Backgrounds, Teaching Responsibilities, and Motivations of Music Education Candidates Enrolled in Alternative Certification Music Education Programs

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors associated with enrolling, continuing, and completing alternative certification programs in music education. Data were collected via surveys and semi-structured interviews of music teacher candidates from 43 program completers from seven alternative certification programs in three states. In general, participants were attracted by program efficiency, program feasibility, personal support and employment potential. Few disadvantages of alternative certification were indicated, but participants considered balancing a personal life with a new career, and the certification requirements to be a huge challenge. Participants most valued courses in certification programs that were immediately relevant to the practical aspects of teaching; however, the perceived usefulness of specific courses varied, even among students enrolled in the same program. Suggestions are provided for music teacher educators who work with students enrolled in alternative certification programs

Development of a wearable global positioning system for place and health research

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>An increasing number of studies suggest that characteristics of context, or the attributes of the places within which we live, work and socialize, are associated with variations in health-related behaviours and outcomes. The challenge for health research is to ensure that these places are accurately represented spatially, and to identify those aspects of context that are related to variations in health and amenable to modification. This study focuses on the design of a wearable global positioning system (GPS) data logger for the purpose of objectively measuring the temporal and spatial features of human activities. Person-specific GPS data provides a useful source of information to operationalize the concept of place.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We designed and tested a lightweight, wearable GPS receiver, capable of logging location information for up to 70 hours continuously before recharging. The device is accurate to within 7 m in typical urban environments and performs well across a range of static and dynamic conditions.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Rather than rely on static areal units as proxies for places, wearable GPS devices can be used to derive a more complete picture of the different places that influence an individual's wellbeing. The measures are objective and are less subject to biases associated with recall of location or misclassification of contextual attributes. This is important for two reasons. First, it brings a dynamic perspective to place and health research. The influence of place on health is dynamic in that certain places are more or less relevant to wellbeing as determined by the length of time in any location and by the frequency of activity in the location. Second, GPS data can be used to assess whether the characteristics of places at specific times are useful to explaining variations in health and wellbeing.</p

Stock Structure Of The Bluefish Pomatomus-Saltatrix Along The Mid-Atlantic Coast

Restriction-fragment length polymorphism analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was used to investigate the genetic basis of stock structure of the bluefish Pomatomus saltatrix along the U. S. mid-Atlantic coast, and to determine the degree of genetic differentiation between mid-Atlantic bluefish and Australian conspecifics. A total of 472 young-of-the-year (YOY) and yearling bluefish collected in New Jersey, Virginia, and North Carolina over a period of 3 years, and 19 YOY bluefish collected in New South Wales, Australia were analyzed with 9 informative restriction endonucleases. Despite considerable mtDNA variation within samples of U.S. mid-Atlantic bluefish, no significant genetic differentiation was detected among spring-spawned and summer-spawned (YOY) bluefish, YOY and yearling bluefish from different geographic locations along the mid-Atlantic coast, or yearling bluefish collected at the same location in different years. Mid-Atlantic bluefish differed from their Australian conspecifics by three or more restriction site differences, or a mean nucleotide sequence divergence of 1.96%. In addition, Australian bluefish demonstrated greatly reduced levels of mtDNA variation relative to the mid-Atlantic samples. The results of this study suggest that bluefish along the mid-Atlantic coast comprise a single genetic stock and that significant differentiation occurs among geographically disjunct populations of this widely distributed marine fish

Glycosaminoglycans in human and bovine serum: detection of twenty-four heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate motifs including a novel sialic acid-modified chondroitin sulfate linkage hexasaccharide

Heterogeneous heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate glycosaminoglycan (GAG) polysaccharides are important components of blood circulation. Changes in GAG quantity and structure in blood have been indicated in cancers and other human diseases. However, GAG quantities and structures have not been fully characterized due to lack of robust and sensitive analytical tools. To develop such tools, we isolated GAGs from serum and plasma. We employed liquid chromatography (LC) for GAG quantification and LC/mass spectrometry (MS) for GAG structural analysis. Twenty-four heparan and chondroitin sulfate motifs were identified, including linkage hexasaccharides, repeating disaccharide compositions, reducing, and non-reducing end mono-, di-, tri-, and tetrasaccharide structures. Disaccharides were detectable at picomolar level without radiolabeling or derivitization, so only a few ml of human and fetal bovine serum was required for this study. The detection of different reducing end structures distinct from GAG linkage hexasaccharides revealed that free GAG chains generated by GAG degradation enzymes co-existed with proteoglycans in serum. In addition, a novel sialic acid-modified linkage hexasaccharide was found conjugated to bikunin, the most abundant serum proteoglycan

Low vs high field 1h NMR spectroscopy for the detection of adulteration of cold pressed rapeseed oil with refined oils

Cold pressed rapeseed oil (CPRO) is a relatively recent development in rapeseed processing, which produces a quality product with a high market value. High field NMR (400 MHz) is a well-established tool in food analysis, while low-field NMR (60 MHz) is much less studied. This study aims to establish the effectiveness of both techniques in identifying binary adulteration in CPRO. Three adulteration scenarios were investigated: a) CPRO and refined rapeseed oil (RRO); b) CPRO and refined sunflower oil (RSO); and c) CPRO and RRO or RSO. A range of classification techniques were trialled as well as partial least squares regression to gauge predictive quantification performance. The 400 MHz NMR achieved classification rates of 100% in the scenarios with a single adulterant, and 93% in the multiple adulterant scenario. The 60 MHz NMR produced lower but still encouraging classification rates (RSO 92%; RRO 85%; both RRO and RSO 87%)