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Risk of Suicide Among Patients With Major Physical Disorders Considering Comorbidities of Mental Disorders: An Instrumental Variable Analysis
Ning Lu, Tzu-Jung Wen, and Kuo-Cherh Huang
Suicide is an important health concern. Excepting cancer, the association between physical disorders and suicidal risk is comparatively less explored. Instrumental variable analysis has been suggested as a powerful technique to deal with possible bias caused by unmeasured confounders in observational research. This population-based study set out to assess the suicidal risk of patients with major physical disorders by employing the instrumental variable analysis. Data were retrieved from the National Health Insurance Research Database and the Death Certification Registry in Taiwan (years 2010-2018). The Cox proportional hazards model with an instrumental variable estimator was performed, adjusting for comorbidities of mental disorders and other covariates. Analytical results showed that compared to their counterparts, patients with major physical disorders had an elevated risk of death by suicide within one year and three years after diagnosis of physical illness. Only did epilepsy not demonstrate a statistically significant impact on the risk of suicide.
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Influence of Miscanthus Floridulus on Heavy Metal Distribution and Phytoremediation in Coal Gangue Dump Soils: Implications for Ecological Risk Mitigation
Jiaolong Wang, Yan Jiang, Yuanying Peng, Xiaoyong Chen, Wende Yan, Xiaocui Liang, Qian Wu, and Jingjie Fang
Coal gangue dumps, a byproduct of coal mining, contribute significantly to heavy metal contamination, impacting soil and water quality. In order to assess the levels of heavy metal contamination in soils at different stages of abandonment, this study investigated the role of Miscanthus floridulus (M. floridulus) in the spatial distribution and remediation of six heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, and Pb) in coal gangue dump soils abandoned for 0, 8, and 12 years in Pingxiang City, Jiangxi Province, China. Fieldwork was conducted at three sites operated by the Pingxiang Mining Group: Anyuan (active, barren), Gaokeng (8 years, natural vegetation), and Qingshan (12 years, partially remediated). Anyuan remains largely barren, while Gaokeng supports natural vegetation without formal remediation. In contrast, Qingshan supports diverse plant species, including M. floridulus, due to partial remediation. Using a randomized design, root exudates, heavy metal concentrations, and soil properties were analyzed. The results showed that Cd poses the highest ecological risk, with concentrations of 64.56 mg kg−1 at the active site, 25.57 mg kg−1 at the 8-year site, and 39.13 mg kg−1 at the 12-year site. Cu and Pb showed accumulation, while Cr and Mn decreased over time. Root exudates from M. floridulus enhanced metal bioavailability, influencing Cd, Cr, and Ni concentrations. These findings highlight the importance of rhizosphere processes in metal mobility and inform sustainable remediation strategies for post-mining landscapes.
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Book Review: Stakeholder Engagement by Aimee L. Franklin
Erica Ceka
Book Review:
Stakeholder Engagement by Aimee L. Franklin
Springer Cham -
River City Cuts Back: A Balancing Act Simulation
Erica Ceka, Frankline Muthomi, and Kurt Thurmaier
This case presents the typical scenario in a medium-sized municipality when it appears the economy is headed into a recession. The organization must make spending choices while also considering city council priorities. In this case, Karl Meier, the chief financial officer of River City, has just received some updated economic forecasts at a recent professional development conference. He calls upon his principles of cutback budgeting and citizen engagement to position the organization for the next fiscal year. The expected budget deficit is about $7.5 million. River City will need to consider both revenues and expenditures to achieve a projected budget balance, mindful of the council’s strategic goals and priorities. Students assume a budgeting actor role and use the Balancing Act simulation to propose a balanced budget to the city council reflective of the budgeting actor’s community perspective.
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Promoting Growth Mindset in the Mathematics Classroom
Gabriela Dellamorte and J. Christopher Tweddle
Teachers often encounter students with a fixed mindset who believe they cannot learn mathematics. Part of the reason many students believe they cannot learn mathematics is that many students do not experience mathematics as uncertainty, explorations, conjectures, interpretations, and patterns. As educators in the mathematics classroom, our practices can foster a growth mindset and change our students’ conceptions of mathematics. We can help them to respect and value their mistakes by creating a culture where “Mistakes are expected, respected, inspected, and corrected” (Boaler 2016, para. 6). For students to make mistakes, we must provide them with challenging work where they can experience productive struggle, which will inherently provide teachers with the opportunity to praise students’ effort and not their ability. Additionally, it will lessen their discomfort with failure. We must not use tricks to guide our lessons and focus on conceptual understanding. When we use productive struggle in our classrooms, we provide the students with an opportunity to build on or amend their prior knowledge and thus, create new knowledge that they can use in future mathematics classes.
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Inclusive Early Childhood Teacher Education: A Paradigm for Envisioning and Enacting
Leanne Evans, Tatiana Joseph, Maggie Bartlett, and Sara Jozwik
This article describes the processes and timeline of developing our Inclusive Early Childhood Teacher Education Program (IECTE). In doing so, we describe collaborations that have a dynamic unfolding that took place over 10 years and united early childhood education (ECE), early intervention/early childhood special education (EI/ECSE), and bilingual/English as a second language (ESL) programming. Foundational to our collaborative work is the transformation that occurred within these individual areas of teacher education that eventually led us to the evolving paradigm of inclusivity in early childhood education. In our IECTE work we detail our paradigm of critical inclusivity that includes three tenets: (1) a dialogic approach, (2) curriculum revision, (3) student guidance, and (4) mentoring support. We conclude by offering implications for continuous growth through descriptions of radical collaboration and advocacy in inclusive early childhood settings, such as intervention agencies, Head Start programs, childcare centers, community programs, and public schools.
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Preparing Inclusive Early Childhood Educators (PIECE): A Conceptualization of Multilingualism, English Learning, and Inclusivity
Leanne M. Evans, Tatiana Joseph, and Sara Jozwik
The purpose of this article is to share the examination of inclusivity as a paradigm for fostering authenticity and agency (Moore, 2017) among teacher candidates. This framing challenges the notion of inclusion as a tool of meritocracy used to manage learners through expectations that uphold monolingualism, decenter racial histories, and rely on rigid behavior plans. In this work, the authors interrogate the impact inclusion as assimilation has on English learners' authentic ways of knowing and being. Thus, they present a conceptualization of spaces of difference (Agbenyaga & Klibthong, 2012) within the context of an Inclusive Early Childhood Teacher Education (IECTE) program and the objectives of the Preparing Inclusive Early Childhood Educators (PIECE) project. With its rigorous coursework, clinical experiences, multi-tiered mentorship, and practice-based professional development, the PIECE project aims to develop inclusive early childhood educators at the preservice and in-service levels. Infused throughout the PIECE project is an emphasis on cultivating the knowledge and skills needed to provide high-quality instruction that improves educational outcomes for English learners (ELs). Frameworks of transformative theory and intersectionality perspectives provided the authors with a grounding for the work within the PIECE project community of learners (i.e., teacher candidates, teacher educators, and school district partners). This article summarizes critical concepts of inclusivity centered in the PIECE project work. These concepts include (1) understanding oneself to look beyond; (2) disrupting notions of normalcy and naturalized language; and (3) reconceptualizing inclusivity as a social justice act.
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Wearing Many Hats: The Lived Experience of Professional School Counselors
Yenitza Z. Guzman, Ahmet Can, Leonis Wright, and Eman Tadros
This study examines the lived experiences of urban school counselors. This qualitative phenomenological research attempts to examine roles and responsibilities of each school counselor. The focus is to identify roles assigned to the school counselor, how they are assigned, what sort of say school counselors have in those assignments, and suggestions they have to improve their assigned roles and responsibilities. The findings are analyzed and discussed, including themes of COVID-19, Challenges, Satisfaction, Professional Identity, and Advocacy. Clinical recommendations and future directions have been provided.
