West Chester University
  • West Chester, United States
Recent publications
This qualitative case study delved into students’ understanding and positioning while they participated in solving an authentic, conceptually‐based problem in a high‐school chemistry class. Verbal and nonverbal cues, particularly gestures, offered broader awareness of students’ engagement in sensemaking during the learning experience. The chemistry classroom emerged as a dynamic space where intricate scientific thinking unfolded during this experience, and our embodied, multimodal analysis focused on unraveling this complexity. Our analysis determined the ways that various features of the contextual configuration—the intersection of different semiotic fields in the social setting—affected student thinking and participation. For example, the lack of specific reference to semiotic resources and the lack of attention to a key gesture influenced the way ideas evolved in the solution generation phase. The analysis also revealed the teacher's impact on the contextual configuration at critical junctures, including her influence on the use of semiotic resources and on student positioning. Finally, the embodied and multimodal analysis provided insights into the affordances and constraints of the activity structure and modes of communication on student's involvement in scientific practices. These insights highlighted the importance of educators recognizing diverse forms of student expression, including gestures, as essential for nurturing scientific sensemaking and supporting students in utilizing different modalities productively. Our approach can assist researchers in holistically investigating pedagogical strategies that can facilitate reform‐based science teaching. It can also assist teachers in fostering effective communication—both verbal and non‐verbal, while simultaneously guiding positioning within and between student groups, establishing an environment conducive to equitable sensemaking.
This Anaphylaxis Manifesto calls on communities to prioritise 10 practical actions to improve the lives of people at risk of serious allergic reactions. The Global Allergy and Asthma European Network and the European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients' Associations (EFA) compiled patient‐centric priorities. We used qualitative consensus methods, research evidence and feedback from over 200 patient groups, stakeholder organisations and healthcare professionals. We encourage healthcare, education and food organisations to collaborate with people at risk of serious allergic reactions to tackle safety, anxiety and financial burdens for individuals and societies. Key priorities for prevention include awareness‐raising campaigns for the public and professionals, school and workplace initiatives and mandatory precautionary allergen labels on food. Priorities for improving immediate and long‐term management include educating healthcare professionals, patients and schools about when and how to use adrenaline, funding two approved adrenaline devices for everyone at risk, and facilitating access to allergy specialists. Integrated care pathways should include clinical and non‐clinical management options such as individualised risk assessment and quality of life assessment, self‐management plans, dietetic and psychosocial support and peer support. Organisations around the world are committing to work together towards these priorities.
Purpose Aphasia treatment should be individualized, so clinicians are likely modifying established treatment paradigms to fit client needs. Little extant research describes which treatment protocols clinicians modify, how and why they modify their treatments, and what sources they use to guide their modifications. The purpose of this study was to gain insights into these issues. Method A Qualtrics survey was distributed through speech-language pathology–related professional and social media networks from January through June 2023. Forty-seven speech-language pathologists provided basic information on assessment and treatment approaches that they use, and 32 respondents provided detailed responses regarding their current treatment practices. Results The two restitutive aphasia treatments clinicians reported using most often were Semantic Feature Analysis and Verb Network Strengthening Treatment. The reasons for using these two treatments were that they are easy to administer, patients enjoy them, and they are perceived to be effective. Most clinicians reported that they often modify aphasia treatment protocols for a variety of reasons. These included matching patients' linguistic profiles by changing stimuli or the presentation modality as well as meeting time constraints and productivity standards. Respondents reported that they mostly rely on their personal experience, suggestions from colleagues, and linguistic theory to guide their modifications. Conclusions Clinicians often modify standardized treatments to balance their patients' needs and the demands of their settings and typically rely on personal experience to do so. In the future, more clinician–researcher partnerships and investigations of active treatment ingredients are needed to support clinicians in making efficient and effective treatment modifications. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.27703662
Financial flexibility, due to its capability in optimizing resource allocation, enhancing operational efficiency, and responding to market changes, has become a crucial strategy for “specialized, refined, differentiated, and innovative” (SRDI) enterprises to address financing difficulties and cash flow management pressures, thereby achieving sustainable development. This study, based on financial flexibility theory, conducts an empirical analysis using data from China’s listed SRDI enterprises from 2016 to 2023. The results show that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between financial flexibility and corporate sustainable development performance. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the impact of financial flexibility on sustainable development performance varies significantly under different ownership structures and dimensions. This study not only enriches the theory of financial flexibility but also reveals its complex impact mechanisms within SRDI enterprises, providing practical guidance and data support for enterprises to achieve sustainable development in a complex market environment.
