Documenting Teachers' Experiences of Participating in a Locally Initiated District-Based Professional Development Program

Professional development (PD) is often viewed as essential to improve classroom practices--as a way to create changes in districts, changes in classrooms, and changes in teachers--which, in turn, strives to improve student learning. Many insist that for a PD initiative to be successful, it needs to create changes in teachers’ classroom practices, who are indeed at the ground level of interpreting, implementing, adapting, and enacting what PD offers. Researchers claim that teacher resistance is the central problem of PD failure (Janas, 1998). Confined to the duality of compliance vs. resistance to PD, teachers either change or do not change according to the grading system that the administrators and researchers impose. A binary view of teachers who meet the expectations and those who do not meet the expectations of the district and PD personnel is, then, inadequate to studying the process of what happens beyond that narrow conception of teachers who participate in district/school-wide PD. V. Richardson (2003) argues that teacher resistance is a symptom of a disconnect between a structural reform agenda and teachers’ concern for teaching students well. Within the context of a locally initiated PD program that included elements of effective PD proposed by a body of research, I examined a select group of participating teachers’ experiences. Based on the classroom practice of a teacher whose students have shown drastic growth on high stakes tests despite social factors, the district had expanded the program as a district-wide initiative. Using care theory, I specifically explored changes in 12 teachers’ beliefs and practices as a result of their PD participation, in addition to identifying factors that facilitated program implementation. The results showed that the “caring teacher” identity mediated classroom practice changes, that teachers selectively used PD based on the feedback from their students rather than changes to their knowledge and beliefs. Based on this reciprocity, teachers’ self-identification as caring teachers defies traditional labeling of participating members as “compliant” or “resistant”; all teachers in the study described how caring about and caring for their students led to program implementation with a varying degree of fidelity

Separation of Rare Earth Elements from Aluminum Using Ion-Exchange Chromatography

Demand of rare earth elements (REEs) has increased tremendously due to their key roles in electronics and emerging technology. Recently, new technology was developed at Purdue to extract REEs from coal fly ash. This study is focused on the separation of aluminum ions (Al), a major impurity in the extract, from REEs. The goal is to test the feasibility of an ion-exchange process for separating REEs from a highly-concentrated Al solution. First, we reduced the resin particle size to decrease dispersion and diffusion effects, to increase resin productivity, and to reduce the amounts of REEs and the ion-exchange resin required for column testing. Different methods of grinding the resin were tested. Grinding the resin in a container with constant stirring was found to be the best method to produce uniformly distributed small particles. The column packed with ground particles showed that porosity and column capacity was unchanged after grinding. Second, optimum loading pH was determined by measuring the effective capacities for an REE, Neodymium (Nd), and Al respectively at different pH values. Loading tests using mixtures of Al and Nd were done to verify if at the optimum pH, the largest REE capture efficiency and the least Al contamination was achieved. This process has potential for recovering REEs and high-purity Al from the extract of coal fly ash

Rare Earth Elements Purification using Ligand-Assisted Displacement Chromatography

Rare Earth Elements (REEs) including the lanthanide series, Yttrium, and Scandium play a critical and essential role in various industries such as electronics, power, and defense. Traditional methods have difficulties in separating REEs due to their high similarities in chemical and physical properties. With increasing demand of REEs, current industrial techniques of REE extractions, two phase liquid-liquid extraction, are not efficient enough to meet the market’s need without causing serious environmental problems. Specifically, two phase liquid-liquid extraction uses a large number of mixer-settler units in series and parallel for purification of REEs. This method consumes excessive solvents and chemicals that are environmentally hazardous. Spedding and Powell studied ligand-assisted displacement chromatography of REE recovery in 1950’s, which showed high yields and high purity but low productivity. Their process was designed based on trials and errors and was not optimized. The first goal of this study is to develop and test a systematic design and optimization method to increase sorbent productivity and reduce separation cost. The second goal is to understand the dynamic separation mechanism using rate model simulations. We tested the design method experimentally using three REEs, Nd, Sm and Pr. Ammonium citrate was used as a ligand displacer. Frontal tests were used to estimate the various parameters corresponding to adsorption, reaction and mass transfer. Rate model simulations were conducted to verify experimental data. The experimental design aimed to achieve an average yield of each product of 97% with a purity of 99%, and sorbent productivity an order of magnitude higher than that of Spedding and Powell

