Disability Awareness in Young Children

Young children who attend schools nowadays are likely exposed to many more types of diversity ranging from race, ethnicity, religion, and social class to name a few in comparison to the past. One area of diversity in specific is the inclusion of individuals with disabilities, and because children are so young in age, they may not be aware of disabilities or even identify when a peer or a surrounding adult has a disability. In schools the idea of raising disability awareness to an extent where students not only understand but recognize disabilities, perhaps, is one of the most challenging aspects for schools today(Hurst, Corning, & Ferrante, 2012). To help address the deficiency of disability awareness in young children, I designed a curriculum about disabilities based of 3 sessions that will be distributed to a group of preschoolers at Boronda Meadows Elementary

Identification of novel post-transcriptional features in olfactory receptor family mRNAs.

Olfactory receptor (Olfr) genes comprise the largest gene family in mice. Despite their importance in olfaction, how most Olfr mRNAs are regulated remains unexplored. Using RNA-seq analysis coupled with analysis of pre-existing databases, we found that Olfr mRNAs have several atypical features suggesting that post-transcriptional regulation impacts their expression. First, Olfr mRNAs, as a group, have dramatically higher average AU-content and lower predicted secondary structure than do control mRNAs. Second, Olfr mRNAs have a higher density of AU-rich elements (AREs) in their 3'UTR and upstream open reading frames (uORFs) in their 5 UTR than do control mRNAs. Third, Olfr mRNAs have shorter 3' UTR regions and with fewer predicted miRNA-binding sites. All of these novel properties correlated with higher Olfr expression. We also identified striking differences in the post-transcriptional features of the mRNAs from the two major classes of Olfr genes, a finding consistent with their independent evolutionary origin. Together, our results suggest that the Olfr gene family has encountered unusual selective forces in neural cells that have driven them to acquire unique post-transcriptional regulatory features. In support of this possibility, we found that while Olfr mRNAs are degraded by a deadenylation-dependent mechanism, they are largely protected from this decay in neural lineage cells

Sensory modulation of crustacean non-giant tailflipping

As a first step in re-examining the modulation of non-giant tailflipping, we further investigate how the presence of weapons affects non-giant tailflipping. Removing both claws significantly changes the threshold for tailflipping (Krasne and Wine, 1975; Lang et al., 1977). Claw removal affects several variables at once, however; e.g., the animal’s mass; visual stimuli associated with having claws; tactile and proprioceptive cues. For example, a crayfish with claws that are present but useless might “bluff,” and may not tailflip away from a stimuli more than an intact animal

Compromised weaponry enhances crayfish tailflipping

As a defense strategy, many crustaceans perform one of two well described stereotyped single fast tailflips (~6 ms in adult crayfish), which are triggered by a neural circuit that includes medial giant interneurons (MG) and lateral giant interneurons (LG). Tailflips can also occur without these giant interneurons firing, however; these non-giant tailflips are variable, repetitive, and significantly longer (~150 ms). Previous work showed that crayfish exposed to natural stimulus respond with a non-giant tailflip significantly faster than when presented with an artificial stimulus and that complete removal of claws lowered tailflipping threshold. We tested whether compromising weapons would influence tailflipping. Claws were deafferented by cutting the leg nerve between the coxa-basis joint. Crayfish were presented with artificial tactile stimuli, and their tailflipping behaviour was video recorded in three conditions: intact, deafferentation of one claw, and deafferentation of both claws. Crayfish with either one or both claws deafferented tailflipped greater distances than intact animals when tapped. The orientation that crayfish assumed after tailflipping was not significantly different with claw deafferentation, however. We plan to conduct similar experiments compromising vision and in species that have no claws and use alternate weapons (e.g., antennae)

Application of the Gaussian mixture model in pulsar astronomy -- pulsar classification and candidates ranking for {\it Fermi} 2FGL catalog

Machine learning, algorithms to extract empirical knowledge from data, can be used to classify data, which is one of the most common tasks in observational astronomy. In this paper, we focus on Bayesian data classification algorithms using the Gaussian mixture model and show two applications in pulsar astronomy. After reviewing the Gaussian mixture model and the related Expectation-Maximization algorithm, we present a data classification method using the Neyman-Pearson test. To demonstrate the method, we apply the algorithm to two classification problems. Firstly, it is applied to the well known period-period derivative diagram, where we find that the pulsar distribution can be modeled with six Gaussian clusters, with two clusters for millisecond pulsars (recycled pulsars) and the rest for normal pulsars. From this distribution, we derive an empirical definition for millisecond pulsars as $\frac{\dot{P}}{10^{-17}} \leq3.23(\frac{P}{100 \textrm{ms}})^{-2.34}$. The two millisecond pulsar clusters may have different evolutionary origins, since the companion stars to these pulsars in the two clusters show different chemical composition. Four clusters are found for normal pulsars. Possible implications for these clusters are also discussed. Our second example is to calculate the likelihood of unidentified \textit{Fermi} point sources being pulsars and rank them accordingly. In the ranked point source list, the top 5% sources contain 50% known pulsars, the top 50% contain 99% known pulsars, and no known active galaxy (the other major population) appears in the top 6%. Such a ranked list can be used to help the future follow-up observations for finding pulsars in unidentified \textit{Fermi} point sources.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted by MNRA

