Flight directions of passerine migrants in daylight and darkness: A radar and direct visual study

The application of radar and visual techniques to determine the migratory habits of passerine birds during daylight and darkness is discussed. The effects of wind on the direction of migration are examined. Scatter diagrams of daytime and nocturnal migration track directions correlated with wind direction are presented. It is concluded that migratory birds will fly at altitudes where wind direction and migratory direction are nearly the same. The effects of cloud cover and solar obscuration are considered negligible

An Inhospitable Land: Anti-Italian Sentiment and Violence in Louisiana, 1891-1924

For over one hundred and sixty years, the Italian immigrants settling in Louisiana have been the subject of much scholarly research. The newly-arrived immigrants showed a propensity for hard work, and natives of the region expected them to eventually assimilate into their new surroundings. However, Italians held little understanding of race relations between blacks and whites in Louisiana as well as in the South. Because of this ignorance, the Italians suffered social, political, and racial discrimination at the hands of the white power structure in Louisiana. This discrimination culminated with several violent incidents against Italians which exposed the motives behind white control of Louisiana

Effect of Specific Feedback on Growth Mindset and Achievement

Every student has a different mindset, or their own way of viewing challenges and setbacks. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a specific feedback intervention on student mindset and achievement in a middle school life science course. Several tests were used to compare the data at the beginning of the school year and at the end of the school year. These tests included mindset, competency in science, attitudes about learning science, and life science content knowledge. The control group was taught by the use of lecture, note-taking, and life science activities. The experimental group was taught using the same instruction, and in addition the students participated in a mindset intervention involving specific, constructive feedback. The intervention was termed growth conferences. There were no significant differences in the pre versus post scores for mindset, competency in science, or attitude towards science. These data suggest that utilizing individual growth conferences for one semester in a middle school life science setting was not effective for creating significant changes in mindset, competency in science, attitude towards science, or life science content knowledge. The control group’s GPA did decrease significantly from sixth to seventh grade, while the experimental group’s GPA remained the same from sixth to seventh grade. When the gifted class’ data was removed from the control group’s GPA there was not a significant difference from sixth to seventh grade. This indicated that the students in the control group, mainly the gifted students, needed a mindset intervention, and that the mindset intervention may have prevented the experimental group’s GPA from decreasing over the year. There were also data to support that as mindset increased, so did life science content knowledge and performance. If the present study were to be repeated the intervention should be more frequent, perhaps a weekly group intervention, instead of individual conferences. This would allow for the students to experience the intervention for more time throughout one semester or a school year

Impact of Education and Growth on an Engaged Workforce and Positive Outcomes

Abstract Category: Innovation in Education Purpose: Education and growth are the foundations that drive and ensure quality of work, department’s development, and ultimately, the organization’s future. Since the opening of the hospital on April 27, 2011, West Kendall Baptist Hospital’s (WKBH) Laboratory started its innovative journey of employee education and growth. One of the department’s main priorities and focus was to strategize a process to develop employees within the healthcare field. Methods: The laboratory adapted the concept of growing our own by individually assessing strengths, skills, talents and applying it to the most appropriate venue for development. Opportunities identified included career ladder, cross training, performance improvement, College of American Pathologists (CAP) regulation training, research and evidence based projects, stretch assignments, leading instrument implementations, participation in hospital committees, and establishing university affiliations. Findings: In the retrospective years since WKBH opened, the laboratory has consistently excelled in CAP inspections with preparation and involvement of key staff, ranked in the 93rd percentile for employee engagement results, and satisfactory performance improvement indices reflecting commitment to patient care. Seventeen employees enrolled in career ladder advancements, five career promotions from Medical Technologist to Lead Technologist or from Lead Technologist to Supervisor, and eight employees have obtained or are in process of obtaining their undergraduate and graduate degrees. Beyond the laboratory, employees have been selected for poster presentations and sessions at international laboratory conferences, in addition to state user groups, and publishing manuscripts for a medical journals. Discussion: The laboratory has taken great strides in providing creative outlets for education and growth. The department has become a fine-tuned orchestra working harmoniously due to the utilization of forefront innovative staff development approaches such as evidence based practice research, coordination of the first Laboratory Unit Based Practice Council (UBPC), and establishing the use of the WKBH Lab Journal Club. The successful promotion of four medical technologists from MT1 to MT2, encouraged thirteen technologists to continue and pursue MT2 to MT3. Promoting and supporting the employee’s growth has had the benefit of establishing collaborative relationships with other hospital units. Implications for Practice: Based on our measures, the laboratory has had increasingly positive employee engagement scores with highly talented employee retention. The laboratory has created an innovative support system for employee growth and development and has created a beacon for similar technical departments within the organization

