The Early Promise of TBRI Implementation in Schools

The program known as Trust Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®) began as an exploration into the detrimental behaviors of foster and adopted children placed in homes with unsuspecting caregivers who assumed their living environment would result in positive results rather than fear based emotions and behaviors. The researchers at the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development (KPICD) at Texas Christian University held summer camps for adopted children and through that work developed an intervention to meet the needs of children who had experienced trauma. KPICD identifies these young people as “children from hard places” (Purvis & Cross, 2005). Copeland et al (2007) reported that an estimated 68% of children in the United States have experienced some sort of trauma. This astounding statistic holds great meaning for teachers and administrators, because these children from hard places routinely manifest aggressive and undesired behaviors due to an altering of their physiology. The literature on TBRI® at this point mostly has chronicled success with families, group homes and summer camps (McKenzie, Purvis, & Cross, 2014; Howard, Parris, Neilson, Lusk, Bush, Purvis & Cross, 2014; Purvis & Cross, 2006). TBRI® has only recently been implemented in school settings. This report provides an overview of the impacts of trauma, trauma related work in schools, and the four articles published to this point related to the use of TBRI® in schools

Convective intensification of magnetic fields in the quiet Sun

Kilogauss-strength magnetic fields are often observed in intergranular lanes at the photosphere in the quiet Sun. Such fields are stronger than the equipartition field B_e, corresponding to a magnetic energy density that matches the kinetic energy density of photospheric convection, and comparable with the field B_p that exerts a magnetic pressure equal to the ambient gas pressure. We present an idealised numerical model of three-dimensional compressible magnetoconvection at the photosphere, for a range of values of the magnetic Reynolds number. In the absence of a magnetic field, the convection is highly supercritical and is characterised by a pattern of vigorous, time-dependent, “granular” motions. When a weak magnetic field is imposed upon the convection, magnetic flux is swept into the convective downflows where it forms localised concentrations. Unless this process is significantly inhibited by magnetic diffusion, the resulting fields are often much greater than B_e, and the high magnetic pressure in these flux elements leads to their being partially evacuated. Some of these flux elements contain ultra-intense magnetic fields that are significantly greater than B_p. Such fields are contained by a combination of the thermal pressure of the gas and the dynamic pressure of the convective motion, and they are constantly evolving. These ultra-intense fields develop owing to nonlinear interactions between magnetic fields and convection; they cannot be explained in terms of “convective collapse” within a thin flux tube that remains in overall pressure equilibrium with its surroundings

The history of star formation and mass assembly in early-type galaxies

We define a volume limited sample of over 14,000 early-type galaxies (ETGs) selected from data release six of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The density of environment of each galaxy is robustly measured. By comparing narrow band spectral line indices with recent models of simple stellar populations (SSPs) we investigate trends in the star formation history as a function of galaxy mass (velocity dispersion), density of environment and galactic radius. We find that age, metallicity and alpha-enhancement all increase with galaxy mass and that field ETGs are younger than their cluster counterparts by ~2 Gyr. We find negative radial metallicity gradients for all masses and environments, and positive radial age gradients for ETGs with velocity dispersion over 180 km/s. Our results are qualitatively consistent with a relatively simple picture for ETG evolution in which the low-mass halos accreted by a proto-ETG contained not only gas but also a stellar population. This fossil population is preferentially found at large radii in massive ETGs because the stellar accretions were dissipationless. We estimate that the typical, massive ETG should have been assembled at z < 3.5. The process is similar in the cluster and the field but occurred earlier in dense environments.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Submitted to MNRA

