Organic soil management reduces soil water repellency

The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of agricultural management, related to conventional and organic soil management, on the soil water repellency (SWR). Besides the relation between the agricultural variables and the SWR, the influence of soil organic matter and pH was examined. To classify SWR, the persistence and severity was measured using the water drop penetration time, respectively the water-drop contact angle. Organic soil management was shown to have a significant higher SWR compared to conventional soil management and a strong positive correlation between soil organic matter concentration and SWR was found. The soil pH showed a negative correlation in relation to SWR

Homework Practices: Teacher and Parent Perceptions of Efficacy and Purpose

The purpose of this study was to explore teacher and parent perceptions of homework effectiveness and homework purpose. Specifically, the researcher examined teacher and parent perceptions, perceptions of teachers in different grade level bands, and perceptions of teachers with different levels of experience. In this nonexperimental quantitative study, the researcher examined and analyzed the answers provided on an anonymous survey (Appendix A) provided electronically to educators and parents of students in five school systems in northeast Tennessee. Parents had a higher perception of both homework effectiveness and homework purpose. Homework effectiveness was perceived as higher by the “other” group (not k-2, 3-5, 6-8, or 9-12) in comparison to the 9-12 group of teachers. There were no significant differences in perceptions of homework effectiveness among the k-2, 3-5, and 6-8 groups of teachers. Homework purpose was perceived as higher in the 9-12 group than in the 3-5 group and the “other” group of teachers. No significant differences were found between the k-2 and 6-8 groups of teachers on homework purpose. There was no significant difference between perceptions of homework effectiveness or homework purpose among teachers with different levels of experience. This study revealed that parents tend to perceive a greater benefit in homework for both effectiveness and purpose than teachers do. While the level of teacher experience does not influence teacher perception of homework effectiveness or purpose, there are some significant differences in perceptions of teachers by different grade level bands. Recommendations are made to conduct further research on the topic of homework design, the impact of grading policies on homework perceptions, and homework differentiation

Aspecten van de "gemiddelde van normalen"-methode in de klinische chemie

Zoals wel bekend is aan diegenen, die in de afgelopen jaren op enigerlei wijze betrokken zijn geweest bij de gang van zaken in de wereld van de klinische chemie, verkeerde een aantal laboratoria ongeveer tien jaar geleden in een situatie die tamelijk uitzichtloos leek. De hoeveelheid werk was sterk toegenomen {een verdubbeling in vijf jaar tijd), terwijl de mogelijkheden tot personele en/of ruimtelijke uitbreiding meestal zeer beperkt waren. Door deze ongunstige combinatie van factoren gedwongen was een begin gemaakt met de automatisering, of beter gezegd mechanisering, van een deel van het laboratoriumwerk. Het succes van deze maatregelen hield in dat steeds grotere aantallen aanvragen en dus ook uitslagen verwerkt moesten worden, waardoor de administratieve begeleiding van het aangevraagde onderzoek tot flessehals dreigde te worden. Deze dreiging was de achtergrond van ons streven naar invoering van de electronische informatieverwerking in het laboratorium. Het ligt dan ook voor de hand dat wij bij het opstellen van het realisatieschema een hoge prioriteit hebben toegekend aan de on-line data-acquisitie en de administratieve begeleiding van het aangevraagde onderzoek. Het zal insiders niet verbazen dat het realiseren hiervan belangrijk meer tijd kostte dan was voorzien. Tijdens de implementatie-periode van dit systeem werd het plan opgevat onderzoek te verrichten naar mogelijkheden de bruikbaarheid van klinisch-chemische uitkomsten te vergroten door verdergaande toepassing van de electronische informatieverwerking. Hierbij werd gedacht aan: l) statistische kwaliteitscontrole 2) het vaststellen van grenzen van normale gebieden 3) het verzamelen van gegevens over de frekwentieverdelingen van pathologische uitkomsten 4) het analyseren van de patronen van de uitkomsten van groepen bepalingen. Het in dit proefschrift beschreven onderzoek heeft betrekking op de eerste twee punten. De doelstelling is in de eerste plaats inzicht te verkrijgen in de achtergronden van methoden voor kwaliteitscontrole, die gebruik maken van uitkomsten van aangevraagde bepalingen

Does the Clothing Industry Support Breastfeeding Modesty?: An Examination of Product Availability for Financially Vulnerable Mothers

Breastfeeding is the best choice for the health of a mother and her baby. However, what constitutes appropriate breastfeeding behavior varies considerably from one culture to another. In American culture, modesty has been the most frequently cited public education barrier to breastfeeding (Moran, 1999). According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2013), many American women feel uncomfortable and immodest when they breastfeed in the presence of others

Quantification and accurate normalisation of small RNAs through new custom RT-qPCR arrays demonstrates Salmonella-induced microRNAs in human monocytes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Small interfering and non-coding RNAs regulate gene expression across all kingdoms of life. MicroRNAs constitute an important group of metazoan small RNAs regulating development but also disease. Accordingly, in functional genomics microRNA expression analysis sheds more and more light on the dynamic regulation of gene expression in various cellular processes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have developed custom RT-qPCR arrays allowing for accurate quantification of 31 small RNAs in triplicate using a 96 well format. In parallel, we provide accurate normalisation of microRNA expression data based on the quantification of 5 reference snRNAs. We have successfully employed such arrays to study microRNA regulation during human monocyte differentiation as well as <it>Salmonella </it>infection. Besides well-known protagonists such as miR-146 or miR-155, we identified the up-regulation of miR-21, miR-222, miR-23b, miR-24, miR-27a as well as miR-29 upon monocyte differentiation or infection, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The provided protocol for RT-qPCR arrays enables straight-forward microRNA expression analysis. It is fully automatable, compliant with the MIQE guidelines and can be completed in only 1 day. The application of these arrays revealed microRNAs that may mediate monocyte host defence mechanisms by regulating the TGF-β signalling upon <it>Salmonella </it>infection. The introduced arrays are furthermore suited for customised quantification of any class of small non-coding RNAs as exemplified by snRNAs and thus provide a versatile tool for ubiquitous applications.</p