African American Parents’ Perceptions of How Their Digital Practices Affect the Parent-Child Relationship

This qualitative study aimed to understand African American parents’ perceptions, observations, and experiences concerning their digital practices and whether or not these practices have any impact on their communication with their children. The theories that guided this study are housed in the sociopsychological communication tradition (i.e., uses and gratification theory and the family communication patterns theory) and the sociocultural communication tradition (i.e., cultivation theory). Thirty-five in-depth interviews of African American parents who completed a qualifying survey were conducted. The interview transcripts underwent a thematic analysis to understand the interviewees’ perceptions, observations, and experiences related to the research questions, which addressed their digital practices. The insights from this study can benefit African American parents, caregivers of African American children, scholars, professionals (e.g., educators and social workers), and policymakers to create best practices that could help scholars and practitioners provide more data-informed and data-driven support to African Americans in various contexts (e.g., parenting, family planning, education, social services, etc.)

Smart bookmarks : automatic retroactive macro recording on the web

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 82-83).New technology has made the Web more dynamic and personalized, while at the same time interaction with the Web has become more complicated and involved. This thesis presents Smart Bookmarks, a web automation system that allows users to automate complex tasks or easily return to otherwise hard-to-reach dynamic web pages by creating smart bookmarks. A smart bookmark consists of an automatically generated script of recorded browsing commands that returns to a particular web page or web application state. Smart bookmarks can be created retroactively, meaning that the user does not need to explicitly initiate recording before performing a task, but can instead request a bookmark after visiting the destination page; the appropriate sequence of commands need to return to a page is selected automatically from a history of the user's browsing interactions. Smart Bookmarks provides a rich, visual representation of recorded bookmarks in order to clearly illustrate the actions that a bookmark performs, and includes textual descriptions, screenshots, and animated previews of each command. Finally, the system allows users to easily and intuitively edit bookmarks after they have been created, and to share smart bookmarks with other users.by Darris Hupp.M.Eng

Pushing Education: Parental Engagement, Educational Aspirations and College Access

This qualitative study explores the counterstories of educational engagement experiences for five parents who have a high school student in a college access program that is designed for students with a financial need and/or no family history of college. This study uses the ecologies of parental engagement (EPE) framework to explore family engagement in traditional academic settings but also nonacademic settings. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and one focus group. Their counterstories challenge the notion that parents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and/or no to little family history of college are disinterested or disengaged in their student’s education. The data reveal that the family members are highly engaged in their student’s educational experiences in academic settings, nonacademic settings (home, community organizations, and neighborhoods), and in the college access program. Furthermore, the findings reveal that the college access program serves as an alternative space for family engagement

Research in Brief - Pushing Education: Parental Engagement, Educational Aspirations and College Access

This qualitative study explores the counterstories of educational engagement experiences for five parents who have a high school student in a college access program that is designed for students with a financial need and/or no family history of college. This study uses the ecologies of parental engagement (EPE) framework to explore family engagement in traditional academic settings but also nonacademic settings. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and one focus group. Their counterstories challenge the notion that parents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and/or no to little family history of college are disinterested or disengaged in their student’s education. The data reveal that the family members are highly engaged in their student’s educational experiences in academic settings, nonacademic settings (home, community organizations, and neighborhoods), and in the college access program. Furthermore, the findings reveal that the college access program serves as an alternative space for family engagement

We Have Something to Say: Youth Participatory Action Research as a Promising Practice to Address Problems of Practice in Rural Schools

The purpose of this article is to highlight a critical approach for practice, youth participatory action research, that can be used to invite rural youth to collaborate with school administrators, educators, and community leaders to identify and examine challenges, while building upon the strengths of a school and community to address challenges. Our youth participatory action research project was a collaboration between adult researchers and five students from a rural high school to examine and address postsecondary education access challenges. The adult and student researchers developed and implemented two evidence-based products: (a) a conference and (b) a resource corner in the school library. Student co-researchers demonstrated an increased commitment to the project, development of postsecondary education knowledge, and development as leaders during the project. Our project demonstrates evidence of youth participatory action research being an effective approach to address problems of practice in rural education

A comparative analysis of microbial profile of Guinea fowl and chicken using metagenomic approach

Probiotics are live microbial feed supplements that promote growth and health to the host by minimizing non-essential and pathogenic microorganisms in the host’s gastrointestinal tract (GIT). The campaign to minimize excessive use of antibiotics in poultry production has necessitated development of probiotics with broad application in multiple poultry species. Design of such probiotics requires understanding of the diversity or similarity in microbial profiles among avian species of economic importance. Therefore, the objective of this research was to establish and compare the microbial profiles of the GIT of Guinea fowl and chicken and to establish the microbial diversity or similarity between the two avian species. A metagenomic approach consisting of the amplification and sequence analysis of the hypervariable regions V1-V9 of the 16S rRNA gene was used to identify the GIT microbes. Collectively, we detected more than 150 microbial families. The total number of microbial species detected in the chicken GIT was higher than that found in the Guinea Fowl GIT. Our studies also revealed phylogenetic diversity among the microbial species found in chicken and guinea fowl. The phylum Firmicutes was most abundant in both avian species whereas Phylum Actinobacteria was most abundant in chickens than Guinea fowls. The diversity of the microbial profiles found in broiler chickens and Guinea fowls suggest that the design of effective avian probiotics would require species specificity

