The Role And Primary Responsibilities Of The Program Specialist In The California Special Education Local Plan Areas: A Consensus Model

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role and importance of the program specialist\u27s position in the California Special Education Local Plan Areas and to ascertain the primary responsibilities of the program specialist\u27s position. Procedures. Ninety-seven California Special Education Local Plan Areas (SELPAs) were surveyed. Due to the variations in geographic size, average daily attendance, and actual years (0-5) of the SELPAs, subgroups of the study focused on the variables of size and longevity. Individuals selected to provide the data from each SELPA were its director and one program specialist designated by the director. Eighty-one SELPAs completed the SELPA Directors\u27 Survey/Questionnaire and the Primary Responsibilities Survey. The directors\u27 survey described the program specialists\u27 importance to the SELPA\u27s delivery of service. The Primary Responsibilities Survey provided data which define the primary responsibilities of the program specialist, and further clarified the program specialist\u27s role. Findings. Data collected from survey responses by the Directors and Participating Program Specialists (PPS) were presented in narrative and tabular form. The Directors\u27 perceived importance was synthesized to yield a Composite Rating of Program Specialists\u27 Importance (CRPSI). The rank of 4.2, roughly very important, was the computed CRPSI. The areas of Support and Communication received the highest rating of importance by a majority (68%) of the respondents. The variables of size and longevity did not appear to alter the CRPSI substantially. The Participating Program Specialists\u27 responses were tabulated and yielded a Synthesis of Program Specialist Primary Responsibilities (SPR). The SPR produced four primary responsibilities and five secondary responsibilities. The responsibility of Consulting with Teachers was the highest (75%) primary responsibility. The variables of size and longevity did not affect the SPR substantially, although minor differences did occur. Conclusions. The findings of the study suggested that the program specialist\u27s position is very important to the operation and service delivery model of the California SELPAs. Findings also support a consensual role for the program specialist with well-defined primary and secondary responsibilities. The primary responsibilities defined in the SPR substantiate the program specialist\u27s position as that of a support service to school personnel, parents, and students. RECOMMENDATIONS: Areas for further investigation which would contribute to this research are: 1) current school personnel perceptions of the program specialist\u27s services, and 2) a nationwide investigation of service delivery models for comparison purposes

Ocean acidification driven changes in pH exposure of zooplankton: projections from the Salish Sea model

The Salish Sea Model explicitly evaluates the dynamics of carbonate chemistry parameters (pH, DIC, Alkalinity) at relatively small spatial and temporal scales. These model components served as a basis for estimating the pH exposure dynamics of simulated zooplankton. Zooplankton were modeled assuming a variety of movement behaviors including passive drift with the currents, daily vertical migrations and directed movement toward food or way from unfavorable conditions. These movement behaviors capture the range of possibilities for many of the species in Salish Sea. The pH conditions from the Salish Sea Model included simulations from multiple seasons in recent years and projections of carbonate chemistry expected in the future from ocean acidification. The zooplankton behavior, season, specific location in the Salish Sea ,and changes from ocean acidification all influence the pH exposure trajectories. The analysis provides insight in to which combinations of features lead to the highest and lowest rates of exposure to potentially hazardous pH conditions

Foodborne Sources of Bacteria Associated With Human Obesity

Recently published research has suggested that the microbial ecology of the digestive system may play a role in obesity. Obese people have been shown to have a higher proportion of bacteria from the Firmicutes division and a lower proportion of bacteria from the Bacteroidetes division in their gut. The goal of this study was to characterize the microbial communities in specific foods using a combination of microbiology and metagenomic techniques. The ultimate goal of this project was to identify specific foods that may be introducing the Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes bacterial groups into the human gut. Nine commonly consumed foods, both natural and processed, were selected for this study and were purchased from a retail outlet in College Station, TX. These included wheat bread, whole milk, spinach, low-fat yogurt, medium cheddar cheese, 80/20 ground beef, salmon, banana, and skinless chicken breast samples. The food samples were plated on Tryptic Soy Agar (TSA) media to determine the aerobic and anaerobic bacterial loads and to isolate bacteria. The total microbial community was extracted from these food samples and the 16S rRNA gene sequences of the microbiome were PCR amplified. The PCR amplicons were sequenced using pyrosequencing and the metagenomic data was analyzed using bioinformatic approaches. The culture-based data suggests that there is a substantial bacterial load on some of the food items, ranging from as low as 5.9x102 CFU/gm to 2.8x106 CFU/gm. Results of the pyrosequencing data indicate that the cheese, ground beef, salmon, milk, and chicken breast contain significant amounts of Bacteroidetes and/or Firmicutes. The results of this study suggest that 1) foods harbor a variety of microbial populations including those that have been associated with human obesity and 2) the consumption of specific food types could be influencing the types of microorganisms inhabiting the human gut

16S rRNA-Based Tag Pyrosequencing of Complex Food and Wastewater Environments: Microbial Diversity and Dynamics

