Residence hall sense of community in physical and technology-based spaces: Implications for alcohol-related attitudes and behaviors

Social experiences such as sense of community (SOC) and peer norms have the potential to influence attitudes and behaviors around a host of wellness-related issues. Social interaction, facilitated by the rapid growth of communication technology, in addition to the enduring need to interact in physical space, represent important community features. College residence halls are of interest to community psychology and other fields, as they are highly interactive, technologically-rich contexts where communities occur. Peer norms having a strong relationship to students’ perspectives and choices around alcohol. Less understood is the role that SOC plays, and the forms of social interaction that generate a SOC. The current study examined social interaction and SOC, including the role of SOC and peer norms in impacting alcohol-related attitudes and behaviors. Online survey data for 1003 undergraduate students residing in residence halls at a large, private, Midwestern university were analyzed. Physical and communication technology-based interaction was measured. SOC and both injunctive and descriptive peer norms were measured, along with frequency of alcohol use, interest in alcohol-free social programming, support for alcohol-related hall policies, and alcohol use in one’s own hall. Findings suggested that both physical and communication-technology-based social interaction related to a students’ SOC, with face-to-face interaction having a substantially greater impact. Peer norms for alcohol use, but not SOC, were related to frequency of use and rates of binge drinking. SOC in residence halls and peer norms were related to alcohol-free programming in residence halls, with SOC being more strongly related. SOC and peer norms for alcohol use were related to support for policies concerning alcohol use and use of alcohol in one’s hall, with peer norms being stronger predictors than SOC. Findings are relevant to theory as it relates to SOC, as they examine overlapping physical and technology-based social spaces experienced within the same community. Findings can benefit student affairs and others concerned with promoting campus wellness, and can direct future research on substance use. The project underscores the important role that collaborative relationships between community researchers and residential education departments can have in promoting student wellness and expanding knowledge of community experience

Local Lessons: Teaching Place-Based Social Justice through Historical Case Analysis and Service-learning

Community-based Service Learning (CbSL) is a demonstrated pedagogical method for integrating theory and practice, transgressing ivory tower walls, and offering undergraduate students early exposure to real-world settings in which many wish to engage (Bringle & Duffy, 1998; Hofman & Rosing, 2007).  Teaching the history of specific social movements has been widely lauded among some educators as a component of education (Teaching Tolerance, 2018).  While there have been a limited number of models proposed for integrating historical case histories into service learning (e.g., Wade, 2007), none to date have incorporated specific community psychology features such as the Competencies for Community Psychology Practice (Dalton & Wolfe, 2012).  This article will provide a four-step curricular design process for identifying local historical cases and developing pedagogical strategies for teaching students how to apply local historical lessons in addressing contemporary issues via service learning.  Using the historical case illustration of northern California’s ‘Redwood Wars’, the article demonstrates how historical local movements and contemporary social action can root students in their communities while learning important community psychology principles and concepts

Local Lessons: Teaching Place-Based Social Justice through Historical Case Analysis and Service-learning

Community-based Service Learning (CbSL) is a demonstrated pedagogical method for integrating theory and practice, transgressing ivory tower walls, and offering undergraduate students early exposure to real-world settings in which many wish to engage (Bringle & Duffy, 1998; Hofman & Rosing, 2007).  Teaching the history of specific social movements has been widely lauded among some educators as a component of education (Teaching Tolerance, 2018).  While there have been a limited number of models proposed for integrating historical case histories into service learning (e.g., Wade, 2007), none to date have incorporated specific community psychology features such as the Competencies for Community Psychology Practice (Dalton & Wolfe, 2012).  This article will provide a four-step curricular design process for identifying local historical cases and developing pedagogical strategies for teaching students how to apply local historical lessons in addressing contemporary issues via service learning.  Using the historical case illustration of northern California’s ‘Redwood Wars’, the article demonstrates how historical local movements and contemporary social action can root students in their communities while learning important community psychology principles and concepts

