The development and pilot of the university student embeddedness (USE) scale for student retention within universities: validation with an Australian student sample

A significant number of university students are leaving their institutions before completing their degrees. The present research project applied embeddedness theory, from organizational research, to understand student retention in a tertiary student population, and develop a quantitative instrument that measured university student embeddedness. In Study One, a mixed-methods approach was employed to determine whether the Fit (similarity between the student and the university), Links (count of relationships at university), and Sacrifice (losses upon leaving university) dimensions of embeddedness related to students’ self-reported reasons for remaining enrolled at their university. Qualitative results from 15 undergraduate students indicated that intent to remain could be understood within the embeddedness dimensions of Fit, Links, and Sacrifice. These themes were employed to build the University Student Embeddedness (USE) scale. The measure was examined against Rasch measurement model assumptions for each of its subscales using data collected from 299 Australian tertiary students. Study Two sought to examine exploratory evidence of the concurrent validity of the scores from this developed measure. Responses from a separate sample of 196 Australian tertiary students showed only the Fit scale significantly related to student intentions to stay at university. All USE scales correlated with academic-related skills and motivations. These results suggest that the Fit scale may be valuable in identifying students at risk of dropout. Early identification of “at risk” students may lead to the development of targeted retention interventions. However, the USE’s role in detection requires further validation and the development of consistent findings within other student cohorts

Propagação in vivo e in vitro de Cissus sicyoides, uma planta medicinal.

O estudo da propagação de espécies utilizadas na medicina popular tem sido intensificado nos últimos anos devido ao crescente investimento em pesquisas para a descoberta de novos fármacos e da utilização da fitoterapia como um meio alternativo. O objetivo do trabalho foi a propagação in vivo e in vitro (estabelecimento e multiplicação) de Cissus sicyoides. Plantas mantidas em casa de vegetação forneceram estacas com 10 e 20 cm de comprimento, as quais foram tratadas com 0, 80 ou 160 mg/l de AIB, com ou sem sacarose + ácido bórico, por duas horas. Para o estabelecimento in vitro, após desinfestação, segmentos nodais com 10 mm de comprimento foram inoculados em meio de cultura sólido (MS), com diferentes concentrações de cinetina, BAP e ANA. Para a multiplicação in vitro, segmentos nodais com 10 mm foram inoculados em meio MS, suplementado com diferentes concentrações de BAP e ANA, e ANA e cinetina. Na propagação in vivo as estacas com 10 cm de comprimento apresentaram maior eficiência no enraizamento quando tratadas com 160 mg/l de AIB. In vitro os explantes foram melhor estabelecidos e multiplicados em meio de cultura suplementado com cinetina e ANA, que proporcionaram maior indução de gemas, crescimento em altura e ausência de calos na base das plântulas

Influence of phosphorus-solubilizing microorganisms and phosphate amendments on pearl millet growth and nutrient use efficiency in different soils types.

Two greenhouse growth trials were performed to assess inoculation with phosphorus (P)-solubilizing microorganisms (PSM) in combination with alternative sources of phosphate in pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) cultivation: One using sandy soil and the other using clayey soil. The treatments comprised five P sources, with or without inoculation with PSM B119 (Bacillus megaterium) and B2084 (Bacillus subtilis) strains. Amendment of alternative sources (granulated, branned organomineral, and Bayovar rock) of P along with PSM inoculation produced more plant dry mass on sandy soil, which was not observed on clayey soil. Phosphorus use efficiency (PUE) did not differ between inoculated and non-inoculated treatments, and it was higher with the alternative P sources, compared to triple superphosphate (TSP) treatments. Available P content in the soil was higher with TSP, in sandy soil, and with PSM inoculation. Overall, acid and alkaline phosphatases and ?-glucosidase activity was higher in clayey soil, compared to sandy soil, which contains little organic matter; it was also higher with alternative P sources, compared to TSP, and in inoculation treatments, showing the potential of using PSM inoculation and alternative P sources to achieve higher sustainability and productivity in agriculture

Insights into interdisciplinary approaches for bioremediation of organic pollutants: innovations, challenges and perspectives

Modern industrialization has originated a tremendous industrial growth. Discharge of industrial effluent is a critical threat to a safe environment. Removal of various pollutants from industrial wastewater is obligatory for controlling environmental pollution. Bioremediation using biotechnological interventions has attracted greater attention among the researchers in the field of control and abatement of environmental pollution. This review is aimed to introduce methods for bioremediation on the removal of organic pollutants from industrial wastewater that have been discussed, and the kinetic models that are related to it have been introduced. In addition, biotechnological interventions on bioremediation of pollutants have been discussed fingerprinting of microbial sp. present at polluted sites. Microbial electrochemical technologies such as a green technology for the removal of pollutants from industrial effluents and simultaneous resource recovery from industrial waste have been discussed to generate up-to-date scientific literature. This review also provides detailed knowledge gaps, challenges and research perspectives related to the topic.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mobile Consumer Behavior in Fashion m-Retail: An Eye Tracking Study to Understand Gender Differences

