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This paper reports on a project that brings together photovoltaics engineers with 4th-12th-grade teachers and students to test agrivoltaics applications using citizen science. A summer research experience for teachers (RET) program engaged teachers in building and programming a novel agrivoltaic school garden monitoring device facilitated by photovoltaics engineering researchers. The teachers and their students will design and install school gardens for their own community purposes and collect data on garden conditions with and without solar panels covering the crops. A set of curriculum materials are outlined to support implementation across multiple contexts.

Leaving home or transitioning to another environment is a part of every individual’s personal growth and is often considered to be a significant developmental milestone. The distress that individuals experience with this transition has been identified as homesickness. Elite sporting institutions, such as the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), have recognized that problems associated with homesickness appear to be a predominant cause of poor well-being and dropout among athletes living in a national sports institute. This study aimed to investigate if individual personality traits and coping styles could predict levels of homesickness in these athletes. Neuroticism, self-esteem, and mental escape were significant predictors of homesickness. These results suggest that athletes who are vulnerable to homesickness can be identified before the commencement of their sporting scholarships so they can be treated accordingly.

Every community is unique and has special strengths and health-related needs, such that a community-based participatory research partnership cannot be formed and implemented in a predetermined, step-by-step manner. In this article, we describe how the Community Partnership Model (CPM), designed to allow flexible movement back and forth through all action phases, can be adapted to a variety of communities. Originally developed for nursing practice, the CPM has evolved into approaches for the collaborative initiation and maintenance of community partnerships. The model is informed by the recognition that cultural, social, economic, and knowledge backgrounds may vary greatly between nurse researchers and their community partners. The Familias En Acción violence prevention project exemplifies the use of the CPM in a transcultural partnership formation and implementation process. The collaborative approaches of the model guide community and research partners to interconnect and move flexibly through all partnership phases, thereby facilitating sustainability and community self-advocacy.

Children and adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) receive treatment that relies on daily self- or parent/caregiver-administered oral chemotherapy for approximately 2 years. Despite the fact that pediatric ALL is uniformly fatal without adequate treatment, nonadherence to oral chemotherapy has been observed in up to one third of patients. Little is known about the reasons for nonadherence in these patients. This study used Straussian grounded theory methodology to develop and validate a model to explain the process of adherence to oral chemotherapy in children and adolescents with ALL. Thirty-eight semistructured interviews (with 17 patients and 21 parents/caregivers) and 4 focused group discussions were conducted. Three stages were identified in the process of adherence: (a) Recognizing the Threat, (b) Taking Control, and (c) Managing for the Duration. Doing Our Part was identified as the core theme explaining the process of adherence and involves the parent (or patient) taking responsibility for assuring that medications are taken as prescribed. Understanding the association between taking oral chemotherapy and control/cure of leukemia ( Making the Connection) appeared to mediate adherence behaviors.

Rural adolescent females are at-risk for smoking at rates nearly equal to those of boys, and girls are at increased risk for smoking related diseases, reproductive, and pregnancy problems. The purpose of this study was to investigate protective factors related to nonsmoking in African American (AA) and Caucasian American (CA) female adolescents residing in rural tobacco-producing counties in Virginia. This qualitative study targeted rural female adolescent nonsmokers and their parents because of the importance of promoting tobacco-free, healthy lifestyles into adulthood. Participants were 18 adolescent female nonsmokers 16–17 years of age (6 AA and 12 CA) and 10 mothers (5 AA and 5 CA). Semi-structured questionnaires based on a health behavior framework and communication theory guided four in-depth group interviews of female adolescents and two group interviews of mothers. Protective factors identified by youth and parent groups were: frequent and open communication about smoking dangers and risks, mother...

Objective: Although adolescents ultimately make their own decisions to smoke or not to smoke, social, economic, and environmental circumstances shape their choices. Most research on prevention of youth tobacco use focuses on predictors of smoking initiation. In this study, we explored nonsmoking attitudes, beliefs, and norms from the perspective of 16–17-year-old nonsmokers. Design: This qualitative study targeted nonsmoking youths because most social policy in the arena of tobacco prevention aims to support adolescents who are tobacco free. Sample: Participants were 39 nonsmokers recruited from youth organizations in an urban community and included 22 African Americans (12 females; 10 males) and 17 Caucasian Americans (10 females; 7 males). Methods: A health behavior framework guided the development of semistructured questions on attitudes, beliefs, and norms associated with nonsmoking, used in eight in-depth group interviews. Results: Concerns for health and addiction, a positive self-image, and perceived confidence, emerged as factors affecting participants' decisions not to smoke. The approval of parents and friends, and personal beliefs further reinforced adolescents' nonsmoking decisions. Conclusions: There were more commonalities than differences in nonsmoking attitudes across gender and race. Future studies of youth tobacco prevention should employ multifaceted approaches targeting adolescents' attitudes, families, and peer networks.