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A Call for Social Work Educators to Confront and Dismantle Systemic Racism Within Social Work Programs
Shonda Lawrence and Tiffany D. Baffour
The second volume of a two-part Special Issue of a Trilogy on race and racism amplifies the narratives, experiences, and truths of social work faculty and students who are working to confront and dismantle systemic racism in social work programs and departments globally. Counter-storytelling, using teaching and learning as its central theme, is used to first name racist and colonizing practices and then offer strategies to improve institutional change efforts. Sustainable anti-racist efforts in social work education can be improved by incorporating knowledge, skills, strategies, and lessons learned throughout this Special Issue.
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Health Education: The Power of the Podcast
Nancy J. MacMullen, Shirley Comer, Linda F. Samson, Tareylon Chairse, and Tonya S. Roberson
Various strategies have been utilized by nurses to bring health education to community members. Role play, radio, and television (public service announcements), face to face meetings, printed literature and focus group are some of the strategies that have been used with varying degrees of success. Advances in technology have increased the types of tools available to offer health education. Social media has been used to bring information to a variety of types of community members. Zoom, GoToMeeting, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok are some of the newest technological and social media platforms employed to communicate health education and information. The Podcast in various formats is one of the newest techniques to bring accessible education to communities of interest.
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A Problem-Solving Approach Aimed at Helping Calculus I Students Solve Related Rates Problems
Valentina Postelnicu and George Tintera
After analyzing our Calculus I students’ performance on a related rates problem from a final exam, we designed a teaching experiment aimed at improving our students’ performance at problem solving. For our analysis, we used two frameworks – one specific to related rates problems and Polya’s general framework for problem solving. The analysis of student work on a final exam problem (N = 57) and interviews with 10 students revealed difficulties understanding the problem and making connections between data and unknowns. The results informed a teaching experiment the following semester when a different group of students (N = 13) used Polya’s approach to problem solving. The students solved and discussed related rates problems in geometric contexts, wrote their algorithms, and were assessed by a related rates problem on the final exam. All 13 students understood the problem, used diagrams, and all but one, established a meaningful relation with quantities from the problem. Having students create their algorithms seems to be a promising strategy in the teaching and learning of related rates problems.
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Showing Up and Opening Up: Conducting Research With and About Refugee Resettlement Organizations
Fatima Sattar and Christopher Strunk
This article uses research conducted with and about refugee resettlement agencies in traditional and nontraditional destinations to critically assess the opportunities and constraints that social scientists encounter when conducting research on refugee incorporation experiences. Drawing on ethnographic field notes and reflections from two qualitative research projects in the U.S. Northeast and Midwest examining refugee incorporation postresettlement, we analyze how the geographic and institutional contexts in the case studies impacted research outcomes and differences in refugee participants’ showing up and opening up during data collection. We describe how the priorities of refugee resettlement agencies, along with the social locations and positionality of researchers, shaped our relationships and negotiations with institutional gatekeepers, as well as how refugee participants responded to the research. We show how conducting community-based research can introduce overlapping and conflicting reciprocal moral obligations between researchers, refugee participants, and refugee-serving organizations that ultimately shape the research process, decisions, and outcomes.
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Assessing the Safety and Efficacy of DIY-homemade Sunscreens with Natural, Aromatic and Herbal Ingredients
Onur Kenan Ulutas, Figen Karadogan, Senum Akgul, and Zeynup Gizem Yildiz
Sunscreen products are widely used during the summer months to protect against increased sunlight exposure. While there have been advancements in the effectiveness and safety of commercial sunscreens, there is a growing interest in "completely natural" and homemade skincare products, including sunscreens. These homemade alternatives often incorporating aromatic and medicinal herbal preparations, are being touted as safe alternatives on online social media platforms and alternative health websites. It is essential to recognize that scientific research has primarily focused on evaluating the effectiveness and safety of commercially available sunscreen products. Concerns have arisen regarding the potential risks associated with non-commercial sunscreens, particularly those labeled as "homemade" or "completely natural." Therefore, it is crucial to investigate whether these DIY sunscreen products, advertised as natural and additive-free, pose any health threats due to their inadequate sun protection properties. This study aims to examine the formulations of these proposed homemade sunscreen products, specifically evaluating their durability, protection against ultraviolet A and B (UVA and UVB) radiation, and average sun protection factor (SPF) values from a toxicological perspective. Emphasizing the importance of safety in sunscreen products is paramount, as the use of unsafe sunscreens can lead to serious health risks, including skin cancer, premature aging, and other skin disorders.
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Revisiting Gender and Marriage: Runaway Wives, Native Law and Custom, and the Native Courts in Colonial Abeokuta, Southwestern Nigeria
Morenikenji Asaaju
This study focuses on women and colonial courts in Abeokuta, southwestern Nigeria, in the early decades of the twentieth century. It examines the effects of colonial intervention on women and marriage. Examining case volumes of the Ake, Abeokuta, Native Court from 1905 to 1957, the study demonstrates that unique circumstances of the twentieth century—colonial intervention and the establishment of the native courts—led to the increase of divorce rate accelerated by the phenomenon of wives leaving matrimonial homes, establishing new unions of their choice, and approaching the court to end earlier unions and legalize the new ones. The study argues that, despite the negative connotations that might be associated with wives leaving matrimonial homes and requesting divorce in colonial courts, these women made use of the new circumstances to redefine marriage, inserting modifications reflective of women’s choices and preferences, as evidenced through their claims collected from the court records.
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“The Native Court Way”: Disputes over Marriage, Divorce, and “Adultery” in Colonial Courts in Abeokuta (Southwestern Nigeria), 1905–1945
Morenikenji Asaaju
This article examines surviving native court records from 1905–1957 in Abeokuta, Southwest Nigeria, to argue that what constituted marriage, marital rights, and sexual access to wives was changing readily in this period of socioeconomic and political change. In this period, Britain established the native court system, stressing African and British judges, to apply rigid ideas of native law and customs concerning marriage. Men and women—husbands, wives, lovers, fathers, uncles, aunties, brothers, sisters, and in-laws—approached the native courts to negotiate conflict over marriage, divorce, seduction, adultery, and child custody. Rather than administering rigid legal judgements of what constituted legitimate marriage, judgements rendered by these courts provided maneuverability, specifically for women to negotiate and contest marital status and relations.
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Tracing the Effect of the Paycheck Protection Program on Nonprofit Capacity to Sustain Payroll and Services During COVID‐19
Erica Ceka and Lora Warner
This study explores the effect of government fiscal stimulus on nonprofit performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, it investigates whether access to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) increased the ability of nonprofit organizations operating in the crisis context conditions to continue supplying funds for payroll and maintain effective delivery of services and programs after the initial revenue shock. The study findings are derived from the analysis of survey data collected from 160 Wisconsin nonprofit organizations in July and August 2020 linked to publicly available Internal Revenue Service tax filings. Regression analysis reveals a strong positive connection between the PPP loans and the nonprofit capacity to continue funding payroll and providing services within the next months of the pandemic. The empirical results suggest that the government stimulus policies offering direct economic assistance can indeed contribute to the continuity of nonprofit services and payroll in times of fiscal uncertainty, albeit the policy may not yield equally significant results across all types of organizations. This study increases the understanding of nonprofit performance during an extended revenue crisis, offering answers to policymakers, researchers, and practitioners interested in learning more about the efficacy of federal stimulus funding in enabling private organizations to mitigate the financial consequences of the COVID-19 crisis.
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Corporate Philanthropy and Firm Performance: The Role of Corporate Strategies
Wonsuk Cha, Dongjun Rew, and Joo Jung
The purpose of this study is to empirically explore the interaction between corporate philanthropy and firm performance through the mechanism of corporate strategies, such as unrelated diversification and global strategic posture (GSP).