© 2020 ACM. With exponential adoption of mobile devices, consumers increasingly use them for shopping. There is a need to understand the gender differences in mobile consumer behavior. This study used mobile eye tracking technology and mixed-method approach to analyze and compare how male and female mobile fashion consumers browse and shop on smartphones. Mobile eye tracking glasses recorded fashion consumers' shopping experiences using smartphones for browsing and shopping on the actual fashion retailer's website. 14 participants successfully completed this study, half of them were males and half females. Two different data analysis approaches were employed, namely a novel framework of the shopping journey, and semantic gaze mapping with 31 Areas of Interest (AOI) representing the elements of the shopping journey. The results showed that male and female users exhibited significantly different behavior patterns, which have implications for mobile website design and fashion m-retail. The shopping journey map framework proves useful for further application in market research

DNA damage in circulating leukocytes measured with the comet assay may predict the risk of death

The comet assay or single cell gel electrophoresis, is the most common method used to measure strand breaks and a variety of other DNA lesions in human populations. To estimate the risk of overall mortality, mortality by cause, and cancer incidence associated to DNA damage, a cohort of 2,403 healthy individuals (25,978 person-years) screened in 16 laboratories using the comet assay between 1996 and 2016 was followed-up. Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated a worse overall survival in the medium and high tertile of DNA damage (p < 0.001). The effect of DNA damage on survival was modelled according to Cox proportional hazard regression model. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) was 1.42 (1.06-1.90) for overall mortality, and 1.94 (1.04-3.59) for diseases of the circulatory system in subjects with the highest tertile of DNA damage. The findings of this study provide epidemiological evidence encouraging the implementation of the comet assay in preventive strategies for non-communicable diseases

Efficient delivery of DNA into bovine preimplantation embryos by multiwall carbon nanotubes.

The pellucid zone (PZ) is a protective embryonic cells barrier against chemical, physical or biological substances. This put, usual transfection methods are not efficient for mammal oocytes and embryos as they are exclusively for somatic cells. Carbon nanotubes have emerged as a new method for gene delivery, and they can be an alternative for embryos transfection, however its ability to cross the PZ and mediated gene transfer is unknown. Our data confirm that multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) can cross the PZ and delivery of pDNA into in vitro-fertilized bovine embryos. The degeneration rate and the expression of genes associated to cell viability were not affected in embryos exposed to MWNTs. Those embryos, however, had lower cell number and higher apoptotic cell index, but this did not impair the embryonic development. This study shows the potential utility of the MWNT for the development of new method for delivery of DNA into bovine embryos

EFFECT OF WOOD CARBONIZATION IN THE ANATOMICAL STRUCTURE AND DENSITY OF CHARCOAL FROM Eucalyptus

O presente trabalho objetivou avaliar as modifica\ue7\uf5es anat\uf4micas que ocorrem com a carboniza\ue7\ue3o da madeira e determinar as propriedades anat\uf4micas, densidade b\ue1sica da madeira e densidade aparente do carv\ue3o vegetal de clones de Eucalyptus , al\ue9m de elucidar as poss\uedveis correla\ue7\uf5es significativas existentes. A microscopia eletr\uf4nica de varredura foi efetuada nas se\ue7\uf5es transversal, longitudinal tangencial e longitudinal radial da madeira e do carv\ue3o vegetal. Neste, foi feita a an\ue1lise morfol\uf3gica dos poros e densidade aparente. De uma forma geral, as caracter\uedsticas anat\uf4micas como forma de poros, raios e fibras da madeira apresentaram pouca ou nenhuma modifica\ue7\ue3o devido \ue0 carboniza\ue7\ue3o, e a superf\uedcie do carv\ue3o apresentou estruturas bem definidas. As modifica\ue7\uf5es nos elementos celulares da madeira foram principalmente referentes aos par\ue2metros quantitativos, como espessura da parede das fibras e di\ue2metro dos poros. Os clones avaliados apresentaram densidade b\ue1sica da madeira satisfat\uf3ria para a produ\ue7\ue3o de carv\ue3o vegetal. Os par\ue2metros anat\uf4micos correlacionaram-se significativamente com a densidade b\ue1sica da madeira e densidade aparente do carv\ue3o vegetal, destacando-se, neste estudo, a fra\ue7\ue3o parede das fibras.This study aimed to evaluate the anatomical changes that occur with charred wood and determine the anatomical properties, basic wood density and apparent density of charcoal Eucalyptus clones, besides elucidating the possible existing significant correlations. The scanning electron microscopy was performed in the transverse, longitudinal and tangential longitudinal and radial wood charcoal sections. In the morphological analysis of the pores and the apparent density was made. In general, the anatomical features such as pore radius and the wood fibers showed little or no change due to carbonization of coal surface and showed well defined structures. The changes in cellular elements of wood were mainly related to the quantitative parameters such as wall thickness and pore diameter fibers. The clones showed satisfactory basic density of wood for charcoal production. The anatomical parameters were significantly correlated with basic wood density and apparent density of charcoal, especially, in this study, the fraction of the fiber wall