Carrageenan induced phosphorylation of Akt is dependent on neurokinin-1 expressing neurons in the superficial dorsal horn

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Paw carrageenan induces activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI-3K) and Akt in dorsal horn neurons in addition to induction of pain behavior. Spinal PI-3K activation is also thought to be required for inflammation-induced trafficking of GluA1, AMPA receptor subunits, into plasma membranes from cytosol. Phosphorylation of Akt has a unique time course. It occurs first in the superficial dorsal horn (0.75 h), then soon dissipates and is followed an hour later by Akt phosphorylation in deeper dorsal horn laminae, primarily lamina V. Initially, we wished to determine if Akt phosphorylation in the deeper laminae were dependent on the presence of lamina I, neurokinin receptor bearing projection neurons. As the study progressed, our aims grew to include the question, whether carrageenan-induced GluA1 subunit trafficking was downstream of Akt phosphorylation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Rats pretreated with spinal saporin conjugated to a stabilized form of substance P had substantial loss of neurons with neurokinin 1 receptors throughout their superficial, but not deep dorsal horns. Animals pre-treated with substance P-saporin exhibited no change in locomotor ability and a small, but significant decrease in carrageenan-induced mechanical allodynia when compared to animals pre-treated with spinal saporin alone. Importantly, carrageenan-induced phosphorylation of Akt was blocked, in the substance P-saporin treated group, throughout the spinal cord grey matter. In marked contrast, carrageenan induced-trafficking of the GluA1 receptor subunit increased equivalently in both treatment groups.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We infer from these data that 1) phosphorylation of Akt in the deep dorsal horn is dependent on prior activation of NK1 receptor bearing cells in superficial dorsal horn, and 2) there are parallel spinal intracellular cascades initiated by the carrageenan injection downstream of PI-3K activation, including one containing Akt and another involving GluA1 trafficking into neuronal plasma membranes that separately lead to enhanced pain behavior. These results imply that the two pathways downstream of PI-3K can be activated separately and therefore should be able to be inhibited independently.</p

Immunoreactivity of Pluripotent Markers SSEA-5 and L1CAM in Human Tumors, Teratomas, and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Pluripotent stem cell markers can be useful for diagnostic evaluation of human tumors. The novel pluripotent marker stage-specific embryonic antigen-5 (SSEA-5) is expressed in undifferentiated human induced pluripotent cells (iPSCs), but little is known about SSEA-5 expression in other primitive tissues (e.g., human tumors). We evaluated SSEA-5 immunoreactivity patterns in human tumors, cell lines, teratomas, and iPS cells together with another pluripotent cell surface marker L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM). We tested two hypotheses: (1) SSEA-5 and L1CAM would be immunoreactive and colocalized in human tumors; (2) SSEA-5 and L1CAM immunoreactivity would persist in iPSCs following retinal differentiating treatment. SSEA-5 immunofluorescence was most pronounced in primitive tumors, such as embryonal carcinoma. In tumor cell lines, SSEA-5 was highly immunoreactive in Capan-1 cells, while L1CAM was highly immunoreactive in U87MG cells. SSEA-5 and L1CAM showed colocalization in undifferentiated iPSCs, with immunopositive iPSCs remaining after 20 days of retinal differentiating treatment. This is the first demonstration of SSEA-5 immunoreactivity in human tumors and the first indication of SSEA-5 and L1CAM colocalization. SSEA-5 and L1CAM warrant further investigation as potentially useful tumor markers for histological evaluation or as markers to monitor the presence of undifferentiated cells in iPSC populations prior to therapeutic use

Machine Learning-Based Nicotine Addiction Prediction Models for Youth E-Cigarette and Waterpipe (Hookah) Users