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The Impact of COVID-19 on Teachers' Transition Practices for Students with Disabilities in Illinois, USA
Rasha Elhage
Transition services are central in preparing youth with disabilities for opportunities in postsecondary education, employment and independent living. The life skills education acquired in school may be the only resources they receive to help them with this transition. With COVID-19, educational systems were interrupted, including the access of students with disabilities to service provision and transition services. This study aimed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on teachers' transition practices for students with disabilities in the State of Illinois, United States and to identify factors associated with the differences in teachers' practices across eight domains of transition. Results indicated statistical significant differences in transition practices before and during COVID-19 in all eight domains. Gender, Race, School Closings & Type of School did not show significant associations with any of the eight domains. Emotional Disability was found to have a significant association with all eight domains, whereas Intellectual Disability did not show significant association with any of the eight domains. Grade level and teachers' educational level showed significant associations with certain domains. Future investigations into how COVID-19 changed teachers' transition practices for students with disabilities and the long-term impact that these changes will have on students' post-secondary outcomes are needed.
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Strengthened Voice Through Pedagogical Partnerships: A Story of Transformational Learning
Rasha Elhage and Lisset Rosales
Participating in the Pedagogical Partnership Project through BranchED (Branch Alliance for Education Diversity) deepened our understanding of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) students’ and faculty members’ experiences in the higher education setting. This concept of a partnership between a faculty member and the student was tempting for its novelty (at least to us) and for its purpose, which focuses on supporting students’ success (Cook-Sather, 2018; Healey et al., 2016). In fact, a research study conducted by Cook-Sather (2018) suggests that participating in pedagogical partnerships “(1) fosters important affective experiences in relation to all faculty and to fellow students, (2) informs students’ academic engagement in their own classes, and (3) contributes to students’ sense of their evolution as active agents in their own and others’ development” (p. 4).
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Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: Non-pharmacologic Interventions for the Maternal-Infant Dyad
Nancy J. MacMullen and Laura A. Dulski
Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) remains a concern for health care providers. The incidence of NAS has increased globally, and it has emerged as a worldwide health concern. In our previous article, we explored the efficacy of current pharmacologic treatment for NAS symptoms. Our purpose now is to focus on non-pharmacologic interventions for NAS symptoms and the involvement of caregivers, specifically the mother. We will discuss breastfeeding, rooming in, babywearing, the eat, sleep, console approach, and laser acupuncture.
We intend to describe the involvement of the interdisciplinary team and all who care for these infants, including parents. -
The Effects of Commitment and Trust on the Relationship Between Service Quality and University Brand Loyalty in Time of Crisis
Dongjun Rew, Wonsuk Cha, Jin-Woo Kim, and Joo Y. Jung
Existing literature on university brand loyalty (UBL) has less focused on a marketing-oriented perspective, or relationship marketing, and its impact on testing UBL. The aim of this study is to identity the roles and impacts of trust and commitment, which are main factors that create a relationship, in the relationship between university service quality, student satisfaction (SAT), and UBL and discuss its implications for university approaches of the marketing-oriented perspective. A self-report study was conducted with a total sample of 301 undergraduate students from four universities in the USA. PLS-SEM and path analysis were employed to test each hypothetical relationship. This study identified that trust and commitment play important roles as mediators in the relationship between SAT and UBL. Therefore, the findings support contributions of this study by offering implications that universities need to focus on building and maintaining the quality of relationship with students.
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Impact of School Characteristics on PARCC Results
Lina Smulkaitis and J. Christopher Tweddle
The purpose of this article is to take an in-depth look at how certain non-academic factors affect standardized test results in the middle school setting. As standardized testing and student growth impact school and teacher evaluation, it is important to consider the influence of factors both inside and outside of the classroom. This study analyzed the impact on student performance on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exam of the following variables: property taxes received by schools; instructional spending per pupil; percentage of low-income students; percentage of student mobility; percentage of English Language Learners (ELL); teacher salary, retention rates, and education; and class size. This analysis was based on data gathered from the Illinois State Report Card published by the Illinois State Board of Education on 374 of the 376 grade 6–8 middle schools located in Illinois. The three strongest predictors of the success rate for middle school age students on the PARCC exam were the student mobility rate, the amount of property tax received by the school, and the percentage of low-income students. Instructional spending per pupil, percentage of English Language Learners, teacher retention rate, salary and education, and class size had a less significant impact on students meeting or exceeding standards on the PARCC exam. This suggests that the socioeconomic demographics of the surrounding community are a contributing factor to student success.
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‘They Gave Me Nothing’: Marriage, Slavery and Divorce in Twentieth-Century Abeokuta
Morenikenji Asaaju
During the early twentieth century, several hundred women in colonial Abeokuta initiated divorce proceedings against their husbands, who were also frequently their masters. The legal records associated with their cases offer important clues about how women – both freeborn and slave – contested the terms of their marriages using the colonial courts. This article examines how and why these women used new interpretations of marriage, which were introduced by European Christian missionaries and the British colonial administrators in order to challenge established traditions. It reveals how colonial native courts approached indigenous norms surrounding marriage and slavery: colonial interventions gave freeborn women a measure of agency within marriage which was also somewhat unexpectedly extended to slave wives. Through an exploration of court judgements, this article demonstrates the effects of colonial intervention on marriage and slavery and the role of the colonial courts in local matrimonial disputes and practices and investigates how they empowered enslaved wives.
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Implications of Illinois Teacher Evaluation Reforms: Insights from Principals
David Conrad and Donald G. Hackmann
This study investigated principals’ perceptions of Illinois teacher evaluation reforms, applying education policy implementation theory and micropolitics of personnel evaluation as conceptual frameworks. Interviews were conducted with 20 Illinois public school principals. Findings revealed micropolitics influenced the development and implementation of local evaluation procedures that were favorable to educators. Principals perceived student growth scores unduly inflated summative ratings, hindering them from rating educators as underperforming and subsequently assigning improvement plans. Despite challenges, participants believed improvement plans were important levers to hold educators accountable for improving their performance.
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Alumni Perceptions of the Educational Benefits of Their Graduate Degrees from a PBI
Rasha Elhage, Olanipekun Laoesebikan, and Kimberly Black-Parker
Much of the research on the benefits of graduate education for minority students has focused on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Little has been done on Predominantly Black Institutions. This case study attempts to shed light on alumni perceptions of the benefits of their graduate education at a Predominantly Black Institution (PBI), Chicago State University. The researchers surveyed the accessible population of Chicago State University alumni who completed requirements for their master’s and doctoral degrees between the academic years 2008 and 2018. Results indicate that perceived benefits fell into two categories: 1) personal benefits that accrued to the graduate and 2) enabling benefits that encouraged the completion of graduate study. Personal benefits included personal fulfillment, an enhanced knowledge of a profession or discipline, and advancement in a career including promotions and salary raises, while some enabling benefits included perceived program quality, the financial accessibility of graduate study at a PBI, and a supportive learning environment. Findings from this study of alumni can lend insights to effective approaches to teaching graduate students from diverse backgrounds.
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Evaluation of Risk Adjustment Performance of Diagnosis-based and Medication-based Comorbidity Indices in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Huei Guo Il, Chao-Hsiun Tang, Mei-Ling Sheu, Hung-Yi Liu, Ning Lu, Yuan-Ya Tsai, Bi-Li Chen, and Kuo-Cherh Huang
Objectives This study assessed risk adjustment performance of six comorbidity indices in two categories of comorbidity measures: diagnosis-based comorbidity indices and medication-based ones in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods This was a population–based retrospective cohort study. Data used in this study were sourced from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The study population comprised all patients who were hospitalized due to COPD for the first time in the target year of 2012. Each qualified patient was individually followed for one year starting from the index date to assess two outcomes of interest, medical expenditures within one year after discharge and in-hospital mortality of patients. To assess how well the added comorbidity measures would improve the fitted model, we calculated the log-likelihood ratio statistic G2. Subsequently, we compared risk adjustment performance of the comorbidity indices by using the Harrell c-statistic measure derived from multiple logistic regression models. Results Analytical results demonstrated that that comorbidity measures were significant predictors of medical expenditures and mortality of COPD patients. Specifically, in the category of diagnosis-based comorbidity indices the Elixhauser index was superior to other indices, while the RxRisk-V index was a stronger predictor in the framework of medication-based codes, for gauging both medical expenditures and in-hospital mortality by utilizing information from the index hospitalization only as well as the index and prior hospitalizations. Conclusions In conclusion, this work has ascertained that comorbidity indices are significant predictors of medical expenditures and mortality of COPD patients. Based on the study findings, we propose that when designing the payment schemes for patients with chronic diseases, the health authority should make adjustments in accordance with the burden of health care caused by comorbid conditions.
