Facilitating Racial Equity: Evaluating a Leadership Workshop Series for School Social Workers

This article provides an overview of a leadership training workshop series designed to provide professional development to Pre-K through 12th grade school social workers about racial equity and leadership. The series\u27 objectives included promoting social workers’ understanding of and obligation to facilitating racial equity in schools, analyzing educational data through a racial equity lens, conceptualizing school social workers as influencers in addressing racial inequities in schools, and collaborating with school professionals of various disciplines to practice and implement evidence-based approaches for facilitating racial equity in schools. The authors conducted five workshops that were developed based on state school social work practice standards, school systems data, scholarly literature, and social work values and ethics, and used a pretest/ posttest, workshop surveys, and a follow-up survey one year later to measure change in participants’ knowledge, self-readiness in assessing, facilitating, and leading change in school settings, and self-perceptions as leaders versus support staff. Survey findings are discussed in relation to participants’ perceived identity in the school environment, knowledge of racial equity, perceived readiness in assessing and facilitating racial equity in school cultures, perceived identity in the school environment, and possible barriers to promoting a racially equitable school culture

Assessing a Knowledge Management (KM) Project Selection Framework

Knowledge management (KM) is becoming recognized as a valuable tool for establishing and maintaining competitive advantage. Decision superiority, the ultimate goal of KM, is only possible through the effective and efficient use of knowledge. But, to effectively and efficiently create and use KM, it is important to carefully select KM projects. This research assesses the usefulness of a KM project selection framework that was developed by U.S. Air Force Captain William Bower (2001) and refined by 1st Lt Jeffrey Phillips (2003) referred to here as the Bower-Phillips decision framework. To assess the usability of the framework, a case study was undertaken at an Air Force organization to identify and address potential knowledge management opportunities. The framework was found to be useful in identifying possible KM projects

SATL Based Lesson for Teaching Grignard Reagents in Synthetic Organic Chemistry

Synthesizing new products from raw materials has been very popular aspects of research in organic chemistry. Traditionally, Grignard reagent has been very vital component of such synthetic procedures. Hence learning of various issues concerning with applications of Grignard reactions in synthetic organic chemistry is vital for enhancing the students creative capability. In this paper we will illustrate the uses of SATL methodology, which is recently getting popular [1- 3], in an SATL-based model lesson concerning teaching and learning of synthetic organic reactions related to Grignard reagents

Metabolic substrates exhibit differential effects on functional parameters of mouse sperm capacitation

Sperm are capable of fertilization only after undergoing physiological changes in the female reproductive tract. These changes, known as capacitation, include the onset of a form of sperm motility called hyperactivation. Capacitation requires glycolysis, and sperm deficient in glycolytic enzymes are infertile due to defects in ATP levels and motility. Despite evidence of the importance of glycolysis in fertilization, several substrates not metabolized by this pathway have been shown to support sperm motility. To investigate the effects of substrate utilization on sperm functional changes required for fertilization, we first developed a method to evaluate patterns of mouse sperm motility. This tool, called CASAnova, is based on a multiclass support vector machines (SVM) model incorporating kinematic parameters of sperm motion generated by computerassisted sperm analysis (CASA). Over 2,000 tracks were visually classified into five patterns of motility, and CASA parameters associated with these tracks were incorporated into established SVM algorithms to generate four equations. These equations, integrated into a decision tree, sequentially sort tracks into progressive, intermediate, hyperactivated, slow, or weakly motile groups. CASAnova incorporates these equations into a program for the automatic classification of sperm motility profiles. Comparisons of motility profiles of capacitating versus non-capacitating sperm confirmed the ability of CASAnova to distinguish hyperactivated motility. Furthermore, CASAnova accurately classified sperm with severe motility defects and revealed differences in motility profiles of sperm from genetically diverse inbred strains. Our analyses indicate that CASAnova provides rapid and reproducible measurements of sperm motility. We utilized CASAnova in conjunction with other measurements of sperm function to investigate the metabolic requirements of mouse sperm during in vitro capacitation. Our results demonstrate that mouse sperm maintained comparable ATP levels and percent motility when metabolizing either glycolytic or nonglycolytic substrates. However, only glucose and mannose supported the full spectrum of events associated with capacitation. Analyses of sperm incubated with metabolic inhibitors indicate that sperm utilizing fructose are capable of hyperactivation if oxidative phosphorylation is uncoupled. Metabolomic analyses of sperm incubated with glucose or fructose revealed alterations in antioxidant metabolites, suggesting that changes in redox state may contribute to the differential abilities of these substrates to support hyperactivation.Doctor of Philosoph

