Marital Quality, Context, and Interaction: A Comparison of Individuals Across Various Income Levels

This research compared measures of marital quality between married respondents who were classified as adults currently receiving government assistance (GA) or adults not currently receiving government assistance (NGA). Additional demographic/contextual variables such as gender, age, age at first marriage, religiosity, income, education, cohabitation, mental health, and substance abuse along with four interactional variables - escalating negativity, criticism, negative interpretation, and withdrawal - were measured as potential correlates with marital quality. Results indicated statistically significant differences between GA and NGA individuals on all of the marital quality measures and on 8 of the 11 demographic/contextual variables. Additionally, the four interactional variables showed strong predictive associations for each measure of marital quality for both GA and NGA individuals. Findings from this study are synthesized to help legislators, policy makers, therapists, and other helping professionals target specific needs and intervention strategies for each of these two distinct populations

Prevalence and Effectiveness of Technology Use Among Family & Consumer Sciences Agents

Extension agents are encouraged to use new technologies to reach and teach their clientele. To uncover the prevalence and effectiveness of technology use, a survey was conducted among family and consumer sciences agents in the southern region of the United States. The results show that there is not much deviation from PowerPoint presentations, though some additional multimedia is incorporated. Barriers and advantages of using educational technology are discussed

Teaching as an Intervention: Evaluating the AIAI-FTFD Teaching Model and 9 Skills of Communication in an Extension Learning Environment

Extension educators are continually seeking ways to make instruction more effective and engaging. This study evaluated the Attention, Interact, Apply, and Invite – Fact, Think, Feel, Do (AIAI-FTFD) Start-to-Finish Teaching Model for human service educators in an ongoing Extension educational program to determine the effectiveness of this model in implementing the concept of “teaching as an intervention” in Extension educational programming. Specifically, the study assessed the cognitive, emotional, and intent to change behavioral learning outcomes generated by using the AIAI-FTFD teaching model while completing the 9 Important Communication Skills for Every Relationship (9 Skills) program. A self-reported quantitative evaluation design was utilized to assess key objectives in the sample (n = 152). Noticeable and clearly-evident effect sizes were found in perceived knowledge gain and perceived confidence gain in the ability to implement the skills covered in the training. Subsequent discussion focuses on how the AIAI-FTFD Start-to-Finish Teaching Model can facilitate change and learning in educational settings

Mapping Pedagogy, Learning Outcomes, and Effect Size in Relationship Education

This study represents a Time 1 intervention and a three-month follow-up at Time 2 to assess the impact of a relationship education program adapted from Gottman’s nine skills of communication. The researchers mapped the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral learning outcomes generated by using the AIAI-FTFD start-to-finish teaching model while completing the 9 Important Communication Skills for Every Relationship (9 Skills) program. A self-reported retrospective pre-then-post survey instrument was utilized to assess these learning outcomes in the sample at Time 1 (N = 58) and again three months later at Time 2 (N = 55). The results were calculated using effect size to quantify standardized mean changes. Implications for how the AIAI-FTFD teaching model can facilitate change and learning in relationship educational settings are discussed

Before You Tie the Knot: Mapping Pedagogy, Learning Outcomes, and Effect Size in Premarital Education

Human services educators are continually seeking ways to make instruction more effective and engaging. This study evaluated the AIAI-FTFD (Attention, Interact, Apply, Invite – Fact, Think, Feel, Do) Start-to-Finish Teaching Model for educators in an ongoing premarital educational program to determine the model’s effectiveness in implementing the concept of “teaching as an intervention” in human services educational programming. The AIAI-FTFD Model is designed to first, assist instructors to engage the audience’s attention, then introduce the information being taught with the purpose to facilitate interaction between the instructor and participants, next elicit application of the material to personal contexts, and finally, offer an invitation to participants to commit to practice the skills learned. This implementation science study assessed the targeted cognitive, emotional, and behavioral learning outcomes generated by using the AIAI-FTFD Model while completing the Before You Tie the Knot (BYTK) premarital education program online. A self-reported quantitative evaluation design was utilized to assess key objectives in the sample (n = 97). Clearly evident effect sizes were found in perceived knowledge and confidence gain in the ability to implement the skills covered in the training. Implications for how the AIAI-FTFD Model can facilitate change and learning in educational settings are discussed

Little Puff of Smoke, Good Night / music by G. Harris (Doc) White; words by R. W. Lardner

Cover: drawing of an older African American woman sitting in a rocking chair with a child on her lap; description reads a southern croon; Publisher: Victor Kremer Co. (Chicago)https://egrove.olemiss.edu/sharris_c/1001/thumbnail.jp

Exploring social and cognitive presences in communities of inquiry to perform higher cognitive tasks

The purpose of the current studywas to explore social and cognitive relationships among studentswhen they are solving complex cognitive tasks in online discussion forums(self-regulated). An online course targeting interventions for risk behaviorswas developed in the Virtual Campus of Andalusia, Spain. A total of 9878 units of meaning posted in 96 online discussion forums during three academic years (2010–11, 2011–12 and 2012–13) were analyzed through the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework. The degree to which online tasks at three different levels of cognitive demand (analyze, evaluate and create) triggered cognitive and social processes were examined. The results indicate that there was a specific increasing trend in the frequency of cognitive and social activity according to the requirement of the task. This study also found that the nature of the learning taskmodulated the different components of social and cognitive presence in these contexts.This researchwas financially supported bytheMinistry of Education, Spain, under research grant FPU-0142. The authors wish to acknowl-edge support from all the participants

Merger of a bubble and a soap film

The coalescence of a drop into a fluid bath is a subject of continuing interest in fluid dynamics, owing to its dynamical complexity, its accessibility in the laboratory, and its aesthetic appeal. It has been known for some time that a drop gently placed on a static bath of the same fluid may initially combine only partially with the underlying bath, resulting in a daughter droplet of approximately half the diameter of the parent droplet. This process can then repeat, giving rise to the so-called “coalescence cascade” until the final droplet is small enough to be completely absorbed.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant CMMI-1333242)MIT-France Progra

Quantifying the Origin and Distribution of Intracluster Light in a Fornax-like Cluster

Using a cosmological $N$-body simulation, we investigate the origin and distribution of stars in the intracluster light (ICL) of a Fornax-like cluster. In a dark matter only simulation we identify a halo which, at $z=0$, has $M_200 \simeq 4.1 \times 10^{13}M_{sun}$ and $r_{200} = 700kpc$, and replace infalling subhalos with models that include spheroid and disc components. As they fall into the cluster, the stars in some of these galaxies are stripped from their hosts, and form the ICL. We consider the separate contributions to the ICL from stars which originate in the haloes and the discs of the galaxies. We find that disc ICL stars are more centrally concentrated than halo ICL stars. The majority of the disc ICL stars are associated with one initially disc-dominated galaxy that falls to the centre of the cluster and is heavily disrupted, producing part of the cD galaxy. At radial distances greater than 200kpc, well beyond the stellar envelope of the cD galaxy, stars formerly from the stellar haloes of galaxies dominate the ICL. Therefore at large distances, the ICL population is dominated by older stars.Comment: Paper published as MNRAS , 2017, 467, 4501 This version corrects a small typo in the authors fiel

Shedding light on pilot-wave phenomena

This paper is associated with a video winner of a 2015 APS/DFD Gallery of Fluid Motion Award. The original video is available from the Gallery of Fluid Motion, http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/APS.DFD.2015.GFM.V0064National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant CMMI-1333242