Beliefs about Global Climate Change Among Faculty at the University of Northern Colorado

A survey was administered to UNC faculty and instructors in Fall 2019 with the aim of assessing faculty beliefs about global climate change and the role that UNC plays in preparing students for the impacts of global climate change in coming years. A majority of survey respondents (n=226) are concerned that climate change will affect the lives of UNC students in the future and that UNC should be doing more to address global climate change and prepare students. We share survey results and faculty suggestions and comments regarding incorporating global climate issues across a broad disciplinary spectrum

The Practitioner’s Panacea for Measuring Learner-Centeredness?

The Decibel Analysis for Research in Teaching (DART; Owens et al., 2017), a sound-based metric of learner-centeredness, is highly accessible, requires no training, and can be conducted with minimal classroom observations; yet, DART has not been evaluated in comparison with other validated metrics or in consideration of potentially confounding classroom characteristics (e.g. enrollment, classroom size, number of doors). We analyzed recordings from 42 class sessions of an undergraduate biology course with DART, the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP), and nine classroom characteristics. We found that enrollment was the best single predictor of the DART output of learner-centeredness, percent Multiple Voice

Call of the Wild: A Qualitative Analysis of Goal-Setting among Biology Undergraduates at a Regional Zoo

Free-choice learning at informal settings among undergraduates is relatively understudied. The purpose of the current study was to qualitatively describe what goals biology students set for themselves during an intervention at a regional zoo, and to describe what types of goals students were able to fulfill during this learning opportunity. Based on student responses on this assessment administered in Fall 2018, we aimed to refine the Goal-Setting Assessment, and give context to our initial findings. Specifically, we intended to refine this assessment so that the items are broad enough to be used both in formal classrooms and out-of-school environments

Community gradients of Arctic macrolichens in relation to succession, grazing and the environment

The purpose of this dissertation was to define macrolichen community gradients in relation to succession, grazing and the environment. First, species scores indicating when macrolichen species appeared following disturbance were derived from the literature. Weighted averaging of these data with a community matrix created a successional score for each sample unit of interest. These scores are surrogates for community age for subsequent analyses. I then described lichen community structure and its relation to the environment in the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve (BELA) in northwestern Alaska. Two primary gradients in lichen community composition were related to habitat rockiness and a substrate-topographic gradient. Next, I sought impacts of grazing by reindeer and caribou on lichen communities. I found lightly grazed areas had taller lichens, greater total lichen cover and minor but significant changes in community structure than heavily grazed sites. Lichen species richness, however, did not differ by grazing status. To create a generalized recovery model, I used plots in burned areas and found total lichen and bryophyte cover varied with time since fire (range 4-49 yrs since fire), while vascular plant cover showed no trend. I then compared these patterns to BELA, an area of unknown disturbance history. Low lichen cover in BELA may not necessarily reflect disturbance but rather site or climatic differences. Lastly, I found that all 17 GIS variables separated lichen communities to some degree. Separation of lichen communities by variable ranged from strong (Alaska Subsections, soil and surficial geology variables) to weak (Watersheds and Reindeer Ownership). The quality of the underlying relationships, how finely the groups are divided and the average patch size of each variable also contribute to differences in how clearly lichen communities were separated. This work will serve as a baseline for future comparisons to understand implications of climate and land use change on lichen communities. My grazing results may inform managers of the implications of heavy grazing and underscore protection and monitoring of prolific and diverse sites. In addition, this work contributes a new method to age tundra communities and a list of GIS variable successful at separating lichen communities

Flying Fatigue in Twentieth-Century Britain: An Uncertain Zone

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries fatigue was a common workplace complaint. As chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority Lord John Boyd-Carpenter put it in 1974, though, it occupied an ‘uncertain zone’. Vague and contestable throughout the century, and linked inextricably to working practices, fatigue proved fertile ground for debate. With a specific focus on civil aviation and aircrew, this thesis traces the shifting explanations of and responses to flying fatigue from the start of the First World War to the formal institution of Crew Resource Management (CRM) training in the mid-1990s. Beginning with a discussion of fatigue as it was constituted and examined in industrial and military settings in the first half of the twentieth century, this thesis then turns to post-war civil aviation. The models of fatigue developed by Flying Personnel Research Committee (FPRC) researchers during wartime framed post-war understandings of fatigue. . It argues that, though in many ways fatigue was increasingly divorced from science in the post-war period, an essential model of fatigue persisted. This was, in a sense, a dual discourse. While framedConceptualised as performance decrement in some instances, in other contexts fatigue was considered in terms of sleep and wakefulness. Regardless of definition, the apparent dangers of aircrew fatigue were agreed upon. Linked to air accidents throughout the century, the fatigue of aircrew was thought to have implications for flight safety. This thesis examines how these various discourses of fatigue informed – and were informed by – military policies, regulatory frameworks, and airline-union negotiations. Drawing on a rich base of oral history interviews with flight deck and cabin crew, it looks, also, at the ways in which fatigue was experienced and given new meaning in quotidian contexts. Examining flying fatigue in relation to broader post-war concerns about productivity, public safety, and the health and welfare of workers, this thesis offers new perspectives on the complex interplay between science, industry, and society in middle and late twentieth-century Britain