Impact of Education and Growth on an Engaged Workforce and Positive Outcomes

Purpose: Education and growth are the foundations that drive and ensure quality of work, department’s development, and ultimately, the organization’s future. Since the opening of the hospital on April 27, 2011, West Kendall Baptist Hospital’s (WKBH) Laboratory started its innovative journey of employee education and growth. One of the department’s main priorities and focus was to strategize a process to develop employees within the healthcare field. Methods: The laboratory adapted the concept of growing our own by individually assessing strengths, skills, talents and applying it to the most appropriate venue for development. Opportunities identified included career ladder, cross training, performance improvement, College of American Pathologists (CAP) regulation training, research and evidence based projects, stretch assignments, leading instrument implementations, participation in hospital committees, and establishing university affiliations. Findings: In the retrospective years since WKBH opened, the laboratory has consistently excelled in CAP inspections with preparation and involvement of key staff, ranked in the 93 percentile for employee engagement results, and satisfactory performance improvement indices reflecting commitment to patient care. Seventeen employees enrolled in career ladder advancements, five career promotions from Medical Technologist to Lead Technologist or from Lead Technologist to Supervisor, and eight employees have obtained or are in process of obtaining their undergraduate and graduate degrees. Beyond the laboratory, employees have been selected for poster presentations and sessions at international laboratory conferences, in addition to state user groups, and publishing manuscripts for a medical journals. Discussion: The laboratory has taken great strides in providing creative outlets for education and growth. The department has become a fine-tuned orchestra working harmoniously due to the utilization of forefront innovative staff development approaches such as evidence based practice research, coordination of the first Laboratory Unit Based Practice Council (UBPC), and establishing the use of the WKBH Lab Journal Club. The successful promotion of four medical technologists from MT1 to MT2, encouraged thirteen technologists to continue and pursue MT2 to MT3. Promoting and supporting the employee’s growth has had the benefit of establishing collaborative relationships with other hospital units. Implications for Practice: Based on our measures, the laboratory has had increasingly positive employee engagement scores with highly talented employee retention. The laboratory has created an innovative support system for employee growth and development and has created a beacon for similar technical departments within the organization

Divergent patterns of cognitive deficits and structural brain alterations between older adults in mixed-sex and same-sex relationships

