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BACKGROUND: Exposure to arsenic (As) in well water is a well-documented public health issue for Maine and New Hampshire, as well as for other states in the United States and abroad. Arsenic contamination of well water in these locations is primarily attributed to metasedimentary bedrock that leaches As into groundwater. However, As can also enter groundwater reserves from soils contaminated by the historical use of arsenical pesticides. Approximately half of the households in Maine and New Hampshire rely on private wells, many of which have elevated As. Arsenic exposure has been associated with an increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, reduced infection resistance, and lower intelligence quotient in children. Despite these known health impacts, well water testing and treatment are not universal. OBJECTIVES: We have approached the problem of low well water testing rates in Maine and New Hampshire communities by developing the All About Arsenic (AAA) project, which engages secondary school teachers and students as citizen scientists in collecting well water samples for analysis of As and other toxic metals and supports their outreach efforts to their communities. METHODS: We assessed this project's public health impact by analyzing student data relative to existing well water quality datasets in both states. In addition, we surveyed private well owners who contributed well water samples to the project to determine the actions taken to mitigate As in well water. RESULTS: Students collected 3,070 drinking water samples for metals testing, and 752 exceeded New Hampshire's As standard of 5ppb. The AAA data has more than doubled the amount of information available to public health agencies about well water quality in multiple municipalities across both states. Students also collected information about well types and treatment systems. Their data reveal that some homeowners did not know what type of wells they had or whether they had filtration systems. Those with filtration systems were often unaware of the type of system, what the system was filtering for, or whether the system was designed to remove As. Through interviews with pilot survey participants, we learned that some had begun mitigating their exposure to As and other toxic metals in response to test results from the AAA project. DISCUSSION: A school-based approach to collecting and analyzing private well water samples can successfully reach communities with low testing rates for toxic elements, such as As and other metals. Importantly, information generated through the program can impact household decisionmaking, and students can influence local and state policymaking by sharing information in their communities. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP13421, Introduction Arsenic (As) in well water is a well-documented public health issue around the world, including in Northern New England states. Of particular note is that bladder cancer mortality rates [...]

This paper criticizes mainstream philosophical justifications for paternalism in children's education, highlighting their exclusion of students labelled with intellectual disability. Most philosophical justifications of paternalism presume "able-mindedness" -- that is, they presume that learners possess the potential to develop capacities of rationality and autonomy considered normal -- and normatively superior -- for adults. Prioritizing these able-minded norms obscures educationally worthwhile communicative, reasoning, and behavioural capacities that diverge from able-minded norms, but which nevertheless express forms of rational and epistemic agency that are educationally beneficial. The paper argues that able-mindedness therefore constitutes a conceptually impoverished basis for educational paternalism. A number of harmful educational implications of able-minded educational paternalism are explored and a more promising and inclusive avenue for justifying educational paternalism is briefly outlined.

In study abroad programs, overall student participation and the representation of minoritized students continue to rise, but barriers to participation for minoritized students persist, especially in engineering. As we strive to broaden participation in engineering study abroad programs, we must critically examine the experiences of minoritized students who engage in these programs so we can facilitate supportive educational environments. This study examines the experiences of minoritized students in a global engineering study abroad program, using the concept of habitus, a student's collection of identities and embodied cultural capital. We find that students draw on various forms of habitus while studying abroad, connecting their new experiences abroad to their prior experiences. Based on these findings, we make recommendations for designing more equitable and inclusive study abroad programming elements.

Purpose: Studying physical activity in toddlers using accelerometers is challenging due to noncompliance with wear time (WT) and activity log (AL) instructions. The aims of this study are to examine relationships between WT and AL completion and (1) demographic and socioeconomic variables, (2) parenting style, and (3) whether sedentary time differs by AL completion. Methods: Secondary analysis was performed using baseline data from a community wellness program randomized controlled trial for parents with toddlers (12–35 mo). Parents had toddlers wear ActiGraph wGT3x accelerometers and completed ALs. Valid days included ≥600-minute WT. Analysis of variance and chi-square analyses were used. Results: The sample (n = 50) comprised racial and ethnically diverse toddlers (mean age = 27 mo, 58% male) and parents (mean age = 31.7 y, 84% female). Twenty-eight families (56%) returned valid accelerometer data with ALs. Participants in relationships were more likely to complete ALs (P <.05). Toddler sedentary time did not differ between those with ALs and those without. Conclusions: We found varied compliance with WT instructions and AL completion. Returned AL quality was poor, presenting challenges in correctly characterizing low-activity counts to improve internal validity of WT and physical activity measures. Support from marital partners may be important for adherence to study protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Nearly half of all cancer deaths are preventable through modification or avoidance of key risk factors. As such, there is a growing urgency to identify effective, low-resource, and scalable technologies that support clinical care and patient self-management of health behaviors. Purpose Informed by theories of cognitive load and user-centered design approaches, we develop a culturally tailored, multicomponent digital intervention to engage rural adults between 50-73 years old with their personalized nutrition risk factors for colorectal cancer (CRC) prevention. Method A total of 48 adults tested a Virtual Health Assistant (VHA) prototype during focus groups in individual think-aloud interviews to facilitate iterative adaptations to a web-based CRC prevention intervention. Qualitative data was analyzed to identify user needs and preferences related to information and with a focus on avoiding cognitive overload. Results The VHA serves as a conceptual pre-training for users helping them understand CRC prevention key concepts and engendering motivation to act on the promoted behavior. A website was identified as a strategy to fill information gaps and present actionable information, after the VHA interaction. Cognitive load reducing strategies were used including segmenting where information is presented in learner-controlled segments rather than continuously. Conclusions Findings indicate potential benefits of designing CRC prevention information technologies with the rural older adults. Integrating patient-centered needs before launching health information web content will be important as the rapid growth of telemedicine aims to reach traditionally marginalized and underserved populations. Theoretically informed considerations for potential adverse outcomes (eg, information overload) are discussed.

