An exploratory investigation of third graders\u27 use of blogs to critically respond to texts

The purpose of this exploratory investigation was to explore how third grade students critically respond to texts. Students will be required to analyze texts and type their analysis with the implementation of PARCC. I wanted to investigate the change that occurs with students’ responses to texts when they compose them electronically rather than with paper and pencil. I explored the process of how students critically responded to texts through responses on a class blog. Students read two literature passages, two informational passages, and two media texts on the blog before responding to questions based upon the text. I observed how often students referred back to the text, the structure of their response, the amount of text evidence used, their use of conventions, their processes of composing their response, and the length of time students spent on the task. Students received a few points for improvement from me after each response. Overall, most students attempted to use text evidence. There was little effort by students to use correct conventions, revise, and edit their work. Students who spent minimal time responding composed a response of minimal substance. Those that spent a greater amount of time, interacted with the text more in their response. Overall, the process was a great insight into students’ processes when using blogs about texts

Depth-shifting cores incompletely recovered from the upper oceanic crust, IODP Hole 1256D

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 9 (2008): Q08O11, doi:10.1029/2008GC002010.Seafloor drilling operations, especially those in crustal rocks, yield incomplete recovery of drilled sections, and depths of the recovered core pieces are assigned with some uncertainty. Here we present a new depth-shifting method that is simple and rapid, requires little subjective input, and is applicable to any core-log integration problem where sufficient comparable data have been collected in both the open hole and from the recovered core. Over the depth range for which both core and log data have been collected, an automatic algorithm selected the best new depth for each piece. The criteria for determining the best depth were as follows: (1) find new depths for as many pieces as possible, and (2) minimize the difference between core density and log density. In this study, depth-shifting is applied at Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Hole 1256D, which is our first opportunity to study a section of intact, in situ upper ocean crust drilled down to gabbro. The new depths significantly improve the agreement between an independent data set and the logging record.Funding for this research was provided by a JOI/USSSP Post-Expedition Award to L.A.G. Mick Spillane of the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research provided tide calculations using OSU TPXO6.2

Effective Community Engagement Strategies: The Voices of Injection Drug Users

Academic and community interactions are often conducted with good intentions. However, there is exploitation risk for populations engaging in illegal activities. Collaborations with injection drug users (IDUs) can highlight their expertise and support progressive research. The objective of our research was to use community-based participatory research principles to give voice to IDUs, define community, and recommend authentic engagement strategies. In Phase 1, 10 focus groups (n=33, ages 25–64) helped define community and collaborative partnerships. In Phase 2, community forums with 13 additional IDUs provided feedback on focus group themes. Results: (1) primary themes defining community— geography and social networks; (2) community qualities—respectful, accepting, outcasts, and welcoming; (3) engagement recommendations—incentives, recognizing potential for contributions, treating IDUs respectfully, using research results for positive benefit. Conclusions: Providing voice to marginalized communities allows for self-definition, description of needs, and authentic engagement recommendations. This information is crucial for developing effective programs and creating sustainable collaborations between IDUs and academics

A Simple Microbiome in the European Common Cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis.

The European common cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis, is used extensively in biological and biomedical research, yet its microbiome remains poorly characterized. We analyzed the microbiota of the digestive tract, gills, and skin in mariculture-raised S. officinalis using a combination of 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, quantitative PCR (qPCR), and fluorescence spectral imaging. Sequencing revealed a highly simplified microbiota consisting largely of two single bacterial amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) of Vibrionaceae and Piscirickettsiaceae The esophagus was dominated by a single ASV of the genus Vibrio Imaging revealed bacteria in the family Vibrionaceae distributed in a discrete layer that lines the esophagus. This Vibrio was also the primary ASV found in the microbiota of the stomach, cecum, and intestine, but occurred at lower abundance, as determined by qPCR, and was found only scattered in the lumen rather than in a discrete layer via imaging analysis. Treatment of animals with the commonly used antibiotic enrofloxacin led to a nearly 80% reduction of the dominant Vibrio ASV in the esophagus but did not significantly alter the relative abundance of bacteria overall between treated versus control animals. Data from the gills were dominated by a single ASV in the family Piscirickettsiaceae, which imaging visualized as small clusters of cells. We conclude that bacteria belonging to the Gammaproteobacteria are the major symbionts of the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis cultured from eggs in captivity and that the esophagus and gills are major colonization sites.IMPORTANCE Microbes can play critical roles in the physiology of their animal hosts, as evidenced in cephalopods by the role of Vibrio (Aliivibrio) fischeri in the light organ of the bobtail squid and the role of Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria in the reproductive system and egg defense in a variety of cephalopods. We sampled the cuttlefish microbiome throughout the digestive tract, gills, and skin and found dense colonization of an unexpected site, the esophagus, by a microbe of the genus Vibrio, as well as colonization of gills by Piscirickettsiaceae This finding expands the range of organisms and body sites known to be associated with Vibrio and is of potential significance for understanding host-symbiont associations, as well as for understanding and maintaining the health of cephalopods in mariculture

