The Complexity of Disrupting the Struggling Reader Label: The Potential for Cross-Pollinating Disability Studies and Dynamic Models of Comprehension in Literacy Teacher Education

There have been numerous recent calls in literacy research and teacher education to disrupt the \u27struggling reader\u27 label, but a dearth of empirical studies on the topic. This qualitative analysis explores the complex issues preservice teachers (PSTs) faced as they examined young readers\u27 sense-making through a reading assessment assignment. Our research question asked: How do PSTs challenge and/or reinforce the \u27struggling reader\u27 label as they examine young readers\u27 sense-making? Using a conceptual lens that cross-pollinates dynamic models of reading comprehension with Disability Studies in Education, we look across three cases to identify ways PSTs challenged and reinforced the \u27struggling reader\u27 label as they examined intermediate-grade readers\u27 interactions with texts. Ultimately, we argue that embracing a dynamic model of comprehension--on its own--is an insufficient focus in literacy teacher education in order to disrupt harmful labeling practices in schools

Seeing the way: visual sociology and the distance runner's perspective

Employing visual and autoethnographic data from a two‐year research project on distance runners, this article seeks to examine the activity of seeing in relation to the activity of distance running. One of its methodological aims is to develop the linkage between visual and autoethnographic data in combining an observation‐based narrative and sociological analysis with photographs. This combination aims to convey to the reader not only some of the specific subcultural knowledge and particular ways of seeing, but also something of the runner's embodied feelings and experience of momentum en route. Via the combination of narrative and photographs we seek a more effective way of communicating just how distance runners see and experience their training terrain. The importance of subjecting mundane everyday practices to detailed sociological analysis has been highlighted by many sociologists, including those of an ethnomethodological perspective. Indeed, without the competence of social actors in accomplishing these mundane, routine understandings and practices, it is argued, there would in fact be no social order

Are men universally more dismissing than women? Gender differences in romantic attachment across 62 cultural regions

The authors thank Susan Sprecher (USA), Del Paulhus (Canada), Glenn D. Wilson (England), Qazi Rahman (England), Alois Angleitner (Germany), Angelika Hofhansl (Austria), Tamio Imagawa (Japan), Minoru Wada (Japan), Junichi Taniguchi (Japan), and Yuji Kanemasa (Japan) for helping with data collection and contributing significantly to the samples used in this study.Gender differences in the dismissing form of adult romantic attachment were investigated as part of the International Sexuality Description Project—a survey study of 17,804 people from 62 cultural regions. Contrary to research findings previously reported in Western cultures, we found that men were not significantly more dismissing than women across all cultural regions. Gender differences in dismissing romantic attachment were evident in most cultures, but were typically only small to moderate in magnitude. Looking across cultures, the degree of gender differentiation in dismissing romantic attachment was predictably associated with sociocultural indicators. Generally, these associations supported evolutionary theories of romantic attachment, with smaller gender differences evident in cultures with high–stress and high–fertility reproductive environments. Social role theories of human sexuality received less support in that more progressive sex–role ideologies and national gender equity indexes were not cross–culturally linked as expected to smaller gender differences in dismissing romantic attachment.peer-reviewe

Testing a global standard for quantifying species recovery and assessing conservation impact.

Recognizing the imperative to evaluate species recovery and conservation impact, in 2012 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called for development of a "Green List of Species" (now the IUCN Green Status of Species). A draft Green Status framework for assessing species' progress toward recovery, published in 2018, proposed 2 separate but interlinked components: a standardized method (i.e., measurement against benchmarks of species' viability, functionality, and preimpact distribution) to determine current species recovery status (herein species recovery score) and application of that method to estimate past and potential future impacts of conservation based on 4 metrics (conservation legacy, conservation dependence, conservation gain, and recovery potential). We tested the framework with 181 species representing diverse taxa, life histories, biomes, and IUCN Red List categories (extinction risk). Based on the observed distribution of species' recovery scores, we propose the following species recovery categories: fully recovered, slightly depleted, moderately depleted, largely depleted, critically depleted, extinct in the wild, and indeterminate. Fifty-nine percent of tested species were considered largely or critically depleted. Although there was a negative relationship between extinction risk and species recovery score, variation was considerable. Some species in lower risk categories were assessed as farther from recovery than those at higher risk. This emphasizes that species recovery is conceptually different from extinction risk and reinforces the utility of the IUCN Green Status of Species to more fully understand species conservation status. Although extinction risk did not predict conservation legacy, conservation dependence, or conservation gain, it was positively correlated with recovery potential. Only 1.7% of tested species were categorized as zero across all 4 of these conservation impact metrics, indicating that conservation has, or will, play a role in improving or maintaining species status for the vast majority of these species. Based on our results, we devised an updated assessment framework that introduces the option of using a dynamic baseline to assess future impacts of conservation over the short term to avoid misleading results which were generated in a small number of cases, and redefines short term as 10 years to better align with conservation planning. These changes are reflected in the IUCN Green Status of Species Standard

