Plymouth State University

Rooney B., Kays R., Cove M.V., Jensen A., Goldstein B.R., Pate C., Castiblanco P., Abell M.E., Adley J., Agenbroad B., Ahlers A.A., Alexander P.D., Allen D., Allen M.L., Alston J.M., et. al.

ABSTRACTMotivationSNAPSHOT USA is an annual, multicontributor camera trap survey of mammals across the United States. The growing SNAPSHOT USA dataset is intended for tracking the spatial and temporal responses of mammal populations to changes in land use, land cover and climate. These data will be useful for exploring the drivers of spatial and temporal changes in relative abundance and distribution, as well as the impacts of species interactions on daily activity patterns.Main Types of Variables ContainedSNAPSHOT USA 2019–2023 contains 987,979 records of camera trap image sequence data and 9694 records of camera trap deployment metadata.Spatial Location and GrainData were collected across the United States of America in all 50 states, 12 ecoregions and many ecosystems.Time Period and GrainData were collected between 1st August and 29th December each year from 2019 to 2023.Major Taxa and Level of MeasurementThe dataset includes a wide range of taxa but is primarily focused on medium to large mammals.Software FormatSNAPSHOT USA 2019–2023 comprises two .csv files. The original data can be found within the SNAPSHOT USA Initiative in the Wildlife Insights platform.

Le L.T., Nguyen C.D., Willbourn H., Dinh A.N., Nguyen N.M., Hoang D.T., Le T.V.

Traditional didactic approaches to pedagogy predominate in Vietnamese higher education. Using trioethnography, the combination of duoethnography that aims to shatter preconceived ideas and photography, we explore how to integrate creativity into the higher education curriculum. The chapter makes three contributions, firstly, to revitalize learning and teaching, secondly, to redefine the relationship between teachers and students, and, thirdly, the role of internal communities inside the institutions. The study takes place in Vietnam among a diverse research team of seven transnational scholars with experience of national and international programs at different levels and in different disciplines. In the three circles of an indigenous approach, we share cultural artifacts, such as images and objects, to form our discourse. Central to our chapter are three distinct voices: educators, learners, and a community-based project leader. These three groups practice creativity in different contexts and are rooted within three key topics: the teaching process promoting creativity, the energy driving creativity in learning, and trust-based collaboration to foster diversity in academic methodology. Through our creative lens, we reveal multiple facets of our experiences and examine emerging and unresolved issues of Vietnamese higher education.

Warren A.N., Ward N.A., Çermikli Ayvaz B., Dias M.J., Linville H.A., Whiting J.

AbstractLanguage teacher educators’ identity is a significant contributor to pedagogical and professional choices they make in their work. Utilizing Foucault's notion of ethico‐political self‐formation as adapted by Clarke (2009), the researchers explored the identities of six advocacy‐oriented language teacher educators (LTEs) working in the United States. In their polyvocal exploration, they focus on the ethical substance, authority sources, and self‐practices that contribute to the formation of advocacy‐oriented professional identities. Analysis revealed interactions between prior experiences, relationships, key theories, and self‐practices of reflection as formative to identities as advocacy‐oriented LTEs. The researchers discuss their findings in light of the relationship of identity formation to pedagogy and what collaborative self‐reflection reveals about the formation of an advocacy‐oriented LTE identity. The findings contribute to our developing understanding of advocacy within the context of language teaching and language teacher education.

Hartman C.L., Seaman J., Coppens A.D., Sharp E.H., Jusseaume S., Donovan M.

This study examined the cultural messages informing postsecondary decision-making processes surrounding emerging adult migration from/to a predominately rural state in the northeastern U.S. Utilizing an ecological approach to sampling, this study used 27 interviews and 5 focus groups of stakeholders working in educational, employment, and quality of life sectors. Narrative analysis yielded evidence of a predominant master narrative of migration as a developmental requirement during emerging adulthood. Stakeholders spoke of normative and prescriptive expectations that emerging adults particularly in rural areas orient their plans and decision-making around, including leaving their home communities for developmental reasons. Implications for emerging adult development and migration and future research on identity formation vis-a-vis master narratives are discussed.

Carmichael R.D., Mullin E.M., Heikkinen D.J.

Steere K., Langford D.J., Collins S.M., Litwin B.

