Ellery Queen: Forgotten Master Detective

Traditional detective stories, those written in the "Golden Age" of the 1920's mad 1930's, follow a basic formula set forth by W.H. Auden: "a murder occurs; many are suspected; all but one suspect, who is the murderer, are eliminated; the murderer is arrested of dies" (Symons 3). Three writers were instrumental in the evolution of this formula: Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and S.S. Van Dine. Poe created the genre by writing the first detective stories; Doyle made the genre popular by creating Sherlock Holmes; and Van Dine redefined the genre by writing guidelines for authors. Each of these men made such significant contributions that without them modern detective stories probably would not exist. This thesis examines the Detective Story Genre. The decade between World War I and II was the "Golden Age" of the detective novel. In that decade of change, people longed for order in their lives and to escape from the misery of the Great Depression. The detective novel offered the perfect escape: it took place in an ordered world where everyone understood the guidelines, murder was committed without any actual violence, good always triumphed in the end and the criminal was brought to justice. It was a combination escape novel and morality play. Three basic types of detectives, each representing a mystery sub-genre, were established in the Golden Age and remain prominent today: the professional detective, the amateur detective, and the private eye. The professional detective was someone whose job was criminal investigation, such as a police officer or a Pinkerton detective. The amateur detective was an investigator with no official reason to solve crimes. Amateurs sometimes served as police consultants if they had special skills, such as a background in military intelligence. The private investigator, or private eye, was an investigator, usually a form er police officer, who worked for a professional detective agency.Master'sCollege of Arts and Sciences: Liberal StudiesUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117689/1/AkersJordan.pd

A Coordinated Research Agenda for Nature-Based Learning

Evidence is mounting that nature-based learning (NBL) enhances children’s educational and developmental outcomes, making this an opportune time to identify promising questions to carry research and practice in this field forward. We present the outcomes of a process to set a research agenda for NBL, undertaken by the Science of Nature-Based Learning Collaborative Research Network, with funding from the National Science Foundation. A literature review and several approaches to gathering input from researchers, practitioners, and funders resulted in recommendations for research questions and methodological improvements to increase the relevance and rigor of research in this field. Some questions seek to understand how learning in nature affects what children learn, how they learn, and how it varies based on age, gender, socioeconomic status, ethnic background, special needs, and individual differences. Outcomes of interest cover academic performance, practical skills, personal development, and environmental stewardship. Other questions seek to find causal explanations for observed outcomes. To create optimal conditions for NBL, the research agenda includes practical questions about how to prepare teachers to work successfully in nature and how to support their adoption of this approach. Not least, the research agenda asks whether learning in nature can address major societal issues by moderating the effect of socioeconomic disadvantage on children’s academic achievement, personal development and wellbeing, and how these benefits might be attained at reasonable costs. A deeper understanding of how, why and for whom different forms of nature contact enhance learning and development is needed to guide practice and policy decision-making

Rethinking Peer Review: Expanding the Boundaries for Community-Engaged Scholarship

Peer review in the academic arena is the evaluation of a scholar or a scholarly work by peers— typically, qualified members of the scholar’s discipline or profession with similar or greater competence, expertise, or rank. Peer review serves as a mechanism of self-regulation within a field or an institution in order to assure quality and may be applied to a product of scholarship, to scholars and their bodies of work, or to programs and organizations. Special considerations arise when peer review is undertaken in the context of community-engaged scholarship (CES), since CES generally involves partners outside the academy, and the typical concerns of peer review (such as rigorous methods, participant risks and benefits, and significance of findings for the field) are complemented by equivalent and sometimes greater concerns for the quality of the engagement process, community- level ethical considerations, and benefit to the community. This article, authored by some of the founding members of the Working Group on Rethinking Peer Review, explores these issues and invites readers to contribute to this discussion by considering questions about the appropriateness of conventional peer review mechanisms and who should be considered “peers” in reviewing products of CES and the work of community-engaged scholars. The Working Group hopes others will initiate discussions within their own institutions, professional associations, journals, and other settings to debate the notion of peer review and determine if expanded concepts are feasible. Through these various activities, the authors hope to begin seeing changes in the peer review process that embrace community expertise and enhance the quality and impact of CES.

