Application of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to the investigation of human mineralocorticosteroid metabolism

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Engaging with Parliament: what is good Select Committee evidence?

One way of trying to make an impact with one's research is to use it to provide evidence and information to one of Parliament's Select Committees. Victoria Honour offers some insight into how these committees and their inquiries work, and how academics can engage with them; including practical advice on how to structure and present written evidence, and information on what academic training and further resources are available

Elucidating the Impacts of Learning Communities on Retention, Student Sense of Belonging, and Self-Efficacy in STEM

Student sense of belonging (SoB) and self-efficacy (SE) are necessary aspects of promoting achievement and success in the STEM fields. This study focuses on how learning communities affect students\u27 SoB and SE in relation to STEM as well as demographics, including race, gender, and first-generation status. Students enrolled in either the introductory chemistry lecture or the first-year experience course (students grouped by similar STEM major) were asked to complete a STEM attributes survey (Likert scale) to assess their overall SoB to the university and their chosen major as well as their level of SE in relations to those fields. To predict each student\u27s performance outcomes, our lab sought to analyze any changes in behavior and perception of overall success that may have occurred during the first semester of matriculation. This study also aimed to validate the use of the Belonging Survey and the SE Scale on small sized populations within a sample; in this case, learning communities. Among the 183 students surveyed, with 132 of them being enrolled in a learning community, we discovered that participation in a learning community indeed increased the likelihood of retention in one\u27s chosen STEM field of study. Despite the fact that learning communities were found to statistically increase SoB for the University overall, there were no other statistical changes witnessed at the end of the first semester. Throughout the semester, students within the racial group of PER (persons excluded or misrepresented due to race) were found to experience a greater decrease in belonging in comparison to Historically Represented students (White or Asian) . Furthermore, learning community enrollment had a moderate impact on SE, with females showing statistically lower levels of SE than males. Due to the small population size and limitations of time, future endeavors will involve gathering student feeling and perception in SoB and SE as it pertains to specific STEM fields such as Chemistry. In line with the literature, we believe that STEM identity and the development process also plays a major role in students’ perception of inclusion and confidence in the STEM field. Our lab is interested in identifying and assigning STEM identity status memberships to students based on scoring in several key domains of learning. Findings linked with previous research studies demonstrate the importance of developing a manual method of assigning identity status memberships that corresponds to statistical outputs of identity membership assignments. We are still in the early stages of determining and understanding the exact practices that promote meaningful learning environments. Our goal is to comprehend specific practices that contribute to the study’s findings and evaluate their overall impact

Diagnosis of Diseases of Steroid Hormone Production, Metabolism and Action

Biochemical tests have been the basis for investigations of disorders affecting steroid hormones. In recent years it has been possible however to study the genes that determine functional enzymes, cofactors, receptors, transcription factors and signaling systems that are involved in the process. Analyses of mutations are available as a diagnostic service for only a few of these genes although research laboratories may be able to provide a service. Both biochemical and genetic research have brought to light new disorders. Some genes for transcription factors involved in the development of the endocrine organs have also been identified and patients with defects in these processes have been found. This paper will review general aspects of adrenal disorders with emphasis on clinical and laboratory findings. As with all endocrine investigations there are few single measurements that provide a definitive answer to a diagnosis. Timing of samples in relation to age, gender and time of day needs to be considered

Implementation of the Transition to Practice Regulatory Model for Nurse Preceptors in a Rural Setting

