Colorism and Skin Tone Messages in Father-Daughter Relationships

Colorism, or in-group bias based on skin tone, is a persistent phenomenon within the African American community that often shapes family dynamics and results in significant negative psychosocial effects for African Americans. Researchers have examined colorism primarily as it pertains to mothers\u27 transmission of these messages, but little research exists regarding the paternal role. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the messages fathers transmit to their daughters regarding skin tone, while comparing these messages to those transmitted to fathers in their childhood. Twelve African American men, selected through purposive sampling, participated in individual semistructured interviews. Their responses were analyzed using thematic analysis based on colorism theory. Themes included teachings to daughter, skin tone messages, influence, hard work, attractiveness, love, treatment, and trophies. Findings indicated that fathers provided a protective role in negative colorism messages for daughters, particularly those with darker skin tones. Implications for positive social change include increased understanding of the protective paternal role in transmitting skin tone messages and the potential ability for stakeholders to make inroads to eradicate the negative effects of colorism within the African American family using the protective role of fathers

Flipped classroom -Students as producers

© 2016 IEEE. Flipped classroom is something that more and more teachers add to their teaching plans. To use video recordings of their lectures as a support for the students and then focus more on working with the curriculum in class has become a method that is adopted by an increasing number of lecturers. In higher education the students are adults. This implies that it needs to be a form of lecturing adapted to adults. From the area of organizational learning, and from andragogy, the key to learning lies in motivation and the motivation is triggered by engagement that in its turn stems from involvement. However, involving the learner in their own learning process is also about 'letting go' of the teachers' full control. But is it necessary to maintain control? Is it possible to view the undertaking as a learning experience also for the teacher/lecturer? What control should be executed and what can one let go of? The research done at Hedmark University of Applied Sciences, show some interesting features. The courses have been 'Learning Organizations' (autumn) and 'Knowledge Management' (spring). The lectures have been in the form of streaming video and the course is organized as three full day seminars each semester/course. Each day has had a similar approach: a browse through the different chapters that are going to be discussed. Then follows solving assignments related to the presented topics, first in small groups, then in plenary. Before the lunch break, the students present suggestions towards possible new assignments. During the lunch break, the lecturer writes up the assignment using the input from the students. There is a quality check regarding the topics being within the scope of the seminar. After the lunch break, the students solve the assignment, first in small groups, then in plenary. The assignment and solution(s) are discussed using the following standard: 1. What did we learn from the assignment? 2. What did we learn from making the assignment? 3. Which issues raised in the assignment could be elaborated further, either as a mandatory assignment (fall) or an exam (fall and spring)? It is important to be clear and unambiguous about the learning objective of the course. It is also important to keep the scope within the limitations of the main literature. (This does, however, not exclude added resources like research papers, external links, etc.) Note also that there is a balance between the literature of the curriculum and the way the courses are taught. The course on 'Learning Organizations' includes a section on how adults learn, and thus they are 'convinced' about the method of teaching. The course 'Knowledge Management' has the course 'Learning Organizations' as a prerequisite, so it also 'inherits' the way of lecturing/teaching/learning. This involvement, the students claim, has contributed to enhancing their learning outcomes. The students seem to grow accustomed to the organization and 'expectations' the program. Also the average grades from last fall have improved from an average grade of C to an average grade of B. The activity in the classroom has shifted from the front of the classroom to the whole classroom. A few Observations made during this process are: 1. The students are far more strict than the lecturer 2. The students suggest wider assignments than suggested by lecturer 3. The lecturer receives numerous tips and hints to support creating new assignments 4. Even if it is not 6 hours lecturing, it is a demanding task to secure that the assignments and solutions at all times are within the framework of the learning objective 5. For the second and the third seminar, it is important to seek to include at least parts of the previous literature. The paper will detail the different issues tied to the process of this 'flip' and seek to explain the findings using relevant theory

