A Comparison of Academic Expectations for Middle School Students in Hunan Province in Mainland China

This examination of Chinese middle school students notes cultural differences as a major factor in both motivation and academic success from their counterparts in America. The uniformity of national curriculum and classroom decorum, partnered with cultural expectations in China, which helps to nurture moral development, promote potential employment, and predicts the likelihood of care for family in the future, are all examined to highlight their effect on students. Confucian philosophy permeates the curriculum and societal attitude towards learning and the added Chinese belief that ability does not affect achievement – hard work does, is diametrically opposed to similar understandings about academic success in America. Surveys were conducted in two middle schools in China, one large urban school and one smaller rural school, for a total of 225 student participants. Classroom observation in two different schools concerned teacher performance and normative behavior in the classes. Sample interviews were also performed for further clarification of the student responses. Conclusions suggest that cultural expectations in the American school system would need to be more closely aligned with the Chinese model before this type of educational method could be implemented

Early Evolution

Upon completion of this lesson, students will: · Have a better understanding of the characteristics of early Earth · Have a better understanding evolution · Be able to manipulate parameters in Agentsheets · Be able to create spreadsheets in Exce

Evaluation of a Portable Automated Serum Chemistry Analyzer for Field Assessment of Harlequin Ducks, Histrionicus histrionicus

A portable analytical chemistry analyzer was used to make field assessments of wild harlequin ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) inassociation with telemetry studies of winter survival in Prince William Sound, Alaska. We compared serum chemistry resultsobtained on-site with results from a traditional laboratory. Particular attention was paid to serum glucose and potassiumconcentrations as potential indicators of high-risk surgical candidates based on evaluation of the field data. Themedian differentialfor glucose values (N = 82) between methods was 0.6 mmol/L (quartiles 0.3 and 0.9 mmol/L) with the median value higher whenassayed on site. Analysis of potassium on site returned a median of 2.7 mmol/L (N = 88 ; quartiles 2.4 and 3.0 mmol/L). Serumpotassium values were too low for quantitation by the traditional laboratory. Changes in several serum chemistry values followinga three-day storm during the study support the value of on site evaluation of serum potassium to identify presurgical patients withincreased anesthetic risk.                                      &nbsp

Birds of the Indigirka River Delta, Russia: Historical and Biogeographic Comparisons

We documented the breeding status and relative abundance of all avian species on the coastal portion of the Indigirka River Delta during spring and summer 1993-95. Data on avifaunal composition were then compared to data from adjacent areas from Eastern Siberia to the Chukotka Peninsula to evaluate how species composition changes longitudinally within the arctic and typical tundra zones of northern Russia. We recorded 63 species on the Indigirka River Delta, 37 (58.7%) of which were confirmed breeders during at least one of the three years. Five new species were recorded breeding (Arenaria interpres, Calidris acuminata, Limnodromus scolopaceus, Stercorarius parasiticus, and Asio flammeus), and 13 previously unrecorded species were observed during this study. We also identified several species of rare or threatened status in Russia and North America, including Branta bernicla, Somateria fischeri, Polysticta stelleri, and Rhodostethia rosea. We used parsimony and distance matrix methods to compare the breeding species richness on the Indigirka River Delta to that of six other Russian Arctic areas. Biogeographic comparisons revealed the presence of two clades in the Russian Arctic: the Lena River Delta east to Chaun Delta and the Chukotka Peninsula.Durant le printemps et l'été de 1993-95, on a documenté le statut de reproducteurs ainsi que l'abondance relative de toutes les espèces aviaires dans la partie littorale du delta de l'Indigirka. On a ensuite comparé les données sur la composition aviaire à des données provenant de régions contiguës allant de la Sibérie orientale à la péninsule Tchoukotka, en vue d'évaluer la façon dont la composition des espèces évolue longitudinalement à l'intérieur des zones arctiques et des zones typiques de la toundra de la Russie septentrionale. On a enregistré 63 espèces dans le delta de l'Indigirka, dont 37 (58,7 p. cent) étaient des reproducteurs durant au moins une des trois années. On a enregistré cinq nouvelles espèces reproductrices (Arenaria interpres, Calidris acuminata, Limnodromus scolopaceus, Stercocarius parasiticus et Asio flammeus), et, au cours de l'étude, on a observé 13 espèces qui n'avaient jamais été relevées auparavant. On a aussi identifié plusieurs espèces classées rares ou menacées en Russie et en Amérique du Nord, y compris Branta bernicla, Somateria fischeri, Polysticta stelleri et Rhodostethia rosea. On a employé les méthodes de parcimonie et de matrices de distance pour comparer la diversité des espèces reproductrices présentes dans le delta de l'Indigirka avec six autres régions arctiques de Russie. Les comparaisons biogéographiques ont révélé la présence de deux clades dans l'Arctique russe: le delta de la Lena à l'est jusqu'au delta du fleuve Chaun, et la péninsule Tchoukotka

