Values in science, environmental education and teacher education

The aim of this chapter is to establish values as a key component of science and environmental education, consistent with the troika framework, and to explore the implications of this for teacher education. In the chapter, we review research that has increasingly placed values at the centre of the process of learning science, and central also in framing students\u27 responses to school science. We then present findings from three projects that explore the relationship of values to teaching and learning science: first, an exploration of the pedagogies of effective teachers of science; second,an environmental education project in which students explore science and sustainability ideas in the context of a community exchange program in Mexico and Alaska; and, third, a teachcr education initiative focused on place-based education. In the chapter, we argue that learning science and engaging with the environment entails pedagogies that link conceptual learning, values and community.<br /

Semiconducting Copolymeric Polythiophene Films

We describe the incorporation of a specific binding site into a semiconducting matrix. The specific binding is boronic acid which was incorporated into a semiconducting polythiophene film. This semiconducting polymer was shown to have new semiconducting properties

Fear of Breast Cancer Recurrence in African-American and Caucasian Breast Cancer Survivors

poster abstractProblem. Fear of breast cancer recurrence is a concern for 55-90% of long-term breast cancer survivors. Background. Fear of recurrence is recognized as a prevalent and long-term psychosocial consequence of surviving cancer. Breast cancer survivors often identify more than one worry about what a recurrence might threaten in their health, work, and family function (Vickberg, 2001, 2003; Ziner, 2008). Although more research has been conducted with Caucasian breast cancer survivors, less is known about the nature of fear of recurrence worries in African American breast cancer survivors. Purpose. The purpose of this study was to compare fear of recurrence and worries related to thoughts of recurrence between African-American (AA-BCS) and Caucasian breast cancer survivors ( C-BCS). Theory. Emotion theorist, such as Lazarus (1991) suggest that fear is an emotional response to an identifiable object, thought or event that is perceived as harmful. Methods. This is a secondary analysis of a larger study comparing quality of life of AA-BCS and C-BCS using a cross-section survey design. Sample. Female breast cancer survivors ( AA-BCS N = 62, C-BCS N = 72) who were 2-10 years post treatment. Measures. Concerns about Recurrence Sale (CARS) Vickberg (2003) is a scale with 30 Likerttype items and 5 sub-scales: Fear of recurrence Index (overall fear frequency, intensity and consistency). Four (4) subscales of what BCS worry about: Health worries, Role worries, Womanhood worries, and Death worries. Validity. Content analysis of focus group data (N=21) AA-BCS showed that no changes were recommended in the CARS. (Russell, Personal communication) Reliability. The CARS and subscales were found to have Good to adequate Cronbach’s alpha’ for AA-BCS and C-BCS. Specifically, FRI = .92 AA-BCS, .90 C-BCS, Health worries = .93 AA-BCS, .92 C-BCS, Role worries = .75 AA-BCS, .87 C-BCS, Womanhood worries .89, AABCS, .90, C-BCS, Death worries .81 AA-BCS, .92 C-BCS. Analysis. ANCOVA was used for analysis controlling for age, time since diagnosis, income, marital status, years of education and body mass index. Results. Fear of recurrence Indexes between AA-BCS (mean 9.8) and C-BCS (mean 11.5) were not statistically different (p = .199). Health worries (AA- BCS mean 1.1, C-BCS mean 1.6, p= .018), Role worries (AA-BCS mean .8, C- BCS mean 1.2, p = .05), and Death worries (AA- BCS mean 1.3,C- BCS mean 2.2, p = .01) were significantly different between AA-BCS and C-BCS. Womanhood worries were not significantly different. Conclusions. AA-BCS and C-BCS were equally afraid of a recurrence. Except of womanhood worries, AA-BCS had lower mean health, role and death worries than C-BCS. Implications. Understanding the underlying worries related to overall fear of recurrence can lead to more focused and perhaps effective nursing intervention for AA-BCS and C-BCS

Compliance With a Risk-Factor-Based Guideline for the Prevention of Neonatal Group B Streptococcal Sepsis

