The Effect of Fabric Type and Laundering Conditions on the Detection of Semen Stains

There has been little research into the effect of fabric type and different laundering conditions on the ability to detect semen stains on washed fabrics. This study aimed to investigate three potential factors affecting semen identification on laundered clothing: fabric type, water temperature during washing, and whether the stain was dry at the time of washing. Following laundering, semen stains on four fabric types (cotton, polyester, denim, and wool) were examined and tested with three common methods used to detect semen; screening with an alternate light source, acid phosphatase press test, and histological staining of spermatazoa. It was determined that semen was difficult to detect if it was still wet when the semen-stained article was washed. There did not appear to be any difference based on the temperature of the wash cycle. It was also determined that synthetic fabrics such as polyester may not effectively retain the components of semen during laundering, making detection more difficult

Self-monitoring for improving control of blood pressue in patients with hypertension

The objective of this review is to determine the effect of SBPM in adults with hypertension on blood pressure control as compared to OBPM or usual care

A Logistic Regression Model For The Enhancement Of Student Retention: The Identification Of At-Risk Freshmen

A logistic regression model will be developed to provide early identification of freshmen at risk of attrition.  The early identification is accomplished literally within a couple of weeks after freshman orientation.  The dependent variable of interest is persistence, and it is a binary, nominal variable.  Students who proceed from freshman matriculation to graduation without ever having dropped out are labeled persistors.  Freshman matriculates who leave college either temporarily or permanently are classified as dropouts.  The independent variables employed to predict attrition include demographics, high school experiences, and attitudes, opinions, and values as reported on a survey administered during freshman orientation.  The model and its results will be presented along with a brief description of the institutional intervention program designed to enhance student persistence

Persist/Dropout Differences In Pre-matriculation Attitudes Of Freshman Towards College Attrition: A Longitudinal Multiple Group Structural Equations Model

This study proposes a structural equations model of college student attrition based on pre-matriculation freshman attitudes. The study uses a survey administered annually from 1995 to 1999 and tracks persistence and dropout behavior for five years until the last cohort graduated. It discusses seven constructs of pre-matriculation freshman attitudes that resemble the Cabrera, Nora, and Castañeda (1993) model of College Persistence that was based on attitudes of first-to-second year enrolled college students. We applied our survey to a Northeastern sectarian private college. Our model includes external factors such as financial attitude, and endogenous variables such as academic reputation, social integration, institutional commitment, goal commitment, academic performance, and intent to persist. In addition to the variables related to the Cabrera model, we added two measures of social integration, “political interests” and “concern-for the disadvantaged” because these were suitable to the type of college which hosted the study. Results provide a multiple group comparative and predictive model of student attrition for annual use by the Dean of Student Affairs in designing proactive plans and implementing intervention strategies to enhance student retention

Hypoalbuminaemia and its association with disease and clinical outcomes in cats

Objectives: To report the incidence of feline hypoalbuminaemia and characterise the distribution of presenting disease categories and pathoaetiologies of hypoalbuminaemia in cats. The secondary aim was to evaluate the relationship between hypoalbuminaemia and clinical outcomes. Materials and Methods: Medical records of cats with hypoalbuminaemia (&lt;28.0 g/L, reference interval: 28.0 to 39.0 g/L) presenting to a veterinary teaching hospital over 5 years were retrospectively reviewed. The severity of hypoalbuminaemia was further stratified into mild (24.0 to 27.9 g/L), moderate (20.0 to 23.9 g/L) and severe (≤19.9 g/L) groups. The median albumin and severity groups were compared between the determined disease categories, pathoaetiologies and clinical outcomes. Results: The incidence of hypoalbuminaemia was 32.7% (533/1632). Gastrointestinal disease was the most common disease category associated with hypoalbuminaemia [154/533 (28.9%)], of which, 49.4% (76/154) of cats had gastrointestinal neoplasia. Neoplastic [159/533 (29.8%)] and inflammatory conditions [158/533 (29.6%)] were common pathoaetiologies noted. Statistically significant differences in the serum albumin between individual disease and pathoaetiological categories were found. Cats with moderate to severe hypoalbuminaemia had a statistically significantly longer hospitalisation period, cost of treatment and increased odds of death (odds ratio 2.4, 95% confidence interval: 1.3 to 4.6 and odds ratio 3.2, 95% confidence interval: 1.5 to 6.6, respectively). Clinical Significance: The incidence of feline hypoalbuminaemia in our study surpasses previous canine reports. Our findings support albumin as a negative acute phase protein in cats, with hypoalbuminaemia frequently associated with inflammatory disease. Hypoalbuminaemia also features prominently in cats with gastrointestinal neoplasia, indicating careful appraisal of the presence of protein-losing enteropathy is required in these cases. Finally, albumin is found to be a prognostic indicator in this study.</p

