Development of a CRAY 1 version of the SINDA program

The SINDA thermal analyzer program was transferred from the UNIVAC 1110 computer to a CYBER And then to a CRAY 1. Significant changes to the code of the program were required in order to execute efficiently on the CYBER and CRAY. The program was tested on the CRAY using a thermal math model of the shuttle which was too large to run on either the UNIVAC or CYBER. An effort was then begun to further modify the code of SINDA in order to make effective use of the vector capabilities of the CRAY

Employees\u27 perceptions of deterrents to participation in an employer-provided educational assistance program

This study investigated and identified perceived factors that deter eligible staff from participating in the educational assistance program provided by The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK)The population consisted of 2,970 eligible staffFrom this, a sample of 338 persons was randomly selected. Each was mailed a questionnaire consisting of a modified version of the Deterrents to Participation Scale - General (DPS- G) and a demographics section. With 196 returns, the response rate was 60.1%. Demographic data revealed that 55.1% of the respondents were participants. The first research question sought to determine the perceived deterrents that prevented eligible staff from participating in the educational assistance program. A principal components factor analysis of responses identified four factors: Lack of Confidence, Low Personal Priority, Time Choices, and Lack of Support. Nonpartcipants assigned generally low importance to their reasons for not enrolling in college courses. The second research question identified the deterrents to participation that staff continued to perceive while participating in the educational assistance program. Principal components factor analysis determined five deterrent factors: Lack of Confidence, Lack of Course Relevance, Time Choices; Personal Concerns, and Lack of Support. Persons in this group gave somewhat lower importance to the influences of these factors than did the nonparticipant group. The third research question dealt with the effects of demographic variables on the identified deterrents of both groups. A MANOVA procedure found significance in only one area: educational level of participants. A post hoc test revealed that persons with high school diplomas or some college credits perceived Lack of Confidence to a greater extent than employees with existing bachelor\u27s or master\u27s degrees. Additionally, Lack of Support was a significant deterrent for staff who had only high school diplomas. The fourth research question sought the effect of demographic variables on participation status. Eight variables were found significant including number of classes taken using the benefit, use of the maximum benefit, job category, intention of employment regarding the tuition benefit, preference for alternative course delivery, age, educational level, and participation in staff development training courses. This study confirmed that the deterrents construct is multidimensional in nature and that persons who participate in educational activities continue to perceive barriers similar to persons who elect not to participate. Additionally, both participants and 1 nonparticipants ascribe comparatively greater importance to the choices they make about the use of time and the consequences of selecting one activity over another

Revitalizing the Study of Self-Directed Adult Learning

Self-directed learning has been an important research area in adult education for the past three decades, and holds much potential for future scholarship. Three areas for possible future inquiry are examined

Regenerative capacity in the lamprey spinal cord is not altered after a repeated transection

© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 14(1), (2019):e0204193, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0204193.The resilience of regeneration in vertebrates is not very well understood. Yet understanding if tissues can regenerate after repeated insults, and identifying limitations, is important for elucidating the underlying mechanisms of tissue plasticity. This is particularly challenging in tissues, such as the nervous system, which possess a large number of terminally differentiated cells and often exhibit limited regeneration in the first place. However, unlike mammals, which exhibit very limited regeneration of spinal cord tissues, many non-mammalian vertebrates, including lampreys, bony fishes, amphibians, and reptiles, regenerate their spinal cords and functionally recover even after a complete spinal cord transection. It is well established that lampreys undergo full functional recovery of swimming behaviors after a single spinal cord transection, which is accompanied by tissue repair at the lesion site, as well as axon and synapse regeneration. Here we begin to explore the resilience of spinal cord regeneration in lampreys after a second spinal transection (re-transection). We report that by all functional and anatomical measures tested, lampreys regenerate after spinal re-transection just as robustly as after single transections. Recovery of swimming, synapse and cytoskeletal distributions, axon regeneration, and neuronal survival were nearly identical after spinal transection or re-transection. Only minor differences in tissue repair at the lesion site were observed in re-transected spinal cords. Thus, regenerative potential in the lamprey spinal cord is largely unaffected by spinal re-transection, indicating a greater persistent regenerative potential than exists in some other highly regenerative models. These findings establish a new path for uncovering pro-regenerative targets that could be deployed in non-regenerative conditions.The authors would like to thank Dr. Cristina Roman-Vendrell and Louie Kerr, Director of the Central Microscopy Facility at the MBL, for technical support. We also thank Dr. Juan Diaz-Quiroz for helpful comments on the manuscript. EG was supported in part by an NSF REU Award (#1659604: Biological Discovery in Woods Hole at the Marine Biological Laboratory)

Electrical Characteristics of Rat Skeletal Muscle in Immaturity, Adulthood and After Sciatic Nerve Injury, and Their Relation to Muscle Fiber Size

