Boise State University

About: Boise State University is a education organization based out in Boise, Idaho, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Computer science. The organization has 3698 authors who have published 8664 publications receiving 210163 citations. The organization is also known as: BSU & Boise State.

Examination of the efficacy of an appearance-focused intervention to reduce UV exposure.

Abstract: This study designed and implemented an appearance-based skin cancer prevention intervention in college-aged females. One hundred and forty-seven respondents were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups. Treatment respondents received a short workbook describing the appearance damaging effects of indoor tanning. At short-term follow-up (2 weeks later) treatment respondents had significantly more negative attitudes toward indoor tanning, and reported fewer intentions to indoor tan. At 2-month follow-up, treatment respondents reported indoor tanning one-half as much as control respondents in the previous 2 months. This appearance-based intervention was able to produce clinically significant changes in indoor tanning use tendencies that could have a beneficial effect on the future development of skin cancer.

The Extent to Which Psychology Students Read Textbooks: A Multiple Class Analysis of Reading across the Psychology Curriculum

Abstract: Knowing that the study strategies of students using college textbooks can be a powerful predictor of performance in the classroom, we examined the extent to which students in different psychology courses reported reading their textbooks. In psychology courses overall, students read on average 27.46% of the assigned readings before class and 69.98% before an exam, which corresponds to previous research. We furthermore found that these percentages were highly influenced by the course in which the students responded. In fact the percentages ranged from 21.21% to only 42.96% before class and from 60.83% to 91.20% before an exam, with significant differences existing between courses. Given that the majority of college students spend less than 3 hours reading textbook material and that they feel the instructor is responsible for reviewing material during class time, as well as, telling them what is important in the reading, instructors must find ways to encourage more reading by students, even if this involves giving quizzes over reading material. ********** Reading educators, when focusing on a student's skills and difficulties in learning from textbooks, have found that college freshmen lack mature and efficient strategies necessary for learning on their own (Simpson, 1984 as cited in Wandersee, 1988). Throughout the study, Simpson found that college freshmen had minimal strategies for studying, did not know why they chose a particular strategy, and were uncertain in how to determine if they were prepared for an exam. Friedman and Wilson (1975) indicated that considerable efforts have been made to improve how students learn, but little attention has been paid to the core element of that process, which is how students read their textbooks. As evidence of this Friedman and Wilson found when students were presented unknowingly with textbooks containing glue seals throughout the textbook chapters, the students spent more time reading chapter summaries rather than the chapters themselves when preparing for an examination. Thus, students cannot be involved in the type of meaningful learning that Wandersee described, in which a student must find the meaning the author presents, decide its significance, learn the meaning, relate the concept to past experiences in order to clarify it, and continue to practice and review what was learned from the textbook material. This level of learning cannot take place by merely reading the chapters summaries in a textbook. Smith (1982) found the learning strategies of mature learners involve not only reading their textbooks, but they also find alternatives texts to aid them in their knowledge acquisition, which is in stark contrast to those only reading chapter summaries. Wandersee (1988) stated that reading leads to better grades, which would lead one to assume that students would read their textbooks in order to prepare for examinations. However, Burchfield and Sappington (2000) found an overall decline in reading compliance over a 16 year span. Furthermore, Sikorski et al. (2002) found that most students reported reading their textbooks less than 3 hours per week, which is significantly less than university recommendations for study regimens, which commonly advise at least 2 hours of study time for every class credit (The Center for Advancement of Learning, 1998). For example, if a class meets for 3 hours a week, students should plan to spend at least 6 hours studying that subject each week. If a student has 15 class hours every week, he/she should spend at least 30 hours studying per week. The idea is that students need to treat college like a full-time job, meaning class preparation should take approximately 40 hours a week, but only 12 percent of college freshmen spend 26 hours or more a week studying, and most spend less than 15 hours a week studying (Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research and Planning, 2002). In addition George Kuh (in Young, 2002) stated that "students are studying about one-third as much as faculty say they ought to, to do well" (p. …

Reproductive failure of a human-tolerant species, the American kestrel, is associated with stress and human disturbance

Abstract: Summary 1. The rapid increase of human activity in wild and developed areas presents novel challenges for wildlife. Some species may use human-dominated landscapes because of favourable resources (e.g. high prey availability along roadsides); however, use of these areas may increase exposure to anthropogenic stressors, such as human disturbance or noise, which can negatively affect reproduction or survival. In this case, human-dominated landscapes may act as an ecological trap. 2. We evaluated whether American kestrel Falco sparverius reproductive failure was associated with human disturbance (traffic conditions and land development) or other common predictors of reproductive outcome, such as habitat and clutch initiation date. Also, we examined relationships among human disturbance, corticosterone (CORT) concentrations and nest abandonment to explore potential mechanisms for stress-induced reproductive failure. 3. Twenty-six (36%) of 73 kestrel nesting attempts failed and 88% of failures occurred during incubation. Kestrels nesting in higher disturbance areas were 99 times more likely to fail than kestrels nesting in lower disturbance areas. Habitat and clutch initiation date did not explain reproductive outcome. 4. Females in higher disturbance areas had higher CORT and were more likely to abandon nests than females in lower disturbance areas. There was no relationship between male CORT and disturbance or abandonment. Females spent more time incubating than males and may have had more exposure to anthropogenic stressors. Specifically, traffic noise may affect a cavity-nesting bird’s perception of the outside environment by masking auditory cues. In response, incubating birds may perceive a greater predation risk, increase vigilance behaviour, decrease parental care, or both. 5. Synthesis and applications. Proximity to large, busy roads and developed areas negatively affected kestrel reproduction by causing increased stress hormones that promoted nest abandonment. These results demonstrate that species presence in a human-dominated landscape does not necessarily indicate a tolerance for anthropogenic stressors. Managers should carefully consider or discourage projects that juxtapose favourable habitat conditions with areas of high human activity to decrease risk of ecological traps. Noise mitigation, while locally effective, may not protect widespread populations from the pervasive threat of traffic noise. Innovative engineering that decreases anthropogenic noise at its source is necessary.

Snow depth variability in the Northern Hemisphere mountains observed from space.

Abstract: Accurate snow depth observations are critical to assess water resources. More than a billion people rely on water from snow, most of which originates in the Northern Hemisphere mountain ranges. Yet, remote sensing observations of mountain snow depth are still lacking at the large scale. Here, we show the ability of Sentinel-1 to map snow depth in the Northern Hemisphere mountains at 1 km² resolution using an empirical change detection approach. An evaluation with measurements from ~4000 sites and reanalysis data demonstrates that the Sentinel-1 retrievals capture the spatial variability between and within mountain ranges, as well as their inter-annual differences. This is showcased with the contrasting snow depths between 2017 and 2018 in the US Sierra Nevada and European Alps. With Sentinel-1 continuity ensured until 2030 and likely beyond, these findings lay a foundation for quantifying the long-term vulnerability of mountain snow-water resources to climate change.