THE PROCEDURAL AND PERCEPTUAL DIFFERENCES IN HOW STUDENTS FROM MARGINALIZED POPULATIONS ARE IDENTIFIED, SELECTED, AND SUPPORTED FOR HIGH ABILITY LEARNING

Identification of students for High Ability programming is a complex issue. Ensuring that students from marginalized populations are proportionally represented when compared to the district student population adds to that complexity. This mixed analysis study examines the inequities that exist in the identification of students for High Ability learning programs at the national, state, and local levels. The top-down approach gives the study context for the variety of ways that giftedness is identified at the national, state, and local level. Alongside the document analysis, a survey was created and given to classroom and High Ability teachers. The survey asks the teachers what their perception is of the characteristics of a High Ability student. This information could support a district in forming a definition of a High Ability student. A school district could also ensure that there is proportional representation of High Ability students across all student groups. The results of the analysis show that districts need to rethink common practices when ensuring that all students are given opportunities to be selected for High Ability programming

A Comparison Of Direct And Indirect Assessments Of Standing Lumbar Lordosis In Asymptomatic Adults

Background: While lumbar lordosis is often indirectly (visually) assessed by practitioners to guide treatment, it is not clear how well direct and indirect assessments agree. The aims of this study were to (a) determine the intra- and inter-rater reliability of two indirect assessments (visual assessments of real and 3D body scanned people), and (b) determine the agreement between direct and indirect assessments (3D scan-extracted vs. visual assessments). Methods: Fifty asymptomatic participants were physically landmarked and scanned with and without landmarks using the Vitus Smart 3D whole body scanner, after which 10 practitioners visually assessed the lumbar lordosis of each participant. One week later, practitioners visually assessed the scanned images of the 50 participants plus 15 duplicates, and two weeks later, practitioners and participants again presented with practitioners repeating their visual assessments. Lumbar lordosis was also directly assessed from scan-extracted data. Cohenâs Kappa was used to determine the intra- and inter-rater reliability of indirect assessments, with polyserial correlation (ps) used to determine the agreement between direct and indirect assessments. Results: The intra- and inter-rater reliability of indirect assessments of real people was fair (ï« [95%CI]: 0.37 [0.20, 0.54]) and slight (ï« [95%CI]: 0.01 [â0.09, 0.11]), respectively. The intra- and inter-rater reliability of indirect assessments of scanned people was moderate (ï« [95%CI]: 0.56 [0.45, 0.67]) and slight (ï« [95%CI]: 0.13 [0.08, 0.19]), respectively. The agreement between direct and indirect assessment was moderate (ps=â0.41, p=0.04). Conclusion: Intra-rater reliability of indirect assessments of lumbar lordosis was fair to moderate, inter-rater reliability was slight, and the agreement between direct and indirect assessments was moderate. It appears that most of the error in indirect assessments is due to technical error, highlighting that efforts to improve reliability should focus on minimizing technical errors. 3D body scanning technology could be used as a training and teaching tool to improve measurement reliability

Direct Characterization of the Maize Starch Synthase IIa Product Shows Maltodextrin Elongation Occurs at the Non-reducing End

A comprehensive description of starch biosynthesis and granule assembly remains undefined despite the central nature of starch as an energy storage molecule in plants and as a fundamental calorie source for many animals. Multiple theories regarding the starch synthase (SS)-catalyzed assembly of (α1–4)-linked D-glucose molecules into maltodextrins generally agree that elongation occurs at the non-reducing terminus based on the degradation of radiolabeled maltodextrins, although recent reports challenge this hypothesis. Surprisingly, a direct analysis of the SS catalytic product has not been reported, to our knowledge. We expressed and characterized recombinant Zea mays SSIIa and prepared pure ADP-[13CU]glucose in a one-pot enzymatic synthesis to address the polarity of maltodextrin chain elongation. We synthesized maltoheptaose (degree of polymerization 7) using ADP-[13CU]glucose, maltohexaose (degree of polymerization 6), and SSIIa. Product analysis by ESI-MS revealed that the [13CU]glucose unit was added to the non-reducing end of the growing chain, and SSIIa demonstrated a \u3e7,850-fold preference for addition to the non-reducing end versus the reducing end. Independent analysis of [13CU]glucose added to maltohexaose by SSIIa using solution NMR spectroscopy confirmed the polarity of maltodextrin chain elongation

Body Language and Sales

Utilizing professional sales competition videos taken from a university Sales program, the current study investigates the link between nonverbal gestures made by salespeople and performance scores given by professional sales recruiters watching their role plays. The results of this study may suggest a relationship between gesture use and perceptions of sales ability

The Effect of Hamstring Contractions in the Activation of the Abdominal Muscles during a Standard Abdominal Crunch

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a hamstring contraction on the abdominal musculature during a standard crunch. Studies in the past have looked at abdominal and core strengthening, exercise equipment, and exercise techniques and their effect on abdominal electromyography (EMG). Few published studies have looked at the effect on the abdominals during a modified crunch, which is a hamstring contraction during a standard crunch. Methods: Participants (n=30) for this study were between the ages of 18 and 60 with no history of acute or chronic back pain or major abdominal surgery. EMG was used to record the activity of four muscle groups including the: upper rectus abdominus (URA), lower rectus abdominus (LRA), external obliques (EO), and the biceps femoris during a standard crunch and also during a modified crunch. Data analysis compared EMG output to each participant\u27s individual maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) for each muscle group analyzed. Results: There was a significant (p\u3c0.05) increase in the average mean difference in the LRA of + 26.89% and EO of +46.3% in EMG activity during the modified crunch. URA displayed an increase of +2.25%; however, it was not found to be statistically significant. Discussion: In this study there was an increase in abdominal EMG output for the modified crunch; however, other factors that need to be considered include: the effects of gender, age, previous abdominal training, influence of pathologies, and other musculature involvement

