Teaching Bioinformatics and Neuroinformatics by Using Free Web-based Tools

This completely computer-based module''s purpose is to introduce students to bioinformatics resources. We present an easy-to-adopt module that weaves together several important bioinformatic tools so students can grasp how these tools are used in answering research questions. Students integrate information gathered from websites dealing with anatomy (Mouse Brain Library), quantitative trait locus analysis (WebQTL from GeneNetwork), bioinformatics and gene expression analyses (University of California, Santa Cruz Genome Browser, National Center for Biotechnology Information''s Entrez Gene, and the Allen Brain Atlas), and information resources (PubMed). Instructors can use these various websites in concert to teach genetics from the phenotypic level to the molecular level, aspects of neuroanatomy and histology, statistics, quantitative trait locus analysis, and molecular biology (including in situ hybridization and microarray analysis), and to introduce bioinformatic resources. Students use these resources to discover 1) the region(s) of chromosome(s) influencing the phenotypic trait, 2) a list of candidate genes—narrowed by expression data, 3) the in situ pattern of a given gene in the region of interest, 4) the nucleotide sequence of the candidate gene, and 5) articles describing the gene. Teaching materials such as a detailed student/instructor''s manual, PowerPoints, sample exams, and links to free Web resources can be found at http://mdcune.psych.ucla.edu/modules/bioinformatics.     

Teaching Stress Management in Physical Education: A Quasi-Experimental Study with Vocational Students

The aim was to develop, implement, and evaluate a physical education-based coping training program for vocational students. Two vocational schools participated in the quasi-experimental pilot study (EPHECT I). One school received the intervention (intervention group: n?=?434), while the other school maintained regular physical education classes (control group: n?=?430). Repeated measures ANCOVAs were used to examine the effects on coping and perceived stress. Additionally, effects were compared among students who reported low versus elevated life satisfaction. Finally, the implementation rate was considered as a moderating factor. Overall, no significant time by group effects were found between the intervention group and the control group. However, a reduction in maladaptive coping occurred among students of the intervention group who reported low life satisfaction. The implementation rate did not moderate the findings. Despite a relatively low implementation rate, the intervention program reduced maladaptive coping strategies in adolescents with low life satisfaction. Program monitoring needs to be increased in future research.     

International and Foreign Media

W. Phillips Davison's Mass Communication and Conflict Resolution: The Role of the Information Media in the Advancement of International Understanding (New York: Praeger Special Studies, 1974—price not known, but about $12.00)

EBU—25 Years (Geneva: EBU, 1974—price not known)

Sydney W. Head and Lois Beck's The Bibliography of African Broadcasting: An Annotated Guide (Philadelphia: School of Communications and Theater of Temple University, 1974—$2.00, paper)

Rural Broadcasting in Dahomey (Rome: Food and Agricultural Organization [of the United Nations] released in this country by Unipub Inc., P.O. Box 433, New York, N.Y. 10016—$5.00 for filmstrip and accompanying illustrated booklet of text)

1974 Report to the President and the Congress (Washington: Communications Satellite Corporation, 950 L'Enfant Plaza, Washington D.C. 20024—free on request, along with earlier versions of the annual review)

Jacques Moussear (general editor) Les Communications de Masse: L'Univers des Mass Media (Paris: Hachette, 1972—about $12.55)     

Effects of a physical education-based coping training on adolescents’ coping skills,stress perceptions and quality of sleep

Background: Although most adolescents successfully manage the transition between childhood and adulthood, the speed and magnitude of these changes may exceed the coping abilities of a significant number of young people. For vocational students, additional responsibilities arise during the vocational school transition and the need to balance academic and job-related requirements. An expanding body of literature suggests that adolescence is a vulnerable period for the development of psychiatric diseases and as such, the need to develop an adequate coping repertoire is receiving increasing attention globally. The growing awareness of long-term consequences of stress has led governments to instill school-based resilience promotion programs. For instance, the new physical education (PE) curriculum of vocational (vocational education and training (VET)) students in Switzerland addresses stress management, because stress-related diseases at the workplace have become commonplace among young professionals.

