The designed environment and how it affects brain morphology and mental health

Background The environment is inextricably related to mental health. Recent research replicates findings of a significant, linear correlation between a childhood exposure to the urban environment and psychosis. Related studies also correlate the urban environment and aberrant brain morphologies. These findings challenge common beliefs that the mind and brain remain neutral in the face of worldly experience. Aim There is a signature within these neurological findings that suggests that specific features of design cause and trigger mental illness. The objective in this article is to work backward from the molecular dynamics to identify features of the designed environment that may either trigger mental illness or protect against it. Method This review analyzes the discrete functions putatively assigned to the affected brain areas and a neurotransmitter called dopamine, which is the primary target of most antipsychotic medications. The intention is to establish what the correlations mean in functional terms, and more specifically, how this relates to the phenomenology of urban experience. In doing so, environmental mental illness risk factors are identified. Conclusions Having established these relationships, the review makes practical recommendations for those in public health who wish to use the environment itself as a tool to improve the mental health of a community through design.

Daily manifestations of career adaptability: Relationships with job and career outcomes

Most research on career adaptability has examined the construct as an individual differences variable and neglected that it may vary within an individual over a short period of time. In two daily diary studies, the author investigated the relationships of career adaptability and its four dimensions (concern, control, curiosity, and confidence) to their daily manifestations as well as daily job and career outcomes. Both Study 1 (N = 53) and Study 2 (N = 234) demonstrated substantial within-person variability in employees' behavioral expressions of career adaptability across five work days. Results further showed that daily career adaptability and daily confidence positively predicted daily task and career performance, as well as daily job and career satisfaction. Daily control positively predicted daily task performance, as well as daily job and career satisfaction. Daily concern positively predicted daily career performance and satisfaction, and daily curiosity positively predicted daily career satisfaction.

Career Adapt-Abilities Scale—Iran Form: Psychometric properties and relationships with career satisfaction and entrepreneurial intentions

This study examined the psychometric properties of a Persian translation of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS—Iran Form) and its relationships with career satisfaction, business opportunity identification, and entrepreneurial intentions. It was hypothesized that career adaptability relates positively to these three outcomes, even when controlling for demographic and employment characteristics. Data were provided by 204 workers from Iran. Results showed that the overall CAAS score and sub-dimension scores (concern, control, curiosity, and confidence) were highly reliable. Moreover, confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the CAAS—Iran Form measures four distinct dimensions that can be combined into a higher-order career adaptability factor. Findings also demonstrated criterion-related validity of the scale with regard to career satisfaction and entrepreneurial intentions. In contrast, overall career adaptability was not significantly related to opportunity identification, while concern related positively, and control related negatively to opportunity identification. Overall, the CAAS—Iran Form has very good psychometric properties and predicts important career outcomes, suggesting that it can be used for career counseling and future research with Persian-speaking workers.

Capacity building of early career researchers through cross-institutional mentoring

Most early career researchers in the first five years following doctoral qualification are faced with research challenges and opportunities, which necessitate the ability to navigate and overcome barriers, and to identify and benefit from possibilities. In this chapter, the authors outline an intentional mentoring initiative aimed at building the capacity of early career researchers within the Excellence in Research in Early Years Education Collaborative Research Network (CRN) in Australia. The initiative involved partnering early career researchers with experienced researchers and the inclusion of an early career representative on the network planning committee. The chapter discusses the many benefits for the mentee arising from the initiative including increased publication, momentum and confidence, as well as exposure to new methodologies, theoretical frameworks, and productive collaborative partnerships. It is hoped, however, that the findings will be of relevance to similar and diverse (funded/unfunded) research programs and collaborative networks wherever mentoring is applied as a capacity building strategy to assist researchers.

The Systems Theory Framework of career development: 20 years of contribution to theory and practice

The development and sustained contribution of the Systems Theory Framework to career development theory and practice is well documented in national and international literatures. In addition to its contribution to theory integration, it has added to the growing literature on connecting career theory and practice, in particular for non-Western populations. In addition, it has been the basis of the development of a broad array of constructivist approaches to career counselling, and indeed specific reflective career assessment activities. This article begins with a brief history of the Systems Theory Framework which is then followed by a rationale for its development. The contribution of the Systems Theory Framework to theory and practice is then described prior to concluding comments by the authors.

Re-inventing the f word - it's feminism!

This article discusses approaches to feminist art practice by early career Australian women artists in the context of 'Contemporary Australia: Women', an exhibition held at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), Brisbane in 2012.

Trajetórias de jovens de origem popular rumo à carreira acadêmica: mobilidade social, identidade e conflitos

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar a trajetória escolar de jovens de origem popular e oriundos de um bairro de periferia da cidade do Rio de Janeiro, que ingressaram em cursos de pós-graduação stricto sensu de importantes universidades públicas. Tais trajetórias serão aqui analisadas a partir das narrativas dos próprios atores sociais em questão, buscando evidenciar as marcas de sua socialização e formação escolar em um contexto social que, do ponto de vista de algumas análises no campo da sociologia da educação, não favoreceriam a aquisição do capital cultural e social necessários ao ingresso na carreira acadêmica. Desta perspectiva, além de não serem muito comuns nos meios populares, essas trajetórias também não seriam reconhecidas pelo grupo de origem que, na maioria das vezes, identifica a formação escolar como porta de entrada no mundo do trabalho, tendo no curso superior o ponto máximo de uma formação escolar bem sucedida. Busca-se aqui, a partir da análise do conjunto dessas trajetórias, apreender os elementos e experiências sociais que possibilitaram esse prolongamento na formação escolar, e, sobretudo, o impacto e o significado da inserção na carreira acadêmica, tanto do ponto de vista da mobilidade social quanto dos conflitos decorrentes dessa experiência subjetiva, quer em relação às expectativas familiares ou do grupo social de origem. O trabalho de campo de caráter etnográfico, baseado na observação participante e realização de entrevistas aprofundadas constituíram as ferramentas metodológicas básicas a partir das quais essa pesquisa foi desenvolvida. Com relação à discussão teórica aqui proposta tomou-se como referência os trabalhos de Pierre Bourdieu, Jean-Claude Passeron, Bernard Lahire, Jailson de Souza e Silva e Maria da Graça Jacintho Setton, entre outros

Interactive support effects on career agency and occupational engagement among young adults.