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School Counselors and Administrators Agree: Time and Testing are Barriers
TeShaunda Hannor-Walker, Robert Pincus, Leonis Wright, Wendy Rock, Jennifer Money-Brady, and Lynn Bohecker
School leaders continuously state their concerns about rising mental health issues in schools. This study looks at the perceptions of the roles of school counselors as mental health professionals in schools from the perspectives of school counselors and principals. The purpose of this study is to explore how administrators and school counselors describe the role of school counselors, and the perceived barriers to school counselors spending the recommended 80 percent of their time in the delivery of services to students. This study uses deductive qualitative content analysis to review written responses from the 518 participants who identified as either a licensed or certified school counselor or a school administrator. The results show that school administrators and school counselors have very different perceptions of school counselors as mental health professionals; however, they agree that time and testing are barriers to providing direct services to students.
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Addressing the Career Needs of Transgender and Gender Expansive Students
Leonis Wright, Jon Borland, and Ahmet Can
Changing demographics, multiple worldviews, and cultural plurality are major influences in the career development process for diverse students. As school counselors are considered social justice advocates, they should utilize differentiated strategies when working with transgender and gender-expansive students (TGE). This conceptual paper provides an overview of TGE individuals’ challenges, discusses the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) stance on working with this population, and highlights a career development group counseling curriculum for TGE students at the secondary (middle/high) education level.
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University and Professor Practices to Support DACA and Undocumented Students: DACA Student Experiences, Teacher Knowledge, and University Actions
Jenny Banh and Jelena Radovic-Fanta
The United States immigration policy Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) which protects some individuals from deportation was enacted in 2012, phased out in 2017 and is now under court challenges. There are still thousands of DACA students currently in higher education. The article highlights promising practices that professors and universities can put in place to support DACA students in the United States. Several semi-structured interviews were conducted with DACA students and Dream Center Directors in California universities to gauge students’ barriers and bridges to their higher education success. DACA students articulated public policy suggestions that universities and professors can immediately enact and have tangible results. Three themes were revealed in the interview data: the need for teacher knowledge, diversity of DACA student experiences, and for actions. These were explained as (1) knowledge of student’s lives, and, conversely, students’ access to information necessary for navigating college life; (2) the diversity of students’ life stories and experiences of trauma suffered during and after DACA rescinding decision; and (3) actions that should be taken by the faculty, staff, and the university community that would help students succeed academically.
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What Do We Know About Corporate Philanthropy? A Review and Research Directions
Wonsuk Cha and Ujvala Rajadhyaksha
During the past decades, academics and practitioners have been extensively focusing on corporate philanthropy as an important part of corporate social responsibility and a vast number of papers have been published on this topic in various disciplines. To have a better understanding of the evolution of corporate philanthropy, this paper critically reviews some 60 years of research covering 228 corporate philanthropy documents (including 214 journal articles, 5 dissertations, and 9 books and book chapters) across and between disciplines, and analyzes their content in a systematic and comprehensive manner. A multi-level and multidisciplinary theoretical framework that synthesizes and integrates the corporate philanthropy literature at micro-, meso-, and macro-levels of analysis is offered. Specifically, the framework presents antecedents, intermediaries (moderators and mediators), consequences of corporate philanthropy, and the underlying mechanisms of the corporate philanthropy–firm performance relationship. This paper helps bridge important knowledge gaps of corporate philanthropy and its relation with firm performance by studying corporate philanthropy at a multi-level of analysis and applying diverse theoretical frameworks of corporate philanthropy. The paper concludes by offering several suggestions for future research on corporate philanthropy.
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Cannot Give you Because of Living on the Top of a Castle: CEOs, Corporate Philanthropy and Firm Age
Wonsuk Cha and Dongjun Rew
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the role of firm age in the relationship between CEO characteristics (measured by founder status and civic engagement) and the level of corporate philanthropy which is one of the important components of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices (Carroll, 1991).
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing from upper echelons theory, this study argues that firm age functions as a barrier that limits the relationship between CEO characteristics and the level of corporate philanthropy. Moderated regression analysis (MRA) was used to analyze data from 146 publicly traded US firms between 2010 and 2017.
Findings
This study verified that there is a significantly positive relationship between CEO civic engagement and the level of corporate philanthropy although the relationship between CEO founder status and the level of corporate philanthropy was not found to be significant. Specifically, the relationship between CEO characteristics and the level of corporate philanthropy was weaker as firms get older. Overall, the results indicate that the organizational inertia of older firms can restrict the effect of CEO characteristics on corporate philanthropy. -
Access to Students and Parents and Levels of Preparedness of Educators during the COVID-19 Emergency Transition to e-Learning
Rasha Elhage
In response to the COVID-19 school closures and the emergency transition to eLearning, faculty at Chicago State University organized a series of nine professional development webinars centered on the subject of eLearning. 3,428 educators attended the nine webinars. This study consisted of an exploratory research reporting on the participants’ answers to the polls questions administered during the webinars, in an attempt to identify levels of preparedness of educators during the COVID-19 Emergency Transition to eLearning and their access to students and parents. The study revealed low levels of preparedness in relation to teaching remotely in general, teaching students with disabilities in particular, and using technology tools. The study also revealed challenges of educators reaching students and parents. The study concludes with a number of recommendations to address these identified challenges.
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E-learning Recommendations for Teaching Students with Disabilities
Rasha Elhage
COVID-19 disrupted educational systems around the world in attempts to contain the spread of the pandemic, countries announced widespread school closures (Van Lancker >amp; Parolin, 2020). Educators, especially special education teachers, have struggled to offer distance learning and adapt to the unique challenges the pandemic posed. Teachers faced aggressive multifaceted challenges (Cross >amp; Polk, 2018) to identify e-learning structures and strategies to address the needs of students with disabilities (SWD) and help them be successful in the online classroom. The following framework and tips can help educators approach online teaching with more confidence to meet the needs of their students with individualized education plans (IEP).
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Why Aren't My Students Reading: Faculty & Student Research Unveiling the Hidden Curriculum of Course Material Usage
Jayne Goode, Kerri K. Morris, Bradley Smith, and J. Christopher Tweddle
This reflective essay follows a faculty working group as they attempt to understand barriers to access to course materials through the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Through the workgroup’s research and collaboration with students in a problem-based learning course, the workgroup uncovered elements of the hidden curriculum in assumptions regarding course material procurement. The collaboration has served as the foundation for efforts to begin to transform the way that faculty on campus make use of textbooks and course materials in their courses. This transformation should make explicit to faculty that the utilization of course materials for all aspects of the course are often hidden pedagogy and must be made explicit by each instructor.
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Intersectionality and the Emerging Majority Student: Negotiating Identity in the Liminalities of the University Environment
Jayne R. Goode, Jelena Radovic-Fanta, and Sayoni Bose
Students at the intersection of social, political, and economicstruggles must often forge new paths to make college entrancepossible, even as dominant social narratives predict their failure.Faculty and administration endeavor to engage this emergingmajority population and devote valuable time and resources tosupport structures meant to foster belonging and a sense ofcommunity. This article provides insight into the liminality of theuniversity environment for this population and thecommunicative processes of college student identitydevelopment. Analysis reveals identity construction processesthrough the liminal practices of experimentation, reflection, andrecognition are successful and complex, as students discursivelyposition themselves as college students. Implications forintersectional research and liminality as space for possibility arediscussed.
