Trembling on the Precipice of Possibility: A Story About Becoming a Teacher Educator for Social Justice

AbstractThis article describes the strategy of creating an illustrated story book as an attempt to invite teacher education candidates to engage in deeper reflection and critical analysis common sense which shapes their teaching. In the process of describing how to teach preservice teachers to teach for social justice the author uses examples from her own development as a teacher educator for social justice. The author suggests four elements that may be critical to teaching teacher candidates to persevere in rigorous critique of their own common sense. They are imagery and intensifying metaphor; foolishness; a dialectic of criticality and joy; and communal sharing.            Keywords: teacher education, critical analysis, preservice teachers, social justic

Establishing Understandings: Teaching About Culture In Introductory Television Courses

In teaching introductory courses using television equipment, we find that cultural studies interests can be meshed with basic skills-oriented production classes in useful ways. Utilizing an on-going discussion strategy emphasizing that students are evaluating, criticizing, and interpreting, as well as producing cultural products, the activities we describe articulate the reflexive nature of media and culture. Furthermore, in asking students to investigate and explore ways media both construct and reflect their understanding of culture, students are guided to begin a life-long process of critical thinking

A Potential Recipe for Peace: Exploring Nutritional Interventions for the Reduction of Violence and Conflictual Behaviors in Juvenile Prisons

This paper uses an exploratory research design as it looks to examine the intervention of nutritional supplements within juvenile detention facilities. A total of five studies in four countries, including The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, Singapore, and The United States were used to synthesize existing data for the effect of nutritional supplementation on inmate behavior. A specified focus on detained youths between ages 13 to 25 provided an exclusive look at a group still in the developmental stage. It has been shown that the dietary impact of behavior displays causal effects for the value of quality nutrition in mitigating conflictual behaviors. The following research questions will be addressed: (1) What is the relationship between peace and health? (2) Do diets have the capacity to lower individual rates of violent and conflictual behaviors? Existing research has highlighted a need for further examination into reduced rates of prison violence, aggression, and antisocial behaviors resulting from dietary supplementation. While further research is still needed to establish definitive linkages, the isolation of this one variable is promising. While dietary approaches to behavior changes are no new phenomenon, the application to the field of peace and conflict research is important to uncover varying pathways for peace

Building Research Data Services at Mount Holyoke College

Objective: Mount Holyoke College ranks high among liberal arts colleges in faculty research activities and has just initiated a new program in Data Science. In this context, and given the recent growth in the use of very large datasets in research, more coherent and comprehensive campus support for the management and storage of faculty research data at Mount Holyoke has become essential. This poster will describe how Library, Information, and Technology Services (LITS) at Mount Holyoke (a merged library and IT organization), strove to analyze faculty research data management and storage needs, develop policies and procedures for meeting these needs, set out support models for research data lifecycle management, and determined responsibilities for consultation and support. Methods: In 2015-2016, a working group of MHC librarians and technologists from the Research and Instructional Support (RIS) Department began exploring the need for data services at MHC. The RIS team focussed on studying data services models at other institutions, administered a survey to learn about faculty research data practices, and finally developed a proposal for expanded data services at MHC. Also in the spring of 2016, a cross-functional team was formed to meet faculty data storage and backup needs. Ten members were drawn from multiple library and IT departments. This team developed use cases and personas to begin guiding the development of policies and procedures and planning infrastructure provisioning. Additionally, metadata librarians, research and instruction librarians, and digital assets managers planned support models for metadata creation and research data management planning. Results: Gathering information from the faculty survey and interviews, along with background study of data services models elsewhere, gave LITS a better understanding of our users’ needs. These insights guided LITS in developing matrices of needs, services, and support responsibilities that allow us to better meet support requirements and future infrastructure provisioning for data storage and processing. LITS has also developed resources to support faculty in crafting research data management plans (DMPs) and creating metadata for archiving newly created data sets. LITS has recently arranged access for Mount Holyoke researchers to the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC) and created an MHC Data Center to provide data storage and backup on LITS maintained servers. Conclusion: The work of the Research and Instructional Support team and the LITS cross-functional team for research data support has given us a much clearer picture of how Mount Holyoke researchers are using and managing their data and has allowed us to begin plotting a path to a more coherent and robust set of services to support them in their work

