Unpacking the Microdynamics of Multiplex Peer Developmental Relationships: A Mutuality Perspective

Peer developmental relationships—informal arrangements between pairs of individuals who take an active interest in and concerted action to advance one another's careers—offer a valuable alternative to formal mentorships. Despite recognition that peer developmental relationships have the potential to jointly provide career and psychosocial support (i.e., multiplexity) and that relationships embodying multiple support dimensions are indispensable, a paucity of work investigates what factors contribute to their dynamics and persistence over time. To address this issue, we integrate the microfoundations of network dynamics and mutuality perspectives to identify why and when social processes—specifically, reciprocity, trust, and trust asymmetry—operate to form, strengthen, or maintain multiplex peer developmental relationships. To test our hypotheses, we collected three waves of data over one-and-a-half years from a cohort of individuals participating in a leadership development program. Using variations of the Quadradic Assignment Procedure (QAP) to investigate dyad-level dynamics, our results generally suggest that (over and above demographics and network characteristics) the provision of psychosocial support relatively early in the peer-to-peer relationship is likely to evolve into a more complex, high-quality relationship comprised of both psychosocial support and career support (i.e., a multiplex peer developmental relationship). Perhaps more importantly, the social processes capturing mutuality further increased the likelihood that multiplex developmental relationships would develop and persist over time. Our results demonstrate that mutuality is both generative and resolute in nurturing multiplex developmental relationships.

Intensive Learning Experience: Development of STEM Mentorship Program for High School Gifted Students

Positive mentoring experiences for high school students with high academic ability who want more in-depth academic knowledge and real job expectations can contribute to individualized career guidance within the mentor’s profession. This study examined a governor’s school program that is designed as a residential mentorship program for high school students with high academic performance in the areas of engineering and marine science. Evaluation from mentors, mentees, and parents was collected after completing the program. Throughout the evaluations, we learned four lessons to develop a successful mentorship program. Setting goals and expectations, building effective communication, developing the right human resources and training, and building a developmental relationship were important elements to be considered for the development of the mentorship program.

Comparative evolution of vegetative branching in sorghum

Tillering and secondary branching are two plastic traits with high agronomic importance, especially in terms of the ability of plants to adapt to changing environments. We describe a quantitative trait analysis of tillering and secondary branching in two novel BC1F2 populations totaling 246 genotypes derived from backcrossing two Sorghum bicolor x S. halepense F1 plants to a tetraploidized S. bicolor. A two-year, two-environment phenotypic evaluation in Bogart, GA and Salina, KS permitted us to identify major effect and environment specific QTLs. Significant correlation between tillering and secondary branching followed by discovery of overlapping sets of QTLs continue to support the developmental relationship between these two organs and suggest the possibility of pleiotropy. Comparisons with two other populations sharing S. bicolor BTx623 as a common parent but sampling the breadth of the Sorghum genus, increase confidence in QTL detected for these two plastic traits and provide insight into the evolution of morphological diversity in the Eusorghum clade. Correspondence between flowering time and vegetative branching supports other evidence in suggesting a pleiotropic effect of flowering genes. We propose a model to predict biomass weight from plant architecture related traits, quantifying contribution of each trait to biomass and providing guidance for future breeding experiments.

Mentoringprozesse in der Lehrer:innenausbildung. Gelingensbedingungen für Schulpraktika

School mentoring in Austria is structurally anchored in the curricula of the new teacher trai-ning with the establishment/implementation of pedagogical-practical studies. Partner schools of universities of teacher education and universities offer students space for learning experience through practice and opportunity to complete the curricular parts of school in social environ-ment of schools. Mentors accompany and support the professionalization process and enter into a mutual learning and developmental relationship against the background of curricular re-quirement structures as well as subjective interpretative patterns. Transformational mentoring with a categorical breakdown to guide self-reflection is presented and discussed as a possible form of mentoring.In the research approach, interviews with mentors and students were conducted and evaluated with Grounded Theory. The central result of the study is that those involved in the dyadic rela-tionship want to build up or want to enter into a profession-specific learning and development process with the aim of furthering their own effectiveness and professionalism. Emanating from these studies, (training ) models for mentoring programs were constructed.

