A Game-Based Approach to Information Literacy and Engineering in Context

Engineering students need complex skills to be effective in college and post-graduate employment. Beyond technical skills, the ability to integrate varied types of information is essential for competence in applying engineered solutions to real-life situations. While research shows that project-based learning favorably affects engineering student success and retention as well as recruitment of diverse populations to STEM, it is challenging to find ways to incorporate projects during the first two years, where in the U.S. general education requirements typically precede major course work. As a work in progress, we report on the first phase of an experiment at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) using a sophomore-level humanities course to teach information literacy. Students develop a pedagogical role-play game to explore a historical situation simulating engineered solutions. The game offers the advantages of project-based learning within a traditionally framed classroom environment, and before students address complex engineering problems within their major areas of study. To assess the effectiveness of our educational approach we reviewed the quality and type of sources located by students and completed a textual analysis of students’ reflective essays. Through game development, students effectively located information, and saw value in the research skills they gained

Outlooks and Opinions of Practicing Physical Therapists Regarding Direct Access in Indiana

poster abstractIntroduction: Indiana is one of the remaining states that requires by state law a referral to initiate treatment by a licensed physical therapist (PT) and therefore does not allow consumers direct access to physical therapy services. In 2009, the Indiana Chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and Indiana University jointly funded a study to investigate the opinions of licensed physical therapists on direct access to physical therapy services. Purpose: The study investigated physical therapists opinions residing in the state of Indiana on four main issues: Direct access—desire for and willingness to achieve Scope of care—differential diagnosis and clinical skills Liability—perceived impact of direct access Manipulation practices—competence and confidence Methods: The researchers used an online program, SurveyMonkey©, to design an 18-question survey. The sample was recruited via a mailing list from the Indiana State Board of Health which included all the licensed physical therapists within the state of Indiana. A letter explaining the purpose of the study including a hyperlink to the survey and a hard copy of the survey was mailed to 3,350 physical therapists. The survey respondents could either choose to complete the survey online via the hyperlink or on the hard copy provided and return via a provided selfaddressed stamped envelope for survey return. Results: There were 1,379 respondents which accounted for a 42% return rate. APTA membership was analyzed with 39.5% of the respondents being APTA members and the remaining 60.5% being non-members. The collective responses to specific questions were reported by a five-level Likert response scale. The majority of respondents want direct access in the state of Indiana, with the average response being 4.13/5.00. However, proportionately the willingness of respondents to be actively involved is much lower, with the average response being 3.23/5.00. The majority (61%) believed their liability would increase with direct access. The terminal degrees for the respondents surveyed were varied with the majority, 48.6%, holding a Bachelor’s degree. The responses of participants were significantly influenced by their degree/level of training with higher levels of training being consistently associated with more favorable attitudes to direct access issues. Discussion /Clinical Relevance: The high return rate and passionate responses confirm these issues are important to PT’s practicing in Indiana and the majority of those surveyed are in favor of direct access to physical therapy services without compromise of the current scope of care. The results of this study may have implications for health policy regarding direct access to physical therapy services within the state of Indiana. In particular to help redirect efforts toward dispelling myths, promoting grassroots efforts and encouraging teamwork in our peers

Motile Cryptofaunal Invertebrate Assemblages in Catalina Island\u27s Rhodolith Beds in Relation to Physical Structure and Live Rhodoliths

Rhodoliths (Corallinaceae, Rhodophyta) are unattached, branching, calcareous red algae that are important foundation species in near shore marine systems. Aggregations, or beds, produce habitat that is a mixture of hard substrate and soft sediment supporting diverse assemblages of both crypto- and macrofauna. At Catalina Island, CA (33º44’55”N, 118º50’22”W), beds of relatively small rhodoliths were recently documented within several bays and coves. To better understand the associated community, this study describes the cryptofaunal invertebrate assemblages associated with live rhodolith (LR), dead rhodolith (DR) and sand (S) habitats within three sites (Cherry Cove, Isthmus Harbor, Avalon Harbor). Motile invertebrates (\u3e 0.5 mm) were removed from sediment cores, identified to lowest certain taxonomic level and enumerated. Percent dry weight of eight size classes of sediment and percent dry weight of live rhodoliths were calculated. All three habitats had different sediment compositions with LR and DR habitats being more similar to each other than to S. Of the 184 morphotypes found across all habitats and sites, 142 were within LR, 109 within DR and 91 within S. LR hosted greater mean abundance of invertebrates (479.4 ± 42.0 ind./core) and greater mean taxonomic richness (43.3 ± 2.3 taxa/core) than either DR (226.5 ± 34.0 ind./core, 26.8 ± 1.2 taxa/core) or S (152.7 ± 17.3 ind./core, 24.3 ± 1.5 taxa/core) across all sites. Invertebrate community composition differed by habitat with LR and DR supporting slightly different communities that more strongly differed from S. Community composition differed significantly by site within S (ANOSIM, R = 0.968, p 4750 μm) in the substrate explained more variation in invertebrate abundance and taxonomic diversity than percent dry weight of live rhodolith material (live only, \u3e 500 μm) suggesting that physical structure provided by intact rhodoliths has an influence on the associated invertebrate assemblages. This study demonstrates that despite their small size (\u3c 2 cm) the rhodolith beds at Catalina Island support an abundant and diverse invertebrate community. Further research will help identify the mechanisms supporting the observed rhodolith associated invertebrate diversity identified in this study

A Microfluidic Device for Whole-Animal Drug Screening Using Electrophysiological Measures in the Nematode C. Elegans

This paper describes the fabrication and use of a microfluidic device for performing whole-animal chemical screens using non-invasive electrophysiological readouts of neuromuscular function in the nematode worm, C. elegans. The device consists of an array of microchannels to which electrodes are attached to form recording modules capable of detecting the electrical activity of the pharynx, a heart-like neuromuscular organ involved in feeding. The array is coupled to a tree-like arrangement of distribution channels that automatically delivers one nematode to each recording module. The same channels are then used to perfuse the recording modules with test solutions while recording the electropharyngeogram (EPG) from each worm with sufficient sensitivity to detect each pharyngeal contraction. The device accurately reported the acute effects of known anthelmintics (anti-nematode drugs) and also correctly distinguished a specific drug-resistant mutant strain of C. elegans from wild type. The approach described here is readily adaptable to parasitic species for the identification of novel anthelmintics. It is also applicable in toxicology and drug discovery programs for human metabolic and degenerative diseases for which C. elegans is used as a model.Chemistry and Chemical Biolog

Bodyweight Perceptions among Texas Women: The Effects of Religion, Race/Ethnicity, and Citizenship Status

Despite previous work exploring linkages between religious participation and health, little research has looked at the role of religion in affecting bodyweight perceptions. Using the theoretical model developed by Levin et al. (Sociol Q 36(1):157–173, 1995) on the multidimensionality of religious participation, we develop several hypotheses and test them by using data from the 2004 Survey of Texas Adults. We estimate multinomial logistic regression models to determine the relative risk of women perceiving themselves as overweight. Results indicate that religious attendance lowers risk of women perceiving themselves as very overweight. Citizenship status was an important factor for Latinas, with noncitizens being less likely to see themselves as overweight. We also test interaction effects between religion and race. Religious attendance and prayer have a moderating effect among Latina non-citizens so that among these women, attendance and prayer intensify perceptions of feeling less overweight when compared to their white counterparts. Among African American women, the effect of increased church attendance leads to perceptions of being overweight. Prayer is also a correlate of overweight perceptions but only among African American women. We close with a discussion that highlights key implications from our findings, note study limitations, and several promising avenues for future research