19683 research outputs found
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Organic fertilizers increase the proportion of saprotrophs favoring soil nitrification under medicinal plants Fritillaria thunbergii
No full textNo description supplied.</p
Community Member Views on Autism Intervention: Effects of Closeness to Autistic People with Intellectual Disabilities and Nonspeaking Autistic People
No full textBackground: Controversy regarding the neurodiversity movement (NDM), the social and medical models of disability, autism intervention goals, and causal attributions of disability contributes to divides in the autistic and autism communities. The present study investigates the views of autistic and non-autistic autistic and autism community members on these topics. We explored whether these views are shaped by having close relationships to autistic people with intellectual disabilities (ID) and nonspeaking autistic (NSA) people. Methods: A total of 504 autistic and autism community members (278 autistic, 226 non-autistic) completed an online survey about theoretical models and intervention goals. Participants reported whether they had one or more close relationships with NSA people, autistic people with ID, neither, or both. Results: Overall, there was considerable consensus regarding desired intervention goals: normalization goals were generally opposed, while participants generally supported well-being, societal reform, supportive environment, and adaptive skill goals. While autistic participants reported less support for normalization and adaptive skills goals than non-autistic participants, they expressed somewhat more enthusiasm for societal reform and supportive environments than non-autistic people. Autistic people supported the NDM more and the medical model less than non-autistic people. Those close to autistic people with ID gave higher ratings to adaptive skill goals. On average, participants not close to autistic people with ID saw the challenges of those without ID as being slightly more due to environmental/social factors than the challenges of those with ID; there was no such statistical difference among those close to autistic people with ID. Conclusion: Further research investigating community views, with the inclusion of more autistic people with ID and NSA people themselves, is needed, but the results of this study suggest that the broader autistic and autism communities see NDM-consistent intervention goals as appropriate for all autistic people, including NSA people and those with ID. As autism interventions have often pursued unpopular normalization goals, this suggests directions for reform.</p
Cultivar-specific wheat-associated bacterial communities and metabolites in response to nitrogen deficiency
No full textBackground and Aims: Nitrogen (N) deficiency in soil constrains plant growth, which beneficial soil bacterial communities may potentially alleviate. However, there is limited knowledge of the plant-bacteria interactions of wheat cultivars with different N-use efficiency (NUE) under N deficiency. Methods: We investigated the responses of soil and root endosphere bacterial communities as well as root metabolites of two wheat cultivars (cv. Mace and Gladius) with reported high and low NUE, respectively, using a glasshouse experiment and a hydroponic experiment with three N levels. Results: The rhizosphere bacterial community of Mace shifted under N deficiency but not in its root endosphere. Conversely, the rhizosphere bacterial community of Gladius remained unchanged under N deficiency but shifted in its root endosphere. The metagenomic analysis illustrated increased detection of genes related to bacterial growth and motility in the rhizosphere of Mace, but not of Gladius, under N deficiency. A four-fold increase in octadecanoic acid in the root of Mace, but not Gladius, under N deficiency, suggesting the potential role of octadecanoic acid in shaping the rhizobacterial community in Mace with higher reported NUE. Conclusion: Our study highlights the divergent responses of wheat-associated microorganisms and root metabolites to N deficiency in the two cultivars. We found that wheat cultivars with higher NUE increased octadecanoic acid secretion, potentially shaping the rhizobacterial communities and enhancing their growth under N-limited conditions.</p
Teacher critical reflection: what can be learned from quality research?
No full textThis Meta-Aggregative (MA) Qualitative Evidence Synthesis (QES) identified, investigated, and critically appraised examples of ‘quality’ Teacher Critical Reflection (TCR) in recent peer-reviewed research. The key question guiding the synthesis of literature was, How is teacher critical reflection evidenced, justified, and communicated in peer-reviewed research? The synthesis detected the importance of TCR in supporting quality teacher practice in early childhood and primary school settings. The MA element guided the choice of articles and the QES identified evidence of the intricacies of teacher critical reflection. The MA QES provides insights into sustainable and purposeful TCR. Thirteen studies conducted between 2013 and 2019 met the requirements of a four-phased MA QES and were critically appraised to inform the synthesis. Recommendations derived from this review include the importance of identifying the objectives of TCR, TCR as part of teacher identity and its impact on TCR, the significant role that social collaboration plays in TCR, and the tools that support successful TCR
Faith, privilege, and charity: Should donations to school building funds be tax deductible?
