Co-operating Teachers, School Placement and the Implications for Quality

It is widely understood by teacher educators and administrators responsible for the practicum of student teachers that co-operating teachers play a critical role in student teacher development. This research sought to examine student teachers perception of their co-operating teachers during practicum and ascertain the extent to which subject specialisation, gender and school placement influenced their perception. Through the use of a questionnaire, data were collected from 195 student teachers during the final week of their practicum. The results indicated that student teachers had a positive perception of their co-operating teachers and perceived their co-operating teachers to be providing developmental and instructional supervision. Additionally a significant finding was that student teachers perception of their co-operating teachers was based on the type of school at which they were placed. In light of these findings, attention needs to be given to the establishment of policies regarding student teacher placement and training of co-operating teachers as means of positively influencing quality teaching practicum experience

Hinode Calibration for Precise Image Co-alignment between SOT and XRT (November 2006 -- April 2007)

To understand the physical mechanisms for activity and heating in the solar atmosphere, the magnetic coupling from the photosphere to the corona is an important piece of information from the Hinode observations, and therefore precise positional alignment is required among the data acquired by different telescopes. The Hinode spacecraft and its onboard telescopes were developed to allow us to investigate magnetic coupling with co-alignment accuracy better than 1 arcsec. Using the Mercury transit observed on 8 November 2006 and co-alignment measurements regularly performed on a weekly basis, we have determined the information necessary for precise image co-alignment and have confirmed that co-alignment better than 1 arcsec can be realized between Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) and X-Ray Telescope (XRT) with our baseline co-alignment method. This paper presents results from the calibration for precise co-alignment of CCD images from SOT and XRT.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ (Hinode Special issue

Determination of Trace Elements in Water Utilizaing Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy Measurement

A variety of flameless atomic absorption methods have been investigated for the possible determination of trace elements in water. The general applicability of each technique was determined and where applicable, procedures have been developed for the determination of trace elements in natural waters. Metals were preconcentrated by electrodeposition on a wire. The metals were then atomized for atomic absorption measurement by resistive heating of the wire. As little as 0.01 part per million (ppm) of mercury could be determined in this way. A mercury cold vapor cell was constructed in which the sample is treated with a reducing agent to reduce mercury to the elemental state and then argon gas is bubbled through the sample to carry mercury vapor into a quartz-ended tube where its atomic absorption is measured. Water vapor condensation and consequent light scattering in the absorption tube was minimized by heating the tube. As little as 5 x 10-8g or 0.5 part per billion (ppb) of mercury was determined in natural waters. A heated tube atomizer was designed for the determination of relatively volatile elements such as arsenic. The sample is placed in a vertical tube that is connected to a horizontal absorption tube. The system is evacuated and heated to 660°C with nichrome wire. Arsenic sublimes at 613°C and results in a significant absorbance at 1937Å, probably as As4. Ten micrograms of arsenic could be detected. A simple and inexpensive tantalum ribbon flameless atomizer cell was constructed in which a few microliters of sample were dried and atomized on a tantalum ribbon heated resistively. This is applicable to a large of elements, giving detection limits down to 10-13 number gram in favorable cases. Interference effects were studied. This system has been applied to the determination of traces of silver, zinc, cadmium, manganese, and lead in natural waters with no sample preparation required. A standard additions calibration is most satisfactory

Genoviz Software Development Kit: Java tool kit for building genomics visualization applications

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Visualization software can expose previously undiscovered patterns in genomic data and advance biological science.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The Genoviz Software Development Kit (SDK) is an open source, Java-based framework designed for rapid assembly of visualization software applications for genomics. The Genoviz SDK framework provides a mechanism for incorporating adaptive, dynamic zooming into applications, a desirable feature of genome viewers. Visualization capabilities of the Genoviz SDK include automated layout of features along genetic or genomic axes; support for user interactions with graphical elements (Glyphs) in a map; a variety of Glyph sub-classes that promote experimentation with new ways of representing data in graphical formats; and support for adaptive, semantic zooming, whereby objects change their appearance depending on zoom level and zooming rate adapts to the current scale. Freely available demonstration and production quality applications, including the Integrated Genome Browser, illustrate Genoviz SDK capabilities.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Separation between graphics components and genomic data models makes it easy for developers to add visualization capability to pre-existing applications or build new applications using third-party data models. Source code, documentation, sample applications, and tutorials are available at <url>http://genoviz.sourceforge.net/</url>.</p

