This study examined temporal and behavioral engagement patterns in an asynchronous online learning environment using learning analytics. The sample consisted of 108 traditional undergraduate students enrolled in a course delivered through a Learning Management System (LMS). Three time-based indicators were derived from LMS logs: the time between release and first access, the time between first access and submission, and the time between submission and due date. To capture behavioral stability beyond average timing, additional variability-sensitive features were computed, including a regularity index, behavioral entropy, and deviation from the class mean. Cluster analysis identified three distinct engagement profiles, namely Strategic Delayers, Early Starters, and Last Minute Submitters, each associated with different academic outcomes. Regression analysis revealed that the duration between submission and due date and the duration between release and submission were the strongest predictors of course performance. Together, these variables explained 29% of the variance. The findings highlight that not all delayed engagement is detrimental and that temporal regularity and stability play critical roles in academic success. The study contributes to a behaviorally grounded understanding of engagement timing and offers implications for early warning systems, adaptive pacing, and formative feedback design in digital learning contexts.
Whitley Strieber is among the most prominent figures writing on ufology and the alien abduction phenomenon. He played a significant role in popularizing the latter via his 1987 book, Communion, and the subsequent film inspired by it (in which Christopher Walken portrayed Strieber). That popularization would in turn have an outsized impact on 1990s pop culture, an impact still felt today. Over the course of many books authored in the intervening decades, Strieber has articulated an evolving spiritual worldviewfounded largely on his own ongoing experiences with anomalous entities, a worldview in which trauma has a major epistemological function. I provide a summary and assessment of key components of that worldview, and of the experiences upon which it is based.
Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) are a species of nonmigratory, North American songbird that produce their namesake chick-a-dee call in a wide range of social contexts, including mobbing in the presence of predators. Chickadees produce more D notes per call in response to high-threat predators. Although many studies have examined responses to avian predators, few studies have examined the use of chick-a-dee mobbing calls in response to mammalian predators. Here, wild black-capped chickadees were exposed to avian (sharp-shinned hawk, red-tailed hawk, northern flicker) and mammalian (domestic cat, short-tailed weasel, American red squirrel, woodchuck) mounts of various threat levels, conducted in the field. We investigated production of chick-a-dee calls, number of D notes per call, and feeding in response to predators of varying threat levels. We found that: (1) chick-a-dee call production was significantly larger in response to a high-threat avian predator (sharp-shinned hawk) compared with high-threat mammalian predator (domestic cat); (2) chick-a-dee call D note production did not differ in response to the sharp-shinned hawk compared with the domestic cat mount; but (3) feeding was reduced to the sharp-shinned hawk compared with the domestic cat mount. These findings provide further insight into antipredator responses of black-capped chickadees to both avian and mammalian predators.
Deciding to get children vaccinated against COVID-19 is not something families 'just do' in contexts where neoliberal values shape social norms and governance. Vaccination decisions are socially situated, involve multiple actors, and require careful consideration of competing risks in relation to expectations of 'good' parents. Informed by theoretical approaches to emotion and risk, our study contributes to understanding parents' perspectives of their own and children's roles in vaccination decision-making in the neoliberal context of Canada. We analysed semi-structured interviews with 48 parents with at least one child over 11-years-old using a feminist discourse analysis approach. We apply theory about emotion and risk to map participant accounts onto three cultural expectations of 'good' parents that were consistent with neoliberal values during the pandemic. First, we found participants reiterated discourses about individualised responsibility when describing vaccine risk assessment with or for children within family units. Second, they reflected on pandemic constraints, which were in tension with expectations for individualised risk management - for example, collective responsibility to get vaccinated, social pressure, and blame. Third, participants evidenced socialising children towards supposedly rational and individualised choices. We conclude by discussing how the ways families do vaccine decision-making are structured by and reproductive of neoliberal values, reproducing widespread acceptance of governmental deferral of responsibility for communal health threats onto individuals.
It was estimated that there are 16,000 18,000 indoor firing ranges in the United States. From 2002 to 2012, a total of 2,056 persons employed as ‘‘police protection’’ and in firing ranges had elevated blood lead levels (BLLs). An additional 2,673 persons had nonwork-related BLLs likely attributable to target shooting. Investigations found a failure to conduct personal exposure and biologic monitoring for lead and also found dry sweeping of lead-containing dust. There were also serious deficiencies in ventilation, housekeeping, and medical surveillance.
