Understanding How Undergraduate Students Experience and Manage Stress: Implications for Teaching and Learning Anthropology

Research has shown that negative effects of stress on undergraduate students can have a significant impact on their college experience. Most of what we know about this topic is quantitative, based on surveys that provide self-reported information for large numbers of college students. The present study provides an in-depth qualitative perspective on college students and stress that foregrounds the voices of these emerging adults. Specifically, in this article we (a) share findings from a study using qualitative methods to examine how college students experience and manage stress and (b) provide strategies to help anthropology instructors design and manage their classes to improve learning for students under chronic stress

Health Research Access to Personal Confidential Data in England and Wales: Assessing any gap in public attitude between preferable and acceptable models of consent

England and Wales are moving toward a model of ‘opt out’ for use of personal confidential data in health research. Existing research does not make clear how acceptable this move is to the public. While people are typically supportive of health research, when asked to describe the ideal level of control there is a marked lack of consensus over the preferred model of consent (e.g. explicit consent, opt out etc.). This study sought to investigate a relatively unexplored difference between the consent model that people prefer and that which they are willing to accept. It also sought to explore any reasons for such acceptance. A mixed methods approach was used to gather data, incorporating a structured questionnaire and in-depth focus group discussions led by an external facilitator. The sampling strategy was designed to recruit people with different involvement in the NHS but typically with experience of NHS services. Three separate focus groups were carried out over three consecutive days. The central finding is that people are typically willing to accept models of consent other than that which they would prefer. Such acceptance is typically conditional upon a number of factors, including: security and confidentiality, no inappropriate commercialisation or detrimental use, transparency, independent overview, the ability to object to any processing considered to be inappropriate or particularly sensitive. This study suggests that most people would find research use without the possibility of objection to be unacceptable. However, the study also suggests that people who would prefer to be asked explicitly before data were used for purposes beyond direct care may be willing to accept an opt out model of consent if the reasons for not seeking explicit consent are accessible to them and they trust that data is only going to be used under conditions, and with safeguards, that they would consider to be acceptable even if not preferable

SAMP, the Simple Application Messaging Protocol: Letting applications talk to each other

SAMP, the Simple Application Messaging Protocol, is a hub-based communication standard for the exchange of data and control between participating client applications. It has been developed within the context of the Virtual Observatory with the aim of enabling specialised data analysis tools to cooperate as a loosely integrated suite, and is now in use by many and varied desktop and web-based applications dealing with astronomical data. This paper reviews the requirements and design principles that led to SAMP's specification, provides a high-level description of the protocol, and discusses some of its common and possible future usage patterns, with particular attention to those factors that have aided its success in practice.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for Virtual Observatory special issue of Astronomy and Computin

New VLBA Identifications of Compact Symmetric Objects

The class of radio sources known as Compact Symmetric Objects (CSOs) is of particular interest in the study of the evolution of radio galaxies. CSOs are thought to be young (probably ~10^4 years), and a very high fraction of them exhibit HI absorption toward the central parsecs. The HI, which is thought to be part of a circumnuclear torus of accreting gas, can be observed using the VLBA with high enough angular resolution to map the velocity field of the gas. This velocity field provides new information on the accretion process in the central engines of these young sources. We have identified 9 new CSOs from radio continuum observations for the VLBA Calibrator Survey, increasing the number of known CSOs by almost 50%.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, for "Lifecycles of Radio Galaxies", eds. J. Biretta et al., New Astronomy Review

Developing effective partnerships in reporting student achievement : making links between educative theory and schools reporting practices : a thesis presented as partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Administration, Massey University, Albany

This thesis examines how three participant schools reported the achievement of students to parents and the extent to which reporting practices reflected current educative theories and effective partnership. The understanding of parents and teachers of the process of the reporting practices, and how practice promoted or hindered educative partnerships between teachers and parents were examined. Over the past ten years schools, in New Zealand, have spent much time realigning their reporting practices to New Zealand national requirements, and the expectations of their school communities. This research examined what led schools to make their decisions about their reporting practices, comments on the effectiveness of current practices and draws conclusions based on the findings of the research. Evaluative case study was selected as the methodology for this study. The study is located within three school contexts and involves in-depth examination and analysis of teachers' and parents' perceptions about educative theory, partnership and reporting student achievement. The methodology used provided an opportunity to evaluate current practice, provide feedback to each participant school and allowed the cooperative development of recommendations for improving reporting processes. Issues and themes were identified as data were gathered. Exploration of emerging themes occurred throughout the data gathering phase. Data gathering strategies included parent and teacher questionnaires, individual interviews with senior leaders, teachers and parents and document analysis. That data revealed a number of themes in relation to educative theory, reporting and partnership. Initial themes included: important educational outcomes identified by parents and teachers, the purpose of reporting identified by parents and teachers, the type of information parents found helpful, the role of teacher-parent interviews, the desire of parents to be actively involved in their children's' learning, and the frequency and timing of personal contact between parents and teachers. This thesis concludes that each school had not directly linked their practices to educative theory or conditions for effective partnerships with parents. A key purpose identified by both parents and teachers was the support of parents in helping their children achieve, yet this key purpose was omitted from any documentation identifying purposes and, in many cases, from the implementation of reporting processes by teachers. A further conclusion is that the link between educative theories, the relationship of those theories to the reporting process and how effective links could be made to develop effective partnerships between teachers, parents and students is a significant area for future research

Automatic bandwidth selection for circular density estimation

Given angular data θ1,…,θn[0,2π) a common objective is to estimate the density. In case that a kernel estimator is used, bandwidth selection is crucial to the performance. A “plug-in rule” for the bandwidth, which is based on the concentration of a reference density, namely, the von Mises distribution is obtained. It is seen that this is equivalent to the usual Euclidean plug-in rule in the case where the concentration becomes large. In case that the concentration parameter is unknown, alternative methods are explored which are intended to be robust to departures from the reference density. Simulations indicate that “wrapped estimators” can perform well in this context. The methods are applied to a real bivariate dataset concerning protein structure

Teaching psychology to computing students

The aim of this paper is twofold. The first aim is to discuss some observations gained from teaching Psychology to Computing students, highlighting both the wide range of areas where Psychology is relevant to Computing education and the topics that are relevant at different stages of students’ education. The second aim is to consider findings from research investigating the characteristics of Computing and Psychology students. It is proposed that this information could be considered in the design and use of Psychology materials for Computing students. The format for the paper is as follows. Section one will illustrate the many links between the disciplines of Psychology & Computing; highlighting these links helps to answer the question that many Computing students ask, what can Psychology offer to Computing? Section two will then review some of the ways that I have been involved in teaching Psychology to Computing students, from A/AS level to undergraduate and postgraduate level. Section three will compare the profiles of Computing and Psychology students (e.g. on age, gender and motivation to study), to highlight how an understanding of these factors can be used to adapt Psychology teaching materials for Computing students. The conclusions which cover some practical suggestions are presented in section four

A Sage on Two Stages: What a Black Academic Taught a White Scholar About Cross-Cultural Mentoring

Cross-cultural mentoring can be loosely defined as a reciprocal mentoring relationship where the mentor and mentee do not share any one of many personal identities. In this study, personal narratives convey what a White scholar learned about cross-cultural mentoring from a Black academic, focusing on two events. Critical findings and reflections include the necessity for White allies in cross-cultural mentoring relationships to anticipate difference rather than discomfort, to commit to paying analytic and holistic attention to their mentor, and to seek opportunities to mitigate any cultural taxation that people of color may pay inside and outside of the relationship.Educatio