Tech Pack Exchange: How well can you communicate if you are not there?

Teaching apparel production and manufacturing processes can be difficult due to lack of facilities that replicate industry settings or lack of access to product manufacturers. Labs are designed to simulate production processes that provide students with learning opportunities to apply knowledge from multiple courses in a problem-based learning situation. This project leveraged two university labs in geographically dispersed locations to teach pre–production processes. This learning simulation, allowed students to discover why clear communication tools and detail sketches that duplicated and supported the Order of Operation were important. Students extrapolated how attention to detail in tech pack materials impacted communication with factories whose first language may not be English and in a time zone that would not allow easy communication, as well as the importance of determining adequate factory experience. Students from UI and UIW agreed reciprocating the packet exchange and prototype construction would add to the simulated learning experience

Editors\u27 Note

A welcome from the editors and a summary of the first issue of Synthesis: A Digital Journal of Student Science Communicatio

The Impact of a Heroism-Themed Outreach with Title I Summer Program Students

Is it possible to teach students about heroism? This presentation will examine how a five-session intervention influenced at-risk students’ understanding of a hero. Outcomes from the study may be of interest to educators, administrators, and counselors who encourage students to find positive role models in the community

Molecular analysis of ethylene signal transduction in tomato

The plant hormone ethylene plays an important role in plant growth, development, and physiology. One of the critical components of the ethylene signal transduction pathway, ctr1 (constitutive triple response), was identified using a particularly useful seedling screen that takes advantage of the profound effects ethylene has on etiolated seedlings, known as triple response. CTR1 is one of six Arabidopsis MAPKKKs that are related to the Raf kinases, and acts as a negative regulator of ethylene response. In this study, isolation and characterization of a family of CTR1-like genes in tomato is reported. Based on amino acid alignments and phylogenetic analysis, the tomato CTR1-like (LeCTR) genes are more similar to Arabidopsis CTR1 (AtCTR1) than any other MAPKKK sequences in the Arabidopsis genome. The capacity of the LeCTR genes to function as negative regulators in ethylene signal transduction was tested through complementation of the Arabidopsis ctr1-8 mutant. Quantitative real-time PCR was carried out to generate an expression profile for the CTR1-like gene family during different stages of development marked by increased ethylene biosynthesis, including fruit ripening. The possibility of a multi-gene family of CTR1-like genes in other species besides tomato was examined through mining of EST and genomic sequence databases. Based on nucleotide and amino acid identity, At4g24480 is most similar to AtCTR1 and could potentially represent a CTR1-like gene in Arabidopsis. Arabidopsis plants carrying a T-DNA insert in the At4g24480 locus were examined for abnormal ethylene response phenotypes including sensitivity to other hormones, signal molecules and abiotic stresses. Two mutant alleles, ctr1-1 and ctr1-8, containing mutations that disrupt kinase activity and receptor association, respectively, were examined for sensitivity to these same treatments in an effort to better characterize ethylene hormone and non-hormone interactions. They also served as controls to determine if At4g24480 indeed possessed CTR1-like function. Arabidopsis and tomato represent species with very distinct fruit ripening/maturation programs. The critical dependence on ethylene for fruit ripening in tomato might have resulted in alteration or modification of the ethylene signal transduction pathway relative to Arabidopsis. Plans to characterize individual functions of the LeCTR genes through over-expression and reduced expression in tomato are outlined

Investigating the Effects of Stress on Cognitive and Emotional Moral Decision Making

The dual-process theory accounts for how moral judgments are made: personal emotional dilemmas and impersonal cognitive dilemmas (Greene, 2007). In the Fisher and Ravizza (1992) Trolley Problem personal dilemma, you stop a runaway trolley and save all the workmen by pushing and killing one person on the tracks. In the Trolley Problem impersonal dilemma, you divert a runaway trolley and save all the workmen by throwing a switch and diverting the trolley killing one person on the tracks. In support of the dual-process theory, brain imaging research has demonstrated that brain regions linked with emotion (e.g., amygdala) are activated during the personal dilemmas, and brain regions associated with working memory (prefrontal cortex, parietal lobe) are activated during the impersonal dilemmas. Stress can interfere with rational, deliberative processes, causing decision-makers to rely on intuitive, automatic processes. In the present study, we are including two stressful conditions - physiological and cognitive - in order to see if stress has a differential effect on utilitarian decisions. Participants listened to moral dilemmas while experiencing baseline, stressor and control conditions. Stress was self-reported on an 11-point scale. Significance was found in utilitarian decisions, with the majority of participants reporting it “was appropriate to kill” during baseline and cognitive stress (i.e., counting backwards). Participants reported it was “not appropriate to kill” during physiological stress (i.e., cold pressor task). In addition, participants reported more stress during cognitive stress and more pain during physiological stress. In conclusion, utilitarian decision making seems to be affected when experiencing physiological stress