Converging and diverging convection around axisymmetric magnetic flux tubes

A numerical model of idealized sunspots and pores is presented, where axisymmetric cylindrical domains are used with aspect ratios (radius versus depth) up to 4. The model contains a compressible plasma with density and temperature gradients simulating the upper layer of the Sun's convection zone. Non-linear magnetohydrodynamic equations are solved numerically and time-dependent solutions are obtained where the magnetic field is pushed to the centre of the domain by convection cells. This central magnetic flux bundle is maintained by an inner convection cell, situated next to it and with a flow such that there is an inflow at the top of the numerical domain towards the flux bundle. For aspect ratio 4, a large inner cell persists in time, but for lower aspect ratios it becomes highly time dependent. For aspect ratios 2 and 3 this inner convection cell is smaller, tends to be situated towards the top of the domain next to the flux bundle, and appears and disappears with time. When it is gone, the neighbouring cell (with an opposite sense of rotation, i.e. outflow at the top) pulls the magnetic field away from the central axis. As this happens a new inner cell forms with an inflow which pushes the magnetic field towards the centre. This suggests that to maintain their form, both pores and sunspots need a neighbouring convection cell with inflow at the top towards the magnetic flux bundle. This convection cell does not have to be at the top of the convection zone and could be underneath the penumbral structure around sunspots. For an aspect ratio of 1, there is not enough space in the numerical domain for magnetic flux and convection to separate. In this case the solution oscillates between two steady states: two dominant convection cells threaded by magnetic field and one dominant cell that pushes magnetic flux towards the central axis

Conservation of Threatened Canada-USA Trans-border Grizzly Bears Linked to Comprehensive Conflict Reduction

Mortality resulting from human–wildlife conflicts affects wildlife populations globally. Since 2004, we have been researching conservation issues and implementing a comprehensive program to reduce human–bear conflicts (Ursus spp.; HBC) for 3 small, fragmented, and threatened grizzly bear (U. arctos) populations in the trans-border region of southwest Canada and northwest USA. We explored the temporal and spatial patterns of conflict mortality and found that HBC contributed significantly to the threatened status of these populations by causing decline, fragmentation, and decreased habitat effectiveness. Our program to reduce HBCs primarily included strategic private lands purchased to reduce human density in wildlife corridors, the reduction of bear attractants where human settlement and agriculture exists, and the nonlethal management of conflict bears. Attractant management strategies encompassed public education, cost-share electric fencing, bear-resistant garbage containers, and deadstock containment. We taught bear safety courses and bear spray training to increase tolerance and give people tools to avoid negative encounters with bears. We radio-collared and used nonlethal management on potential conflict bears and have a ~75% success rate in that the bear was alive and out of conflict situations over the life of the radio-collar. We identified important backcountry grizzly bear foraging habitat for motorized access control to reduce conflict and mortality and provide habitat security to reproductive females. Ongoing monitoring has demonstrated that our comprehensive HBC program has resulted in a significant reduction in human-caused mortality, increased inter-population connectivity, and improved habitat effectiveness. Several challenges remain, however, including an increase in the numbers of young grizzly bears living adjacent to agricultural areas. Herein we discuss strategies for how to integrate conservation vision into future HBC reduction programs

The chemical composition of Ultracompact Dwarf Galaxies in the Virgo and Fornax Clusters

We present spectroscopic observations of ultra compact dwarf (UCD) galaxies in the Fornax and Virgo Clusters made to measure and compare their stellar populations. The spectra were obtained on the Gemini-North (Virgo) and Gemini-South (Fornax) Telescopes using the respective Gemini Multi-Object Spectrographs. We estimated the ages, metallicities and abundances of the objects from mea- surements of Lick line-strength indices in the spectra; we also estimated the ages and metallicities independently using a direct spectral fitting technique. Both methods re- vealed that the UCDs are old (mean age 10.8 \pm 0.7 Gyr) and (generally) metal-rich (mean [Fe/H] = -0.8 \pm 0.1). The alpha-element abundances of the objects measured from the Lick indices are super-Solar. We used these measurements to test the hypothesis that UCDs are formed by the tidal disruption of present-day nucleated dwarf elliptical galaxies. The data are not consistent with this hypothesis because both the ages and abundances are significantly higher than those of observed dwarf galaxy nuclei (this does not exclude disruption of an earlier generation of dwarf galaxies). They are more consistent with the properties of globular star clusters, although at higher mean metallicity. The UCDs display a very wide range of metallicity (-1.7 <[Fe/H]< 0.0), spanning the full range of both globular clusters and dwarf galaxy nuclei. We confirm previous reports that most UCDs have high metalliticities for their luminosities, lying significantly above the canonical metallicitiy-luminosity relation followed by early-type galaxies. In contrast to previous work we find that there is no significant difference in either the mean ages or the mean metallicities of the Virgo and Fornax UCD populations.Comment: 15 pages (including references and appendix), 8 figures (including appendix

