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Using Teacher Prompts to Increase Leadership Skills in Preschool Children
Full text linkBackground: Early childhood leadership leads to positive outcomes for young children, including social competence. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to examine the leadership behavior exhibited by three preschool aged children and to determine if teacher prompting could increase the frequency of leadership behaviors exhibited by preschool children. Methods: A single case research design was utilized; specifically, we employed a multiple baseline design across preschool children to measure child leadership behaviors and teacher prompting. Results: Baseline observations revealed that children engaged in Parten’s original 1933 framework of both directing and following, reciprocally directing or sharing leadership, and directing the group at varying levels. Using Pigors (Leadership and domination among children, 9:140–157, 1933) definition of “guidance of others toward a desired goal,” Leadership Prompting Intervention was used to increase children’s leadership behaviors. Results indicated that both teachers increased their level of leadership prompting, and all three children increased the behaviors of directing the group. Conclusions: Teacher prompting is a low cost, low labor-intensive intervention that can be easily integrated into the early childhood classroom routine to increase children’s leadership skills. This study adds to the limited research on early childhood leadership (ECL) by providing insight into how teacher prompts can influence children’s leadership behavior in a specific context and setting
Using Games and Activities to Increase Inhibitory Control Skills in Kindergarten-aged Children
Full text linkExecutive function skills are critical in early development, as they “form the foundation for children’s ability to self-regulate” (McLelland, et al., 2016, p. 242). Inhibitory control, one component of executive function, is the ability to suppress or inhibit responses to distractions when completing a task. The purpose of this study was to improve children’s inhibitory control in the classroom through ageappropriate games, which promote controlling emotions and remaining on task. Three target children were observed in the classroom they attended with their regular teacher. Baseline data revealed that the target children needed improvement on inhibitory control skills, which included controlling emotions and staying on task. The Inhibitory Control Intervention consisted of age-appropriate games (Uno, Perfection, Matching Cards, I Spy book) that promoted staying on task and controlling emotions independently and with small groups of peers. Data were collected using momentary time sampling for a ten minute period during free choice center time. When the Inhibitory Control Intervention was in place, there was an increase in both on task behavior and controlling emotions during free-choice center time. Providing opportunities for children to practice inhibitory control skills can be beneficial for increasing children’s self-regulation skills
Avian Eye Color, Phylogeography, and the Genetics of Iris Variation in Grackles (Quiscalus)
No full textBirds display a rainbow of eye colors, but this trait has been relatively little-studied. In this dissertation, I first survey eye color variation across birds and discuss its causes at three levels: mechanistic, genetic and evolutionary (Chapter 2). Then, I examine the evolutionary history of the Cassidix grackle complex, a clade that includes notable inter- and intra-specific variation in eye color, and I address questions about phylogeography and hybridization within the group (Chapter 3). Finally, I focus on Boat-tailed Grackles (Quiscalus major), which show geographic and within- population variation in eye color. I combine whole-genome sequencing and phenotypic data from field photographs to quantify eye color variation within Q. major and identify regions of the genome associated with eye color differences (Chapter 4).
In Chapter 2, I summarize the patterns of variation in eye color across birds, the pigments and structures that give bird irises their colors, the small number of genes that have been linked to eye color in domestic birds, and the evolutionary hypotheses relating eye color to both survival and signaling.
In Chapter 3, I conducted a phylogeography study using samples from all 13 subspecies of the three species in the Cassidix clade: Boat-tailed Grackle (Q. major), Great-tailed Grackle (Q. mexicanus), and the extinct Slender-billed Grackle (Q. palustris). I find no evidence of admixture between Q. major and Q. mexicanus, and find support for the monophyly of both species, contrary to evidence from mitochondrial DNA. I also show that geographic breaks, not eye color differences, structure genetic variation within Q. major.