This paper reports on our experience teaching introductory programming by means of real-world data analysis. We have found that students can be motivated to learn programming and computer science concepts in order to analyze DNA, predict the outcome of elections, detect fraudulent data, suggest friends in a social network, determine the authorship of documents, and more. The approach is more than just a collection of "nifty assignments"; rather, it affects the choice of topics and pedagogy.This paper describes how our approach has been used at four diverse colleges and universities to teach CS majors and non-majors alike. It outlines the types of assignments, which are based on problems from science, engineering, business, and the humanities. Finally, it offers advice for anyone trying to integrate the approach into their own institution.

This paper presents a case study of the use of a repeated single-criterion card sort with an unusually large, diverse participant group. The study, whose goal was to elicit novice programmers' knowledge of programming concepts, involved over 20 researchers from four continents and 276 participants drawn from 20 different institutions. In this paper we present the design of the study and the unexpected result that there were few discernible systematic differences in the population. The study was one of the activities of the National Science Foundation funded Bootstrapping Research in Computer Science Education project (2003).

Card sorts are a knowledge elicitation technique in which participants are given a collection of items and are asked to partition them into groups based on their own criteria. Information about the participant's knowledge structure is inferred from the groups formed and the names used to describe the groups through various methods ranging from simple quantitative statistical measures (e.g. co-occurrence frequencies) to complex qualitative methods (e.g. content analysis on the group names). This paper introduces a new technique for analyzing card sort data that uses quantitative measures to discover rich qualitative results. This method is based upon a distance metric between sorts that allows one to measure the similarity of groupings and then look for clusters of closely related sorts across individuals. By using software for computing these clusters, it is possible to identify common concepts across individuals, despite the use of different terminology.

There is growing empirical evidence that instructional coaching can help teachers transfer their learning from professional trainings (e.g., new strategies) to classroom practice and that coaching promotes greater collaboration and reflection among teachers. At the same time, however, research on the effectiveness of particular coaching models and the underlying reasons for their effectiveness is only beginning to emerge. Why does coaching “work” when it does? What causes it to break down and to what extent can it be repaired? Our five-year mixed methods study of science instructional coaching in a single school district set out to answer these and other questions. Data from multiple sources (surveys, interviews, classroom observations and coaching logs) confirmed a strong correlation between improvements in teacher practice and the time teacher and coach spend together (at least 10 hours for elementary teachers and 20 for secondary) the focus of their work (narrow as opposed to broad); and most importantly, the quality of their professional relationship. In this paper, we present preliminary findings from a follow-up analysis intended to help explicate how relationships seemed to matter in coaching. We believe the findings from the secondary analysis help to clarify coaching interactions and to specify what contributes to or detracts from their productivity. These findings may not only help to inform decisions related to the design, implementation and ongoing maintenance of coaching programs but also provide fodder for considerations related to the organizational capacity, flexibility and adaptability of the schools and school systems.

1. Summary Too many students in introductory programming classes fail to understand the significance and utility of the concepts being taught. Their low motivation impacts their learning. One contributing factor is pedagogy that emphasizes computing for its own sake and assignments that are abstract, such as computing the factorial function. Many educators have improved on such traditional approaches by teaching concepts in contexts that students find more relevant, such as games, robots, and media. Now, it is time to take the next step. In this special session, participants will develop and discuss ways to teach introductory programming by means of real-world data analysis problems from science, engineering, business, and the humanities. Students can be motivated to learn programming in order to analyze DNA, predict the outcome of elections, detect fraudulent data, suggest friends in a social network, determine the authorship of texts, and more (see Section 3.4 for more examples). The approach is more than just a collection of “nifty assignments”: rather, it affects the choice of topics and pedagogy, all of which together lead to greater student satisfaction. The approach has been successfully used at 4 colleges and universities. The classes were effective for both CS and non-CS majors. Neither the computing material nor the problems need to be “dumbed down”. At the end of the term students were amazed and delighted at the real data analysis that they could perform. They were excited about applying computation in their work and about learning more. The special session contains a mix of activities, including comparative analysis of introductory classes; group discussion of curriculum design; a mini-panel discussing how the approach has worked in practice; and brainstorming about example assignments and curriculum revision.

