Faculty Knowledge of the Purposes and Processes of Short-Term Faculty Led Study Abroad

Are the faculty leaders of short-term international study abroad programs aware of what is necessary to facilitate the best outcomes for their students? Are faculty members aware of established purpose and processes for international education and specifically short-term programs? Open Doors reported in 2014 that the percentage of undergraduate students in the United States participating in an international experience has more than doubled since 2000 but this is still less than 10 percent of the total number of undergraduates in the United States. In 2014, 60.3 percent of students participating in an international experience did so in a short-term faculty led course. Recently, the Institute of International Education announced its commitment to a new five-year initiative, “Generation Study Abroad”, with the goal of having 600,000 students studying abroad by the 2017-2018 academic year. With the majority of students choosing short-term programs and the expectation of continued growth of these programs, faculty leaders need to be aware of smart practices in the field of international education. Faculty members around the United States participated in an online survey with questions designed to determine their knowledge of the purpose of international education, as well as knowledge of suggested smart practices. The results show that faculty leaders are aware of some aspects of international education but overall awareness of the need to use experiential learning as a cornerstone for curriculum for these programs is lacking. To assure the best possible outcomes for students participating in short-term faculty led programs, training for faculty leaders on smart practices will facilitate the creations of graduates ready to participate as global citizens. Keywords: experiential learning, study abroad, smart practices, purpos

Test-retest reliability of TRIMP in collegiate ice hockey players

The utility of the heart rate derived variable TRaining IMPulse (TRIMP) for assessing internal training load in ice hockey players is not clear. Having a reliable measure of internal training load during on-ice training sessions would help coaches program exercise training. This study determined the reliability of TRIMP during on-ice training sessions in ice hockey players. Twelve Division I collegiate male ice hockey players (aged 18–23 years) had their heart rate (HR) data recorded during two on-ice practice sessions separated by two weeks. TRIMP and other descriptive HR variables were compared between sessions. TRIMP demonstrated moderate reliability during on-ice sessions. Systematic error, quantified as standardized change in means was negligible (–0.19); random error quantified as the percent typical error (%TE) was moderate (12.2%); and, test-retest correlation was very strong (0.75). TRIMP is suitable for quantifying training load during intermittent work in hockey athletes. The results from our study can be used to determine the threshold for meaningful change in TRIMP, which may aid in informing decisions by coaches and strength training staff regarding on-ice training session difficulty and composition

Therapeutic Wilderness Experiences and Empathetic Perception of At-Risk Adolescent Youth

Current research involving wilderness therapy (WT) programs indicates that therapeutic wilderness or outdoor interventions have increased in popularity as alternative approaches for treating at-risk or adjudicated adolescents. However, the role that empathetic perception plays in advancing the efficacy of WT intervention absent from the majority of extant literature. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to address a gap in research involving how empathetic perception may be affected by WT program participation. The conceptual framework for the project involved ecopsychology, a branch of science that addresses the connection between human beings and the natural world. Nine young adults between the ages of 18 and 20 years were surveyed to determine if they perceived a change in empathetic perception as a result of their WT experiences as adolescents between the ages of 16 and 18 years. The study focused on 3 areas of empathetic perception involvement: camp peers, program staff, and the natural environment in which the programs operated. Study results were hand-coded from subjects\u27 verbatim transcripts, progressing from broader responses to five discrete themes: vocabulary, experiences, self-empathy, personal insight, and camp culture. Data were analyzed based upon the alignment of the subjects\u27 responses to the five identified themes. The resultant data indicated that there was a positive change in empathetic perception towards subjects\u27 WT peer groups, WT program staff, and the natural world. A primary goal of this study was to address the social change implications of how the identification of empathetic perception in at-risk or struggling adolescents, through WT intervention, may positively impact positive mental health stability within this population

Therapeutic Wilderness Experiences and Empathetic Perception of At-Risk Adolescent Youth