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Carceral Non-Profits and the Limits of Prison Reform
Zhandarka Kurti and Jarrod Shanahan
Today there is a growing chorus to end mass incarceration ranging from leftists and liberals to some on the right. For abolitionists, decarceration—or the reduction of the prison population—is an important first step in a vision that seeks to do away with the social ills the present criminal justice system simply manages. While some attention has been paid to the growing bi-partisan consensus that acknowledges, at least rhetorically, the need to end mass incarceration, we know very little about one of its key players: criminal justice non-profits. In what follows, we devise a conceptual schema that we term carceral non-profits to interrogate the complex class position of certain non-profit organizations surrounding decarceration and criminal justice reform. We argue that the defining feature of carceral non-profits is their role in steering radical change towards piecemeal liberal reform, and the promotion of carceral expansion under the guise of decarceration. This paper is an attempt to engage with an audience of abolitionist activists and scholars trying to make sense of the shifting terrain of the non-profit industrial complex at the grassroots level.
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Social Work Students' Perceptions of Their Writing Skills Pre/Post Writing Intervention
Shonda Lawrence and Ivis Renee King
This cross-sectional study assessed undergraduate social work students’ perception of their writing skills, individualized writing intervention plans, and writing workshop pilot program designed to improve students’ academic and professional writing. The present study used convenience sampling to administer a prewriting assessment and implemented individualized writing interventions to participants during Fall, 2018. Participants were junior social work majors enrolled in two sections of the Writing for Social Work course in a CSWE accredited BSW program. We used Qualtrics to administer the pre- and post-writing workshop interventions. Thirty-nine Participants completed a pre-test and post-test measuring their perceptions of their writing skills before and after participating in writing workshops. Mixed-methods provided quantitative and qualitative analysis of participants’ perceptions. Pretest results indicated that 85% of the participants were confident in their writing abilities and would earn at least an 85% in the course. Subsequently, post-test results indicated a drastic 47% decrease in students' assessment of their writing skills. Qualitative analysis indicated participants valued specific writing interventions. The theme analysis provides information that may assist in developing writing interventions for undergraduate social work students. The significance of the present study demonstrates that undergraduate students recognize their writing strengths and weakness, and prefer scaffolding assignments when focusing on academic writing in social work.
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School Counselor Roles for Student Success During a Pandemic
Robert Pincus, Denise Ebersol, Judith Justice, TeShaunda Hannor-Walker, and Leonis Wright
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions, school counselors continue to provide necessary mental health services, support, prevention, intervention, and referrals, as needed, to the increasing number of PK-12 students with mental health needs. School counselors are essential mental health professionals who provide developmentally appropriate, comprehensive, and evidence-based support for all students across education settings including in-person, blended, and virtual formats. Through their ongoing leadership, advocacy, collaboration, and systemic change, school counselors strive to ensure that their roles and responsibilities include supporting the mental health needs of students especially now that those needs have been exacerbated by COVID-19. Adverse childhood experiences during the pandemic have resulted in a need for additional early identification, prevention, and interventions to address the increasing mental health needs of students. Recommendations for more effectively addressing the mental health and social emotional needs of students are included as are suggestions for increasing advocacy for school counselor roles and responsibilities, evidence-based assessments, and the utilization of technology. Finally, the authors conclude by affirming that school counselors should be viewed as essential mental health professionals who are prepared to support the social emotional and behavioral health of students now more than ever when students need support overcoming COVID-19 related obstacles, stressors and trauma-inducing situations
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Good Mothers and Good Workers: Discipline and Care in Chile's Grape-Packing Plants
Jelena Radovic-Fanta
This article explores the affective dimensions of precarious labor in Chile's grape-export industry in the centrally located Aconcagua Valley. Although the country's billion-dollar fruit industry is marked as an example of successful development, female seasonal workers (called temporeras) navigate hazardous working conditions and noncompliance of labor laws. Contrary to common assumptions of workers' alienation from labor, their personal identities are deeply entangled in their workplace. This article examines how management invokes temporeras' identities as mothers and care providers as a disciplinary mechanism. At the same time, workers articulate motherhood as a form of endurance. Although efforts by the Chilean government attempt to regulate the fruit-export sector, there is a dismal lack of enforcement of recent labor laws. As a result, temporeras bear the burden of safeguarding their physical well-being. I conclude by suggesting that social relations and the moral textures of everyday interactions provide the possibilities through which workers endure precarious labor.
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The Effects of Resilience and Familiarity on the Relationship Between CSR and Consumer Attitudes
Dongjun Rew and Wonsuk Cha
Purpose
This study aims to explore the effects of consumer resilience and brand familiarity on the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and consumer attitudes toward the company conducting CSR in places that have suffered from traumatic events such as natural or anthropogenic disasters and uncertainty of public health issue.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collected survey-based data from 194 participants who suffered from natural and anthropogenic disasters in the state of Texas. Path analysis was used to test each structural relationship among variables after verifying the reliability and validity of each variable. Analysis of variance was used to investigate the difference in resilience between the two groups.
Findings
This study verified that there is a positive relationship between CSR and consumer attitude. More importantly, the results show that both resilience and familiarity play an important role as a mediator in the relationship between CSR and attitudes. In particular, it tells us that a group with high resilience shows a higher possibility of having positive attitudes toward the company than another group having low resilience. -
Knowing How to Feel: Racism, Resilience, and Affective Resistance
Taylor Rogers
This article explores the affective dimension of resilient epistemological systems. Specifically, I argue that responsible epistemic practice requires affective engagement with nondominant experiences. To begin, I outline Kristie Dotson's account of epistemological resilience whereby an epistemological system remains stable despite counterevidence or attempts to alter it. Then, I develop an account of affective numbness. As I argue, affective numbness can promote epistemological resilience in at least two ways. First, it can reinforce harmful stereotypes even after these stereotypes have been rationally demystified. To illustrate, I examine the stereotype of Black criminality as it relates to false confessions (Lackey 2018). Second, it can encourage “epistemic appropriation” (Davis 2018), which I demonstrate by examining the appropriation of “intersectionality” and #MeToo by white culture. Finally, I conclude that resisting harmful resilience requires affective resistance, or efforts that target numbness via different kinds of affective engagement. I consider Kantian “disinterestedness” as a candidate.
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‘Fight the Reds, Support the Blue’: Blue Lives Matter and the US Counter-subversive Tradition
Jarrod Shanahan and Tyler Wall
In the wake of the rightwing siege of the US Capitol, which put ‘Blue Lives Matter’ supporters at odds with police protecting the Capitol, the authors look to the history and contours of the ‘counter-subversive tradition’ in the United States and its locus in local police departments. They examine a similar moment of social unrest – the mid-to-late 1960s – and the pro-police organising undertaken by Support Your Local Police (SYLP), a front group of the ultra-right John Birch Society, which blended anti-communism with opposition to the Black Freedom Movement, with particular anxiety about the spectre of united white and black revolt from below and the encroachment of the federal government on local power from above. The campaign also presented a kind of uniquely rightwing anti-statism, largely through the rejection of impediments to local powers and, specifically, the untrammelled power of the cops. In making sense of the Capitol siege, and the years of rightwing organising that preceded it, the article argues that this important precursor to ‘Blue Lives Matter’ presents a schema for understanding longstanding efforts in police organising in defence of what James Baldwin called ‘arrogant autonomy’ – freedom from civilian oversight or political challenges to cop power, and from all challenges to locally entrenched structures of white power.