Course‐based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) can be a powerful tool in broadening participation in undergraduate research. In this paper, we review the benefits of and barriers to undergraduate research experiences and explore how CUREs can mitigate some of those issues. As a part of the NSF‐supported Biological Collections in Ecology and Evolution Network (BCEENET) activities, a series of network meetings produced a set of recommendations to increase the accessibility of CUREs for all students at all institution types. We use BCEENET CUREs that focus on digitized natural history collections data to illustrate how leveraging adaptable open educational resources that use freely available data and analysis tools can increase accessibility of undergraduate research. We also discuss how inclusive networks of educators and research collaborators can support broadening CURE implementation.
Returning to campus after remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us were excited about participating in interactive, hands-on health promotion for students. In response, our Office of Wellness Promotion planned a student health and well-being expo in partnership with the university’s College of Health Sciences (CHS). Faculty were invited to involve their students in the delivery. Student groups were encouraged to deliver health education in an interactive format. The event was open to the campus community, and participants were able to further their knowledge and skills in health and well-being topics. The student health and well-being expo was the first of its kind at the university, where students could learn with and from their peers and share their skills in many dimensions of wellness. The interactive nature of the activities allowed participants to practice health promotion skills and engage a diverse audience. Analysis of program evaluation data yielded overwhelmingly positive results, with most attendees considering the expo an innovative campus activity that fulfilled a need. Specifically, the interactive nature, peer learning, and incentives were aspects of the event students want to see return in future iterations of the expo.
Preservation and recognition of primary paleotopography along a bedding surface is often a neglected component in paleogeographic reconstruction. The Mill Canyon Dinosaur track site (MCDT) is a spectacular bedding plane exposure with a diverse assemblage of vertebrate ichnnofauna. Small-scale 3D-photogrammetric and ichnofossil analyses of two areas on the periphery of the MCDT surface demonstrate the presence of preserved primary paleotopography. The first area consists of a paleotopographic bench that drops off to a minimum of ∼0.5–0.6 meters. On this bench is at least one resting trace analogous to modern traces of crocodiles documented from topographic highs along rivers and lakes. At the second locality, systematic variations in track morphology indicate that the trackmaker gait was influenced by changes in surface elevation with movement across the ridge, thus affirming that paleorelief is preserved. The ichnofossils on this Cretaceous bedding surface likely represent months- to years-worth of biological activity.
A space X is “sequentially n-connected” at xXx\in X if for every 0kn0\leqslant k\leqslant n and sequence of k-loops f1,f2,f3,:SkXf_1,f_2,f_3,\ldots :S^k\rightarrow X that converges toward the point x, the maps fmf_m contract by a sequence of null-homotopies that converge toward x. Unlike standard local contractibility conditions, the sequential n-connectedness property is closed under forming infinite products and infinite shrinking wedges. We use this property, in conjunction with the Whitney Covering Lemma, to construct homotopies that simultaneously perform infinite deformations of n-loops and, ultimately, allow us to continuously deform arbitrary n-loops into maps with simpler forms. As a direct application, we extend the computation of the n-th homotopy group of a shrinking wedge of certain (n1)(n-1)-connected spaces due to K. Eda and K. Kawamura.
Objective: To examine short-term (i.e., postintervention) outcomes from a randomized controlled trial comparing a school-based telehealth-delivered depression prevention program, Interpersonal Psychotherapy–Adolescent Skills Training (IPT-AST), to services as usual (SAU). We expected IPT-AST would be acceptable and feasible and that IPT-AST adolescents would experience greater reductions in depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and impairment compared with SAU. Method: Adolescents (N = 242; Mage = 14.80 years, SD = 0.70; 65% female; 21% Black; 13% Hispanic/Latinx) with elevated scores on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977) at screening provided data at baseline, 2-month (midpoint of IPT-AST), and 3-month (postintervention) assessments. They reported depression symptoms on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, anxiety symptoms on the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (Birmaher et al., 1997), and impairment on the Columbia Impairment Scale (Bird et al., 1993). Baseline depression diagnosis was examined as a moderator. Results: Hierarchical linear models showed that adolescents reported significant reductions in depression symptoms and impairment across conditions. IPT-AST adolescents reported significantly greater reductions in anxiety symptoms than SAU adolescents, d = .39, 95% CI [.05, .72], p = .003. Depression diagnosis moderated outcomes (ds = .33–.34, ps ≤ .05), such that IPT-AST adolescents without a diagnosis at baseline showed greater improvements in depression and anxiety symptoms than SAU adolescents. Adolescents in SAU with a depression diagnosis at baseline showed greater improvements in impairment compared with IPT-AST. Attendance and satisfaction data demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of telehealth-delivered IPT-AST. Conclusions: Results support telehealth-delivered IPT-AST as a promising intervention for improving short-term outcomes among adolescents with depression symptoms but without a depression diagnosis.
