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Experiential learning in and out of the classroom provides students with opportunities to learn from reflecting critically on concrete experiences. This article introduces Case-in-Point (CIP), an experiential teaching and learning strategy that uses critical reflection-in-action within the context of the classroom environment to modify behaviors in real-time. We broaden the use of CIP beyond its original realm of application, teaching leadership, to instruction in a range of disciplines, and we explore its use to build capacity for experiential learning and democracy.

This essay welcomes readers to the third in an ongoing series of special sections in the "Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning" devoted to sharing the work of the Service-Learning and Community Engagement Future Directions Project (SLCE-FDP). In this essay, the authors, the five curators of the SLCE-FDP, both introduce the thought pieces that comprise this special section and share their team's critical examination of the project's history and their sense of its own best future directions.

It is believed that the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)--i.e., inquiry into learning--has the potential to further deepen the ability to question, learn, and act together--especially when it is understood and enacted through the values and practices of democratic civic engagement (DCE). The authors provide a brief example of what they have come to call DCE-SoTL: SoTL that is interested in everyone's learning and that sees everyone as able to study learning and improve action accordingly--rather than defaulting to the approach of faculty (only) investigating student (only) learning. In this thought piece, the authors call for putting such co-creation at the heart of SoTL and explore what happens when we do so. They contend that the co-inquiry, co-learning, and co-action of DCE invite--indeed, require--a distinct and new conception and practice of SoTL.