Data availability statement: Publicly available datasets were analyzed in this study. These data can be found at: https://naccdata.org/.Copyright © 2022 Manca, Correro, Gauthreaux and Flatt. Background: Sexual minority (SM) older adults experience mental health disparities. Psychiatric disorders and neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) are risk factors for cognitive decline. Although older people in same-sex (SSR) compared to mixed-sex relationships (MSR) perform more poorly on cognitive screening tests, prior studies found no differences in rates of dementia diagnosis or neuropsychological profiles. We sought to explore the role of NPS on neurocognitive outcomes for SM populations. We compared cognitive performance and structural brain parameters of older adults in SSR and MSR. Methods: Data were originally collected at Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers (ADRCs). Inclusion criteria were: age of 55+ years, a study partner identified as a spouse/partner, and availability of T1-MRI brain volumes/thickness. Participants were labeled as either SSR or MSR based on their/their co-participant's reported sex. We identified 1,073 participants (1,037 MSR−555 cognitively unimpaired [CU]; 36 SSR−23 CU) with structural MRI data, Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE), and Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q) scores. A subset of the overall sample completed comprehensive neuropsychological assessment (n = 939; 908 MSR−494 CU; 31 SSR−22 CU). Covariates included in statistical models were age, sex, education, total intracranial volume, and apolipoprotein E genotype. Results: Multivariate general linear models showed significant diagnosis-by-relationship interaction effects on the left parahippocampal gyrus volume. After stratification by relationship group, only cognitively impaired (CI) MSR had significantly smaller left parahippocampal volumes than MSR-CU. The SSR group showed better episodic memory performance. Severity of neuropsychiatric symptoms was negatively associated with volume/thickness of bilateral fronto-temporal areas and with MMSE scores, predominantly in the MSR group. Conclusion: In our study, MSR participants presented with a more compromised cognitive profile than SSR participants. MSR-CI participants showed significantly smaller left medio-temporal volumes, a neural signature of AD. Neuropsychiatric symptoms predicted smaller fronto-temporal volumes in the MSR more consistently than in the SSR group. These findings may be due to unexplored protective factors against cognitive decline in SM elders. Indeed, social support has been proposed as a protective factor warranting future investigation.K01AG056669 and R24AG066599 (JF). The NACC database was funded by NIA/NIH Grant U24 AG072122. NACC data are contributed by the NIA-funded ADRCs: P30 AG019610 (PI Eric Reiman, MD), P30 AG013846 (PI Neil Kowall, MD), P50 AG008702 (PI Scott Small, MD), P50 AG025688 (PI Allan Levey, MD, PhD), P50 AG047266 (PI Todd Golde, MD, PhD), P30 AG010133 (PI Andrew Saykin, PsyD), P50 AG005146 (PI Marilyn Albert, PhD), P50 AG005134 (PI Bradley Hyman, MD, PhD), P50 AG016574 (PI Ronald Petersen, MD, PhD), P50 AG005138 (PI Mary Sano, PhD), P30 AG008051 (PI Thomas Wisniewski, MD), P30 AG013854 (PI Robert Vassar, PhD), P30 AG008017 (PI Jeffrey Kaye, MD), P30 AG010161 (PI David Bennett, MD), P50 AG047366 (PI Victor Henderson, MD, MS), P30 AG010129 (PI Charles DeCarli, MD), P50 AG016573 (PI Frank LaFerla, PhD), P50 AG005131 (PI James Brewer, MD, PhD), P50 AG023501 (PI Bruce Miller, MD), P30 AG035982 (PI Russell Swerdlow, MD), P30 AG028383 (PI Linda Van Eldik, PhD), P30 AG053760 (PI Henry Paulson, MD, PhD), P30 AG010124 (PI John Trojanowski, MD, PhD), P50 AG005133 (PI Oscar Lopez, MD), P50 AG005142 (PI Helena Chui, MD), P30 AG012300 (PI Roger Rosenberg, MD), P30 AG049638 (PI Suzanne Craft, PhD), P50 AG005136 (PI Thomas Grabowski, MD), P50 AG033514 (PI Sanjay Asthana, MD, FRCP), P50 AG005681 (PI John Morris, MD), and P50 AG047270 (PI Stephen Strittmatter, MD, PhD)

Affordable, Real-Time, 3-D Avian Radar Networks For Centralized North American Bird Advisory Systems

Affordable avian radar systems are being developed for Natural Resource Management (NRM) and bird aircraft strike hazard (BASH) applications. Recently [I], the authors have reported on mobile avian radar system requirements and on a system design that is state-of-the-art. In the present paper, the system design of a single avian radar is expanded in scope to address 3-D avian radar networks. These are essential to fully realize an affordable yet high-performance North American bird advisory system. The proposed avian radar network design includes antenna, transceiver and signal processor designs for the avian radar sensor, network design, sensor integration, and system operation and control from an operations center