Harlequin duck demography during winter in Prince William Sound, Alaska : effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill

The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill was a major perturbation of nearshore habitats of Prince William Sound, a wintering area for harlequin ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus). This research was designed to evaluate harlequin duck population recovery from the oil spill from 1995 to 1998, using a demographic approach to assess both the "product" of population changes (e.g., density differences; Chapter 4) and the demographic "processes" affecting population dynamics (e.g., survival; Chapter 3). Wintering aggregations of harlequin ducks are core population units from a population structure perspective and are largely demographically independent, due to high rates of winter site fidelity, pair formation during winter, and evidence that juveniles follow hens to wintering areas. Therefore, evaluation of population-level effects of the oil spill is appropriately directed at these wintering aggregations. We selected adult female survival as a primary demographic attribute to measure, as population dynamics of animals with life history characteristics like harlequin ducks are particularly sensitive to variation in adult female survival rates. Also, we speculated that oil spill effects during winter would be manifested as survival reductions. We found that winter densities of harlequin ducks were lower on oiled study areas than unoiled areas, after accounting for effects of habitat (Chapter 4), indicating that population recovery had not occurred. Also, we determined that adult female survival was lower on oiled areas than unoiled areas (Chapter 3), and speculated that this was related to documented oil exposure of harlequin duck populations in oiled areas coincident with our study. We also confirmed that our survival estimates were not biased by assumptions about effects of radio transmitters or fate of missing radios (Chapter 2). In Chapter 5, we reviewed all data relevant to harlequin duck recovery from the oil spill, including our demographic data, and concluded that population recovery had not occurred by 1998, deleterious effects persisted, and continued oil exposure likely was the primary constraint to full recovery. Although populations of many species may have recovered quickly from the Exxon Valdez spill, characteristics of harlequin ducks make their winter populations particularly susceptible, including their habitat associations, diet, life history. and energetics

Evaluation of the Milk Fatty Acid Profile from Mediterranean Buffalo Cows in the First Eight Weeks of Lactation

The aim of this study was to evaluate the fatty acid composition of buffalo milk in the first eight weeks oflactation. It was used 18 cows multiparous Buffaloes of Mediterranean race, the data collection starting four weeksbefore of the calving provided by the 8th week of lactation. The animals were mechanically milked once daily in themorning. The milk samples used for composition analysis were collected weekly from parturition to eight weeks oflactation. There was effect of weeks during the transition period and early lactation for fat yield (kg/day) and for bodyweight of the buffalo cows in lactation (kg).There was effect of weeks of lactation on the fatty acid composition of milkfat.Variations in levels of unsaturated fatty acids of milk fat of buffaloes are similar to those found in dairy cows of thepartum to eighth week of lactation

Cytochrome P4501A biomarker indication of the timeline of chronic exposure of Barrow’s goldeneyes to residual Exxon Valdez oil

