State CCDBG Plans to Promote Opportunities for Babies & Toddlers in Child Care

Reviews states' 2008-09 plans for using Child Care and Development Block Grant funds to help low-income families access child care. Cites examples aligned with CLASP's recommendations for ensuring environments that support healthy growth and development

From Creation to Performance of an Original Multi-Sensory Show for Children with Special Needs

https://remix.berklee.edu/able-assembly-conference/1019/thumbnail.jp

La Belle Lute

La Belle Lute, which translates to “The Beautiful Struggle,†was a collaboration amongst two colleagues who used both new technologies (3D printing) and traditional textile creation (hand-knitting) to create a wearable garment. Inspiration for this design was pulled from Gothic architecture and armor, the stories of Joan of Arc, and the battles that women of today continue to fight. Using a combination of these sources, La Belle Lute was created with a silhouette that encompasses power, strength, and artification, and that has details representing a balance of feminism and fortitude. This piece of work is one that not only highlights the combination of newer technology with traditional textile creation, but also reflects upon history and contemporary events

EventSquad iOS Mobile App

EventSquad is an event planning mobile application designed to help individuals plan for upcoming events. EventSquad allows users to seamlessly create an event and invite other users to help plan for an event. Everyone that is planning for an event should know all the details of the event; EventSquad allows all users planning for an event to know all the details involved with planning for the event so that things could go smoothly. We believe that planning for events should not be stressful and tedious but exciting and enjoyable

The Effects of Road Salt on Lithobates clamitans Tadpoles

In areas that see heavy snowfall and icy roads, road salt is used to improve driving conditions. However, after snow melts, road salt does not disappear. Instead, it dissolves into melted snow and flows into bodies of water where amphibians breed and live. Altering the salinity of the environment has been seen to affect different species of frogs. It is unclear, however, whether those findings generalize to other anurans. Here, we examined how exposure to road salt affects the development of green frog tadpoles (L. clamitans). We caught 80 L. clamitans tadpoles at the Ross Biological Reserve near Purdue University. We divided 60 tadpoles of average Gosner stage 37 into three treatments: control (well water), road salt (860 mg Cl/L), and an alternative road deicing salt product (beet juice/20% salt brine mixture). To examine the effects of salt exposure at earlier developmental stage, 20 younger tadpoles (average Gosner stage 30) were exposed to road salt. These tadpoles were kept at 3 degrees Celsius for 21 days and warmed up post-exposure mimicking natural conditions at the end of the winter. Preliminary results revealed no significant differences in the developmental rate or size (mass and total length) of the tadpoles across all treatments. Following the individuals as they complete metamorphosis will provide more insights about the long-term effects to road salt. Overall this study will provide insights about the effect of road salt on green frog development and the consequences of using a relatively recently developed method for more efficient road deicing

When consumers are skeptical of a company “doing good” : examining how company-cause fit and message specific-ness interplay on consumer response toward corporate social responsibility (CSR)

This dissertation intends to establish a theoretical framework that examines relationships among key constructs in corporate social responsibility (CSR), such as a company-cause fit, message specific-ness, and consumer skepticism toward CSR. Three online experiments were conducted to examine the proposed hypotheses. First, study 1 examines the extent to which the levels of a company-cause fit influence consumer skepticism and evaluation of a company and their CSR. Second, study 2 investigates the role of message specific-ness on consumer skepticism and their response toward a company and its CSR. Lastly, study 3 studies the interaction effect of company-cause fit and message specific-ness on how consumers respond to a company and its CSR. The results reveal that company-cause fit types (i.e., low versus high), and message specific-ness types (i.e., more specific versus less specific) are significant factors that influence consumer skepticism and evaluation of a company and its CSR. Moreover, the findings in study 3 reveal that a significant interaction effect of company-cause fit and message specific-ness on how consumers consider a company as socially responsible. Lastly, all three studies indicate that consumer skepticism mediated the impact of the levels of a company-cause fit, message specific-ness and its interaction on their response toward a company and its CSR. In conclusion, this dissertation contributes in advancing the knowledge of CSR by offering fresh insights of understanding how consumer process messages varying in the degrees of specific- ness and a company-cause fit. This research also provides practical implications for practitioners to effectively communicate their CSR to consumers.Advertisin

