An evaluation of the effectiveness of the Reading Recovery program compared to a traditional BSI program

Children enter first grade eager to read, but reading is a complex task. Some children require a remedial reading intervention to acquire the reading skills necessary to be successful. This study hypothesized that the direct individualized instruction supplied through the Reading Recovery program would help children attain higher levels of achievement than a traditional small group Basic Skills Program. Eight children in the bottom 20% of their first grade class were divided into two groups. Four received the strategy-driven Reading Recovery intervention, and four received the skills-oriented BSI intervention, Pre and post intervention data was collected for both groups using the Clay Diagnostic Survey. This data was compared. The results indicate that though reading achievement was increased in both groups, the Reading Recovery group demonstrated the highest level of achievement especially in the areas of comprehension and vocabulary development. Their reading levels advanced significantly over the BSI students during the four month interval. This suggests that the Reading Recovery program should be implemented for the most at risk students in first grade

School Organization Placement for the Ninth Grade Student

The purpose of this study was to obtain information regarding the best placement of the ninth grade student in the school organizational pattern. Thirty-six superintendents, seventy-seven high school principals and sixty-four high school teachers, in the state of Washington, responded to a questionnaire-opinionnaire regarding the physical, intellectual, emotional and social maturity level of the ninth grade student. The results showed support for the ninth grade student to be in a four-year high school grade configuration

Underwater Central California: A Guide to Saving Your Ocean Heritage

Describes the state of the wildlife and habitats inside the three national marine sanctuaries that stretch along the coast of central California, and identifies key threats to the future of California's coast

“All about that Bass”: Source Evaluation for Music Performance Students

The information literacy needs of music students include not only the written word, but also scores and recordings. Music students need to be able to evaluate music sources in the same way an English composition student would evaluate written sources for a paper. What makes an edition of a musical score authoritative? What makes a recording reliable? Information literacy for music students involves learning to use scores, recordings, and musical research to better prepare their performances. Helping students develop the tools to evaluate musical editions and recordings assists the student in becoming a better overall musician and performer. Using the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, the presenters (a music faculty member and a music librarian) will examine the information literacy needs of music students. The frame “authority is constructed and contextual” especially applies to the evaluation of music sources. The presentation will include discussion of the collaboration between music faculty and librarians to create classroom activities for evaluation of sources

Molecular diversity of the copepod, Nannocalunus minor: Genetic evidence of species and population structure in the North Atlantic Ocean

The abundant calanoid copepod, Nannocalanus minor, is widespread from the Florida Straits (FS), throughout the Gulf Stream and the Sargasso Sea, to the eastern North Atlantic Ocean. Does the species represent a single, randomly-mating population across this extensive region, or does it comprise a number of genetically distinct populations or taxonomically distinct forms? What are patterns and pathways of dispersal of the copepod across the North Atlantic? These questions were addressed using population genetic analysis of DNA sequence variation of a 440 base-pair region of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. This analysis separated N. minor into two genetically distinct types (distinguished by 10% sequence difference) that may represent the previously described N. m. forma major and N.m. forma minor. The two genetic types differed in size range and in geographic distribution: Type I individuals were larger and were most abundant in the western regions of the Gulf Stream; Type II individuals were smaller and became more abundant toward the eastern regions of the Gulf Stream. Significant differences in the size-frequency distributions of N. minor from different regions of the North Atlantic may result from mixtures of the two genetic types and environmental differences in food availability. Within N. minor Type I, mtDNA sequence variation defined 68 haplotypes among 155 individuals. The haplotype frequency distribution was skewed: there were 40 individuals of one haplotype, 31 individuals of a second, and 60 unique individuals. Haplotype diversity, h, was very similar across the sampled range: h = 0.886 in samples from the FS and 0.874 for samples from the Gulf Stream Meander Region (GSMR). Nucleotide diversity, pi, was significantly greater in the FS (pi = 0.00490) than in the GSMR (0.00414), largely due to a number of genetically divergent individuals. Haplotype abundances did not differ significantly either within the regions (among FS samples, P = 0.756; among GSMR samples, P = 0.336) or between the regions (P = 0.636). Molecular genetic analysis can reveal cryptic species among marine taxa, and is particularly useful for taxa characterized by morphological similarity

6-OHDA generated ROS induces DNA damage and p53- and PUMA-dependent cell death

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by the selective loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN), resulting in tremor, rigidity, and bradykinesia. Although the etiology is unknown, insight into the disease process comes from the dopamine (DA) derivative, 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), which produces PD-like symptoms. Studies show that 6-OHDA activates stress pathways, such as the unfolded protein response (UPR), triggers mitochondrial release of cytochrome-c, and activates caspases, such as caspase-3. Because the BH3-only protein, Puma (p53-upregulated mediator of apoptosis), is activated in response to UPR, it is thought to be a link between cell stress and apoptosis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To test the hypothesis that Puma serves such a role in 6-OHDA-mediated cell death, we compared the response of dopaminergic neurons from wild-type and <it>Puma</it>-null mice to 6-OHDA. Results indicate that Puma is required for 6-OHDA-induced cell death, in primary dissociated midbrain cultures as well as <it>in vivo</it>. In these cultures, 6-OHDA-induced DNA damage and p53 were required for 6-OHDA-induced cell death. In contrast, while 6-OHDA led to upregulation of UPR markers, loss of ATF3 did not protect against 6-OHDA.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Together, our results indicate that 6-OHDA-induced upregulation of <it>Puma </it>and cell death are independent of UPR. Instead, p53 and DNA damage repair pathways mediate 6-OHDA-induced toxicity.</p

