University of Central Missouri

Background. Rural schoolchildren outpace their urban counterparts in obesity and diet-related chronic disease rates. Educating students on nutrition basics may help reduce these health burdens in this focus population. Rural schoolteachers are ideally positioned to teach students about nutrition; however, to teach nutrition, one must first understand basic nutrition concepts. The nutrition literacy and knowledge of rural schoolteachers, as well as strategies to and barriers for integrating nutrition into rural classrooms, are understudied. Examining these topics may provide a deeper understanding of nutrition education in rural schools. Methods. Data were collected via an online survey of K–12 teachers ( n = 153) from seven Midwestern rural school districts. This survey collected data on nutrition literacy, nutrition knowledge, and preferred methods for implementing nutrition education into current curricula. Descriptive statistics were reported; associations between nutrition literacy and knowledge were examined. Results. Nutrition literacy levels were borderline low (mean score 45.7 out of 64). Nutrition knowledge and literacy were associated ( p < .001). Most teachers ( n = 108, 70%) were/may be willing to change lessons to incorporate nutrition information, with hands-on and group activities being preferred strategies. Barriers to including nutrition information into curricula included lack of time, knowledge, and resources. Most teachers reported little support from administration for promoting nutrition in the classroom. Discussion. Implementing nutrition education into teachers’ continuing education requirements may provide a means of improving teacher nutrition literacy and knowledge. Support from both state-level and local administration could benefit both nutrition knowledge acquisition by schoolteachers and implementation of nutrition education throughout the curriculum.

The current study explored teacher and principal familiarity with school wellness polices in primary schools, including who serves on school wellness committees, and who should implement and enforce wellness policies in the school. An electronic survey guided by the Health Promoting Schools framework was administered from February to May 2020 to teachers and principals from one urban and one suburban school district in the Midwestern United States. There were 450 participants; response rates were 28% (urban), 33% (suburban), and 51% (school principals). Only 41.7% of the aggregate participant pool were familiar with their wellness policy. Participants were more familiar in the suburban compared to the urban district (χ² = 68.2, p-value ≤ 0.001). Teachers/health teachers, nurses, and principals were most likely to be on wellness committees, and the most preferred wellness champions were teachers, nurses, and food service staff. Teachers and nurses are integral to school wellness and health education as part of multiple systems that can promote school health. The Health Promoting Schools framework is useful for guiding examinations to improve understanding of school wellness within school communities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put healthcare workers in various morally distressful situations while undertaking demanding tasks of providing needed care for patients. Research has shown that moral distress could lead to long-lasting negative physiological and psychological consequences among healthcare workers and worsened job retention among healthcare organizations (Corley et al., 2001, Morley, 2018). Studies have reported mental health outcomes such as anxiety, depression, burnout, posttraumatic stress disorder, and compassion fatigue that resulted from moral distress during the COVID-19 pandemic (Norman et al., 2021, Whitehead et al., 2021). This study filled the gap in the literature by employing Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) transactional theory of stress and coping to investigate how moral distressful events create stressful outcomes and how coping resources mitigate the negative impacts. Structural equation modeling was used to perform a moderated mediation analysis of study variables. The result of this study supported the mediating role of moral distress in the relationship between morally distressful event and compassion fatigue, and the moderating role of organizational support in the relationship between morally distressful event and moral distress. These findings suggested developing effective interventions to mitigate the negative impacts of moral distressful events for healthcare workers during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decline in abundance and species richness of insects, including butterflies, have been linked to factors such as habitat loss and climate change. While some butterfly species are increasing, an overall decrease has been frequently observed in both Europe and North America. The objective of this study was to assess trends of butterfly abundances in Mediterranean shrublands of conserved lands in San Diego County, CA, USA. Funding and surveys were focused on the threatened Hermes copper (Lycaena hermes), but the abundance of all butterfly species was recorded. Analyses utilized the annual maximum count (Max Count) for each species at each transect during 2010–2022. The 10 most commonly observed species experienced, on average, a 1.4% annual decline in abundance, and 20 less commonly observed species were, on average, found at 5.9% fewer transects each year. The only exceptions to these declines are species (cabbage white [Pieris rapae], checkered white [Pontia protodice], and white checkered-skipper [Burnsius albezens]) that feed on non-native mustards or are more common in disturbed habitats. The Max Count provided an efficient, robust, and stable population index, that can be utilized to leverage funding for focal species to assess the broader community.

This study emphasizes the importance of library and information science (LIS) educators drawing insights from practitioners’ lived experiences, particularly considering perspectives of former students’ experiences when navigating the Master of Library Science (MLS) curriculum. Acknowledging the constructivist underpinnings of learning, with a focus on Schema Theory, is imperative for LIS faculty to learn more about how students perceived their past curriculum. Challenges occur when students lack the necessary schemata to comprehend unfamiliar concepts, particularly in areas like diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Given the lack of diversity amongst the faculty population in LIS, faculty must navigate this discrepancy, recognizing the potential mismatch between their own life experiences, those of their student body, and the diverse patrons of varying genders, races, sexualities, income levels, locations, and abilities that libraries and librarians aim to serve. To address this, educators should not only activate existing student schema but also guide them in constructing new schemas, especially when delving into unfamiliar DEI topics. This study employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, involving 190 participants who responded to a survey. Additionally, 26 participants completed interviews. Following Creswell and Plano Clark’s approach, this design allowed for a quantitative phase to gather data, followed by a qualitative phase to further contextualize the quantitative results. The findings offer valuable insights into DEI education and the challenges faced by LIS educators in promoting meaningful learning experiences to prepare students to work with all library patrons.

