A Developmental Perspective on College & Workplace Readiness

Reviews research on and identifies the physical, psychological, social, cognitive, and spiritual competencies high school graduates need to transition into college, the workplace, and adulthood. Includes strategies for meeting disadvantaged youths' needs

Implementation Intentions Reduce Implicit Stereotype Activation and Application.

Research has found that implementation intentions, if-then action plans (e.g., "if I see a Black face, I will think safe"), reduce stereotyping on implicit measures. However, it is unknown by what process(es) implementation intentions reduce implicit stereotyping. The present research examines the effects of implementation intentions on stereotype activation (e.g., extent to which stereotypic information is accessible) and stereotype application (e.g., extent to which accessible stereotypes are applied in judgment). In addition, we assessed the efficiency of implementation intentions by manipulating cognitive resources (e.g., digit-span, restricted response window) while participants made judgments on an implicit stereotyping measure. Across four studies, implementation intentions reduced implicit stereotyping. This decrease in stereotyping was associated with reductions in both stereotype activation and application. In addition, these effects of implementation intentions were highly efficient and associated with reduced stereotyping even for groups for which people may have little practice inhibiting stereotypes (e.g., gender)

Mild acute stress improves response speed without impairing accuracy or interference control in two selective attention tasks: Implications for theories of stress and cognition.

Acute stress is generally thought to impair performance on tasks thought to rely on selective attention. This effect has been well established for moderate to severe stressors, but no study has examined how a mild stressor-the most common type of stressor-influences selective attention. In addition, no study to date has examined how stress influences the component processes involved in overall selective attention task performance, such as controlled attention, automatic attentional activation, decision-making, and motor abilities. To address these issues, we randomly assigned 107 participants to a mild acute stress or control condition. As expected, the mild acute stress condition showed a small but significant increase in cortisol relative to the control condition. Following the stressor, we assessed attention with two separate flanker tasks. One of these tasks was optimized to investigate component attentional processes using computational cognitive modeling, whereas the other task employed mouse-tracking to illustrate how response conflict unfolded over time. The results for both tasks showed that mild acute stress decreased response time (i.e., increased response speed) without influencing accuracy or interference control. Further, computational modeling and mouse-tracking analyses indicated that these effects were due to faster motor action execution time for chosen actions. Intriguingly, however, cortisol responses were unrelated to any of the observed effects of mild stress. These results have implications for theories of stress and cognition, and highlight the importance of considering motor processes in understanding the effects of stress on cognitive task performance

Water temperature and fish distribution in the Sabie River system : towards the development of an adaptive management tool.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.Water temperatures are a fundamental water quality component, and a key abiotic determinant of fish distribution patterns in rivers. A river 's thermal regime is the product of a multitude of thermal drivers and buffers interacting at different temporal and spatial scales, including, inter alia, air temperatures, flow volumes (including groundwater flows and lateral inputs from tributaries), channel geomorphology and riparian vegetation. "Healthy" river systems are self-sustaining, with adequate thermal variability to maintain biotic diversity. Temporal variability of flow volumes and water temperatures, and how these change along the longitudinal axis of a river, contribute towards a rivers "signature". Rivers that have had their signatures altered through anthropogenic impacts may no longer be sustainable, and require varying levels of management. Successful river management should include a quantification of these signatures , a definition of the "desired" state which management aims to achieve, associated "thresholds" of change or concern, and monitoring programmes. Such an approach requires flexibility and adaptability, as well as appropriate tools being available to natural resource managers. Indices, the utility of which are enhanced when included in predicative modelling systems, are a common means of assessing system variability and change. The degree of confidence placed in such tools depends on the level of fundamental science, and the degree of system understanding, underpinning them. This research contributes to the understanding of the ecological significance . of water temperatures in variable semi-arid river systems, using the Sabie River (Mpumalanga, South Africa) as a case study, and indices derived from biological indicators (Chiloglanis , Pisces: Mochokidae) to quantify the effects of cumulative changes in heat units against a hypothesised critical water temperature threshold. Hourly water temperatures for 20002002 collected at nine sites in the main rivers of the Sabie catchment, together with biannual surveys of relative abundances and community patterns of fish collected using standard electrofishing techniques, were used to provide the basis for a modelling system which aims to provide river managers with a tool for quantifying changes to the thermal regime of the Sabie River. This modelling system consisted of a suite of pragmatic models, including multiple linear regression models for simulating daily maximum water temperatures, and simple cause-and-effect relationships between biological indices (change In condition factor and change in the ratio of relative abundances of two species of Chiloglanis) and annual metrics of time-of-exposure to heat stress. It was concluded that changes in the thermal regimes of the rivers in the Sabie catchment are likely to lead to changes in fish distribution patterns, and a decline in river health. Inherent system variability suggests that management decisions will be made in the face considerable uncertainty. Indirect management of water temperatures may be possible through maintenance of flow volumes and flow variability. However, the most appropriate management approach for maintaining fish diversity within these rivers is to ensure that obstacles to fish migration are minimized, to maximise the ability of river biota to respond to thermal changes, by accessing suitable alternative habitats or refugia. Future research should focus on extending the time series of water temperatures from such river systems, and further understanding the drivers and buffers contributing to the thermal regimes of variable semi-arid river systems in South Africa. Additional testing of the validity of the hypothesized relationships between abiotic processes underpinning biotic patterns should be undertaken