The PIC model by Gati and Asher describes three career decision making stages: pre-screening, in-depth exploration, and choice of career options. We consider the role that three different forms of support (general career support by parents, emotional/instrumental support, and informational support) may play for young adults in each of these three decision-making stages. The authors further propose that different forms of support may predict career agency and occupational engagement, which are important career decision precedents. In addition, we consider the role of personality traits and perceptions (decision-making window) on these two outcomes. Using an online survey sample (N = 281), we found that general career support was important for career agency and occupational engagement. However, it was the combination of higher general career support with either emotional/instrumental support or informational support that was found to lead to both greater career agency and higher occupational engagement. Personality also played a role: Greater proactivity also led to greater occupational engagement, even when there was little urgency for participants to make decisions (window of decision-making was wide open and not restricted). In practical terms, the findings suggest that the learning required in each of the three PIC processes (pre-screening, in-depth exploration, choice of career options may benefit when the learner has access to the three support measures.

Intention and Causation in Medical Non-Killing: The impact of criminal law concepts on euthanasia and assisted suicide

null RAE2008

An investigation of potential users of career transition services in the United Kingdom

North, J., Lavallee, D., An investigation of potential users of career transition services in the United Kingdom, Psychology of Sport and Exercise, Vol. 5, No. 1. (January 2004), pp. 77-84. RAE2008

How Spinal Neural Networks Reduce Discrepancies between Motor Intention and Motor Realization

This paper attempts a rational, step-by-step reconstruction of many aspects of the mammalian neural circuitry known to be involved in the spinal cord's regulation of opposing muscles acting on skeletal segments. Mathematical analyses and local circuit simulations based on neural membrane equations are used to clarify the behavioral function of five fundamental cell types, their complex connectivities, and their physiological actions. These cell types are: α-MNs, γ-MNs, IaINs, IbINs, and Renshaw cells. It is shown that many of the complexities of spinal circuitry are necessary to ensure near invariant realization of motor intentions when descending signals of two basic types independently vary over large ranges of magnitude and rate of change. Because these two types of signal afford independent control, or Factorization, of muscle LEngth and muscle TEnsion, our construction was named the FLETE model (Bullock and Grossberg, 1988b, 1989). The present paper significantly extends the range of experimental data encompassed by this evolving model.

Work experience in transition year: a mixed methods study of subject and career choices

Transition Year (TY) has been a feature of the Irish Education landscape for 39 years. Work experience (WE) has become a key component of TY. WE is defined as a module of between five and fifteen days duration where students engage in a work placement in the broader community. It places a major emphasis on building relationships between schools and their external communities and concomitantly between students and their potential future employers. Yet, the idea that participation in a TY work experience programme could facilitate an increased awareness of potential careers has drawn little attention from the research community. This research examines the influence WE has on the subsequent subjects choices made by students along with the effects of that experience on the students’ identities and emerging vocational identities. Socio-cultural Learning Theory and Occupational Choice Theory frame the overall study. A mixed methods approach to data collection was adopted through the administration of 323 quantitative questionnaires and 32 individual semi-structured interviews in three secondary schools. The analysis of the data was conducted using a grounded theory approach. The findings from the research show that WE makes a significant contribution to the students’ sense of agency in their own lives. It facilitates the otherwise complex process of subject choice, motivates students to work harder in their senior cycle, introduces them to the concepts of active, experience-based and self-directed learning, while boosting their self-confidence and nurturing the emergence of their personal and vocational identities. This research is a gateway to further study in this field. It also has wide reaching implications for students, teachers, school authorities, parents and policy makers regarding teaching and learning in our schools and the value of learning beyond the walls of the classroom.

LISA SERGIO: HOW MUSSOLINI'S "GOLDEN VOICE" OF PROPAGANDA CREATED AN AMERICAN MASS COMMUNICATION CAREER

In 1937 Lisa Sergio, "The Golden Voice" of fascist broadcasting from Rome, fled Italy for the United States. Though her mother was American, Sergio was classified as an enemy alien once the United States entered World War II. Yet Sergio became a U.S. citizen in 1944 and built a successful career in radio, working first at NBC and then WQXR in New York City in the days when women's voices were not thought to be appropriate for news or "serious" programming. When she was blacklisted as a communist in the early 1950s, Sergio compensated for the loss of radio employment by becoming principally an author and lecturer in Washington, D.C., until her death in 1989. This dissertation, based on her personal papers, is the first study of Sergio's American mass communication career. It points out the personal, political and social obstacles she faced as a woman in her 52-year career as a commentator on varied aspects of world affairs, religion and feminism. This study includes an examination of the FBI investigations of Sergio and the anti-communist campaigns conducted against her. It concludes that Sergio's success as a public communicator was predicated on both her unusual talents and her ability to transform her public image to reflect ideal American values of womanhood in shifting political climates.