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the compliance rate with a maternal risk-factor-based guideline for the prevention of neonatal group B streptococcal (GBS) sepsis

CryoPlasty therapy of the superficial femoral and popliteal arteries: A reappraisal after 44 months' experience

ObjectivesLong-term patency remains a significant hurdle in the minimally invasive treatment of arteriosclerosis in the superficial femoral (SFA) and popliteal arteries. CryoPlasty therapy (PolarCath, Boston Scientific Corp, Natick, Mass) is a novel approach designed to significantly reduce injury, elastic recoil, neointimal hyperplasia, and constrictive remodeling. The technique combines the dilatation forces of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) with cold thermal energy applied to the plaque and vessel wall. We previously reported a technical success rate of 96% and a 12-month freedom from restenosis rate of 82.2%. However, a review of the original cohort supplemented by experience with a further 47 lesions has demonstrated less desirable results.MethodsFrom December 2003 through July 2007, 92 lesions in 64 consecutive patients were treated and followed up for a median of 16 months with statistically significant follow-up at 24 months.ResultsThe immediate technical success rate was 88%. Nine stents were immediately required after unsuccessful CryoPlasty (9.8%) five of which were as a result of a dissection. No unanticipated adverse events occurred, specifically, no thrombus, acute occlusions, distal embolizations, aneurysms, or groin complications. Vascular calcification was responsible for technical failure in six of the 11 immediately unsuccessful procedures. Freedom from restenosis for successfully treated lesions was 57% and 49% at 12 and 24 months, respectively. CryoPlasty of heavily calcified lesions, vein graft lesions, and in-stent stenosis faired poorly. Excluding these lesions from analysis would have resulted in an immediate success of 94% (81 of 86) and freedom from restenosis of 61% and 52% at 12 and 24 months, respectively. However, on an intention-to-treat basis, freedom from restenosis was 47% and 38% at 12 and 24 months, and CryoPlasty added approximately $1700 to the cost of each procedure.ConclusionAnalysis of this expanded, longer-term data suggests that our earlier, smaller study provided an overly optimistic appraisal of the benefits of CryoPlasty. It is possible that a larger analysis might have identified a subset of patients or lesions that would benefit from CryoPlasty, but considering the additional cost, we no longer use this technique in our practice

Locating the Judge within Sentencing Research

Research into sentencing is undertaken from a range of theoretical, disciplinary and methodological perspectives. Each approach offers valuable insights, including a conception of the judge, sometimes explicit, often implicit. Little scholarly attention has been paid to directly interrogating the ways in which different research traditions construct the judge in the sentencing process. By investigating how different research approaches locate the judge as an actor in sentencing, theoretically and empirically, this article addresses that gap. It considers key examples of socio-legal scholarship which emphasise the judge as operating within experiential, emotional and social, as well as legal dimensions. This growing body of research offers a more social, relational and interactive understanding of the judge in sentencing, extending and complementing the valuable, but necessarily limited, insights of other research approaches about the place of the judge in sentencing

Locating the Judge within Sentencing Research

Research into sentencing is undertaken from a range of theoretical, disciplinary and methodological perspectives. Each approach offers valuable insights, including a conception of the judge, sometimes explicit, often implicit. Little scholarly attention has been paid to directly interrogating the ways in which different research traditions construct the judge in the sentencing process. By investigating how different research approaches locate the judge as an actor in sentencing, theoretically and empirically, this article addresses that gap. It considers key examples of socio-legal scholarship which emphasise the judge as operating within experiential, emotional and social, as well as legal dimensions. This growing body of research offers a more social, relational and interactive understanding of the judge in sentencing, extending and complementing the valuable, but necessarily limited, insights of other research approaches about the place of the judge in sentencing

Effects of goal setting on dietary and physical activity changes in the Boy Scout badge projects.