AbstractObjectiveMethodsResultsConclusion\nPlain Language SummaryLittle is known about the healthcare resource utilization (HRU) associated with different adjunctive atypical antipsychotics (AAs) for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). This analysis evaluated HRU in patients with MDD treated adjunctively with cariprazine versus other AAs.Merative MarketScan databases were searched for claims made from 01/01/2018 to 12/31/2020 (Medicaid) or 3/31/2021 (commercial and Medicare). The study included adults with ≥1 inpatient MDD claim or ≥2 outpatient MDD claims >30 days apart and ≥1 claim for cariprazine, brexpiprazole, generic aripiprazole, or generic quetiapine adjunctive to an antidepressant (ie, ≥14-day overlap between AA and antidepressant). Outcomes included all-cause and MDD-related inpatient stays and emergency department (ED), office, and psychiatric visits. Results were reported as estimated mean ratios, calculated via negative binomial regression, of the comparator AA to cariprazine with 95% CIs.Analyses included 40,195 patients (cariprazine [n = 1,038], brexpiprazole [n = 3,221], generic aripiprazole [n = 20,601], generic quetiapine [n = 15,335]). The cariprazine cohort had significantly fewer all-cause and MDD-related inpatient stays relative to all other AA cohorts. All-cause ED visits were significantly lower in the cariprazine versus generic quetiapine cohort, and MDD-related ED visits were significantly lower in the cariprazine versus generic aripiprazole and generic quetiapine cohorts. ED visits were similar between cariprazine and all other cohorts. All-cause and MDD-related office and psychiatric visits were significantly lower in the cariprazine versus most other AA cohorts.Although causality cannot be determined from these real-world findings, results suggest that in patients with MDD, initiating adjunctive cariprazine is associated with significantly lower HRU for certain outcomes relative to other AAs.Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) often use healthcare resources, such as going to the doctor. Cariprazine is an atypical antipsychotic that can be used with antidepressants to treat MDD. This study looked at the different amounts of healthcare resources patients used based on which medication they took with their antidepressant.Insurance databases were used to find adults with MDD prescribed atypical antipsychotics with antidepressants. We then compared the number of times patients went to the hospital, emergency department, or doctor’s office based on if they started cariprazine, brexpiprazole, generic aripiprazole, or generic quetiapine. Patients who started cariprazine went to the hospital less than those who started other drugs. Patients who started cariprazine also went to the emergency department for any reason less than those who started generic quetiapine. Also, patients who started cariprazine went to the emergency department for MDD reasons less than patients who started generic aripiprazole or quetiapine. Last, patients who started cariprazine went to the doctor’s office less than those who started most of the other drugs. Our results suggest that treatment of MDD with an antidepressant and cariprazine is associated with less use of healthcare resources than treatment with other atypical antipsychotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ectoparasite loads of birds may be governed, in part, by the climatic characteristics of their environment. We surveyed live-trapped American Kestrels (Falco sparverius caribaearum) for lice and other ectoparasites on the humid subtropical island of Puerto Rico during March–May 2024. The main goal was to compare the prevalence and abundance of lice on kestrels in Puerto Rico to recently published data on the lice of kestrels 1000 km away in the Bahamas, and to the lice of kestrels in an arid region of the western US (Utah). A brief general inspection of the plumage of 39 captured birds was followed by careful examination of the underside of wing primary feathers under a dissecting microscope. Two species of lice were collected, Colpocephalum subzerafae and Degeeriella carruthi, neither previously recorded from kestrels in Puerto Rico. The same two species are present on kestrels in the Bahamas. The prevalence and abundance of lice on kestrels in Puerto Rico and the Bahamas were similar, while being much greater than the prevalence and abundance of lice on kestrels in arid Utah, US. We also collected two species of hippoboscid flies (Diptera: Hippoboscidae): Microlynchia pusilla, not previously recorded on the American Kestrel, and Ornithoctona erythrocephala. These flies, as well as the lice, might affect the health of kestrels both directly, e.g., causing anemia by feeding on blood, and indirectly by vectoring endoparasites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Omega-3 in pasture-fed beef and lamb is related to its availability in the forage species grazed. The variation in omega-3 content of several forages has been examined in the USA and UK, but not in south-eastern Australia across different stages of maturity. Aims: This study aimed to determine the change in omega-3, at different stages of plant development, in four species of forage commonly grazed by ruminants in south-eastern Australia. Methods: Four species, oats (Avena sativa L. cv. Eurabbie), annual ryegrass (Lolium perenne L. cv. Rambo), phalaris (Phalaris aquatica L. cv HoldfastGT) and subterranean clover (Trifolium subterrraneum L. cv. Coolamon) were grown in a replicated pot trial and harvested at seven stages of maturity corresponding to early vegetative, late vegetative, stem elongation, boot, anthesis, soft dough and ripening for oats, phalaris and ryegrass, or relative to day of flowering in clover. Proximate analysis and the concentration of fatty acids including C18:3n-3 and C18:2n-6 as well as the ratio of n-6:n-3 was determined. Key results: The mean (±s.e.) proportion of C18:3n-3 was highest in clover (50.6 ± 0.8), and higher in ryegrass (45.1 ± 0.5) and phalaris (44.0 ± 0.6) compared with oats (39.4 ± 0.5). Omega-3 proportion decreased with increasing maturity for oats (13.9 ± 0.86 vs 64.3 ± 0.68), ryegrass (17.3 ± 0.86 vs 68.2 ± 0.65) and phalaris (21.6 ± 1.63 vs 65.1 ± 0.79) but not to the same extent for sub clover (41.5 ± 1.38 vs 57.4 ± 0.79). The proportion of omega-3 was positively correlated with crude protein content. Conclusions: Omega-3 levels decreased in forages during development and was positively related to crude protein content, which is likely associated with total leaf chloroplasts. Although crude protein content remained higher for clover compared with other species, this did not translate to a higher proportion of omega-3 for any crude protein level. Implications: Grazing forages at earlier stages of maturity and maximising the amount of crude protein available for growth will increase the amount of omega-3 in plant material. The availability of this omega-3 for incorporation into meat and milk should be examined. Omega-3 levels in pasture-fed beef and lamb are related to its availability in the forage plants grazed by livestock. We measured how omega-3 levels changed at different stages of plant development in four species of forages in south-eastern Australia. Omega-3 was richest in clover and least abundant in oats, diminishing as plants matured. Grazing forages at earlier developmental stages and maximising the amount of crude protein available for growth will increase the amount of omega-3 in plant material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is one value that grounds you in your civic engagement work? How are you walking the talk of that value in your assessment work? Or, how might you? And, what both helps and gets in the way of your doing that? These questions were posed to service-learning and community engagement (SLCE) faculty and staff gathered for an assessment institute at the 2015 "Imagining America" conference. Answering the first question was easy. But the second question was, at first, a dead weight in the room. Reflecting on Zlotkowski's 1995 essay on the future of SLCE called the movement to focus on achieving academic legitimacy. Academic legitimacy has become inextricably linked with academic assessment, which now, 20 years later, needed to be critically examined and creatively reimagined. The participants agreed they saw potential tension between their values and their assessment practices as a microcosm of the broader struggles SLCE as counter-normative work faces. The participants also agreed that the assessment work of SLCE practitioner-scholars can embody and nurture a set of relationships, practices, and modes of inquiry that is potentially transformative of technocratic and neoliberal tendencies in our institutions. This essay shares four conversations from the event that may help to reimagine assessment. [Note: Publication date of Spring 2017 indicated on PDF; publication date of Fall 2016 indicated via URL.]