Background Adolescent pregnancy and parenting remain a major public concern because of their impact on maternal-child health and on the social and economic well-being of the nation. Federal welfare reform legislation has created an urgent need for community-based nursing intervention programs to improve health and social outcomes for disadvantaged adolescent mothers and to promote their self-sufficiency. Objective To evaluate the effects of an early intervention program (EIP) that uses a public health nursing model on health and social outcomes of adolescent mothers and their children and on the quality of mother-child interaction. Methods Pregnant adolescents referred to a county health department were randomly assigned to an experimental (EIP) or control (traditional public health nursing [TPHN]) group. The sample included 121 adolescents from predominantly minority and impoverished backgrounds who were followed from pregnancy through 6 weeks postpartum. Intense and comprehensive home visitation by public health nurses and preparation-for-motherhood classes were provided to adolescents in the EIP. Health outcomes were determined on the basis of medical record data. Other measures included maternal self-report on selected behaviors, nurse interviews, and the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale (NCATS). Results Early findings indicate reduced premature birth and low-birth-weight (LBW) rates for young mothers receiving both forms of public health nursing care. No significant differences between groups were found for infant birth weight or type of delivery. Infants in the EIP had significantly fewer total days of birth-related hospitalization and rehospitalization than those in the TPHN group during the first 6 weeks of life (chi2(1) = 6.41; p = 0.01). Adolescents in the EIP demonstrated significantly more positive educational outcomes (e.g., lower school dropout rates) than those in the TPHN group (chi2(1) = 6.76; p Conclusions The early findings of this study demonstrate that pregnant adolescents benefit from both traditional and more intense public health nursing care in terms of prenatal and perinatal outcomes. The EIP was associated with decreased infant morbidity during the first 6 weeks of life and decreased maternal school dropout. Long-term outcomes for the EIP are being evaluated.

A qualitative research approach was used to explore the factors that influence the initiation of drug and alcohol use among homeless women and the health and social consequences of drug and alcohol use. The sample consisted of 238 women; of whom 209 women reported drug and/or alcohol use in the past month and 29 women reported no history of drug or alcohol use. Findings of the study revealed homeless women who currently used drugs and alcohol, homeless women who currently used drugs only, and to a lesser extent current alcohol users only, had suffered traumatic childhood events and family dysfunction and had to cope with low self-esteem, emotional distress, and poor physical health. The initiation of drug and/or alcohol use was strongly affected by the social influence of other users. In comparison, homeless women who did not use drugs or alcohol reported a positive self-image, few traumatic events, and chose partners who did not use drugs or alcohol. Common among current drug and/or alcohol users were the reported social benefits of drug use. Quantitative analyses revealed homeless women who were current drug users were significantly more likely to have experienced childhood and adult victimization as compared with women in the other groups. Thus, the need for social interventions and positive social support early in the lives of these women are strongly implicated in these findings.

Objective To improve health outcomes in a vulnerable population of adolescent mothers and their infants. Design Effects of an intensive early intervention program (EIP) are compared with those of traditional public health nursing (TPHN) care. Setting A large California county with urban and rural communities, an ethnically diverse population, and a high teen birth rate. Participants One hundred twenty-one young mothers and their children from impoverished and predominantly minority backgrounds. Interventions During pregnancy and through 1 year postpartum, participants (n = 63) in the EIP were provided with 4 prenatal classes and approximately 17 home visits by specially trained public health nurses. Interventions addressed health issues, sexuality and family planning, life skills, the maternal role, and social support systems. Participants in TPHN (n = 58) received three home visits (for intake, prenatal care, and postpartum/well-baby care information). Main Outcome Measures Antepartum, intrapartum, and newborn medical records; maternal responses to written questionnaires; and nurse interviews. Results Early program outcomes indicate reduced premature birth rates for both groups compared with national data on adolescent mothers, and fewer days of infant hospitalization during the first 6 weeks postpartum for the EIP participants. Conclusion Public health nurse care (both traditional and intensive) significantly improved perinatal outcomes; the intensive intervention significantly reduced the number of infant hospitalization days.