A dream of a retirement: The longitudinal experiences and perceived retirement wellbeing of recent retirees following a tailored intervention linking best possible self-expressive writing with goal-setting

Objectives: The research aimed to analyse retirees’ experiences of a tailored positive psychology intervention (PPI) combining Best Possible Self (BPS) expressive writing with goal-setting and to explore its potential as an aid to retirement wellbeing. This is the first time, to our knowledge, that BPS and goal-setting have been employed as a combined approach. Design: This was an experimental study design using qualitative analysis methods, namely interpretative phenomenological analysis, alongside participatory action research. Methods: Three recently retired women participated in the project. Semi-structured interviews and groups were used. Results: The intervention contributed to feelings of retirement wellbeing by boosting a number of meaning-related factors (such as self-awareness, purpose in life and intrinsic goal-progress), bringing about an overall improvement in hedonic-eudaimonic balance. Conclusions: Findings suggest a need for further research into the newly combined intervention and into its most appropriate delivery format(s) for retirees (e.g. online versus face-to-face). Given the intervention’s potential to elicit wellbeing-maximising goals, the current findings have relevance for populations beyond the retiree communit

Investigating the impact of OCT imaging of the crystalline lens on the accuracy and precision of cataract assessment

Purpose: To determine if supplementing standard clinical assessments with Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging of the crystalline lens improves the accuracy and precision of lens opacity assessment and associated clinical management decisions by optometrists. Methods: Fifty optometrists registered in the UK or Éire undertook a clinical vignette study where participants graded lens opacities and made associated clinical management decisions based on the image(s)/information displayed. Three forms of vignettes were presented: (1) Slit‐lamp (SL) images of the lens, (2) SL and OCT images and (3) SL, OCT and visual function measures. Vignettes were constructed using anonymised data from 50 patients with varying cataract severity, each vignette being presented twice in a randomised order (total vignette presentations = 300). The accuracy of opacity and management decisions were evaluated using descriptive statistics and non‐parametric Bland–Altman analysis where assessments from experienced clinicians were the reference. The precision of assessments was examined for each vignette form using non‐parametric Bland–Altman analysis. Results: All (n = 50) participants completed the study, with 36 working in primary eyecare (primary eyecare) settings and 14 in hospital eyecare services (HES). Agreement was highest where vignettes contained all clinical data (i.e., SL, OCT and visual function data—grading: 51.0%, management: 50.5%), and systematically reduced with decreasing vignette content (p < 0.001). A larger number of vignettes containing imaging and visual function measures exhibited below reference (i.e., less conservative) grading compared with vignettes containing imaging data alone (all p < 0.05). HES‐based optometrists were more likely to grade lens opacities lower than clinicians working in primary eyecare (p < 0.001). Good measurement precision was evident for all vignettes, with a mean bias close to zero and limits of agreement below one grading step for all conditions. Conclusions: The addition of anterior segment OCT to SL images improved the accuracy of lens opacity grading. Structural assessment alone yielded more conservative decision making, which reversed once visual functional data was available

Hox genes and morphological identity: axial versus lateral patterning in the vertebrate mesoderm

The successful organization of the vertebrate body requires that local information in the embryo be translated into a functional, global pattern. Somite cells form the bulk of the musculoskeletal system. Heterotopic transplants of segmental plate along the axis from quail to chick were performed to test the correlation between autonomous morphological patterning and Hox gene expression in somite subpopulations. The data presented strengthen the correlation of Hox gene expression with axial specification and focus on the significance of Hox genes in specific derivatives of the somites. We have defined two anatomical compartments of the body based on the embryonic origin of the cells making up contributing structures: the dorsal compartment, formed from purely somitic cell populations; and the ventral compartment comprising cells from somites and lateral plate. The boundary between these anatomical compartments is termed the somitic frontier. Somitic tissue transplanted between axial levels retains both original Hox expression and morphological identity in the dorsal compartment. In contrast, migrating lateral somitic cells crossing the somitic frontier do not maintain donor Hox expression but apparently adopt the Hox expression of the lateral plate and participate in the morphology appropriate to the host level. Dorsal and ventral compartments, as defined here, have relevance for experimental manipulations that influence somite cell behavior. The correlation of Hox expression profiles and patterning behavior of cells in these two compartments supports the hypothesis of independent Hox codes in paraxial and lateral plate mesoderm