Evaluation of a method for fusing LIDAR data and multispectral images for building detection

In this paper, we describe the evaluation of a method for building detection by the Dempster-Shafer fusion of LIDAR data and multispectral images. For that purpose, ground truth was digitised for two test sites with quite different characteristics. Using these data sets, the heuristic model for the probability mass assignments of the method is validated, and rules for the tuning of the parameters of this model are discussed. Further we evaluate the contributions of the individual cues used in the classification process to the quality of the classification results. Our results show the degree to which the overall correctness of the results can be improved by fusing LIDAR data with multispectral images

The mineral profile affects the coagulation pattern and cheese-making efficiency of bovine milk

Natural variations in milk minerals, their relationships, and their associations with the coagulation process and cheese-making traits present an opportunity for the differentiation of milk destined for high-quality natural products, such as traditional specialties or Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) cheeses. The aim of this study was to quantify the effects of the native contents of Ca, P, Na, K, and Mg on 18 traits describing traditional milk coagulation properties (MCP), curd firming over time (CFt) equation parameters, cheese yield (CY) measures, and nutrient recoveries in the curd (REC) using models that either included or omitted the simultaneous effects of milk fat and casein contents. The results showed that, by including milk fat and casein and the minerals in the statistical model, we were able to determine the specific effects of each mineral on coagulation and cheese-making efficiency. In general, about two-thirds of the apparent effects of the minerals on MCP and the CFt equation parameters are actually mediated by their association with milk composition, especially casein content, whereas only one-third of the effects are direct and independent of milk composition. In the case of cheese-making traits, the effects of the minerals were mediated only negligibly by their association with milk composition. High Ca content had a positive effect on the coagulation pattern and cheese-making traits, favoring water retention in the curd in particular. Phosphorus positively affected the cheese-making traits in that it was associated with an increase in CY in terms of curd solids, and in all the nutrient recovery traits. However, a very high P content in milk was associated with lower fat recovery in the curd. The variation in the Na content in milk only mildly affected coagulation, whereas with regard to cheese-making, protein recovery was negatively associated with high concentrations of this mineral. Potassium seemed not to be actively involved in coagulation and the cheese-making process. Magnesium content tended to slow coagulation and reduce CY measures. Further studies on the relationships of minerals with casein and protein fractions could deepen our knowledge of the role of all minerals in coagulation and the cheese-making process

Application of FT-IR spectroscopy to analyze casein in cow milk

AbstractInfrared spectrometry is, at present, the most frequently applied methodology for the composition analysis of milk and dairy products. The determination of fat, protein and lactose has been described during recent decades. The introduction of Fourier Transform Infra-red (FT-IR) technology in combination with the application of multi-dimensional procedures (i.e. principal component regression, partial least squares) has improved this methodology, opening new perspectives for the simultaneous and routinely determination of many new parameters such as casein, urea, specific sugars, etc.. The aim of our study was to develop on MilkoScanTM FT 120 (Foss Electric, Hillerod, Denmark) a calibration curve for the analysis of casein in cow milk and to execute a preliminary validation. The calibration curve was developed on 89 individual milk samples collected from 4 dairy herds in the Grana-Padano cheese district. In order to obtain a higher variability of milk protein content and composition, in each herd m..