Preparing Undergraduates for Practice: Implications From a Survey of Graduates

Results from a survey of B.A. sociology graduates are used to assess the extent to which the sociology curriculum prepares students for practice roles after graduation. The respondents graduated from St. Cloud State University between 1965 and 1985. During these years the sociology program had a traditional liberal arts emphasis. Graduates were asked to report on several aspects of their occupations (use of sociology, level of authority, and income being the most important) They also were asked to comment on which courses they found most useful, which courses they wished they had taken, and what advice they had for current sociology majors and for the sociology department at St. Cloud State. The results suggest that the general skills emphasized in the liberal arts curriculum contributed to the occupational success of graduates However, in their comments graduates showed some dissatisfaction with the traditional curriculum. The general thrust of these comments was that, while the liberal arts emphasis is important, more attention should be devoted to career preparation This confirms the value of the recent trend toward sociology curricula that are more directly addressed to practice issues It also suggests the need for further change, particularly in the area of career advisin

You bet they\u27re having fun! Older Americans and casino gambling

This exploratory two-stage study of a small sample of older Minnesotans finds no evidence that casino gambling activities threaten their well-being. For most respondents, the social benefits were the most salient parts of this activity and they were well aware of the danger signs of problem behaviors. Social exchange theory explains why they visit casinos and how much they spend. The life course perspective explains their decisions based on past behaviors and is consistent with how they have lived their lives. We suggest that age norms determine the public\u27s perceptions that casino gambling is problematic for older people. Results are consistent with cross-sectional surveys that find no evidence that older adults participate more often in or have greater problems with gambling than any other age group. Public concerns and media images may be based on socially constructed assumptions and fears

You Bet They\u27re Having Fun! Older Americans and Casino Gambling

This exploratory two-stage study of a small sample of older Minnesotans finds no evidence that casino gambling activities threaten their well being. For most respondents the social benefits were the most salient parts of this activity and they were well aware of the danger signs of problem behaviors. Social exchange theory explains why they visit casinos and how much they spend. The life course perspective explains their decisions based on past behaviors and consistent with how they have lived their lives. We suggest that age norms determine the public\u27s perceptions that casino gambling is problematic for older people. Results are consistent with cross sectional surveys that find no evidence that older adults participate more often in or have greater problems with gambling than any other age group. Public concerns and media images may be based on socially constructed assumptions and fears

Promise and Practice of Service-Learning

Service-:-learning can help to address the tension between liberal arts cumcula and an increasing demand for a university education to be relevant, career oriented, and to serve the community. By integrating service.:learning into our courses we have demonstrated the practical relevance of our disciplines to students and the community and have also enhanced student learning while maintaining our commitment to a liberal arts education. This paper records how three faculty members integrated service-learning into courses in sociology and speech communication. We briefly describe our work in integrating service-learning into our courses, focusing on the learning potentials for our students. We also discuss the benefits to the community and to our own teaching. The considerations and challenges we encountered as we developed these new components for our courses are outlined. We hope that this record of our experiences Will be helpful for others as they consider integrating service-learning into their courses

Antioxidant defence in UV-irradiated tobacco leaves is centred on hydrogen-peroxide neutralization

Greenhouse grown tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Petit Havana) plants were exposed to supplemental UV centred at 318 nm and corresponding to 13.6 kJ m-2 d-1 biologically effective UV-B (280-315 nm) radiation. After 6 days this treatment decreased photosynthesis by 30%. Leaves responded by a large increase in UV-absorbing pigment content and antioxidant capacities. UV-stimulated defence against ROS was strongest in chloroplasts, since activities of plastid enzymes FeSOD and APX had larger relative increases than other, non-plastid specific SODs or peroxidases. In addition, non-enzymatic defence against hydroxyl radicals was doubled in UV treated leaves as compared to controls. In UV treated leaves, the extent of activation of ROS neutralizing capacities followed a peroxidases > hydroxyl-radical neutralization > SOD order. These results suggest that highly effective hydrogen peroxide neutralization is the focal point of surviving UV-inducible oxidative stress and argue against a direct signalling role of hydrogen peroxide in maintaining adaptation to UV, at least in laboratory experiments

High Impedance Josephson Junction Resonators in the Transmission Line Geometry

In this article we present an experimental study of microwave resonators made out of Josephson junctions. The junctions are embedded in a transmission line geometry so that they increase the inductance per length for the line. By comparing two devices with different input/output coupling strengths, we show that the coupling capacitors, however, add a significant amount to the total capacitance of the resonator. This makes the resonators with high coupling capacitance to act rather as lumped element resonators with inductance from the junctions and capacitance from the end sections. Based on a circuit analysis, we also show that the input and output couplings of the resonator are limited to a maximum value of $\omega_r Z_0 /4 Z_r$ where $\omega_r$ is the resonance frequency and $Z_0$ and $Z_r$ are the characteristic impedances of the input/output lines and the resonator respectively