Samuel Slater and the Development of Southern Worcester County, Massachusetts

A written piece detailing the impact of Samuel Slater on the rural towns of Southern Worcester County Massachusetts

Impact of Culturally Responsive Teaching Workshop on Preservice Teachers: How to Teach Columbus from Multiple Perspectives

This qualitative case study examines the impact of a workshop on culturally responsive teaching on preservice elementary teacher candidates’ ability to conceptualize and apply culturally responsive instruction. The Rethinking Columbus workshop teaches students to read critically as text detectives, asking questions such as Whose voices are being heard and whose are not and what are the hidden messages in the text and illustrations Overall it appears that preservice teachers who participated in the workshop were able to generate numerous culturally relevant instructional strategies that directly aligned with the conceptual framework presented in the workshop. Students were also able to extend their learning by creating new and innovative strategies to engage elementary students in learning that were not discussed during the workshop. This paper describes the workshop model for teaching preservice teachers to be culturally responsive educators and includes numerous participant-generated examples of how to teach with a culturally responsive lens

Consumer opinion on social policy approaches to promoting positive body image: Airbrushed media images and disclaimer labels

© The Author(s) 2015. Disclaimer labels on airbrushed media images have generated political attention and advocacy as a social policy approach to promoting positive body image. Experimental research suggests that labelling is ineffective and consumers' viewpoints have been overlooked. A mixed-method study explored British consumers' (N = 1555, aged 11-78 years) opinions on body image and social policy approaches. Thematic analysis indicated scepticism about the effectiveness of labelling images. Quantitatively, adults, although not adolescents, reported that labelling was unlikely to improve body image. Appearance diversity in media and reorienting social norms from appearance to function and health were perceived as effective strategies. Social policy and research implications are discussed

Mission Not Accomplished: Unequal Opportunities and Outcomes for Black and Latinx Engineers

Engineering occupations are some of the highest-paying and most prestigious in the US labor market, but they are also some of the least diverse. Mission Not Accomplished: Unequal Opportunities and Outcomes for Black and Latinx Engineers finds that of the nearly 1.7 million prime-age engineering workers in the United States in 2019, 81% were either White or Asian, and 84% were men. A mere 3% of engineers working in the field in 2019 were either Black or Latinx women

Characterization of Atlantic salmon head kidney leukocyte culture

The Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is an economically important farmed and wild fish in several countries including Canada. Macrophages are white blood cells of the immune system of fish and other vertebrates, that are essential in fighting infection and disease. Elucidating how macrophages differentiate and function is necessary to fully understand how the fish immune system functions and to enable the development of methods to maintain healthy fish. Therefore, the objective of my Ph.D. thesis was to characterize the Atlantic salmon adherent head kidney leukocyte (HKL) culture, a macrophage-like model commonly used in fish immunological studies, using various genomic and complementary techniques. Using morphology (Giemsa stain) and functional (phagocytosis) assays, the results of this thesis showed that the Atlantic salmon adherent HKL population changes during culture time. At Day 1 of culture, the results suggest that adherent HKLs are a heterogeneous population of predominantly “monocyte-like”, cells but by Day 5 of culture, the cells become more homogenous selectively enriched with macrophages. RNA-sequencing identified a change in the microRNA (miRNA) profile of Day 1 and Day 5 adherent HKLs, as well as the extracellular vesciles (EVs) released from them. Many of the identified miRNAs are involved in macrophage function and/or differentiation in other species. Furthermore, using a 44K microarray, changes in the mRNA transciprtome were profiled. Macrophage-related transcripts, lipid-related transcripts, immune-related transcripts and transcription factors were identified as differentially expressed between the two cell populations. In addition, GO term enrichment and network analysis identified immune-related and immune-cell differentiation related terms. The results of this thesis provides evidence that the Atlantic salmon HKL culture changes to become predominantly “macrophage-like” by Day 5 of culture and this is something that should be kept in mind when using HKLs for in vitro fish immunology studies. This research provides novel insight into the genes, miRNAs and molecular pathways involved in the differentiation of Atlantic salmon adherent HKLs from monocyte-like cells to macrophage-like cells

Spatial variability of microzooplankton grazing on phytoplankton in coastal southern Florida, USA

