Salient Categories Research Articles

Neurodiversity in the Minds of Students: From Perception to Campus Programming.

Neurodiversity is a social justice movement at the nexus of neuroscience, academia, and public policy. A contemporary view of neurodiversity is one that embraces neurological differences, encompassing all "neurotypes," including more specific identifiers like autistic or dyslexic. The goal of this study was to investigate student awareness and perception of neurodiversity since they are the next generation of public policy makers. Students enrolled in Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience (N=146) were exposed to different information sources (popular, academic, TED talk, or choose/find their own) on the topic of neurodiversity. They then wrote a paper where they summarized: a) the information source used, b) their ideas to better support a neurodiverse society, and c) their opinions on aspects of neurodiversity. Several important findings emerged. First, 64% of the sample had never heard of the term neurodiversity; this class was their first exposure to it. Second, students conducting their own searches on neurodiversity had the highest level of optimism (p < 0.05) that society was ready to accept neurodiversity. Students identified even higher rates of receptivity (85%) amongst their friends. Third, student ideas to advance neurodiversity were organized into more salient categories for campuses to consider. Our findings challenge neuroscience programs to consider their role in providing "first exposure" opportunities to students in the diversity, equity, and inclusion realm, especially in areas directly related to our field. We also discuss the growing relevance of neurodiversity in research and academia and offer programming possibilities to enhance neurodiversity awareness and support on college campuses.

Unveiling Community Resilience: The Integral Role of Public Libraries

This research scrutinizes the instrumental contributions of public libraries in augmenting community resilience. The study deploys a methodological framework predicated on comprehensive literature examination and empirical investigation by focusing on the National Taiwan Library and the New Taipei City Library as paradigmatic instances. Employing a multi-layered approach of case studies and in-depth interviews with various library staff, the study aims to (1) formulate a nascent conceptual architecture of community resilience, (2) identify the multifaceted strategies public libraries employ to bolster resilience, and (3) articulate specific functional roles libraries execute in this resilience ecosystem. Empirical data coalesce into six salient categories: (1) Knowledge Curation, Skill Development, and Lifelong Learning; (2) Community Network Dynamics; (3) Human-Place Connections; (4) Infrastructure and Foundational Resources; (5) Innovation and Diversification; and (6) Public-Governmental Interface. Libraries surface as agile orchestrators in intricate socio-environmental nexuses, utilizing adaptive service models that leverage emergent community networks, enhancing intrinsic and extrinsic resilience. The roles libraries fulfill in community systems are manifold: they act as (1) Adaptive Sustainers in volatile conditions, (2) Socio-Organizational Mediators in community networking, (3) Stewards of Cultural Integrity, (4) Facilitators of Inclusive Information Access, and (5) Navigators in Collaboration with governmental and social entities. The findings contribute rich scholarly and practical perspectives on how public institutions fortify socio-ecological resilience.

Counseling Loss as a New Variable in the Education Production Function

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate counselling loss as a new variable in the education production function as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated social and emotional impact on students. Study participants unanimously reported a sizable counselling loss and a 30 percent average decrease in time spent in direct counselling service provision during the COVID-19 pandemic; at the same time, students’ counselling needs increased. Participants identified three salient categories of impact from counselling loss associated with the pandemic, including emotional manifestations, social manifestations, and students’ growth and development-related opportunity loss.

Motivated Categories: Social Structures Shape the Construction of Social Categories Through Attentional Mechanisms

Social categorization is often framed as the antecedent to stereotyping, with perceivers rationally sorting the social world on the basis of perceptually salient categories before applying biased or motivated beliefs about those categories. Here, we instead suggest that the construction of social categories by individuals is itself subject to motivational influences, such that perceivers will attend to a given dimension of social categorization (e.g., race or gender) insofar as doing so fits within their motivations. Drawing from classic conceptualizations of social structure as the interplay of schemas and resources, we focus on how the motivations for shared schemas and for material benefits or resources may shape attention to social category dimensions. We outline the potential cognitive mechanisms through which these motivations may act on attention, before discussing the implications of this model for individual differences, conceptualizations of social categorization as rational information reduction, and prejudice reduction. Public Social categories like race and gender often give rise to stereotypes and prejudice, and a great deal of research has focused on how motivations influence these biased beliefs. Here, we focus on potential biases in how these categories are even formed in the first place, suggesting that motivations can influence the very categories people use to group others. We propose that motivations to share schemas with other people and to gain resources shape people’s attention to dimensions like race, gender, and age in different contexts. Specifically, people will pay attention to dimensions to the degree that the conclusions produced from using those dimensions align with their motivations. Overall, we suggest that simply examining the downstream effects of social categorization like stereotyping and prejudice is not enough, and that research should look earlier in the process at how and when we form the categories on which those stereotypes are based.

