Culturally relevant inquiry-based laboratory module implementations in upper-division genetics and cell biology teaching laboratories

Today, more minority students are entering undergraduate programs than ever before, but they earn only 6% of all science or engineering PhDs awarded in the United States. Many studies suggest that hands-on research activities enhance students' interest in pursuing a research career. In this paper, we present a model for the implementation of laboratory research in the undergraduate teaching laboratory using a culturally relevant approach to engage students. Laboratory modules were implemented in upper-division genetics and cell biology courses using cassava as the central theme. Students were asked to bring cassava samples from their respective towns, which allowed them to compare their field-collected samples against known lineages from agricultural stations at the end of the implementation. Assessment of content and learning perceptions revealed that our novel approach allowed students to learn while engaged in characterizing Puerto Rican cassava. In two semesters, based on the percentage of students who answered correctly in the premodule assessment for content knowledge, there was an overall improvement of 66% and 55% at the end in the genetics course and 24% and 15% in the cell biology course. Our proposed pedagogical model enhances students' professional competitiveness by providing students with valuable research skills as they work on a problem to which they can relate.     

Examining Different Forms of Implementation and in Early Childhood Curriculum Research

The purpose of this study was to examine different approaches to assessing implementation in an early childhood curriculum research study. Early childhood teachers in 51 preschool classes located at nationally dispersed sites implemented the Children's School Success curriculum for a school year. Structural (proportion of curriculum delivered) and process (quality of delivery of curriculum) measures of implementation were collected for the literacy, math, and social components of the curriculum. Also, a multiplicative composite score incorporating information from the structural and process measures was calculated. Site differences occurred for the process measure, but not the structural and composite measures. Analysis of the process implementation measures collected across time revealed primarily stable trends across sites. Significant associations were found between measures of implementation and some of the child outcome variables, with the different forms of implementation associated with different outcome variables.     

瑞典溢洪道设计洪水 第一部分 新指南

将对瑞典大坝和溢洪道设计洪水的估算提出一种新指南。其重点是针对那些危险性较大的水坝。其方法是根据流域面积大小、季节和海拨高程等因素将地区设计降水系列作修改后,应用较完整的水文模型求设计洪水。水库的运行规则也是指南的一个基本部分。通过将设计降水系列系统地插入到十年气候实测资料中,再将初始的积雪用统计的30年积雪代替后,可找到产洪因子的最危险组合。新指南可应用于单一水库系统也可用于水库群所组成的较复杂的水电系统。既可适用融雪洪水也可适用暴雨洪水,以及两者混合的洪水。为了研究所求洪水的频率和避免地区的不协调性,将计算洪水与实测洪水进行了广泛的比较,还进行了频率分析。     

透视新版美国高考

在获悉人们对新版美国高考--SAT议论纷纷时,辛辛那提州七山学校一名高三学生彼得·邓堡兹表示:我的许多朋友也在慌乱之列,但他本人对此并不发愁。事实上,他喜欢测试中新增的写作题型--我能够用自己的话表达思想--在他看来美中不足的只是考试将占去周六上午的大块时光。2006年考生备忘录2005年3月粉墨登场的新SAT第一阶段考试将耗时更长(近4小时),难度未必加大。分数比例将有所调整:考试共三部分,每部分各为800分,满分从1600分提高到了2400分。不过试题较原先容易,故考生无须担忧。     

Comparative study of the cognitive sequelae of school-aged victims of Shaken Baby Syndrome

OBJECTIVE: Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) is now recognized as being the main cause of severe traumatic brain injury in infancy. However, our understanding of the impact of this type of abuse on child development remains sketchy. The main objective of the current study was therefore to shed light on the cognitive dysfunctions that are particular to SBS victims once they are school-aged. METHOD: A clinical group was formed of 11 children diagnosed with SBS who had been admitted between 1988 and 1999 to a tertiary pediatric hospital in Quebec, Canada. The children were matched for age, gender, socio-economic status, and family composition to 11 healthy Quebec children, who made up the control group. A battery of composite tests was developed to assess the children's main cognitive functions and was administered individually to the 22 children. A univariate t-test was used to compare the performances of the two groups. RESULTS: The mean age of the children in the clinical and control groups at the time of the assessment was 87.64 months and 90.18 months, respectively. Pairing and birth data were equivalent for both groups. Significant weaknesses were noted in the clinical group for intelligence quotient (IQ), working memory, mental organization, alternation, and inhibition. These deficits seemed to have a greater impact on the verbal sphere of the children's mental functioning. CONCLUSION: Primary results point to the anterior cerebral regions of the brain as the principal site of dysfunctions that persist years post-trauma. It is important to consider these results longitudinally, even in children apparently less extensively affected, since the frontal regions only reach maturity at the end of adolescence.     