Localized impedance methods can provide useful approaches for assessing neuromuscular disease. The mechanism of these impedance changes remains, however, uncertain. In order to begin to understand the relation of muscle pathology to surface impedance values, 8 immature rats, 12 mature rats, and 8 mature rats that had undergone sciatic crush were killed. Tissue from the gastrocnemius muscle from each animal was measured in an impedance cell, and the conductivity and relative permittivity of the tissue calculated in both the longitudinal and transverse directions for frequencies of 2 kHz to 1 MHz. In addition, quantitative histological analysis was performed on the tissue. Significant elevations in transverse conductivity and transverse relative permittivity were found with animal growth, but longitudinal values showed no difference. After sciatic crush, both transverse and longitudinal conductivity increased significantly, with no change in the relative permittivity in either direction. The frequency dependence of the values also changed after nerve injury. In the healthy animals, there was a strong linear relation between measured conductivity and relative permittivity with cell area, but not for the sciatic crush animals. These results provide a first step toward developing a comprehensive understanding of how the electrical properties of muscle alter in neuromuscular disease states

Impaired Distal Thermoregulation in Diabetes and Diabetic Polyneuropathy

Objective: To determine how thermoregulation of the feet is affected by diabetes and diabetic polyneuropathy in both wakefulness and sleep. Research Design and Methods: Normal subjects, diabetic subjects without neuropathy, diabetic subjects with small-fiber diabetic polyneuropathy, and those with advanced diabetic polyneuropathy were categorized based on neurological examination, nerve conduction studies, and quantitative sensory testing. Subjects underwent foot temperature monitoring using an iButton device attached to the foot and a second iButton for recording of ambient temperature. Socks and footwear were standardized, and subjects maintained an activity diary. Data were collected over a 32-h period and analyzed. Results: A total of 39 normal subjects, 28 patients with diabetes but without diabetic polyneuropathy, 14 patients with isolated small-fiber diabetic polyneuropathy, and 27 patients with more advanced diabetic polyneuropathy participated. No consistent differences in foot temperature regulation between the four groups were identified during wakefulness. During sleep, however, multiple metrics revealed significant abnormalities in the diabetic patients. These included reduced mean foot temperature (P < 0.001), reduced maximal temperature (P < 0.001), increased rate of cooling (P < 0.001), as well as increased frequency of variation (P = 0.005), supporting that patients with diabetic polyneuropathy and even those with only diabetes but no diabetic polyneuropathy have impaired nocturnal thermoregulation. Conclusions: Nocturnal foot thermoregulation is impaired in patients with diabetes and diabetic polyneuropathy. Because neurons are highly temperature sensitive and because foot warming is part of the normal biology of sleep onset and maintenance, these findings suggest new potentially treatable mechanisms of diabetes-associated nocturnal pain and sleep disturbance

Serotonin inhibits axonal regeneration of identifiable descending neurons after a complete spinal cord injury in lampreys

Classical neurotransmitters are mainly known for their roles as neuromodulators, but they also play important roles in the control of developmental and regenerative processes. Here, we used the lamprey model of spinal cord injury to study the effect of serotonin in axon regeneration at the level of individually identifiable descending neurons. Pharmacological and genetic manipulations after a complete spinal cord injury showed that endogenous serotonin inhibits axonal regeneration in identifiable descending neurons through the activation of serotonin 1A receptors and a subsequent decrease in cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels. RNA sequencing revealed that changes in the expression of genes that control axonal guidance could be a key factor determining the serotonin effects during regeneration. This study provides new targets of interest for research in non-regenerating mammalian models of traumatic central nervous system injuries and extends the known roles of serotonin signalling during neuronal regeneration. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper

Readiness Factors Contributing to Participant Satisfaction in Online Higher Education Courses

The main purpose of the study was to determine if selected participant readiness variables correlated with selected satisfaction variables in an online higher education course and to examine the correlations between the readiness variables. Also of interest was the combination of readiness factors that could significantly predict learner satisfaction in the online environment. A total of 317 individuals who had participated in online courses at The University of Tennessee responded to a “Readiness and Satisfaction Questionnaire.” The survey consisted of five readiness and five satisfaction items developed by the researcher, the PRO-SDLS developed by Stockdale (2003), and 11 demographic questions. It was found that the reliability of the PRO-SDLS was confirmed for the population surveyed. The high level of the scale’s internal consistency (α = .91) was similar to the level (α = .92) reported by Stockdale (2003). The demographic section of the questionnaire revealed that individuals who responded to the questionnaire were on average older, with degrees beyond the baccalaureate, and who had completed one or more online course. It also revealed that most were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the course for which they responded to the survey. Perhaps because of these participant characteristics, no significant correlations were revealed between the study’s readiness and satisfaction factors. Statistical analysis of the readiness factors revealed a significant correlation between self-direction and age (r = .287, p \u3c .01). Three of the readiness factors associated with experience correlated significantly with confidence in online distance learning. They were computer-related experience (r = .370, p \u3c .01), experience with online collaborative environments (r = .398, p \u3c .01), and experience with online courses (r = .542, p \u3c .01). A stepwise regression analysis demonstrated that the factors of experience with online courses, and computer-related experience are predictive of the level of confidence in the online learning environment. Recommendations for further research include the need for more studies on participant confidence in the online learning environment. Further use of the PRO-SDLS especially with college and university-level students is also recommended. Finally, qualitative studies might enhance understanding of satisfaction with online courses from the participant’s point of view