A new culture of advocacy: An exploratory analysis of social activism on the web and social media

This study examined how non-profit organizations (NPOs) adapted to the new media environment and created an innovative culture of advocacy to directly facilitate engagement with interested supporters. Findings from this content analysis and virtual ethnography revealed NPOs dramatically transformed the structure of online content. Shifting the emphasis of the web and social media from a one-way transmission of information to an interactive conversation substantially changes the dynamics for activism, and fosters new models of engagement between NPOs and supporters. In this participatory, co-operative media culture, people were actively engaged and shared digital content that inspired others to care about important issues. These overall results indicated that the web and social media, when used to its fullest extent, played a key role encouraging communication and inspiring interaction among individuals on- and off-line.     

Gender Similarity or Gender Difference? Contemporary Women's and Men's Career Patterns

Career development research has often explored gender differences in and development of career patterns ( Gottfredson, 2006 ). Hyde's (2005) meta‐analysis indicated that men and women shared more similarities than differences. Applying Hyde's gender similarities hypothesis to careers, the authors conducted a 2‐stage study. Stage 1 was an analysis of career choices of couples (a socioeconomically and educationally advantaged group) announcing their wedding in the New York Times. Stage 2 was a comparison of a New York Times wedding cohort with a cohort from 11 other U.S. newspapers, examining national trends and exploring generalizability of the findings from Stage 1 of the study. Results revealed that there are shifting trends in career choices, most notably in the legal profession.     

Exploring routine hospital antenatal care consultations — An ethnographic study

Background

Listening to women as part of their antenatal care has been recognized as valuable in understanding the woman’s needs. Conversations as part of routine antenatal interactions offer ideal opportunities for women to express themselves and for midwives to learn about the woman’s issues and concerns. The antenatal visit and the convention of antenatal consultations for midwives have not been well explored or defined and much of what takes place replicate medical consultative processes. As a consequence, there is little to assist midwives construct woman-centred care consultations for their routine antenatal care practice. This study showed how some practices were better in promoting the woman’s voice and woman-centred care in the hospital setting.

Intra‐ and Interracial Best Friendships During Middle School: Links to Social and Emotional Well‐being

This study examined patterns of intra‐ and interracial best friendships during middle school and their associations with social and emotional well‐being. We hypothesized that intraracial friendships would be beneficial for racial or ethnic minority youth because such relationships provide protection and solidarity in a discriminatory society. Results revealed that most youth had only intraracial best friends during middle school, but 38% had at least one interracial best friend. Associations between interracial best friendships and well‐being varied by racial group; Black and Asian American youth with only interracial best friends reported lower emotional well‐being than those with only intraracial best friends. Additionally, intraracial best friendships were associated with higher conflict than interracial best friendships, especially for Black and Latino youth.     

Do arid species use less water than mesic species in an irrigated common garden?

There is an increasing need to consider the water use of horticultural plants grown in arid and semi-arid garden settings. Species that originate from arid and semi-arid regions are often considered suitable for xeriscaping, but there have been relatively few direct measurements of important water relations parameters such as gas exchange, resistance to cavitation, and water use efficiency (WUE) in irrigated urban gardens. In this study, we compared plant gas exchange, cavitation resistance, and WUE in evergreen shrub species from arid, temperate, and tropical environments grown in an irrigated common garden environment. Contrary to expectations, arid and non-riparian species had greater transpiration rates than temperate and riparian species, and lower specific leaf area than tropical and riparian species. Temperate species had the highest WUE as measured with the isotopic composition of leaf soluble sugar. Cavitation resistance and maximum hydraulic conductivity were not different among species from different biomes. These results indicate that under well-watered conditions, species from temperate environments may use less water than species from arid environments. In addition, native habitat is not a strong predictor of resistance to cavitation, which has implications for plant responses to water stress and drought.     