Current research involving wilderness therapy (WT) programs indicates that therapeutic wilderness or outdoor interventions have increased in popularity as alternative approaches for treating at-risk or adjudicated adolescents. However, the role that empathetic perception plays in advancing the efficacy of WT intervention absent from the majority of extant literature. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to address a gap in research involving how empathetic perception may be affected by WT program participation. The conceptual framework for the project involved ecopsychology, a branch of science that addresses the connection between human beings and the natural world. Nine young adults between the ages of 18 and 20 years were surveyed to determine if they perceived a change in empathetic perception as a result of their WT experiences as adolescents between the ages of 16 and 18 years. The study focused on 3 areas of empathetic perception involvement: camp peers, program staff, and the natural environment in which the programs operated. Study results were hand-coded from subjects’ verbatim transcripts, progressing from broader responses to five discrete themes: vocabulary, experiences, self-empathy, personal insight, and camp culture. Data were analyzed based upon the alignment of the subjects’ responses to the five identified themes. The resultant data indicated that there was a positive change in empathetic perception towards subjects’ WT peer groups, WT program staff, and the natural world. A primary goal of this study was to address the social change implications of how the identification of empathetic perception in at-risk or struggling adolescents, through WT intervention, may positively impact positive mental health stability within this population

The Effects of Sleep Quality on Imagery Ability in Athletic Populations

Copyright © The Author(s) 2017. This study explored the relation between athletes’ sleep quality and imagery ability. A total of 201 athletes (39.3% female, 60.7% male; Mage = 23.28 years, SD = 6.00) completed the Sport Imagery Ability Questionnaire and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Simple regression analyses revealed that global sleep quality predicted affect imagery ability. Multiple regression analyses revealed that daytime dysfunction predicted global imagery ability as well as skill, strategy, affect, and mastery imagery ability dimensions. In addition, use of sleeping medication predicted global imagery ability, as well as goal and affect imagery ability dimensions. Results provide some support for Cumming and Williams’ revised applied model of deliberate imagery use, suggesting that individual factors influence the effectiveness of imagery use. Specifically, athletes who have no disruption to daily functioning due to sleep find it easier to image sport-related content.The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article

Intranasal adminsitration of oxytocin in postnatal depression: Implications for psychodynamic psychotherapy from a randomized double-blind pilot study

Oxytocin is a neuropeptide that is active in the central nervous system and is generally considered to be involved in prosocial behaviors and feelings. In light of its documented positive effect on maternal behavior, we designed a study to ascertain whether oxytocin exerts any therapeutic effects on depressive symptoms in women affected by maternal postnatal depression. A group of 16 mothers were recruited in a randomized double-blind study: the women agreed to take part in a brief course of psychoanalytic psychotherapy (12 sessions, once a week) while also being administered, during the 12-weeks period, a daily dose of intranasal oxytocin (or a placebo). The pre-treatment evaluation also included a personality assessment of the major primary-process emotional command systems described by Panksepp (1998) and a semi-quantitative assessment by the therapist of the mother\u2019s depressive symptoms and of her personality. No significant effect on depressive symptomatology was found following the administration of oxytocin (as compared to a placebo) during the period of psychotherapy. Nevertheless, a personality trait evaluation of the mothers, conducted in our overall sample group, showed a decrease in the narcissistic trait only within the group who took oxytocin. The depressive (dysphoric) trait was in fact significantly affected by psychotherapy (this effect was only present in the placebo group so it may reflect a positive placebo effect enhancing the favorable influence of psychotherapy on depressive symptoms) but not in the presence of oxytocin. Therefore, the neuropeptide would appear to play some role in the modulation of cerebral functions involved in the self-centered (narcissistic) dimension of the suffering that can occur with postnatal depression. Based on these results, there was support for our hypothesis that what is generally defined as postnatal depression may include disturbances of narcissistic affective balance, and oxytocin supplementation can counteract that type of affective disturbance. The resulting improvements in well-being, reflected in better self-centering in post-partuent mothers, may in turn facilitate better interpersonal acceptance of (and interactions with) the child and thereby, improved recognition of the child\u2019s needs

Thermoclinic Assessment Of A Preliminary Circulation Model For Lake George In The Jefferson Project

The Jefferson Project is a collaboration between the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, IBM, and the FUND for Lake George aimed at understanding and managing complex factors (road salt, storm water runoff, invasive species) threatening Lake George, New York. Lake George is located about 80 km north of Albany in upstate New York and is known internationally for its water clarity. Understanding the hydrodynamics of the lake is fundamental for creation and maintenance of a research and monitoring program for the early detection of and response to adverse environmental and biological change. In this work a 3D circulation model of the lake is developed to better understand the hydro-environmental conditions of the lake; forcing is by a combination of local public survey data for the water budget and atmospheric data from the NWS (NOAA National Weather Service). The model is validated by a combination of water chemistry data collected by Darrin Fresh Water Institute (DFWI) over the last three decades, and known empirical relationships of the lake\u27s structural profile. Numerical simulations run over several years to capture the seasonal progression of thermocline depth throughout the lake, the south to north salt and surface thermal gradients and the timing of the spring and fall overturn events. Validation is by comparison with physical and chemical measurements collected over the last three decades. The study presents a novel combination of observational data, numerical modelling and empirical relationships to better understand and predict the lake circulation, and consequently the natural ecosystem

