You Want Me to Reach Them All by When? How?

Blended Individualized Learning combines the best of online learning with traditional teaching. Presenters will share step-by-step how we designed an easy to follow K–5 school-wide blended learning model to engage and empower students through the use of playlists and “leveling up.” Participants will also have access to view the daily implementation manual, classroom videos, and sample playlists created by teachers. These best practices led our Title I inner-city school from an F (23 percent) to a C School while cutting our teacher turnover rate in half and changed the school’s image in the community for the better

Military Sexual Trauma: A Current Analysis of Disability Claims Adjudication Under Veterans Benefits Law

According to the 2018 Report of the Department of Veterans Office of Inspector General, military sexual trauma (“MST”) is on the rise, increasing 10% from the previous year. The Inspector General also found that the Department of Veteran Affairs (“VA”) improperly processed 49% of MST claims in the six-month time period reviewed. During this same time period, veterans’ benefits appeals took an average of seven years to complete, with one in four-teen veterans dying while the appeal was pending. These grim statistics, combined with an adjudication process described as an administrative “hamster wheel,” are untenable in a benefits system statutorily designed to be non-adversarial and veteran friendly. The advocate’s job is to help the veteran receive the full extent of allow-able compensation and to do so as expeditiously as possible. This article is intended to guide the veteran’s advocate through the administrative claims process, highlighting the major components of the process and the core legal concepts applicable to cases involving MST. The article will also identify the myriad of disabilities that can arise from MST, which are not limited to only mental health issues, so that veterans are properly rated for each and every symptom related to the trauma. Our hope is that this article provides a workable roadmap for the advocate, leading to better quality VA decision-making earlier in the VA adjudication process and better representation for veterans suffering from lasting effects of MST

DC-SIGN (CD209) mediates dengue virus infection of human dendritic cells

Dengue virus is a single-stranded, enveloped RNA virus that productively infects human dendritic cells (DCs) primarily at the immature stage of their differentiation. We now find that all four serotypes of dengue use DC-SIGN (CD209), a C-type lectin, to infect dendritic cells. THP-1 cells become susceptible to dengue infection after transfection of DC-specific ICAM-3 grabbing nonintegrin (DC-SIGN), or its homologue L-SIGN, whereas the infection of dendritic cells is blocked by anti-DC-SIGN antibodies and not by antibodies to other molecules on these cells. Viruses produced by dendritic cells are infectious for DC-SIGN- and L-SIGN-bearing THP-1 cells and other permissive cell lines. Therefore, DC-SIGN may be considered as a new target for designing therapies that block dengue infection

Effective Department Meetings: The right approach varies

This workshop will provide positive and instrumental approaches to meeting planning and management that allow chairs to effectively address challenging situations with confidence. Scenarios where specific meeting dynamics may be implemented to address difficult situations or maximize productivity will be discussed in breakout groups and finally considered by all

Robust methods in Mendelian randomization via penalization of heterogeneous causal estimates.

Methods have been developed for Mendelian randomization that can obtain consistent causal estimates under weaker assumptions than the standard instrumental variable assumptions. The median-based estimator and MR-Egger are examples of such methods. However, these methods can be sensitive to genetic variants with heterogeneous causal estimates. Such heterogeneity may arise from over-dispersion in the causal estimates, or specific variants with outlying causal estimates. In this paper, we develop three extensions to robust methods for Mendelian randomization with summarized data: 1) robust regression (MM-estimation); 2) penalized weights; and 3) Lasso penalization. Methods using these approaches are considered in two applied examples: one where there is evidence of over-dispersion in the causal estimates (the causal effect of body mass index on schizophrenia risk), and the other containing outliers (the causal effect of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol on Alzheimer's disease risk). Through an extensive simulation study, we demonstrate that robust regression applied to the inverse-variance weighted method with penalized weights is a worthwhile additional sensitivity analysis for Mendelian randomization to provide robustness to variants with outlying causal estimates. The results from the applied examples and simulation study highlight the importance of using methods that make different assumptions to assess the robustness of findings from Mendelian randomization investigations with multiple genetic variants

Declines in Puget Sound sediment-dwelling communities and a new focus on climate, nutrient, and other ecosystem stressors

