Incidence and post-pollination mechanisms of nonrandom mating in Arabidopsis thaliana

Compatible pollinations from many differenttaxa display nonrandom mating. Here we describe a systemfor examining questions of nonrandom mating in Arabidopsisthaliana. Using this system, we demonstrate thatArabidopsis thaliana displays nonrandom mating betweendistinct accessions. Statistical analysis of these data demonstratesaspects of both pollen competition and male–female complementarity in these matings. Cytologicalexperiments implicate pollen germination and pollen tubegrowth rates as possible causal factors in these nonrandommating efficiencies

Finding Connections Between Teacher Motivation And Professional Development In Pursuit Of Mastery In Practice

This qualitative case study investigated the connections between teacher motivation and high quality professional development. The research focused on two elementary schools in one large suburban school district in the upper Midwest. Surveys, individual interviews, focus group interviews, and document analysis were all used to collect data. This study identified the attributes of high quality professional development, which include collaboration, sustainability, and active teacher learning (Darling-Hammond, Hyler, & Gardner, 2017; Desimone & Pak, 2017; Macias, 2017; Parsons, Parsons, Morewood & Ankrum, 2016; Steeg & Lambson, 2015). The study explored current research around intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Deci et al. 1991; Pink, 2009) and strove to determine which types of professional learning best support teachers in the continuous pursuit of developing their pedagogy. One conclusion is that when teachers are intrinsically motivated, the pursuit of mastery is ongoing and raised student achievement can be the outcome

Learning to Speak Effectively in Business Settings: The Importance of Delivery

This project explores the integral role of delivery in public speaking and recommends a training curriculum in vocalics and kinesics in order to become an effective public speaker. Business professionals are the key demographic for the recommended curriculum. Current public speaking training methods were studied in addition to textbooks and trade books on the subject of delivery, mainly vocalics and kinesics. The intent of the author is to use this curriculum to train business professionals on their delivery skills

Energy Efficiency and Federalism

Everyone loves energy efficiency. Among an array of carbon-reducing strategies, energy efficiency surely ranks as the least controversial. Indeed increasing energy efficiency is frequently lauded as having net negative costs -to use the terminology of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-meaning that the benefits outweigh the costs, even excluding benefits from avoided climate change. Yet the U.S. system for regulating appliances, which account for a huge percentage of the nation\u27s carbon emissions, is a mess. Since the federal government began regulating appliance efficiency in the 1970s, the process has been characterized by frequent delays and foot-dragging, followed by lawsuits and legislative overhauls. Amidst the turmoil, a number of states have attempted to assert leadership in setting appliance standards but have often faced federal roadblocks in so doing. I suggest that a reallocation of regulatory authority to parallel our system of auto emissions regulation is in order

Energy Efficiency and Federalism

Everyone loves energy efficiency. Among an array of carbon-reducing strategies, energy efficiency surely ranks as the least controversial. Indeed increasing energy efficiency is frequently lauded as having net negative costs -to use the terminology of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-meaning that the benefits outweigh the costs, even excluding benefits from avoided climate change. Yet the U.S. system for regulating appliances, which account for a huge percentage of the nation\u27s carbon emissions, is a mess. Since the federal government began regulating appliance efficiency in the 1970s, the process has been characterized by frequent delays and foot-dragging, followed by lawsuits and legislative overhauls. Amidst the turmoil, a number of states have attempted to assert leadership in setting appliance standards but have often faced federal roadblocks in so doing. I suggest that a reallocation of regulatory authority to parallel our system of auto emissions regulation is in order

Gifted Education in the Middle

Educators have always been concerned with addressing the needs of gifted students within the regular classroom. It has become difficult to challenge all children when school populations are composed of diverse groups with special needs, interests, abilities, and learning styles. With an interest in the education of highly capable (gifted and talented) students, the author did extensive reading and research. This project encompasses a variety of strategies, grouping practices and programs that can be implemented into a regular classroom to accommodate the gifted population. With this comes a focus on meeting the unique affective and academic needs of the gifted middle school student

Genome Wide Association Study on Kernel Size in \u3cem\u3eAvena Sativa\u3c/em\u3e (Oats)

Kernel size is a vital milling characteristic for Avena sativa L. (oats), with larger kernel size being desirable for milling facilities. This project evaluated the effect of genotype, environment, and their genotype by environment interaction (G by E) on kernel width, length, and area for a set of 27 oat cultivars grown at multiple locations in South Dakota over three years. Findings indicated significant differences among oat varieties, and that environment had a substantial effect on kernel size. However, we did not see a strong influence of genotype by environment interaction on kernel size. The lack of impact for genotype by environment interaction indicates that the rank order of the varieties will be similar from one environment to another, meaning kernel size measurement can occur in fewer locations and still successfully identify genotypes with larger width, length, and area. Broad-sense heritability was also evaluated. Our long-term objective is to develop new oat varieties with larger kernel size. With broad-sense heritability estimates ranging between 0.42 – 0.79 in our study, breeding for increased kernel size will be achievable. We did a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to locate the significant quantitative trait loci (QTL) that control kernel size. Using the recently published oat genome, we found four loci for kernel width and length as well as the RNA sequences from the reference genome. Only one of those RNA sequences had high similarity with a sequence (TRINITY_DN32700_c0_g1_i1) found in Emmer. By finding the markers that impact kernel size marker assisted selection can now be used to help breeders breed for larger kernel size

Energy Efficiency and Federalism

The U.S. system for regulating appliances—which account for a huge percentage of the nation’s carbon emissions—is a mess. Since the federal government began regulating appliance efficiency in the 1970s, the process has been characterized by frequent delays and foot-dragging, followed by lawsuits and legislative overhauls. Amidst the turmoil, a number of states have attempted to assert leadership in setting appliance standards but have often faced federal roadblocks in doing so