Microzooplankton are considered the primary consumers of phytoplankton in marine environments. Microzooplankton grazing rates on phytoplankton have been studied across the globe, but there are still large regions of the ocean that are understudied, such as sub-tropical coastal oceans. One of these regions is the coastal area around south Florida, USA. We measured microzooplankton grazing rates in two distinct environments around south Florida; the oligotrophic Florida Keys and the mesotrophic outflow from the Everglades. For 2-years from January 2018 to January 2020, we set up 55 dilution and light-dark bottle experiments at five stations to estimate the microzooplankton community grazing rate, instantaneous phytoplankton growth rate, and primary production. Our results suggest that microzooplankton are consuming a higher proportion of the primary production near the Everglades outflow compared to the Florida Keys. We also found that changes in phytoplankton growth rates are disconnected from changes in the microzooplankton grazing rates in the Florida Keys. Overall, the data from the Everglades outflow is what would be expected based on global patterns, but factors other than microzooplankton grazing are more important in controlling phytoplankton biomass in the Florida Keys

A Model of Sustainable Consumer Behaviour, Personal Development, and Attitudes Toward Marketing

Using a sample of relatively young consumers, this study explores the impact of sustainable consumer behaviour on the sustainable attribute, such as charity. The concept of consumer stability has particular influence, as it positively relates to all three areas of consumer charity: charitable involvement, consumer volunteerism, and social activism. The findings confirm the various hypotheses. For example, consumer traits, such as interpersonal trust and stability, are significant predictors of consumer volunteerism and social activities. The findings also indicate that the second set of sustainable consumer behaviour attributes influences consumer personal development and helps to predict positive consumer attitudes toward marketing activities, such as salespeople and advertising

Review of United States and International Formaldehyde Emission Regulations for Interior Wood Composite Panels

This article compares and contrasts formaldehyde emission regulations for interior wood composite panels in the US, the European Union, Japan, and China. Historical context, product-specific emission limits, test methods, and product certification requirements are detailed for each emission standard. In particular, the recently enacted California Air Resources Board (CARB) formaldehyde regulation is compared with established international formaldehyde regulations and differences in four key areas, emission limits, documentation, deconstructive testing, and enforcement, are highlighted. Implications of CARB and US Environmental Protection Agency regulatory actions are discussed, and future work is suggested in the rapidly evolving and highly debated arena of formaldehyde emission policy

The Importance of Winter Dinoflagellate Blooms in Chesapeake Bay—a Missing Link in Bay Productivity

It is widely assumed that phytoplankton abundance and productivity decline during temperate winters because of low irradiance and temperatures. However, winter phytoplankton blooms commonly occur in temperate estuaries, but they are often undocumented because of reduced water quality monitoring in winter. The small body of in situ work that has been done on winter blooms suggests they can be of enormous consequence to ecosystems. However, because monitoring is often reduced or stopped altogether during winter, it is unclear how widespread these blooms are or how long they can last. We analyzed an over 30-year record of monthly phytoplankton monitoring samples along with ad hoc sampling throughout Chesapeake Bay to assess the distributions of two common winter bloom species, Heterocapsa rotundata and Heterocapsa steinii, and the environmental conditions associated with these blooms. The long-term monitoring data revealed that H. rotundata blooms occur within a narrow salinity range (7–12) and potentially have different triggers depending upon the nutrient status of waters affected. The ad hoc sampling confirmed the occurrence of H. steinii blooms in the lower Chesapeake Bay, despite the lack of evidence for them from monthly monitoring data. Together, our findings demonstrate that winter blooms routinely occur in numerous locations throughout Chesapeake Bay and can last up to a month. Our findings suggest that while winter blooms are a staple of the Bay’s annual phytoplankton community, there are major data gaps reporting their occurrence highlighting the need for more frequent monitoring to understand factors promoting these blooms and their consequences on ecosystem productivity

Body Image in Primary Schools: A pilot evaluation of a primary school intervention program designed by teachers to improve children's body satisfaction

© 2016 Body Image in the Primary School (Hutchinson & Calland, 2011) is a body image curriculum that is widely available but has not yet been evaluated. This study evaluates a set of 6 of the 49 available lessons from this curriculum. Seventy-four girls and 70 boys aged 9–10 were recruited from four primary schools in the UK. Schools were randomly allocated into the intervention condition, where students received 6hours of body image lessons, or to lessons as normal. Body esteem was significantly higher among girls in the intervention group, compared to the control group, immediately post intervention, and at 3-month follow-up. Moreover, girls with lowest levels of body esteem at baseline reported the largest gains. Internalization was significantly lower among boys in the control group compared to the intervention group at 3-month follow-up. The pattern of results among the control group raises interesting issues for intervention evaluation