Trapped-ion quantum error-correcting protocols using only global operations

Quantum error-correcting codes are many-body entangled states that are prepared and measured using complex sequences of entangling operations. Each element of such an entangling sequence introduces noise to delicate quantum information during the encoding or reading out of the code. It is important therefore to find efficient entangling protocols to avoid the loss of information. Here we propose an experiment that uses only global entangling operations to encode an arbitrary logical qubit to either the five-qubit repetition code or the five-qubit code, with a six-ion Coulomb crystal architecture in a Penning trap. We show that the use of global operations enables us to prepare and read out these codes using only six and ten global entangling pulses, respectively. The proposed experiment also allows the acquisition of syndrome information during readout. We provide a noise analysis for the presented protocols, estimating that we can achieve a six-fold improvement in coherence time with noise as high as $\sim 1\%$ on each entangling operation.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, published version, comments are welcom

Non-native fold of the putative VPS39 zinc finger domain

Background: The multi-subunit homotypic fusion and vacuole protein sorting (HOPS) membrane-tethering complex is involved in regulating the fusion of late endosomes and autophagosomes with lysosomes in eukaryotes. The C-terminal regions of several HOPS components have been shown to be required for correct complex assembly, including the C-terminal really interesting new gene (RING) zinc finger domains of HOPS components VPS18 and VPS41. We sought to structurally characterise the putative C-terminal zinc finger domain of VPS39, which we hypothesised may be important for binding of VPS39 to cellular partners or to other HOPS components. Methods: We recombinantly expressed, purified and solved the crystal structure of the proposed zinc-binding region of VPS39. Results: In the structure, this region forms an anti-parallel β-hairpin that is incorporated into a homotetrameric eight-stranded β-barrel. However, the fold is stabilised by coordination of zinc ions by residues from the purification tag and an intramolecular disulphide bond between two predicted zinc ligands. Conclusions: We solved the structure of the VPS39 C-terminal domain adopting a non-native fold. Our work highlights the risk of non-native folds when purifying small zinc-containing domains with hexahistidine tags. However, the non-native structure we observe may have implications for rational protein design.This work was supported by a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship (098406), jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (to SCG). BGB is a Wellcome Trust PhD student. Remote synchrotron access was supported in part by the EU FP7 infrastructure grant BIOSTRUCT-X (Contract No. 283570

Online prostate cancer screening decision aid for at-risk men: A randomized trial

Objective: This study examines the efficacy of an online decision aid (DA) for men with a family history of prostate cancer. Methods: Unaffected Australian men (40 - 79 years) with at least one affected relative completed the first online questionnaire, were randomized to read either the tailored DA (intervention) or nontailored information about prostate cancer screening (control), then completed a questionnaire postreading and 12 months later. The primary outcome was decisional conflict regarding prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing. The impact of the DA on longitudinal outcomes was analyzed by using random intercept mixed effects models. Logistic and linear regressions were used to analyze the impact of the DA on screening behavior and decision regret. Stage of decision-making was tested as a moderator for decisional conflict and decision regret. The frequency of online material access was recorded. Results: the DA had no effect on decisional conflict, knowledge, inclination toward PSA testing, accuracy of perceived risk, or screening behavior. However, among men considering PSA testing, those who read the DA had lower decision regret compared with men who read the control materials, β=.34 , p \u3c.001, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [.22, .53]. Conclusions: This is the first study to our knowledge to evaluate the uptake and efficacy of an online screening DA among men with a family history of prostate cancer. Men who were undecided about screening at baseline benefitted from the DA, experiencing less regret 12 months later. In relation to decisional conflict, the control materials may have operated as a less complex and equally informative DA

MEASURING SQUASH HITTING ACCURACY USING THE ‘HUNT SQUASH ACCURACY TEST’

The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability and validity of the Hunt Squash Accuracy Test (HSAT). Reliability: ten male squash players performed the HSAT twice within seven days. Each test consisted of 375 shots across 13 different types of squash strokes on both the forehand and backhand side. Reliability was measured using a typical error (TE) score from consecutive pairs of trials. The overall TE score for the test was 1.82%, demonstrating that the HSAT is very reliable at the 90% confidence limit. Validity: measured using a correlation analysis comparing the results of 8 individual’s HSAT scores against a round-robin tournament ranking where all 8 players played against each other, as well as coach rankings of player ability. Validity was considered high with correlation coefficients of 0.93 for both the round-robin and coach ranking