\u3ci\u3eCritical Social Justice Issues for School Practitioners\u3c/i\u3e

Editors: Sandra Harris and Stacey Edmonson Chapter 5: From Ice Raids to Equity: Hispanic Students\u27 Progress through High School in an Immigrant Responsive City, co-authored by John Hill, UNO faculty member. Chapter 9: Focusing School Leadership on Poverty and Ethnicity for K-12 Student Success, co-authored by Jeanne L. Surface, Kay A. Keiser, Peter J. Smith, and Karen L. Hayes. This project was borne of a desire to support these scholar-practitioner leaders. We invited educational leaders to share recent studies which brought issues of social justice to the fore. Certainly, the 20 papers that were accepted as chapters for this book do not address all of the problems with which educators are faced. Nor do the 20 chapters provide definitive answers to these difficult issues. However, they do provide valuable information and ensure that thoughtful, reflective dialogue is occurring regarding critical social justice understandings or misunderstandings.https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/facultybooks/1173/thumbnail.jp

Youth services in the global learning community

The Youth Services SIG proposes a panel of six presentations focusing on youth, learning, and information in a global context. The purpose of the SIG session is (a) to present a diversity of current research that investigates youth learning in a global context, and (b) to engage the audience in discussing to what extent our teaching, research, service efforts account for the global context and exploring future directions for youth services in equipping contemporary young people for this diverse and global world. The peer-reviewed projects featured in the panel demonstrate youth services librarianship plays a critical role in youth learning in a global context, whether through public library story time, new literacy and fake news curriculums, community engagement and informal learning programs, graphic novels, or young adult literature on or for LGBTQAI+ (an inclusive term that refers to most all sexual and gender identities). Each presentation addresses this year’s conference theme, Exploring Learning in a Global Information Context, in a different, yet significant manner. These projects highlight how youth-centered librarianship promotes learning, global citizenship, global literacy, and cultural understandings and diversity—key competencies in the global information context. The panel will begin with a brief introduction by the moderators (5 minutes). A presentation on each project will follow (maximum 10 minutes per project—total 60 minutes). Finally, the panelists will engage the audience, opening the floor to questions and discussions on the implications for LIS educators and researchers (25 minutes)

Expansion of Intestinal Epithelial Stem Cells during Murine Development

Murine small intestinal crypt development is initiated during the first postnatal week. Soon after formation, overall increases in the number of crypts occurs through a bifurcating process called crypt fission, which is believed to be driven by developmental increases in the number of intestinal stem cells (ISCs). Recent evidence suggests that a heterogeneous population of ISCs exists within the adult intestine. Actively cycling ISCs are labeled by Lgr5, Ascl2 and Olfm4; whereas slowly cycling or quiescent ISC are marked by Bmi1 and mTert. The goal of this study was to correlate the expression of these markers with indirect measures of ISC expansion during development, including quantification of crypt fission and side population (SP) sorting. Significant changes were observed in the percent of crypt fission and SP cells consistent with ISC expansion between postnatal day 14 and 21. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for the various ISC marker mRNAs demonstrated divergent patterns of expression. mTert surged earliest, during the first week of life as crypts are initially being formed, whereas Lgr5 and Bmi1 peaked on day 14. Olfm4 and Ascl2 had variable expression patterns. To assess the number and location of Lgr5-expressing cells during this period, histologic sections from intestines of Lgr5-EGFP mice were subjected to quantitative analysis. There was attenuated Lgr5-EGFP expression at birth and through the first week of life. Once crypts were formed, the overall number and percent of Lgr5-EGFP positive cells per crypt remain stable throughout development and into adulthood. These data were supported by Lgr5 in situ hybridization in wild-type mice. We conclude that heterogeneous populations of ISCs are expanding as measured by SP sorting and mRNA expression at distinct developmental time points

The negotiation and co-construction of meaning and understanding within a postgraduate online learning community

There is an increasing development of courses and course components taught through teaching and learning dialogues online yet there is little secure knowledge regarding the educational quality and outcomes of these dialogues. Drawing on contemporary socio-cultural research, this paper adapts a well-established analytical framework (see Mercer, 1995) that has been developed to understand face to face educational dialogues to the new context of asynchronous electronic conferencing. The work reported is derived from an in-depth case study of a tutorial group of 11 students enrolled on a course within the Open University's MA in Open and Distance Learning. The course was taught on-line to an international cohort of students from wide-ranging academic backgrounds. The analyses of electronic conference archives presented here focus on understanding the students’ on-line collaborative work and the ways in which they constructed meaning, negotiated shared understanding and supported each other in the process of learning at a distance. The implications of the findings for educational practice are considered