Environmental microbiology has traditionally been performed using culture-based methods. However, in the last few decades, the emergence of molecular methods has changed the field considerably. The latest development in this area has been the introduction of next-generation sequencing, including pyrosequencing. These technologies allow the massively parallel sequencing of millions of DNA strands and represent a major development in sequencing technologies. The purpose of this study was to use both pyrosequencing and traditional culture-based techniques to investigate the diversity and dynamics of bacterial populations within milk and untreated sewage sludge samples. Pasteurized and raw milk samples were collected from grocery stores and dairies within Texas. Milk samples were analyzed by plating, pyrosequencing, and an assay for the presence of cell-cell signaling molecules. Samples were processed, stored, and then evaluated again for spoilage microflora. The results of this study showed that raw milk had a considerably higher bacterial load, more diversity between samples, and a significantly higher concentration of pathogens than pasteurized milk. Additionally, this study provided evidence for varying spoilage microflora between raw and pasteurized milk, as well as evidence for the production of cell-cell signaling molecules by bacterial organisms involved in milk spoilage. Four samplings of untreated sewage sludge were collected from wastewater treatment plants in seven different municipalities across the United States. Samples were subjected to quantification of selected bacterial organisms by culture and a pyrosequencing analysis was performed on extracted community DNA. The results of this study showed that untreated sewage sludge is inhabited by a huge diversity of microorganisms and that certain municipalities may have distinct bacterial populations that are conserved over time. Additionally, this study provided some evidence for seasonal differences in several of the major bacterial phyla. Lastly, this study emphasized the challenges of comparing results obtained by culture and pyrosequencing. In conclusion, this study showed that both milk and sewage are highly diverse, dynamic environments that can contain organisms of public health concern. The use of both culture-based methods and pyrosequencing in this study proved a complementary approach, providing a more comprehensive picture of both microbial environments

Shell Condition and Survival of Puget Sound Pteropods Are Impaired by Ocean Acidification Conditions

We tested whether the thecosome pteropod Limacina helicina from Puget Sound, an urbanized estuary in the northwest continental US, experiences shell dissolution and altered mortality rates when exposed to the high CO2, low aragonite saturation state (Ωa) conditions that occur in Puget Sound and the northeast Pacific Ocean. Five, week-long experiments were conducted in which we incubated pteropods collected from Puget Sound in four carbon chemistry conditions: current summer surface (∼460–500 µatm CO2, Ωa≈1.59), current deep water or surface conditions during upwelling (∼760 and ∼1600–1700 µatm CO2, Ωa≈1.17 and 0.56), and future deep water or surface conditions during upwelling (∼2800–3400 µatm CO2, Ωa≈0.28). We measured shell condition using a scoring regime of five shell characteristics that capture different aspects of shell dissolution. We characterized carbon chemistry conditions in statistical analyses with Ωa, and conducted analyses considering Ωa both as a continuous dataset and as discrete treatments. Shell dissolution increased linearly as aragonite saturation state decreased. Discrete treatment comparisons indicate that shell dissolution was greater in undersaturated treatments compared to oversaturated treatments. Survival increased linearly with aragonite saturation state, though discrete treatment comparisons indicated that survival was similar in all but the lowest saturation state treatment. These results indicate that, under starvation conditions, pteropod survival may not be greatly affected by current and expected near-future aragonite saturation state in the NE Pacific, but shell dissolution may. Given that subsurface waters in Puget Sound’s main basin are undersaturated with respect to aragonite in the winter and can be undersaturated in the summer, the condition and persistence of the species in this estuary warrants further study

The Status of the Janitor in the Smaller Schools of Indiana

Many articles have been written concerning the school janitor and how he should perform his duties. There have been numerous surveys of the janitor and his work, but few have been found that deal with the subject in a manner similar to this study

Field investigation and design of debris nets in an environmentally sensitive area

Flexible debris nets are an excellent choice for emergency debris protection. They are lightweight, have a small footprint, and are relatively easy to construct. Available design methodology based on testing and modelling makes engineering simplified with straightforward calculations. After a huge wildfire, Montecito, California sustained devasting debris flows. The need to quickly design and construct protection was made possible proven methodologies under difficult environmental restrictions

Elevated carbon dioxide alters neural signaling and anti-predator behaviors in ocean phase coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)

Elevated levels of CO2 have been shown to disrupt numerous neurological sensory systems in marine fish. This is of concern as Pacific salmon rely heavily on an important neurosensory system for survival, the olfactory system. In this study, we investigated the effects of elevated CO2 on a salmon olfactory driven behavior, as well as changes in neural signaling and gene expression within the peripheral and central olfactory system. Juvenile coho salmon were exposed to three different levels of CO2 for two weeks. These included a current CO2 level with a pH of 7.8, a medium CO2 level with a pH of 7.5, and a high CO2 level with a pH of 7.2. Our study found that juvenile coho salmon exposed to increasing levels of CO2 ceased avoiding an alarm odor compared to the controls. Furthermore, exposure to the high level of CO2 did not alter odorant induced signaling in the olfactory rosettes but did induce significant changes in signaling within the olfactory bulbs. RNA-seq analysis revealed significant changes in expression of genes involved in neuronal signaling and signal modulation within the olfactory bulbs from coho exposed to the high CO2 level compared to control coho. Our results indicate that coho salmon exposed to elevated CO2 can experience significant behavioral impairments that are potentially driven by alteration in higher-order neural signal processing within the olfactory bulbs. Supported by Washington Sea Grant, the Washington Ocean Acidification Center, and NIEHS Superfund ES-004696

The Need for School-Based Teen Dating Violence Prevention

Schools have several competing demands, and often suffer from inefficient access to needed resources. Thus, the addition of any program into an already overtaxed school system must be met with convincing evidence that 1) a need or problem exists and is relevant to the education of students, 2) the problem is amenable to change, and 3) addressing the problem is in the best interest of educators and students. The purpose of the present paper is to present a case for inclusion of teen dating violence prevention programs in middle and high schools. We also discuss a recent survey of 219 employees of a suburban school district in southeast Texas. Specifically, we examined their perceived need for and appropriateness of a school-based dating violence prevention program. The anonymous internet-based survey revealed that a majority of participants believed that teen dating violence was a problem, 19% reported having observed an instance of teen dating violence, and 82% believed school to be an appropriate outlet for the implementation of a dating violence prevention program