What’s in the box?

Report of the Editor for 2021 and Announcements of the President

The fossil record of scorpions in Australia is effectively non-existent. This lack of data is striking as there is evidence for other euchelicerates including eurypterids, spiders, and xiphosurids. Here, we describe a euarthropod from the Middle Triassic Hawkesbury Sandstone of Sydney, New South Wales, and attribute it to the Order Scorpiones. Due to lack of other diagnostic features, we are unable to assign the specimen to a higher-order classification. Nonetheless, this discovery confirms that scorpions were present in Australia since at least the mid-Triassic. Russell D. C. Bicknell* [rdcbicknell@gmail.com], Palaeoscience Research Centre, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, 2351, Australia; Patrick M. Smith [patrick.smith@australian.museum], Palaeontology Department, Australian Museum Research Institute, Sydney, New South Wales, 2010, Australia, and Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, 2109, Australia.

Research has shown that service-learning can increase student-learning outcomes across various disciplines. Service-learning opportunities have been steadily increasing in college settings, especially in health-related fields. This evaluation of an undergraduate public health course at a mid-size, public university in New England sought to understand the impact of service-learning on material retention, internships, and post-graduation public health careers. A 25-item questionnaire was emailed to students who took the course between the Fall 2010 and Spring 2016 semesters with 75 completed (33.3% completion rate). More than half of the respondents noted that their participation in a service-learning project positively affected their internship experience, their first post-graduation job, and their overall career, while also helping them retain the course material after graduation. Open-ended responses provided insight to the qualitative responses. Respondents noted that in addition to having the understanding and ability to put on programs in their community, they also had more confidence in their abilities. The opportunity to practice public speaking skills as well as work collaboratively in group settings, were both noted as essential skills needed to succeed in the public health workforce. It was concluded the project had a positive impact on student’s learning and retention in planning, implementing, and evaluating an actual health promotion program as well as how they were able to use those skills in their careers.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to survey the status of information security awareness among college students in order to develop effective information security awareness training (ISAT). Design/methodology/approach – Based on a review of the literature and theoretical standpoints as well as the National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-50 report, the author developed a questionnaire to investigate the attitudes toward information security awareness of undergraduate and graduate students in a business college at a mid-sized university in New England. Based on that survey and the previous literature, suggestions for more effective ISAT are provided. Findings – College students understand the importance and the need for ISAT but many of them do not participate in it. However, security topics that are not commonly covered by any installed (or built-in) programs or web sites have a significant relationship with information security awareness. It seems that students learned security concepts piecemeal from variety of sources. Practical implications – Universities can assess their ISAT for students based on the findings of this study. Originality/value – If any universities want to improve their current ISAT, or establish it, the findings of this study offer some guidelines.

P105 Using Theater to Explore Poverty and Food Insecurity Issues in an Undergraduate Community Nutrition Course

An experimental study was conducted using a 2-group randomized control pretest/ posttest design to determine if knowledge about Pap testing could be increased through use of a nurse-designed mobile smartphone app developed to educate individuals about the Pap test. A 14-item pretest survey of knowledge about Pap tests was distributed to women attending a university in New England. Participants in the intervention group were provided with an Android device on which a digital health education application on Pap testing had been downloaded. The control group was given a standard pamphlet on Pap testing., Paired t test results demonstrated that knowledge scores on the posttest increased significantly in both groups, but were significantly higher in the intervention group. User satisfaction with the app was high. The results of this study may enhance nursing care by informing nurses about a unique way of learning about Pap testing to recommend to patients.