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2010. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Marine Pollution Bulletin 62 (2011): 609-614, doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2010.11.015.We examined hepatic EROD activity, as an indicator of CYP1A induction, in Barrow's goldeneyes captured in areas oiled during the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill and those from nearby unoiled areas. We found that average EROD activity differed between areas during 2005, although the magnitude of the difference was reduced relative to a previous study from 1996/97, and we found that areas did not differ by 2009. Similarly, we found that the proportion of individuals captured from oiled areas with elevated EROD activity ( 2 times unoiled average) declined from 41% in winter 1996/97 to 10% in 2005 and 15% in 2009. This work adds to a body of literature describing the timelines over which vertebrates were exposed to residual Exxon Valdez oil and indicates that, for Barrow's goldeneyes in Prince William Sound, exposure persisted for many years with evidence of substantially reduced exposure by 2 decades after the spill.This research was supported primarily by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council

The influence of stratospheric vortex displacements and splits on surface climate

A strong link exists between stratospheric variability and anomalous weather patterns at the earth’s surface. Specifically, during extreme variability of the Arctic polar vortex termed a “weak vortex event,” anomalies can descend from the upper stratosphere to the surface on time scales of weeks. Subsequently the outbreak of cold-air events have been noted in high northern latitudes, as well as a quadrupole pattern in surface temperature over the Atlantic and western European sectors, but it is currently not understood why certain events descend to the surface while others do not. This study compares a new classification technique of weak vortex events, based on the distribution of potential vorticity, with that of an existing technique and demonstrates that the subdivision of such events into vortex displacements and vortex splits has important implications for tropospheric weather patterns on weekly to monthly time scales. Using reanalysis data it is found that vortex splitting events are correlated with surface weather and lead to positive temperature anomalies over eastern North America of more than 1.5 K, and negative anomalies over Eurasia of up to −3 K. Associated with this is an increase in high-latitude blocking in both the Atlantic and Pacific sectors and a decrease in European blocking. The corresponding signals are weaker during displacement events, although ultimately they are shown to be related to cold-air outbreaks over North America. Because of the importance of stratosphere–troposphere coupling for seasonal climate predictability, identifying the type of stratospheric variability in order to capture the correct surface response will be necessary

In vivo multiphoton imaging reveals gradual growth of newborn amyloid plaques over weeks

The kinetics of amyloid plaque formation and growth as one of the characteristic hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are fundamental issues in AD research. Especially the question how fast amyloid plaques grow to their final size after they are born remains controversial. By long-term two-photon in vivo imaging we monitored individual methoxy-X04-stained amyloid plaques over 6 weeks in 12 and 18 months old Tg2576 mice. We found that in 12 months old mice, newly appearing amyloid plaques were initially small in volume and subsequently grew over time. The growth rate of plaques was inversely proportional to their volume; thus amyloid plaques that were already present at the first imaging time point grew over time but slower compared to new plaques. Additionally, we analyzed 18 months old Tg2576 mice in which we neither found newly appearing plaques nor a significant growth of pre-existing plaques over 6 weeks of imaging. In conclusion, newly appearing amyloid plaques are initially small in size but grow over time until plaque growth can not be detected anymore in aged mice. These results suggest that drugs that target plaque formation should be most effective early in the disease, when plaques are growing

A perspective on time: loss frequencies, time scales and lifetimes

Environmental context. The need to describe the Earth’s system or any of its components with a quantity that has units of time is ubiquitous. These quantities are used as metrics of the system to describe the response to a perturbation, the cumulative effect of an action or just the budget in terms of sources and sinks.Given a complex, non-linear system, there are many different ways to derive such quantities, and careful definitions are needed to avoid mistaken approximations while providing useful parameters describing the system. Abstract. Diagnostic quantities involving time include loss frequency, decay times or time scales and lifetimes. For the Earth’s system or any of its components, all of these are calculated differently and have unique diagnostic properties. Local loss frequency is often assumed to be a simple, linear relationship between a species and its loss rate, but this fails in many important cases of atmospheric chemistry where reactions couple across species. Lifetimes, traditionally defined as total burden over loss rate, are mistaken for a time scale that describes the complete temporal behaviour of the system. Three examples here highlight: local loss frequencies with non-linear chemistry (tropospheric ozone); simple atmospheric chemistry with multiple reservoirs (methyl bromide) and fixed chemistry but evolving lifetimes (methyl chloroform). These are readily generalised to other biogeochemistry and Earth system models