Remembering Pan Am 103: Lessons Learned 20 Years Later

Twenty years ago, on December 21, 1988, a bomb exploded aboard flight Pan Am 103. The plane crashed intoLockerbie,Scotland, killing 270 people on board and on the ground. Among those lost were 35SyracuseUniversitystudents coming back from a semester abroad inLondon. This documentary uses interviews with about 40 professors and former students to tell the story of Pan Am 103. These people were reunited on campus during Remembrance Week 2008. This project explores the mistakes that were made and lessons that have been learned. The research is supplemented by interviews with current faculty and staff members. These people have researched and reflected upon the crash and events that unfolded afterward. The Pan Am 103 tragedy set unfortunate precedents at the university, in the country and with the press in how to deal with massive tragedies. Large scale acts of terrorism against American citizens were not experienced at the time. There were little, or no, emergency plans in place. The crash revealed many flaws in air-travel security; gaps in communication among airlines, the government, the press and the families of the dead and unseen connections between American foreign policy and modern terrorism. Communications among Pan Am, the press and theUnited Statesgovernment were not strong. Information was not released promptly. FromKennedyInternationalAirport, where Pan Am 103 was scheduled to land, toSyracuseUniversityand Lockerbie, journalists were desperate for information. Deadlines and pressure from management drove some journalists to deal with victims’ families insensitively. SyracuseUniversitywas also scrambling to deal with the disaster. But it had no clear emergency response plan in place. Information was hard for the university to find and release. It was forced to create an emergency plan on the go. Students, faculty and staff members fell through the cracks. Now, students who did make it back fromLondonin 1988 express feelings of being forgotten back on campus. This documentary reveals that practical and emotional lessons have been learned. Others are still in progress. The Pan Am 103 crash brought about improvements in airline security. It showed universities and other institutions the importance of emergency planning. In most cases, communication between the government and press has improved. Press coverage of tragedies has also seen progress. But there is still room for growth, especially when it comes to foreign relations. And for those who lived through Pan Am 103, the emotional lessons are ongoing

Special Education Teachers\u27 Sense of Efficacy and Reading Achievement of Students with Severe Disabilities

Assessment scores indicated students with severe disabilities (SWSD) have not been performing to their maximum potential, which may lead to lower quality of life after graduation. Teacher efficacy has been shown to impact student achievement; thus, this study involved exploring the teacher efficacy of the teachers of SWSD. Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, and Hoy\u27s teacher efficacy conceptual framework guided this nonexperimental correlation study to investigate if levels of self-efficacy, years of overall teaching experience, and years of teaching experience with Grade 3 to 8 SWSD were predictors of student reading achievement in a New York City school district. Two open-ended questions were added to explore challenges teachers of SWSD encounter. Student New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA) scores were collected from all classroom teachers of students who participated in the 2014-2015 NYSAA at the study site. A regression analysis indicated no significant relationship between teachers\u27 sense of efficacy and the achievement of SWSD in the area of literacy. TSES responses were triangulated using data from 2 open-ended questions, which revealed that teachers face specific challenges when educating students with severe disabilities. At the organizational level, changes to address the needs of teachers could be made to address the challenges found in this study. Positive social change will occur by helping to inform new policies that will reduce challenges indicated by teachers of SWSD and address the needs of teachers to improve the education of SWSD

The Impact of Short Breaks on Families with a Disabled Child: Report One of the Quantitative Phase

This document reports on a cross-sectional sample of families with a disabled child using short breaks in England; it describes the characteristics of children and families using short breaks, the nature and quantity of the short breaks they are using, their experiences of and satisfaction with short breaks and which factors are associated with a range of outcomes for family carers, disabled children and their siblings. This report uses both quantitative data derived from standardised questions and qualitative data from family members’ written responses to open-ended questions in the survey instruments

The impacts of short break provision on disabled children and families: an international literature review

For over 30 years, short breaks have been part of the landscape of support provision for families with a disabled child. Historically, the term ‘respite care’ has been used in much of the research literature concerning short breaks for families with a disabled child. However, ‘short breaks’ has become the preferred term, partly due to the negative connotations of family carers requiring ‘respite’ from their children, and partly because short breaks now encompass a much wider range of supports than out-of-home placement in specialist residential facilities (Cramer and Carlin, 2008). As such, the term ‘short breaks’ will be used throughout this review, with the exception of direct quotes from research studies where the term ‘respite’ is used by study participants or study authors

