Cultivating Social and Emotional Wellness in Teachers and Students Through SEL and Mindfulness-Based Interventions: A Course for Pre-Service Teachers

In a time when more and more children are being diagnosed with mental health disorders and many teachers are leaving the field of education, there is a movement for social and emotional wellness in education. Policy makers and school administrations are acknowledging the need for social emotional learning but are challenged with the logistics of implementing the learning. In addition, the teachers do not feel that they are equipped to implement and teach social and emotional learning in their classrooms. This creative thesis course addresses this need. The course will help prepare preservice teachers to create a socially and emotionally healthy learning environment as well as preparing them to cultivate CASEL’s five SEL competencies in themselves and their students. The course includes understanding mindfulness and mindfulness-based interventions and how they support the cultivation of CASEL’s five SEL competencies. It begins with personal cultivation and moves toward strategies for cultivation in future students. This course is the missing link between theory and application

“Major” Challenges for Lower Courts: Inconsistent Applications of the Major Questions Doctrine in Lower Courts After \u3ci\u3eWest Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency\u3c/i\u3e

Under the major questions doctrine, an agency requires clear congressional authorization to regulate on an issue of major national significance. Although a version of the doctrine has existed for several years, its rise in importance is recent. The U.S. Supreme Court invoked the doctrine by name for the first time in 2022 in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, warning that in certain “extraordinary cases,” the “history and the breadth” and the “economic and political significance” of the agency action may “provide a reason to hesitate” before accepting the agency’s authority. West Virginia has since inspired a wave of scholarship addressing the major questions doctrine’s scope, its theoretical foundations, and its role in administrative law. After West Virginia, federal district and circuit courts are also deciding major questions cases. This Note examines lower court applications of the major questions doctrine by comparing cases from the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Ninth Circuits. Ultimately, this Note argues that West Virginia enables inconsistency. Since West Virginia, courts in the Fifth Circuit have identified eight agency actions that triggered the major questions doctrine, whereas courts in the Ninth Circuit have identified only one. A circuit split also emerged between the Fifth and Ninth Circuits on whether the doctrine applies to presidential action under the Procurement Act. Moreover, courts are generally inconsistent in how and when they find a major question. To increase consistency and predictability of the doctrine, this Note proposes that all lower courts apply a two-step test from West Virginia. First, courts should consider whether the agency action is economically and politically significant and, second, courts should consider whether the action is an unheralded or transformative exercise of authority. An affirmative answer to both inquiries should be necessary to find a major question. This test will bring greater consistency to the major questions doctrine in lower courts and encourage courts to carefully assess whether the doctrine applies

Net-Centric Design and Analysis of Information Systems

This thesis presents a unique methodology merging state of the art Internet and distributed database technology to support distributed simulations with programming language and platform independence. Standardized models of Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) systems using Integrated Definition (IDEF) models and executable simulation objects are placed in database repositories which can be accessed and implemented over a distributed simulation network using the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). The CORBA distributed simulation network accesses heterogeneous distributed databases, performs distributed processes, and supports portability and reuse of simulation objects and interoperability across operating systems and programming languages

Supervision Needs of Novice Behavioral Health Providers in Integrated Primary Care Settings: A Delphi Study

The integration of behavioral health providers (BHPs, i.e., clinical mental health counselors, clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists) into primary care settings has developed as a healthcare practice associated with enhanced patient clinical outcomes, enhanced patient satisfaction, reduced healthcare expenditures, and enhanced provider wellness and satisfaction, known together as the Quadruple Aim. For BHPs practicing in integrated primary care (IPC) settings, researchers have highlighted a variety of challenges they experience when integrating in these settings, with a consistent challenge being a lack of satisfactory training and supervision. Clinical supervision has been hailed as the “signature pedagogy” for behavioral health professions (Bernard & Goodyear, 2019, p. 2), highlighting the importance for BHPs to be provided with adequate supervision for effective practice in IPC settings. The purpose of this study was to explore the supervisory needs of novice BHPs in IPC settings. In this study, I used a Delphi methodology to achieve consensus on what novice BHPs perceive to be their pertinent supervisory needs as they navigate clinical practice and professional development in IPC settings. The results indicated a list of 68 statements that a group of expert panelists indicated to be the supervisory needs of novice BHPs in IPC settings. These statements were categorized into nine themes: 1) The Supervisory Experience; 2) Supervisor Characteristics; 3) Supervisor Knowledge & Training; 4) Interdisciplinary Training;5) Medical Training; 6) Clinic-Specific Orientation; 7) Clinical Training; 8) Professional Development; and 9) Additional Supervisory Needs. The findings of this study have implications for current supervisors in IPC settings, novice BHPs in IPC settings, and behavioral health educators