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M>70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0<e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM

Search for gravitational-lensing signatures in the full third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network

Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions of gravitational wave-signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO--Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by 1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, 2) calculating the degree of overlap amongst the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, 3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms amongst pairs of signals, and 4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by 1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and 2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the non-detection of gravitational-wave lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects

Congregation Among the Least Religious: The Process and Meaning of Organizing Around Nonbelief

Every week in Houston, Texas, hundreds of atheists meet all over the city to socialize, attend educational talks, volunteer, protest injustice, or meditate in the company of other nonbelievers. That people congregate based on a lack of belief may seem counterintuitive, yet in Houston, a growing number of nonbelievers are participating in local groups that cater explicitly to those who do not believe in God. Researchers have produced recent work on atheist stigma, personal identity development, and collective identity, while work that addresses nonreligious organizations usually focuses on action within a single organization, or presents many organizations as a united collective without investigating the specific and diverse functions that different organizations may serve. To this point, little sociological research has investigated the variation that exists among nonreligious organizations at the local level. This dissertation addresses the question of why nonbelievers join these organizations when there are many alternatives that also have nothing to do with religion. Additionally, with numerous options available, how do nonreligious organizations distinguish themselves from one another? To answer these questions, this dissertation draws on data collected during eight months of participant observation in eight nonreligious organizations in Houston, as well as interviews with 70 nonbelievers who exhibited varying levels of commitment to the organizations—including some who were not involved at all. I employ theories of identity and boundary-work at both the individual and organization levels to further explore the process and meaning of organizing around nonbelief. I find that one significant way nonreligious organizations differ from other voluntary associations is that members share the experience of having a stigmatized identity. For some nonbelievers, joining a nonreligious organization is a form of stigma management, in that it provides a space where they can meet like-minded others and express themselves without reservation. Although this is one of the main reasons nonbelievers give for seeking out nonreligious organizations, I find that these organizations offer a variety of activities beyond social gatherings, and may include events that are educational, charitable, political, or spiritual in nature. Nonreligious organizations resemble religious congregations in many ways, but some capitalize on this familiar approach to community building more explicitly than others. Some nonbelievers are drawn to these “godless congregations” because they emulate churches, some participate despite this resemblance, and others avoid the congregation model while choosing to participate in other nonreligious organizations instead. I find that participation in these groups is not necessarily a clean, linear progression, and that nonbelievers display varying degrees of commitment to organizations. Finally, I find that nonbelievers differentiate themselves from conservative religious believers by constructing strong moral boundaries based on a set of common secular values. If nonbelievers wish to communicate their values to outsiders, they may do so in the context of organized nonreligion, thereby mitigating the popular assumption that atheists are amoral. My findings show that organized nonreligion is as diverse a phenomenon as organized religion, and that nonreligious organizations can vary considerably in their activities, goals, and appeal to potential members. Compelling evidence suggests that the American religious landscape is undergoing a significant transformation as numerous outlets report steady declines in affiliation, participation, and belief. An increasingly secular United States, evidenced in part by the organizations described in this dissertation, could have wide-ranging implications—including shifts in public policy and cultural values—since nonreligious worldviews are correlated with a multitude of social factors, from socioeconomic status to beliefs about social justice