The Effect of Telehealth Interventions on Quality of Life of Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Introduction:In 2016, ∼1.7 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed. Cancer patients can have physical, functional, and psychosocial issues when dealing with cancer treatment. Telehealth has been effectively introduced to help deliver treatment to patients suffering from chronic disease; however, there is little consensus on its effectiveness in administering sociobehavioral cancer treatments. Thus, this study determines the benefits of telehealth-based interventions providing emotional and symptom support in improving quality of life (QOL) among cancer patients. Methods:Two researchers conducted comprehensive searches on PubMed, SCOPUS, Medline, PsycINFO, ERIC, Psychology and Behavioral Collection, and Medline Complete. Key search terms included telehealth or telemedicine and QOL and cancer. Articles were included if they assessed a telehealth-delivered intervention for adult cancer patients and provided a QOL assessment. Data were extracted to calculate mean effect sizes for QOL measures on the effectiveness of telehealth relative to usual care (UC) for cancer treatments. Results:Out of 414 articles identified in our initial search, nine articles fit our inclusion criteria. Both telehealth (Hedges g = 0.211, p = 0.016) and standard of care (Hedges g = 0.217, p \u3c 0.001) cancer treatment delivery methods demonstrated small, but statistically significant improvements in QOL measures. However, there were no statistically significant differences in effectiveness between the telehealth interventions and UC (p = 0.76). Conclusions:The results indicate that telehealth interventions are as effective at improving QOL scores in patients undergoing cancer treatment as in-person UC. Further studies should be undertaken on different modalities of telehealth to determine its appropriate and effective use in interventions to improve the QOL for cancer patients undergoing treatment

Optical fiber based ultrashort pulse multispectral nonlinear optical microscopy

Nonlinear optical microscopy (NLOM) utilizing femtosecond laser pulses is well suited for imaging living tissues. This work reports on the design and development of an optical fiber based multispectral NLOM developed around a laser generating broadband sub-10-fs pulses. An all-mirror dispersion-compensation setup is used to correct for quadratic and cubic phase distortions induced within the NLOM. Mouse tail tendon was used to characterize sub-10-fs pulses by interferometric autocorrelation. This is an effective method for characterizing dispersion from the optical system, immersion medium, and wet biological sample. The generation of very short autocorrelations demonstrates the ability to compensate for phase distortions within the imaging system and efficient second-harmonic upconversion of the ultrashort pulse spectrum within collagen. Reconstruction of ultrashort pulses at the focal plane of the objective allows the excitation of multiple fluorescent probes simultaneously. Multiple fluorescent probe excitation and spectral discrimination is demonstrated using mixtures of fluorescent dye solutions and an in-vitro angiogenesis model containing human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC’s) expressing multiple fluorescent proteins. Sub-10-fs pulses can be propagated through polarization-maintaining single mode fiber (PMF) for use in NLOM. We demonstrate delivery of near transform-limited, 1 nJ pulses from a Ti:Al2O3 oscillator via PMF to the NLOM focal plane while maintaining 120 nm of bandwidth. Negative group delay dispersion (GDD) introduced to pre-compensate normal dispersion of the optical fiber and microscope optics ensured linear pulse propagation through the PMF. Nonlinear excitation of multiple fluorophores simultaneously and polarization sensitive NLOM imaging using second harmonic generation in collagen was demonstrated using PMF delivered pulses. Two-photon excited fluorescence spectra and second harmonic images taken with and without the fiber indicates that the fiber based system is capable of generating optical signals that are within a factor of two to three of our traditional NLOM

Enhancing safety for commercialized human space travel and colonization

This study explored the lack of global standardization guidelines for space travel and colonization as the world begins commercializing human space travel operations. The safety issue posed with the future of commercial human space transportation is due to the independent functioning of national space agencies and private commercial space entities, despite the presence of international entities such as the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) (UNOOSA, 2021). Due to the lack of accepted minimum international standards and commercialized space travel guidelines, there is a need to explore the feasibility of establishing and prioritizing a guideline for developing an agency or clearinghouse for the standardization of certifications, requirements, and ethical standards for commercialized human space travel and colonization between global governments and private entities. This study utilized a two-round Delphi design to investigate the need to establish and prioritize a guideline for developing an agency or clearinghouse for the standardization of certifications, requirements, and ethical standards for commercialized space travel and colonization between global governments and private entities.Due to the lack of guidelines on space travel and colonization both for government and private purposes, the findings yielded from this study might help to provide guidance on how an agency or clearinghouse could be established to develop such guidelines. The study included the prioritization of issues relevant to the establishment of guidelines to regulate commercialized human space travel and colonization. There were 29 global expert participants from 10 different nations who participated in this research study. As a result of disseminating this study's findings, industry decision-makers may become more knowledgeable of safety concerns regarding human and spacecraft design, certification, training, and qualification approval. The results of this study include quantitative and qualitative data