KOMPOSISI JENIS DAN UKURAN IKAN YANG DITANGKAP PADA RUMPON DENGAN PANCING ULUR DI SELAT MAKASSAR

ABSTRACTThe objective of the  researcah is to analyze the species composition and size of fish caught at shallow and deep FAD at Makassar strait. In obtaining the data, the research is using survei method carried out for four months, starting April to July 2016 at Makassar strait. The data obtained was descriptively analyzed.  The research result presented that the number of fish caught at shallow FAD 568 fish (45.92%), consisted of skipjack tuna Katsuwonus pelamis (9.86%), Bullet tuna Auxis rochei (8.65%), Yellowfin Tuna Thunnus albacares (11.16%) and Indian Mackerel Rastrelliger kanagurta (16.25%). While 669 fish (54.08%) caught at deep FAD consisted of Katsuwonus pelamis (11.80%), and  Rastrelliger kanagurta (18.35%). The size spread of skipjack tuna (23-42 cm and 29-53 cm), Bullet Tuna (16.5-25.0 cm and 18.5-28.5 cm), Yellowfin Tuna (25-120 cm and 80-160 cm) and Indian mackerel (16-25 cm and 16-25 cm) for shallow and deep FAD respectively. The fish size distribution caught at shallow and deep FAD was skipjack tuna, whereas the  Auxis rochei rochei  and Thunnus albacares had bigger size distribution in deep sea FAD, while the  Rastrelliger kanagurta had relatively similar size distribution in shallow or deep sea FAD.   Keywords:  fish size, fish species composition, hand-line, shallow and deep sea FADABSTRAKPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis komposisi jenis dan ukuran ikan yang ditangkap pada rumpon laut dangkal dan rumpon laut dalam di Selat Makassar. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode survei dalam pengambilan data dan dilakukan selama 4 bulan mulai April-Juli 2016 di Selat Makassar. Data yang diperoleh dianalisis secara deskriptif. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ikan yang ditangkap pada rumpon laut dangkal berjumlah 568 ekor (45,92%), terdiri dari ikan cakalang 9,86%, tongkol lisong 8,65%, tuna madidihang 11,16% dan kembung lelaki 16,25%. Ikan yang ditangkap pada rumpon laut dalam berjumlah 669 ekor (54,08%), terdiri dari ikan cakalang 11,80%, tongkol lisong 12,21%, tuna madidihang 11,72% dan kembung lelaki 18,35%. Sebaran ukuran ikan cakalang berkisar 23-42 cm dan 29-53 cm,  tongkol lisong 16,5-25,0 cm dan 18,5-28,5 cm, tuna madidihang berkisar 25-120 cm dan 80-160 cm serta ikan kembung lelaki berkisar 16-25 cm dan 16-25 cm masing-masing untuk rumpon laut dangkal dan rumpon laut dalam. Distribusi ukuran ikan yang ditangkap pada rumpon laut dangkal dan rumpon dalam dari jenis ikan cakalang, ikan tongkol lisong dan tuna madidihang memiliki distribusi ukuran lebih besar pada rumpon laut dalam, sedangkan ikan kembung lelaki baik pada rumpon dangkal dan dalam memiliki distribusi ukuran relatif sama.Kata kunci:  ukuran ikan, komposisi jenis ikan, pancing ulur, rumpon dangkal dan dala

Lysine mediation of neuroendocrine food regulation in guinea fowl

In poultry, obesity is partly influenced by food intake, and is increasingly becoming a nationwide problem. Hypothalamic food intake mechanisms are involved metabolically and neurologically via two peptide hormones, leptin and ghrelin, and the amino acid glutamate, which is enzymatically derived from lysine metabolism. We hypothesize that lysine homeostasis mediates regulation of feed intake and performance characteristics via the brain–liver axis through glutamate sensing. The objective was to examine the effects of lysine homeostasis in avian food regulation and performance through neuroendocrine signaling. One-day-old male French Guinea fowl (GF) keets (n = 270) were weighed and randomly assigned to 5 dietary treatments (0.80%, 0.86%, 0.92%, 1.10% control, and 1.22% lysine) in 3 replicates. At 4 and 8 wk of age 20% of experimental birds were randomly selected, weighed and euthanatized. The liver, pancreas, and hypothalamus were excised, snap frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at –80°C until use. Tissue mRNA was extracted and cDNA synthesized for qPCR assays. Lysine at 0.80 and 0.86% hindered growth, development of digestive organs, expression of brain and liver glutamate and leptin receptors, and caused high mortality in GF. The fold change for metabotropic glutamate receptor I was lower (P \u3c 0.05) in liver and higher in brain at 0.86 and 0.92% than the control (1.10%) and 1.22% lysine. The 1.22% lysine exhibited highest expression of ionotropic glutamate receptor, while brain ghrelin receptor expression was highest at 0.86 and 0.92% lysine. Therefore, dietary lysine concentration may influence signaling pathways regulating food intake in brain-liver axis via glutamate synthesis

Molecular tools to support metabolic and immune function research in the Guinea Fowl (Numida meleagris)

Background Guinea fowl (Numidia meleagris) production as an alternative source of meat and poultry has shown potential for economic viability. However, there has been little progress in characterizing the transcriptome of the guinea fowl. In this study RNA-sequencing and de novo transcriptome assembly of several Guinea fowl tissues (pancreas, hypothalamus, liver, bone marrow and bursa) which play key roles in regulating feed intake, satiety, and immune function was performed using Illumina’s Hi-Seq 2000. Results 74 million sequences were generated and assembled into 96,492 contigs using the Trinity software suite. Over 39,000 of these transcripts were found to have in silico translated protein sequences that are homologous to chicken protein sequences. Gene ontology analysis uncovered 416 transcripts with metabolic functions and 703 with immune function. Conclusion The transcriptome information presented here will support the development of molecular approaches to improve production efficiency of the guinea fowl and other avian species