This study examined how adjunct faculty understand and apply learner-centered pedagogy and the institutional factors that impact their capacity to learn and apply learner-centered teaching. Adult Learning Theory provided the theoretical framework for the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven adjuncts from the College of Arts and Sciences at a private, four-year university in New England. The transcripts were analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) and four major findings emerged from the analytic process: (a) the participants demonstrated a limited understanding of the principles of learner-centered pedagogy; (b) the participants demonstrated a limited use of learner-centered instructional practices; (c) institutional factors impacted their capacity to learn and apply learner-centered teaching; and (d) the participants were characterized by adjunct types that reflected the unique needs and interests of each cohort relative to teaching and learning. These findings were examined within the context of the framework of Adult Learning Theory and situated within the extant literature. They suggest opportunities for enhancing adjuncts' understanding and application of learner-centered pedagogy to enhance their teaching effectiveness and to improve student learning outcomes.--Author's abstract

PurposeGeorge Counts' classic 1932 speech asks, “Dare the school build a new social order?” This article proposes examining whether emerging school leaders are prepared to face this challenge and embrace the society‐building responsibility at the core of public schooling. It aims to focus especially on students from homogeneous backgrounds, their capacity to address issues of diversity, and the extent to which their educational leadership program has prepared them to champion social justice within schools.Design/methodology/approachThis study looks at emerging leaders in three master's level cohort programs in educational leadership at a state university in New England. It incorporates survey data, interviews, and document analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to organize and summarize the data. Open‐ended questions and interviews were transcribed and coded, and program documents examined to identify overall purposes of educational leadership and evidence of diversity awareness.FindingsFindings indicate these educational leaders are not adequately prepared to lead public schools toward a greater understanding of diversity or to help change the social order. They claim little responsibility for promoting social justice, especially when social change may challenge local norms. Responses indicate their perspective is not broad enough to understand fully the social responsibility Counts advocated.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited to graduate students in New England, most of whom experience little diversity within their communities.Practical implicationsThe study concludes with suggestions for educational leadership programs.Originality/valueThis study reveals the difficulties in preparing educational leaders to address the complexities of a diverse society – difficulties arising both from their limited personal experience and from voids in their educational leadership program.

This study examined how undergraduate students from historically underrepresented populations who participated in the research site's precollegiate access program prior to their first semester at a small, private women's university made sense of their success in college. Transcripts were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Examination of four themes in the context of the research question generated four discrete findings: perseverance and grit override certain pre-entry attributes; key institutional experiences impact student success; confidence and self-efficacy play a dominant role in a student's understanding of their own success; and engagement in precollegiate access programs set a solid foundation for a student's ultimate persistence at the institution. These findings were considered among extant literature on student persistence and retention as well as on the efficacy of precollegiate access programs. The study findings were situated in the theoretical framework, Tinto's Theory of Student Departure, and suggest that to be successful, students must have adequate precollege preparation or have previously developed skills related to perseverance and grit to overcome early obstacles to college success. During their college experiences, students must have opportunities to develop significant relationships with faculty and support staff on campus and engage in certain out-of-classroom experiences (social and experiential learning) to experience the significant personal growth cited as a success factor here. The opportunity to engage in a bridge, or precollegiate access program, allows at-risk and underrepresented students to establish a solid foundation for success and enables meaningful access to a college education. Keywords: college student success, precollegiate access programs, institutional experiences, personal growth, pre-entry attributes.--Author's abstract

Due largely to the difficult economic environment faced by many of today's colleges and universities, adjunct faculty represent the fastest growing segment of the academic workforce. This study, using IPA methodology, investigated the experiences of eight adjunct faculty members at a small, private, nonprofit university in New England to understand their perceptions of their role at their institution and their identified needs in regards to support and development. Findings from this study reveal that the adjunct faculty role is a dichotomous role comprised of many tradeoffs. While the adjunct faculty role provides many benefits to those who pursue it as well as to the university overall, these benefits exist against a backdrop of downsides and disadvantages that result in frustration for adjunct faculty as they navigate their experience at the university. This study revealed that by and large the positive aspects of the role are those aspects closely related to the adjunct faculty members' courses and their students while the difficulties of the role typically derive from issues outside of the classroom. In addition, there is a sense of conflict inherent in the role with the palpable tension the participants exhibited between feeling marginalized and inferior and recognizing the value that adjunct faculty provide to the institution both individually and collectively. Adjunct faculty members' willingness to take steps to overcome challenges and to persist in their adjunct faculty role provides evidence that for most, the rewards of the position are significant and worth pursuing. Keywords: adjunct faculty, professional development, support, working conditions, interpretive phenomenological analysis, satisfaction

As used in this report, the term is employed to refer to efforts on the part of human beings to discover information concerning the universe in which they live. This universe includes non-human elements such as geography and climate, and also these human beings themselves, together with their to one another and to the earth on which they live. No attempt is made to distinguish sharply between the attainment of knowledge not yet formulated by others and the reorganization of already formulated knowledge, although the former is, of course, the more important. Similarly, the phrase relations is intended to refer not only to international law and international organization but also to all phases of international social and political relations; the more specific subdivisions of the general field, when intended, will be cited by name. The scope of this report is not intended to include the teaching of international relations, nor even particularly the training of research workers. These problems are considered and discussed and decisions are taken upon them, from time to time, by the (national) Conference of Teachers of International Law (and related subjects). The Conference met in Washington in 1914, again in 1925, and again in 1928, and its Proceedings have been published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Attention is concentrated in this report upon the organizations sponsoring research, although in a sense the key to the problem of research lies in the question of personnel, and attention is given in due course to the question of fellowships or subsidies to individuals to enable them to engage in research, of which there are a large number at the present time. The field covered by the report was intended originally to include research in international outside of the United States. The author of this section began to collect material from certain institutions in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere, conducting or sponsoring research in international relations, and now has on hand materials from the 52

The article analyzes the peculiarities of the phenomenon of cancel culture in politics and international relations using the methods of sociological analysis and conflict theory. The article considers the specificity of the cancel culture as an informal method of social control in social networks through mass mobilization. As a means of social control, the cancel culture can reduce the gap between stated values and social practices. Also cancel culture can be a tool for political struggle, competition and harassment for expressing opinions. The authors compare examples of the cancel culture in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia, which allows them to conclude that the scope and effectiveness of common action depends on the practice of responding to the violation of accepted norms and values, which, in turn, varies in a particular collective.In politics and international relations, the cancel culture is a supplement to the actions of political institutions and states its main goal as undermining authority and reputation. It is also worth noting that in the political sphere, the cancel culture, being a means of informal control, follows formal sanctions. In international relations, there is no single political center and no single understanding of norms, which allows for a selective approach in choosing the means of influence. In this context, the cancel culture is a tool of political struggle.

A New Globalization From the East

What is geopolitics? The term geopolitics came to prominence during the late 19th century and referred to the way in which ‘ideas relating to politics and space could be used within foreign policy and international relations’ (Osterud 1988). Geopolitics is also concerned with ‘political relations between states, the external strategies of states and the balance of power between them’ (Jones, Jones & Woods 2004). It provides ‘a practical guide to diplomacy, albeit, without yet a coherent theoretical framework that may plausibly link the impact of a nation’s geographic placement to a predictable international strategy’ (Kelly 2002).KeywordsForeign PolicyEnergy MarketEnergy SecurityTransit RouteConsumer CountryThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

This article examines the evolution of international thought through the notion of ‘political space’. It focuses on two important domains of international politics, the nation-state and the global, to reflect on spatial categories in the discipline of International Relations (IR). Since its inception, the concept of the nation-state has dominated mainstream IR theory. Yet an investigation of how international order has been theorized over IR’s first century shows that this era has also been defined by globalist visions of political order. Nowadays, globalization is sometimes seen as the apex of the historical interplay of particularity and universality. The progression towards global political and economic order, however, is today undermined by the resurgence of state-centric political nationalism which seeks to challenge the legitimacy of the global political space. By examining how past international thinkers including Alfred Zimmern, Barbara Ward, Hans Morgenthau, E. H. Carr and John Herz, imagined and interpreted the relations of space and politics in the national and global spheres, this article suggests that spatial thinking offers an insightful approach for theorizing international relations. The article argues that the global and national spaces attain their political meanings through divisions as well as interactions and connections. The focus on divisions, exemplified in the writings of Barbara Ward, helps to make sense of the modus operandi of power in the national and global political spaces by investigating differences, tensions and instability.