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Listening to Vocational Rehabilitation Leaders: Practice and Policy Recommendations for Higher Education/ Vocational Rehabilitation Partnerships
Get PDFVR state agency leaders explored successes and challenges in partnering with higher education programs for students with intellectual disability at a listening session held by the Employment Partnerships Workgroup, supported by the Think College Inclusive Higher Education Network. This concise brief summarizes the key issues discussed and offers VR state leaders\u27 recommendations for enhancing partnerships between state VR agencies and higher education programs to improve access and opportunities for paid employment for students with intellectual disability. Also included are policy implications and recommendations to federal and state funders
Preliminary Report of the HASP 2023 Field Season: Coring and Excavations at Efri-Ás, Laufskálaholt, Brekkukot, Grafarkot, Kálfsstaðir, Kjarvalsstaðir, Nautabú, Ingveldarstaðir, Skúfsstaðir, Garðakot, Hringver, Hólakot, and Viðvík in Hjaltadalur with additional geophysics at Skúfsstaðir
Get PDFThis report outlines the 2023 work, including Geophysical survey, Coring, and Excavations at Efri-Ás, Laufskálaholt (on the Efri-Ás land of the Ásholt summer house), Brekkukot, Kálfsstaðir, Kjarvalsstaðir, Nautabú, Ingveldarstaðir, Skúfsstaðir, Garðakot (part of Víðines) Grafarkot (part of Víðines), Hringver, Hólakot (part of Viðvík), and Viðvík) in Hjaltadal as part of the Hjaltadalur Archaeological Survey Project (HASP). This is the third year of a scheduled three-year project. The purpose of the project is to outline the settlement sequence and regional development in Hólar and around Hjaltadal and compare them with similar studies that have been carried out in Skagafjörður. The 12 farms investigated in 2023 all seem to have been established well before the Hekla 1104 (H1104) tephra fell. The farms at Garðakot, Kálfsstaðir, Kjarvalsstaðir, Nautabú, Ingveldarstaðir, and Viðvík have continuous sequences that indicate long-term stability up to the early modern period. The farm mound at Skúfsstaðir seems to be continuous, and there is a distinct, smaller, and shorter occupation area on the farmstead. The main farm mound at Efri-Ás seems to have shifted over time. Hólakot is abandoned shortly after AD 1300 and Hringver is abandoned in the mid-20th century. The geophysical results from Skúfsstaðir suggest the presence of a round wall 21 m in diameter, consistent with a churchyard boundary wall. If investigation of this round anomaly yields a burial ground, it would be the first time that a churchyard wall was identified by geophysical prospection at a farm without any documentary evidence of ever having had a church
Building a Foundation for Racial and Ethnic Equity: Estimated Impacts of Massachusetts Legislation to Expand Affordable Quality Child Care and Early Education
Get PDFA multi-disciplinary UMass Boston team of researchers through the Early Education Cost and Usage Simulator Project (CUSP) seeks to better understand some of the impacts of expanding financial assistance to families for child care and early education. The team has developed and uses a statistical model that simulates parents’ decisions about care usage to estimate how much more licensed care might be needed in Massachusetts and what employment and income changes may take place with increased utilization of affordable licensed quality child care and early education. The team’s October 2023 brief provided findings for all families and children in the Commonwealth. This brief disaggregates data by race and ethnicity to explore disparities that currently exist in terms of children’s access to licensed care and costs and what happens to such disparities when the cost of licensed care is substantially reduced
Teaching Secondary Students to Think for Themselves: Creating a Critical Thinking Classroom Culture
Get PDFThis paper explores the pedagogical implications of developing a critical thinking classroom culture in secondary education, targeting educators seeking to enhance their teaching practices and foster critical thinking skills in their students through consistent engagement. A secondary educator completing his degree from UMass Boston’s Critical and Creative Thinking Program (CCT) depicts the importance of nurturing critical thinking skills for students through the establishment of a critical thinking culture in the secondary education classroom. Critical thinking is given a working definition along with culture, and an investigation of culture and culture building, aspects of critical thinking, and pedagogy serve to explore how secondary teachers can begin to think about implementing critical thinking into their daily practice to foster this culture. Lists of critical thinking activities and pedagogical adjustments are provided, each supported by further research, to aid teachers in implementing any changes to their practice which might be necessary for building a critical thinking culture. A checklist is also provided as a self-assessment tool for educators to use while assessing their implementation of critical thinking skills, methods, and exercises as a part of their teaching practice
What Is This?!? Inheriting an Established Institutional Repository
No full textIn this session, Christine Moynihan, the UMass Boston Scholarly Communications, Data, and Affordable Learning Librarian, and Lydia Burrage-Goodwin, the Scholarly Projects Librarian, will outline the steps that they took to gain intellectual control of the UMass Boston Institutional Repository. They will discuss how they organized and synthesized an immense amount of information from a decade of submissions, gathered and analyzed the historical context of policies and decisions created upon the inception of the IR, established workflows for supporting users and administering the backend, updated FAQs, resource pages, and LibGuide; and implemented a website redesign and organizational structure update. They will highlight the specific work involved with the website redesign that includes: performing an environmental scan of similar institutional repositories to gauge their preferences; building colorful wireframes to visualize their desired changes; setting up a week-long work-from-home co-working sprint to focus on this project; and continually collaborating with the vendor throughout the process. They will also review their future resource planning and lessons they learned