Background: This study evaluates the relationship of goal setting to low-fat vegetable (LV) and fruit/100% juice (FJ) consumption and physical activity (PA) change. Methods: A total of 473 10- to 14-year-old Boy Scouts from Houston took part in a 9-week intervention. A two-group (LV and FJ or PA) intervention design was used with each group serving as the control for the other. Internet-based activities included goal setting at home. Food frequencies measured dietary intake. Results: Goals attained were not related to LV intake or PA. Immediate posttest FJ consumption increased about 0.7 servings as home FJ availability increased, but social desirability of response appeared to confound reports of FJ intake at posttest 6 months assessment. Conclusions: Goals attained were not related to LV intake or PA but was related to FJ intake, but only when home FJ availability was high and the relationship was confounded by social desirability of response. Further research is needed with higher quality measures of dietary intake to clarify these relationships

Antiretroviral treatment use, co-morbidities and clinical outcomes among Aboriginal participants in the Australian HIV Observational Database (AHOD)

Background: There are few data regarding clinical care and outcomes of Indigenous Australians living with HIV and it is unknown if these differ from non-Indigenous HIV-positive Australians. Methods: AHOD commenced enrolment in 1999 and is a prospective cohort of HIV-positive participants attending HIV outpatient services throughout Australia, of which 20 (74 %) sites report Indigenous status. Data were collected up until March 2013 and compared between Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants. Person-year methods were used to compare death rates, rates of loss to follow-up and rates of laboratory testing during follow-up between Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants. Factors associated with time to first combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) regimen change were assessed using Kaplan Meier and Cox Proportional hazards methods. Results: Forty-two of 2197 (1.9 %) participants were Indigenous. Follow-up amongst Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants was 332 & 16270 person-years, respectively. HIV virological suppression was achieved in similar proportions of Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants 2 years after initiation of cART (81.0 % vs 76.5 %, p = 0.635). Indigenous status was not independently associated with shorter time to change from first- to second-line cART (aHR 0.95, 95 % CI 0.51-1.76, p = 0.957). Compared with non-Indigenous participants, Indigenous participants had significantly less frequent laboratory monitoring of CD4 count (rate:2.76 tests/year vs 2.97 tests/year, p = 0.025) and HIV viral load (rate:2.53 tests/year vs 2.93 tests/year, p < 0.001), while testing rates for lipids and blood glucose were almost half that of non-indigenous participants (rate:0.43/year vs 0.71 tests/year, p < 0.001). Loss to follow-up (23.8 % vs 29.8 %, p = 0.496) and death (2.4 % vs 7.1 %, p = 0.361) occurred in similar proportions of indigenous and non-Indigenous participants, respectively, although causes of death in both groups were mostly non-HIV-related. Conclusions: As far as we are aware, these are the first data comparing clinical outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous HIV-positive Australians. The forty-two Indigenous participants represent over 10 % of all Indigenous Australians ever diagnosed with HIV. Although outcomes were not significantly different, Indigenous patients had lower rates of laboratory testing for HIV and lipid/glucose parameters. Given the elevated risk of cardiovascular disease in the general Indigenous community, the additional risk factor of HIV infection warrants further focus on modifiable risk factors to maximise life expectancy in this population

Human Physiology Students’ Perceptions of etextbooks: Towards Open Access as an Alternative to Traditional Textbooks

Science experts across the globe are requesting educators to teach science in authentic and inquiry-driven ways to prepare graduates to be scientifically literate citizens. Shifting from traditional teacher-centred approaches to models of authentic learning requires new and innovative resources. In an inquiry-driven human physiology curriculum an etextbook, How to Do Science: a guide to researching human physiology, was developed as an alternative to a traditional textbook and is an example of how professionally designed electronic textbooks can support new approaches to learning. While the advantages of OER have been documented internationally, there is little empirical evidence to indicate benefits of open etextbooks for students in Australia. This study found a majority of students prefer etextbooks compared to hardcopy textbooks, most often due to accessibility, ease of use and convenience. Regarding How to Do Science specifically, a majority of students rated accessibility, attractiveness, ease of navigation, and the quality of the content as high or very high. Students reported that the etextbook contributed most to their learning through assisting in completion of authentic scientific assessment tasks. The etextbook was designed for local use, however, the release as an OER has meant wider dissemination with more impact. We encourage educators to incorporate OERs into their practice