Voicing Code in STEM

An exploration of coding that investigates the interplay between computational abstractions and the fundamentally interpretive nature of human experience. The importance of coding in K–12 classrooms has been taken up by both scholars and educators. Voicing Code in STEM offers a new way to think about coding in the classroom—one that goes beyond device-level engagement to consider the interplay between computational abstractions and the fundamentally interpretive nature of human experience. Building on Mikhail Bakhtin's notions of heterogeneity and heteroglossia, the authors explain how STEM coding can be understood as voicing computational utterances, rather than a technocentric framing of building computational artifacts. Empirical chapters illustrate this theoretical stance by investigating different framings of coding as voicing. Understanding the experiential nature of coding allows us to design better tools and curricula for students, and enables us to see computing as experience beyond the mastery of symbolic power. Arguing for a critical phenomenology of coding, the authors explain that the phenomenological dimension refocuses attention on the fundamentally complex nature of human experiences that are involved in coding and learning to code. The critical dimension involves learning to recognize voices that historically have received less attention

A Hybrid Peer Support Training Model for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Treatment

Utah State University (USU) Extension created a hybrid educational program to address barriers to participation of the Certified Peer Support Specialist (CPSS) trainings before and during COVID 19. This article provides an overview of the CPSS pilot program and discusses early program outcomes

Stigma and Mothers Using Opioids

Parenting and pregnancy in the context of substance use is a complicated topic. Many public health officials, social workers, policy makers, and community members want to provide effective support and treatment for the child and for the parent. But when stigma, prejudice, or misinformation occur, parents who use substances can be exposed to added barriers to accessing care and support. This fact sheet addresses solutions to these barriers

Service research priorities in a rapidly changing context

The context in which service is delivered and experienced has, in many respects, fundamentally changed. For instance, advances in technology, especially information technology, are leading to a proliferation of revolutionary services and changing how customers serve themselves before, during, and after purchase. To understand this changing landscape, the authors engaged in an international and interdisciplinary research effort to identify research priorities that have the potential to advance the service field and benefit customers, organizations, and society. The priority-setting process was informed by roundtable discussions with researchers affiliated with service research centers and networks located around the world and resulted in the following 12 service research priorities: • stimulating service innovation, • facilitating servitization, service infusion, and solutions, • understanding organization and employee issues relevant to successful service, • developing service networks and systems, • leveraging service design, • using big data to advance service, • understanding value creation, • enhancing the service experience, • improving well-being through transformative service, • measuring and optimizing service performance and impact, • understanding service in a global context, and • leveraging technology to advance service. For each priority, the authors identified important specific service topics and related research questions. Then, through an online survey, service researchers assessed the subtopics’ perceived importance and the service field’s extant knowledge about them. Although all the priorities and related topics were deemed important, the results show that topics related to transformative service and measuring and optimizing service performance are particularly important for advancing the service field along with big data, which had the largest gap between importance and current knowledge of the field. The authors present key challenges that should be addressed to move the field forward and conclude with a discussion of the need for additional interdisciplinary research

Effect of thyroid hormone concentration on the transcriptional response underlying induced metamorphosis in the Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Thyroid hormones (TH) induce gene expression programs that orchestrate amphibian metamorphosis. In contrast to anurans, many salamanders do not undergo metamorphosis in nature. However, they can be induced to undergo metamorphosis via exposure to thyroxine (T₄). We induced metamorphosis in juvenile Mexican axolotls (<it>Ambystoma mexicanum</it>) using 5 and 50 nM T₄, collected epidermal tissue from the head at four time points (Days 0, 2, 12, 28), and used microarray analysis to quantify mRNA abundances.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Individuals reared in the higher T₄concentration initiated morphological and transcriptional changes earlier and completed metamorphosis by Day 28. In contrast, initiation of metamorphosis was delayed in the lower T₄concentration and none of the individuals completed metamorphosis by Day 28. We identified 402 genes that were statistically differentially expressed by ≥ two-fold between T₄treatments at one or more non-Day 0 sampling times. To complement this analysis, we used linear and quadratic regression to identify 542 and 709 genes that were differentially expressed by ≥ two-fold in the 5 and 50 nM T₄treatments, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We found that T₄concentration affected the timing of gene expression and the shape of temporal gene expression profiles. However, essentially all of the identified genes were similarly affected by 5 and 50 nM T₄. We discuss genes and biological processes that appear to be common to salamander and anuran metamorphosis, and also highlight clear transcriptional differences. Our results show that gene expression in axolotls is diverse and precise, and that axolotls provide new insights about amphibian metamorphosis.</p

Effect of thyroid hormone concentration on the transcriptional response underlying induced metamorphosis in the Mexican axolotl (\u3ci\u3eAmbystoma\u3c/i\u3e)

Background Thyroid hormones (TH) induce gene expression programs that orchestrate amphibian metamorphosis. In contrast to anurans, many salamanders do not undergo metamorphosis in nature. However, they can be induced to undergo metamorphosis via exposure to thyroxine (T4). We induced metamorphosis in juvenile Mexican axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum) using 5 and 50 nM T4, collected epidermal tissue from the head at four time points (Days 0, 2, 12, 28), and used microarray analysis to quantify mRNA abundances. Results Individuals reared in the higher T4 concentration initiated morphological and transcriptional changes earlier and completed metamorphosis by Day 28. In contrast, initiation of metamorphosis was delayed in the lower T4 concentration and none of the individuals completed metamorphosis by Day 28. We identified 402 genes that were statistically differentially expressed by ≥ two-fold between T4 treatments at one or more non-Day 0 sampling times. To complement this analysis, we used linear and quadratic regression to identify 542 and 709 genes that were differentially expressed by ≥ two-fold in the 5 and 50 nM T4 treatments, respectively. Conclusion We found that T4 concentration affected the timing of gene expression and the shape of temporal gene expression profiles. However, essentially all of the identified genes were similarly affected by 5 and 50 nM T4. We discuss genes and biological processes that appear to be common to salamander and anuran metamorphosis, and also highlight clear transcriptional differences. Our results show that gene expression in axolotls is diverse and precise, and that axolotls provide new insights about amphibian metamorphosis

Identification and characterization of a large family of superbinding bacterial SH2 domains

Src homology 2 (SH2) domains play a critical role in signal transduction in mammalian cells by binding to phosphorylated Tyr (pTyr). Apart from a few isolated cases in viruses, no functional SH2 domain has been identified to date in prokaryotes. Here we identify 93 SH2 domains from Legionella that are distinct in sequence and specificity from mammalian SH2 domains. The bacterial SH2 domains are not only capable of binding proteins or peptides in a Tyr phosphorylation-dependent manner, some bind pTyr itself with micromolar affinities, a property not observed for mammalian SH2 domains. The Legionella SH2 domains feature the SH2 fold and a pTyr-binding pocket, but lack a specificity pocket found in a typical mammalian SH2 domain for recognition of sequences flanking the pTyr residue. Our work expands the boundary of phosphotyrosine signalling to prokaryotes, suggesting that some bacterial effector proteins have acquired pTyr-superbinding characteristics to facilitate bacterium-host interactions