Assessment of Anger in Persons with Cognitive Limitations : a Revision of the ADS-VII

Assessment of angry patients with mental retardation or borderline intellectual functioning is time consuming. Existing assessment tools may be inadequate for gathering data and for guiding treatment, thus presenting a challenge for practitioners. The Anger Disorders Scale (DiGiuseppe & Tafrate, 2001) samples the cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of anger. However, this scale is a self-report survey for adults of average or higher intellectual functioning. This investigation provided a feasibility test of the Anger Disorders Interview for persons diagnosed with Mental Retardation (ADIMR), a modified version of the Anger Disorders Scale designed as a clinical interview for cognitively limited patients who present with symptoms of anger. Comparisons between the ADIMR and existing assessment instruments for cognitively limited patients will be discussed

Identification of Naegleria fowleri proteins linked to primary amoebic meningoencephalitis

Naegleria fowleri (N. fowleri) causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, a rapidly fatal disease of the central nervous system. N. fowleri can exist in cyst, flagellate or amoebic forms, depending on environmental conditions. The amoebic form can invade the brain following introduction into the nasal passages. When applied intranasally to a mouse model, cultured N. fowleri amoebae exhibit low virulence. However, upon serial passage in mouse brain, the amoebae acquire a highly virulent state. In the present study, a proteomics approach was applied to the identification of N. fowleri amoeba proteins whose expression was associated with the highly virulent state in mice. Mice were inoculated intranasally with axenically cultured amoebae or with mouse-passaged amoebae. Examination by light and electron microscopy revealed no morphological differences. However, mouse-passaged amoebae were more virulent in mice as indicated by exhibiting a two log10 titre decrease in median infective dose 50 (ID50). Scatter plot analysis of amoebic lysates revealed a subset of proteins, the expression of which was associated with highly virulent amoebae. MS-MS indicated that this subset contained proteins that shared homology with those linked to cytoskeletal rearrangement and the invasion process. Invasion assays were performed in the presence of a select inhibitor to expand on the findings. The collective results suggest that N. fowleri gene products linked to cytoskeletal rearrangement and invasion may be candidate targets in the management of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis

Integrated Behavioral Health Training in Counselor Education: A Call to Action

The American healthcare system is beginning to adopt an integrated behavioral health model as a way to meet the ever-changing and holistic needs of patients by creating opportunities for collaboration among medical and behavioral health professionals. Professional counselors play a vital role in integrative behavioral health through their meaningful participation on interdisciplinary healthcare teams. Professional counselors are key to any interdisciplinary team because they embrace a biopsychosocial wellness perspective and have undergone clinical and academic training. However, many counseling programs do not specifically educate or train counselors in how to work in integrated care settings. As such, counselor educators must adapt to this evolving system of healthcare by providing students with didactic and experiential learning opportunities to promote competence and readiness to practice in this new wave of healthcare

Evaluating The Decision Making Process of Pediatricians\u27 Recommendations for First Complementary Foods in Infants

The purpose of this research study was to document the feeding guidelines from medical associations, understand what pediatricians are recommending to new mothers, and to capture the response from mothers regarding their understanding and personal practices in feeding. Previous studies have found that mothers were not following feeding recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Furthermore, the role of infant rice cereal as an early first food is currently under debate. Qualitative research was conducted through interviews with five mothers of children under 2 years, five healthcare providers in pediatric settings, and three policy experts. The Theory of Reasoned Action was used to understand how attitudes, beliefs, and social norms shaped the behavior outcomes of mothers. Transcribed interviews were coded to uncover the various themes, similarities, and differences between the three groups. The results of the study found that mothers were unaware of AAP guidelines on infant feeding, confused by the amount of conflicting information, and heavily relied on their own attitudes and subjective norms. Also, the majority of the mothers introduced rice cereal as a first food. Healthcare providers had a limited understanding of feeding standards beyond breastfeeding, expressed a greater need for nutrition education, and often recommended rice cereal to their patients. Finally, policy makers emphasized that nutrition was only a moderate policy priority, called for more evidence based research, and had neutral or negative attitudes toward rice cereal. Results of this study concluded that recommendations from policy experts were contradictory and as a result, providers were unable to give effective feeding recommendations and mothers developed their own feeding plans based off personal attitudes and subjective norms. Only PowerPoint slides-no audi