Purpose: Our aim was to develop, implement and evaluate a PE-based coping training (EPHECT) for VET students. Therefore, we adapted components of extant field-tested coping training programs and tailored them to the unique needs of VET students. To facilitate the standardization of the program, each teacher received a teaching manual. Moreover, drawing upon experiential learning theory, we introduced the contents of the coping training in PE class through practical, movement-based exercises in PE. Students also received a workbook for use at home.

Participants and research design: In this cluster randomized controlled trial, eight classes from a Swiss vocational school participated (N?=?131, M_age?=?16.22?±?1.12, 35% females). Two trained PE teachers implemented the program with students in the intervention group (IG?=?67) for three months, while students in the other four classes maintained regular PE (CG?=?64) to comprise the control group. To evaluate the coping training, all participants completed several self-report psychological questionnaires (assessing stress, coping and sleep) at baseline and follow-up. IG students completed further questions with regard to intervention fidelity at follow-up.

Data analysis: To evaluate possible effects of the coping training on stress, coping and sleep, a 2?×?2 repeated-measures analysis of variance design was executed with time (pre vs. post) and group (IG vs. CG) as within- and between-subject factors.

Findings: Over time, IG students significantly increased their adaptive coping compared to CG students, while stress and sleep remained relatively stable for both. Regularly completing one’s homework reinforced this effect because it was significantly associated with students’ reflection and compliance.

Conclusion: A complete and accurate implementation of a PE-based coping training can make a positive contribution to the development of adaptive coping skills among adolescents attending vocational schools. This PE-based program allows students to experience their responses to stress directly and offers opportunities to experiment with different coping strategies. Adaptive coping skills are vital for successful stress management and the prevention of stress-related disorders across the work domain and in everyday life.     

Heartland: Forgiveness in Columbus,Three Billboards Outside Ebbing,Missouri, and Lady Bird

Recent movies have used the familiar conventions of classic revenge movies, but the former have avoided the latter's grim resolutions in favor of a wiser, more forgiving attitude toward those who have offended the wronged. This unconventional change in a familiar story line points to the contrast between the pleasure of vicarious vindictiveness and the more thoughtful approach that we prefer in real life.     

Hail the Conquering Hero: Remembering the Troops in The Hurt Locker,Inglourious Basterds and Avatar

Three recent movies about war are examined. All have been honored by critics and welcomed by audiences. The three movies are very different from one another. They reflect different ways of thinking and feeling about war. More specifically, they represent ways we relate to the troops we send into battle and our concerns about whether we have done and are doing the right things.     

Angels With Dirty Faces: Who Invited Slumdog Millionaire and The Visitor?

Two recent movies, The Visitor and Slumdog Millionaire, exemplify very different ways of dealing with the pains of inequality in modern life. Popular culture celebrates the successes of meritorious individuals from backgrounds of victimization and oppression, but it struggles to find positive themes when social arrangements continue to victimize other meritorious individuals. We may appear to transcend our past inequalities, but we still have present inequalities to struggle against. Similarities to recent political events, the unsettled issues of immigration, the fear of Muslims, and the election of a multiracial President are noted.     

Media images

As we travel through life, our journeys offer myriad observations, relationships, and experiences. By chance and choice, our journeys align closely with and are guided by other people's journeys; from these associations we form a sense of our individual cultural characteristics and self-identities. Simultaneously, our journeys follow courses that remain distant and distinct from other people's paths; yet our observations and interpretations from afar also contribute strongly to the formulation of individual cultural characteristics and self-identities. Throughout life's dynamic encounters and events, each of us continues to formulate, reformulate, and negotiate our self-identities as we traverse what seems like parallel paths-journeys that appear distant and distinct from other journeys, yet encountering equally powerful influences shaping our thoughts, beliefs, and actions. Rarely are we afforded the opportunities to investigate these parallel paths and communicate honestly with individuals who seemed far away and foreign; seldom can we truly experience multiple perspectives and cross-cultural relationships in our own journeys. This article presents the unique intersection of two parallel lives and the authentic exchange of multiple perspectives reported through narrative or personal life histories. The authors serendipitously met at a National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) conference and by chance shared their childhood stories. The authors were raised in similar environments but from opposite lifestyles -lifestyles that paralleled one another and contributed significantly to their individual understanding of cultural characteristics and self-identity. Here they share their histories spanning 50 years while providing insights and guidelines for teachers and teacher educators to learn from our pasts and reshape our futures.