Twenty years ago, reflecting on the possibilities for service-learning (SL) to help re-envision higher education, Zlotkowski (1995) considered the question, "Does service-learning have a future?" and concluded "nothing less than a transformation of contemporary academic culture," a transformation of higher education institutions into "engaged campus[es]," was required for an answer in the affirmative to be assured (p. 130). How, though, does such transformation of academic institutions happen? And, what does "institutional transformation" mean in the realm of SLCE? The authors suggest that for community-campus engagement to flourish in the future, SLCE practitioner-scholars should inquire into these questions and design their work in light of what they are learning. This essay offers a model to help guide that process.

Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy is sensitive to molecular interactions and environments. In homo-dyne frequency-domain fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy, images of fluorescence objects are acquired at different phase settings of the detector. The detected intensity as a function of detector phase is a sinusoidal function that is sensitive to the lifetime of the fluorescent species. In this paper, the theory of phase-sensitive fluorescence image correlation spectroscopy is described. In this version of lifetime imaging, image correlation spectroscopy analysis (i.e., spatial autocorrelation) is applied to successive fluorescence images acquired at different phase settings of the detector. Simulations of different types of lifetime distributions reveal that the phase-dependent density of fluorescent objects is dependent on the heterogeneity of lifetimes present in the objects. We provide an example of this analysis workflow to a cervical cancer cell stained with a fluorescent membrane probe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Annual forage crops provide high-quality fodder for livestock during typical autumn and winter feed-gaps in the south-east of Australia and benefits through rotations in cropping systems. While benefits from intercropping with cereals and pasture or mixing canola and peas have been studied in Australia, the potential animal-production benefits of grazing mixed annual species forage crops have not been examined. Aims: To determine average daily gain (ADG) and rumen fluid parameters when sheep graze mixtures of annual fodder crops compared with a single species. Methods: Ninety six Dorset × Border Leicester × Merino lambs (mean = 44.3 ± 0.55 kg) were allocated to one of the following four treatment groups (n = 24/treatment) on the basis of sex and liveweight; a single species brassica control (canola) (Br) or annual forage species mixes containing brassica (canola, turnip, radish) and cereal (wheat, cereal rye) (B + C), brassica and legume (vetch, arrowleaf clove) (B + L) or brassica, cereal and legume (B + C + L). Liveweight and rumen fluid parameters were assessed prior to grazing and again 21 and 35 days after the commencement of grazing. Key results: Mean ADG from Day 0 to Day 21 was lower for female, but not male, lambs grazing the Br control (231 ± 23 g head−1 day−1) than for those grazing any forage mix (B + C = 292 ± 23 g head−1 day−1, B + L = 296 ± 23 g head−1 day−1, B + C + L = 310 ± 22 g head−1 day−1). Liveweight change over 35 days of grazing was not different between any forage mixtures. Rumen fluid pH was higher (P < 0.001) for sheep grazing forages containing cereals (B + C = 6.97 ± 0.06, B + C + L = 6.86 ± 0.06) than for those grazing brassica or legume (Br = 6.59 ± 0.06, B + L = 6.68 ± 0.06). Total volatile fatty acid concentration was lower and rumen pH was higher when sheep grazed B + C than when they grazed any other forage mix. Conclusions: The higher ADG in females grazing mixtures than in those grazing the Br was related to higher dry matter on offer. Further research should determine whether the lower pH observed when sheep grazed brassica and legume than when grazing mixes containing cereals is associated with subacute rumen acidosis and reduced fibre degradation and forage energy utilisation. Implications: Mixed forage species can provide higher DM on offer and ADG. Improved rumen efficiency could be related to improved growth. Annual forage crops provide high-quality fodder for livestock during autumn and winter feed-gaps in south-eastern Australia. We investigated potential animal-production benefits of grazing mixed annual forage crops. Average daily gain was lower for female, but not male, lambs grazing brassica only than for those grazing forage mixtures. The low rumen pH when lambs grazed brassica only could have been associated with subacute rumen acidosis. Future studies should assess the effect of forage mix on fibre degradation and growth rates over a longer grazing period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental factors such as temperature and humidity influence the distribution of free‐living organisms. As climates change, the distributions of these organisms change along with their associated parasites, mutualists and commensals. Less studied, however, is the possibility that environmental conditions may directly influence the distribution of these symbionts even if the hosts are able to persist in altered environments. Here, we investigate the diversity of parasitic lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) on birds in arid Utah compared to the humid Bahamas. We quantified the parasite loads of 500 birds. We found that the prevalence, abundance and richness of lice was considerably lower among birds in Utah, compared to the Bahamas, despite sampling greater host taxonomic richness in Utah. Our data suggest that as climates change, birds in arid regions will have less diverse louse communities over time, potentially relieving birds of some of the cost of controlling these ectoparasites. Conversely, birds in more humid regions will see an increase in louse diversity, which may require them to invest more time and energy in anti‐parasite defense. Additional research with other ectoparasites of birds and mammals across different environmental conditions is needed to more fully understand how climate change may reshape parasite communities, and how these changes could influence their hosts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engaging students as actors in rather than audience of their education. This is both the primary feature of experiential education as John Dewey envisioned it and its underlying link to education for democracy: the flourishing of democracy requires citizens who are empowered actors, and such citizens cannot be produced through educational processes that deny participation and power to students. In this article we share and examine examples of experiential learning practices that try to walk the talk of democratic purposes and discuss associated challenges and design principles. Our goals are to encourage and empower the community of experiential educators to understand, enact, inquire into, and continue developing the full potential of our work as it contributes to educating for democracy.