Livable Marshfield: Age and Dementia Friendly Action Plan: Improving Livability for all Ages and Abilities
Get PDFThe Town of Marshfield’s Age and Dementia Friendly action plan signifies a milestone and reflects many years of dedication to creating environments within Marshfield that are supportive of residents of all ages and abilities. Guided by the Council on Aging (COA), the Town of Marshfield is dedicated to understanding and responding to the needs and interests of older adults in the community. Over the years, the share of residents over age 60 has steadily grown. According to 2019-2023 estimates from the American Community Survey, an estimated 28% of Marshfield residents are age 60 or older (approximately 7,200 residents). Projections suggest that 37% of Marshfield residents will be over age 60 by 2030. This share includes 8% of residents who are age 80 and older. The Age and Dementia Friendly Action Plan provides a solid foundation from which the community will prioritize and implement impactful Age and Dementia Friendly initiatives
Aging in Newton: A Community Needs Assessment
Get PDFThis report presents the results of a comprehensive examination of issues relating to aging in Newton. A needs assessment was undertaken to support planning on the part of the City of Newton and the Department of Older Adult Services. Results presented here focus on the characteristics and needs of Newton residents who are aged 60 and older. Data was collected via key informant interviews, focus groups with residents and stakeholders and a mailed survey of residents aged 60 and older. Respondents to the community survey included 2,869 Newton residents, which resulted in a response rate of more than 50%. As well, responses to this survey constitute more than 10% of the older adult population as a whole—an incredibly rich source of information for the City to consider as it moves forward with planning both within the Cooper Center for Active Living and beyond its walls to other City Departments and initiatives
Anode Materials for Next-Generation Secondary Batteries: Interfaces and Alloying Mechanisms
Get PDFAlloy-type anodes, such as silicon (Si) and tin (Sn), are among the most promising next-generation battery materials due to their high theoretical specific capacity, abundant availability, and cost-effectiveness. However, their practical application is hindered by several challenges, including the instability of the solid electrolyte interface (SEI), exacerbated by substantial volume changes during charging and discharging cycles, leading to rapid capacity decay and a shortened cycle life. Furthermore, there are considerable gaps in the fundamental understanding of the complex alloying processes and SEI evolution at the anode/electrolyte interface. This thesis addresses these gaps through a quantitative in situ investigation of the SEI formation and evolution at Si in conventional Li electrolytes and lays the groundwork for mechanisms of stabilizing the interfaces by implementing a binary cation matrix. This work highlights the advantages of a tailored electrolyte environment, revealing significant improvements in SEI stability on Si and offering valuable insights into the interfacial viscoelastic and electronic properties. Beyond Li-ion technology, this thesis explores the three-dimensional structural and phase evolution of Sn anodes in Ca electrolytes under various voltage conditions. This breakthrough knowledge holds the potential to revolutionize the development of high-performance, cost-effective multivalent battery systems with superior energy density. The employed methodologies are extended beyond the anode/electrolyte chemistries to investigate the Prussian Blue (PB) cathode, which is of interest due to its ability to accommodate various-sized cations and its effectiveness in both aqueous and non-aqueous electrolytes. New insights into the concentration-dependent intercalation processes of PB in potassium-based aqueous electrolytes are revealed. This research delivers a comprehensive understanding of the electrochemical processes at electrode/electrolyte interfaces. It sheds light on the mechanisms governing reaction dynamics, SEI evolution, and stability and paves the way for the next generation of high-performance energy storage systems
Second Victim Phenomenon Among Obstetric Nurses in the U.S.: An Interpretive Description
No full textWhile childbirth may be a joyous life event, when there is a tragic maternal adverse childbirth event or maternal death, obstetric nurses may find themselves shrouded in secrecy, burying intense emotions, and bearing catastrophic consequences that impact their professional and personal lives when experiencing second victim phenomenon. The Neuman Systems Model was applied to explore obstetric nurses’ experiences, perspectives, and challenges following a maternal adverse childbirth event or maternal death including second victim stressors, interacting variables, and prevention interventions. We utilized interpretive description methodology to critically explore obstetric nurses’ experiences following a maternal adverse childbirth event or maternal death as reflected in the accounts of obstetric nurses (N = 21) working in US hospital settings. We learned about the events that triggered second-victim experiences, the context in which they occurred, the challenges the nurses faced, and ways to prevent the second-victim phenomenon. These findings shed light on possibilities for supporting obstetric nurses, developing cohesive and collaborative team cultures, and creating health policies that may reduce the effects of the second victim phenomenon following a maternal adverse childbirth event or maternal death. These findings have implications for the larger healthcare community