Changing attitudes and emotions toward coyotes with experiential education

ABSTRACT

An experiential education program was designed to target risk perceptions and preventative measures that make people feel comfortable in human-coyote interactions. The research was conducted in a Canadian national park where a coyote caused a human fatality in 2009. Based on previous research, we explored the effects of an experience-based coyote education program on people's (a) attitudes toward, (b) fear of, (c) likelihood of, and (d) control over coming into contact with coyotes. A pre-post-test experiment (n = 150; 96% completion rate) was conducted. The experiential education approach to wildlife safety and coexistence communication had a significant positive effect on people's attitudes, significantly decreased their sense of fear toward coyotes, significantly decreased their sense of likelihood, and increased their sense of control in human-coyote interactions.     

Body mass changes during training in elite rugby union: Is a single test of hydration indices reliable?

There is limited research studying fluid and electrolyte balance in rugby union players, and a paucity of information regarding the test–retest reliability. This study describes the fluid balance of elite rugby union players across multiple squads and the reliability of fluid balance measures between two equivalent training sessions. Sixty-one elite rugby players completed a single fluid balance testing session during a game simulation training session. A subsample of 21 players completed a second fluid balance testing session during an equivalent training session. Players were weighed in minimal clothing before and after each training session. Each player was provided with their own drinks which were weighed before and after each training session. More players gained body weight (9 (14.8%)) during training than lost greater than 2% of their initial body mass (1 (1.6%)). Pre-training body mass and rate of fluid loss were significantly associated (r?=?0.318, p?=?.013). There was a significant correlation between rate of fluid loss in sessions 1 (1.74?±?0.32?L?h^?1) and 2 (1.10?±?0.31?L.?h^?1), (r?=?0.470, p?=?.032). This could be useful for nutritionists working with rugby squads to identify players with high sweat losses.     

Building next generation video game collections in academic libraries

Most academic libraries do not yet have gaming collections, let alone gaming services and facilities that support the unique and growing teaching and research needs of campus environments. Academic libraries in particular need to start thinking about developing the next generation of gaming collections and services. This article examines the experiences in developing an academic library gaming initiative at a large research university, and works towards identifying the questions academic libraries need to be asking and the issues that need investigating in order to map out a path for developing next generation gaming collections that will meet the needs of academic instructors and researchers in the coming decade, and take advantage of the unique opportunities gaming and gaming technology provide.     

Assessment matters: The strength of mixed research methods for the assessment of learning communities

At Georgia State, combining quantitative and qualitative techniques provides greater insight than using either method alone.     

Acceptable Masculinities: Working-Class Young Men and Vocational Education and Training Courses

Since the 1970s, the process of deindustrialisation, accompanied by social, cultural and political changes, has altered youth transitions from school to work. This paper is drawn from an Economic and Social Research Council-funded study that explored the diversity of white, working-class young men (aged between 16 and 18) in a post-industrial community. The study focused on how young men performed their masculinities through different post-16 educational pathways and within the limits of place and a disadvantaged social class position. In this paper, I explore the way three of these young men who were enrolled on different vocational education and training courses learned how to display acceptable masculinities within these settings. Drawing on the work of Goffman, I argue that these vocational courses can ‘frame’ traditional forms of working-class masculinity, but also have the potential to enable alternative performances of masculinity to come through. However, the role of a locale’s industrial heritage on gendered and classed expectations is important, and the impact this has on successful futures needs to be recognised.     

‘This is my new normal’: teachers’ accounts of evaluation policy at local school board meetings

In this study, we seek to illuminate teachers’ constructions of US teacher evaluation policies through close analysis of the way teachers in one district describe these policies. We conducted a thematic discursive analysis of 60 teachers’ speeches, recorded during local school board meetings in a Tennessee school district. Using discursive psychology as a lens, analysis focuses on the teachers’ constructions of teacher accountability policies and their own positioning within the policies. We also attend to the linguistic resources teachers used in justifying their decision to speak during the meetings. Findings showed that while drawing upon repertoires of human capital and one-size-fits-all education, the teachers’ patterned participation involved the contestation of status quo practices of teacher evaluation and effectiveness by contrasting them with imagined possibilities of what evaluation could be instead. Implications for developing teacher evaluation are discussed.     

Hematological Changes Elicited by Prolonged Intermittent Aerobic Exercise

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the acute and chronic effects of a strenuous work task, in a moderately high heat stress environment, upon selected hematological components. Twenty experienced long-distance runners competed in a 24-hr relay, running approximately one mile each hour in relay fashion. Food and fluid intake was allowed ad libitum during rest intervals. Blood samples were secured three times: (T1) within 1 hr prior to the start; (T2) approximately 10 min after the first mile run; and (T3) approximately 10 min after each subject completed his last mile run. Main blood variables of interest were Hb, Hct, total protein, albumin, WBC diff, Na⁺, K⁺, Cl^?, Ca⁺⁺, glucose, cholesterol, T-bilirubin, LDH, SGOT, CPK, BUN, uric acid, and creatinine. Within the limitations of this study, the following main conclusions appear warranted: (a) hemoconcentration changes between T1 and T2 may be the causative factor underlying the moderate, but significant, increases in the majority of other hematological components between T1 and T2. As hemoconcentration did not appear to increase further between T2 and T3, component changes between T2 and T3 may be due to other causative factors; (b) the data from LDH, CPK, SGOT, BUN, uric acid and bilirubin is suggestive of muscle tissue damage and hemolysis.     

Solving the mystery of vanishing rivers in China

A major controversy was sparked worldwide by a recent national water census claiming that the number of Chinese rivers with watersheds ≥100 km² was less than half the previous estimate of 50 000 rivers, which also stimulates debates on the potential causes and consequences. Here, we estimated the number of rivers in terms of stream-segmentation characteristics described by Horton, Strahler and Shreve stream-order rules, as well as their mixed mode for named rivers recorded in the Encyclopedia of Rivers and Lakes in China. As a result, the number of ‘vanishing rivers’ has been found to be highly relevant to statistical specifications in addition to the erroneous inclusion of pseudo-rivers primarily generated in arid or frost-thaw areas. The modified Horton stream-order scheme reasonably depicts the configuration of complete natural streams from headwater to destination, while the Strahler largely projects the fragmentation of the named river networks associated with human aggregation to the hierarchical river systems.