Children's Beliefs about the Race-Based Inheritance of Skills: Examining the Roles of Children's Age and Racial Background.

Research shows that children believe that a child will have the same skin color as his or her biological parents, even when they have been adopted by other-race parents (Hirschfeld, 1995). However, research has not yet explored whether children believe that additional individual traits are inherited by virtue of inheriting race (the innate potential of race). Understanding whether children use race to guide their judgments regarding the skills individuals possess may shed light on the development of racial essentialist thinking and may also have implications for children’s understanding of and developing beliefs about racial stereotypes. This study aimed to understand whether children believe in the innate potential of race; in other words, do children believe race is implicated in the traits individuals inherit or learn? This study also aimed to understand whether children’s beliefs differ, depending on their racial group membership and age. In order to explore this, I showed 80 Black and White children (ages 4-12) stories in which Black and White target children were adopted by same- or other-race parents. Children were asked whether the target children would have the same skills as either their biological or adoptive parents. Results showed that children’s beliefs differed depending on a number of factors, including participant race, participant age, target child race, and the order in which they saw the trials. For example, the youngest Black children believed in innate potential more for White target children than for Black target children, while the oldest Black children believed in innate potential more for Black target children than for White target children. Further, results suggested that children applied innate potential to target children more when the first story they were told featured a Black target child adopted by White parents. These results have important implications for our understanding of the development of racial essentialism in children. Specifically, this study demonstrates that children do, under certain circumstances, utilize race to guide their judgments regarding individuals’ characteristics. This study provides further evidence that children’s beliefs about race are highly contextual and may depend heavily on children’s racial group membership and stage of development.PhDPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113550/1/amberdw_1.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113550/2/amberdw_2.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113550/3/amberdw_3.pd

Creative Writing In Alcohol, Tobacco, And Other Drug Education

Health educators in elementary and secondary schools should seek collaborations with teachers of other subjects to enhance health education curriculum. The strategy described in this article details a potential collaboration between health education and language arts units. The activity enhances both drug education knowledge gains and creative writing skills among junior high/middle school students

Determining the shape of a supernova explosion

Spectropolarimetry, a technique that determines the fraction of light from a polarized source as a function of wavelength can help astronomers determine the geometry of a supernova explosion. The spectrum of these objects are a combination of an underlying continuum and superposed absorption and/or emission features. Low degrees of polarization (~0.2-0.3%) across the continuum with higher detections across some spectral features (~1-2%) indicate that a particular explosion is relatively spherical in nature, but some of the ejecta has been expelled in a clumpy manner. It is possible to determine how the star exploded by comparing the evolution of this polarization over time to theoretical explosion models. We present the multi-epoch observations of 2014J, a supernova with very little overall asymmetry as revealed by low continuum polarization measurements. However, a polarization detection of ~0.5% across the singly-ionized silicon spectral feature indicates that this particular ion has a more complex geometry

Limiting Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm Formation Using Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma

We investigate the ability to disrupt and limit growth biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa using application of cold atmospheric pressure (CAP) plasma. The effect of the bio-film's exposure to a helium (CAP) jet was assessed at varying time points during biofilm maturation. Results showed that the amount of time during biofilm growth that CAP pressure was applied has a crucial role on the ability of biofilms to mature and recover after CAP exposure. Intervention during the early stages of biofilm formation (0-8 h) results in a 4-5-log reduction in viable bacterial cells (measured at 24 h of incubation) relative to untreated biofilms. However, CAP treatment of biofilm at 12 h and above only results in a 2-log reduction in viable cells. This has potentially important implications for future clinical application of CAP to treat infected wounds

Mesospheric Bore Evolution and Instability Dynamics Observed in PMC Turbo Imaging and Rayleigh Lidar Profiling over Northeastern Canada on 13 July 2018

Two successive mesospheric bores were observed over northeastern Canada on 13 July 2018 in high-resolution imaging and Rayleigh lidar profiling of polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) performed aboard the PMC Turbo long-duration balloon experiment. Four wide field-of-view cameras spanning an area of ~75x150 km at PMC altitudes captured the two evolutions occurring over ~2 hr and resolved bore and associated instability features as small as ~100 m. The Rayleigh lidar provided PMC backscatter profiling that revealed vertical displacements, evolving brightness distributions, evidence of instability character and depths, and insights into bore formation, ducting, and dissipation. Both bores exhibited variable structure along their phases, suggesting variable gravity wave (GW) source and bore propagation conditions. Both bores also exhibited small-scale instability dynamics at their leading and trailing edges. Those at the leading edges comprised apparent Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities that were advected downward and rearward beneath the bore descending phases extending into an apparently intensified shear layer. Instabilities at the trailing edges exhibited alignments approximately orthogonal to the bore phases that resembled those seen to accompany GW breaking or intrusions arising in high-resolution modeling of GW instability dynamics. Collectively, PMC Turbo bore imaging and lidar profiling enabled enhanced definition of bore dynamics relative to what has been possible by previous ground-based observations, and a potential to guide new, three-dimensional modeling of bore dynamics. The observed bore evolutions suggest potentially important roles for bores in the deposition of energy and momentum transported into the mesosphere and to higher altitudes by high-frequency GWs achieving large amplitudes