Detailed volcanostratigraphy of an accreted seamount: Implications for intraplate seamount formation

Seamounts are a ubiquitous feature of the seafloor but relatively little is known about their internal structure. A seamount preserved in the Franciscan mélange of California suggests a sequence of formation common to all seamounts. Field mapping, geophysical measurements, and geochemical analyses are combined to interpret three stages of seamount growth consistent with the formation of other intraplate seamounts such as the Hawaiian volcanoes and the island of La Palma. A seamount begins to form as a pile of closely packed pillows with a high density and low porosity. Small pillow mound volcanoes common at mid-ocean ridges are seamounts that do not grow beyond this initial stage of formation. The second stage of seamount formation is marked by the first occurrence of breccia. As the seamount grows and becomes topographically more complex, slope varies and fractured material may begin to accumulate. Magma supply may also become spatially diffuse as the seamount grows and new supply pathways develop through the edifice. The second stage thus exhibits variability in both flow morphologies and geophysical properties. The final cap stage is composed of thin flows of various morphologies. These sequences reflect the shoaling of the seamount and a greater variability in extrusion rate resulting from waning magma supply and increased mass wasting. Understanding the growth and structure of seamounts has important implications for intraplate volcanism and for models of hydrothermal circulation in the oceanic crust.Keywords: pillow lavas, porosity, ophiolites, seamounts

Paracrine-Rescued Lobulogenesis in Chimeric Outgrowths Comprising Progesterone-Receptor-Null Mammary Epithelium and Redirected Wild-Type Testicular Cells

We have previously shown that non-mammary and tumorigenic cells can respond to the signals of the mammary niche and alter their cell fate to that of mammary epithelial progenitor cells. Here we tested the hypothesis that paracrine signals from mammary epithelial cells expressing progesterone receptor (PR) are dispensable for redirection of testicular cells, and that re-directed wild-type testicular-derived mammary cells can rescue lobulogenesis of PR-null mammary epithelium by paracrine signaling during pregnancy. We injected PR-null epithelial cells mixed with testicular cells from wild-type adult male mice into cleared fat-pads of recipient mice. The testicular cells were redirected in vivo to mammary epithelial cell fate during regeneration of the mammary epithelium, and persisted in second-generation outgrowths. In the process, the redirected testicular cells rescued the developmentally deficient PR-null cells, signaling them through the paracrine factor RANKL to produce alveolar secretory structures during pregnancy. This is the first demonstration that paracrine signaling required for alveolar development is not required for cellular reprogramming in the mammary gland, and that reprogrammed testicular cells can provide paracrine signals to the surrounding mammary epithelium

Assessment of interatomic potentials for atomistic analysis of static and dynamic properties of screw dislocations in W

Screw dislocations in bcc metals display non-planar cores at zero temperature which result in high lattice friction and thermally activated strain rate behavior. In bcc W, electronic structure molecular statics calculations reveal a compact, non-degenerate core with an associated Peierls stress between 1.7 and 2.8 GPa. However, a full picture of the dynamic behavior of dislocations can only be gained by using more efficient atomistic simulations based on semiempirical interatomic potentials. In this paper we assess the suitability of five different potentials in terms of static properties relevant to screw dislocations in pure W. As well, we perform molecular dynamics simulations of stress-assisted glide using all five potentials to study the dynamic behavior of screw dislocations under shear stress. Dislocations are seen to display thermally-activated motion in most of the applied stress range, with a gradual transition to a viscous damping regime at high stresses. We find that one potential predicts a core transformation from compact to dissociated at finite temperature that affects the energetics of kink-pair production and impacts the mechanism of motion. We conclude that a modified embedded-atom potential achieves the best compromise in terms of static and dynamic screw dislocation properties, although at an expense of about ten-fold compared to central potentials

Collection of genetic data at scale for a nationally representative population:the UK Millennium Cohort Study

A DNA bank has been created from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) saliva samples. A total of 23,336 samples are available, from 9,259 cohort members (4,630 males and 4,629 females), 8,898 mothers and 5,179 fathers. There are 4,533 mother, child, father ‘triads’. This paper describes the collection of the saliva samples from cohort members and their biological parents in the MCS. It analyses response rates and predictors of response, and details the DNA extraction, genotyping and imputation procedures performed on the data