School-wide Bully Prevention Programs Designed for use in Elementary Schools

Every day children all over the world become the victims of bully behavior. The notion of bullying can mean very different things to different people, yet the results can be devastating and long-lasting. Leading the charge in bullying research, Dan Olweus, helped to develop a school-wide bullying prevention program aimed at reducing and ultimately ending bullying in schools. Olweus’ research and subsequent prevention program helped lead the charge and push for other school-wide bullying prevention programs. This study will examine the goals, components, evaluation and effectiveness of school-wide bullying prevention programs from all over the world including the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program from Norway; Kiusaamista Vastaan (KiVa) out of Finland; Walk away, Ignore It, Talk it out, and Seek help (WITS) from Canada; and Steps to Respect: A Bullying Prevention Program developed and implemented in the United States. Although the programs differ in their content and delivery, all seek to stop school and childhood bullying during a child’s formative elementary school years

Relationships Between Reading Ability in Third Grade and Phonological Awareness in Kindergarten

The purpose of this study was to identify relationships that exist between reading ability in 3rd grade and phonological awareness in kindergarten. A second purpose was to identify specific prereading skills that best predict later reading success. This study used a quantitative research design to answer the research questions posed. The population for this research was 244 fourth grade students enrolled in 3 primary schools in a school system in Southwest Virginia. The data used for this research study were obtained from each student\u27s score on the kindergarten Phonological Awareness and Literacy Screening and the 3rd grade Virginia Standards of Learning examination in reading. Four predictor variables (rhyme awareness, letter recognition, sound-letter relationships, and concept of word) were evaluated to determine their level of predictability for later reading success. Independent samples t-tests were conducted to determine whether a significant difference in the mean score of the PALS and SOL examination in reading existed between male and female students. Pearson correlation coefficients were computed to determine whether a statistically significant relationship existed between the PALS and the SOL examination in reading. Subsequent Pearson correlation coefficients were computed to determine if a significant relationship existed between the PALS and the SOL examination in reading for female and male students. Female students were found to have a higher mean score than male students on the kindergarten PALS. Female and male students tended to score about same on the 3rd grade SOL examination in reading. PALS score and SOL score were found to be significantly related suggesting that students with high phonological awareness scores in kindergarten tended to also have high scores on the 3rd grade Virginia SOL examination in reading. A Pearson correlation coefficient also indicated that female students with high kindergarten phonological awareness scores tended to have high scores on the 3rd grade Virginia SOL examination in reading. Rhyme awareness was identified as the best early predictor of later reading ability

A well-being framework for cross-cultural assessment of development scenarios: A case study from North-Western Australia

In Western-democratic countries, it is widely accepted that affected communities should be involved in natural resource planning and decisions. This is especially so when the well-being of diverse communities is directly involved, and where alternative future options are being considered. Although there is an agreement that ‘values’ and ‘well-being’, in some form, guide decisions, there is no consensus on the well-being framework(s) that might be used in participatory planning. To assist a multicultural group in assessing alternative future development scenarios for the Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) in Western Australia, we developed a well-being framework that culturally diverse communities could share and use to discuss and assess scenarios. In this paper, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness of the well-being framework used to assess the potential impacts of scenarios by (i) analysing how effectively participants used the well-being framework; (ii) verifying whether the well-being framework was sensitive to the cultural diversity of participants and (iii) direct evaluation by workshop participants. Our analysis shows that participants effectively applied most well-being categories, and the framework was sensitive to the cross-cultural context of the application by capturing Aboriginal cultural elements. However, the approach can be improved by including principles of behaviour; producing a more complete system model; and reviewing and amending the well-being categories in more extensive community consultation. We conclude that the interaction among different worldviews generated valuable knowledge and that, with further adaptation, the framework shows promise for applications involving similar tasks in culturally diverse contexts

Synthesis and 3D printing of conducting alginate–polypyrrole ionomers

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Hydrogels composed of calcium cross-linked alginate are under investigation as bioinks for tissue engineering scaffolds due to their variable viscoelasticity, biocompatibility, and erodibility. Here, pyrrole was oxidatively polymerized in the presence of sodium alginate solutions to form ionomeric composites of various compositions. The IR spectroscopy shows that mild base is required to prevent the oxidant from attacking the alginate during the polymerization reaction. The resulting composites were isolated as dried thin films or cross-linked hydrogels and aerogels. The products were characterized by elemental analysis to determine polypyrrole incorporation, electrical conductivity measurements, and by SEM to determine changes in morphology or large-scale phase separation. Polypyrrole incorporation of up to twice the alginate (monomer versus monomer) provided materials amenable to 3D extrusion printing. The PC12 neuronal cells adhered and proliferated on the composites, demonstrating their biocompatibility and potential for tissue engineering applications

A well-being framework for cross-cultural assessment of development scenarios: A case study from North-Western Australia

1. In Western-democratic countries, it is widely accepted that affected communities should be involved in natural resource planning and decisions. This is especially so when the well-being of diverse communities is directly involved, and where alternative future options are being considered. Although there is an agreement that ‘values’ and ‘well-being’, in some form, guide decisions, there is no consensus on the well-being framework(s) that might be used in participatory planning. 2. To assist a multicultural group in assessing alternative future development scenarios for the Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) in Western Australia, we developed a well-being framework that culturally diverse communities could share and use to discuss and assess scenarios. In this paper, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness of the well-being framework used to assess the potential impacts of scenarios by (i) analysing how effectively participants used the well-being framework; (ii) verifying whether the well-being framework was sensitive to the cultural diversity of participants and (iii) direct evaluation by workshop participants. 3. Our analysis shows that participants effectively applied most well-being categories, and the framework was sensitive to the cross-cultural context of the application by capturing Aboriginal cultural elements. However, the approach can be improved by including principles of behaviour; producing a more complete system model; and reviewing and amending the well-being categories in more extensive community consultation. 4. We conclude that the interaction among different worldviews generated valuable knowledge and that, with further adaptation, the framework shows promise for applications involving similar tasks in culturally diverse contexts

Early Sex-Chromosome Evolution in the Diploid Dioecious Plant Mercurialis annua

Suppressed recombination allows divergence between homologous sex chromosomes and the functionality of their genes. Here, we reveal patterns of the earliest stages of sex-chromosome evolution in the diploid dioecious herb Mercurialis annua on the basis of cytological analysis, de novo genome assembly and annotation, genetic mapping, exome resequencing of natural populations, and transcriptome analysis. The genome assembly contained 34,105 expressed genes, of which 10,076 were assigned to linkage groups. Genetic mapping and exome resequencing of individuals across the species range both identified the largest linkage group, LG1, as the sex chromosome. Although the sex chromosomes of M. annua are karyotypically homomorphic, we estimate that about one-third of the Y chromosome, containing 568 transcripts and spanning 22.3 cM in the corresponding female map, has ceased recombining. Nevertheless, we found limited evidence for Y-chromosome degeneration in terms of gene loss and pseudogenization, and most X- and Y-linked genes appear to have diverged in the period subsequent to speciation between M. annua and its sister species M. huetii, which shares the same sex-determining region. Taken together, our results suggest that the M. annua Y chromosome has at least two evolutionary strata: a small old stratum shared with M. huetii, and a more recent larger stratum that is probably unique to M. annua and that stopped recombining similar to 1 MYA. Patterns of gene expression within the nonrecombining region are consistent with the idea that sexually antagonistic selection may have played a role in favoring suppressed recombination.Peer reviewe