Licensure Decisions Among South Carolina Counselors with Master’s Degrees

AbstractLicensure has many benefits to master’s level counselors, including higher wages, legal recognition, and third-party reimbursements, however many professional counselors do not pursue licensure. South Carolina graduates of a master’s level counseling program are not required to obtain licensure in order to provide counseling services. This qualitative comparative case study was conducted to capture why some counseling graduates choose to pursue licensure and others do not based on the experiences, knowledge, skills, and abilities counseling graduates in transition in South Carolina. The research was informed by social cognitive career theory and social learning for career decision making. Participants included four licensed professionals and two non-licensed master’s level clinicians who actively practice counseling in the South Carolina. Semistructured, in-depth interviews were used to gather data. Thematic analysis was employed to examine the data for prominent patterns or trends that may explain the phenomenon of study. Analysis of participant interviews revealed seven key themes: (a) motivation, (b) experience, (c) knowledge, (d) support resources, (e) costs, (f) licensure challenges, and (g) professional challenges. Results revealed a number of ways schools and leaders may help reduce licensure barriers and increase the rate of licensure among South Carolina’s professional counselors. Findings from this study may help stakeholders in organizational psychology in South Carolina to reduce licensure barriers or encourage counseling professionals to pursue licensure

A Source Release Model with Application to the LANL LLRW Disposal Site Performance Assessment

A source release model was developed to quantify time dependent liquid phase releases of radioactive material to the vadose zone from a disposal site. The model has been implemented to evaluate the source terms in the Performance Assessment for the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Low Level Radioactive Waste (LLRW) Disposal Facility at Area G, an analysis of the long term post-closure impact of disposal operations required by the USDOE orders. Analytic solutions describe transport through the model compartments: the solid phase waste package, the liquid phase within each waste package and the liquid phase within the disposal unit. The model accounts for elemental solubility limits and retardation coefficients (Rf) separately in the waste package and in the disposal unit. Several parameters define the site specific aspects of the disposal unit. In our case for example, the disposal unit is waste buried with crushed volcanic tuff, and a small net infiltration rate is determined from independent numerical studies. The analytic solution allows efficient explorations of the sensitivity to the input parameters. Numerical solutions extend the model to account for decay product ingrowth which may have different transport properties than the parent nuclides. Results show source release rates verses package or disposal unit Kd, and effects of solubility limits. At the LANL LLRW disposal site, only thorium, uranium and some low-level nuclides are solubility limited. Otherwise, a {open_quote}rapid rinse{close_quote} waste package category dominates the peak disposal unit efflux which occurs for the LANL disposal site at about 100 years for nuclides with Kd=0 (Rf=1) and for proportionately longer times as Kd or Rf increases. Additional simple analytic models or detailed numerical codes can be coupled to these results to predict groundwater concentrations

Prevalence and Assessment of Malnutrition Risk among Hospitalized Children in Romania

Malnutrition is a prevalent condition in hospitalized children. Our aims were to evaluate the nutritional state and to validate the STRONGkids risk assessment tool in a hospitalized paediatric population in Romania. This is a prospective single-centre study in a tertiary teaching hospital in Romania (May 2011-January 2012). We calculated the STRONGkids score and measured the children\u2019s height and weight. Standard deviation <-2 for weight-for-height and height-for-age was considered to indicate acute or chronic malnutrition respectively. Two hundred seventy-one children were included, with median age of 5.2 years and median hospital stay of 2.01 days. Prevalence of malnutrition and severe malnutrition was 37% and 15% respectively. Using the STRONGkids screening tool, 58% of the children were found at risk of malnutrition (24% were at high risk). The kappa coefficient of agreement between STRONGkids and WHO malnutrition classification was 0.61. When a low serum protein level was used in upgrading STRONGkids risk category, kappa increased significantly to 0.71 (p=0.001). A modified STRONGkids score, incorporating total serum protein levels, performs well in predicting malnutrition in hospitalized paediatric population in Romania

Crowdsourced science: sociotechnical epistemology in the e-research paradigm

Recent years have seen a surge in online collaboration between experts and amateurs on scientific research. In this article, we analyse the epistemological implications of these crowdsourced projects, with a focus on Zooniverse, the world’s largest citizen science web portal. We use quantitative methods to evaluate the platform’s success in producing large volumes of observation statements and high impact scientific discoveries relative to more conventional means of data processing. Through empirical evidence, Bayesian reasoning, and conceptual analysis, we show how information and communication technologies enhance the reliability, scalability, and connectivity of crowdsourced e-research, giving online citizen science projects powerful epistemic advantages over more traditional modes of scientific investigation. These results highlight the essential role played by technologically mediated social interaction in contemporary knowledge production. We conclude by calling for an explicitly sociotechnical turn in the philosophy of science that combines insights from statistics and logic to analyse the latest developments in scientific research

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