Despite the harmful effect on health, e-cigarette and hookah smoking in youth in the U.S. has increased. Developing tailored e-cigarette and hookah cessation programs for youth is imperative. The aim of this study was to identify predictor variables such as social, mental, and environmental determinants that cause nicotine addiction in youth e-cigarette or hookah users and build nicotine addiction prediction models using machine learning algorithms. A total of 6511 participants were identified as ever having used e-cigarettes or hookah from the National Youth Tobacco Survey (2019) datasets. Prediction models were built by Random Forest with ReliefF and Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO). ReliefF identified important predictor variables, and the Davies–Bouldin clustering evaluation index selected the optimal number of predictors for Random Forest. A total of 193 predictor variables were included in the final analysis. Performance of prediction models was measured by Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Confusion Matrix. The results suggested high performance of prediction. Identified predictor variables were aligned with previous research. The noble predictors found, such as ‘witnessed e-cigarette use in their household’ and ‘perception of their tobacco use’, could be used in public awareness or targeted e-cigarette and hookah youth education and for policymakers

Simulation of the circuit performance impact of lithography in nanoscale semiconductor manufacturing

Abstract-With nanoscale semiconductor technology, circuit performance is increasingly influenced by details of the manufacturing process. An increasing number of manufacturing features, which are not included in standard design tools, affect both circuit performance and yield. One source of circuit performance degradation is lithography imperfections. Therefore, we need to simulate how lithography imperfections impact circuit performance. Such imperfections include the proximity effect, lens aberrations, and flare. These imperfections in lithography impact circuit timing. This paper introduces a method to incorporate the proximity effect, lens aberrations, and flare in timing simulation. Our method involves expanding and revising the cell library by considering optical effects. ISCAS benchmark circuits are used to evaluate the circuit performance impact of each optical effect

Spitzer Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy of Infrared Luminous Galaxies at z~2 III: Far-IR to Radio Properties and Optical Spectral Diagnostics

We present the far-IR, millimeter, and radio photometry as well as optical and near-IR spectroscopy of a sample of 48 z~1-3 Spitzer-selected ULIRGs with IRS mid-IR spectra. Our goals are to compute their bolometric emission, and to determine both the presence and relative strength of their AGN and starburst components. We find that strong-PAH sources tend to have higher 160um and 1.2mm fluxes than weak-PAH sources. The depth of the 9.7um silicate feature does not affect MAMBO detectability. We fit the far-IR SEDs of our sample and find an average ~7x10^{12}Lsun for our z>1.5 sources. Spectral decomposition suggests that strong-PAH sources typically have ~20-30% AGN fractions. Weak-PAH sources by contrast tend to have >~70% AGN fractions, with a few sources having comparable contributions of AGN and starbursts. The optical line diagnostics support the presence of AGN in the bulk of the weak-PAH sources. With one exception, our sources are narrow-line sources, show no obvious correspondence between the optical extinction and the silicate feature depth, and, in two cases, show evidence for outflows. Radio AGN are present in both strong-PAH and weak-PAH sources. This is supported by our sample's far-IR-to-radio ratios (q) being consistently below the average value of 2.34 for local star-forming galaxies. We use survival analysis to include the lower-limits given by the radio-undetected sources, arriving at =2.07+/-0.01 for our z>1.5 sample. In total, radio and, where available, optical line diagnostics support the presence of AGN in 57% of the z>1.5 sources, independent of IR-based diagnostics. For higher-z sources, the AGN luminosities alone are estimated to be >10^{12}Lsun, which, supported by the [OIII] luminosities, implies that the bulk of our sources host obscured quasars.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

A Qualitative Evaluation to Improve the Co-Parenting for Successful Kids Program

Programs aiming to help parents are often challenged in analyzing open-ended survey questions from large samples. This article presents qualitative findings collected from 1,287 participants with a child 5 years of age or younger who completed the program evaluation for the Co-Parenting for Successful Kids online program, a 4-hour education course developed by the University of Nebraska Extension. Qualitative content analysis revealed that participants found the program useful for improving their co-parenting communication skills. Participants suggested areas for improvement such as additional information for helping children cope, conflict resolution strategies, handling legal issues, and understanding how divorce impacts children based on their age. Supports and information were requested from parents in high conflict situations, including families dealing with a co-parent’s alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence, and having an uninvolved or absent parent. Analyzing qualitative data from participants and quantifying these responses into themes offers a useful and informative way to improve and enhance an existing education program aiming to support separating or divorcing parents