This ethnographic study based on the anthropological tradition of qualitative research examined the responses of pregnant adolescents in preparation for a motherhood class curriculum. The early Intervention Program was conducted in Southern California among 36 pregnant teens who enrolled in and attended the 4-week prenatal class series between summer of 1994 and winter of 1995. The prenatal curriculum contains four maternal tasks of pregnancy which include 1) identification of the complexities of motherhood; 2) development of attachment to the unborn infant; 3) gaining acceptance of the child by significant others; and 4) ensuring physical well being of self and baby. The findings of this study identified two overall response categories: maternal role and relationships. Within the category of maternal role three primary themes emerged--responsibility respect and reparation--while three important relationships described by the adolescents included mothers partners and friends. In conclusion the need for a competent and appropriate psychotherapeutic intervention must be addressed by nurses with adolescent mothers prior to childbirth to enable healing of childhood wounds and prevent experiencing additional stressors inherent to motherhood.

The Health Videos for Global to Local project aims to impact health outcomes in South King County through digital video mediated behavior change. The project gives community members a platform to showcase positive health behaviors amongst peers, thus impacting communities from within. Through interviews, observation, meetings and workshops our evolving research is looking to identify effective strategies for creating health videos for socio-economically diverse communities.

In this paper we describe three different offerings of a multi-quarter multidisciplinary capstone experience where students engaged in designing and building technology to address problems faced by populations in local and remote resource-constrained environments. We define resource-constrained environments broadly (e.g., low-income communities, low bandwidth environments). These environments provide unique constraints (e.g., cultures where people are unfamiliar with or afraid of technology, environments where power and network connectivity are scarce and expensive). Students are partnered with organizations interested in piloting a solution they devise. The course brings together multidisciplinary teams of students to conduct fieldwork with potential user populations, design a technology to solve a problem inspired by a community-based organization, implement a solution, and evaluate that solution. Students work on projects with real-world impact and gain valuable experience with multidisciplinary design and multidisciplinary team work. In this paper we describe the three class formats we have attempted, sample student projects, and course outcomes based on student projects and survey responses. We also address the various ways projects have continued past the course, and we analyze the structural course and project elements that have contributed to student and research successes.

BACKGROUND Older breast cancer survivors (BCSs) are at risk for late and long-term treatment effects on quality of life (QOL), including lower physical functioning and fear of recurrence. Two promising approaches to address this include dance/movement therapy and mindfulness. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this 2-group randomized controlled pilot feasibility study was to test short-term effects of a 12-week Mindful Movement Program (MMP) intervention combining mindfulness with self-directed movement on QOL and mindfulness in female BCSs 50 years or older and at 12 months or more following treatment. METHODS Consented participants were randomized to an experimental group (EG) (12 weekly MMP sessions) or a control group (no sessions). All completed questionnaires 3 times. The EG participants kept home practice diaries. Analysis was conducted after intervention for immediate effects on outcome variables and 6 weeks later for maintenance of effects. RESULTS Participants (n = 49) ranged in age from 50 to 90 years (average, 65.6 years) and were at 9.8 years since diagnosis (range, 1-32 years), and the majority were white, unpartnered, and retired. After intervention, EG participants showed improved QOL via decreased fear of recurrence and increased mindfulness attitude. At 6 weeks, initial effects were retained. CONCLUSIONS The MMP appears to benefit older BCSs by reducing fear of recurrence and improving mindfulness attitude. Although these findings are promising, a larger study is needed to determine more specifically what short- and long-term effects are possible. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE The combination of self-directed movement and mindfulness, as tested here, may be a valuable tool for promoting health and well-being in older long-term survivors of breast cancer.

Ultrasound imaging is an effective tool for identifying maternal mortality risk factors. However, the high cost of ultrasound devices and the scarcity of ultrasound training are two major barriers to adoption in the developing world; complicated and expensive medical technologies are unlikely to meet the needs of users with limited opportunities for formal training and continuing education. To address these particular barriers, we have designed an inexpensive ultrasound system composed of off-the-shelf hardware and custom software. Our system is designed for use by rural midwives---often central medical figures in resource-constrained communities. This paper presents our work integrating help and tutorial software into the ultrasound system we developed. Our goal is to supplement a midwife's conceptual and operational knowledge of diagnostic ultrasound through appropriate and adaptive scaffolding. The design of our help system is informed by interviews with sonographers and radiologists in the United States and Uganda, and data collected during two fieldwork visits to Uganda. Through our fieldwork and preliminary evaluations, we have found that in addition to in-context reference material accessible during an exam, midwives need in-depth learning materials that can be accessed outside of a medical exam scenario.