Lastly, in Chapter 4, I took standardized eye photos of 41 Boat-tailed Grackles collected in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and sequenced whole genomes of each individual. I used FST outlier scans to find regions of the genome that differ between light-eyed and dark-eyed individuals of the species. I then identified a set of candidate genes that may underlie eye color variation in Q. major, including some, such as KCNJ13, that have been implicated in pigmentation in other vertebrates
Dying in the Southern Macrozone : Eventfulness and Externalities in Chile\u27s Wind Energy Rush
No full textABSTRACT
This paper examines the conditions under which the externalities of capitalist energy development become meaningful in Mapuche territory in Chile. I describe two deaths that occurred outside the construction site of the Malleco wind farm and analyze how different actors struggled to make sense of them, establish them as eventful and identify different actors as responsible. One, the death of a local motorcyclist in a traffic collision with employees of the wind farm company, became an accident in official framings. The other, the death of a police officer in the context of police repression of the ensuing protests, was framed as the result of terrorist violence. Theoretically, I consider the notion of eventfulness and argue that, in the space constructed as the \u27Southern Macrozone\u27, certain spectacular eventfulness foregrounds moments of violent conflict between Mapuche and the state, occluding routine forms of violence involving corporate actors. These dynamics, I argue, are exacerbated by the elusive form of the modern corporation. In the context of the settler-colonial conflict, then, capitalist corporations effectively fade into the background as actors in what appears to be a conflict between irrational terrorist violence and the state.
RESUMEN
Este artículo examina las condiciones en las que las externalidades del desarrollo energético capitalista cobran sentido en el territorio mapuche de Chile. Describo dos muertes ocurridas fuera de las obras de construcción del parque eólico de Malleco y analizo cómo diferentes actores lucharon por darles sentido, establecerlas como sucesos e identificar a los actores responsables. Una, la muerte de un motociclista local en una colisión de tráfico con empleados de la empresa del parque eólico se convirtió en un accidente en los relatos oficiales. El otro, la muerte de un agente de policía en el contexto de la represión policial de las protestas subsiguientes se narró como resultado de la violencia «terrorista». Teóricamente, considero la noción de acontecimiento y sostengo que, en el espacio construido como la «Macrozona Sur», cierto acontecimiento espectacular centra momentos de conflicto violento entre mapuche y el Estado, ocultando formas rutinarias de violencia que implican a actores empresariales. Estas dinámicas, sostengo, se ven exacerbadas por la forma elusiva de la corporación moderna. En el contexto del conflicto de colonialismo de asentamiento, entonces, las empresas capitalistas pasan a un segundo plano como actores en lo que parece ser un conflicto entre la violencia terrorista irracional y el Estado
Las luchas de las mujeres shuar en contextos extractivos: una ecología política feminista y comunitaria desde la Amazonía ecuatoriana / Shuar Women Confronting Extraction in the Ecuadorian Amazon: A Feminist and Community-Centered Political Ecology
No full textConectando dos décadas de observaciones etnográficas (2001-2023), este ensayo describe cómo flujos y fugas de bienes entre compañías petroleras y comunidades causan quiebres en la reorganización de la reproducción social comunitaria del Centro Shuar de Tiguano, en la amazonía ecuatoriana. Enfocamos el ensayo en las luchas de las mujeres de Tiguano, describiendo sus ritmos y espacios cotidianos de negociación con, adaptación a, y rechazo de actividades extractivas, las cuales causan deterioro, pero también generan ingresos económicos y mejoran servicios básicos dentro de la comunidad. Partiendo desde el marco de la política feminista, indígena comunitaria, argumentamos que estas luchas no solo expresan la agencia política de las mujeres al defenderse de la extracción petrolera sino que también complican explicaciones esencialistas y dualistas de cómo se ejercen la resistencia, el rechazo, y la autodeterminación en contextos extractivos. Estas luchas son interseccionales, de múltiples escalas, y ejercidas desde la cosmovisión de reproducción social shuar
MERCHANTS OF DEBT: PUBLIC TRUSTS, POLITICS, AND PROFIT IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY LOUISIANA