Antibody-based inhibition of pathogenic new world hemorrhagic fever mammarenaviruses by steric occlusion of the human transferrin receptor 1 apical domain

Pathogenic clade B New World mammarenaviruses (NWM) can cause Argentine, Venezuelan, Brazilian, and Bolivian hemorrhagic fevers. Sequence variability among NWM glycoproteins (GP) poses a challenge to the development of broadly neutralizing therapeutics against the entire clade of viruses. However, blockade of their shared binding site on the apical domain of human transferrin receptor 1 (hTfR1/CD71) presents an opportunity for the development of effective and broadly neutralizing therapeutics. Here, we demonstrate that the murine monoclonal antibody OKT9, which targets the apical domain of hTfR1, can sterically block cellular entry by viral particles presenting clade B NWM glycoproteins (GP1-GP2). OKT9 blockade is also effective against viral particles pseudotyped with glycoproteins of a recently identified pathogenic Sabia-like virus. With nanomolar affinity for hTfR1, the OKT9 antigen binding fragment (OKT9-Fab) sterically blocks clade B NWM-GP1s and reduces infectivity of an attenuated strain of Junin virus. Binding of OKT9 to the hTfR1 ectodomain in its soluble, dimeric state produces stable assemblies that are observable by negative-stain electron microscopy. A model of the OKT9-sTfR1 complex, informed by the known crystallographic structure of sTfR1 and a newly determined structure of the OKT9 antigen binding fragment (Fab), suggests that OKT9 and the Machupo virus GP1 share a binding site on the hTfR1 apical domain. The structural basis for this interaction presents a framework for the design and development of high-affinity, broadly acting agents targeting clade B NWMs. IMPORTANCE Pathogenic clade B NWMs cause grave infectious diseases, the South American hemorrhagic fevers. Their etiological agents are Junin (JUNV), Guanarito (GTOV), Sabiá (SABV), Machupo (MACV), Chapare (CHAV), and a new Sabiá-like (SABV-L) virus recently identified in Brazil. These are priority A pathogens due to their high infectivity and mortality, their potential for person-to-person transmission, and the limited availability of effective therapeutics and vaccines to curb their effects. While low homology between surface glycoproteins of NWMs foils efforts to develop broadly neutralizing therapies targeting NWMs, this work provides structural evidence that OKT9, a monoclonal antibody targeting a single NWM glycoprotein binding site on hTfR1, can efficiently prevent their entry into cells.Fil: Ferrero, Sol. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Flores, Maria D.. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Short, Connor. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Vázquez, Cecilia Alejandra. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Química Biológica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Clark, Lars E.. Harvard Medical School; Estados UnidosFil: Ziegenbein, James. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Zink, Samantha. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Fuentes, Daniel. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Payés, Cristian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Batto, María V.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Collazo, Michael. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: García, Cybele C.. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Abraham, Jonathan. Harvard Medical School; Estados Unidos. Brigham and Women's Hospital; Estados UnidosFil: Cordo, Sandra Myriam. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez, Jose A.. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Helguera, Gustavo Fernando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; Argentin

Longitudinal Development of Cortical and Subcortical Gray Matter from Birth to 2 Years

Very little is known about cortical development in the first years of life, a time of rapid cognitive development and risk for neurodevelopmental disorders. We studied regional cortical and subcortical gray matter volume growth in a group of 72 children who underwent magnetic resonance scanning after birth and at ages 1 and 2 years using a novel longitudinal registration/parcellation approach. Overall, cortical gray matter volumes increased substantially (106%) in the first year of life and less so in the second year (18%). We found marked regional differences in developmental rates, with primary motor and sensory cortices growing slower in the first year of life with association cortices growing more rapidly. In the second year of life, primary sensory regions continued to grow more slowly, while frontal and parietal regions developed relatively more quickly. The hippocampus grew less than other subcortical structures such as the amygdala and thalamus in the first year of life. It is likely that these patterns of regional gray matter growth reflect maturation and development of underlying function, as they are consistent with cognitive and functional development in the first years of life