Student staff partnership to create an interdisciplinary science skills course in a research intensive university

This paper reflects upon the development of a multidisciplinary lesson plan aimed at developing science skills for Physics and Astronomy, Geographical and Earth Sciences, and Chemistry students at a research intensive Scottish university. The lesson plan was co-developed with a small group of staff and undergraduate students from these disciplinary areas. The authors discuss the rationale and process for developing the course, drawing upon literature relating to students and staff co-creating curricula in higher education. The authors conclude by offering suggestions for the academic development community about ways in which this kind of collaboration can be supported at local and institutional levels

Sleep in College Students: A Mixed Methods Study

College students in particular have chronically restricted sleep patterns and experience more daytime sleepiness, and physical and mental health issues than their same-aged peers who are not students. Sleep is an emerging area of research and intervention for occupational therapists. The purpose of this study was to identify and investigate how college student’s beliefs about sleep affect their quality of sleep. This study asked: how do beliefs and attitudes about sleep affect sleep quality and participation in valued occupations in college students? Four college students were interviewed regarding their sleep beliefs and attitudes. They also completed a two-week sleep diary to determine their general sleep beliefs and attitudes and daily behavior. The interviews were coded for themes and four emerging themes were identified: a) beliefs about sleep patterns related to temporal structure of sleep, b) the impact of stress on sleep, c) occupational performance in terms of performance in the occupation of sleep and performance in all other occupations (daytime performance), and d) conflicting beliefs about sleep. Sleep diary data revealed that participants’ idealized sleep beliefs are not consistent with actual behavior. From these themes researchers concluded that college students do not have well defined beliefs and attitudes about sleep or consistent, routine sleep schedules, leading to fair sleep quality and performance of daily occupations.https://scholar.dominican.edu/ug-student-posters/1031/thumbnail.jp

Studies of excited D mesons in B meson decays

This thesis documents the studies of several three-body B+ meson decays, each with a charged charmed meson in the final state. All analyses presented use a data sample recorded by the LHCb detector in 2011 and 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3:0 fb‾1 of pp collision data. The B+ →D‾ K+π + and B+ →D+ K+π.+ decay modes are observed for the first time. The branching fraction of the favoured B+ → D‾ K+π + decay mode is measured relative to the topologically similar B+ →D‾ π+ π+ decay and the B+ ‾ D‾ K+π+ final state is used as a normalisation channel for the suppressed B+ → D+ K+ π‾.decay branching fraction measurement. Searches are performed for the quasi-two-body decays B+→ D+ K* (892) 0 and B+ → D*2(2460) 0 K+ , using the sample of B+ → D+ K+π‾ candidate decays. No significant signals are observed for either decay mode and upper limits are set on their branching fractions. Excited charmed mesons decaying to D‾π+ are studied by performing fits to the Dalitz plots of B+ →D‾ K+π+ and B+ → D.‾π+π + candidates. A structure at m(D‾π.+) 2:78 GeV=c2 in the D‾ K+π+ data sample is determined to have spin-1 for the first time. Evidence from the B+ → D‾π+π + Dalitz plot suggests that the states at m(D‾π+ ) 2:76 GeV=c2 and 3:00 GeV=c2 , have spin-3 and spin-2, respectively. The mass and width parameters of these states are measured precisely, as are those of the well known D‾*2 (2460) 0 resonance. Fit fractions and product branching fractions are calculated for all contributions in the B+ ! D. K+ + and B+ → D‾π+ π+ amplitude model

Sleep as an Occupation in College Students: A Mixed Method Study

Sleep is an emerging area of research and practice for occupational therapists. The purpose of this study was to identify and investigate how college students’ cognitive perceptions and beliefs about sleep affect their quality of sleep. Four college students participated in qualitative interviews investigating their sleep beliefs and attitudes. The students also completed a two-week daily sleep diary to report their sleep beliefs, attitudes, and daily living patterns. Four emerging themes were identified from the interviews: beliefs about sleep patterns related to temporal structure of sleep, stress, daytime performance associated with sleep, and conflicting beliefs about sleep. Daily sleep diaries also revealed inconsistencies between idealized and actual sleep patterns. Based on the identified themes and sleep diary data, researchers concluded that college students do not have defined beliefs and attitudes about the value of sleep or consistent, routine sleep schedules. Occupational therapy interventions should strive to identify beliefs and attitudes about sleep in order to change non-adaptive beliefs and help clients develop routines to improve sleep quality and daytime performance

Sharing is caring: A study of food-sharing practices in Australian early childhood education and care services