No full textJust thirteen years after its inception in 1974, the Louisiana Public Facilities Authority (LPFA) was the fifth largest issuer of tax-exempt bond in the nation. As a public trust, the LPFA operated as a municipal authority that fell outside the purview of the state. The lack of oversight nurtured the optimal environment for financial mismanagement and self-dealing. When placed within the larger political context, the LPFA and other public trusts can be seen as public instruments often used for private gain. As trustees, bondsmen, and attorneys collected generous per diem and fees, pools of funds designated for the public went unused. Though the LPFA did accomplish good for the state, ultimately, the questions became, at what price? The same private interest that benefited from the LPFA, pumped money into local elections to curry political favor for the organization. The interplay between bondsmen, the LPFA, and the State—specifically the State Bond Commission—is referred to here as the “Bond Industrial Complex.” This thesis problematizes Louisiana’s public trusts, and, instead, argues they operate as private corporations while relying on the state’s tax-exempt powers
Prospective Metamemory Judgments in Eyewitness Paradigms
No full textAbstract
Researchers in the eyewitness literature have extensively used retrospective confidence judgments as opposed to prospective confidence judgments. This choice is because historically, prospective confidence judgments have shown a weak to no relationship with accuracy. Recently two studies have been published showing the conditions where prospective confidence judgments have a strong relationship with accuracy. This relationship emerged by manipulating encoding conditions and utilizing more modern analytical methods. The researchers showed that prospective judgments’ relationship with accuracy relies on the variability in encoding conditions, suggesting that prior research was too homogenous. The goal of the current studies was to better understand the impact of methodological choices in the eyewitness literature and reconcile the differences relative to findings in metacognition. Experiment 1 extended the work of Molinaro et al. (2021) through introducing more conditions to investigate the impact of the memory inventory and the potential impact of anchoring effects on calibration curves. Experiment 2 was designed to better reconcile the results of McKinley et al. (2023) by utilizing a similar retention interval for delayed judgments of learning (JOLs) found in metacognition. The results of my study suggest that pre-identification confidence judgments are predictive of future accuracy, without compromising the confidence-accuracy relationship for post-identification judgments. Furthermore, reducing the retention interval utilized in McKinley et al., (2023) improved the confidence-accuracy relationship for delayed pre-identification judgments, suggesting that pre-identification judgments, regardless of delay, in my study were made from long-term memory
Supplemental Data for Strong-Field Ionization with Few-Cycle, Mid-Infrared Laser Pulses Induces a Localized Ionization Followed by Long-Lasting Charge Migration in Halogenated Organic Molecules
Full text linkSupplemental data for Hamer et al. (2024), which includes the time-dependent density-functional theory simulation data and Python scripts used to produce the figures in the paper.
This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Award No. DE-SC0012462. Portions of this research were conducted with high performance computational resources provided by Louisiana State University (http://www.hpc.lsu.edu) and the Louisiana Optical Network Infrastructure (http://www/loni.org)
Empowering Sustainable Development: Solar Energy for Enhanced Weather Resilience
Full text linkThis paper examines the impact of photovoltaic (PV) panels on wind loads in low-rise buildings with gable roofs, emphasizing their potential to promote sustainable energy solutions while improving structural integrity. We hypothesize that PV panels can effectively reduce wind-induced forces on roofing components. Experiments using a 1:7.5 scale model in an open-jet wind facility compared bare roofs to those equipped with PV panels across three configurations. Results show that PV panels can decrease total wind forces on the roof by 45% to 63%, depending on configuration and wind direction. These findings suggest that additional structural reinforcement may not be necessary for PV installations, leading to significant economic advantages such as reduced damage risk and lower insurance costs, which enhance the viability of solar investments. This research advocates for policies that recognize solar energy\u27s dual benefits: advancing sustainability and fortifying buildings against extreme weather conditions