Can weight predict academic performance in college students? An analysis of college women's self-efficacy,absenteeism, and depressive symptoms as mediators

Over a third of American college students are either overweight or obese, which has been suggested to negatively impact their academic achievement. Objective: This study seeks to better understand the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and grade point average (GPA), while examining potential mediators of this association. Participants and Methods: The sample consists of 298 college women who volunteered to complete online questionnaires between October and December 2014. Results: Although no significant differences were noted for sociodemographic variables, overweight and obese female students were found to report lower GPA and academic self-efficacy as well as higher depressive symptoms, compared with their normal-weight counterparts. Academic self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between BMI and GPA. Conclusions: To foster better academic achievement in female college students, and especially for those who are overweight and obese, strategies for improving self-efficacy and adaptation to college should be implemented.     

A comparative study of the water budgets of lawns under three management scenarios

The fate of irrigation in urban ecosystems is highly uncertain, due to uncertainties in urban ecohydrology. We compared irrigation rates, soil moisture, evapotranspiration (ET), stomatal conductance, and water budgets of landscape ecosystems managed with different turfgrass species and irrigation technologies. The “Typical” landscape had a cool-season fescue and was irrigated by an automatic timer. The “Alternative1” landscape had a warm-season paspalum and a “smart” soil moisture sensor-based irrigation system. The “Alternative2” landscape had a cool-season native sedge and a “smart” weather station-based drip irrigation system. ET was measured with a portable closed chamber and modeled using a Penman-Monteith approach, and the two methods agreed well. The water applied to the Alternative1 was 54 % less than the water applied to the Typical landscape, and the water applied to the Alternative2 was 24 % less. Soil moisture was similar in the Typical and Alternative2, while Alternative1 was drier in spring. The stomatal conductance of sedge was lower than the other two species, but its ET was not lower due to higher leaf area. Irrigation efficiencies (ET/applied irrigation) were 57 - 58 %, 86 – 97 %, and 78 - 80 % for the Typical, Alternative1, and Alternative2 landscapes, respectively. Runoff was less than 2 % in each landscape, and excess irrigation primarily drained below the root zone. Differences in irrigation efficiency between landscapes were due mainly to irrigation application, which varied more than species water use. Smart irrigation systems provided substantial water savings relative to a timer-based system, and prevented significant drainage losses. The utilization of smart sensors was more important than the choice of turfgrass species for irrigation efficiency.     

Influence of Perceptions of Current and Future Community on Residential Aspirations of Rural Youth

Outmigration of youth has concerned rural communities and researchers for several decades. Yet not all communities experience extensive youth outmigration and some youth want to stay in their rural communities as adults. This article examines youth satisfaction with their current community and the importance of characteristics of the community in which they would like to live as an adult for youth preferences to leave or stay in their rural community. The data are for rural ninth‐grade youth in Pennsylvania from the Rural Youth Education Project. The results suggest that perceptions of available jobs and educational opportunities in both current and future community, parental and friend influences, and the quality of the natural environment and outdoor recreation are important in determining residential aspirations. In particular, identifying a clean natural environment and outdoor recreation as important in the adult community increases the likelihood that rural youth have residential aspirations to stay in their rural community. This research adds to our knowledge about factors important in determining youth residential aspirations by identifying attributes of community beyond jobs and educational opportunities that youth find attractive as they consider places to live as adults.     

Tuberculosis Screening for International Students

Abstract

Nonimmigrant, international students entering colleges in the United States are not required to undergo screening for tuberculosis (TB). Thirty-nine percent of active TB cases in the United States are in foreign-born individuals. In an effort to minimize the occurrence of active TB on a community campus with an increasing international student population, the college health service implemented a TB-screening policy for all newly enrolled international students. For the 1997/98 school year, 171 international students from 70 different countries enrolled in classes. Fifty-nine students (35%) screened for TB had a positive skin test (greater than 10 mm induration). Of those, 34 initiated isoniazid therapy, and 27 successfully completed the prescribed regimen under supervision of the campus health office.