An Examination of Adult Learners, Learning Outcomes, and Selected Learning Environments at a Land-Grant Research I University.

Population projections predicting dramatic increases in demand for higher education, and the explosive increase in technologies which may be essential to meet demand, are motivating changes in the culture of higher education. The purpose of this study was to describe characteristics of courses offered and learners served by the Louisiana State University Evening School in different learning environments; and to compare characteristics of learners enrolled in the course by the medium through which the course was delivered (defined as on-campus, telecourse, and off-campus). Data were collected from institutional records, course and instructor evaluations, and from the course syllabi provided by the instructors. A single introductory course in psychology was used in this study in order to minimize error due to subject matter effects. There were 213 learners enrolled in eight sections of the course. Selected characteristics of learners, instructors, learning materials, enrollments, and learning outcomes were described; and selected learner, instructor and outcome information were compared across learning environments. Over 90% of learners were single, and almost 70% were women. The majority of learners were under the age of 33, white, and more likely to be enrolled as undergraduates than as adult special students. Recommendations included tracking learners to aid outreach to underserved populations, providing learners with detailed course information to decrease obstacles to taking courses, and working with other organizational units to assess the needs of all learners

Mentoring for Faculty from Working-Class Backgrounds

Faculty mentoring across gender, race, and culture is facilitated by formal mentoring programs. Mentoring across the cultural differences associated with social class, however, represents a largely unaddressed gap in the provision of formal faculty mentoring. Based on a pre-program needs survey, we designed and delivered a pilot program that served working-class faculty with mentoring on career self-efficacy. Assessment showed that working-class faculty mentees made gains in this important construct. Our concluding discussion reflects upon the role of mentoring in the experience of working-class faculty

Social adaptation can reduce the strength of social–ecological feedbacks from ecosystem degradation

Feedbacks between people and ecosystems are central to the study of social–ecological systems (SES) but remain poorly understood. It is commonly assumed that changes in ecosystems leading to a reduction in ecosystem services will trigger human responses that seek to restore service provision. Other responses are possible, however, but remain less studied. We evaluated the effect of environmental change, specifically the degradation of coral reefs, on the supply of and demand for a cultural ecosystem service (CES); that is, recreation. We found that declines in coral cover reduced demand for recreational ecosystem services but had no apparent effect on the benefits received from recreation. While this finding seems counter-intuitive given previous experimental data that suggest ecosystem quality affects people's satisfaction, our analysis suggests that social adaptation could have mediated the anticipated negative impact of environmental change on CES benefits. We propose four mechanisms that may explain this effect and that require further research: spatial diversification; (service) substitution; shifting baselines; and time-delayed effects. Our findings emphasize the importance of human culture and perception as influences on human responses to environmental change, and the relevance of the more subjective elements of social systems for understanding social–ecological feedbacks

Career Self-Efficacy Mentoring for Pre-Promotion Underrepresented Faculty

posterThis poster describes the progress and lessons learned as a result of newly implemented Faculty Mentoring Program at Indiana University – Purdue University Columbus

Insights from twenty years of comparative research in Pacific Large Ocean States

Under global environmental change, understanding the interactions between people and nature has become critical for human survival. Comparative research can identify trends within social-ecological systems providing key insights for both environmental and developmental research. Island systems, with clear land boundaries, have been proposed as ideal case studies for comparative research, but it is unclear to what extent their potential has been fulfilled. To summarize existing research and identify potential gaps and new directions, we reviewed comparative environmental and developmental research on Pacific Large Ocean States. A diversity of case study locations and research themes were addressed within the sample of reviewed studies. Within the reviewed literature climate change, energy infrastructure, trade and fisheries were key themes of environmental and developmental research compared between island systems. Research was biased towards wealthier Pacific Large Ocean States and those with a relatively higher degree of socio-economic development. Our review highlights the potential value of a stronger a priori inclusion of spatial scale and conceptual frameworks, such as spatial resilience, to facilitate generalization from case studies

Evaluation of the U.S. EPA/OSWER Preliminary Remediation Goal for Perchlorate in Groundwater: Focus on Exposure to Nursing Infants

BACKGROUND: Perchlorate is a common contaminant of drinking water and food. It competes with iodide for uptake into the thyroid, thus interfering with thyroid hormone production. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) set a groundwater preliminary remediation goal (PRG) of 24.5 μg/L to prevent exposure of pregnant women that would affect the fetus. This does not account for the greater exposure that is possible in nursing infants or for the relative source contribution (RSC), a factor normally used to lower the PRG due to nonwater exposures. OBJECTIVES: Our goal was to assess whether the OSWER PRG protects infants against exposures from breast-feeding, and to evaluate the perchlorate RSC. METHODS: We used Monte Carlo analysis to simulate nursing infant exposures associated with the OSWER PRG when combined with background perchlorate. RESULTS: The PRG can lead to a 7-fold increase in breast milk concentration, causing 90% of nursing infants to exceed the reference dose (RfD) (average exceedance, 2.8-fold). Drinking-water perchlorate must be < 6.9 μg/L to keep the median, and < 1.3 μg/L to keep the 90th-percentile nursing infant exposure below the RfD. This is 3.6- to 19-fold below the PRG. Analysis of biomonitoring data suggests an RSC of 0.7 for pregnant women and of 0.2 for nursing infants. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that the RfD itself needs to be reevaluated because of hormonal effects in the general population. CONCLUSIONS: The OSWER PRG for perchlorate can be improved by considering infant exposures, by incorporating an RSC, and by being responsive to any changes in the RfD resulting from the new CDC data

