Voices from the Field: Exploring Partnerships with the African American Library at Gregory School in Houston, Texas

Dr. Bernardo Pohl conducted an interview with Ms. Valerie Wade, the library’s historian and oral archivist, to discuss the library’s history, partnerships, and vital role in the community

A Moral Debate at the Invisible Rainbow: Thoughts about Best Practices in Servicing LGBTQ Students in Special Education

Instead of occupying a marginal space within teacher preparation programs, special education courses and training should promote diversity in servicing marginalized groups such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) students. Within these programs, issues related to LGBTQ students should occupy a meaningful and formative space in the training of future teachers in special education. Often, special education teachers are at a loss about how to educate LGBTQ students with disabilities. Rethinking the role of special education and LGBTQ students with special needs within teacher education programs enables pre-service teachers to cultivate new values and attitudes that can enrich the student/teacher relationship within public schools. As such, this article proposes to explore best practices for servicing LGTBQ students in special education by promoting better ways to train future teachers

Emission Color Tuning In Alq(3) Complexes With Extended Conjugated Chromophores

GraphicsA new method for the synthesis of 5-arylethynyl-8-hydroxyquinoline ligands using Sonogashira-Hagihara coupling was developed. The electronic nature of arylethynyl substituents affects the emission color and quantum yield of the resulting Al(III) complex. Photophysical properties of the metallocomplexes correspond to the electron-withdrawing/-donating character of the arylethynyl substituents. Optical properties of such AI(Ill) complexes correlate with the Hammett constant values of the respective substituents. This strategy offers a powerful tool for the preparation of electroluminophores with predictable photophysical properties

Critical Literacy in the Social Studies Classroom: A Case for the 21st Century

This article considers the potential of integrating critical literacy into approaches to teaching and learning social studies as an indispensable tool for building better communities (Agbaria, 2011). It begins with an overview of the authors’ experiences and perspectives related to social studies and critical literacy. It then proceeds to consider current perceptions and practices regarding literacy in U.S. classrooms and the trend towards teaching and learning literacy and a distinct set of technical and functional knowledge and skills that are often taught in isolation. The article then examines conceptions of critical literacy and considers connections to social studies education. Finally, it considers how critical approaches to teaching and learning literacy and social studies might be united to promote and support the development of critical thinking skills necessary for today’s students to successfully address issues in an increasingly complex and interconnected global society

Minimum and maximum against k lies

A neat 1972 result of Pohl asserts that [3n/2]-2 comparisons are sufficient, and also necessary in the worst case, for finding both the minimum and the maximum of an n-element totally ordered set. The set is accessed via an oracle for pairwise comparisons. More recently, the problem has been studied in the context of the Renyi-Ulam liar games, where the oracle may give up to k false answers. For large k, an upper bound due to Aigner shows that (k+O(\sqrt{k}))n comparisons suffice. We improve on this by providing an algorithm with at most (k+1+C)n+O(k^3) comparisons for some constant C. The known lower bounds are of the form (k+1+c_k)n-D, for some constant D, where c_0=0.5, c_1=23/32=0.71875, and c_k=\Omega(2^{-5k/4}) as k goes to infinity.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Latino Civic and Social Engagement

Special issue editors Bernardo Pohl, Viola Garcia and Traqina Emeka introduce the special edition of the Journal of Family Strengths

Critical Issues: Defining and Debunking Misconceptions in Health, Education, Criminal Justice, and Social Work/Social Services

The University of Houston Downtown Committee for the Journal of Family Strengths introduces Volume 18, Issue 1: Critical Issues: Defining and Debunking Misconceptions in Health, Education, Criminal Justice, and Social Work/Social Services

Red-green-blue Emission From Tris(5-aryl-8-quinolinolate)al(iii) Complexes

A simple yet effective strategy for synthesis of 5-aryl-8-quinolinolate-based electroluminophores with tunable emission wavelengths is presented. Two different pathways for the attachment of electron-donating or electron-withdrawing aryl groups to the 5-position of the quinolinolate ligand via Suzuki coupling were developed. A successful tuning in the emission color was achieved: the emission wavelength was found to correlate with the Hammett constant of the respective substituents, providing a powerful strategy for prediction of the optical properties of new electroluminophores

Caracterização da resistência para acaricidas no carrapato Boophilus microplus*

Boophilus microplus  é um ectoparasita hematófago de bovinos, presente em áreas tropicais e subtropicais no mundo. É causador de enormes perdas econômicas pela espoliação que causa ao hospedeiro, além de ser transmissor de Anaplasma sp. e Babesia spp. O principal método de controle utilizado atualmente é o controle químico, que, embora eficiente, é caro, causa danos ao meio ambiente e deixa resíduos na carne. Além disso, é crescente o número de relatos que apontam um aumento das populações resistentes de carrapatos a diversos princípios químicos presentes nos acaricidas. As bases moleculares da resistência em Boophilus microplus ainda não são claramente conhecidas, mas muitos estudos indicam alguns dos mecanismos. Diferentes grupos de enzimas presentes em diferentes rotas metabólicas compõem os mecanismos de resistência e detoxificação celular, além de uma série de mutações que podem aumentar a tolerância a um determinado composto químico. Neste momento, outros tipos de controle, como o biológico e o imunológico estão sendo trabalhados para evitar a resistência nas populações de carrapato. No entanto, o controle biológico ainda não é viável para grandes rebanhos e a proteção induzida por vacinas não é suficiente para permitir o controle do B. microplus. O estudo dos mecanismos de resistência no carrapato pode ser de fundamental importância para seu controle em rebanhos

Photolipid excitation triggers depolarizing optocapacitive currents and action potentials

Optically-induced changes in membrane capacitance may regulate neuronal activity without requiring genetic modifications. Previously, they mainly relied on sudden temperature jumps due to light absorption by membrane-associated nanomaterials or water. Yet, nanomaterial targeting or the required high infrared light intensities obstruct broad applicability. Now, we propose a very versatile approach: photolipids (azobenzene-containing diacylglycerols) mediate light-triggered cellular de- or hyperpolarization. As planar bilayer experiments show, the respective currents emerge from millisecond-timescale changes in bilayer capacitance. UV light changes photolipid conformation, which awards embedding plasma membranes with increased capacitance and evokes depolarizing currents. They open voltage-gated sodium channels in cells, generating action potentials. Blue light reduces the area per photolipid, decreasing membrane capacitance and eliciting hyperpolarization. If present, mechanosensitive channels respond to the increased mechanical membrane tension, generating large depolarizing currents that elicit action potentials. Membrane self-insertion of administered photolipids and focused illumination allows cell excitation with high spatiotemporal control