An Exploration of the Phenomenon of Underrepresentation in the Stem Disciplines of Faculty, Administrators, and Students Within Selected Higher Educational Settings

The 21st Century existence of shortages, gaps, and low underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines in the economic sector and higher education presents a problem for the United States and the world economy. Selected studies seemingly suggest that a need for a diverse faculty through recruitment and retention are needed in both K-12 and postsecondary education. Additionally, the literature review for this study seemingly posits an existence of a high dropout rate due to institutional climate, inadequate mathematics preparation and underdeveloped study skills of underrepresented minority URM students in STEM disciplines. The study design developed a conceptual framework that was informed by the use of an interpretative phenomenology analysis approach through the lens of the participants’ self-reported demographic variables collected from the instrument to explore, understand, and describe the lived experiences of STEM faculty and administrators in their effort to increase diverse faculty and the phenomena of attracting, retaining, and graduating underrepresented student populations in STEM programs. Likewise, the researcher applied the interpretative phenomenology analysis approaches to understand the demographics and lived experiences of students in their effort to matriculate to graduation from STEM-related programs. As a result of the methodological design, the semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions and observations to collect data from (N=19) participants consisted of (n=15) faculty and (n= 4) students. The phenomenon of underrepresented minorities in STEM disciplines, as recounted from the experiences shared by the participants, resulted in nine themes related to the major research questions. The findings from the participants included Developing effective future leaders in STEM; Lived experiences of the phenomenon from STEM faculty perspective; Diversifying, inclusion and collaboration of faculty and students; Shared effort to attract and increase faculty in STEM programs; Progressive educational delivery preferences for STEM faculty; Staying current, competitive and connected in a contemporary environment; Student matriculation in STEM programs; Student research and retention experience and student relationships and mentoring in STEM-related programs. Findings contributed to literature on lived experiences and also may assist faculty, administrators, and educators to develop better strategized recruitment for faculty and students, diversify and inclusion environment, and formulate a STEM education curriculum. The suggested recommendations from the study include the following: (a) a quantitative study of the phenomenon of URM conducted with a stratified sample of participants from among various public and private university settings to be representative of the population; and (b) the research study findings could be replicated at the P12 secondary level to obtain the experiences of high school STEM faculty. It can be further suggested that an empirical research study of students matriculating from settings with diverse faculty can be conducted as the treatment group and a STEM discipline department with URM faculty and students can serve as the Control Group to ascertain the differences that diversity might make in the matriculation to graduation of STEM students in the different settings

Echinococcus in wild canids in Québec (Canada) and Maine (USA).

Zoonotic Echinococcus spp. cestodes (E. canadensis and E. multilocularis) infect domestic animals, wildlife, and people in regions of Canada and the USA. We recovered and quantified Echinococcus spp. cestodes from 22 of 307 intestinal tracts of wild canids (23 wolves, 100 coyotes, 184 red and arctic foxes) in the state of Maine and the province of Québec. We identified the species and genotypes of three Echinococcus spp. cestodes per infected animal by sequencing mitochondrial DNA at two loci. We further confirmed the absence of E. multilocularis by extracting DNA from pools of all cestodes from each animal and running a duplex PCR capable of distinguishing the two species. We detected E. canadensis (G8 and G10), but not E. multilocularis, which is emerging as an important human and animal health concern in adjacent regions. Prevalence and median intensity of E. canadensis was higher in wolves (35%, 460) than coyotes (14%, 358). This parasite has historically been absent in Atlantic regions of North America, where suitable intermediate hosts, but not wolves, are present. Our study suggests that coyotes are serving as sylvatic definitive hosts for E. canadensis in Atlantic regions, and this may facilitate eastward range expansion of E. canadensis in the USA and Canada. As well, compared to wolves, coyotes are more likely to contaminate urban green spaces and peri-urban environments with zoonotic parasites

Sense of place amongst adolescents and adults in two rural Australian towns: the discriminating features of place attachment, sense of community and place dependence in relation to place identity

This study investigates whether dimensions of sense of place can discriminate those residents who identify with their rural town, and prefer to stay, from those who do not, and whether patterns of association between these dimensions differ between adolescent and adult residents. Participants were 246 adults and 365 adolescents in two remote rural towns in Australia. Place identity was determined from residents’ responses on a single item, ‘I would really rather live in a different town. This one is not the place for me.’ Three groups were classified: those agreeing, undecided and disagreeing with the statement. Discriminating variables were place attachment (emotional bonding and behavioural commitment), sense of community (affiliation and belonging) and place dependence (available activities, quality and quality comparison with alternative communities). A direct discriminant function analysis showed 76.4 per cent of adults were correctly classified from one discriminant function accounting for 92 per cent of the variance. Indicators of dependence, belonging, behavioural commitment and emotional bonding, loaded above 0.45. Sixty-two per cent of adolescents were correctly classified from one discriminant function accounting for 93.6 per cent of the variance. Indicators of dependence and belonging loaded 0.45 and above. Discussion considers distinguishing dimensions of sense of place and identifying associations amongst them as ways to explore the experience of community in everyday life