Emotional experiences beyond the classroom: Interactions with the social world

Research into the emotional experiences of language learners and their impact upon the language-learning process remains relatively undernourished within second language education. The research available focuses primarily on emotions experienced within the classroom, rather than in the daily lives of learners within various social contexts. This article contends that the focus placed upon emotions within the relatively structured environment of the formal classroom is problematic, particularly within an ESL environment, as the target language is more frequently experienced beyond the classroom. Drawing on data collected within Australia, the study explored the emotional experiences of a small cohort of eight university-level ESL learners experienced within their various social interactions beyond the classroom with a specific focus on the emotions of hope, enjoyment and frustration. Semi-structured interviews revealed that their emotional experiences beyond the classroom were particularly intense in comparison to emotional experiences within the formal language-learning classroom

Generation of MATLAB software tool for teaching STEM concepts using Greenpower Formula 24 race cars

Greenpower Formula 24 races are a prime opportunity for STEM educators to engage young students in STEM activities and increase their interest and content knowledge in the STEM fields. MATLAB AppDesigner is utilized to construct a graphical user interface (GUI) for the purpose of simulating the performance of Greenpower’s Formula 24 electric race cars. This menu driven interface allows students to manipulate design variables and observe the effect on performance indicators. Hardware bench testing and finite element analysis software were utilized to determine, respectively, parameters for modeling the electric car’s drive-train components and for modeling aerodynamic components. This GUI is intended to be offered to all Greenpower USA teams who compete in a Formula 24 category. The expected impact is to increase the competitiveness, confidence, and competence of race participants, and more broadly to aid STEM project-based teaching and learning

Retrieval cues fail to influence contextualized evaluations.

Initial evaluations generalise to new contexts, whereas counter-attitudinal evaluations are context-specific. Counter-attitudinal information may not change evaluations in new contexts because perceivers fail to retrieve counter-attitudinal cue-evaluation associations from memory outside the counter-attitudinal learning context. The current work examines whether an additional, counter-attitudinal retrieval cue can enhance the generalizability of counter-attitudinal evaluations. In four experiments, participants learned positive information about a target person, Bob, in one context, and then learned negative information about Bob in a different context. While learning the negative information, participants wore a wristband as a retrieval cue for counter-attitudinal Bob-negative associations. Participants then made speeded as well as deliberate evaluations of Bob while wearing or not wearing the wristband. Internal meta-analysis failed to find a reliable effect of the counter-attitudinal retrieval cue on speeded or deliberate evaluations, whereas the context cues influenced speeded and deliberate evaluations. Counter to predictions, counter-attitudinal retrieval cues did not disrupt the generalisation of first-learned evaluations or the context-specificity of second-learned evaluations (Experiments 2-4), but the counter-attitudinal retrieval cue did influence evaluations in the absence of context cues (Experiment 1). The current work provides initial evidence that additional counter-attitudinal retrieval cues fail to disrupt the renewal and generalizability of first-learned evaluations

Pathology of Macular Foveoschisis Associated with Degenerative Myopia

This is a clinicopathological paper on the histologic findings in myopia-associated macular foveoschisis. The findings on ophthalmic pathological study of a 73-year-old woman with high myopia are reviewed. Multiple retinoschisis cavities involving both the macula and retinal periphery were disclosed. Our paper offers tissue evidence and supports recent ocular coherence tomography reports of eyes with high myopia and associated macular foveoschisis

Taxonomic voucher specimens for study of post-wildfire forest habitat in Douglas County, Oregon

this publication provides data about voucher specimens deposited in the museum in conjunction with a research project on pollinators