The role of social support in well-being and coping with self-reported stressful events in adolescents

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the role that social support plays in well-being and in coping after a stressful event in a group of non-clinical adolescents. Furthermore, this study aimed at replicating the finding that adolescents who reported sexual abuse reported more symptoms and less adequate coping strategies than adolescents who reported another type of stressful event or no stressful episode. METHOD: Eight hundred and twenty adolescents between 12 and 18 years of age filled out questionnaires assessing social support (Social Support Questionnaire, Sarason, Shearin, Pierce, & Sarason, 1987), trauma-related symptoms (Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children, Briere, 1996), behavior problems (Youth Self-Report, Achenbach, 1991), and coping (How I Cope Under Pressure Scale, Ayers, Sandler, West, & Roosa, 1996). RESULTS: 42% of the adolescents reported a stressful experience, and 4.4% reported sexual abuse. Sexually abused adolescents reported more stress-related symptoms and used more avoidance and fewer support-seeking coping strategies than the other adolescents. The main-effect hypothesis of social support was sustained, but social support did not moderate the relation between a stressful event and coping. Yet, a trend was found suggesting that high support from the family was associated with less avoidance coping and more support-seeking in adolescents who reported a non-sexually abusive, stressful event. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show that a highly perceived availability of social support is directly associated with fewer trauma-related symptoms, especially in adolescents who are non-sexually abused. For adolescents who reported a sexual or another type of stressful event, social support did not play a different role in coping.     

人的自传

(续上期)很早的时候,我便已知悉了狼类。当我还是一个搜食者的时候,狼群常常袭击我的一群的侧翼,抓去一个散开的人,或者攫取一个幼童,如     

Evaluation of the Steelex M600H coagulometer prothrombin time-international normalized ratio assay with Steelex test reagents

Introduction

The aim of the present study was to validate prothrombin time (PT) international normalized ratio (INR) results obtained using Steelex test reagents and a Steelex coagulometer (Steelex Scientific Instrument Company, Beijing, China), in comparison with use of a well-established standard test employing Pacific Hemostasis reagents (Fisher Diagnostics, Middletown, VA, USA) and Teco Coatron A4 coagulometer (Teco Medical Instruments GmbH, Neufahrn, Germany).

Materials and methods:

Between- and within-day coefficients of variation (CVs) of both assays were calculated using control samples provided by the test manufacturers. Samples from 90 subjects were collected and INR values were determined in a double-blind parallel manner employing both systems.

Results:

The within-day coefficients of variation (CVs) in INR estimates ranged from 2.6% (INR = 1.12) to 3.1% (INR = 2.51) for the Steelex system and from 2.1% (INR = 1.09) to 1.8% (INR = 2.8) for the Pacific test; the between-day values ran from 3.4% (INR = 1.16) to 7.9% (INR = 2.64) and from 3.3% (INR = 1.1) to 2.3% (INR = 2.7), respectively. Passing-Bablok fit of the of the Steelex and Pacific methods yielded the equation: Steelex INR = 0.85 (0.79–0.91) × Pacific INR + 0.12 (−0.02–0.21), whereas the CUSUM linearity P value was < 0.01. The mean bias as determined by the Bland-Altman test was −0.156 (−0.912–0.600).

Conclusion:

The results obtained using Steelex reagents and the M600H coagulometer are not equivalent to those obtained using Pacific Hemostasis reagents and a Teco Coatron A4 coagulometer, at least in the therapeutic range.     

Parallel assessment of nutrition and activity in athletes: validation against doubly labelled water, 24-h urea excretion, and indirect calorimetry

The assessment of nutrition and activity in athletes requires accurate and precise methods. The aim of this study was to validate a protocol for parallel assessment of diet and exercise against doubly labelled water, 24-h urea excretion, and respiratory gas exchange. The participants were 14 male triathletes under normal training conditions. Energy intake and doubly labelled water were weakly associated with each other (r = 0.69, standard error of estimate [SEE] = 304 kcal x day(-1)). Protein intake was strongly correlated with 24-h urea (r = 0.89) but showed considerable individual variation (SEE = 0.34 g kg(-1) x day(-1)). Total energy expenditure based on recorded activities was highly correlated with doubly labelled water (r = 0.95, SEE = 195 kcal x day(-1)) but was proportionally biased. During running and cycling, estimated exercise energy expenditure was highly correlated with gas exchange (running: r = 0.89, SEE = 1.6 kcal x min(-1); cycling: r = 0.95, SEE = 1.4 kcal x min(-1)). High exercise energy expenditure was slightly underestimated during running. For nutrition data, variations appear too large for precise measurements in individual athletes, which is a common problem of dietary assessment methods. Despite the high correlations of total energy expenditure and exercise energy expenditure with reference methods, a correction for systematic errors is necessary for the valid estimation of energetic requirements in individual athletes.     

Effects of a feint on reactive agility performance

This study compared reactive agility between higher-standard (n = 14) and lower-standard (n = 14) Australian footballers using a reactive agility test incorporating a life-size video image of another player changing direction, including and excluding a feint. Mean agility time in the feint trials was 34% (509 ± 243 ms; p < 0.001; effect size 3.06) longer than non-feint trials. In higher-standard players, agility time was shorter than for lower-standard players in both feint (114 ± 140 ms; p = 0.18; effect size 0.52; likely beneficial) and non-feint (32 ± 44 ms; p = 0.22; effect size 0.47; possibly beneficial) trials. Additionally, the inclusion of a feint resulted in movement time increasing over three times more in the lower-standard group (197 ± 91 ms; p = 0.001; effect size 1.07; almost certainly detrimental) than the higher-standard group (62 ± 86 ms; p = 0.23; effect size 0.66; likely detrimental). There were weak correlations between the feint and non-feint trials (r = -0.13-0.14; p > 0.05), suggesting that reactive agility involving a feint is a unique skill. Also, higher-standard players are more agile than their lower-standard peers, whose movement speed deteriorates more as task complexity increases with the inclusion of a feint. These results support the need for specific training in multi-turn reactive agility tasks.