Writing Centers as Training Wheels: What Message Are We Sending Our Students?

Over twenty years ago, Stephen North began his famous essay, “The Idea of a Writing Center,” by admitting that This is an essay that began out of frustration [. . .]. The source of my frustration? Ignorance: the members of my professions, my colleagues, people I might see at MLA or CCCC or read in the pages of College English do not understand what I do. They do not understand what does happen, what can happen, in a writing center. (433) Like North, I began this essay out of frustration, but my frustration is with my writing center colleagues. I have spent a good deal of my (albeit brief) academic career thinking about and researching the marginalization of writing centers, and I am tired of fighting the good fight for respect and recognition in composition studies, English departments, and the institution at large when writing centers sabotage themselves everyday by continuing practices that feed into our perpetual marginalization. I am tired of running up against practices that directly counter attempts I and others make to take writing centers seriously. In particular, I am concerned with the common practice of using “forced” labor in the writing center, especially when this involves using the writing center as “training wheels” for new graduate students until they are ready to ride solo in their own classrooms.University Writing Cente

STRATEGY COPING STRESS DITINJAU DARI SELF EFFICACY PADA KARYAWAN PT CAPELLA DINAMIK NUSANTARA YANG SEDANG BERKULIAH

 Seiring dengan berkembangnya zaman dan meningkatnya tuntutan kebutuhan sehari-hari yang kian kompleks, manusia dituntut untuk tetap dapat menjalankan tugas dan tanggung jawabnya terhadap peran di masyarakat. Tidak jarang juga beberapa orang memiliki sudut pandang yang berbeda dimana mereka memilih untuk melanjutkan pendidikannya sekaligus meniti karir. Tujuan riset ini adalah untuk mencari tahu korelasi self efficacy dengan strategy coping stress dengan menggunakan metode penelitian kuantitatif. Hipotesis yang diajukan adalah adanya hubungan yang positif antara self efficacy dengan strategy coping stress, dengan asumsi self efficacy yang semakin tinggi maka strategy coping stress akan semakin tinggi pula pada karyawan PT Capella Dinamik Nusantara yang sedang berkuliah, dan begitu juga sebaliknya. Penelitian ini menggunakan teknik sampling jenuh dan data penelitian diperoleh dari skala self efficacy dan strategy coping stress. Uji normalitas dan linieritas yang mana merupakan uji prasyarat analisis (uji asumsi) digunakan dalam penelitian ini. Pearson Product Moment dipakai untuk menganalisis data dengan bantuan SPSS 19 for windows. Hasil analisis data menyatakan koefisien korelasi sebesar 0.548 dengan p = 0.000 (p < 0.05). Ini berarti ada korelasi positif antara strategy coping stress dengan self efficacy dan berdasarkan perhitungan ini maka hipotesis penelitian diterima

Public Perception and Influential Sources Toward Child Welfare Services

The purpose of this study is to answer the following questions: “What is the current public attitude toward public child welfare services and what sources of information have been used to formulate these attitudes?” In answering these questions, child welfare agencies would have a better understanding of what populations to promote public outreach, education, or further community involvement based on demographics and/or which venues to implement such outreach. This study provides information on previous studies where researchers have looked at the general role of social work and used the gathered information to assess public sentiment. In past research there has been discrepancy in the outcomes of this data. Past research has also incorporated news media and the portrayal of child welfare social workers, but has not attempted to measure the impacts of media and the public’s perception of the profession. With recent societal events, it has become more evident that public perception can be a driving force in policy change. The intent of this study is to identify individual demographic information (e.g., race/ethnicity, income level, household size, prior child welfare system involvement, etc.) that would show a significant relationship with a developed scale to measure participants’ attitude or sentiment toward child welfare social work. To obtain participants, a link to the developed survey was posted to multiple social media pages where the primary subject included the Victor Valley region of San Bernardino County, California. Participants were also asked to repost the link to the survey to their social media pages in order to increase participant numbers. For this project, 183 participants completed the survey to completion. Due to the level of measurement of the variables, multiple data analysis techniques were used in order to identify relationships between the independent demographic variables and the score on the sentiment scale. These techniques include t-tests, ANOVA, and correlation. Of the variables measured for statistical significance, only the participants past levels of child welfare services involvement showed significance. This was especially true for participants who had experiences both as a minor and as a parent. Income level, news sources, and other demographic identifiers did not show statistically significant differences in sentiment toward child welfare social work. With the information from this study, child welfare agencies might implement further outreach to the identified populations in order to provide further support. This information can also identify which specific factors contribute to the negative perceptions through qualitative analysis

