Teacher Knowledge and Selection of Evidence-Based Practices: A survey study

Federal legislation and state and local policies mandate the use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) and aim to improve the quality of education for all students. Federal mandates (No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001) coupled with teacher training requirements and the need for identifying effective practices for use with students with and without disabilities, highlight the need for teachers to not only implement EBPs but to identify such practices for implementation. The passage of NCLB marked the first time in education that the use of scientific research to inform instructional decisions was mandated

A Parameter Study of the Dust and Gas Temperature in a Field of Young Stars

We model the thermal effect of young stars on their surrounding environment in order to understand clustered star formation. We take radiative heating of dust, dust-gas collisional heating, cosmic-ray heating, and molecular cooling into account. Using Dusty, a spherical continuum radiative transfer code, we model the dust temperature distribution around young stellar objects with various luminosities and surrounding gas and dust density distributions. We have created a grid of dust temperature models, based on our modeling with Dusty, which we can use to calculate the dust temperature in a field of stars with various parameters. We then determine the gas temperature assuming energy balance. Our models can be used to make large-scale simulations of clustered star formation more realistic.Comment: 29 pages, 19 figures. Submitted to Ap

Anthropometric and glucometabolic changes in an aged mouse model of lipocalin-2 overexpression

Background:: Lipocalin-2 (LCN2) is widely expressed in the organism with pleiotropic roles. In particular, its overexpression correlates with tissue stress conditions including inflammation, metabolic disorders, chronic diseases and cancer. Objectives:: To assess the effects of systemic LCN2 overexpression on adipose tissue and glucose metabolism. Subjects:: Eighteen-month-old transgenic mice with systemic LCN2 overexpression (LCN2-Tg) and age/sex-matched wild-type mice. Methods:: Metabolic cages; histology and real-time PCR analysis; glucose and insulin tolerance tests; ELISA; flow cytometry; microPET and serum analysis. Results:: LCN2-Tg mice were smaller compared to controls but they ate (P = 0.0156) and drank (P = 0.0057) more and displayed a higher amount of visceral adipose tissue. Furthermore, LCN2-Tg mice with body weight 6520 g showed adipocytes with a higher cell area (P < 0.0001) and altered expression of genes involved in adipocyte differentiation and inflammation. In particular, mRNA levels of adipocyte-derived Pparg (P 64 0.0001), Srebf1 (P < 0.0001), Fabp4 (P = 0.056), Tnfa (P = 0.0391), Il6 (P = 0.0198), and Lep (P = 0.0003) were all increased. Furthermore, LCN2-Tg mice displayed a decreased amount of basal serum insulin (P = 0.0122) and a statistically significant impaired glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity consistent with Slc2a2 mRNA (P 64 0.0001) downregulated expression. On the other hand, Insr mRNA (P 64 0.0001) was upregulated and correlated with microPET analysis that demonstrated a trend in reduced whole-body glucose consumption and MRGlu in the muscles and a significantly reduced MRGlu in brown adipose tissue (P = 0.0247). Nevertheless, an almost nine-fold acceleration of hexokinase activity was observed in the LCN2-Tg mice liver compared to controls (P = 0.0027). Moreover, AST and ALT were increased (P = 0.0421 and P = 0.0403, respectively), which indicated liver involvement also demonstrated by histological staining. Conclusions:: We show that LCN2 profoundly impacts adipose tissue size and function and glucose metabolism, suggesting that LCN2 should be considered as a risk factor in ageing for metabolic disorders leading to obesity

The RESET project: constructing a European tephra lattice for refined synchronisation of environmental and archaeological events during the last c. 100 ka

This paper introduces the aims and scope of the RESET project (. RESponse of humans to abrupt Environmental Transitions), a programme of research funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (UK) between 2008 and 2013; it also provides the context and rationale for papers included in a special volume of Quaternary Science Reviews that report some of the project's findings. RESET examined the chronological and correlation methods employed to establish causal links between the timing of abrupt environmental transitions (AETs) on the one hand, and of human dispersal and development on the other, with a focus on the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic periods. The period of interest is the Last Glacial cycle and the early Holocene (c. 100-8 ka), during which time a number of pronounced AETs occurred. A long-running topic of debate is the degree to which human history in Europe and the Mediterranean region during the Palaeolithic was shaped by these AETs, but this has proved difficult to assess because of poor dating control. In an attempt to move the science forward, RESET examined the potential that tephra isochrons, and in particular non-visible ash layers (cryptotephras), might offer for synchronising palaeo-records with a greater degree of finesse. New tephrostratigraphical data generated by the project augment previously-established tephra frameworks for the region, and underpin a more evolved tephra 'lattice' that links palaeo-records between Greenland, the European mainland, sub-marine sequences in the Mediterranean and North Africa. The paper also outlines the significance of other contributions to this special volume: collectively, these illustrate how the lattice was constructed, how it links with cognate tephra research in Europe and elsewhere, and how the evidence of tephra isochrons is beginning to challenge long-held views about the impacts of environmental change on humans during the Palaeolithic. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.RESET was funded through Consortium Grants awarded by the Natural Environment Research Council, UK, to a collaborating team drawn from four institutions: Royal Holloway University of London (grant reference NE/E015905/1), the Natural History Museum, London (NE/E015913/1), Oxford University (NE/E015670/1) and the University of Southampton, including the National Oceanography Centre (NE/01531X/1). The authors also wish to record their deep gratitude to four members of the scientific community who formed a consultative advisory panel during the lifetime of the RESET project: Professor Barbara Wohlfarth (Stockholm University), Professor Jørgen Peder Steffensen (Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen), Dr. Martin Street (Romisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Neuwied) and Professor Clive Oppenheimer (Cambridge University). They provided excellent advice at key stages of the work, which we greatly valued. We also thank Jenny Kynaston (Geography Department, Royal Holloway) for construction of several of the figures in this paper, and Debbie Barrett (Elsevier) and Colin Murray Wallace (Editor-in-Chief, QSR) for their considerable assistance in the production of this special volume.Peer Reviewe

CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

Peer reviewe

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

A Synthesis of Academic Interventions for Incarcerated Adolescents

This article contains a synthesis of academic intervention studies conducted between 1970 and 2012 with adolescents who were incarcerated in residential juvenile correctional facilities. Literacy, mathematics, written expression, and multicomponent interventions were included if they measured effects on at least one academic outcome measure. Of the 16 studies synthesized, 7 studies employed an experimental or quasi-experimental design, 4 used a single-case design, and 5 used a single-group design. Because the results are restricted due to methodological limitations and a general lack of research in this area, we discuss the existing gaps in the literature and explore initial findings using these 16 studies. Results suggest the potential of implementing explicit, targeted, academic interventions that have previously shown promise with adolescents in the general school setting (e.g., peer-mediated instruction). Implications and guidance for future research regarding effective delivery of evidence-based practices for adolescents in the incarcerated setting are discussed