An investigation of glutathione-platinum(II) interactions by means of the flow injection analysis using glassy carbon electrode

Despite very intensive research in the synthesising of new cytostatics, cisplatin is still one of the most commonly used anticancer drugs. Therefore, an investigation of interactions of cisplatin with different biologically important amino acids, peptides and proteins is very topical. In the present paper, we utilized flow injection analysis coupled with electrochemical detection to study and characterize the behaviour of various forms of glutathione (reduced glutathione - GSH, oxidized glutathione - GSSG and S- nitroso glutathione - GSNO). The optimized conditions were as follows: mobile phase consisted of acetate buffer (pH 3) with a flow rate of 1 mL min(-1). Based on results obtained we chose 850 mV as the optimal potential for detection of GSH and 1,100 mV as the optimal potential for detection of GSSG and GSNO. The detection limits of GSH, GSSG and GSNO were 100 pg mL(-1), 50 ng mL(-1) and 300 pg mL(-1), respectively. Further, the optimized technique was used for investigation of interactions between cisplatin and GSH. We were able to observe the interaction between GSH and cisplatin via decrease in the signal corresponding to glutathione. Moreover, we evaluated the formation of the complex by spectrometry. The spectrometric results obtained were in good agreement with electrochemical ones

An Investigation of Glutathione-Platinum(II) Interactions by Means of the Flow Injection Analysis Using Glassy Carbon Electrode

Despite very intensive research in the synthesising of new cytostatics, cisplatin isstill one of the most commonly used anticancer drugs. Therefore, an investigation ofinteractions of cisplatin with different biologically important amino acids, peptides andproteins is very topical. In the present paper, we utilized flow injection analysis coupledwith electrochemical detection to study and characterize the behaviour of various forms ofglutathione (reduced glutathione – GSH, oxidized glutathione – GSSG and S-nitrosoglutathione – GSNO). The optimized conditions were as follows: mobile phase consistedof acetate buffer (pH 3) with a flow rate of 1 mL min-1. Based on results obtained we chose850 mV as the optimal potential for detection of GSH and 1,100 mV as the optimalpotential for detection of GSSG and GSNO. The detection limits of GSH, GSSG andGSNO were 100 pg mL-1, 50 ng mL-1 and 300 pg mL-1, respectively. Further, the optimized technique was used for investigation of interactions between cisplatin and GSH. We were able to observe the interaction between GSH and cisplatin via decrease in the signal corresponding to glutathione. Moreover, we evaluated the formation of the complex by spectrometry. The spectrometric results obtained were in good agreement with electrochemical ones

Utilizing of Adsorptive Transfer Stripping Technique Brdicka Reaction for Determination of Metallothioneins Level in Melanoma Cells, Blood Serum and Tissues

In the paper we utilized the adsorptive transfer stripping differential pulse voltammetry Brdicka reaction for the determination of metallothioneins (MT) in melanoma cells, animal melanoma tissues (MeLiM miniature pig) and blood serum of patients with malignant melanoma. Primarily we attempted to investigate the influence of dilution of real sample on MT electrochemical response. Dilution of samples of 1 000 times was chosen the most suitable for determination of MT level in biological samples. Then we quantified the MT level in the melanoma cells, the animal melanoma tissues and the blood serum samples. The MT content in the cells varied within the range from 4.2 to 11.2 μM. At animal melanoma tissues (melanomas localized on abdomen, back limb and dorsum) the highest content of MT was determined in the tumour sampled on the back of the animal and was nearly 500 μg of MTs per gram of a tissue. We also quantified content of MT in metastases, which was found in liver, spleen and lymph nodes. Moreover the average MT level in the blood serum samples from patients with melanoma was 3.0 ± 0.8 μM. MT levels determined at melanoma samples were significantly (p < 0.05) higher compared to control ones at cells, tissues and blood serum

Single Molecule Nanopore Spectrometry for Peptide Detection

Sensing and characterization of water-soluble peptides is of critical importance in a wide variety of bioapplications. Single molecule nanopore spectrometry (SMNS) is based on the idea that one can use biological protein nanopores to resolve different sized molecules down to limits set by the blockade duration and noise. Previous work has shown that this enables discrimination between polyethylene glycol (PEG) molecules that differ by a single monomer unit. This paper describes efforts to extend SMNS to a variety of biologically relevant, water-soluble peptides. We describe the use of Au₂₅(SG)₁₈ clusters, previously shown to improve PEG detection, to increase the on- and off-rate of peptides to the pore. In addition, we study the role that fluctuations play in the single molecule nanopore spectrometry (SMNS) methodology and show that modifying solution conditions to increase peptide flexibility (via pH or chaotropic salt) leads to a nearly 2-fold reduction in the current blockade fluctuations and a corresponding narrowing of the peaks in the blockade distributions. Finally, a model is presented that connects the current blockade depths to the mass of the peptides, which shows that our enhanced SMNS detection improves the mass resolution of the nanopore sensor more than 2-fold for the largest cationic peptides studied