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Questioning Poverty: Experiences of Women in South-Western and North-Central Nigeria
Lohna Bonkat and Morenikenji Asaaju
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A Bibliometric Analysis of Folate Receptor Research
Cari Didion and Walter A. Henne
Background The objective of this study was to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the entire field of folate receptor research. Folate receptor is expressed on a wide variety of cancers and certain immune cells. Methods A Web of Science search was performed on folate receptor or folate binding protein (1969-to June 28, 2019). The following information was examined: publications per year, overall citations, top 10 authors, top 10 institutions, top 10 cited articles, top 10 countries, co-author collaborations and key areas of research. Results In total, 3248 documents for folate receptor or folate binding protein were retrieved for the study years outlined in the methods section search query. The range was 1 per year in 1969 to 264 for the last full year studied (2018). A total of 123,720 citations for the 3248 documents retrieved represented a mean citation rate per article of 38.09 and range of 1667 citations (range 0 to 1667). Researchers in 71 countries authored publications analyzed in this study. The US was the leader in publications and had the highest ranking institution. The top 10 articles have been cited 7270 times during the time frame of this study. The top cited article had an average citation rate of 110 citations per year. Network maps revealed considerable co-authorship among several of the top 10 authors. Conclusion Our study presents several important insights into the features and impact of folate receptor research. To our knowledge, this is the first bibliometric analysis of folate receptor.
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Weathering COVID-19 Storm: Successful Control Measures of Five Asian Counties
Ning Lu, Kai-Wen Cheng, Nafees Qamar, Kuo-Cherh Huang, and James A. Johnson
The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has created the first viral pandemic storm of this nature and scale in our lifetime. As of April 24, 2020 there is a total of 2,631,839 COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide with 182,100 confirmed deaths affecting 213 countries, areas or territories.1 In this paper, we bring together the measures taken by 5 Asian countries that first got hit by the novel coronavirus. The purpose of the paper is to learn from those countries adeptly as we continue to discover what works for the United States to control COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 control measures taken by 5 Asian countries first hit by coronavirus. China took extremely aggressive measures of lockdowns and closing business. Singapore took proactive measures of border controls and extensive contact tracing. Taiwan-seized border control and strict home quarantine with the use of big data. South Korea executed widespread testing and contact tracing. Japan promoted measures of social distancing.
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Robotic Assisted Surgery for Women Undergoing Gynecological Surgery
Nancy J. MacMullen, Laura A. Dulski, and Lisa Mendelson
One of the current alternatives to open gynecological surgery and laparoscopy is Robotic Assisted Laparoscopic Surgery (RALS), which is done utilizing Robotic Assisted Surgical Devices (RASD). These alternatives present another dimension to the cascade of decisions women make regarding surgery and recovery. Nurses are often called upon to help the women in the decision making process by providing education and current information. This requires requisite knowledge on the part of the nurses and collaboration with all members of the health care team. The purpose of this paper is to fully explain the trending new technology of robotic assisted gynecologic surgery, its advantages and disadvantages, and its implications for nursing through examining the available research and clinical literature on the topic.
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Grade Efficacy, Grade Point Average, Aggregation, and Covid-19 Readiness at Proximity Learning®-A Company Providing Certified Teachers and Accreditated Courses Through Online Streaming
G. McClendon, Rasha Elhage, and O. Laosebikan
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Rikers Island Jail Complex: The Use of Social History to Inform Current Debates on Incarceration in New York City
Jayne Moody and Jarrod Shanahan
Rikers Island is the main jail complex for New York City. At its height in the 1990s, 22,000 people were incarcerated there. Having attracted national and international condemnation, it is regarded as one of the city's biggest failures: a magnet for scandal and controversy. In 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged that the complex would be closed within ten years with smaller ‘state of the art’ jails built to replace it. Our research explores the social history of Rikers from its origins to the present day, in a bid to provide a more nuanced understanding of the island and incarceration in New York City, and to engage with ongoing debate on the future of penal reform.
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Rikers Island: The Failure of a “Model” Penitentiary
Jayne Mooney and Jarrod Shanahan
New York City’s Rikers jail complex is gripped by a crisis of legitimacy. Following a series of investigations, it has been denounced as a major symbol of criminal justice dysfunction, with calls for its closure and replacement with new smaller “state of the art” jails. Yet, when it opened, Rikers was hailed as a “model” facility, at the cutting edge of prison design and prisoner rehabilitation. To elucidate the present situation, we provide a focus on the under-explored history of New York City’s penal institutions
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COVID-19’s Effect on Students: How School Counselors Rise to the Rescue
Robert Pincus, TeShaunda Hannor-Walker, Leonis Wright, and Judith Justice
The COVID-19 global pandemic has brought about many changes to our society, which will have long-term effects for our youth and adolescents. Due to social isolation and adverse childhood experiences, there are concerns of suicidality, technology addiction, and school safety as schools attempt to transition to a state of normalcy in the months to come. This crisis will require coordinated efforts to assist students in not only getting back on track academically but also in helping students cope with the trauma they have and are continuing to experience. As a result, insights from school counselors can be used to obtain a better understanding of the social and emotional effects of COVID-19 by collaborating with administrators to emphasize using school counselors as a mental health provider in schools. The authors highlight school counselors’ mental health training and their role in combating this issue and provide practical applications that can employed to create a systemic approach for social and emotional prevention and intervention during and after the pandemic.
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Using Social Network Sites in Healthcare Management: Challenges and Opportunities
Natalia Rekhter and T. Anopchenko
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Russian Students' Use of Social Network Sites for Selecting University Abroad
Natalia Rekhter and Donald Hossler
This qualitative case study explores how undergraduate students from the Russian State University for Humanities used social network sites (SNSs) for their decision to transfer to higher education institutions (HEIs) abroad. Participants reported using specific SNS features, such as likes and shares, for measuring HEI rating and indicated that ability to use native language was among motivating factors for membership in a specific SNS. The reported benefits of SNSs included instantaneous connections with likeminded individuals, realistic visualization of campuses, and unbiased and multidimensional views presented by SNS members. One of the emerging findings was that participants with no connections abroad relied exclusively on SNSs for their college choice. Participants with connections abroad relied on the advice of international contacts, and SNSs played a complementary role. HEI professionals may consider hiring and training international students to maintain consistent and meaningful content on different SNS platforms, particularly in their countries’ specific SNSs.
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Narrative Crisis and Renewal in the Age of Information: David Foster Wallace’s “Mister Squishy”
Christopher White
David Foster Wallace’s late fiction powerfully dramatizes twenty-first-century information saturation and its dehumanizing effects. In “Mister Squishy,” the lead story in Oblivion (2004), the threat of information overload and the attendant crisis of narrative are thematized through the story’s staging of a central tension between statistical (quantitative) and narrative (qualitative) significance. Despite its numerous “anti-narrative” features, “Mister Squishy” is rather ingeniously designed to compel the reader’s narrative interest and participation by exploiting natural readerly “needs” – for narrative relevance, coherence, and closure. Wallace activates these readerly needs through his careful manipulation of how and when key information is revealed. The story’s dramatic shifts in pacing and perspective, and its oscillations between narration and description, combine to create extraordinary moments of suspense and surprise which drive both plot and reader forward. In this way “Mister Squishy” plays with the cognitive-affective dynamics of storytelling throughout, foregrounding them for our reflection. Ultimately, the story’s thematic concerns and the reader’s enactive performance of the text work together to reinforce the story’s ultimate affirmation of narrative as an essential meaning-making act and a central aspect of what it means to be human.
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Understanding the Call of Social Justice Advocacy: A Phenomenological Study of High School Counselors
Leonis Wright
Due to a growing diversified society, and the specific needs of students who are considered marginalized, school counselors are identified as crucial personnel to serve as social justice advocates to promote educational equity for all students. Despite this calling, there is limited research on school counselors’ understanding of social justice advocacy and their expected role. Thus, this article highlights research that provided practicing high school counselors the opportunity to share their views on this phenomenon.
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''The Girls of Akure are Now too Costly'': Gender, Bridewealth and Legal Debates over Marriage in Colonial Southwestern Nigeria
Morenikenji Asaaju
This study demonstrates how the junior men created an important status for themselves as they negotiated the authority of the senior men (chiefs and fathers) who facilitated marriage relations and served as cultural guardians. I then link this struggle to the larger legal debates on marriage. As young men stated their perspectives on marriage payments, they continuously unveiled a number of sociocultural and economic matters that connect intensely to the broader social change under British colonialism.