Objectives: Chronic pain disorders are among the most common and affect approximately 20% of the US population, leading to disproportionately high medical expenditures and negative economic impact. Behavioral factors of pain catastrophizing and perceived injustice are associated with pain intensity in chronic pain. Diminished heart rate variability (HRV) is also strongly associated with chronic pain. These factors have been less explored earlier in the pain experience and it is unclear whether they play a role in the transition from acute to chronic pain. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between pain catastrophizing, perceived injustice, pain intensity and HRV in naturally occurring acute pain. Methods: Ninety-seven subjects were recruited from local outpatient physical therapy clinics. Seated HRV was captured on ninety-four subjects via Polar chest strap while subjects were taking a survey via iPad. In addition to sociodemographic data, the survey included the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), Injustice Experience Questionnaire (IEQ), and Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS). The natural log of high frequency power (lnHFP) HRV was used in the statistical analysis. Results: Multiple regression modeling revealed that lower pain catastrophizing, higher perceived injustice, and lower pain intensity were associated with lower HRV, and accounted for 11.4% of the variance in HRV. Discussion: While greater chronic pain intensity is associated with lower HRV, the relationship is reversed in the setting of acute pain. These findings highlight the need to better understand the unique factors that contribute to lower HRV in the acute phase.

Marschall M., Lappie J.

The vast majority of the roughly half-million elected officials in the U.S. occupy local offices, however, research examining how they get elected to remains scant. The present study examines turnout in local elections, focusing on the effects of electoral rules, the competitiveness of local races, and whether and how place matters. Based on a sample of roughly 10,000 mayoral elections, this study represents the most systematic empirical analysis of local turnout to date. While we find substantial differences in turnout across rural towns, suburbs, and central cities, these differences are largely explained by electoral and contextual factors that are unevenly distributed across the local landscape. Though election timing is far and away the most important factor, uncontested mayoral races, local elections in states with restrictive voting laws as well as those mid-sized municipalities are associated with significantly lower turnout.

Jury S., Walker M., Looney B., Flanagan T., Bernacki L., Chabot C.C., Watson W.H.

Grant E.H., Fleming J., Bastiaans E., Brand A.B., Brooks J.L., Devlin C., Epp K., Evans M., Fisher-Reid M.C., Gratwicke B., Grayson K.L., Haydt N.T., Hernández-Pacheco R., Hocking D.J., Hyde A., et. al.

Characterizing the population density of species is a central interest in ecology. Eastern North America is the global hotspot for biodiversity of plethodontid salamanders, an inconspicuous component of terrestrial vertebrate communities, and among the most widespread is the eastern red-backed salamander, Plethodon cinereus . Previous work suggests population densities are high with significant geographic variation, but comparisons among locations are challenged by lack of standardization of methods and failure to accommodate imperfect detection. We present results from a large-scale research network that accounts for detection uncertainty using systematic survey protocols and robust statistical models. We analysed mark–recapture data from 18 study areas across much of the species range. Estimated salamander densities ranged from 1950 to 34 300 salamanders ha −1 , with a median of 9965 salamanders ha −1 . We compared these results to previous estimates for P. cinereus and other abundant terrestrial vertebrates. We demonstrate that overall the biomass of P. cinereus , a secondary consumer, is of similar or greater magnitude to widespread primary consumers such as white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) and Peromyscus mice, and two to three orders of magnitude greater than common secondary consumer species. Our results add empirical evidence that P. cinereus , and amphibians in general, are an outsized component of terrestrial vertebrate communities in temperate ecosystems.

Russell A.L., Buchmann S.L., Ascher J.S., Wang Z., Kriebel R., Jolles D.D., Orr M.C., Hughes A.C.

Foraging behavior frequently plays a major role in driving the geographic distribution of animals. Buzzing to extract protein-rich pollen from flowers is a key foraging behavior used by bee species across at least 83 genera (these genera comprise ∼58% of all bee species). Although buzzing is widely recognized to affect the ecology and evolution of bees and flowering plants (e.g., buzz-pollinated flowers), global patterns and drivers of buzzing bee biogeography remain unexplored. Here, we investigate the global species distribution patterns within each bee family and how patterns and drivers differ with respect to buzzing bee species. We found that both distributional patterns and drivers of richness typically differed for buzzing species compared with hotspots for all bee species and when grouped by family. A major predictor of the distribution, but not species richness overall for buzzing members of four of the five major bee families included in analyses (Andrenidae, Halictidae, Colletidae, and to a lesser extent, Apidae), was the richness of poricidal flowering plant species, which depend on buzzing bees for pollination. Because poricidal plant richness was highest in areas with low wind and high aridity, we discuss how global hotspots of buzzing bee biodiversity are likely influenced by both biogeographic factors and plant host availability. Although we explored global patterns with state-level data, higher-resolution work is needed to explore local-level drivers of patterns. From a global perspective, buzz-pollinated plants clearly play a greater role in the ecology and evolution of buzzing bees than previously predicted.

Waalkes P.L., DeCino D.A., Somerville T., Phelps‐Pineda M.M., Flynn S.V., LeBlanc J.