Registered nurse turnover is a recurring problem for healthcare organizations. The inability of hospitals to retain registered nurses threatens the adequacy of healthcare delivery and increases personnel and patient care cost. The purpose of this capstone project was to take a leadership role in translating evidence into practice by successfully preparing preceptors to help new graduates transition successfully from the role of student to that of a profession nurse. Healthcare organizations require a stable, highly proficient and totally engaged nursing staff to provide effective and efficient levels of patient care. The first year of practice for a nurse graduate, the transition year, can be the most difficult in a nurses’ career. Without support during this time, many graduates leave the hospital with turnover rates as high as 61 percent, (Bowles & Candela 2005). The financial cost of losing a single nurse has been calculated to equal nearly twice a nurse’s annual salary. The average hospital is estimated to lose about $300,000 per year for each percentage increase in annual nurse turnover Atencio, Cohen & Gorenberg (2008). The loss of new employees negatively impacts the bottom line of healthcare organizations in numerous ways including: reduced quality of patient care, increased contingent staffing cost, increased cost for staffing nursing units and patient loss, Covell (2009). Primary causes of nurses leaving the first year post graduation were attributed to, poor training, lack of support and stress related to intense working situations and high patient acuity. Therefore, for patient safety and the well-being of new nurses, hospitals must make efforts to provide safe and effective environments that nurture the assimilation of graduate nurses into their systems. An effective preceptor program is one strategy that can be utilized to address retention of newly graduated nurses (Santucci, 2010). This quality improvement program provided knowledge to key stakeholders in a rural hospital in the Mississippi Delta to the evidence based practice strategy of the Transition to Practice Regulatory model. Data revealed, 100% of the participants reported the workshop met all stated objectives of the workshop. The preceptor program emphasized the organization’s goals and system leadership for quality improvement. The program created an evidenced based teaching strategy to improve educational preparation of nurse preceptors to support graduate nurses as they transition into professional practice

Microstructural evolution of silicate immiscible liquids in solidifying ferrobasalts

Evidence of silicate liquid immiscibility in ferrobasalts is provided by co-existing Fe- and Si-rich melt inclusions and Fe-rich droplets dispersed in the Si-rich glassy mesostasis of rapidly cooled rocks. Crucially, the different physical properties of these unmixed liquids mean that they may migrate and separate within a granular medium, forming chemically distinct accumulations. I combine experiments, geochemistry, image analysis and field observations to better quantify the physical behaviour of emulsions in ferrobasaltic magmas. Quantification of the microstructural evolution of an emulsion in ferrobasaltic experiments shows that the Fe-rich liquid forms homogeneously nucleated droplets dispersed in an immiscible Si-rich liquid, together with droplets heterogeneously nucleated on plagioclase, magnetite, and pyroxene. Heterogeneous nucleation is likely promoted by localised compositional heterogeneities around growing crystals. The equilibrium wetting angle of Fe-rich droplets on both plagioclase and magnetite increases with decreasing temperature. Droplet coarsening occurs by diffusion-controlled growth (including Ostwald ripening), with an insignificant contribution from coalescence. The experimental observations are scaled to infer that in magma bodies < ~10 m in size, gravitationally-driven segregation of immiscible Fe-rich droplets is unlikely to be significant. The same concepts are investigated using natural samples with preserved immiscible textures found in tholeiitic basaltic glass from Hawaii (USA), the Snake River Plain (USA), and the Laki eruption (Iceland). High-resolution imaging, electron probe microanalysis, and atom probe tomography are combined to examine the role played by compositional boundary layers in promoting unmixing around growing crystals at melt-crystal interfaces. The effects of cooling rate on silicate liquid immiscibility microstructure are studied using basaltic dykes from Northeast England, coupled with simple 1D thermal models. The size of Fe-rich droplets within a continuous silicic phase is found to increase with decreasing cooling rate. At the even slower cooling rate of the Skaergaard Intrusion, field, whole rock and petrographic observations of late-stage immiscible segregations show that complete segregation of unmixed liquids on the metre scale is feasible; therefore, timescales of cooling are shown to be a key factor in immiscible liquid separation.VCH was funded by a Natural Environmental Research Council Doctoral Training Programme studentship (Grant Ref: NE/L002507/1