The Washington State Department of Ecology has been collecting data on Puget Sound sediment-dwelling (benthic) invertebrates since 1989, as part of the Marine Sediment Monitoring Program. Benthic organisms serve key functions, including processing and storage of organic material and cycling of nutrients needed by other components of the ecosystem. Benthic invertebrates are an integral part of the marine food web and biogeochemical processes that support salmon, orcas, and humans and are a key component of the Puget Sound ecosystem. We are finding significant declines in the overall condition of benthic communities, with 44% of the study area adversely affected. Many of the adversely affected benthic communities were found in terminal inlets and bays. Throughout Puget Sound, an increase of pollution/hypoxia-tolerant species and a decrease in sensitive species has occurred over time. Deterioration of benthic communities does not correspond well with changes in individual chemical contaminants measured or laboratory tests of sediment toxicity. The spatial distribution of benthic communities is in part defined by the changing physical and oceanographic habitat. Changes in the abundance and composition of the benthic invertebrate community over time may indicate responses of the ecosystem to climatic stressors and large-scale ecological shifts such as changing hydrological, nutrient, oxygen, or acidic conditions

Induced Defects in Carbonaceous Materials for Hydrogen Storage

The induced defects in carbonaceous materials for hydrogen storage were studied. The effect of exfoliation was studied and the graphite nanofibers (GNF) diameter before and after exfoliation was quantified. Thermal decomposition of the GNF before and after sulfuric/nitric acid exfoliation indicated a clear loss of thermal stability. GNF exfoliation enhanced the hydrogen uptake by a factor of five compared to the untreated GNF. The amorphous carbon was reactive than GNF, and decomposed before the GNF. The higher pretreatment temperature was intended to preferentially remove amorphous carbon leaving a higher purity of exfoliated GNF

Rhyolite volcanism at Öræfajökull volcano, S.E. Iceland : a window on Quaternary climate change

Öræfajökull is an ice-capped stratovolcano situated in the south east of Iceland which has developed throughout the mid to late Quaternary. It has erupted basaltic and rhyolitic lavas during interglacial and glacial periods, many of which display strong physical evidence of volcano-ice interaction. This makes Öræfajökull an ideal location to reconstruct terrestrial palaeo-environments. The area of Goðafjall and Hrútsfjall is one of a small number of rhyolitic depositional centres situated on the south west flanks of the volcano and is the first rhyolitic area of Öræfajökull to be mapped in detail.The relatively high K content of the rhyolitic units make them good candidates for 40Ar/39Ar dating, yielding eruption ages that provide a temporal constraint on the development of the stratovolcano. 40Ar/39Ar dating of young rocks (<1 My) is challenging and many of the samples were found to contain both excess and atmospheric argon. A small number exhibited a fractionated argon source with a sub-atmospheric 40Ar/36Ar ratio that could not be explained by a single episode of mass fractionation. Soret thermal diffusion has been suggested as a possible mechanism for fractionation, although further investigation is required.Two dominant rhyolite eruptions have been identified by detailed field mapping supported by the geochemical application of chemostratigraphy. The stratigraphically lower group of lavas outcrop between 100 to 380 m.a.s.l. and were erupted subaerially into a relatively ice-free environment at the base of the edifice. A 40Ar/39Ar age of 202 ± 9 ka implies that eruption occurred during the interglacial MIS 7. Conversely the upper group of lavas show strong evidence of volcano-ice interaction, suggesting that they were erupted subglacially and confined by ice with a minimum ice surface elevation of at least 800 m.a.s.l. These lavas yield a 40Ar/39Ar age of 116 ± 14 ka, which implies that eruption occurred during the transitional period between the MIS5e interglacial and colder sub-stages prior to MIS 4.At least two further glacial advances have occurred since the emplacement of the subglacial rhyolite unit. In addition, an ice confined trachydacite flow from the Vatnafjall ridge situated 20 km north east of Goðafjall has also been dated yielding a 40Ar/39Ar age of 95 ± 7 k. This lava was emplaced at an elevation of over 700 m in the presence of an adjacent valley fill glacier was at least 700 m thick.Ice thickness has varied dramatically throughout the evolution of Öræfajökull and glacial erosion has played an important role in its topographic development.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo