Social working memory: neurocognitive networks and directions for future research.

Navigating the social world requires the ability to maintain and manipulate information about people's beliefs, traits, and mental states. We characterize this capacity as social working memory (SWM). To date, very little research has explored this phenomenon, in part because of the assumption that general working memory systems would support working memory for social information. Various lines of research, however, suggest that social cognitive processing relies on a neurocognitive network (i.e., the "mentalizing network") that is functionally distinct from, and considered antagonistic with, the canonical working memory network. Here, we review evidence suggesting that demanding social cognition requires SWM and that both the mentalizing and canonical working memory neurocognitive networks support SWM. The neural data run counter to the common finding of parametric decreases in mentalizing regions as a function of working memory demand and suggest that the mentalizing network can support demanding cognition, when it is demanding social cognition. Implications for individual differences in social cognition and pathologies of social cognition are discussed

Photosytem II genes display a potential mechanism of Lepidopteran resistance [abstract]

Abstract only availableFall armyworm (FAW) and southwestern corn borer (SWCB) are insect pests of maize which cause large amounts of feeding damage annually in the United States. Previous proteomic analysis of resistant and susceptible lines of maize showed proteins involved with the photosynthetic pathway were differentially expressed in the resistant line. The high chlorophyll fluorescent (hcf) mutants contain defects in the photsystem I or II pathways. These defects lead to disrupted electron transport within the photosynthetic pathway. Preference tests comparing several hcf mutants to wild-type siblings determined genes involved in photosynthesis had an effect on insect feeding. Antibiosis tests were performed using mutant and wild-type leaf tissue to determine their effect on larval weight gain. Leaf feeding damage was assessed using the AlphaEase software from digital images. Individual larval weights were determined in milligrams. hcf7-N1029D significantly decreased larval feeding damage for both FAW and SWCB. hcf*-88-3005-3, hcf11-N1250A, and hcf48-N1282C significantly increased larval feeding damage for both Lepidoptera. The combined data from both the antibiosis and preference tests reveal that photosystem II genes have a significant effect on larval feeding which is unrelated to leaf color. Further, these genes are contained within the stromal thylakoid where fatty acid precursors are produced for epicuticular wax synthesis. Previous data has determined epicuticular waxes exhibit resistance to Lepidopteran insects. Electron microscopy was performed on several hcf mutants to determine their effects on the structure of epicuticular waxes. Comparisons between mutant and wild-type tissue show substantial differences in wax distribution and accumulation.MU Monsanto Undergraduate Research Fellowshi

Overcoming Barriers: How Community College Faculty Successfully Overcome Barriers to Participation in Distance Education

To determine the primary barriers encountered by community college faculty in participating in distance education, community college faculty and administrators from community colleges in North Carolina and Virginia were surveyed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Two separate online surveys were provided to faculty and distance education administrators (including chief academic officers) that included demographic questions and barrier assessment questions for both groups. Follow-up interviews were conducted among faculty and administrators at colleges that self-reported having successful or poorly performing distance education programs. To further frame the attributes of faculty participators and non-participators in distance education, the diffusion of innovations theory (Rogers, 1995) was used to assess the survey results. The results showed that the faculty group that engage in distance education tend to be individuals with full-time status, possessing significant amount of community college teaching experience, and possessing characteristics that align themselves closely with innovators and early adopters of innovations as described by the diffusion of innovations theory. Conversely, faculty with less college teaching experience and tendencies of early and late majority types relative to adoption of innovations or technology were shown to not engage in distance education. The faculty reported that the main obstacles to participation in distance education included \u27faculty workload\u27, \u27lack of faculty compensation\u27, \u27the quality of students\u27, \u27additional responsibilities\u27, \u27the quality of distance courses\u27, and \u27the strong need for direct in-class contact with students\u27 as the major barriers to their participation in distance education. The study showed that administrators feel the biggest barrier to faculty participation is the lack of a strong technological background. The results of the survey also revealed that two categories of barriers to participation in distance education that were not reported in the literature, \u27philosophy and belief and \u27no opportunity\u27

Persistence of Engineering Undergraduates at a Public Research University

This mixed-methodological study determined which factors contributed to undergraduate student attrition, and evaluated reasons ten undergraduate engineering students failed to complete their engineering degree at a major western research university. Institutional data were collected on engineering students over a multi-year period. These data were separated into groups of engineering students who persisted to the Junior year of their undergraduate engineering program (persisters), and those students who left their engineering program before their Junior year (nonpersisters). A quantitative analysis comparing these two groups of students uncovered significant predictors of persistence/nonpersistence in the engineering program. Qualitative inquiry was used to identify factors leading to nonpersistence from the perspective of ten nonpersisting student volunteers from the institutional data population. Together, the quantitative and qualitative methods of inquiry formed a mixed-methodological study which provided a vivid picture of the challenges facing a major western research university regarding persistence of engineering undergraduates. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis of the institutional data collected on engineering undergraduate students uncovered several factors predictive of persistence/ nonpersistence. These include projected age at graduation, high school GPA and ACT scores, residency status, scholarship, and financial aid. Common themes for ten students who dropped out of engineering included individual factors such as poor academic performance, feeling unprepared for demands of the engineering program, difficulty fitting into engineering, and institutional factors such as disappointment with engineering advising. New concepts uncovered in this paper, which were not prevalent in existing research, include a deeply emotional attachment between participants and the concept of being an engineer, a deeper understanding of student’s sense of loss and failure, and their easy transition from engineering to another major