An inter-model assessment of the role of direct air capture in deep mitigation pathways

The feasibility of large-scale biological CO2 removal to achieve stringent climate targets remains unclear. Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) offers an alternative negative emissions technology (NET) option. Here we conduct the first inter-model comparison on the role of DACCS in 1.5 and 2°C scenarios, under a variety of techno-economic assumptions. Deploying DACCS significantly reduces mitigation costs, and it complements rather than substitutes other NETs. The key factor limiting DACCS deployment is the rate at which it can be scaled up. Our scenarios’ average DACCS scale-up rates of 1.5 GtCO2/yr would require considerable sorbent production and up to 300 EJ/yr of energy input by 2100. The risk of assuming that DACCS can be deployed at scale, and finding it to be subsequently unavailable, leads to a global temperature overshoot of up to 0.8°C. DACCS should therefore be developed and deployed alongside, rather than instead of, other mitigation options

Geochronology of granites of the western Korosten AMCG complex (Ukrainian Shield): implications for the emplacement history and origin of miarolitic pegmatites

The origin of large miarolitic (also known as “chamber”) pegmatites is not fully understood although they may have great economic value. The formation of cavities in magmatic bodies is related to melt degassing and gas or fluid flow through partially solidified magma. In this paper, the origin of the Volyn pegmatite field, located in the Palaeoproterozoic Korosten anorthosite–mangerite–charnockite–granite (AMCG) complex, North-Western region of the Ukrainian Shield, is discussed. Pegmatites of the field host deposits of piezoelectric quartz that is accompanied by gem-quality beryl and topaz. The Volyn pegmatite field is confined to granites located in the south-western part of the Korosten complex and extends for 22 km along the contact with the anorthosite massif within the Korosten plutonic complex. Geological data indicate hybridization of basic melts and partly crystallized granites, as well as direct impact of fluids derived from basic melts on the chamber pegmatites. The new U–Pb zircon ages obtained for granites and pegmatites of the Korosten complex confirm that the rock assemblage in the northern part of the complex crystallized between 1800 and 1780 Ma, whereas rocks in the southern part intruded mainly between 1768 and 1755 Ma. U–Pb zircon ages for granites from the south-western part of the Korosten complex indicate that granites were emplaced at 1770–1765 Ma, a few million years prior to the intrusion of the gabbro–anorthosite massif (1762–1758 Ma), while chamber pegmatites in these granites crystallized at 1760 ± 3 Ma, coevally with the basic rocks. Ultimately, the formation of the chamber pegmatites was related to the reheating of the semi-crystallized granitic intrusion and to fluids migrating from the underlying gabbro–anorthosite massif.DFG, 414044773, Open Access Publizieren 2021 - 2022 / Technische Universität Berli

Employing culturally responsive pedagogy to foster literacy learning in schools

 In recent years it has become increasingly obvious that, to enable students in schools from an increasingly diverse range of cultural backgrounds to acquire literacy to a standard that will support them to achieve academically, it is important to adopt pedagogy that is responsive to, and respectful of, them as culturally situated. What largely has been omitted from the literature, however, is discussion of a relevant model of learning to underpin this approach. For this reason this paper adopts a socio-cultural lens (Vygotsky, 1978) through which to view such pedagogy and refers to a number of seminal texts to justify of its relevance. Use of this lens is seen as having a particular rationale. It forces a focus on the agency of the teacher as a mediator of learning who needs to acknowledge the learner’s cultural situatedness (Kozulin, 2003) if school literacy learning for all students is to be as successful as it might be. It also focuses attention on the predominant value systems and social practices that characterize the school settings in which students’ literacy learning is acquired. The paper discusses implications for policy and practice at whole-school, classroom and individual student levels of culturally-responsive pedagogy that is based on a socio-cultural model of learning. In doing so it draws on illustrations from the work of a number of researchers, including that of the author