No full textNo description supplied.</p
Common mental disorders and perinatal outcomes in Victoria, Australia: A population-based retrospective cohort study
No full textPurpose: Common mental disorders (non-psychotic mental health conditions which impact on day-to-day functioning) are increasingly common in childbearing women and may impact significantly on both maternal and neonatal outcomes. Our study examines the associations between common mental disorders and perinatal outcomes. Methods: We used routinely collected perinatal data (2009–2016) for this population-based retrospective cohort study (n = 597,522 singleton births). We undertook multiple logistic regression adjusting for key maternal medical conditions and sociodemographic factors to determine associations between maternal common mental disorders and adverse perinatal outcomes with confidence intervals set at 95%. Results: Women with common mental disorders were more likely to have an induction of labour and caesarean birth, have a postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), and be admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) than women without common mental disorders. Neonates of women with common mental disorders were more likely to have an Apgar score at five minutes of less than seven (a measure of neonatal wellbeing at birth), be born preterm and low birthweight, be admitted to the Special Care Nursery or Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (SCN/NICU) and have a congenital anomaly than neonates of women without common mental disorders. Conclusion: Common mental disorders during the perinatal period were associated with poorer perinatal outcomes for mothers and their neonates. Strategies that enable early recognition and response to maternal common mental disorders should be developed to mitigate the consequential impact on maternal and infant wellbeing
Voluntary Simplicity Engagement Scale
No full textThe Voluntary Simplicity Engagement Scale (VSES) was developed to understand the level to which people engage in the lifestyle known as Voluntary Simplicity. The VSES contains 21 items. Responses are provided on a seven-point Likert scale with question stems framed to elicit agreement with a statement, how representative the statement was of the respondent, or as a percentage.
To understand how the scale was developed, please see Rich, S. A., Wright, B. J., & Bennett, P. C. (2020). Development of the Voluntary Simplicity Engagement Scale: measuring low-Consumption lifestyles. Journal of Consumer Policy, 43(2), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-018-9400-5.
© 2020 Stacey Rich
This work is licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 </p
Inclusion of People With Aphasia in Stroke Trials: A Systematic Search and Review
No full textBackground: Although people with aphasia (PwA) represent 30% of stroke survivors, they are frequently excluded from stroke research, or their inclusion is unclear. Such practice significantly limits the generalizability of stroke research, increases the need to duplicate research in aphasia-specific populations, and raises important ethical and human rights issues. Objective: To detail the extent and nature of inclusion of PwA in contemporary stroke randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods: We conducted a systematic search to identify completed stroke RCTs and RCT protocols published in 2019. Web of Science was searched using terms “stroke” and “randomized controlled trial”. These articles were reviewed by extracting rates of PwA inclusion/exclusion, whether “aphasia” or related terms were referred to in the article or supplemental files, eligibility criteria, consent procedures, adaptations made to support the inclusion of PwA, and attrition rates of PwA. Data were summarized, and descriptive statistics applied when appropriate. Results: 271 studies comprising 215 completed RCTs and 56 protocols were included. 36.2% of included studies referred to aphasia/dysphasia. Of completed RCTs, only 6.5% explicitly included PwA, 4.7% explicitly excluded PwA, and inclusion was unclear in the remaining 88.8%. Among RCT protocols, 28.6% of studies intended inclusion, 10.7% intended excluding PwA, and in 60.7%, inclusion was unclear. In 45.8% of included studies, sub-groups of PwA were excluded, either explicitly (ie, particular types/severities of aphasia, eg, global aphasia) or implicitly, by way of ambiguous eligibility criteria which could potentially relate to a sub-group of PwA. Little rationale for exclusion was provided. 71.2% of completed RCTs did not report any adaptations that could support the inclusion of PwA, and minimal information was provided about consent procedures. Where it could be determined, attrition of PwA averaged 10% (range 0%-20%). Conclusion: This paper details the extent of inclusion of PwA in stroke research and highlights opportunities for improvement.</p
Gigantic struggles: the battle to build the United Automobile Workers after the sit-down strikes, 1937–1945
No full textThis article examines the struggle to build the United Automobile Workers in the years after the sit-down strike of 1936–37 in Flint, Michigan. The strike, which historian Sidney Fine has called ‘the most significant American labor conflict in the twentieth century,’ has secured the lion’s share of scholarly attention. While it was very important, much remained to be done to make the UAW an institution that represented almost all American autoworkers. At the time of the strike, only 10 percent of GM’s 47,000 Flint workers belonged to the UAW, while much of the industry was unorganized. This article changes the focus, examining the struggle to build the union after the strike. In this period, the union faced bitter internal divisions, ongoing corporate opposition, patchy membership levels, and economic instability. It struggled to establish itself, and internal records–especially overlooked executive board minutes that are mined here–reveal considerable vulnerability and instability. While the UAW made progress between 1937 and 1941, it was in World War II that it solidified itself nationally, helped by favorable bargaining conditions. Even then, it faced ongoing leadership divisions and rank and file disaffection. Building the union took time and deserves closer interrogation