A novel type of intermittency in a nonlinear dynamo in a compressible flow

The transition to intermittent mean--field dynamos is studied using numerical simulations of isotropic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence driven by a helical flow. The low-Prandtl number regime is investigated by keeping the kinematic viscosity fixed while the magnetic diffusivity is varied. Just below the critical parameter value for the onset of dynamo action, a transient mean--field with low magnetic energy is observed. After the transition to a sustained dynamo, the system is shown to evolve through different types of intermittency until a large--scale coherent field with small--scale turbulent fluctuations is formed. Prior to this coherent field stage, a new type of intermittency is detected, where the magnetic field randomly alternates between phases of coherent and incoherent large--scale spatial structures. The relevance of these findings to the understanding of the physics of mean--field dynamo and the physical mechanisms behind intermittent behavior observed in stellar magnetic field variability are discussed.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figure

Use of concept mapping to characterize relationships among implementation strategies and assess their feasibility and importance: Results from the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) study

BackgroundPoor terminological consistency for core concepts in implementation science has been widely noted as an obstacle to effective meta-analyses. This inconsistency is also a barrier for those seeking guidance from the research literature when developing and planning implementation initiatives. The Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) study aims to address one area of terminological inconsistency: discrete implementation strategies involving one process or action used to support a practice change. The present report is on the second stage of the ERIC project that focuses on providing initial validation of the compilation of 73 implementation strategies that were identified in the first phase.FindingsPurposive sampling was used to recruit a panel of experts in implementation science and clinical practice (N = 35). These key stakeholders used concept mapping sorting and rating activities to place the 73 implementation strategies into similar groups and to rate each strategy’s relative importance and feasibility. Multidimensional scaling analysis provided a quantitative representation of the relationships among the strategies, all but one of which were found to be conceptually distinct from the others. Hierarchical cluster analysis supported organizing the 73 strategies into 9 categories. The ratings data reflect those strategies identified as the most important and feasible.ConclusionsThis study provides initial validation of the implementation strategies within the ERIC compilation as being conceptually distinct. The categorization and strategy ratings of importance and feasibility may facilitate the search for, and selection of, strategies that are best suited for implementation efforts in a particular setting.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13012-015-0295-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Ages and Metallicities of Hickson Compact Group Galaxies

Hickson Compact Groups (HCGs) constitute an interesting extreme in the range of environments in which galaxies are located, as the space density of galaxies in these small groups are otherwise only found in the centres of much larger clusters. The work presented here uses Lick indices to make a comparison of ages and chemical compositions of galaxies in HCGs with those in other environments (clusters, loose groups and the field). The metallicity and relative abundance of `$\alpha$-elements' show strong correlations with galaxy age and central velocity dispersion, with similar trends found in all environments. However, we show that the previously reported correlation between $\alpha$-element abundance ratios and velocity dispersion disappears when a full account is taken of the the abundance ratio pattern in the calibration stars. This correlation is thus found to be an artifact of incomplete calibration to the Lick system. Variations are seen in the ranges and average values of age, metallicity and $\alpha$-element abundance ratios for galaxies in different environments. Age distributions support the hierarchical formation prediction that field galaxies are on average younger than their cluster counterparts. However, the ages of HCG galaxies are shown to be more similar to those of cluster galaxies than those in the field, contrary to the expectations of current hierarchical models. A trend for lower velocity dispersion galaxies to be younger was also seen. This is again inconsistent with hierarchical collapse models, but is qualitatively consistent with the latest N-body-SPH models based on monolithic collapse in which star formation continues for many Gyr in low mass halos.Comment: 18 pages. Submitted for publication in MNRA