Sustainability behaviors among college students: an application of the VBN theory

While Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) theory has been widely applied to various populations, it has seldom been tested on college students. This study extends VBN theory to examine what socio-psychological factors influence sustainability behaviors among university students. Undergraduate students are an interesting and novel population, as they are still forming their values and beliefs, and therefore may be more open to engage in sustainability efforts. This study assessed five sustainability behaviors: (a) support for political candidates who say they will strengthen environmental policies, (b) recycling, (c) electricity use, (d) food selection, and (e) transportation choices. Findings support the notion that one’s values matter in environmental decision-making, but that different values are associated with different behaviors. Those who adhere to biospheric and altruistic values were more likely to engage in a range of sustainability behaviors whereas those who adhere to egoistic values were less likely to engage in most behaviors. Those who adhere to traditional or openness to change values showed mixed results. We discuss the theoretical application, practical recommendations for behavior change campaigns, and offer suggestions for future research.     

Long-Term Effects of Institutional Care and Enhanced Attachment Relationships on Close Adolescent Friendships

This study examined whether early institutional rearing and attachment security influence the quality and quantity of friendships at age 16 in 138 participants, including children abandoned to institutions in Bucharest, Romania, who were randomized to care as usual (n = 45, 26 female), or foster care (n = 47, 25 female), and a never-institutionalized group (n = 46, 18 female). Adolescents in the foster care group with secure attachment to their foster mothers at 42 months were comparable to never-institutionalized adolescents in having more friends and more positive behaviors with their friend during dyadic interactions, compared to the foster care group with insecure attachment and care as usual group. Interventions targeting early child–caregiver attachment relationships may help foster the ability to build positive friendships in adolescence.     

Learning about Colour – the Legacy of the Bauhaus Masters

Bauhaus, the German arts and crafts college, is 100 years old this year. One of the revolutionary features of its pedagogical programme was the methodology of teaching about colour, elaborated by Johannes Itten and Paul Klee, leading Bauhaus masters, and further developed by their disciples, Joseph Albers and György (George) Kepes. This methodological legacy is continued in a curriculum innovation experiment in art education that is currently being piloted in primary and secondary schools of Hungary. Developing colour perception, creation and communication are basic components of our curricular modules. In this article, we show the development of colour perception of 7,087 students in two age groups: 7–8.8 and 12–13.5 years, tested through arts‐based tasks in an interactive, online platform. Evolution of colour sensitivity, recognition of colour and form, colour memory and decoding the meaningof colours will be shown and the relevance of the results for arts education indicated.     

The impact of exercise training on the lipid peroxidation metabolomic profile and respiratory infection risk in older adults

Aging is associated with oxidative stress that may increase susceptibility to respiratory infections (RIs). We aimed to assess the impact of exercise training on the risk of RIs in older adults and on a targeted metabolomic profile of stress oxidative lipid peroxidation-related metabolites. Methods: In an 8-month clinical trial, 38 participants over 60 years of age were allocated to an exercise group (EG), in which participants underwent 90-min training sessions three times/week(n?=?20), or a control group (CG), in which participants maintained daily physical activities(n?=?18). Daily respiratory symptoms and RIs number and severity were collected. Serum by-products were assessed by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry with time of flight analyzer. Serum metabolomic profiling comprised 76 metabolites (alcohols, aldehydes, alkanes, and ketones). Principal components analysis and ANOVA-simultaneous component analysis were used to evaluate the metabolomic profile change. Results: The odds ratio of RIs for the EG was 2.0 CI 95% [0.2;25]. The incidence of RIs was 47% [23;70] in the EG vs. 44%[12;77] in the CG. The metabolomic profiling showed that alkanes and aldehydes classes differed between the EG and the CG before and after intervention. A calibration model showed a relation between the metabolites from four main classes (ketones, alcohols, alkanes and aldehydes) and the prediction of the number of RIs. Conclusion: Moderate exercise training, in older adults, compared with no exercise in controls, did not show a difference in the risk of RIs. A pattern of lipid peroxidation was associated with the number of RIs.     

Leveraging Technology and Staffing in Developing a New Liaison Program

With nearly all library resources and services delivered digitally, librarians working for the New York University Health Sciences Library struggled with maintaining awareness of changing user needs, understanding barriers faced in using library resources and services, and determining knowledge management challenges across the organization. A liaison program was created to provide opportunities for librarians to meaningfully engage with users. The program was directed toward a subset of high-priority user groups to provide focused engagement with these users. Responsibility for providing routine reference service was reduced for liaison librarians to provide maximum time to engage with their assigned user communities.     

Rigor and reproducibility instruction in academic medical libraries

Background:Concerns over scientific reproducibility have grown in recent years, leading the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to require researchers to address these issues in research grant applications. Starting in 2020, training grants were required to provide a plan for educating trainees in rigor and reproducibility. Academic medical centers have responded with different solutions to fill this educational need. As experienced instructors with expertise in topics relating to reproducibility, librarians can play a prominent role in providing trainings, classes, and events to educate investigators and trainees, and bolstering reproducibility in their communities.Case Presentations:This special report summarizes efforts at five institutions to provide education in reproducibility to biomedical and life sciences researchers. Our goal is to expand awareness of the range of approaches in providing reproducibility services in libraries.Conclusions:Reproducibility education by medical librarians can take many forms. These specific programs in reproducibility education build upon libraries'' existing collaborations, with funder mandates providing a major impetus. Collaborator needs shaped the exact type of educational or other reproducibility support and combined with each library''s strengths to yield a diversity of offerings based on capacity and interest. As demand for and complexity of reproducibility education increases due to new institutional and funder mandates, reproducibility education will merit special attention.     

Battle on the Gender Homefront: Depictions of the American Civil War in Contemporary Young-Adult Literature

The American Civil War has been a popular topic for young-adult writers for years, with new books now being written from young women’s perspectives. In this paper, I will examine the gender ideologies that infiltrate contemporary Civil War books for young adults. I will examine four recent young-adult Civil-War novels: G. Clifton Wisler’s Mr. Lincoln’s Drummer (1995); Maureen Stack Sappéy’s Letters from Vinnie (1999); Jim Murphy’s The Journal of James Edmond Pease: A Civil War Union Soldier (1998); and Karen Hesse’s A Light in the Storm: The Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin (1999). I will argue that in these books young women are often shown to be disengaged and apolitical, while their male counterparts use language in powerful and political ways, even despite the historical record.