Generation of 34S-substituted protein-bound [4Fe-4S] clusters using 34S-L-cysteine

The ability to specifically label the sulphide ions of protein-bound iron–sulphur (FeS) clusters with 34S isotope greatly facilitates structure–function studies. In particular, it provides insight when using either spectroscopic techniques that probe cluster-associated vibrations, or non-denaturing mass spectrometry, where the ∼+2 Da average increase per sulphide enables unambiguous assignment of the FeS cluster and, where relevant, its conversion/degradation products. Here, we employ a thermostable homologue of the O-acetyl-L-serine sulfhydrylase CysK to generate 34S-substituted L-cysteine and subsequently use it as a substrate for the L-cysteine desulfurase NifS to gradually supply 34S2− for in vitro FeS cluster assembly in an otherwise standard cluster reconstitution protocol

Hedgehog Signaling Regulates Apical Actin Morphology

poster abstractStereocilia are highly patterned actin based cell protrusions found on the apical surface of auditory hair cells. They are formed mainly from bundled filamentous actin and its associated actin cross-linking proteins. Interestingly, stereocilia develop around another cell appendage, the microtubule based kinocilium, which is the primary cilium for a hair cell. Primary cilia are found on most somatic cells and play a significant role in the regulation and proper transduction of the Hedgehog (Hh) pathway. In the current study, we are testing the hypothesis that Hh pathway activity can alter actin bundling and elongation. In support of this idea, ectopic activation or repression of Hh signaling changed the morphology of stereocilia in vivo. To further test our hypothesis, we used a CL4 porcine kidney epithelial cell culture system stably expressing the actin crosslinking protein ESPN fused to green fluorescent protein. These cells serve as an in vitro model of apical actin protrusions similar to mature stereocilia in vivo. We manipulated Hh signaling in these cells using both a genetic and a pharmacological approach. In the pharmacological approach, CL4 cells were treated with the hedgehog agonist (Purmophamine) and antagonist (Cyclopamine), at varying concentrations for 48 hours. Genetically, the Hh pathway was ectopically activated by overexpressing the transcription factor Gli1, Gli2, Gli3, and SmoA1 repressed by expressing Gli3R. Immunofluorescent (IF) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that CL4 cells dramatically altered the apical actin structures under these conditions. In particular, activating Gli transcription decreased apical actin-based structures while antagonizing activity resulted in more actinbased protrusions. This data strongly supports the hypothesis that the Hh signaling pathway can regulate the actin cytoskeleton

Understanding “Understanding” in Public Understanding of Science

This study examines the conflation of terms such as “knowledge” and “understanding” in peer-reviewed literature, and tests the hypothesis that little current research clearly distinguishes between importantly distinct epistemic states. Two sets of data are presented from papers published in the journal Public Understanding of Science. In the first set, the digital text analysis tool, Voyant, is used to analyze all papers published in 2014 for the use of epistemic success terms. In the second set of data, all papers published in Public Understanding of Science from 2010–2015 are systematically analyzed to identify instances in which epistemic states are empirically measured. The results indicate that epistemic success terms are inconsistently defined, and that measurement of understanding, in particular, is rarely achieved in public understanding of science studies. We suggest that more diligent attention to measuring understanding, as opposed to mere knowledge, will increase efficacy of scientific outreach and communication efforts