A parametric study of fear generalization to faces and non-face objects: relationship to discrimination thresholds

Fear generalization is the production of fear responses to a stimulus that is similar—but not identical—to a threatening stimulus. Although prior studies have found that fear generalization magnitudes are qualitatively related to the degree of perceptual similarity to the threatening stimulus, the precise relationship between these two functions has not been measured systematically. Also, it remains unknown whether fear generalization mechanisms differ for social and non-social information. To examine these questions, we measured perceptual discrimination and fear generalization in the same subjects, using images of human faces and non-face control stimuli (“blobs”) that were perceptually matched to the faces. First, each subject’s ability to discriminate between pairs of faces or blobs was measured. Each subject then underwent a Pavlovian fear conditioning procedure, in which each of the paired conditioned stimuli (CS) were either followed (CS+) or not followed (CS−) by a shock. Skin conductance responses (SCRs) were also measured. Subjects were then presented with the CS+, CS− and five levels of a CS+-to-CS− morph continuum between the paired stimuli, which were identified based on individual discrimination thresholds. Finally, subjects rated the likelihood that each stimulus had been followed by a shock. Subjects showed both autonomic (SCR-based) and conscious (ratings-based) fear responses to morphs that they could not discriminate from the CS+ (generalization). For both faces and non-face objects, fear generalization was not found above discrimination thresholds. However, subjects exhibited greater fear generalization in the shock likelihood ratings compared to the SCRs, particularly for faces. These findings reveal that autonomic threat detection mechanisms in humans are highly sensitive to small perceptual differences between stimuli. Also, the conscious evaluation of threat shows broader generalization than autonomic responses, biased towards labeling a stimulus as threatening

Theoretical Circular Dichroism Spectra of the α-Helical Protein Calexitin with the Dipole Interaction Model Including the n-π* Transition

Circular dichroism (CD) is an important structural biology technique used to study protein dynamics, and most especially the secondary structure of peptides and proteins. Although CD is a technique that is relatively easy to introduce to undergraduate students, the high cost of obtaining a conventional CD instrument and the time required for sample preparation prevents a good number of students from having hands-on experiments demonstrating the principle of CD. Herein, theoretical circular dichroism with the dipole interaction model, DInaMo, is proposed as a tool for introducing students to CD. Using the dipole interaction model, the CD spectra of an α-helical protein, calexcitin, is predicted with a good morphology, and peak intensity and location of the π– π* transition. The n–π* transition is well approximated with normal modes obtained in the correct location and sign

Telephone triage for management of same-day consultation requests in general practice (the ESTEEM trial): A cluster-randomised controlled trial and cost-consequence analysis

Telephone triage is increasingly used to manage workload in primary care; however, supporting evidence for this approach is scarce. We aimed to assess the effectiveness and cost consequences of general practitioner-(GP)-led and nurse-led telephone triage compared with usual care for patients seeking same-day consultations in primary care

Effects of Fe deficiency and Co substitution in polycrystalline and single crystals of Fe3GeTe2

Fe3GeTe2 is a two-dimensional van der Waals material with a ferromagnetic ground state and a maximum transition temperature Tc ∼ 225 K. However, when Fe3GeTe2 is synthesized, lower values of Tc are often reported. This is attributed to a deficiency in the Fe at the 2c site in the crystal structure. Here, we investigate the effect of Fe deficiency and the substitution of Co for Fe on the magnetic properties of this system. We have synthesized both polycrystalline material and single crystals by chemical vapor transport and the flux method, with the largest crystals obtained using the flux method. Cobalt substitution at the Fe site is found to significantly reduce the magnetic transition temperature. Crystals of Fe3GeTe2 grown by chemical vapor transport with ∼ 8% excess Fe in the starting materials display an optimum Fe content and magnetic transition temperature

Determinants of Physical Health Self-Management Behaviours in Adults With Serious Mental Illness:A Systematic Review

Behavioural interventions can support the adoption of healthier lifestyles and improve physical health outcomes, but it is unclear what factors might drive success of such interventions in people with serious mental illness (SMI). We systematically identified and reviewed evidence of the association between determinants of physical health self-management behaviours in adults with SMI. Data about American Association of Diabetes Educator’s Self-Care Behaviours (AADE-7) were mapped against the novel Mechanisms of Action (MoA) framework. Twenty-eight studies were included in the review, reporting evidence on 104 determinant-behaviour links. Beliefs about capabilities and beliefs about consequences were the most important determinants of behaviour, especially for being physically active and healthy eating. There was some evidence that emotion and environmental context and resources played a role in determining reducing risks, being active, and taking medications. We found very limited evidence associated with problem solving, and no study assessed links between MoAs and healthy coping. Although the review predominantly identified evidence about associations from cross-sectional studies that lacked validated and objective measures of self-management behaviours, these findings can facilitate the identification of behaviour change techniques with hypothesised links to determinants to support self-management in people with SMI