Gunning for Gun Control: A State by State Analysis of the Effects of Gun Control Policies on Firearm Mortality Rates

Gun control is not a new concept; however, due to the growing amount of supporting non profits and recent mass shootings, gun control is becoming a common topic both amongst researchers and the general public. Currently, gun control is a state issue and thus should be studied on a state by state basis. This study examines state gun control policies and firearm mortality rates to determine if there is a correlation between gun control policies and the firearm mortality rate. The years covered by this study were 2000-2014 and nine states were sampled. Two out of the nine states were found to have a statistically significant negative correlation between the gun control and the firearm mortality rate. Confounding variables were also studied for each state that was found to support the hypothesis such as demographics and the economics of each state. Further research still needs to be done to determine the cause and effects of firearm violence as well as possible prevention strategies

Gunning for Gun Control: A State by State Analysis of the Effects of Gun Control Policies on Firearm Mortality Rates

Gun control is not a new concept; however, due to the growing amount of supporting non profits and recent mass shootings, gun control is becoming a common topic both amongst researchers and the general public. Currently, gun control is a state issue and thus should be studied on a state by state basis. This study examines state gun control policies and firearm mortality rates to determine if there is a correlation between gun control policies and the firearm mortality rate. The years covered by this study were 2000-2014 and nine states were sampled. Two out of the nine states were found to have a statistically significant negative correlation between the gun control and the firearm mortality rate. Confounding variables were also studied for each state that was found to support the hypothesis such as demographics and the economics of each state. Further research still needs to be done to determine the cause and effects of firearm violence as well as possible prevention strategies

Emotionally Unavailable: A Comparison on the Ability of Children with Developmental Language Disorders to Interpret Emotions in Humans and Inanimate Objects

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is a neuro-developmental condition that emerges in early childhood and can persist into adulthood, manifesting as a variety of symptoms that can be significantly different in each individual. It has an estimated prevalence of 7.58% and is nearly 7 times more common in children than autism spectrum disorder (McGregor, 2020). As a population, individuals with DLD are at risk of facing significant issues in associating areas of language, including reading comprehension, problem-solving abilities, and social skills. Professionals have noticed emotional disconnect amongst individuals with DLD, leading to the proposition that those with DLD may have a significant deficiency in emotional interpretation. My research assessed three students’ ability to identify emotions in inanimate objects and photos of people. The students were presented with images that illustrated five different emotions and asked to label the emotion. My hypothesis was that children with DLD correctly interpret emotions in inanimate objects easier than in humans, suggesting that toys or picture stimuli with suspected emotions can be a first step into helping provide intervention for those with DLD. The purpose of the research was to see if the activity involving inanimate emotional recognition can provide an analogous railing to assist in climbing the stairway of communication

Fostering a Dynamic Cross-Disciplinary Culture at the Preservice Level

Professionals from varied disciplines must engage in cross-disciplinary collaboration. However, such skills are not typically introduced and/or practiced prior to entering their respective professional fields. Using the Teaming, Roles, Ethics, and Communication (TREC) model, a team of interprofessional cross-disciplinary instructors discuss current practices when developing immediately useful activities to embed in pre-service curriculum using special education as the practical foundation

Assessing and Teaching Critical Thinking in Communication Science and Disorders

Critical thinking is considered to be an important aspect in the training of communication science and disorders students. This paper provides information on the definition, assessment, and teaching of critical thinking. Important critical thinking skills and dispositions include challenging assumptions underlying statements, recognizing the effect of context on perceptions, understandings, and interpretations of the world, developing alternative explanations for observed data they observe, and exhibiting reflective skepticism. Increasing these skills and dispositions help a student develop into a skilled clinician. Assessing students’ clinical thinking skills can be done with tests of general skills, but these often lack validity and reliability. Assessments also can test content or discipline specific thinking skills. Teaching critical skills and dispositions has been done in stand-alone courses and as material embedded within other courses. Within the courses, techniques such as problem-based learning, team-based learning, and case presentations have been effective with mind and concept mapping as tools to visualize how the students think about the material

Creating family-friendly pub experiences: A composite data study

Pubs have traditionally been important social and community spaces, hosting multiple consumer segments. Successful pubs have broadened their appeal, for example by expanding their food provision and targeting family segments. However, little is known about the features and practices that make pubs appealing to families. Drawing on a ‘composite’ data set, consisting of 40 qualitative interviews and 387 responses to a directed online discussion thread, this paper examines what contributes to making pubs family-friendly. Data show how parental consumption intersects with parenting work, highlighting how physical and symbolic design features, tailored services, social interactions, and socio-material practices of the food offerings can shape consumption experiences positively and negatively. The paper thus contributes to practical knowledge by identifying how pubs can create family-friendly experiences. It also contributes to theoretical knowledge by conceptualising how ‘framing’ processes or effects, shaped by personal, situational and socio-cultural ‘imperatives’, influence consumer perceptions, behaviours and experiences

Impact of caregiver substance misuse on emerging adults’ adjustment

Children raised by parents who abused substances have been shown to experience many adverse events, such as abuse, neglect, or parental separation (Stein, et al., 2002). With the rise in drug use among all ages, it is expected for the number of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) for children to consequently increase, but how does this affect them as young adults? We examined the association between individual ACEs, distress, and resilience among college students exposed to parental substance misuse. We expected each ACEs item to be positively correlated with distress, and for resilience to be negatively correlated with distress. Methods: Our sample consisted of 196 college students raised by a caregiver who misused substances. Individual adverse experiences were measured via the ACEs scale. The Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS-21) was used to measure distress. Connors-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC 25) measured resilience. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated. Results and Discussion: 30.6% of the sample exhibited elevated distress and 78.6% experienced 2+ ACEs. As expected, individual ACEs items were significantly correlated with DASS-21 total score, with the exception of parental incarceration. In addition, the CD-RISC and DASS-21 were negatively correlated. The results illustrate a wide variety of adverse experiences in individuals exposed to parental substance misuse. Implications of results will be discussed.Psycholog

Operations and Results from the 200 Gbps TBIRD Laser Communication Mission

Since launch in May 2022, the TeraByte Infrared Delivery (TBIRD) mission has successfully demonstrated 200 Gbps laser communications from a 6U CubeSat and has transferred up to 4.8 terabytes (TB) in a pass from low Earth orbit to ground. To our knowledge, this is the fastest downlink ever achieved from space. To support the narrow downlink beam required for high rate communications, the payload provides pointing feedback to the host spacecraft to precisely track the ground station throughout the 5-minute pass. The space and ground terminals utilize fiber-coupled coherent transceivers in conjunction with an automatic repeat request (ARQ) system to guarantee error-free communication through an atmospheric fading channel. This paper presents an overview of the link operations and mission results to date, as well as implications for future missions with high rate lasercom