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Comeback Workout: QM Practices and the Health and Fitness Industry
Wonsuk Cha
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical model for the relationship between quality management (QM) practices and the health and fitness industry through two competencies, including relational competence (RC) and technical competence (TC).
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing from the resource-based view and the relational competence theory, this paper seeks a further understanding of the conceptual link between QM practices and the health and fitness industry.
Findings
This paper proposes that RC and TC will positively mediate the relationship between QM practices and customers’ behavioral intentions to use the health and fitness service. -
Quantitative Urbanism: How Illinois City Characteristics Change as They Grow
Heather Conte and J. Christopher Tweddle
The global trend of population shifts toward increased urbanization has led to interest in understanding the dynamics of city growth. In the mid-twentieth century, the Chicago School of Sociology began expressing urbanization in terms of human ecology. This led to the development of ideas of urban metabolism and the use of mathematical models to describe the growth. These quantitative approaches have shown that many aspects of cities, such as crime rates, energy usage, and wealth, change exponentially in relation to city size. Multiple urban indicators for cities in Illinois are explored as functions of population size and results are discussed compared to current research worldwide. The paper discusses briefly how this developing data could be used in the future as our world becomes more and more urban. Possibly, what we know about successful urban regions could help us build strong new communities in developing countries
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The Impact of ICT Training on Income Generation Opportunities for Vulnerable Young Adults in Lebanon
Rasha Elhage and Chantal Lakkis
The aim of this study was to identify if acquiring ICT skills through DOT Lebanon’s ICT training program (a local NGO) improved income generation opportunities after 3-months of completing the training. The target population was the NGO’s vulnerable young beneficiaries. This study was completed in an effort to find creative and digital solutions to the high rate of youth unemployment in Lebanon (37%), one of the highest rates in the world. Results showed that 48% of beneficiaries who were unemployed at baseline, were exposed to at least one income generation opportunity 3 months after completing the DOT Lebanon training. Also, 49% of beneficiaries who were already employed at baseline were exposed to at least one income generation opportunity. Gender, English proficiency and governorate were variables that were found to be statistically significant. Males were more likely than females to be exposed to income generation opportunities. Those who knew little English had better chances than those who had no English proficiency. Beneficiaries living in the capital Beirut were more likely than others to be exposed to income generation opportunities.
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Simulation‐based Learning Modules for Undergraduate Engineering Dynamics
Ernur Karadoğan and Figen Karadoğan
In this paper, we describe software modules that provide both visual and haptic feedback to the student, and evaluate their effectiveness. The system integrates software modules with a haptic interface that can augment teaching and learning in a required undergraduate engineering Dynamics course. Students can change parameters, predict answers, compare outcomes, interact with animations, and feel the results using a haptic interface. Three software modules were evaluated in two separate studies. The first study focused on subjective ratings based on student opinions. The second study assessed the effect of the modules on students' conceptual understanding for force and motion using a pretest/posttest design. The results revealed that the practice with the modules significantly improved the conceptual understanding of the targeted concepts. In addition, students showed a significant preference by stating that the modules would increase their interest in Dynamics as a subject and their engagement in the Dynamics course.
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Place, Prestige, Price, and Promotion: How International Students Use Social Networks To Learn About Universities Abroad
Natalia Rekhter and Donald Hossler
This qualitative study aims to explore the social media component of international students’ college choice process for studying abroad. One of the emerging pieces of evidence was that participants applied social media specific criteria, such as the number of “likes,” the number of followers, and the ratio of followers to following to rank Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and measure their prestige. Another emerging finding was that participants with no connections abroad relied exclusively on social media for their college choice decisions and without social media would not even consider an option of transferring abroad. Videos and pictures offered by social network sites (SNS) provided emotional benefits by helping “to see” an unknown reality, develop sense of belonging, diminish apprehensions of moving abroad, and solidify the choice of HEI, while traditional sources of promotion, such as websites, were perceived as not trustworthy. Higher education professionals could hire individuals with proven expertise in social media to create consistent and meaningful content on different social media platforms to connect with potential international candidates.
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New York City’s Captive Work Force: Remembering the Prisoners Who Built Rikers Island
Jarrod Shanahan and Jayne Moody
This article undertakes a "history of the present" as a means of intervening in current debate around the closure of the Rikers Island jail complex and its replacement with smaller "state of the art" jails. We argue that the telling of carceral history is potentially a powerful weapon capable of shaping unfolding events, as well as, helping to preserve the memory of those who have suffered from the practice of human caging. To this effect we reconstruct the history of the Rikers Island penal colony predating its officially-recognized opening in 1935; a history defined by the forced prison labour that was used to expand the island and construct the original penitentiary. We illustrate how the labour of these prisoners, lives on in the physical structure of Rikers, as well as in its scandalous carceral existence. In defiance of current efforts at piecemeal reform or of preserving the status quo, we offer this historical intervention as a means of problematizing the present effort to solve the problems of jails with more jails, suggesting instead that the past calls for more drastic action—an escape
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Comparisons of the Risk of Medication Noncompliance and Suicidal Behavior Among Patients with Depressive Disorders Using Different Monotherapy Antidepressants in Taiwan: A Nationwide Populations-based Retrospective Cohort Study
Kuan-Pin Su, Ning Lu, Chao-Hsuin Tang, Wei-Che Chiu, Hui-Chih Chang, and Kuo-Cherh Huang
Background: The aim of this study was to assess the association between various classes of antidepressants and the risk of medication noncompliance as well as suicidal behavior among depressed patients. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted utilizing two nationwide population-based datasets in Taiwan from 2010 to 2016. The outcome measures included the risk of medication noncompliance, attempted suicide, and completed suicide. Cox proportional hazards models with stratification of the propensity score deciles were performed. Results: A total of 447,411 new antidepressant users were identified. Compared to SSRIs, patients who received SARIs [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 1.124, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.108–1.142], SNRIs (aHR = 1.049, 95% CI = 1.033–1.065), and other classes of antidepressants (aHR = 1.037, 95% CI = 1.024–1.051) were more likely to exhibit poor medication noncompliance. Patients who received SNRIs had a higher risk of attempted suicide (aHR = 1.294, 95% CI = 1.114–1.513), compared to SSRIs. However, patents in the TCAs group revealed the opposite result (aHR = 0.543, 95% CI = 0.387–0.762). Concerning the risk of completed suicide, this analysis detected no statistical significance across different types of antidepressants. Limitations: Although the universal coverage of Taiwan's national health insurance program tends to minimize the risk of selection and recall bias, it is difficult to rule out medical surveillance bias by using claim data. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that classes of antidepressants exe
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Physiological responses of Scaevola Aemula Seedlings Under High Temperature Stress
B He, T Guo, H Huang, W Xi, and Xiaoyong Chen
Global climate change is expected to result in a relative high frequency of a short period of extreme high temperature (HT) on plant ecosystems and can have an adverse impact on plant growth and development, yet the response of plants to such damage is not fully understood. In this study, physiological responses of Scaevola aemula seedlings to a short-term(a 3-day period) HT stress were investigated in order to examine the adaptation of S. aemula to the thermal environment. The S. aemula seedlings were cultivated under four temperature treatments of 25/20, 35/27, 40/30, 46/35 °C (day/night). The HT stress-induced injure symptoms in leaves were recorded and several selected important physiological variables were measured. The results showed that the leave injuries were not apparent under HT (35/27 °C), but serious damages were observed at days two and three post-treatment under severe HT (40/30 and 46/35 °C). For adapting the thermic environments, S. aemula seedlings exhibited a rapid increase of photosynthetic pigments, soluble sugar contents, and superoxide dismutase activity, and simultaneously a decrease of soluble protein contents, proline contents and catalase activity. The HT tolerance of S. aemula species depends upon both the elevated temperature and the period of time under the increased temperature. Our study suggests that S. aemula could grow well under 35/27 °C. The results provide evidence for the introduction and resource assessment of S. aemula species.