Differences in how Republicans and Democrats responded to COVID-19 resulted in differences in the functioning of housing markets. Democrats adjusted behavior more than Republicans in response to the pandemic. Democrats engaged in more social distancing, were less likely to have people into their homes, and were less willing to visit strangers’ homes. This resulted in supply effects that caused higher housing prices, fewer listings, and fewer days on the market for counties with lower support for former president Donald Trump in the 2020 election. We find no impact of state-imposed shutdowns or population density when political partisanship is accounted for.

The Harbison’s dun skipper subspecies (Euphyes vestris harbisoni) has a geographically limited distribution in southern California, USA and northern Mexico, isolated from the other subspecies. This skipper is a specialist, primarily found in riparian oak woodlands and only feeds on the San Diego sedge as a larva. Several extirpations have been documented, generating concern for its long-term persistence. We conducted visual surveys in 2021 and 2022, and a marking study in 2022, to assess population sizes. Habitat preferences were explored by collecting habitat covariates and analyzing GIS available environmental data. A significant decline in skipper counts occurred during a drought, with abundances remaining small following the drought. Population size estimates from a marking study had low accuracy due to the small population sizes. For this reason, we used the annual maximum count (Max Count) as a robust and efficient metric for monitoring this skipper. No difference was found between used and unused sedge patches using vegetation-based habitat covariates. However, a GIS approach described the historic distribution as woodlands at intermediate elevations, warmer summer temperatures, and intermediate levels of summer evapotranspiration. Implications for insect conservation: The decline in abundance and number of populations justify future conservation efforts, including identifying areas that should be prioritized for future surveys and restoration efforts. Most importantly, this study demonstrates that these woodlands should be managed/protected in their entirety to allow for annual movement of sedge plants and skippers.

Changes in phenology are a common response to climate change, but their impact on population dynamics is often ambiguous and at‐risk species are omitted from most analyses. We assessed the relationship between change in abundance and change in phenology for 114 butterfly populations of 31 at‐risk species from five families in 10 US states. We used data from Pollard‐walk and similar monitoring programmes for which count data were collected on multiple occasions per year. We also collected information from managers on site‐level management interventions. To estimate abundance, we first fit separate smoothing splines for each species at each site. Yearly abundance was estimated as the area under the activity curve for that year, and from this, we estimated abundance trends over the period for which we had population data. Phenological shifts were measured as the changes in median activity date, beginning of flight season, duration of flight season and phenological constancy (negative of the magnitude of trends in median activity date). We also evaluated the association of ecological traits (voltinism, diet breadth, position within geographic range, ecoregion, overwintering stage and seasonality) and management (proportion of years with interventions) with trends in abundance and in phenology. Across all populations, the estimated trend in abundance was −0.085, equivalent to an 8.1% decline/year. Positive trends in abundance were associated with smaller shifts in the median flight date (higher constancy). We also found strong associations between trends in abundance and management interventions, with increased management associated with increasing abundance trends. In general, ecological traits were not strongly associated with trends in phenology or trends in abundance. Synthesis and applications: Populations with less phenological constancy are more likely to be rapidly declining and populations with more frequent management interventions are increasing. These results suggest that one key outcome of management interventions may be to mitigate some of the impacts of climate change, which in turn may contribute to higher population growth. These results also imply that managers may need to alter the timing of appropriate management to synchronize with activities of at‐risk species as species shift their phenology.

Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, is endemic in certain regions due to a stable transmission cycle between rodents and their associated fleas. In addition, fleas are believed to serve as reservoirs that can occasionally cause enzootic plague cycles and explosive epizootic outbreaks that increase human exposure. However, transmission by fleas is inefficient and associated with a shortened lifespan of the flea and rodent hosts, indicating that there remain significant gaps in our understanding of the vector-animal cycle of Y. pestis. Here, we show that laboratory-reared, infected fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis) can transmit viable Y. pestis from adults to eggs, and the bacteria can be passed through all subsequent life stages of the flea. Thus, our data raise the possibility that transovarial transmission in fleas might contribute to the persistence of Y. pestis in the environment without detectable plague activity in mammals.

This research explores the impact of epistemic-focused science instruction on college students’ paranormal beliefs and conceptual physics understanding. Despite lacking a scientific foundation, paranormal beliefs are common. Grounded on previous studies, a theoretical model was conceived to tackle this challenge. The model indicates that these beliefs, much like common science alternative ideas and misconceptions, are likely derived from inherent biases in intuitive thinking. Accordingly, an intervention was designed and put into practices in three consecutive semesters. The intervention incorporated epistemic and ontological training. It challenged students’ intuitive idea formation and confirmation and encouraged model-based hypothesis formation backed by empirical evidence. A three-level, mixed-methods study tested the effectiveness of the intervention. Quantitative data at the whole-class level displayed a reduction in paranormal beliefs with a small effect size. Concurrently, a large effect size was observed in enhancing students’ conceptual physics understanding. Moving to the subgroup level, a k-means clustering analysis revealed distinct student clusters characterized by different shifts in paranormal beliefs and conceptual physics learning, indicating differential responses to the intervention. At the individual layer of analysis, qualitative data underscored instances where students creatively misconstrued scientific concepts to reinforce their paranormal beliefs, highlighting the situated and contextual nature of epistemic practices. This work reinforces the critical role of science as a way of knowing for transforming student epistemic practices. It highlights the transition from forming definitive truth based on intuitive idea formation and confirmation, toward model-based hypothesis formation, backed by empirical evidence, to construct a tentative truth until the better one emerges.