RESOLV: Development of a telephone-based program designed to increase socialization in older veterans

We describe the development of a telephone-based program, Recreation, Education, and Socialization for Older Learning Veterans (RESOLV) that aims to connect Veterans with one another by phone and thereby reduce loneliness. The program was developed through a collaboration between VA and a community-based organization, Episcopal Senior Communities Senior Center Without Walls (SCWW). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 rural and non-rural dwelling older Veterans to identify leisure interests and potential barriers to participating in leisure activities. Program feasibility was examined with questions about telephone use and interest in and perceived benefits of a telephone community. We conducted content analysis to quantify Veterans’ leisure interests and thematic analysis to characterize barriers to participation. Veterans expressed interest most frequently in groups focused on conversation, support, gratitude, and technology. Rural and non-rural participants did not differ significantly in interests. Barriers to current activity participation included limited access to activities, limitations due to physical conditions, and transportation difficulties, which were consistent themes for both rural and non-rural participants. Themes related to perceived benefits of socialization that emerged include connectedness, learning from others, being active despite limitations, and distraction from limitations. Our findings demonstrate how a telephone-based socialization program could be developed and tailored for older Veterans. It seems that such a program is feasible and may be of benefit for older Veterans in rural and non-rural areas. Further evaluation is needed to ascertain the direct benefit of such a program to older Veterans.     

Education and qualitative research in Mexico: issues and insights from the field

This co-editors’ introduction provides a context for the special issue on qualitative research in Mexico and introduces the five papers selected for publication. Papers present findings from qualitative research that explore the topics of teaching; school leadership; language education policy; and women in traditionally male, postsecondary engineering programs.     

Self-Operated Verbal Instructions for People with Intellectual and Visual Disabilities: Using instruction clusters after task acquisition

Three adults with intellectual and visual disabilities were taught vocationally relevant tasks through the use of a self-operated verbal instruction system. During training, the system presented one verbal instruction per task step, individually. After training, the system presented instructions arranged in clusters/groups of two. Data showed that during training all participants achieved percentages of correct task performance exceeding 90. The subsequent use of instruction clusters was effective in maintaining high levels of correct performance for each adult, whereas a deterioration of performance occurred when instructions were not available. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

The Issue of Shared Time

BIOGRAPHY: From Thirty Years With Freud by Theodor Reik. Farrar and Rinehart. 241 pages. $2.50.

Mark Twain in Eruption by Mark Twain. Edited by Bernard DeVoto. Harper &; Bras 393 pp. $3.75.

Not to Me Only by Caleb Frank Gates. Princeton University Press. 329 pp. $3.00.

Still Small Voice by August Derleth. D. Appleton-Century Company. 307 PP. $3.00.

EDUCATION Abstracts of Graduate Theses in Education, Volume III, Teachers College, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio. 251 pp. $2.00.

Science for the Elementary School Teacher by Gerald S. Craig. Ginn and Company. 540 pp. $3.00.

Stops: A Handbook for Those Who Know Their Punctuation and for Those Who Aren't Quite Sure. Introduction by Robert M. Gay. Middlebury College Press. 37 pp. $1.00.

The Arts in the Classroom by Natalie Robinson Cole. Illustrated. John Day. 137 pages. $1.75.

FICTION: Landfall by Nevil Shute. William Morrow and Company. 284 pp. $2.50.

Sapphira and the Slave Girl by Willa Cather. Alfred A. Knopf. 295 pages. $2.50.

Who Dwell With Wonder by Kathleen Coyle. E. P. Dutton and Company. 279 pp. $2.50.

GENERAL: Approach to Music by Lawrence Abbott. Introduction by Walter Damrosch. Illustrated. Farrar and Rinehart. 358 pages. $2.50.

Broadway in Review by John Mason Brown. W. W. Norton Company. 295 pages. $2.75.

Poems by Eileen Duggan. Introduction by Walter de la Mare. The Macmillan Company. 65 pp. $1.50.

Thinking on Your Feet by Louis Ni-zar. With an Introduction by Bruce Barton. Liveright Publishing Corporation. 301 pp. $2.50.

PSYCHOLOGY: Behind the Scenes of Murder by Joseph Catton, M.D. W. W. Norton Company. 355 pages. $3.00.

SOCIAL STUDIES, INCLUDING HISTORY: Freedom American Style by Alan F. Griffin. Henry Holt &; Co. 184 pages.

Here's Death Valley by C. B. Glass-cock. Illustrated. Bobbs-Merrill &; Company. 329 pages. $3.00.

Historian and Scientist by Gaetano Sal-vemini. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Mass. Pp. viii, 203. $2.50.

In the Wake of the Raiders and the Merchant Navy Fights by A. D. Divine. E. P. Dutton and Company. 1940. $2.50.

The Trojan Horse in America by Martin Dies. Dodd, Mead &; Company. 366 pages. $2.50.

The Ancient Greeks by William Kelly Prentice. Princeton University Press. 254 pages. $3.00.

TRAVEL: Hawkeyes, A Biography of the State of Iowa by Phil Stong. Dodd, Mead and Company. 300 pp. $3.00.

Hurricane's Wake by Roy Kauffman. The Macmillan Company. 319 pp. $3.00.     

Comparative study of the evaluation of professional competencies by experienced and trainee Spanish primary teachers

Taking as reference the proposals of the European Higher Education Area, the aim of this study is to identify the competencies which a wide sample of teachers in Spanish primary schools (6–12 age group) consider to be important for their professional performance and which they use in their everyday teaching, and to what extent their university training prepared them for their practising professional development. To do this, an ad hoc instrument was devised and applied to experienced practising teachers and to teacher trainees who were on teacher training placements during the last semester of their course. The results of the study show that initial teacher training should deal in depth with the competencies related to the organisation and management of teaching–learning, the use of new technologies in the primary classroom, the involvement of the families, education in values, social skills and skills for working in professional groups. Finally, proposals are made for training based on the articulation between theory and practice, to allow the professional competencies mentioned to be developed and used in practice, as well as encouraging close collaboration between teacher trainers and experienced practising teachers.     

The filament forming reactions of vimentin tetramers studied in a serial-inlet microflow device by small angle x-ray scattering

The structural organization of metazoan cells and their shape are established through the coordinated interaction of a composite network consisting of three individual filament systems, collectively termed the cytoskeleton. Specifically, microtubules and actin filaments, which assemble from monomeric globular proteins, provide polar structures that serve motor proteins as tracks. In contrast, intermediate filaments (IFs) assemble from highly charged, extended coiled coils in a hierarchical assembly mechanism of lateral and longitudinal interaction steps into non-polar structures. IF proteins are expressed in a distinctly tissue-specific way and thereby serve to generate the precise plasticity of the respective cells and tissues. Accordingly, in the cell, numerous parameters such as pH and salt concentration are adjusted such that the generation of functional networks is ensured. Here, we transfer the problem for the mesenchymal IF protein vimentin to an in vitro setting and combine small angle x-ray scattering with microfluidics and finite element method simulations. Our approach is adapted to resolve the early assembly steps, which take place in the sub-second to second range. In particular, we reveal the influence of ion species and concentrations on the assembly. By tuning the flow rates and thus concentration profiles, we find a minimal critical salt concentration for the initiation of the assembly. Furthermore, our analysis of the surface sensitive Porod regime in the x-ray data reveals that the formation of first assembly intermediates, so-called unit length filaments, is not a one-step reaction but consists of distinct consecutive lateral association steps followed by radial compaction as well as smoothening of the surface of the full-width filament.