Discordant transmission of bacteria and viruses from mothers to babies at birth

BACKGROUND: The earliest microbial colonizers of the human gut can have life-long consequences for their hosts. Precisely how the neonatal gut bacterial microbiome and virome are initially populated is not well understood. To better understand how the maternal gut microbiome influences acquisition of the infant gut microbiome, we studied the early life bacterial microbiomes and viromes of 28 infant twin pairs and their mothers. RESULTS: Infant bacterial and viral communities more closely resemble those of their related co-twin than unrelated infants. We found that 63% of an infant\u27s bacterial microbiome can be traced to their mother\u27s gut microbiota. In contrast, only 15% of their viral communities are acquired from their mother. Delivery route did not determine how much of the bacterial microbiome or virome was shared from mother to infant. However, bacteria-bacteriophage interactions were altered by delivery route. CONCLUSIONS: The maternal gut microbiome significantly influences infant gut microbiome acquisition. Vertical transmission of the bacterial microbiome is substantially higher compared to vertical transmission of the virome. However, the degree of similarity between the maternal and infant gut bacterial microbiome and virome did not vary by delivery route. The greater similarity of the bacterial microbiome and virome between twin pairs than unrelated twins may reflect a shared environmental exposure. Thus, differences of the inter-generation transmissibility at birth between the major kingdoms of microbes indicate that the foundation of these microbial communities are shaped by different rules. Video Abstract

The role of social media data in operations and production management

Social media data contain rich information in posts or comments written by customers. If those data can be extracted and analysed properly, companies can fully utilise this rich source of information. They can then convert the data to useful information or knowledge, which can help to formulate their business strategy. This cannot only facilitate marketing research in view of customer behaviour, but can also aid other management disciplines. Operations management (OM) research and practice with the objective to make decisions on product and process design is a fine example. Nevertheless, this line of thought is under-researched. In this connection, this paper explores the role of social media data in OM research. A structured approach is proposed, which involves the analysis of social media comments and a statistical cluster analysis to identify the interrelationships amongst important factors. A real-life example is employed to demonstrate the concept

Nuclear expression of Lyn, a Src family kinase member, is associated with poor prognosis in renal cancer patients

Background: 8000 cases of renal cancer are diagnosed each year in the UK, with a five-year survival rate of 50 %. Treatment options are limited; a potential therapeutic target is the Src family kinases (SFKs). SFKs have roles in multiple oncogenic processes and promote metastases in solid tumours. The aim of this study was to investigate SFKs as potential therapeutic targets for clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Methods: SFKs expression was assessed in a tissue microarray consisting of 192 ccRCC patients with full clinical follow-up. SFK inhibitors, dasatinib and saracatinib, were assessed in early ccRCC cell lines, 786-O and 769-P and a metastatic ccRCC cell line, ACHN (± Src) for effects on protein expression, apoptosis, proliferation and wound healing. Results: High nuclear expression of Lyn and the downstream marker of activation, paxillin, were associated with decreased patient survival. Conversely, high cytoplasmic expression of other SFK members and downstream marker of activation, focal adhesion kinase (FAK) were associated with increased patient survival. Treatment of non-metastatic 786-O and 769-P cells with dasatinib, dose dependently reduced SFK activation, shown via SFK (Y419) and FAK (Y861) phosphorylation, with no effect in metastatic ACHN cells. Dasatinib also increased apoptosis, while decreasing proliferation and migration in 786-O and 769-P cell lines, both in the presence and absence of Src protein. Conclusions: Our data suggests that nuclear Lyn is a potential therapeutic target for ccRCC and dasatinib affects cellular functions associated with cancer progression via a Src kinase independent mechanism