ETHANOL DECREASES EXPRESSION OF DEVELOPING NEURONS, BUT NOT NEURONAL VIABILITY, IN A CULTURED RAT HIPPOCAMPUS

As of 2019, alcohol use disorders (AUDs) affect roughly 14.1 million individuals over the age of 18 and cost up to $249 billion in economic burden in the United States. In addition to central nervous system (CNS), those affected by AUDs can present with cognitive and behavioral abnormalities. Specifically, those affected by AUDs experience deficits in memory consolidation and retrieval as well as executive functioning, which may be due to cellular changes within the hippocampus. There are at least two prominent and contended theories which explain the mechanism of functional impairment caused by alcohol: 1) alcohol induces excitotoxic neuronal death in the hippocampus and/or 2) alcohol diminishes neurogenesis, reducing production and proliferation of new neuronal cells. Determining the relative involvement of neuronal death and neuronal production in alcohol-induced hippocampal dysfunction is necessary to inform potential therapeutic targets aiming to restore cognitive deficits caused by alcohol exposure. The purpose of this experiment is to examine the effects of continuous alcohol exposure and explore the relative contributions of each of these processes in the conformational changes in the hippocampus after chronic alcohol exposure and establish organotypic hippocampal slice culture as a viable method to continue exploring these changes

Utilising voice recognition software to improve reading fluency of struggling adolescent readers

Approximately 15-20% of secondary students in Australia experience reading difficulties. For many, the cognitive effort required to decode words or the lack of automaticity in the elements that contribute to fluent reading prevents effective reading comprehension. Because reading comprehension is of critical importance across the curriculum, students with difficulties in this area are at significant academic risk. One effective method of improving reading fluency is ‘repeated readings’ (NICHHD, 2000). The purpose of this study was to examine whether the use of repeated readings delivered via a home-based program employing voice recognition software (VRS) could improve the reading fluency and self-perception as readers of adolescent students experiencing reading difficulties. The intervention was designed to overcome the problems associated with delivering a repeated reading program within a secondary English classroom. These problems relate to the amount of time required to conduct such a program within the constraints of the existing curriculum, and the reluctance of students to participate in a program that would draw attention to their reading difficulties. A treatment group participated in a home-based repeated reading program using VRS over a 20-week period and their results were compared to a comparison group who participated in a more traditional school-based repeated reading program. Reading fluency, comprehensions and reader self-perception were measured before and after the intervention. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and case studies. The intervention reported in this study resulted in improved reading rate, accuracy and comprehension for both the home-based treatment group and a school-based comparison group, with evidence of larger gains in the treatment group. The students’ perceptions of themselves as readers, however, did not show significant gains

Montgomery County Environmental Learning Center

One of the most memorable and impactful experiences I’ve had this semester with the River Stewards Program was our field trip to the Montgomery Country Environmental Learning Center. The sophomore cohort went on this field trip on our own, and it sticks out in my memory for many different reasons. One reason being what we saw and learned at the center

High School Exit Examinations: When Do Learning Effects Generalize?

This paper reviews international and domestic evidence on the effects of three types of high school exit exam systems: voluntary curriculum-based external exit exams, universal curriculum-based external exit exam systems and minimum competency tests that must be passed to receive a regular high school diploma. The nations and provinces that use Universal CBEEES (and typically teacher grades as well) to signal student achievement have significantly higher achievement levels and smaller differentials by family background than otherwise comparable jurisdictions that base high stakes decisions on voluntary college admissions tests and/or teacher grades. The introduction of Universal CBEEES in New York and North Carolina during the 1990s was associated with large increases in math achievement on NAEP tests. Research on MCTs and high school accountability tests is less conclusive because these systems are new and have only been implemented in one country. Cross-section studies using a comprehensive set of controls for family background have not found that students in MCT states score higher on audit tests like the NAEP that carry no stakes for the test taker. The analysis reported in table 1 tells us that the five states that introduced MCTs during the 1990s had significantly larger improvements on NAEP tests than states that made no change in their student accountability regime. The gains, however, are smaller than for the states introducing Universal CBEEES. New York and North Carolina. The most positive finding about MCTs is that students in MCT states earn significantly more during the first eight years after graduation than comparable students in other states suggesting that MCTs improve employer perceptions of the quality of the recent graduates of local high schools

Political Consequences of the development of Russia\u27s Inland Waterways

The foundation for present Russian industrial development was laid in the period 1925 to 1933. Russians, with the aid of American technicians built factories in accordance with American standards. They installed American equipment and machinery in these factories. At the same time they constructed huge dams and power plants. Russia was then a market for American products and certainly offered no competition to United States industry. This was so, even though it was recognized that within the great Russian land mass lay huge reserves of resources. Few recognized then that these factors could, if developed, enable Russia to build an industrial empire capable of challenging the United States. Attributes of location, area, population and natural resources which enabled the United States to become the world\u27s foremost industrial power were possessed also by Russia

Review on Wave Energy Technologies and Power Equipment for Tropical Reefs

As a promising renewable resource to replace part of the energy supply, the wave energy is having more and more interest worldwide. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of different wave energy technologies in order to identify more promising methods for power supply to tropical reefs. It starts with summarizing the characteristics of tropical reefs in which the most suitable places to be exploited are shown, and the classification of different types of wave energy converters according to their construction features. It is also described in detail each of the stages that are part of the energy conversion. On the basis of the characteristics of tropical coral reefs, the paper puts forward a new type of raft wave energy device which can achieve high operational reliability and adaptability with cost-effective deployment

State business: gender, sex and marriage in Tajikistan

This article examines the relation of the state to masculinity and sexuality by way of an exploration of the sexual problems of a young man and his wife in Tajikistan at the end of the Soviet era. It suggests that the regime’s inattention to this kind of issue was bound up with the importance to the state of projecting appropriate versions of masculinity. It further posits the idea that the continued refusal of the independent Tajik state to offer appropriate treatments for sexual dysfunction is consistent with the image of modernity President Rahmon wishes to present to the world. The article shows that as masculinity discursively occupies the superior gender position, with men expected to dominate, the state is itself impotent to respond when they are, in fact, unable to do so in sexual practice. However, the myth of male dominance persists to the point that it may prevent women from seeing beyond their subordination and finding mutually beneficial solutions in their familial and sexual relationships