In this article we share the theoretical framework of threshold concepts--concepts on which deep understanding of a field of practice and inquiry hinges and which, once understood and internalized, open a doorway to otherwise inaccessible ways of thinking--and explore its relevance to learning how to teach, learn, serve, partner, and generate knowledge through service-learning. We extend the focus of work on threshold concepts beyond student disciplinary learning to faculty pedagogical learning, in particular to learning about service-learning; and we contribute to theory on how threshold concepts are learned by developing the idea of threshold experiences--reflective encounters with dissonance that give rise to deeper understanding and sometimes internalization of threshold concepts. In line with the exploratory nature of this piece, we use an example of an instructor learning a threshold concept in service-learning through a threshold experience to ground our extension of current work on threshold concepts, our consideration of implications, and our identification of questions for ongoing inquiry. Examining faculty learning through the lens of threshold concepts and threshold experiences can help us understand, address, and embrace dissonance-related challenges and opportunities involved in learning the whys and hows of service-learning pedagogy.

This study investigates faculty learning resulting from a faculty development program implemented at North Carolina State University to build capacity for community-engaged scholarship (CES). Previous work done under the auspices of Community Campus Partnerships for Health is extended by modifying an extant scale used to assess CES competencies and adding a retrospective pre-test to account for response-shift bias. This study also builds upon earlier work on assessment of student learning through the use of reflection by examining reflection products written by faculty at three points during the 12-month program. Quantitative analysis of responses to the CES competencies scale indicated a significant response-shift bias (participants overestimated their knowledge about CES at the start of the program). Qualitative investigation of participants' reflection products suggests they learned new language for CES, achieved new discoveries about their community-engaged work, and often redefined their scholarly identities through the lens of engaged scholarship. Implications of this study include the value-added by examining faculty learning through reflection products as well as self-report scales, the need to build faculty capacity for learning through reflection, and the proposal of new strategies for documenting faculty learning from faculty development programs. (Contains 2 tables.)