Language teacher preparation, induction and retention: unpacking two decades of research

ABSTRACT Language teachers come from diverse and multilingual backgrounds. This also generally characterises preparation programmes that have been developed to prepare elementary and secondary school language teachers for increasingly globalised, pluralistic, interconnected classrooms. Despite variations, there is value in attempting to identify common denominators in research related to the preparation of such teachers. This paper surveys 20 years of research published in journals focusing on language learning and teaching. Content analysis and thematic analysis was performed to generate salient categories related to language teacher preparation, induction and retention. Five key themes emerged: reflective practice and its role in preparation programmes and induction; ongoing formal and informal support in the early years of teaching; teachers’ beliefs and their identity; pedagogical and content knowledge; and the sociocultural context of teaching. Despite the focus on journals devoted to language learning and teaching, findings overwhelmingly related to teacher preparation in general. We discuss these findings and then offer suggestions specifically for school L2 language teacher preparation, induction and retention with an emphasis on early career teachers. Such recommendations can guide language teacher preparation programmes as well as the professional trajectory of teachers in the field, ultimately increasing the chances of retention in the long term.

Limitations to the Implied Powers of International Organizations

The aim of this article is to present the main aspects of limitations to the implied powers of international organizations. The author discusses the most important case law and the position on this topic presented, in particular, by the International Court of Justice. He points to the most salient categories in the catalogue of the limits of implied powers of international organizations.

#ChokeMeDaddy: A Content Analysis of Memes Related to Choking/Strangulation During Sex.

Recent research indicates that some young people initially learn about sexual choking through Internet memes. Thus, a qualitative content analysis was performed on 316 visual and textual memes collected from various social media websites and online searches to assess salient categories related to choking during sex. We identified nine main categories: communication, gendered dynamics, choking as dangerous, choking as sexy, sexualization of the nonsexual, shame and worry, romance/rough sex juxtaposition, choking and religious references, instructional/informational. Given that memes, through their humor, can make difficult topics more palatable and minimize potential harm in the phenomenon they depict, more concerted, synergistic effort that integrates media literacy into sexuality education programming on the potential risks that may ensue for those engaging in sexual choking is warranted.

Low-hanging fruits, usual suspects, and pure serendipity: towards a layered methodological framework on translators and interpreters’ ideological language use drawing on the synergy of CDA and corpus linguistics

ABSTRACT Following the trends of digital humanities and interdisciplinarity, there is growing interest in exploring the discursive aspects of translation and interpreting (T&I), drawing on the triangulation between Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and corpus linguistics. The comparative nature of this line of research means that bilingual discourse analysis differs from monolingual CDA. Despite its usefulness, traditional CDA was designed for monolingual qualitative analysis and applying it systematically to the corpus analysis of bilingual discourses is less straightforward. So far T&I scholars have explored individual discursive categories (e.g., modality) in a few individual studies. However, there is a lack of overall methodological reflections on the likely ideologically salient categories and how to detect translators and interpreters’ mediation comprehensively. Therefore, a stratified framework is proposed, promising to shed light on the question relating to what CDA researchers might look out for empirically drawing on a corpus approach. The various discursive categories/toolkits covered in this framework potentially serve as a starting point for future studies concerning comparative CDA studies at different levels of abstraction. Rather than being prescriptivist, the proposed layered framework is open-ended, flexible and pragmatic, focusing both on propositional and non-propositional contents and both preconceived a priori experientialist categories and serendipitous discoveries. Illustrative examples from various discursive categories are discussed.