Revision of the \u3cem\u3eMesobuthus caucasicus\u3c/em\u3e complex from Central Asia, with descriptions of six new species (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

A widespread Mesobuthus caucasicus complex, which includes some of the most common scorpions found from the Caucasus to China, is revised for the first time based on new extensive collections from Central Asia, using both morphological and DNA marker data. Mesobuthus caucasicus (Nordmann, 1840), s.str. is restricted to the Caucasus Mts. Four taxa are elevated to species rank: M. fuscus (Birula, 1897) (Tajikistan), M. intermedius (Birula, 1897) (Tajikistan), M. kaznakovi (Birula, 1904) (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan), and M. parthorum (Pocock, 1889) (Afghanistan, Iran, Turkmenistan). Six new species are described: M. brutus sp. n. (Iran), M. elenae sp. n. (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan), M. gorelovi sp. n. (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan), M. kreuzbergi sp. n. (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan), M. mischi sp. n. (Afghanistan), and M. nenilini sp. n. (Uzbekistan). The most common species in Central Asia is a psammophilic Mesobuthus gorelovi sp. n., widespread through lowland sand deserts across Turkmenistan (Karakum), Uzbekistan (Kizylkum), and Kazakhstan (north to Baigakum and Moyinkum). A key to all studied species is provided. A DNA phylogeny based on COI and 16S rRNA markers is presented including nine Central Asian species (M. elenae sp. n., M. fuscus, M. gorelovi sp. n., M. intermedius, M. kaznakovi, M. kreuzbergi sp. n., M. mischi sp. n., M. nenilini sp. n., and M. parthorum) and M. caucasicus from Turkey. A deep phylogenetic diversity across Central Asia is revealed. Historical biogeographic scenarios for this scorpion group are discussed, including fragmentation in mountain valleys and expansion across sand deserts in Central Asia. The monotypic scorpion genus Afghanobuthus Lourenço, 2005 and its single species A. naumanni Lourenço, 2005, from Afghanistan, are demonstrated to be junior synonyms, respectively, of Mesobuthus Vachon, 1950, and M. parthorum (Pocock, 1889) from the same area

Sulfur species behavior in soil organic matter during decomposition

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 112 (2007): G04011, doi:10.1029/2007JG000538.Soil organic matter (SOM) is a primary reservoir of terrestrial sulfur (S), but its role in the global S cycle remains poorly understood. We examine S speciation by X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy to describe S species behavior during SOM decomposition. Sulfur species in SOM were best represented by organic sulfide, sulfoxide, sulfonate, and sulfate. The highest fraction of S in litter was organic sulfide, but as decomposition progressed, relative fractions of sulfonate and sulfate generally increased. Over 6-month laboratory incubations, organic sulfide was most reactive, suggesting that a fraction of this species was associated with a highly labile pool of SOM. During humification, relative concentrations of sulfoxide consistently decreased, demonstrating the importance of sulfoxide as a reactive S phase in soil. Sulfonate fractional abundance increased during humification irrespective of litter type, illustrating its relative stability in soils. The proportion of S species did not differ systematically by litter type, but organic sulfide became less abundant in conifer SOM during decomposition, while sulfate fractional abundance increased. Conversely, deciduous SOM exhibited lesser or nonexistent shifts in organic sulfide and sulfate fractions during decomposition, possibly suggesting that S reactivity in deciduous litter is coupled to rapid C mineralization and independent of S speciation. All trends were consistent in soils across study sites. We conclude that S reactivity is related to speciation in SOM, particularly in conifer forests, and S species fractions in SOM change during decomposition. Our data highlight the importance of intermediate valence species (sulfoxide and sulfonate) in the pedochemical cycling of organic bound S.The authors received funding for this work from the Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, and the Dartmouth College Dean of Faculty and Earth Sciences