Background Poor prenatal maternal sleep is a pervasive, yet modifiable, health concern affecting maternal and foetal wellbeing. Experimental rodent studies demonstrate that prenatal maternal sleep deprivation affects offspring brain development and leads to adverse outcomes, including increased anxiety-like behaviour. We examined the relation between prenatal maternal sleep quality and neonatal white matter development and subsequent infant negative emotionality. Methods Participants included 116 mother-infant (53% female) dyads. Prenatal sleep quality was prospectively assessed three times during gestation (16, 29, and 35 gestational weeks) using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Neonatal white matter, as indexed by fractional anisotropy (FA), was assessed via diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Negative emotionality was measured via behavioural observation and maternal report when the infant was 6-months of age. Findings More prenatal sleep problems across pregnancy were associated with higher neonatal FA in the uncinate fasciculus (left: b = 0.20, p = .004; right: b = 0.15, p = .027). Higher neonatal uncinate FA was linked to infant negative emotionality, and uncinate FA partially mediated the association between prenatal maternal sleep and behavioural observation of infant negative emotionality. Interpretation Findings highlight prenatal sleep as an environmental signal that affects the developing neonatal brain and later infant negative emotionality. Funding 10.13039/100000002National Institutes of Health (R01MH109662, R01HL155744, P50HD103573, K12AR084226, F32 Training fellowships MH125572, HL165844, MH106440, and diversity supplement R01HL155744-01S1).
North Korean refugee women face significant risks of traumatic experiences, including sexual exploitation and violence, both in North Korea and during migration. However, there is limited research on the long-term effects of sexual violence among these women. Using data from 245 North Korean refugee women, collected by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea in 2017, we examined the impact of sexual violence victimization during pre-migration and intermediate stages on acculturative stress and hazardous drinking. Our findings revealed that women who experienced sexual violence during the intermediate stage were more likely to engage in hazardous drinking, though no significant effect was found on acculturative stress. This study provides valuable insights for policymakers aiming to reduce negative psychological outcomes in vulnerable populations.
Epilepsy care generates multiple sources of high‐dimensional data, including clinical, imaging, electroencephalographic, genomic, and neuropsychological information, that are collected routinely to establish the diagnosis and guide management. Thanks to high‐performance computing, sophisticated graphics processing units, and advanced analytics, we are now on the cusp of being able to use these data to significantly improve individualized care for people with epilepsy. Despite this, many clinicians, health care providers, and people with epilepsy are apprehensive about implementing Big Data and accompanying technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). Practical, ethical, privacy, and climate issues represent real and enduring concerns that have yet to be completely resolved. Similarly, Big Data and AI‐related biases have the potential to exacerbate local and global disparities. These are highly germane concerns to the field of epilepsy, given its high burden in developing nations and areas of socioeconomic deprivation. This educational paper from the International League Against Epilepsy's (ILAE) Big Data Commission aims to help clinicians caring for people with epilepsy become familiar with how Big Data is collected and processed, how they are applied to studies using AI, and outline the immense potential positive impact Big Data can have on diagnosis and management.
At least some dreams relate us to external-world particulars, e.g. dreams of one’s parent. What is the nature of this relation? It depends on memory for sure, but this chapter argues that the relation is a specific one: in such dreams, one remembers the relevant particular. It then sketches an account according to which such remembering involves ‘distinguishing objectual knowledge’ and shows that the account enables us to make sense of a range of dream cases and provides a partial framework for understanding why dreams have some of the social roles they are thought to have.
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2,614 members
O.R. Pagan
  • Department of Biology
Julie Tennille
  • Graduate Social Work Department
Anil K Kandalam
  • Department of Physics
James Mc Laughlin
  • Department of Mathematics
Melissa A Whidden
  • Department of Kinesiology
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West Chester, United States
Head of institution
Greg R. Weisenstein