Television News Media Consumption and Misperceptions about COVID-19 among US Populations at High Risk for Severe Health Outcomes Early in the Pandemic

ABSTRACT Research indicates that misperceptions that become part of people’s initial mental models about an issue tend to persist and influence their attitudes even after the misperception has been corrected. Recent work on evolving mental models suggests that communication efforts about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath may be improved by crafting messages that acknowledge biases and misunderstandings about the virus and other infectious diseases that may remain among members of the target audience. This study was designed to provide insight into such biases by: (1) establishing salient categories of COVID-related misperceptions in the earliest months of the pandemic in the United States among (a) the general population, and (b) demographic sub-populations at high risk of severe health outcomes; (2) identifying demographic predictors of misperceptions; and (3) examining the relationship between consumption of different television news outlets and agreement with misperceptions about COVID-19. A national sample of 1,000 adults in the United States (48.1% male; M age = 47.32, SD = 18.01; 72.9% White/Caucasian, 14.3% Black/African American, 15.9% Hispanic/Latinx) completed a survey between March 19 and March 25, 2020. Results identify prevalent classes of salient early COVID-19 misperceptions. Adjusting for numerous covariates, data indicated individuals over the age of 60 held the fewest COVID-related misperceptions among various demographic sub-populations, misperceptions were most prevalent among Black respondents, and increased consumption of television network news was associated with lower levels of misperception. Consumption of some 24-hour news networks (FOX and MSNBC) were significant positive correlates of misperceptions.

Quantitative Distribution of Verbal Structures with Reference to the Authorship Factor in Legal Stylistics

Abstract The paper aims at describing the findings and conclusions formulated in the analysis of the authorship factor in legal discourse. It is hypothesised that verbal structures show systemically varied distribution across legal discourse and the relevant distinctions run through the authorship categories. When it comes to the aim of the research it draws on the tradition of sociolinguistic methodology targeting issues related to language variation which follows the basic assumptions of functional grammar. From the point of view of the material covered by the analysis it contributes to the research on legal discourse and specifically on its specialised domain referred to as corporate, company or business discourse. It provides additional empirical data pointing to the non-homogeneity of the legal style and formal distinctions originating from rich contextual background. The study is conducted on the material of a custom-designed corpus of English legal texts, classified as secondary genres. Methodologically, the study makes use of the tenets of supervised search of digitalised corpora and automatic data extraction based on discrete units, subsequent identification of recurring longer contiguous and/or non-contiguous sequences, if any, built around the axis of specific verbal structures and finally qualitative comparative analysis (characterisation) of the material. The discussion presents sample data and focuses on the most salient categories, both quantitatively and qualitatively. The inductive approach confirms the formal divergencies in the communicative situation covered by the analysis. The findings encapsulate patterns and tendencies in the quantitative distribution of verbal structures depending on the authorship category. It may be concluded that authorship is a factor delineating distinctions as regards (i) the repertoire of grammatical instruments exploited (verbal structures), which contributes to the specific stylistic profile of given authors. This shows that the thesis posed is verified positively and the study shows further, more detailed distinctions running through groups of subcategories distinguished within the authorship categories specified upon the start of the research.

Electronic consultations and economies of scale: a qualitative study of clinician perspectives on scaling up e-consult delivery.

To explore Veterans Health Administration clinicians' perspectives on the idea of redesigning electronic consultation (e-consult) delivery in line with a hub-and-spoke (centralized) model. We conducted a qualitative study in VA New England Healthcare System (VISN 1). Semi-structured phone interviews were conducted with 35 primary care providers and 38 specialty care providers, including 13 clinical leaders, at 6 VISN 1 sites varying in size, specialist availability, and e-consult volume. Interviews included exploration of the hub-and-spoke (centralized) e-consult model as a system redesign option. Qualitative content analysis procedures were applied to identify and describe salient categories. Participants saw several potential benefits to scaling up e-consult delivery from a decentralized model to a hub-and-spoke model, including expanded access to specialist expertise and increased timeliness of e-consult responses. Concerns included differences in resource availability and management styles between sites, anticipated disruption to working relationships, lack of incentives for central e-consultants, dedicated staff's burnout and fatigue, technological challenges, and lack of motivation for change. Based on a case study from one of the largest integrated healthcare systems in the United States, our work identifies novel concerns and offers insights for healthcare organizations contemplating a scale-up of their e-consult systems. Scaling up e-consults in line with the hub-and-spoke model may help pave the way for a centralized and efficient approach to care delivery, but the success of this transformation will depend on healthcare systems' ability to evaluate and address barriers to leveraging economies of scale for e-consults.

Children's spontaneous associations with targets who differ by race and emotional expression.