Spectroscopic Hα and Hγ survey of field Be stars: 2004-2009

Massive O- and B-type stars are cosmic engines in the Universe and can be the dominant source of luminosity in a galaxy. The class of Be stars are rapidly rotating B-type stars that lose mass in an equatorial, circumstellar disk (Porter & Rivinius 2003) and cause Balmer and other line emission. Currently, we are unsure as to why these stars rotate so quickly but three scenarios are possible: they may have been born as rapid rotators, spun up by binary mass transfer, or spun up during the main-sequence evolution of B stars. In order to investigate these scenarios for this population of massive stars, we have been spectroscopically observing a set of 115 field Be stars with the Kitt Peak Coudè Feed telescope in both the Hα and Hγ wavelength regimes since 2004. This time baseline allows for examination of variability properties of the circumstellar disks as well as determine candidates for closer examination for binarity. We find that 90% of the observed stars show some variability with 8% showing significant variability over the 5-year baseline. Such values may be compared with the significant variability seen in some clusters such as NGC 3766 (McSwain 2008). Also, while ~20% of the sample consists of known binaries, we find that another 15-30% of the sample shows indications of binarity. © International Astronomical Union 2011

Prescription Stimulants in College and Medical Students: A Narrative Review of Misuse, Cognitive Impact, and Adverse Effects

Stimulants are effective in treating attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Psychiatrist Charles Bradley first made this discovery in 1937 when he found that children treated with amphetamines showed improvements in school performance and behavior. Between 1995 and 2008, stimulants to treat ADHD increased six-fold among American adults and adolescents at an annual rate of 6.5%. Stimulants without a prescription, known as nonmedical use or misuse, have also increased. The highest rates of nonmedical prescription drug misuse in the United States are seen most notably in young adults between 18 and 25 years, based on data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in 2021. Aside from undergraduate students, nonmedical prescription stimulant use is prevalent among medical students worldwide. A recent literature review reported the utilization of stimulants without a prescription in 970 out of 11,029 medical students. The percentages of medical students across the country misusing stimulants varied from 5.2% to 47.4%. Academic enhancement, reported in 50% to 89% of college students with stimulant misuse, is the most common reason for nonmedical stimulant use. With the increasing use of stimulants among adolescents and adults, it is unclear what long-term outcomes will be since little data are available that describe differences in how side effects are experienced for prescribed and non-prescribed users. The present narrative review focuses on these adverse effects in this population and the reasonings behind misuse and nonmedical use

PMC Turbo : Studying Gravity Wave and Instability Dynamics in the Summer Mesosphere Using Polar Mesospheric Cloud Imaging and Profiling From a Stratospheric Balloon

The Polar Mesospheric Cloud Turbulence (PMC Turbo) experiment was designed to observe and quantify the dynamics of small-scale gravity waves (GWs) and instabilities leading to turbulence in the upper mesosphere during polar summer using instruments aboard a stratospheric balloon. The PMC Turbo scientific payload comprised seven high-resolution cameras and a Rayleigh lidar. Overlapping wide and narrow camera field of views from the balloon altitude of ~38 km enabled resolution of features extending from ~20 m to ~100 km at the PMC layer altitude of ~82 km. The Rayleigh lidar provided profiles of temperature below the PMC altitudes and of the PMCs throughout the flight. PMCs were imaged during an ~5.9-day flight from Esrange, Sweden, to Northern Canada in July 2018. These data reveal sensitivity of the PMCs and the dynamics driving their structure and variability to tropospheric weather and larger-scale GWs and tides at the PMC altitudes. Initial results reveal strong modulation of PMC presence and brightness by larger-scale waves, significant variability in the occurrence of GWs and instability dynamics on time scales of hours, and a diversity of small-scale dynamics leading to instabilities and turbulence at smaller scales. At multiple times, the overall field of view was dominated by extensive and nearly continuous GWs and instabilities at horizontal scales from ~2 to 100 km, suggesting sustained turbulence generation and persistence. At other times, GWs were less pronounced and instabilities were localized and/or weaker, but not absent. An overview of the PMC Turbo experiment motivations, scientific goals, and initial results is presented here. © 2019. The Authors

Gravity Wave Breaking and Vortex Ring Formation Observed by PMC Turbo

Polar mesospheric cloud (PMC) imaging and lidar profiling performed aboard the 5.9 day PMC Turbo balloon flight from Sweden to northern Canada in July 2018 revealed a wide variety of gravity wave (GW) and instability events occurring nearly continuously at approximately 82 km. We describe one event exhibiting GW breaking and associated vortex rings driven by apparent convective instability. Using PMC Turbo imaging with spatial and temporal resolution of 20 m and 2 s, respectively, we quantify the GW horizontal wavelength, propagation direction, and apparent phase speed. We identify vortex rings with diameters of 2‐5 km and horizontal spacing comparable to their size. Lidar data show GW vertical displacements of ±0.3 km. From the data, we find a GW intrinsic frequency and vertical wavelength of 0.009 ± 0.003 rad s‐1 and 9 ± 4 km, respectively. We show that these values are consistent with the predictions of numerical simulations of idealized GW breaking. We estimate the momentum deposition rate per unit mass during this event to be 0.04 ± 0.02 m s‐2 and show that this value is consistent with the observed GW. Comparison to simulation gives a mean energy dissipation rate for this event of 0.05‐0.4 W kg‐1, which is consistent with other reported in‐situ measurements at the Arctic summer mesopause