This BOF is intended to allow faculty interested in global service learning, Information and Communication Technology and Development (ICTD) research, and other cross-cultural experiences an opportunity for information sharing. It takes a lot to get students out into the field. Challenges include developing partnerships, negotiating agreements, vetting the safety of destinations, identifying sources of funding, navigating the logistics of immunizations, visas, accommodations and flights to less-traveled places, reassuring parents as to the wisdom of their child's participation, managing development partner expectations, advising students' activities, and many more. And how can these experiences be evaluated? This BOF will provide a venue for sharing experiences, information, and identifying potential new collaborations. We will discuss means for sharing best practices, news, materials, and project artifacts. We will also explore opportunities for collaborating on projects and joint proposals.

We report on our experience integrating a three-week introduction to multithreading in a required data structures course for second-year computer science majors. We emphasize a distinction between parallelism and concurrency that teaches students to use extra processors effectively and enforce mutual exclusion correctly. The material fits naturally in the data structures course by having the same mix of algorithms, programming, and asymptotic analysis as the conventional, single-threaded part of the course. Our department has used this unit for 1.5 years and will do so indefinitely. We report feedback from students, multiple instructors for the course, and students in a later course that uses threads. We developed a full set of course materials that have been adapted for use by instructors in various courses at five other institutions so far.

On average a woman dies in childbirth approximately every 90 seconds, and the majority of these deaths take place in Africa and Asia [1]. While ultrasound imaging is an effective tool for identifying maternal mortality risk factors, it is nearly absent in many rural healthcare facilities in developing regions due to the high costs of both equipment and required training. To leverage existing healthcare systems commonly found in these contexts, we have focused on increasing the diagnostic capabilities of village midwives -- often central medical figures in rural and low-income communities. We have developed a low-cost, portable, easy-to-use ultrasound system designed specifically to enable local midwives to identify high-risk conditions for referral to a well-equipped health care facility. Our focus has been on designing an appropriate system for our context. Specifically, we had to: simplify our user interface, support a solitary work environment, balance cost and features, and create an integrated teaching help system. This paper describes technical, socio-technical, and socio-cultural factors, drawn from our collaboration with the University of Washington Department of Radiology and our field experiences with midwives in Uganda, that have influenced our design.

Ultrasound imaging is an effective tool for identifying maternal mortality risk factors. Unfortunately, ultrasound is nearly absent in many rural healthcare facilities in developing regions due to the high costs of both equipment and required training. To leverage existing healthcare systems commonly found in these contexts, we have focused our efforts on increasing the diagnostic capabilities of midwives -- often central medical figures in rural and low-income communities. We have designed and built a low-cost portable ultrasound device consisting of a USB ultrasound probe and a touchscreen netbook for a total cost of around USD3500. Compared to currently available ultrasound devices, we simplified the user interface while maintaining functionality to allow midwives to detect three common obstetrical conditions: placenta previa, multiple gestations, and breech presentation. To evaluate our solution, we tested the accuracy of ultrasound measurements, image quality, and whether midwives could use ultrasound. Testing performed by nine clinicians indicated our device would be appropriate for identifying the three conditions. Our modular design approach allows for easy modification, and the device is designed to utilize existing local healthcare resources in order to create a sustainable solution that does not depend on continuous foreign assistance.

We present our experiences with an SMS-based system for providing transit information based solely on existing cellular and GPS networks. The aim is to permit the development of information services that do not rely on a central authority or complex web hosting. We developed and applied our system to the network of privately-run marshrutka buses in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. However, our goal is to more broadly address issues of ad-hoc shared transportation systems in the developing world. A custom designed GPS-GSM unit is placed on a vehicle, and users can query our server over SMS with their own non-GPS-enabled cell phones. We report on the accuracy of our location naming approach and estimates of bus arrival times. In addition, we summarize interviews with bus drivers and bus riders relating their views of the system and outline directions for future work. Our system is a grassroots solution to the persistent lack of transport information in developing countries.