Food connects people, and can significantly impact the physical, social and emotional development of young children. Food sharing and family-style mealtimes can support healthy eating practices and psychological well-being among young children, and carersother than family members, such as Early Childhood Education and Care staff, play an important role in the provision of these practices. Despite increasing numbers of Australian children attending Early Childhood Education and Care services, there is often reluctance among staff to promote such mealtime practices, to the detriment of children\u27s social and emotional development. The aim of this paper was to focus on the potential role of Early Childhood Education and Care services in facilitating food sharing and family-style mealtime practices in the earliest stages of the lifespan. A qualitative, netnographic approach was used, and data was collected as part of the broader \u27Supporting Nutrition for Australian Childcare\u27 (SNAC) study, via online conversation threads, observations and qualitative interviews. Findings demonstrated that whilst many Early Childhood Education and Care services are committed to supporting food sharing and family-style mealtime practices, a number of barriers were reported. These included the perception that babies and toddlers could not participate in these practices, concerns about food hygiene and cross contamination of allergens, and negative parental influences on food sharing. In conclusion, this paper supports the practice of food sharing in Early Childhood Education and Care settings and calls for them to become embedded in everyday operations to support the physical, social and emotional development of Australia\u27s future generations

Cultural and Dietary Factors Influencing Traditional Latino Meal Patterns: Findings from Focus Group Discussion

Background: Despite a high prevalence of nutrition-related health disparities experienced by Latinos in the United States, there is limited recent information that can be used by health professionals to develop effective nutrition interventions for this diverse population. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to obtain qualitative information regarding usual dietary patterns of Latinos from Pomona, California, and utilize this data in the development of a tailored nutrition intervention. Methods: Latina women ages 30- 70, from a low socio-economic community sample, participated in one of three focus groups, and discussed eating patterns, recipes, and dietary concerns. Participants self-identified as the primary household food purchaser and preparer. Demographics and acculturation were assessed using validated surveys. Results: All participants (n=17) were considered less acculturated to the United States. Participants reported that traditional recipes and family preferences have the greatest influence on foods prepared, however they tend to be less healthy items. Motivators for eating healthy included maintaining family health and preventing weight gain. Barriers included conflicting meal schedules among family members and individual food preferences. Conclusion: To reduce health disparities for Latinos, cultural and dietary factors of communities, along with perceived motivators and barriers to making healthy choices, should be considered when developing tailored nutrition interventions

Possible obsidian sources for artifacts from Timor: narrowing the options using chemical data

Measurements made at the Australian National University using laser ablation ICPMS show that none of the 88 analyzed obsidian artifacts from East Timor match either the known Papua New Guinea or the five Island SE Asian source samples in our ANU collections. There is a coastal journey of more than 3000 km between the occurrence of obsidians from the Bismarck Archipelago volcanic province of Papua New Guinea and the Sunda-Banda Arc volcanic chain, yet obsidian artifacts from the two important PNG sources of Talasea and Lou Island are found at coastal Bukit Tengkorak in eastern Sabah at a similar distance along with material that has no known source. Timor lies south of the eastern section of the active volcanic Banda Arc island chain but it is within range of possible rhyolite sources from there. Although there is a continuous chain of around 60 active volcanoes stretching from west Sumatra to the Moluccas most are basaltic to andesitic with few areas likely to produce high silica dacite-rhyolite deposits. This does not exclude the possibility that the volcanic landscapes may contain obsidian, but without detailed survey and chemical analysis of sources from the Sunda-Banda Arc the attribution of the Timor obsidian artifacts remains to be demonstrated. Timor may seem to be an unlikely source for the presence of obsidians as it lacks reports of the silica-rich rhyolite volcanic centers necessary to produce this material. Despite the absence of detailed survey and analysis of Indonesian obsidian sources, especially from the volcanically active Banda Arc, this paper presents evidence that one of two obsidian sources is clearly from Timor while the other, with less certainty, is also from an unknown local source

Measurement of CP asymmetry in D 0 → K - K + and D 0 → π - π decays

Time-integrated CP asymmetries in D 0 decays to the final states K - K + and π - π + are measured using proton-proton collisions corresponding to 3fb-1 of integrated luminosity collected at centre-of-mass energies of 7 TeV and 8 TeV. The D 0 mesons are produced in semileptonic b-hadron decays, where the charge of the accompanying muon is used to determine the initial flavour of the charm meson. The difference in CP asymmetries between the two final states is measured to be Δ ACP = ACP (K- K +) ACP (π- π+) = (+ 0.14 ± 0.16 (stat) ± 0.08 (syst)) %. A measurement of A CP (K - K +) is obtained assuming negligible CP violation in charm mixing and in Cabibbo-favoured D decays. It is found to be ACP (K- K+) = (- 0.06 ± 0.15 (stat) ± 0.10 (syst)) %, where the correlation coefficient between ΔA CP and A CP (K - K +) is ρ = 0.28. By combining these results, the CP asymmetry in the D 0 → π - π + channel is A CP (π - π +) = (-0.20 ± 0.19 (stat) ± 0.10 (syst))%