Developmental Outcomes of University Female Basketball Athletes As Participants in Peer Mentoring Groups

Peer group mentoring can stimulate developmental outcomes for university basketball athletes. Seven female university basketball athletes from an NCAA Division III team participated in peer mentoring groups over the course of an academic year. By sharing about their lived experiences, the researchers were able to capture narratives that illuminated the impact of this developmental relationship. Thematic analysis was utilized to explore these descriptions and collate them into findings relevant for athletes, coaches, Athletics administrators, and others. Findings presented below indicate that these peer group mentoring experiences (a) nurtured synergistic relationships; (b) cultivated athletes’ resilience; and (c) developed athletes’ self-efficacy.

Unveiling Complexity and Multipotentiality of Early Heart Fields

Rationale: Extraembryonic tissues, including the yolk sac and placenta, and the heart within the embryo, work to provide crucial nutrients to the embryo. The association of congenital heart defects (CHDs) with extraembryonic tissue defects further supports the potential developmental relationship between the heart and extraembryonic tissues. Although the development of early cardiac lineages has been well-studied, the developmental relationship between cardiac lineages, including epicardium, and extraembryonic mesoderm remains to be defined. Objective: To explore the developmental relationships between cardiac and extraembryonic lineages. Methods and Results: Through high-resolution single cell and genetic lineage/clonal analyses, we show an unsuspected clonal relationship between extraembryonic mesoderm and cardiac lineages. Single-cell transcriptomics and trajectory analyses uncovered two mesodermal progenitor sources contributing to left ventricle cardiomyocytes, one embryonic and the other with an extraembryonic gene expression signature. Additional lineage-tracing studies revealed that the extraembryonic-related progenitors reside at the embryonic-extraembryonic interface in gastrulating embryos, and produce distinct cell types forming the pericardium, septum transversum, epicardium, dorsolateral regions of the left ventricle and atrioventricular canal myocardium, and extraembryonic mesoderm. Clonal analyses demonstrated that these progenitors are multipotent, giving rise to not only cardiomyocytes and serosal mesothelial cell types but also, remarkably, extraembryonic mesoderm. Conclusions: Overall, our results reveal the location of previously unknown multipotent cardiovascular progenitors at the embryonic-extraembryonic interface, and define the earliest embryonic origins of serosal mesothelial lineages, including the epicardium, which contributes fibroblasts and vascular support cells to the heart. The shared lineage relationship between embryonic cardiovascular lineages and extraembryonic mesoderm revealed by our studies underscores an underappreciated blurring of boundaries between embryonic and extraembryonic mesoderm. Our findings suggest unexpected underpinnings of the association between congenital heart disease and placental insufficiency anomalies, and the potential utility of extraembryonic cells for generating cardiovascular cell types for heart repair.

Bidirectional Longitudinal Relationships between Maternal Psychological Control and Bullying/Victimization among Father-Absent Left-behind Children in China

The topic of school bullying has become an important issue over the world. Being in disadvantaged situations of fathers’ absence, prior research suggested that left-behind children (LBC) with absent fathers in China are more vulnerable to get involved in school bullying (bullying or being bullied). In addition, fathers’ absence brings much pressure to single stay-at-home mothers, leading to more maternal psychologically controlling parenting. Following a three-wave longitudinal design, this study aimed to examine the developmental relationship between maternal psychological control and father-absent LBC’s bullying/victimization as well as its mechanism. A total of 348 father-absent LBC aged 7–11 years in China completed a battery of questionnaires at three-time points. The results indicated that there are reciprocal effects between maternal psychological control and father-absent LBC’s bullying/victimization. Specifically, maternal psychological control at T1 predicted father-absent LBC’s victimization at T2; children’s victimization at T2 predicted maternal psychological control at T3; maternal psychological control predicted later children’s bullying perpetration stably from T1 to T2 and from T2 to T3; children’s bullying at T2 predicted maternal psychological control at T3. Two vicious circles happened in the above relationships. Current findings highlight the stronger effects of mothers’ negative parenting on children’s school bullying, which bring inspiration for future family education and school intervention.