Engaging Students in Community Issues

How can you integrate community resources in the classroom in an exciting and dynamic way? We set out to answer this question in the summer of 1999 when we attended a conference sponsored by the North Carolina Institute of Government. Our immediate goal was to help the freshmen students we teach in a course called ELPSA (Economic, Legal and Political Systems in Action) understand the importance of active citizenship and prudent fiscal decision making. What better way to teach this than through real life examples? After our conference and the introduction to a number of valuable resources and contact points in the community, we were inspired to design a unit that would spark students\u27 interest while dearly furthering the course of study outlined by the curriculum. Secondly, we wanted to integrate community leaders in a way that allowed them to share their knowledge with students without simply lecturing to them, a sure way to lose teenage interest. Finally, we wanted student learning to go beyond the classroom in a culminating activity that would allow them to share their newly gained knowledge with an outside audience. The ultimate result was a unit entitled A Local Government Issue: Why Can\u27t I Go To School With You? A Look at School Assignment and Redistricting

The infiltration-centrifugation technique for extraction of apoplastic fluid from plant leaves using Phaseolus vulgaris as an example

This is the final version of the article. Available from JoVE via the DOI in this record.The apoplast is a distinct extracellular compartment in plant tissues that lies outside the plasma membrane and includes the cell wall. The apoplastic compartment of plant leaves is the site of several important biological processes, including cell wall formation, cellular nutrient and water uptake and export, plant-endophyte interactions and defence responses to pathogens. The infiltration-centrifugation method is well established as a robust technique for the analysis of the soluble apoplast composition of various plant species. The fluid obtained by this method is commonly known as apoplast washing fluid (AWF). The following protocol describes an optimized vacuum infiltration and centrifugation method for AWF extraction from Phaseolus vulgaris (French bean) cv. Tendergreen leaves. The limitations of this method and the optimization of the protocol for other plant species are discussed. Recovered AWF can be used in a wide range of downstream experiments that seek to characterize the composition of the apoplast and how it varies in response to plant species and genotype, plant development and environmental conditions, or to determine how microorganisms grow in apoplast fluid and respond to changes in its composition.This work was supported by grants BB/J016012/1 and BB/E007872/1 from the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to Gail Preston

Mechanisms of C. Parvum-induced coagulopathy in mice.

I.v. injection of Corynebacterium parvum (CP) into C57BL and BALB/c mice caused profound coagulation changes, featuring thrombocytopenia, decreased fibrinogen, increased fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products, and a concomitant microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia. These changes were greatest on the 9th day after CP, with recovery by Day 21. I.p. injection caused similar effects but s.c. injection was ineffective. Radiolabelled-platelet kinetics and distribution after i.v. CP indicated disseminated intravascular coagulation with rapid fibrinolysis; EACA treatment exacerbated the thrombosis. The coagulopathy correlated with hepatosplenomegaly, and both were dose dependent. Splenectomy did not effect the coagulopathy, but indomethacin totally abrogated the changes, suggesting that prostaglandin biosynthesis is involved in the pathogenesis

Information Technology: A Study Of Ac-countants Skills And Knowledge Levels

This article examines the results of a survey mailed to 940 accounting professionals in which they identify the categories of IT skills and knowledge that are required to perform their job. Using cluster analysis, this article next examines whether - and to what extent -relationships exist between different categories of IT skills and knowledge. Survey results are then presented regarding methods by which accounting professionals acquire needed job-related IT skills and knowledge

Activation of regulatory T cells triggers specific changes in glycosylation associated with Siglec-1-dependent inflammatory responses [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

Background: Siglec-1 is a macrophage lectin-like receptor that mediates sialic acid-dependent cellular interactions. Its upregulation on macrophages in autoimmune disease was shown previously to promote inflammation through suppressing the expansion of regulatory T cells (Tregs). Here we investigate the molecular basis for Siglec-1 binding to Tregs using in vitro-induced cells as a model system. Methods: Glycosylation changes that affect Siglec‑1 binding were studied by comparing activated and resting Tregs using RNA-Seq, glycomics, proteomics and binding of selected antibodies and lectins. A proximity labelling and proteomics strategy was used to identify Siglec-1 counter-receptors expressed on activated Tregs. Results: Siglec-1 binding was strongly upregulated on activated Tregs, but lost under resting conditions. Glycomics revealed changes in N-glycans and glycolipids following Treg activation and we observed changes in expression of multiple 'glycogenes' that could lead to the observed increase in Siglec-1 binding. Proximity labelling of intact, living cells identified 49 glycoproteins expressed by activated Tregs that may function as Siglec-1 counter-receptors. These represent ~5% of the total membrane protein pool and were mainly related to T cell activation and proliferation. We demonstrate that several of these counter-receptors were upregulated following activation of Tregs and provide initial evidence that their altered glycosylation may also be important for Siglec-1 binding. Conclusions: We provide the first comprehensive analysis of glycan changes that occur in activated Tregs, leading to recognition by the macrophage lectin, Siglec-1 and suppression of Treg expansion. We furthermore provide insights into glycoprotein counter-receptors for Siglec-1 expressed by activated Tregs that are likely to be important for suppressing Treg expansion

Home fruit planting guide

The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service periodically issues revisions to its publications. The most current edition is made available. For access to an earlier edition, if available for this title, please contact the Oklahoma State University Library Archives by email at [email protected] or by phone at 405-744-6311

Test of the Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami picture of metastable decay in a model with microscopic dynamics

The Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami (KJMA) theory for the time evolution of the order parameter in systems undergoing first-order phase transformations has been extended by Sekimoto to the level of two-point correlation functions. Here, this extended KJMA theory is applied to a kinetic Ising lattice-gas model, in which the elementary kinetic processes act on microscopic length and time scales. The theoretical framework is used to analyze data from extensive Monte Carlo simulations. The theory is inherently a mesoscopic continuum picture, and in principle it requires a large separation between the microscopic scales and the mesoscopic scales characteristic of the evolving two-phase structure. Nevertheless, we find excellent quantitative agreement with the simulations in a large parameter regime, extending remarkably far towards strong fields (large supersaturations) and correspondingly small nucleation barriers. The original KJMA theory permits direct measurement of the order parameter in the metastable phase, and using the extension to correlation functions one can also perform separate measurements of the nucleation rate and the average velocity of the convoluted interface between the metastable and stable phase regions. The values obtained for all three quantities are verified by other theoretical and computational methods. As these quantities are often difficult to measure directly during a process of phase transformation, data analysis using the extended KJMA theory may provide a useful experimental alternative.Comment: RevTex, 21 pages including 14 ps figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. B. One misprint corrected in Eq.(C1

Metastable lifetimes in a kinetic Ising model: Dependence on field and system size

The lifetimes of metastable states in kinetic Ising ferromagnets are studied by droplet theory and Monte Carlo simulation, in order to determine their dependences on applied field and system size. For a wide range of fields, the dominant field dependence is universal for local dynamics and has the form of an exponential in the inverse field, modified by universal and nonuniversal power-law prefactors. Quantitative droplet-theory predictions are numerically verified, and small deviations are shown to depend nonuniversally on the details of the dynamics. We identify four distinct field intervals in which the field dependence and statistical properties of the lifetimes are different. The field marking the crossover between the weak-field regime, in which the decay is dominated by a single droplet, and the intermediate-field regime, in which it is dominated by a finite droplet density, vanishes logarithmically with system size. As a consequence the slow decay characteristic of the former regime may be observable in systems that are macroscopic as far as their equilibrium properties are concerned.Comment: 18 pages single spaced. RevTex Version 3. FSU-SCRI-94-1