The recurring spillover of pathogenic coronaviruses and demonstrated capacity of sarbecoviruses, such SARS-CoV-2, to rapidly evolve in humans underscores the need to better understand immune responses to this virus family. For this purpose, we characterized the functional breadth and potency of antibodies targeting the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike glycoprotein that exhibited cross-reactivity against SARS-CoV-2 variants, SARS-CoV-1 and sarbecoviruses from diverse clades and animal origins with spillover potential. One neutralizing antibody, C68.61, showed remarkable neutralization breadth against both SARS-CoV-2 variants and viruses from different sarbecovirus clades. C68.61, which targets a conserved RBD class 5 epitope, did not select for escape variants of SARS-CoV-2 or SARS-CoV-1 in culture nor have predicted escape variants among circulating SARS-CoV-2 strains, suggesting this epitope is functionally constrained. We identified 11 additional SARS-CoV-2/SARS-CoV-1 cross-reactive antibodies that target the more sequence conserved class 4 and class 5 epitopes within RBD that show activity against a subset of diverse sarbecoviruses with one antibody binding every single sarbecovirus RBD tested. A subset of these antibodies exhibited Fc-mediated effector functions as potent as antibodies that impact infection outcome in animal models. Thus, our study identified antibodies targeting conserved regions across SARS-CoV-2 variants and sarbecoviruses that may serve as therapeutics for pandemic preparedness as well as blueprints for the design of immunogens capable of eliciting cross-neutralizing responses. Author summary: There is a large collection of sarbecoviruses related to SARS-CoV-2 circulating in animal reservoirs with the potential to spillover into humans. Neutralizing antibodies have the potential to protect against infection, although viral escape is common. In this study, we isolated several monoclonal antibodies that show broad activity against different sarbecoviruses. The antibodies target epitopes in the core of the receptor binding domain that are highly conserved in sequence across sarbecoviruses and emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. One antibody showed remarkable breadth against both SARS-CoV-1 variants as well as diverse sarbecoviruses. The results of deep mutational scanning suggest that mutations at these predicted sites of escape may functionally constrain viral fitness. Our functional profiling of cross-reactive antibodies highlights vulnerable sites of sarbecoviruses, with some antibodies poised as broadly neutralizing candidates for therapeutic use against future sarbecovirus emergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dissent is conceptualized as a largely able-minded political expression. Ashley Taylor argues in this essay that educational philosophers, therefore, lack an understanding of dissent that can capture the politically relevant expressions of students labeled with significant disabilities. While traditional frameworks of dissent may capture many of the ways disabled activists and their nondisabled allies have challenged oppressive social structures, these models nevertheless rely on a conceptualization of dissent that fails to make sense of the political agency of people understood as having significant intellectual disabilities. Taylor reframes the embodied and localized refusals and transgressions of labeled students as forms of politically relevant dissent, drawing on her own observational data from the classroom as well as the ethnographic work of researchers in the field of disability studies in education. By developing a richer and experientially-based understanding of dissent, Taylor offers an alternative conceptual orientation toward dissent that has normative implications for theorists and practitioners alike.

In this article, we explore the interrelated phenomena of teachers' paternalistic aims and their misattributions of the agency of their students within particular schooling contexts of systemic racial injustice in the United States. We argue that, because teachers in these contexts assess agency in patterned, predictable ways that stem from -- and reify -- preexisting unjust patterns of oppression, teachers are unreliable evaluators of the conditions necessary for just punishment. To build this argument, we explore a complex case in which authorities regularly fail to meet these conditions: the punishment of Black girls in low-income, urban, predominantly non-White primary and secondary schools in the United States. Through our analysis, we offer a new concept, excess agency misattribution, which raises serious questions about subjective justifications for punishment in contexts of entrenched injustice. By delineating how the perceptions of teachers influence both the putative justifying aims and targeted recipients of punishment, we demonstrate how the existing terrain of school punishment practices ought to affect our normative reasoning about the fairness of punishment in these contexts.

