Recommendations for course-based undergraduate research experiences in mathematics

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have benefits for course instructors, undergraduate STEM students, and underrepresented students. CUREs consist of five essential components which include the use of science practices, discovery, broadly relevant or important work, collaboration, and iteration (Auchincloss et al., 2014). Over the past decade, a broad range of CUREs have been developed within and across STEM disciplines. However, resources to assist instructors to develop CUREs in mathematics are limited. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the extant literature on course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), especially in mathematics, to provide future directions for reforming mathematics courses to incorporate research experiences through CUREs, and to provide recommendations for developing CUREs in mathematics

Exploring understandings of sexuality among "gay" migrant Filipinos living in New Zealand

Ethnicity, sexuality, and health are inextricably linked. This study reports on individual interviews carried out with 21 “gay” migrant Filipinos living in New Zealand to understand sexual identity and identify how they manage the disclosure of their identity. The participants provided both simple and complex accounts of sexuality. For many, these aligned with Western notions of how gay and bisexual are understood as categories; but for others, their understandings and use of such terms was influenced by Filipino cultural and contextual meanings. This included the use of “gay” as a catch-all category, including for those who identify as transgender. Active and careful management of their diverse identities was reported by participants. While disclosure to family was reasonably common, this was couched in terms of sexuality being tolerated rather than fully accepted. Disclosing identity was comparatively easier in New Zealand, but nonetheless there was active control over disclosure in some work and medical situations. Such findings add a degree of complexity within health promotion and public health, as identity cannot be regarded as static and common understandings do not exist. However, the strong community orientation and relative openness of “gay” Filipinos in relation to sexuality and gender afford opportunities for targeted interventions among this group

aBravo is a novel Aedes aegypti antiviral protein that interacts with, but acts independently of, the exogenous siRNA pathway effector Dicer 2

Mosquitoes, such as Aedes aegypti, can transmit arboviruses to humans. The exogenous short interfering RNA (exo-siRNA) pathway plays a major antiviral role in controlling virus infection in mosquito cells. The Dicer 2 (Dcr2) nuclease is a key effector protein in this pathway, which cleaves viral double-stranded RNA into virus-derived siRNAs that are further loaded onto an effector called Argonaute 2 (Ago2), which as part of the multiprotein RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) targets and cleaves viral RNA. In order to better understand the effector protein Dcr2, proteomics experiments were conducted to identify interacting cellular partners. We identified several known interacting partners including Ago2, as well as two novel and previously uncharacterized Ae. aegypti proteins. The role of these two proteins was further investigated, and their interactions with Dcr2 verified by co-immunoprecipitation. Interestingly, despite their ability to interact with Ago2 and Piwi4, neither of these proteins was found to affect exo-siRNA silencing in a reporter assay. However, one of these proteins, Q0IFK9, subsequently called aBravo (aedine broadly active antiviral protein), was found to mediate antiviral activity against positive strand RNA arboviruses. Intriguingly the presence of Dcr2 was not necessary for this effect, suggesting that this interacting antiviral effector may act as part of protein complexes with potentially separate antiviral activities

Thermodynamic Properties Of In1-xBxP Semiconducting Alloys: A First-Principles Study

We have carried out first-principles total-energy calculations in order to study the electronic structure and thermodynamic properties of In 1-xBxP semiconducting alloys using the GGA and LDA formalisms within density functional theory (DFT) with a plane-wave ultrasoft pseudopotential scheme. We have also taken into account the correlation effects of the 3d-In orbitals within the LDA+U method to calculate the band-gap energy. We use special quasirandom structures to investigate the effect of the substituent concentration on structural parameter, band gap energy, mixing enthalpy and phase diagram of In1-xBxP alloys for x = 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1. It is found that the lattice parameters of the In 1-xBxP alloys decrease with B-concentration, showing a negative deviation from Vegard's law, while the bulk modulus increases with composition x, showing a large deviation from the linear concentration dependence (LCD). The calculated band structure presents a similar behavior for any B-composition using LDA, PBE or LDA+U approach. Our results predict that the band-gap shows a x-dependent nonlinear behavior. Calculated band gaps also shows a transition from (Γ→Γ)-direct to (Γ→Δ)- indirect at x = 0.611 and 0.566 for LDA and PBE functionals, respectively. Our calculations predict that the In1-xBxP alloy to be stable at unusual high temperature for both LDA and PBE potentials. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Genomic analysis of four strains of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis bv. Equi isolated from horses showing distinct signs of infection.

The genomes of four strains (MB11, MB14, MB30, and MB66) of the species Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis biovar equi were sequenced on the Ion Torrent PGM platform, completely assembled, and their gene content and structure were analyzed. The strains were isolated from horses with distinct signs of infection, including ulcerative lymphangitis, external abscesses on the chest, or internal abscesses on the liver, kidneys, and lungs. The average size of the genomes was 2.3 Mbp, with 2169 (Strain MB11) to 2235 (Strain MB14) predicted coding sequences (CDSs). An optical map of the MB11 strain generated using the KpnI restriction enzyme showed that the approach used to assemble the genome was satisfactory, producing good alignment between the sequence observed in vitro and that obtained in silico. In the resulting Neighbor-Joining dendrogram, the C. pseudotuberculosis strains sequenced in this study were clustered into a single clade supported by a high bootstrap value. The structural analysis showed that the genomes of the MB11 and MB14 strains were very similar, while the MB30 and MB66 strains had several inverted regions. The observed genomic characteristics were similar to those described for other strains of the same species, despite the number of inversions found. These genomes will serve as a basis for determining the relationship between the genotype of the pathogen and the type of infection that it causes

Beneficial effects of acute high-intensity exercise on electrophysiological indices of attention processes in young adult men

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordBackground: Emerging research suggests that a single bout of aerobic exercise can improve cognition, brain function and psychological health. Our aim was to examine the effects of high-intensity exercise on cognitive-performance and brain measures of attention, inhibition and performance-monitoring across a test-battery of three cognitive tasks. Method: Using a randomised cross-over design, 29 young men completed three successive cognitive tasks (Cued Continuous Performance Task [CPT-OX]; Eriksen Flanker Task; four-choice reaction-time task [Fast Task]) with simultaneous electroencephalogram (EEG) recording before and after a 20-min high-intensity cycling exercise and resting control session. Cognitive-performance measures, EEG power and event-related potential measures, were obtained during the tasks. Random-intercept linear models were used to investigate the effects of exercise, compared to rest, on outcomes. Results: A single bout of exercise significantly (p < 0.05) increased the amplitude of the event-related potential Go P3, but had no effect on the contingent negative variation (CNV), Cue P3 or NoGo P3, during the CPT-OX. Delta power, recorded during the CPT-OX, also significantly increased after exercise, whereas there was no effect on cognitive-performance in this task. Exercise did not influence any cognitive-performance or brain measures in the subsequent Flanker or Fast Tasks. Conclusion: Acute high-intensity exercise improves brain-indices reflecting executive and sustained attention during task performance (Go P3 and delta activity), in the CPT-OX, but not anticipatory attention (Cue P3 and CNV) or response inhibition (NoGo P3) in young-adult men. Exercise had no effect on cognitive-performance or brain measures in the subsequent Flanker and Fast tasks, which may potentially be explained by the time delay after exercise.Medical Research Council (MRC)National Institute for Health Research (NIHR