Intentional tanning among adolescents in seven Canadian provinces: Provincial comparisons (CRAYS 2015)

The final publication is available at Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2018.03.004 © 2018. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This report explores intentional tanning behaviors among Canadian high school students in light of provincial restrictions on UV tanning device use among youth. Data are from the Cancer Risk Assessment in Youth Survey (CRAYS), collected from January to December 2015, at randomly selected high schools in 7 provinces. Relevant variables were: tanning methods ever used, demographics, and location and refusal of UV tanning device (beds, lamps) use in the past 12 months. Data were weighted so total survey weights by male/female, grade and province equal actual enrolments in these groups. Analyses were conducted in SAS, mostly for grades 10 and 11. Rao-Scott chi squared tests and p-values were calculated. Among 6803 grade 10 and 11 participants, 82% tanned intentionally, mostly by being/playing outside, or laying in the sun. Spray/self-tanners were used by 15% of participants. UV tanning device use was uncommon (4.4%), lowest in Ontario (2.7%) and British Columbia (3.8%), which have legislation against use among youth. Of 202 who used UV tanning devices in the past 12 months, most did at salons/studios (85%), 35% at home and 30% at a gym. Two hundred and forty-nine participants (3.4%) were refused use of UV tanning devices in the past 12 months. While legislation appears to deter UV tanning device use, it appears to have no impact on UV exposure among high school students overall. Greater prevention efforts are required to deter intentional tanning among high school students.Prevention Research Grant of the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (grant #703073)Canadian Institutes of Health Research - Institute of Cancer Research (grant #137732

Angiogenic Factors Stimulate Growth of Adult Neural Stem Cells

The ability to grow a uniform cell type from the adult central nervous system (CNS) is valuable for developing cell therapies and new strategies for drug discovery. The adult mammalian brain is a source of neural stem cells (NSC) found in both neurogenic and non-neurogenic zones but difficulties in culturing these hinders their use as research tools.Here we show that NSCs can be efficiently grown in adherent cell cultures when angiogenic signals are included in the medium. These signals include both anti-angiogenic factors (the soluble form of the Notch receptor ligand, Dll4) and pro-angiogenic factors (the Tie-2 receptor ligand, Angiopoietin 2). These treatments support the self renewal state of cultured NSCs and expression of the transcription factor Hes3, which also identifies the cancer stem cell population in human tumors. In an organotypic slice model, angiogenic factors maintain vascular structure and increase the density of dopamine neuron processes.We demonstrate new properties of adult NSCs and a method to generate efficient adult NSC cultures from various central nervous system areas. These findings will help establish cellular models relevant to cancer and regeneration

Adult onset global loss of the fto gene alters body composition and metabolism in the mouse.

The strongest BMI-associated GWAS locus in humans is the FTO gene. Rodent studies demonstrate a role for FTO in energy homeostasis and body composition. The phenotypes observed in loss of expression studies are complex with perinatal lethality, stunted growth from weaning, and significant alterations in body composition. Thus understanding how and where Fto regulates food intake, energy expenditure, and body composition is a challenge. To address this we generated a series of mice with distinct temporal and spatial loss of Fto expression. Global germline loss of Fto resulted in high perinatal lethality and a reduction in body length, fat mass, and lean mass. When ratio corrected for lean mass, mice had a significant increase in energy expenditure, but more appropriate multiple linear regression normalisation showed no difference in energy expenditure. Global deletion of Fto after the in utero and perinatal period, at 6 weeks of age, removed the high lethality of germline loss. However, there was a reduction in weight by 9 weeks, primarily as loss of lean mass. Over the subsequent 10 weeks, weight converged, driven by an increase in fat mass. There was a switch to a lower RER with no overall change in food intake or energy expenditure. To test if the phenotype can be explained by loss of Fto in the mediobasal hypothalamus, we sterotactically injected adeno-associated viral vectors encoding Cre recombinase to cause regional deletion. We observed a small reduction in food intake and weight gain with no effect on energy expenditure or body composition. Thus, although hypothalamic Fto can impact feeding, the effect of loss of Fto on body composition is brought about by its actions at sites elsewhere. Our data suggest that Fto may have a critical role in the control of lean mass, independent of its effect on food intake