CYFC Monthly, March 2014

This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu

CYFC Monthly, June 2014

This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu

CYFC Monthly, November 2012

This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu

Incidence and risk factors for type 2 diabetes mellitus in transitional Thailand: results from the Thai cohort study

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is increasingly prevalent in countries undergoing rapid development, including Thailand. We assessed T2DM incidence over an 8-year period in a nationwide cohort of Thai adults. Methods: Thai Cohort Study participants were surveyed in 2005, 2009 and 2013. The analysed cohort members were aged (15–88), did not have diabetes in 2005 and were followed up by questionnaire in 2013 (n=39 507). T2DM was ascertained using self-report, which has been validated using physician interviews. We calculated the 8-year cumulative incidence of T2DM. Multivariable logistic regression assessed associations between potential risk factors and T2DM incidence. Results: 8-year cumulative incidence of T2DM (2005 to 2013) was 177 per 10 000 (95% CI 164 to 190). Crude and age-standardised cumulative incidences of T2DM by sex were 249 per 10 000 (95% CI 226 to 272) and 222 per 10 000 (95% CI 219 to 225) for men; and 119 per 10 000 (95% CI 105 to 133) and 96 per 10 000 (95% CI 94 to 98) for women, respectively. T2DM increased significantly for both sexes with increasing age and body mass index (BMI) ( p trend <0.001 for both). Residence in an urban area as a child associated with T2DM among men and women (OR=1.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.7 and OR=1.4, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.79); this was no longer statistically significant after adjusting for BMI. Among men, smoking (OR=1.7, 95% CI 1.3 to 2.2) and alcohol intake (OR=1.8, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.0) were associated with T2DM. Conclusions: This study found that the sociodemographic and lifestyle changes that have accompanied Thailand’s economic development are associated with T2DM risk in a large cohort of Thai adults. Our findings highlight the need to address these transitions to prevent a further increase in the national incidence of T2DM, particularly among Thai men

Outcomes and Experiences of an RN to BSN Online Cohort: An Academic-Practice Partnership

Abstract This article describes the result of an academic-practice partnership between a School of Nursing (SON) and a University Medical Center (UMC) for the purpose of promoting BSN education in response to the Institute of Medicine’s recommendation that 80% of RNs hold a baccalaureate degree or higher by 2020. The mutually beneficial partnership worked together to offer a pilot online RN-BSN nursing program, increase the number of BSNs in the workforce, and to collect information from RN-BSN students returning to school about their challenges, recommendations for future programs, and why they were interested in returning to school. The BSN graduates reported a renewed interest in nursing, opportunities for advancement, and the importance of a support system for RNs planning to return to school. The BSN graduates identified barriers for returning to school included finances, lack of knowledge related to technology, and challenges of maintaining work-life balance

Discovery of a gatekeeper residue in the C terminal tail of the extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 5 (ERK5)

The extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 5 (ERK5) is a non-redundant mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) that exhibits a unique C terminal extension which comprises distinct structural and functional properties. Here, we sought to elucidate the significance of phosphoacceptor sites in the C terminal transactivation domain of ERK5. We have found that Thr732 acted as a functional gatekeeper residue controlling C terminal-mediated nuclear translocation and transcriptional enhancement. Consistently, using a non-bias quantitative mass spectrometry approach, we demonstrated that phosphorylation at Thr732 conferred selectivity for binding interactions of ERK5 with proteins related to chromatin and RNA biology, whereas a number of metabolic regulators were associated with full-length wild type ERK5. Additionally, our proteomic analysis revealed that phosphorylation of the Ser730-Glu-Thr732-Pro motif could occur independently of dual phosphorylation at Thr218-Glu-Tyr220 in the activation loop. Together these results firmly establish the significance of C terminal phosphorylation in regulating ERK5 function, independently of MEK5. This novel mechanism may be of particular relevance in cancer cells where ERK5 has be found to be hyperphosphoryated on its C terminal tail