than their children actually do. This distortion of each others\u27 health practices, however, depended to some extent on the specific health practices surveyed. The results also supported previous research showing a tendency to follow a healthier lifestyle as one ages, although once again, this finding depended on the specific health behavior surveyed

Existence of God: Antithetical Themes in “Dr. Faustus” and “Waiting for Godot”

This paper is about the antithetical themes regarding the existence of God in two plays “Doctor Faustus” by Christopher Marlow and “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Backett. Both the plays represent two different ages and religious orientations. The former is a tragedy of a doctor of philosophy who pledges his soul with the Devil for the sake of attaining the power of necromancy in a flagrant disregard to God’s commandments and is damned to hellfire whereas the latter is tragicomedy that projects meaninglessness of life through characters questioning the very significance of God’s existence. Hence it is presumed that heterogeneous themes running parallel to each other might arouse different emotions in the reader. In order to examine whether such opposing themes in two different dramas exist or not, textual excerpts were analyzed, literature was reviewed, critics views were collected, and opinion of the experts in teaching literature were gathered. Finally, it is concluded that both the plays do have themes which run into opposite directions regarding the existence of God leading to the arousal of unlike emotions

Skunk River Review Fall 1995, Vol 7

https://openspace.dmacc.edu/skunkriver/1016/thumbnail.jp

A Validation Study of the Nursing Diagnosis Pain : the Defining Characteristics and Etiologies

Nurses, more than any other member of the health team, have contact with people experiencing pain. The diagnosis pain has been found to be one of the most frequently used nursing diagnoses. The purpose of this study was to contribute to the validation of the defining characteristics and etiologies for the nursing diagnosis acute pain. A survey was mailed to 240 nurses who had expressed an interest or expertise in pain/ pain research. Seventy-eight (43%) usable surveys by master-prepared nurses were returned. A six-point Likert scale was used in which the defining characteristics and etiologies of the diagosis pain were listed. The sources of these items were from the NANDA listing and a review of the literature. The nurses were asked to consider patients for whom in the past three months they had made the diagnosis acute pain. They were asked to indicate how frequently this population exhibited the specified characteristics and etiologies of the diagnosis pain ranging from 0 (never ) to 5 ( nearly always present). Analysis of data followed the steps outlined by Fehring (1987) for diagnostic content validity (DCV). Thirteen characteristics were found to be tentative major indicators, 54 to be tentative minor indicators, and 13 characteristics to be dropped from the scale. No etiologies received a weighted ratio of .80 or greater. Fifty-seven etiologies received a weighted ratio of .51 to .79. Factor analysis and cluster analysis of the thirteen tentative major characteristics revealed three distinct factors or groupings of the characteristics. These groups are described as verbalization\u27s of pain, consumed with self and behavior pattern changes. A conclusion of this study was that combined with other reviewed studies on pain characteristics there are now six indicators with reasonable research support to be labeled as tentative major or minor characteristics: communication of pain descriptors, guarding behavior, facial mask of pain, alteration in muscle tone, self-focusing and narrowed focus. This study highlighted the semantic disarray regarding the number of characteristics in the literature. Further work on identification and clarification of relevant etiologies or related factors needs to be done