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Impacts of Plant Community Changes on Soil Carbon Contents in Northeastern Illinois
Xiaoyong Chen and Karen D'Arcy
Land-cover changes not only affect regional climates through alteration in surface energy and water balance, but also affect key ecological processes, such as carbon (C) cycling and sequestration in plant ecosystems. The object of this study was to investigate the effects of land-cover changes on the distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) contents under four plant community types (deciduous forests, pine forests, mixed pine-deciduous forests, and prairies) in northeastern Illinois, USA. Soil samples were collected from incremental soil depths (0–10, 10–20, 20–30, and 30–50 cm) under the studied plant communities. The results showed that SOC concentration decreased with increases of soil depth in the studied forests and prairies. No significant differences of SOC concentrations were found at the upper soil layers (0–10 cm) among the four plant types. However, SOC concentrations were statistically higher at the lower soil depth (30–40 cm) in prairies than in other three forest types. The SOC storage (0–40 cm soil depth) was reduced in an order prairies (250.6) > mixed pine-deciduous forests (240.7) > pine forests (190.1) > deciduous forests (163.4 Mg/ha). The characteristics of relative short life cycle, restively high turnover rate of roots, and large partition of photosynthetic production allocated to belowground were likely attributed to the higher accumulation of C in soils in tallgrass prairies than in forests. Our data indicated the conversion of native tallgrass prairies to pure forest plantations resulted in a considerable decline of SOC storage. Results suggest that land-cover changes have a significant impact on SOC storage and sequestration in plant ecosystems.
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Not So Fast: Perspectives on the Role of Hospital Librarians in Writing Peer Reviewed Publications and Supporting Scholarly Communications
Paul Blobaum
Articles in the Specialty of the House column do not have abstracts. From the Introduction: The professional practice of hospital librarianship continues to evolve, and looks much different than a generation ago. The publishing world has also changed significantly in recent years, particularly in the area of scholarly communications. Open Access mandates on the national and local levels and the explosion of online Open Access journals have created confusion for authors and librarians at all levels of the scholarly communication process. Solicitations for manuscripts arrive by email and appear in social media and Web sites, preying on the unsuspecting author. The Hospital Librarian can help navigate the primordial soup of legitimate publications and low quality journals, and provide resources to help meet the needs of library users who are developing writing projects. This article will explore a model for developing and supporting a community of scholarly writers in the hospital setting, and present a theoretical framework for the hospital librarian to bring order to this fast changing, unfamiliar world of scholarly communications. Also, perspectives and reflections regarding the Hospital Librarian as author of journal articles in peer-reviewed journals will be explored.
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The Development of Hospital Library Consortia and the Legacy of the Chicago and South Consortium
Paul Blobaum
Published in the Specialty of the House column. This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an Article published in the Journal of Hospital Librarianship, July-September 2014, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/15323269.2014.923804
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Evidence Based Interventions for Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: A Systematic Review
Nancy J. MacMullen, Laura A. Dulski, and Paul Blobaum
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Mapping the Literature of Addictions Treatment
Paul Blobaum
Objectives: This study analyzes and describes the literature of addictions treatment and indexing coverage for core journals in the field. Methods: Citations from three source journals for the years 2008 through 2010 were analyzed using the 2010 Mapping the Literature of Nursing and Allied Health Professions Project Protocol. The distribution of cited journals was analyzed by applying Bradford’s Law of Scattering. Results: More than 40,000 citations were analyzed. Journals (2,655 unique titles) were the most frequently cited form of literature, with 10 journals providing one-third of the cited journal references. Drug and Alcohol Dependence was the most frequently cited journal. The frequency of cited addictions journals, formats cited, age of citations, and indexing coverage is identified. Conclusions: Addictions treatment literature is widely dispersed among multidisciplinary publications with relatively few publications providing most of the citations. Results of this study will help researchers, students, clinicians, and librarians identify the most important journals and bibliographic indexes in this field, as well as publishing opportunities.
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Resources for Supporting the APA Publication Style
Paul Blobaum
This article is an update of Blobaum, Paul M. “Resources for Supporting the APA Publication Style”, The Journal of Hospital Librarianship. 9(2), April-June 2009, 204-209. DOI: 10.1080/15323260902812849 Published in the Patchwork column. This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an Article published in the Journal of Hospital Librarianship, April-June 2010, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/15323261003681570
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The Health Sciences Librarian in Medical Education: A Vital Pathways Task Force
Paul Blobaum
Objectives: The Medical Education Task Force of the Task Force on Vital Pathways for Hospital Librarians reviewed current and future roles of health sciences librarians in medical education at the graduate and undergraduate levels and worked with national organizations to integrate library services, education, and staff into the requirements for training medical students and residents. Methods: Standards for medical education accreditation programs were studied, and a literature search was conducted on the topic of the role of the health sciences librarian in medical education. Results: Expectations for library and information services in current standards were documented, and a draft standard prepared. A comprehensive bibliography on the role of the health sciences librarian in medical education was completed, and an analysis of the services provided by health sciences librarians was created. Conclusion: An essential role and responsibility of the health sciences librarian will be to provide the health care professional with the skills needed to access, manage, and use library and information resources effectively. Validation and recognition of the health sciences librarian’s contributions to medical education by accrediting agencies will be critical. The opportunity lies in health sciences librarians embracing the diverse roles that can be served in this vital activity, regardless of accrediting agency mandates.
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Standard Precautions (Electronic Resource Review)
Paul M. Blobaum
This article reviews a product that is no longer available on the market in 2015. The discussion of Standard Precautions and Universal Precautions standards is still accurate. (Author note, January 3, 2015)
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An Additional Source of Data on Northeastern Illinois Woodlands around the Time of Settlement
Jon Mendelson
A new source of data on early postsettlement woodlands, witness trees in woodlot subdivision surveys, is described. Subdivision surveys of Thorn Grove, Will County, Illinois (1848-1856), using 92 witness trees, are compared to the presettlement 1834 Public Land Survey (PLS) including the same area. The woodland described in the subdivision surveys was richer in species, lower in density and composed of smaller trees than the woodland described in the PLS. Decreased density and tree size suggest beginning deforestation, but surveyor bias is a possibility.
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Age Structure of Trees in Thorn Creek Woods
Jon Mendelson
Diameter distributions and age-size regressions are presented for 11 tree species from Thorn Creek Woods, Will County, Illinois. Diameter distributions showed a good fit to the negative power model of survivorship. Nevertheless, 7 of the 11 species showed the 'gap-bulge" pattern, with fewer than expected numbers in intermediate size classes. Although age-size regressions were generally significant, the scatter diagrams for most species showed clustering into two age groups undetected by regression analysis. The juxtaposition of these results suggests the presence of two cohorts on the site; one of post-settlement origin (after 1835), the other emerging after the decline of agriculture (post-1930).
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Feeding Relationships Among Species of Notropis (Pisces: Cyprinidae) in a Wisconsin Stream
Jon Mendelson
The relationship between spatial preference and diet in four species of the genus Notropis (Pisces: Cyprinidae) was investigated in Roxbury Creek, a small stream in southern Wisconsin. Characteristic spatial distributions for each species were determined from frequency of catch in unbaited minnow traps set at varying heights and locations in the pools of the stream. The spatial distributions of aquatic invertebrates were also investigated. Data suggest a separation between the sedentary bottom fauna and the drift fauna. Data on the food habits of Notropis suggest strong overlap (69%-84%) in the invertebrate genera chosen by the four species. Differences in food habits relate principally to differences in space utilzation with mid-water species tending to feed on drifting invertebrates, wheras bottom dwellers fed principally on benthic forms. It is concluded that spatial rather than taxonomic considerations are the chief determinants of prey selection, and that this pattern of resource subdivision tends to reduce competition among these four species.
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