Applying information and communication technologies to development (ICTD) is emerging as an interesting and motivating research area in computer science and engineering. It spans application areas from healthcare to transportation, and requires the use of computing skills from networking to user interface design. Addressing problems of developing regions and under-served communities lets students explore a different part of the ICT design space, leading to new implementation and research questions. ICTD is also an area that has the potential to excite students about the CSE field more generally, with its emphasis on enabling social benefits with technology, and is rich in possibilities for interesting student projects. In this paper we report on two offerings of a course at the University of Washington that introduce students to the field by way of 1) reading papers from literature in the area to gain exposure to this very different design mindset and 2) doing practical projects that engage students in engineering problems under unique design constraints. Our hope is that CSE educators may find our experiences useful in identifying an approach to integrating the field of ICTD into their curricula.

We present a case study of an international distance education course involving two sites in the US and one site in Pakistan. We use the case study to examine the elements of the distance learning environment, and specifically how those elements can be best used to promote classroom interaction. In particular we discuss the effectiveness of two software tools for distance learning that we have developed: ConferenceXP for video conferencing and Classroom Presenter to facilitate interaction across sites. We bring special attention to the use of student artifacts including digital ink and text, and their use in the presentation of design proposals, the facilitation of critiques, and in the promotion of general interaction.

Elimination of racial/ethnic disparities requires cross-cultural knowledge about quality of care among vulnerable populations. This study used 3 existing data sets to identify quality indicator themes relating to healthcare concerns of African Americans, Latinos, and whites. Using a quality-of-care framework to organize and compare the themes across racial/ethnic groups, we found several unique and 9 common themes. The at-a-glance grid is useful in facilitating culturally competent caring processes in clinical practice.

This article explores existing informal as well as formal approaches that address health disparities in the communities where they occur, enhancing the opportunity to strengthen the cultural competency of providers, students, and faculty. A particular focus centers on the community-based participatory research approaches that involve community members, providing opportunities to develop mutually respectful, trusting relationships through co-teaching and co-learning experiences. With community-based participatory research approaches to community involvement in place, the stage is set for partnerships between communities and schools of nursing to collaboratively design, implement, and integrate informal and formal cultural competence components in nursing curricula.

This paper describes a 2-phase method utilized to develop and evaluate the feasibility of a Web-based program targeted to the specific learning needs of elderly patients with heart failure. In the first phase, informational resources specific to the needs of elderly patients were identified using aspects of participant-focused research. Data from 69 patients were obtained through a structured interview and later reviewed with health care providers and patient representatives. Items deemed important by the patients and health care providers were incorporated into the Internet-based program that was drafted for the study. The second phase of the process entailed obtaining data to support the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention by providing 12 patient volunteers access to the Internet-based program that was developed. After 2 weeks, the authors contacted the volunteers and asked them about their experiences with accessing and navigating the Web page. The authors found that elderly persons with limited computer skills can and will use Web resources to obtain information when given adequate instructions on how to access the Web pages.

Introduction This study explored Latino family experiences, issues, and needs in caring for a child with asthma as expressed by Latino parents of children with asthma. Methods Eight families represented by 7 women and 2 men, primarily of Mexican descent, participated in the study. All families had at least one child enrolled in preschools in the East Los Angeles area. The study had an exploratory design and used ethnographic group and individual interview techniques to discover the parents’ experiences in managing their child’s asthma and the meaning asthma has for their families. All interviews were conducted in Spanish. Results Several common themes emerged from the data: (a) fear, “I got scared”; (b) the acute care experience, “I was not told what to do, nothing”; (c) knowledge, “I did not know anything about asthma”; and (d) parent alternative strategies or strengths, “We want to do what is best. … we need to be prepared.” Discussion Strength emerged from fear. The parents were resourceful and began developing alternative strategies to assist them in their care for their child with asthma. The findings emphasize the need for more opportunities for culturally sensitive asthma education and community health care resources such as mobile asthma treatment centers and promotora programs.

We conducted Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), using a qualitative focus group design, to assess factors that might impact participation of high-risk impoverished adults in future HIV Vaccine Trials (HIVVTs). The participants were 40 homeless and low-income adults recruited from subsidized apartments and homeless shelters in Los Angeles. Findings revealed that the participants expressed both concerns and interest in future HIVVTs. Concerns centered on the impact of the vaccine on their physical health, the possibility of seroconverting and its associated stigma. While distrust of the government was pervasive, the participants were interested in receiving more information about the vaccine from the researchers. They also wished to have their voices heard by the researchers early in the design of the vaccines. Motivating factors were also discovered, and included altruism, compensation and access to care. Perception that risk behaviors might increase among some as a result of participation in a future HIVVT was likewise revealed. Implications of the study reveal that while impoverished populations are interested in participating in future HIVVTs, the researchers must address concerns early on. Moreover, the importance of ongoing education and counseling to warn about hazards of engaging in risky behavior while participating in a future HIVVT was critical. © Taylor & Francis Ltd.