The lateral somitic frontier: dorso-ventral aspects of anterio-posterior regionalization in avian embryos

Patterning events along the anterior-posterior (AP) axis of vertebrate embryos result in the distribution of muscle and bone forming a highly effective functional system. A key aspect of regionalized AP patterning results from variation in the migratory pattern of somite cells along the dorsal-ventral (DV) axis of the body. This occurs as somite cell populations expand around the axis or migrate away from the dorsal midline and cross into the lateral plate. The fate of somitic cells has been intensely studied and many details have been reported about inductive signaling from other tissues that influence somite cell fate and behavior. We are interested in understanding the specific differences between somites in particular AP regions and how these differences contribute to the global pattern of the organism. Using orthotopic transplants of segmental plate between quail and chick embryos, we have mapped the interface of the somitic and lateral plate mesoderm during the formation of the body wall in cervical and thoracic regions. This interface does not change dramatically in the mid-cervical region, but undergoes extensive changes in the thoracic region. Based on this regional mapping and consistent with the extensive literature, we suggest a revised method of classifying regions of the body wall that relies on embryonic cell lineages rather than adult functional criteria

Guidance for New Motivational Interviewing Trainers When Training Addiction Professionals

Evidence-based practices, such as motivational interviewing (MI), are not widely used in community alcohol and drug treatment settings. Successfully broadening the dissemination of MI will require numerous trainers and supervisors who are equipped to manage common barriers  to technology transfer. The aims of the our survey of 36 MI trainers were: 1) to gather opinions about the optimal format, duration, and content for beginning level addiction-focused MI training conducted by novice trainers and 2) to identify the challenges most likely to be encountered during provision of beginninglevel MI training and supervision, as well as the most highly recommended strategies for managing those challenges in addiction treatment sites. It is hoped that the findings of this survey will help beginning trainers equip themselves for successful training experience

State laws on tobacco control – United States, 1998

Problem/Condition: State laws addressing tobacco use, the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, are summarized. Laws address smoke-free indoor air, minors’ access to tobacco products, advertising of tobacco products, and excise taxes on tobacco products. Reporting Period Covered: Legislation effective through December 31, 1998. Description of System: CDC identified laws addressing tobacco control by using an on-line legal research database. CDC’s findings were verified with the National Cancer Institute’s State Cancer Legislative Database. Results: Since a previous surveillance summary on state tobacco-control laws published in November 1995 (covering legislation effective through June 30, 1995), several states have enacted new restrictions or strengthened existing legislation that addresses smoke-free indoor air, minors’ access to tobacco, tobacco advertising, and tobacco taxes. Five states strengthened their smoke-free indoor air legislation. All states and Washington, D.C., continued to prohibit the sale and distribution of tobacco products to minors; however, 21 states expanded minors’ access laws by designating enforcement authorities, adding license suspension or revocation for sale to minors, or requiring signage. Since the 1995 report, eight additional states (a total of 19 states and Washington, D.C.) now ban vending machines from areas accessible to minors. Thirteen states restrict advertising of tobacco products, an increase of four states since the 1995 report. Although the number of states that tax cigarettes and smokeless tobacco did not change, 13 states increased excise taxes on cigarettes, and five states increased excise taxes on smokeless tobacco products. The average state excise tax on cigarettes is 38.9¢ per pack, an increase of 7.4¢ compared with the average tax in the 1995 report. Interpretation: State laws addressing tobacco control vary in relation to restrictiveness, enforcement and penalties, preemptions, and exceptions. Actions Taken: The data summarizing state tobacco-control laws are available through CDC’s State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation (STATE) System*; the laws are collected and updated every quarter. The STATE System also contains statespecific data on the prevalence of tobacco use, tobacco-related deaths, and the costs of tobacco use. Information from the STATE System is available for use by policy makers at the state and local levels to plan and implement initiatives to prevent and reduce tobacco use. In addition, CDC is using this information to assess the ongoing impact of tobacco-control programs and policies on tobacco use