AbstractFew practical guidelines exist for conducting generic qualitative research (GQR) with rigor and intentional purpose. This article offers varied purposes of GQR (practicality and creating change, flexible blending of methods, and innovation) and pragmatic guidance for counselor educators and doctoral students conceptualizing, designing, and conducting rigorous GQR studies.

Flynn S.V., McKibben W.B., Willis B.T.

This article outlines the initial psychometric evidence for the emotionally focused therapy skills rubric (EFTSR). The EFTSR is designed to assess clinician's emotionally focused therapy (EFT) skill proficiency, identify how EFT skills are used within the basic movements of EFT, and evaluate a clinician's ability to use the EFT attachment injury resolution model . The EFTSR content validity was confirmed with two overall content validity indexes of .86 and .87. There was substantial item-level internal consistency reliability, with α scores ranging from .70 to .99 for both videos. Item-total correlations were higher than .20 for most items demonstrating substantial interrater reliability. Thus, results indicate initial support for using the EFTSR as theoretically based instrument designed to assess counselors’ ability to execute the skills of the EFT model.

DeJong Lempke A.F., Stephens S.L., Thompson X.D., Hart J.M., Hryvniak D.J., Rodu J.S., Hertel J.

Outdoor gait-training has been successful in improving pain and reducing contact time during outdoor running for runners with exercise-related lower leg pain (ERLLP). However, it is unclear if these adaptations translate to gold standard treadmill running and clinical strength assessments. The study purpose was to assess the influence of a 4-week outdoor gait-training intervention with home exercises (FBHE) on treadmill running biomechanics and lower extremity strength compared to home exercises alone (HE) among runners with ERLLP. Seventeen runners with ERLLP were randomly allocated to FBHE and HE groups (FBHE: 3 M, 6F, 23 ± 4 years, 22.0 ± 4.6 kg/m2; HE: 3 M, 5F, 25 ± 5 years, 24.0 ± 4.0 kg/m2). Both groups completed eight sessions of home exercises over 4 weeks. The FBHE group received gait-training through wearable sensors to reduce contact time. Treadmill running gait and clinical strength assessments were conducted at baseline and 4-weeks. Multivariate repeated measures analyses of variance were used to assess the influence of group and timepoint for all outcomes. The FBHE group demonstrated significantly decreased contact time at 4-weeks compared to baseline and the HE group (Mean Difference [MD] range: −42 ms – −39 ms; p-range: 0.007). The outdoor FBHE intervention transferred to favorable changes in treadmill running biomechanics. Clinicians treating runners with ERLLP patients should implement data-driven outdoor gait-training to maximize patient benefits across running locations.

Srivastava A., Gaulocher S., Dirzo R., Rodriguez E.

Adolescents living in low-income neighborhoods are at greater risk of engaging in unhealthy behaviors. To promote the adoption of healthy behaviors, we the authors incorporated health education into an environmental conservation framework as a stealth intervention in low-income urban middle schools in Northern California, USA. Using a quasi-experimental design among 169 children, 87 sixth grade students in one of the schools were offered: (1) online health educational modules and mentorship by college students as part of a community engaged learning experience, and (2) an outdoor experiential field trip in a natural environment setting. Participants took pre- and post-tests to measure knowledge and behavior change and completed post-field trip reflections. A comparison group of 82 students received the educational intervention after the completion of pre-and post-tests by both groups. Quantitative data evaluation demonstrated that students in the intervention school significantly improved knowledge levels. Improvements in several behavior metrics were also observed, although they did not reach the level of statistical significance. Qualitative data analysis underscored students’ appreciation for outdoor activities and willingness to preserve their environment. The evaluation indicates that harnessing interconnections between health and the environment can increase knowledge and help achieve the adoption of positive health-related behaviors in students from low-income urban communities.

Sasson D.A., Chabot C.C., Mattei J.H., Brunson J.F., Hall F.K., Huber J.H., Kasinak J.E., McShane C., Puckette P.T., Sundin G., Kingsley‐Smith P.R., Kendrick M.R.

While considered ecological generalists in most aspects of their life history, horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) have traditionally been regarded as reproductive habitat specialists, given that spawning is thought to occur primarily on beaches where conditions for embryonic development are considered optimal. Observations of horseshoe crabs spawning in other habitats were deemed isolated and the behavior non‐adaptive. Here, we used spawning and egg surveys to compare the use of beach and salt marsh habitats for spawning by the horseshoe crab in three US states along the Atlantic coast. We found similar spawning and egg densities in both habitats but were more likely to find eggs in marsh habitats, indicating that spawning in marsh habitats is common and geographically widespread. These results suggest that the conservation of salt marshes may be critical for the protection of this species and that management strategies should be revised to incorporate this generalist behavior.