Across three studies, we examined non-Black children's spontaneous associations with targets who differed by both race and emotional expression. Children aged 5 to 10 years (N = 419; 215 girls; 58% White; 65% of household incomes >$75,000/year) completed Implicit Association Tests (IAT; Greenwald et al., 2003) containing smiling Black and neutral White target faces. In all three studies, when children categorized these faces by emotional expression, they showed relatively more positive associations with smiling Black targets over neutral White targets, as compared with when they categorized these faces by race. This was the case when children were shown how to categorize these faces (Studies 1 and 2) and when they spontaneously categorized by race or emotional expression on an Ambiguous-Categorization IAT that allowed for categorization by race and/or emotion (Studies 2 and 3). In Study 3, after watching an adult explain that she was categorizing racially diverse faces by emotional expression in a seemingly unrelated card-sorting task, children were also relatively faster to pair smiling Black faces with pleasant images and neutral White faces with unpleasant images on this Ambiguous-Categorization IAT compared with children in a control condition. Older children were more likely to spontaneously categorize primarily by race (Studies 2 and 3) but were also more likely to categorize by emotion following the intervention (Study 3) compared with younger children. Together, these studies provide insight into children's social categorization processes and spontaneous associations with targets who differ systematically across multiple perceptually salient categories. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Facilitative Mentorship: A Grounded Theory on Moderating Campus Organizations

Moderating students in the campus organizations is one of the significant faculty tasks being designated to manage student organizations. This study aims to establish a theory that explains how advising or moderating students in campus organizations is being done. This study utilized the Qualitative Grounded Theory approach using an in-depth interview with the seven participants, of which three are campus advisers, and four are student leaders. The interviews were transcribed, coded, and initial analysis was done to identify initial categories. The analysis of this research study consists of three phases- open, axial, and selective coding. In the open coding, the researcher examined the text for salient categories that emerged. Using constant comparative analysis, the researcher attempted to saturate the categories to identify the central or the core phenomenon. Facilitative mentorship emerged as the core category which characterized the mentoring of campus advisers. The researcher then engaged in axial coding in which the database was reviewed and collected new data to provide more substantial insights into specific coding categories that further explained the core category in which four categories emerged, namely Empowering and Enabling, Interactive and Open Communication, support, and affirmation and their guiding presence.

A survey on hardware security of DNN models and accelerators

As “deep neural networks” (DNNs) achieve increasing accuracy, they are getting employed in increasingly diverse applications, including security-critical applications such as medical and defense. This immense use of DNNs has motivated the researchers to scrutinizingly study their security vulnerability and propose countermeasures, especially in the context of hardware security. In this paper, we present a survey of techniques for the hardware security of DNNs. For the research works, we highlight the threat-model, key idea for launching attack and defense strategies. We organize the works on salient categories to highlight their strengths and limitations. This paper aims to equip researchers with the knowledge of recent advances in DNN security and motivate them to think of security as the first principle.

Supporting Undergraduate STEMM Education: Perspectives from Faculty Mentors and Learning Assistants in Calculus II

In higher education, Learning Assistants (LAs)—a relatively recent evolution grounded in peer mentorship models—are gaining popularity in classrooms as universities strive to meet the needs of undergraduate learners. Unlike Teaching Assistants, LAs are undergraduate students who receive continuous training from faculty mentors in content-area coaching and pedagogical skills. As near-peers, they assist assigned groups of undergraduates (students) during class. Research on LAs suggests that they are significant in mitigating high Drop-Fail-Withdrawal rates of large enrollment undergraduate science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical (STEMM) courses. However, there is a dearth of description regarding the learning between LAs and STEMM faculty mentors. This paper reports on perspectives of faculty mentors and their cooperating LAs in regard to their learning relationships during a Calculus II at a research-oriented university during Spring of 2020. Using an exploratory-descriptive qualitative design, faculty (oral responses) and LAs (written responses) reflected on their relationship. Content analysis (coding) resulted in four salient categories (by faculty and LA percentages, respectively) in: Showing Care and Fostering Relationships (47%, 23%); Honing Pedagogical Skills (27%, 36%); Being Prepared for Class and Students (23%, 28%); and Developing Content Knowledge in Calculus (3%, 13%). Benefits of LAs to faculty and ways to commence LA programs at institutions are also discussed.

Evaluating evaluation frameworks: a scoping review of frameworks for assessing health apps

ObjectivesDespite an estimated 300 000 mobile health apps on the market, there remains no consensus around helping patients and clinicians select safe and effective apps. In 2018, our team drew...