Simulation of the cost-effectiveness of malaria vaccines

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A wide range of possible malaria vaccines is being considered and there is a need to identify which vaccines should be prioritized for clinical development. An important element of the information needed for this prioritization is a prediction of the cost-effectiveness of potential vaccines in the transmission settings in which they are likely to be deployed. This analysis needs to consider a range of delivery modalities to ensure that clinical development plans can be aligned with the most appropriate deployment strategies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The simulations are based on a previously published individual-based stochastic model for the natural history and epidemiology of <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>malaria. Three different vaccine types: pre-erythrocytic vaccines (PEV), blood stage vaccines (BSV), mosquito-stage transmission-blocking vaccines (MSTBV), and combinations of these, are considered each delivered via a range of delivery modalities (Expanded Programme of Immunization – EPI-, EPI with booster, and mass vaccination combined with EPI). The cost-effectiveness ratios presented are calculated for four health outcomes, for assumed vaccine prices of US$2 or US$ 10 per dose, projected over a 10-year period.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The simulations suggest that PEV will be more cost-effective in low transmission settings, while BSV at higher transmission settings. Combinations of BSV and PEV are more efficient than PEV, especially in moderate to high transmission settings, while compared to BSV they are more cost-effective in moderate to low transmission settings. Combinations of MSTBV and PEV or PEV and BSV improve the effectiveness and the cost-effectiveness compared to PEV and BSV alone only when applied with EPI and mass vaccinations. Adding booster doses to the EPI is unlikely to be a cost-effective alternative to delivering vaccines via the EPI for any vaccine, while mass vaccination improves effectiveness, especially in low transmission settings, and is often a more efficient alternative to the EPI. However, the costs of increasing the coverage of mass vaccination over 50% often exceed the benefits.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The simulations indicate malaria vaccines might be efficient malaria control interventions, and that both transmission setting and vaccine delivery modality are important to their cost-effectiveness. Alternative vaccine delivery modalities to the EPI may be more efficient than the EPI. Mass vaccination is predicted to provide substantial health benefits at low additional costs, although achieving high coverage rates can lead to substantial incremental costs.</p

DIG In: Evaluating Disparities in Image Generations with Indicators for Geographic Diversity

The unprecedented photorealistic results achieved by recent text-to-image generative systems and their increasing use as plug-and-play content creation solutions make it crucial to understand their potential biases. In this work, we introduce three indicators to evaluate the realism, diversity and prompt-generation consistency of text-to-image generative systems when prompted to generate objects from across the world. Our indicators complement qualitative analysis of the broader impact of such systems by enabling automatic and efficient benchmarking of geographic disparities, an important step towards building responsible visual content creation systems. We use our proposed indicators to analyze potential geographic biases in state-of-the-art visual content creation systems and find that: (1) models have less realism and diversity of generations when prompting for Africa and West Asia than Europe, (2) prompting with geographic information comes at a cost to prompt-consistency and diversity of generated images, and (3) models exhibit more region-level disparities for some objects than others. Perhaps most interestingly, our indicators suggest that progress in image generation quality has come at the cost of real-world geographic representation. Our comprehensive evaluation constitutes a crucial step towards ensuring a positive experience of visual content creation for everyone

Electro-mechanical de-icer modeling with aeronautics application

International audienceThe development of a multi physics model, for a new electro-mechanical de-icing solution, is presented in thisarticle. The technology proposed by aeronautics industry resides in the principles of Laplace forces and plate elastic deformation.Electro-magneto-mechanical modeling is intended for expressing the interdependence between the mechanical response and the electrical stimulus. The resulting expressions incorporate the dynamics of the call and the particular topology of the structural elements of the system. Measurements issue from previous prototypes served to validate the final model. As the goal was to obtain a model adapted for optimization process, some results and perspectives are also discussed.</p