A Clash of Old and New Scientific Concepts in Toxicity, with Important Implications for Public Health

Background A core assumption of current toxicologic procedures used to establish health standards for chemical exposures is that testing the safety of chemicals at high doses can be used to predict the effects of low-dose exposures, such as those common in the general population. This assumption is based on the precept that “the dose makes the poison”: higher doses will cause greater effects. Objectives We challenge the validity of assuming that high-dose testing can be used to predict low-dose effects for contaminants that behave like hormones. We review data from endocrinology and toxicology that falsify this assumption and summarize current mechanistic understanding of how low doses can lead to effects unpredictable from high-dose experiments. Discussion Falsification of this assumption raises profound issues for regulatory toxicology. Many exposure standards are based on this assumption. Rejecting the assumption will require that these standards be reevaluated and that procedures employed to set health standards be changed. The consequences of these changes may be significant for public health because of the range of health conditions now plausibly linked to exposure to endocrine-disrupting contaminants. Conclusions We recommend that procedures to establish acceptable exposure levels for endocrine-disrupting compounds incorporate the inability for high-dose tests to predict low-dose results. Setting acceptable levels of exposure must include testing for health consequences at prevalent levels of human exposure, not extrapolations from the effects observed in high-dose experiments. Scientists trained in endocrinology must be engaged systematically in standard setting for endocrine-disrupting compounds

Transcriptomics reveal an integrative role for maternal thyroid hormones during zebrafish embryogenesis

Thyroid hormones (THs) are essential for embryonic brain development but the genetic mechanisms involved in the action of maternal THs (MTHs) are still largely unknown. As the basis for understanding the underlying genetic mechanisms of MTHs regulation we used an established zebrafish monocarboxylic acid transporter 8 (MCT8) knock-down model and characterised the transcriptome in 25hpf zebrafish embryos. Subsequent mapping of differentially expressed genes using Reactome pathway analysis together with in situ expression analysis and immunohistochemistry revealed the genetic networks and cells under MTHs regulation during zebrafish embryogenesis. We found 4,343 differentially expressed genes and the Reactome pathway analysis revealed that TH is involved in 1681 of these pathways. MTHs regulated the expression of core developmental pathways, such as NOTCH and WNT in a cell specific context. The cellular distribution of neural MTH-target genes demonstrated their cell specific action on neural stem cells and differentiated neuron classes. Taken together our data show that MTHs have a role in zebrafish neurogenesis and suggest they may be involved in cross talk between key pathways in neural development. Given that the observed MCT8 zebrafish knockdown phenotype resembles the symptoms in human patients with Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome our data open a window into understanding the genetics of this human congenital condition.Portuguese Fundacao para Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) [PTDC/EXPL/MARBIO/0430/2013]; CCMAR FCT Plurianual financing [UID/Multi/04326/2013]; FCT [SFRH/BD/111226/2015, SFRH/BD/108842/2015, SFRH/BPD/89889/2012]; FCT-IF Starting Grant [IF/01274/2014]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Longitudinal assessment of PCBs and chlorinated pesticides in pregnant women from Western Canada

BACKGROUND: Maternal exposures to organochlorines prior to pregnancy are considered a risk to neonatal welfare, specifically in relation to neurocognitive functions. There is growing interest in the evaluation of maternal blood testing as a marker for fetal exposure as well as the variable geographic distribution of these priority chemicals. METHODS: Three hundred and twenty-three women in the second trimester of pregnancy entered the study at a prenatal clinic providing genetic counselling information. Subjects who had an indication for genetic amniocentesis based on late maternal age were eligible to participate. Two hundred and thirty-eight completed an environmental questionnaire. A sample of amniotic fluid was taken for karyotype analysis in 323 women and blood samples during pregnancy (209), at birth (105) and from the umbilical cord (97) and breast milk (47) were also collected. These samples were tested for 29 PCB congeners and organochlorine pesticides. RESULTS: The concentrations of PCB 153 in these media were relatively low in relation to other studies. Σ PCBs measurements in samples taken during the second trimester of pregnancy, at birth and in the umbilical cord were strongly correlated. Specific measurements of PCB 153 and PCB 180 among those subjects with completed sampling of blood samples from mothers and cord samples were significantly correlated. The concentrations of PCBs and pesticides did not differ in relation to prior spontaneous abortion history. There were no organochlorines present in the amniotic fluid at the current level of quantification. CONCLUSION: Pregnant women from the Western Canada region of Calgary, Alberta are exposed to relatively low concentrations of organochlorines. Measurement of maternal blood during the second trimester of pregnancy can reliably estimate the fetal exposure to PCBs. This estimate is reliable for Group 2 and 3 PCBs as well as PCB 153 and PCB 180. The amniotic fluid does not contain measurable concentrations of pesticides and PCBs under the conditions of the levels of quantification