Instructors of computer science, engineering, and technology courses often teach using prepared slides displayed with a computer and data projector. While this approach has advantages, disadvantages can be severe - including limited flexibility in delivery of material, which hinders instructors' spontaneous adaptation to students. This paper describes Classroom Presenter, a Tablet PC-based presentation system that (1) allows instructors to regain flexibility in presentation using Tablet PC-supported digital inking in an application specifically designed for lecturing use, (2) supports role-specific views and interaction mechanisms in class, and (3) introduces novel affordances including the use of wireless technology and student devices to support active learning in the classroom. As of spring 2005, Classroom Presenter has been used in over 200 courses at more than 13 institutions. Here we take advantage of our large use-base to discuss Classroom Presenter's impact on student learning and summarize best practices for lecturing with this technology

Background: Children of adolescent mothers have higher rates of morbidity and unintentional injuries and hospitalizations during the first 5 years of life than do children of adult mothers. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the 2-year postbirth infant health and maternal outcomes of an early intervention program (EIP) of home visitation by public health nurses (PHNs). Methods: In a randomized controlled trial a sample of predominantly Latina and African American adolescent mothers was followed from pregnancy through 2 years postpartum. The experimental group (EIP n= 56) received preparation-for-motherhood classes plus intense home visitation by PHNs from pregnancy through 1 year postbirth; the control group (TPHNC n= 45) received traditional public health nursing care (TPHNC). Health outcomes were determined based on medical record data; other measures evaluated selected maternal behaviors social competence and mother-child interactions. Results: The total days of non-birth-related infant hospitalizations during the first 24 months was significantly lower in the EIP (143 days) than the TPHNC group (211 days) and episodes of hospitalization were fewer; more EIP than THHNC infants were never seen in the emergency room. The EIP mothers had 15% fewer repeat pregnancies in the first 2 years postbirth than TPHNC mothers. The TPHNC mothers significantly increased marijuana use over time whereas EIP mothers did not. Conclusions: The EIP improved in selected areas of infant and maternal health and these improvements were sustained for a period of 1 year following program termination. These findings have important implications for healthcare services. (authors)

Participant-focused research (PFR) includes the fisubjectsfl as full partners in the research process. As such, participants share in the products or outcomes of research. PFR goes beyond the traditional research approach of disseminating findings to other scientists and clinicians and includes participants and community residents in sharing the skills, knowledge, and resources of the study with the objective of empowering the participants. This article demonstrates the use of PFR in disseminating the results or products of study to the participants through two examples of long-term research projects conducted in Los Angeles. The first example is a community-based study of HIV prevention with low-income Latina women. The second example is an ethnographic study of health concerns and risks among adolescents in juvenile detention. These examples provide two approaches to dissemination of research findings and benefits to the participants and the community.

A discussion of adolescent high-risk behavior and associated stigma is presented from the perspective of teenagers confined in juvenile detention. Data contributing to this discussion originate from a qualitative research study designed to discover the meaning detained adolescents associate with substance use/abuse and to describe how they make substance-related decisions while in juvenile detention. is pilot study was part of a program of ongoing ethnographic research in the setting of a large metropolitan juvenile detention facility (JDF). Twenty teenagers participated in the study during interviews and focus group discussions. A major theme among all six focus groups involved resolutions to quit drugs and alcohol after release. The trajectory of substance abuse interwoven in these discussions most frequently began with problems at home, progressed to substance abuse and other high-risk behaviors, and culminated in detention. AU of the groups gave suggestions for the kind of help teenagers need most: someone to listen and to care.

