Shifting The Focus From Teaching To Learning: Rethinking The Role Of The Teacher Educator

This article will discuss the traditional college format and its recent transformation. It will address the changing role of both the college professor and the 21st century college learner. As society evolves, curriculum develops and new standards are introduced, there is a call for a shift from teacher-directed instruction to student-centered learning. This article specifically highlights strategies for empowering students to take charge of their own learning within the higher education classroom. These techniques include examples for teacher educators to employ as they serve as models to the pre-service teachers they instruct

Aligning Sub-national Climate Actions for the new post-Paris Climate Regime

The rise of sub-national actors in global climate governance underscores the need for clear alignment between these efforts and their national counterparts. As these sub-national climate actions are filling gaps in mitigation, adaptation, and financing, among other functions, a critical question is how these efforts complement or overlap with national climate pledges. This consideration is particularly important in the context of the Paris Agreement’s mandate for fiveyear review cycles, where national governments will be asked to demonstrate progress towards climate mitigation goals and increase their ambition. In this paper, we argue that alignment – both vertically between multiple jurisdictions and horizontally with external networks and actors – is critical to clarifying climate actions between multiple levels of actors and to maximizing mitigation potential. We use nine case studies to demonstrate the varying degrees and modes of vertical integration between subnational and national climate actors. We find that the case studies embody different styles of vertical alignment, and exhibit significant variation in the degree and direction of vertical alignment within each of these modes. We also find that many case studies rely on horizontally- aligned international networks and coalitions to fill gaps in financial resources or technical support. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate that an additional 1 gigaton carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in 2020 can be achieved in these nine case studies through stronger alignment that makes it possible to scale sub-national climate actions to the national level. These findings suggest there may be a missed opportunity to realize greater mitigation potential by fostering stronger vertical alignment, and enhancing coordination between horizontal networks of climate action and national governments

IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF GENETIC VARIANTS PERMITTING DISSEMINATED COCCIDIOIDOMYCOSIS

Disseminated coccidioidomycosis (DCM) is caused by Coccidioides, pathogenic fungi endemic to the Southwestern United States and Mexico. While the majority of those infected have minor symptoms or remain asymptomatic, illness requiring medical attention occurs in approximately 30%, with <1% developing extrapulmonary dissemination. To address why some individuals allow dissemination, we performed whole-exome sequencing on an exploratory cohort of 67 DCM patients. Using standard genetic analysis for identification of novel or rare Mendelian mutations only two patients were identified, both with STAT3 premature termination codons causing haploinsufficiency. Since Coccidioides are geographically isolated, I explored the possibility that dissemination could be a combination of more common genetic variants plus exposure. Defects in sensing and response to -glucan, the major component of Coccidioides cell wall, were seen in 34/67 (50.7%) cases. Damaging variants in CLEC7A, encoding DECTIN-1, (n=14) and PLCG2 (n=11) were associated with impaired production of -glucan-stimulated TNF from peripheral blood mononuclear cells compared to healthy controls (P<0.005). Using ancestry-matched controls, damaging CLEC7A and PLCG2 variants were over-represented in DCM (P=0.0206, P=0.015, respectively) including CLEC7A Y238* (P=0.0105) and PLCG2 R268W (P=0.0025). A validation cohort of 111 DCM patients confirmed over-representation of the specific variants, PLCG2 R268W (P=0.0276), CLEC7A I223S (P=0.044), and CLEC7A Y238* (P=0.0656). Lastly, I identified a novel pathway of pulmonary-epithelial fungal recognition by DECTIN-1 leading to activation of the NADPH oxidase complex, DUOX1/DUOXA1. Stimulation with a DECTIN-1 agonist induced DUOX1/DUOXA1-derived H2O2 in transfected cells. Heterozygous DUOX1 or DUOXA1 variants which impaired H2O2 production were overrepresented in discovery and validation cohorts. Together these studies highlight the importance of fungal recognition and response for control of infections. Patients with DCM have impaired -glucan sensing or response affecting TNF and H2O2 production. Impaired Coccidioides recognition and decreased cellular response are associated with disseminated coccidioidomycosis

Functional Diversification of Thylakoidal Processing Peptidases in \u3ci\u3eArabidopsis thaliana\u3c/i\u3e

Thylakoidal processing peptidase (TPP) is responsible for removing amino-terminal thylakoid-transfer signals from several proteins in the thylakoid lumen. Three TPP isoforms are encoded by the nuclear genome of Arabidopsis thaliana. Previous studies showed that one of them termed plastidic type I signal peptidase 1 (Plsp1) was necessary for processing three thylakoidal proteins and one protein in the chloroplast envelope in vivo. The lack of Plsp1 resulted in seedling lethality, apparently due to disruption of proper thylakoid development. The physiological roles of the other two TPP homologs remain unknown. Here we show that the three A. thaliana TPP isoforms evolved to acquire diverse functions. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that TPP may have originated before the endosymbiotic event, and that there are two groups of TPP in seed plants: one includes Plsp1 and another comprises the other two A. thaliana TPP homologs, which are named as Plsp2A and Plsp2B in this study. The duplication leading to the two groups predates the gymnosperm-angiosperm divergence, and the separation of Plsp2A and Plsp2B occurred after the Malvaceae-Brassicaceae diversification. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR assay revealed that the two PLSP2 genes were co-expressed in both photosynthetic tissues and roots, whereas the PLSP1 transcript accumulated predominantly in photosynthetic tissues. Both PLSP2 genes were expressed in the aerial parts of the plsp1-null mutant at levels comparable to those in wild-type plants. The seedling-lethal phenotype of the plsp1-null mutant could be rescued by a constitutive expression of Plsp1 cDNA but not by that of Plsp2A or Plsp2B. These results indicate that Plsp1 and Plsp2 evolved to function differently, and that neither of the Plsp2 isoforms is necessary for proper thylakoid development in photosynthetic tissues