Variables Affecting the Drainage Test

Certain variables affecting the Canadian Standard Freeness Test were investigated. Variables investigated included the zeta potential, pH, chemical type, and concentration. Chemicals used were NaCl, CaCl, AlCl , and SnCl, 5H2O on the acid side. Chemicals used on the alkaline side included KCl, K2S4 and K2HPO4.. pH values were 4.5, 5.5, 6.5, 7.5, 8.5, and 9.5. Concentrations used were 1 x 10-3M, 3 x 10-3M, 5 x 10-3M, 7 x 10-3M, 9 x 10-3M, 1.1 X 10-2M, 1.3 x 10-2M, and 1.5 x 10-2M. Zeta potential was measured using a Laser Zee Meter. Quantitative interpretation of the Schulze-Hardy rule was attempted but failed. Freeness was found to decrease as zeta potential increased or decreased and was maximized as ZP closed in on a value of zero. Freeness was found to be affected most greatly by concentration-chemical type and chemical type-pH interaction. A statistical analysis was prepared to determine this interaction with the help of the W.M.U. Stat Lab

Predicting Student Performance In A Beginning Computer Science Class (Piaget, Personality, Cognitive Style)

Pupose of the Study. The purpose of this study was to determine factors which effectively predict success in a first course for computer science majors. A secondary goal was to provide a model of the successful computer science student in order to improve teaching and learning in the classroom; Procedures. The sample consisted of 58 students enrolled in all three sections of Computer Science I, during Spring semester, 1985. Student characteristics selected included age, sex, previous high school and college grades, number of high school and college mathematics classes, number of hours worked, and whether the job was computer-related or involved programming. A measure of Piagetian cognitive development developed by Kurtz, the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) and the Myers-Briggs Personality Index (MBTI) were administered early in the semester. These measures were correlated with the student\u27s letter grade in the class using both Chi Square and Pearson\u27s Product Moment Coefficient statistical tests; Findings. Significant relationships were found between grade and the students\u27 previous college grades and the number of high school mathematics classes (p \u3c .05). The correlation between grade, and both number of hours worked and working as a programmer, approached significance (p \u3c .10). Both the Group Embedded Figures Test (p \u3c .01) and the measure of Piagetian Intellectual Development stages (p \u3c .05) were also significantly correlated with grade in this rigorous Pascal programming class; While there was no relationship between the personality type and grade, the Myers-Briggs results provided an interesting profile of the computer science major. On the Extroversion-Introversion, Sensing-Intuitive, and Thinking-Feeling indices, the students were considerably more introverted, intuitive and thinking than the population as a whole, though they were close to national norms on the Perception-Judging index. While computer science students were somewhat like engineering students, they more strongly resembled chess players, when these results were compared with other studies

Steroid Assays in Paediatric Endocrinology

Most steroid disorders of the adrenal cortex come to clinical attention in childhood and in order to investigate these problems, there are many challenges to the laboratory which need to be appreciated to a certain extent by clinicians. The analysis of sex steroids in biological fluids from neonates, over adrenarche and puberty present challenges of specificities and concentrations often in small sample sizes. Different reference ranges are also needed for interpretations. For around 40 years, quantitative assays for the steroids and their regulatory peptide hormones have been possible using immunoassay techniques. Problems are recognised and this review aims to summarise the benefits and failings of immunoassays and introduce where tandem mass spectrometry is anticipated to meet the clinical needs for steroid analysis in paediatric endocrine investigations. It is important to keep a dialogue between clinicians and the laboratory, especially when any laboratory result does not make sense in the clinical investigation

マダガスカル北西部における火災およびその他の森林減少要因の空間的・時間的パターンへの衛星リモートセンシング技術の応用

京都大学新制・課程博士博士(農学)甲第25318号農博第2584号京都大学大学院農学研究科森林科学専攻(主査)教授 北島 薫, 教授 小野田 雄介, 教授 Daniel Epron学位規則第4条第1項該当Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering)Kyoto UniversityDGA