Disabled refugees experience multiple barriers through the process of resettlement, and yet, their perspectives are rarely solicited in discussions of refugee policy and practice. This article focuses on the life history and resettlement experiences of Samir Omar, a disabled refugee, who recounts how he learned to navigate resettlement through his interactions with the state. Data for this article comes from a three year, multisited, multilingual ethnography conducted with refugee families who have been recently resettled to the United States. This larger study, in which Samir was a participant, examined the ways refugees' encounters with the state come to bear on their embodiments and understandings of citizenship. Leveraging a critical disability studies theoretical lens, we analyze the production of Samir's disability through displacement and resettlement, as well as the framing of his disability as barring him from productive citizenship. We argue that the refugee resettlement process is inherently educative, resulting in Samir's sustained critique of the able-bodied norms of citizenship. Samir produces his own "curriculum of navigation" for disabled refugees that offers an alternative policy for resettlement and reframes able-bodied notions of dependency and self-sufficiency.

Background: Mixed methods research designs in engineering education often frame the "mixed" aspect of the design from the perspective of data collection. However, intentional mixing throughout the research design--particularly during data analysis--may enable richer meta-inferences about a phenomenon. Purpose: This paper provides examples of strategies for mixing during data analysis in mixed methods program evaluation in engineering education. Although the context is program evaluation, the procedures are applicable in engineering education research more broadly. Scope/Method: This review presents examples of mixed methods analysis strategies in the context of a data set with qualitative and quantitative data from a global engineering program at a large Mid-Atlantic university. The structure of the examples presents mixed research questions, pragmatic purposes for such studies, and examples of different mixing strategies for the analysis stage. The mixing strategies highlighted include extreme case sampling, converting, creating a blended variable, blending variables and themes across strands, and cross-case comparison. Conclusions: This review of mixed methods in program evaluation prompted a reflection of processes in the design of studies, how the designs are described beyond the usual taxonomies in the mixed methods literature, and implications for the greater community of engineering education researchers. Five mixed methods designs were formulated around the mixing strategies.

This study investigated the experiences of engineering students who participated in a cultural simulation activity to promote cross-cultural communication skills. A sample of 138 post-activity short reflections from a global engineering practice course were analyzed using qualitative inquiry. Results suggest that students recognize parallels between acclimating to the simulated culture in the cultural simulation activity and adjusting to a different country's culture while traveling abroad. Although the simulation was embedded in a pre-departure course for study abroad, the cultural simulation could also be used to develop cross-cultural communication in the classroom without traveling abroad.

The current study examines the impact of COVID-19 for a sample of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning, and other emerging sexual (and gender) identities (LGBTQ+) adults. We hypothesized that financial strain, mental health, job loss, and physical COVID-19 symptoms would be positively related to intimate partner violence (IPV). Data were collected through recruitment using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) from May to September 2020. Respondents were 18+ years old, identified as a member of the LGBTQ + community, and resided in the United States. Participant ages ranged from 18-90 years old, and most of the sample identified as White (53.9%), bisexual (47.6%), and transgender (32.6%). The final sample consisted of 1,249 participants. All types of perpetration violence were significantly associated with COVID-19 symptoms. Both physical perpetration and psychological victimization were significantly associated with financial strain. All types of perpetration violence were significantly associated with COVID-19 symptoms. Both physical perpetration and psychological victimization were significantly associated with financial strain. Results highlight the increased need for access to IPV prevention resources for LGBTQ + adults, especially during national public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The educational aims described by educational philosophers rarely embrace the full range of differences in intellectual ability, adaptive behavior, or communication that children exhibit. Because envisioned educational aims have significant consequences for how educational practices, pedagogy, and curricula are conceptualized, the failure to acknowledge and embrace differences in ability leaves open the question of the extent to which students with intellectual disabilities are subject to the same aims as their "typically-developing" peers. In articulating and defending valued aims of education, educational philosophers tacitly or expressly concede that particular aims will be ill suited to many children with intellectual disabilities, and that separate aims will therefore apply to them. This paper evaluates the philosophical reasoning behind this conclusion that some people, by necessity, must be governed by separate educational aims, to be decided separately and secondarily. The author calls this the "deferral stance." First, the paper outlines concerns about a particular ability-biased social and epistemic context in which theorizing about educational aims takes place. The author then examines assumptions that underpin the logic of deferral, arguing that the logic proves flawed when subjected to conceptual and empirical scrutiny. The paper concludes by outlining an inclusive approach--the affirmative stance--to theorizing about educational aims that resists the logic of exclusion and deferral.

Intellectual disability may appear to many as a barrier to participation in or the production of educational research. Indeed, a common perception of individuals seen as having cognitive impairments, and especially those with minimal or no verbal communication, is that they are incapable of the reasoning or lack the deliberative capacities necessary to participate in research or policy-influencing decision making. In this essay, Ashley Taylor dismantles these assumptions, challenging both the view of intellectual disability on which they rest and the view of epistemic competence they imply. Taylor shows how the absence or exclusion of people with intellectual disabilities labels from dominant knowledge-making institutions and arenas, including within educational research, amounts to injustice and results in their tacit or overt exclusion from civic education and political membership.