Non-invasive peripheral nerve stimulation selectively enhances speech category learning in adults

Adults struggle to learn non-native speech contrasts even after years of exposure. While laboratory-based training approaches yield learning, the optimal training conditions for maximizing speech learning in adulthood are currently unknown. Vagus nerve stimulation has been shown to prime adult sensory-perceptual systems towards plasticity in animal models. Precise temporal pairing with auditory stimuli can enhance auditory cortical representations with a high degree of specificity. Here, we examined whether sub-perceptual threshold transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS), paired with non-native speech sounds, enhances speech category learning in adults. Twenty-four native English-speakers were trained to identify non-native Mandarin tone categories. Across two groups, tVNS was paired with the tone categories that were easier- or harder-to-learn. A control group received no stimulation but followed an identical thresholding procedure as the intervention groups. We found that tVNS robustly enhanced speech category learning and retention of correct stimulus-response associations, but only when stimulation was paired with the easier-to-learn categories. This effect emerged rapidly, generalized to new exemplars, and was qualitatively different from the normal individual variability observed in hundreds of learners who have performed in the same task without stimulation. Electroencephalography recorded before and after training indicated no evidence of tVNS-induced changes in the sensory representation of auditory stimuli. These results suggest that paired-tVNS induces a temporally precise neuromodulatory signal that selectively enhances the perception and memory consolidation of perceptually salient categories.

A systematic review of reasons for abstinence from alcohol reported by lifelong abstainers, current abstainers and former problem-drinkers.

Numerous studies have been conducted to assess non-drinkers' reported reasons for abstinence, and this review summarises and compares the reasons for abstinence reported by lifelong abstainers, current abstainers and former problem-drinkers. Based on a search of four computerised databases, we identified 31 relevant studies, each of which included a sample of at least 20 individuals who had been abstinent from alcohol for at least 14 days and reported a numerical summary of participants' self-reported reasons for not drinking. To identify the most salient reasons for abstinence among each group of abstainers, we calculated a z-score to represent the level of endorsement of each reason in each investigation, assigned listed reasons to one of 13 categories, and calculated average z-scores (weighted by study quality ratings) for each of the categories. Having no interest in drinking and disliking the effects of alcohol were the most salient categories of reasons for lifelong abstainers; having no interest in drinking and health reasons were the most salient categories of reasons for current abstainers; and health reasons was the most salient category of reasons for former problem-drinkers. Understanding the reasons that motivate abstinence from alcohol may help refine theoretical explanations of drinking and abstinence. In addition, understanding the reasons that lifelong abstainers report for not beginning to drink, and that current abstainers and former problem-drinkers report for no longer drinking, may help inform interventions designed either to delay the initiation of alcohol use or help individuals stop drinking.

Being white is a full time job? Explaining skin tone gradients in income in Mexico

ABSTRACT While scholarship on wage discrimination has confirmed that ‘racism’ is persistent, recent insights indicate that ‘colorism’ – the idea that lighter skin tones are rewarded more compared to darker ones, all else equal – is often more relevant in some societies where race or ethnicity are less salient markers. In this article, the following underlying theoretical mechanisms are discussed and are subjected to an empirical test: differential investment in human capital, i.e. education; variation in occupational status, i.e. being employed in indoor white-collar vs outdoor blue-collar jobs; and concentration in richer vs poorer regions. Mexico, known as a country where race and ethnicity generally are less salient categories for social stratification while skin tone is more important, is used as a case. Based on regression analyses on the most recent 2017 wave of the National Survey on Discrimination in Mexico, we show that there is an effect of skin tone on income that is explained by differences in education, occupational status and, to a lesser extent, regional concentration. Triangulating the findings with data from 2010 indicate that if colorism is at work, it are the lightest tones that are privileged, not the darkest ones that are penalised.

Parental Anxiety Associated with Summer Camp Experiences: A Comparative Analysis Across Volunteer and Employee-Staffed Camps

Parent anxiety can limit a parent’s willingness to involve their child in out-of-school time experiences such as summer camps. Researchers have studied anxiety within the context of camp, but these studies used narrow frameworks of anxiety. In this exploratory study, we collected open-ended responses about causes of parent anxiety associated with summer camp experiences from 656 parents whose children attended one of two Extension-administered camps. The camps represented different camp staffing models—one primarily staffed by volunteers and the other primarily staffed by employees. The primary purpose of the study was to identify salient categories of anxiety and to examine if anxiety differed based on staffing model. The secondary purpose was to develop a camp-related parent anxiety measure informed by the anxiety categories. Eleven categories were constructed from the data, which both affirmed and expanded existing literature on parent anxiety associated with camp experiences. No differences in parent anxiety were found based on staffing model, suggesting that parents were no more likely to perceive anxiety associated with camp when the program was staffed with volunteers as they were when the program was staffed by employees. Implications for practice and future directions are examined.