Development and validation of a biofilm model to establish the effect of chemical and physical treatments on cellular viability

Biofilms are multicellular aggregates that can form in a multitude of environments and affect many different areas such as healthcare, domestic and industrial setting causing a huge economic burden. Removing these biofilms from the environment is normally done by chemical cleaning products using mechanical action in domestic, health care and industrial settings. The antibacterial efficacy of these chemical cleaning products is tested using standardised methods to determine their efficacy in a range of settings and conditions and is used to provide antimicrobial claims for the products. Currently, there is a lack of standardised methods for testing antimicrobial efficacy against biofilms, and the aim of this research was to generate a reproducible and relatively cheap method for growing single species and polymicrobial biofilms suitable for testing against chemical and physical disinfectants. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus were grown on polycarbonate membrane filters at 36.5°C for 48-72 hours to generate single species and polymicrobial biofilms. Minimum Biofilm Eradication Concentrations (MBECs), of two chemical disinfectants; hydrogen peroxide and a quaternary ammonium compound (QAC), were determined against these biofilms. Combinations of these disinfectants with UV-C exposure were carried out to establish their potential synergistic effect against biofilms. The QAC disinfectant was more efficacious against both biofilm species when compared to hydrogen peroxide, however both disinfectants were less effective against the polymicrobial biofilms. This is due to the two organisms having a synergistic effect, especially S. aureus which can revert to small colony variants and in this reduced state can become much more tolerant to antimicrobials. There was a synergistic effect using hydrogen peroxide and UV-C treatment on all of the biofilms tested possibly be due to the production of hydroxyl free radicals, although hydrogen peroxide was less effective in eradicating the biofilms than the QAC. The QAC in combination with UV-C also showed synergism, although the addition of the UV-C after the QAC seemed to be time dependent and was not as effective after a 1-hour contact time. This research supports previous studies in demonstrating that the combination of UV-C with the disinfectant is more efficacious than the chemical disinfectant by itself. This could be further analysed in future projects by optimising the minimum contact needed for biofilm eradication

What are the behavioural drivers and barriers of Chinese ivory consumption? A qualitative systematic review and thematic synthesis

African elephants (Loxodonta africana; L. cyclotis) are endangered species that play critical roles in African ecosystems and cultural heritage. They are also essential for the economic revenue generated through tourism in many of their 37 range states. However, increased poaching due to ivory demand, particularly during the early 2000s to around 2012, significantly contributed to the decline in African elephant populations (Huang and Weng 2014; Hauenstein et al. 2019). In China, specific efforts to reduce ivory demand have been in place since the early 2000s (Gabriel et al. 2011; Balmford et al. 2021). These interventions align with more comprehensive global and national commitments to enhance law enforcement, change policies, and improve education to reduce ivory poaching and demand (Wright et al. 2016; Zhou et al. 2018; Hauenstein et al. 2019). Recent calls support the integration of behavioural science into these efforts (MacFarlane et al. 2022). Despite the illegality of ivory purchases in China today, seizure records reveal ongoing Chinese demand. Ivory is perceived as a status symbol, granting consumers, including owners, purchasers, gifters, and inheritors, increased social capital. This is because of its perceived value in social, cultural, aesthetic, historical, and financial terms, reflecting purity, beauty, nobility, and rarity. Influencing the underlying normative values that drive these perceptions is extremely challenging, especially given the illicit nature of ivory trade today. Therefore, behavioural change methods must address these cultural and social elements of ivory consumption to achieve effective behaviour change. This paper outlines a systematic review protocol to explore the behavioural drivers and barriers of Chinese ivory consumption, with the aim of informing more effective behaviour change interventions. The findings of this research will be valuable for conservationists and behaviour change practitioners designing future demand management strategies for ivory

Developmentally Delayed Preschool Children: the Effects of Directed Sibling Involvement.