Loss of Escape-Related Giant Neurons in a Spiny Lobster, Panulirus Argus

When attacked, many decapod crustaceans perform tailflips, which are triggered by a neural circuit that includes lateral giant interneurons, medial giant interneurons, and fast flexor motor giant neurons (MoGs). Slipper lobsters (Scyllaridae) lack these giant neurons, and it has been hypothesized that behavioral (e.g., digging) and morphological (e.g., flattening and armor) specializations in this group caused the loss of escape-related giant neurons. To test this hypothesis, we examined a species of spiny lobster, Panulirus argus. Spiny lobsters belong to the sister taxon of the scyllarids, but they have a more crayfish-like morphology than scyllarids and were predicted to have escape-related giant neurons. Ventral nerve cords of P. argus were examined using paraffin-embedded sections and cobalt backfills. We found no escape-related giant neurons and no large axon profiles in the dorsal region of the nerve cord of P. argus. Cobalt backfills showed one fewer fast flexor motor neuron than in species with MoGs and none of the fast flexor motor neurons show any of the anatomical specializations of MoGs. This suggests that all palinuran species lack this giant escape circuit, and that the loss of rapid escape behavior preceded, and may have driven, alternative predator avoidance and anti-predator strategies in palinurans

Remaining missed opportunities of child survival in Peru:Modelling mortality impact of universal and equitable coverage of proven interventions

Abstract Background Peru has made great improvements in reducing stunting and child mortality in the past decade, and has reached the Millennium Development Goals 1 and 4. The remaining challenges or missed opportunities for child survival needs to be identified and quantified, in order to guide the next steps to further improve child survival in Peru. Methods We used the Lives Saved Tool (LiST) to project the mortality impact of proven interventions reaching every women and child in need, and the mortality impact of eliminating inequalities in coverage distribution between wealth quintiles and urban–rural residence. Results Our analyses quantified the remaining missed opportunities in Peru, where prioritizing scale-up of facility-based case management for all small and sick babies will be most effective in mortality reduction, compared to other evidenced-based interventions that prevent maternal and child deaths. Eliminating coverage disparities between the poorest quintiles and the richest will reduce under-five and neonatal mortality by 22.0 and 40.6 %, while eliminating coverage disparities between those living in rural and urban areas will reduce under-five and neonatal mortality by 29.3 and 45.2 %. This projected neonatal mortality reduction achieved by eliminating coverage disparities is almost comparable to that already achieved by Peru over the past decade. Conclusions Although Peru has made great strides in improving child survival, further improvement in child health, especially in newborn health can be achieved if there is universal and equitable coverage of proven, quality health facility-based interventions. The magnitude of reduction in mortality will be similar to what has been achieved in the past decade. Strengthening health system to identify, understand, and direct resources to the poor and rural areas will ensure that Peru achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030

Fixing the U-band photometry of Type Ia supernovae

We present previously unpublished photometry of supernovae 2003gs and 2003hv. Using spectroscopically-derived corrections to the U-band photometry, we reconcile U-band light curves made from imagery with the Cerro Tololo 0.9-m, 1.3-m and Las Campanas 1-m telescopes. Previously, such light curves showed a 0.4 mag spread at one month after maximum light. This gives us hope that a set of corrected ultraviolet light curves of nearby objects can contribute to the full utilization of rest frame U-band data of supernovae at redshift ~0.3 to 0.8. As pointed out recently by Kessler et al. in the context of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey supernova search, if we take the published U-band photometry of nearby Type Ia supernovae at face value, there is a 0.12 mag U-band anomaly in the distance moduli of higher redshift objects. This anomaly led the Sloan survey to eliminate from their analyses all photometry obtained in the rest frame U-band. The Supernova Legacy Survey eliminated observer frame U-band photometry, which is to say nearby objects observed in the U-band, but they used photometry of high redshift objects no matter in which band the photons were emitted.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa