African American Male Community College Completion and Mode of Instruction

Despite innovative policy and pedagogical transformations, postsecondary achievement gaps continue to exist between African American males and other students. Low college credential completion rates by African American males have prevented an East Texas community college from meaningful participation in the President\u27s 2020 postsecondary education attainment goal of increasing U.S. college graduates by 5 million. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate a hypothesized connection between the independent variable, mode of instruction, and the dependent variables, mathematics course completion and college completion by African American males. Guided by Ogbu\u27s cultural-ecological theory of minority school performance, a chi-square test of independence was used to compare 407 African American males who participated in the mode of lecture and 412 who participated in modular instruction. Findings included a significant relationship (p \u3c.05) between mode of instruction and developmental mathematics completion (p = .000) with the lecture mode associated with higher achievement. No significant relationship existed between instructional mode and college credential completion (p = .503). These findings called the effectiveness of modular instruction into question and indicated that, at this research site, the instructional mode in developmental mathematics is insufficient to address the disparity in college completion rates of African American males. These results informed a policy recommendation paper, written to help local college administrators better understand African American male remedial math and college credential completion rates. This study contributes to positive social change by generating data-based local institutional policies that will promote African American male postsecondary achievement

Cytological characterization and allelism testing of anther developmental mutants identified in a screen of maize male sterile lines.

Proper regulation of anther differentiation is crucial for producing functional pollen, and defects in or absence of any anther cell type result in male sterility. To deepen understanding of processes required to establish premeiotic cell fate and differentiation of somatic support cell layers a cytological screen of maize male-sterile mutants has been conducted which yielded 42 new mutants including 22 mutants with premeiotic cytological defects (increasing this class fivefold), 7 mutants with postmeiotic defects, and 13 mutants with irregular meiosis. Allelism tests with known and new mutants confirmed new alleles of four premeiotic developmental mutants, including two novel alleles of msca1 and single new alleles of ms32, ms8, and ocl4, and two alleles of the postmeiotic ms45. An allelic pair of newly described mutants was found. Premeiotic mutants are now classified into four categories: anther identity defects, abnormal anther structure, locular wall defects and premature degradation of cell layers, and/or microsporocyte collapse. The range of mutant phenotypic classes is discussed in comparison with developmental genetic investigation of anther development in rice and Arabidopsis to highlight similarities and differences between grasses and eudicots and within the grasses

PLANT GALLS: A MODEL SYSTEM TO STUDY PLANT DEVELOPMENT

PhDCynipid gall formation is achieved by the intimate insect-plant interaction where by cynipid wasps redirect host plant development to form novel structures to protect and nourish the developing larva. To investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in this interaction, and extend our understanding of plant development, four approaches were taken. 1) A PCR based approach to search for genes to known signalling molecules: chitiooligosaccharides, or Nod factors, that control nodulation in the Rhizobia-legume interaction. PCR analysis was used to investigate the presence of the nodC gene in the cynipid gall wasp genome,h owever, no nodC-like sequencesw ere found. 2) SDS-PAGE analysis was carried out to compare inner-gall and non-gall protein signatures, demonstrating the variation between gall and non-gall tissue, and also that the protein signatures of inner-gall tissues vary between gall species. N-terminal sequencing and western blot analysis lead to the identification of a number of innergall proteins such as protein disulphide isomerase (PDI), formate dehydrogenase (FDH) and putative biotin carboxyl carrier protein (BCCP), involved in the synthesis of lipids in seeds. Analysis of the temporal and spatial expression of the putative BCCP revealed expression to be concentrated in the inner-gall cells throughout development, in all the gall species tested. 3) Cytological analysis of the inner-gall tissue was carried out throughout development of several gall species to investigate differences in their patterns of development and cytological characteristics of the inner-gall tissue, with many inner-gall cells being polytene. 4) A gall formation bioassay, to enable the activity of possible signals involved in gall formation to be tested, was developed. Rose callus tissue was used as a test tissue and the cynipid larval extract was exposed to this as a source of the active molecules. The induction of proteins in the callus after exposure to the larval extract was used as a molecular marker for activity. The polytene characteristic and the possible expression of seed proteins, suggest that seed developmental pathways may be used during gall formation

Who do College Students Turn to for Financial Aid and Student Loan Advice, and is it Advice Worth Following?

In this article, we examine the sources of information that college students turn to as they make decisions related to financial aid and student loans. Based on interview data from 25 undergraduate students from one public, four-year institution, our results reveal a great amount of variation in the number and nature of sources on which students rely. Across nearly all cases, students believed their access to assistance to be insufficient. This was true even for students with parents who attended college—commonly considered to be a high-quality source of support for students, when available—as students often found their advice outdated, confusing, or unhelpful

Understanding the design context for Australian university teachers: implications for the future of learning design

Based on the premise that providing support for university teachers in designing for their teaching will ultimately improve the quality of student learning outcomes, recent interest in the development of support tools and strategies has gained momentum. This article reports on a study that examined the context in which Australian university teachers design in order to understand what role design support tools and strategies could play. In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 academics across 16 Australian universities. The findings suggest that most Australian university teachers have a high degree of flexibility in their design decisions suggesting that opportunities exist for learning design tools and strategies to be adopted

Absence of uncoupling protein-3 leads to greater activation of an adenine nucleotide translocase-mediated proton conductance in skeletal muscle mitochondria from calorie restricted mice

AbstractCalorie restriction (CR), without malnutrition, consistently increases lifespan in all species tested, and reduces age-associated pathologies in mammals. Alterations in mitochondrial content and function are thought to underlie some of the effects of CR. Previously, we reported that rats subjected to variable durations of 40% CR demonstrated a rapid and sustained decrease in maximal leak-dependent respiration in skeletal muscle mitochondria. This was accompanied by decreased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species generation and increased uncoupling protein-3 protein (UCP3) expression. The aim of the present study was to determine the contribution of UCP3, as well as the adenine nucleotide translocase to these functional changes in skeletal muscle mitochondria. Consistent with previous findings in rats, short-term CR (2weeks) in wild-type (Wt) mice resulted in a lowering of the maximal leak-dependent respiration in skeletal muscle mitochondria, without any change in proton conductance. In contrast, skeletal muscle mitochondria from Ucp3-knockout (KO) mice similarly subjected to short-term CR showed no change in maximal leak-dependent respiration, but displayed an increased proton conductance. Determination of ANT activity (by measurement of inhibitor-sensitive leak) and protein expression revealed that the increased proton conductance in mitochondria from CR Ucp3-KO mice could be entirely attributed to a greater acute activation of ANT. These observations implicate UCP3 in CR-induced mitochondrial remodeling. Specifically, they imply the potential for an interaction, or some degree of functional redundancy, between UCP3 and ANT, and also suggest that UCP3 can minimize the induction of the ANT-mediated ‘energy-wasting’ process during CR

Engineering Students’ Perceptions of Belongingness in Civil Engineering

Prior research shows that engineering students with low feelings of belongingness tend to switch to non-technical majors. With the understanding that aspects of student motivation, identity, and personality, as well as their academic performance, affect their sense of community in engineering, this study seeks to assess these student attributes over time. The context for this study is a single civil engineering program that is undergoing both curricular and cultural changes as part of an NSF-funded project. The data and findings presented here are part of a larger study of how student attitudes and beliefs change during their experiences in a curriculum that is different from the status quo. The focus of this paper is on students’ sense of belonging within their courses, major and university, and how those perceptions differ based on student demographics and year in the program. Data collected for this study include responses to a survey designed to assess the current civil engineering students’ motivation, attitudes and beliefs about their courses, department, and university. The survey, which was adapted from a prior NSF-funded project, included eight constructs: sense of community, time-oriented motivation, goal orientation, career outcome expectations, grit, identity, agency beliefs and Big 5 personality traits. Subscales for students’ sense of community (which is the focus of this paper) were sense of community within their current engineering course, their engineering major and university. Undergraduates were invited to complete the survey during lab courses in which they were enrolled during the Fall and Spring semesters. Of the total number of students in the program, 92.2% completed the survey (86% White and 80% male, which is representative of enrollment in the department). Quantitative data analyses included descriptive statistics, inferential statistics (ANOVA) to compare the factor means by gender and race and by year in the program. Interviews were conducted with a subset of the survey participants (n=9) from a range of classes and demographics during the last two weeks of each semester. The interview questions pertaining to students’ perceptions of belongingness are included in this paper, although other questions explored students’ beliefs about identity and their perceptions of their future in engineering. Interviews were analyzed using open coding, with codes organized into categories and themes. Quantitative results showed that mean scores for all three belongingness sub-constructs increase as students’ time in the program increases, with the exception of juniors having the highest score for sense of belonging at the university level. The largest increases in sense of belonging at the course, major and institution levels were between sophomore and junior year. Some factors of belongingness were significantly lower for non-majority student groups. Qualitative analyses revealed that students’ perceptions of belongingness were affected by positive learning experiences, connecting with civil engineers in different contexts, making personal connections and having a sense of solidarity with others in the program. Perceptions of not belonging were affected by students selecting this major to fulfill others’ expectations, not meeting instructors’ expectations, and a lack of role models for females

Psychosocial Influences on Engagement in Care Among HIV-Positive Young Black Gay/Bisexual and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men

Young black gay/bisexual and other men who have sex with men (YB-GBMSM) living with HIV are at risk for poor engagement in HIV care. Relatively little is known about factors that impact engagement outcomes at various stages along the HIV care continuum in this specific population. The purpose of this analysis was to examine associations between various psychosocial factors and likelihood of engagement at each stage of the care continuum, among a geographically diverse sample of 132 YB-GBMSM living with HIV. Negative self-image, a component of HIV stigma, had an inverse association with early care seeking after HIV diagnosis (OR=1.05; 95% CI 1.01?1.10). Negative self-image was also inversely associated with adherence to medical appointments (OR=0.95; 95% CI 0.91?0.99), while employment (OR=0.30; 95% CI 0.12?0.75) and ethnic identity affirmation (OR=0.28; 95% CI 0.12?0.68) were both positively associated with appointment adherence. HIV-positive identity salience was associated with a higher likelihood of being on antiretroviral therapy (OR=1.06; 95% CI 1.02, 1.09). These findings highlight the importance of processes related to identity development, as both barriers and facilitators of engagement in care for HIV-positive YB-GBMSM.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140188/1/apc.2014.0117.pd

MaizeGDB's new data types, resources and activities

MaizeGDB is the Maize Genetics and Genomics Database. Available at MaizeGDB are diverse data that support maize research including maps, gene product information, loci and their various alleles, phenotypes (both naturally occurring and as a result of directed mutagenesis), stocks, sequences, molecular markers, references and contact information for maize researchers worldwide. Also available through MaizeGDB are various community support service bulletin boards including the Editorial Board's list of high-impact papers, information about the Annual Maize Genetics Conference and the Jobs board where employment opportunities are posted. Reported here are data updates, improvements to interfaces and changes to standard operating procedures that have been made during the past 2 years. MaizeGDB is freely available and can be accessed online at