This study examined the effects of sibling involvement on preschool developmentally delayed children enrolled in home-based intervention programs. The study was conducted in three parts using quantitative and qualitative methodologies. In Part 1, experimental and control groups were given differential home-based intervention. Siblings of delayed children in the experimental group were included in home-based intervention with the teachers and in practice sessions with the parents. Analysis of covariance of scores on a developmental scale was employed to examine differences in the two groups. Three case studies of children were developed which illustrated the positive benefits and difficulties of including siblings in early intervention. Teachers were interviewed to examine positive and negative aspects of directed sibling involvement. In Part 2, two families (delayed child, sibling, mother, teacher) were observed during home-based sessions. Family A was observed for 15 weeks of pre-intervention which included having the sibling present but not active in the sessions. Family B was observed for 25 weeks which included 15 weeks of pre-intervention and 10 weeks of intervention. Time-series analysis was used to determine if significant differences in behaviors occurred. In Part 3, ethnographic methodology was used to obtain family and life histories of Families A and B. This phase provided contextual information for interpretation of the observations of Part 2. The effectiveness of directed sibling involvement was not demonstrated in the quantitative analyses of the study. No significant differences in performance were obtained between experimental and control groups. Changes of behavior in the observation study were not spontaneous but due to historical events or directly aligned to the strength of teacher direction. The teacher interviews, case studies, and family histories indicated that siblings of similar age were difficult to manage in structured or practice sessions, although it was agreed that siblings were capable of powerful influence upon each other\u27s learning. Older siblings were perceived as more effective teachers than younger siblings. Including fathers in more active roles in early intervention was also seen as desirable. The study indicated the possible importance of directed sibling involvement with delayed children and the need for further investigation

Development and validation of a biofilm model to establish the effect of chemical and physical treatments on cellular viability

Biofilms are multicellular aggregates that can form in a multitude of environments and affect many different areas such as healthcare, domestic and industrial setting causing a huge economic burden. Removing these biofilms from the environment is normally done by chemical cleaning products using mechanical action in domestic, health care and industrial settings. The antibacterial efficacy of these chemical cleaning products is tested using standardised methods to determine their efficacy in a range of settings and conditions and is used to provide antimicrobial claims for the products. Currently, there is a lack of standardised methods for testing antimicrobial efficacy against biofilms, and the aim of this research was to generate a reproducible and relatively cheap method for growing single species and polymicrobial biofilms suitable for testing against chemical and physical disinfectants. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus were grown on polycarbonate membrane filters at 36.5°C for 48-72 hours to generate single species and polymicrobial biofilms. Minimum Biofilm Eradication Concentrations (MBECs), of two chemical disinfectants; hydrogen peroxide and a quaternary ammonium compound (QAC), were determined against these biofilms. Combinations of these disinfectants with UV-C exposure were carried out to establish their potential synergistic effect against biofilms. The QAC disinfectant was more efficacious against both biofilm species when compared to hydrogen peroxide, however both disinfectants were less effective against the polymicrobial biofilms. This is due to the two organisms having a synergistic effect, especially S. aureus which can revert to small colony variants and in this reduced state can become much more tolerant to antimicrobials. There was a synergistic effect using hydrogen peroxide and UV-C treatment on all of the biofilms tested possibly be due to the production of hydroxyl free radicals, although hydrogen peroxide was less effective in eradicating the biofilms than the QAC. The QAC in combination with UV-C also showed synergism, although the addition of the UV-C after the QAC seemed to be time dependent and was not as effective after a 1-hour contact time. This research supports previous studies in demonstrating that the combination of UV-C with the disinfectant is more efficacious than the chemical disinfectant by itself. This could be further analysed in future projects by optimising the minimum contact needed for biofilm eradication

Zoom in to Fitness: A Novel Way of Bringing Fitness Experts to Seniors

Participants will discover a how a local educational institution was able to think creatively and bring much-needed programming to local seniors during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Participants will also experience first-hand how a virtual physical activity session can be delivered safely and effectively in the comfort of the senior’s own living environment or a group fitness room environment. Participants will be asked to think creatively of possible community partners, as well as possible barriers and facilitators to implementing this innovative wellness strategy. Information will be presented regarding additional activities that could be presented in this format such as nutrition, Be prepared to engage in a variety of physical activities presented at various levels of intensity modification, as you see how this could be implemented in your setting! 1) Discuss the positive impact of physical activity on senior wellness, cognition and social connectedness. 2) Discuss an innovative strategy for senior activity amidst COVID-19 facility restrictions. 3) Identify design considerations for implementing a physical activity event in your facility, including possible community partners, facilitators and barriers. 4) Experience segments of a physical activity program at various intensity modification levels. 5) Explore additional modalities for senior engagement in a virtual environment to impact healthy lifestyle