The purpose of the following two articles is to shift the emphasis from a strictly patient-centered focus to an interaction-centered focus. Evidence from independent research projects in two different patient care settings demonstrates the interactional nature of violent behavior. One project was conducted on an acute adult psychiatric inpatient unit; the other project was conducted in a juvenile detention facility. Each of these articles describes one segment from two separate and independent parent research projects. Although these clinical research projects were conducted in two very different clinical facilities with very different patient populations, the researchers subsequently discovered common categories and themes regarding the issues of control and the interactional dynamics of violence in the two studies. Interactions between health care providers and patients in the acute psychiatric setting resembled the corresponding interactions in the juvenile detention setting. Both populations had been deprived of power, and all patients/adolescents had some restrictions on their freedom with few choices and opportunities to display positive conduct. Furthermore, the environment in each setting was structured according to the needs of the staff/caretakers, who assumed some degree of control over the individuals in the population being served. Labeling and control issues were identified in the findings from both studies. In the two articles that follow, the specific qualitative research methods used in each study are described. Common themes are discussed from each clinical perspective, using research data and case examples that exemplify the interactional basis of violent behavior.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A group of detained pregnant adolescents and expectant teenage fathers served as participants in a qualitative research project designed to describe how adolescents residing in a large metropolitan area juvenile detention facility make health- and pregnancy-related decisions. During the course of the study and clinical work with this population, it was found that although troubled and troublesome, these teenagers do not present as bleak and depressing a picture as might appear on the surface. Three primary themes emerged from the study findings: responsibility, reputation, and respect. These themes were bound to the important relationships in the teenagers' lives. The participants also presented some surprising strengths and resolutions for the future that psychiatric and liaison nurses working in the setting can use in program planning and clinical interventions.15 detained pregnant adolescents and 15 expectant teenage fathers were interviewed and observed in a study of qualitative research design to shed light upon how adolescents living in a large metropolitan area juvenile detention facility make health- and pregnancy-related decisions, and to determine the relative influence of prior health/pregnancy beliefs and the detention experience upon pregnancy resolution decisions. The participants were of mean age 16 years, with the expectant mothers aged 13-18 years and the expectant fathers aged 16-18. 40% in each expectant parent group were Black and 14% White. 33% of the pregnant teens and 20% of the expectant fathers were Hispanic. A mixed ethnic background was claimed by 14% of the expectant mothers and 28% of the expectant fathers. 12 mothers and 12 fathers retained the pregnancy and kept the baby. None of the adolescents chose formal adoption. Their decisions were made either with or by the partner/other, based upon beliefs/desires initially generated during socialization activities within the family and/or cultural group, made alone, or made on the basis of influences or situations associated with detention. The decision was influenced by the detention experience in only three cases. Responsibility, reputation, and respect were central themes linked to the important relationships in the teens' lives. The author notes that the participants demonstrated strengths and resolutions for the future which psychiatric and liaison nurses working in the setting can use in program planning and clinical interventions.

With sophisticated computer technology an infinite number of perspective maps can be produced to represent one continuous statistical surface. This presents the cartographer with a dilemma: Which view most clearly conveys the intended message? Two hundred twenty-five subjects were tested on their perception of height and distance relationships using 15 perspective block diagrams, all representing one statistical surface but varying on two parameters, altitude and cone of vision. The map readers were remarkably consistent in their perception of a surface from the various views presented. No one map communicated more accurate infonnation than another overall. By recognizing the test map as a perspective representation of a three-dimensional surface, the map reader was able to compensate for distortion along the x,y,z axes. Perspective block diagrams are not only a viable technical solution to the problem of mapping a continuous statistical surface but are also effective thematic maps.

In brief: Because cardiac pacemaker patients are a heterogeneous group, a graded exercise test using 1-met increments for robust patients and 1/2-met increments for frail patients should be performed before recommending an exercise program. Most patients are comfortable with a peak work load of 60% to 80% of their maximum capacity, and the physician can recommend an appropriate activity ranging from strolling at 1 mph (1/2 to 2 mets) to singles tennis (5 to 6 mets) based on the exercise test results. For most patients, a self-administered or supervised exercise program can be set up that will increase their capacity for sports or activities of daily living.

Deer mice with a compensated hemolytic syndrome caused by hereditary spherocytosis were placed in a controlled temperature room at 35 C. Severe anemia, red cell fragmentation, increased osmotic fragility, occasional jaundice and hemoglobinuria were observed. The spleen enlarged and the erythropoietic bone marrow expanded. Reticulocytes fell markedly early during heat exposure, but in survivors soon increased to levels higher than those observed prior to experiment. Mortality from the severe acceleration of the preexisting hemolysis was high. Control nonspherocytic deer mice subjected to an identical temperature showed only a mild drop of hemoglobin and slight elevation of reticulocytes. Since hereditary spherocytosis in deer mice in a temperate climate is compatible with good health, these findings provide a further illustration of interaction of a particular environmental insult with a specific genotype in the pathogenesis of hereditary disease.