Independence in critical reading: An instructional strategy

Why can\u27t students read critically

Team Collaboration Software

The Ground Resource Allocation and Planning Environment (GRAPE 1.0) is a Web-based, collaborative team environment based on the Microsoft SharePoint platform, which provides Deep Space Network (DSN) resource planners tools and services for sharing information and performing analysis

Onset of human preterm and term birth is related to unique inflammatory transcriptome profiles at the maternal fetal interface.

BackgroundPreterm birth is a main determinant of neonatal mortality and morbidity and a major contributor to the overall mortality and burden of disease. However, research of the preterm birth is hindered by the imprecise definition of the clinical phenotype and complexity of the molecular phenotype due to multiple pregnancy tissue types and molecular processes that may contribute to the preterm birth. Here we comprehensively evaluate the mRNA transcriptome that characterizes preterm and term labor in tissues comprising the pregnancy using precisely phenotyped samples. The four complementary phenotypes together provide comprehensive insight into preterm and term parturition.MethodsSamples of maternal blood, chorion, amnion, placenta, decidua, fetal blood, and myometrium from the uterine fundus and lower segment (n = 183) were obtained during cesarean delivery from women with four complementary phenotypes: delivering preterm with (PL) and without labor (PNL), term with (TL) and without labor (TNL). Enrolled were 35 pregnant women with four precisely and prospectively defined phenotypes: PL (n = 8), PNL (n = 10), TL (n = 7) and TNL (n = 10). Gene expression data were analyzed using shrunken centroid analysis to identify a minimal set of genes that uniquely characterizes each of the four phenotypes. Expression profiles of 73 genes and non-coding RNA sequences uniquely identified each of the four phenotypes. The shrunken centroid analysis and 10 times 10-fold cross-validation was also used to minimize false positive finings and overfitting. Identified were the pathways and molecular processes associated with and the cis-regulatory elements in gene's 5' promoter or 3'-UTR regions of the set of genes which expression uniquely characterized the four phenotypes.ResultsThe largest differences in gene expression among the four groups occurred at maternal fetal interface in decidua, chorion and amnion. The gene expression profiles showed suppression of chemokines expression in TNL, withdrawal of this suppression in TL, activation of multiple pathways of inflammation in PL, and an immune rejection profile in PNL. The genes constituting expression signatures showed over-representation of three putative regulatory elements in their 5'and 3' UTR regions.ConclusionsThe results suggest that pregnancy is maintained by downregulation of chemokines at the maternal-fetal interface. Withdrawal of this downregulation results in the term birth and its overriding by the activation of multiple pathways of the immune system in the preterm birth. Complications of the pregnancy associated with impairment of placental function, which necessitated premature delivery of the fetus in the absence of labor, show gene expression patterns associated with immune rejection

Speech Laboratories: An Exploratory Examination of Potential Pedagogical Effects on Studies

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects speech laboratories have on students enrolled in basic public speaking courses. Specifically, the researchers attempted to gain a student perspective about visiting a speech laboratory through qualitative methods. Ten semi-structured student interviews were conducted and the collected data were transcribed verbatim before being analyzed using the constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The results of the analysis provide initial support that speech laboratories do, to some degree, assist students with their public speaking skills and help them manage their public speaking anxiety

Assessing Classroom Management Training for Basic Course Instructors

Extant research demonstrates that graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) experience student misbehaviors in the classroom and that basic course administrators should be proactive in preparing GTAs for classroom management issues (Meyer et al., 2007). Following the recommendation for the development of classroom management training (CMT) by Meyer et al. (2007), the present study sought to assess the implementation of CMT. Specifically, a group of GTAs completed the same survey instrument twice following the completion of CMT, once early in the semester and again at the end of the semester. Results of the present study indicate that GTA reports of student misbehavior were reduced, and GTA confidence in the ability to manage misbehaviors increased following CMT. Additionally, the results indicate that the frequency and severity of student misbehaviors were reduced for GTAs who received CMT compared to GTAs who did not receive CMT

Designing Classroom Management Training for Basic Course Instructors

Since many basic course training programs fail to adequately address classroom management issues, most graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) enter the classroom unprepared to confront student misbehaviors. However, literature suggests that by incorporating classroom management issues into training pro­grams, GTAs will be better armed to establish the instructional climate of the classroom and confront stu­dent misbehaviors. In this study, GTAs who had not received classroom management training (CMT) were given a survey containing closed and open-ended questions regarding typical student misbehaviors, possible classroom responses to those behaviors, and preferences for classroom management information during training. The results of this study identify student misbehaviors that occur in the basic course and draw implications for the integration of CMT into future GTA training and research

The Importance of Maine for Ecoregional Conservation Planning

Ecoregional conservation planning aims at protecting biodiversity within a realistic social and economic framework. The authors of this article suggest that Maine’s forests are the ecological core of the entire Northern Appalachian/Acadian ecoregion, which spans four states and five Canadian provinces. Using mapping and mathematical models of the “human footprint,” they note that Maine has a large, contiguous, undeveloped and unfragmented forest compared with neighboring states and provinces. However, compared with its neighbors Maine also has the largest proportion of unprotected forest. The authors conclude with the hope that land use policy and planning can be better informed through the active integration of recent ecoregional conservation mapping model