A Multicase Study on African American Male Students: The Least Identified and Represented in the Gifted and Talented Education Program at the Upper Elementary Level

The purpose of this multicase study was to develop an understanding of educators’ perspectives of African American male students being the least identified and represented in the gifted and talented program at two elementary schools. The theories that guided this study were the expectancy-value theory and the social cognitive theory. Given the purpose of this study, the following central research question framed this study: What are educators’ perspectives on African American male students being the least identified and represented in the gifted and talented program at the elementary level? The participants who took part in this study were 10 teachers who have taught or were currently teaching fourth or fifth grade. The three data collection methods included interviews, focus groups, and educators’ letters to other educators sharing their approach to how they motivated and inspired African American male students to rise above stereotype and perform to their ability. The data were analyzed using cross-case analysis methodology; the analysis employed member checking, peer review, triangulation, and an audit trail to ensure trustworthy findings. Four major themes emerged: systemic issues, hindrances, commitments and responsibilities, and self-efficacy. It is perceived that African American male students lack representation in gifted and talented programs because some educators refuse to acknowledge their own biases and negative attitudes toward African American male students. The identification process is heavily flawed, relying on standardized assessments, and favors students with a middle-class background. The study concluded with recommendations to school divisions, policymakers, and educators

Defining and determining national economic success

Economic success is the goal of many different countries across the world. Yet there is no clear-cut consensus regarding how to accomplish or even measure economic success. This thesis looks at two different measurements of economic success, gross domestic product per capita and resource depletion (as an indicator of sustainable development), along with seven possible causes of economic success in order to find out whether or not there are any clear paths to economic success. Using different data sets, we look at how defining economic success two different ways could help clarify whether possible causes of economic success vary in accord with the nature of the economic success at issue. These differences in definition resulted in some of the causes of economic success to be significant in some cases and not in others. Some of the relationships materialized as hypothesized others did not appear as expected or no relationship appeared at all. We suggest that to further research in this area many of the more broad causes could be broken down further in order to see whether specific policies have implications for economic success

Théâtre amateur et théâtre professionnel en Saskatchewan : d’Unithéâtre à La Troupe du Jour

Founded in 1970 by Ian Nelson, David Edney, and students from the University of Saskatchewan’s French Circle, the Unithéâtre amateur theatre troupe took as its mandate the promotion of French and French culture at the university and community level in Saskatchewan, and quickly became noticed by French and English audiences. Their successes in the amateur theatre world of Saskatchewan led to the creation of a professional French theatre group in 1985, La Troupe du Jour. Its founders, Carmen Gareau, Alphonse Gaudet, and Michel Quirion, were all members of Unithéâtre, and their mission was above all to reflect the Fransaskois reality. As a result of the work carried out by its members, artistic directors, and administrators since its inception, notably by Denis Rouleau and Dany Rousseau, La Troupe du Jour has gone from strength to strength, culminating in the inauguration of its production centre in January 2011. La Troupe has opened its theatre doors to other companies and is forming a relationship between its Fransaskois roots and the work of theatres from elsewhere, be they French or English. The introduction of the Writers’ Circle in 2000 contributed to the creation of a Fransaskois drama repertoire.Fondée en 1970 par Ian Nelson, David Edney et des étudiants du Cercle français de l’Université de la Saskatchewan, la troupe de théâtre amateur Unithéâtre adopte le mandat de promouvoir la langue française et la culture francophone dans le cadre universitaire et communautaire en Saskatchewan, et se fait rapidement valoir aux yeux du public francophone et anglophone. Son succès artistique dans le milieu théâtral amateur de la Saskatchewan favorise la création en 1985 d’une compagnie théâtrale professionnelle, La Troupe du Jour, dont les fondateurs Carmen Gareau, Alphonse Gaudet et Michel Quirion, anciens membres d’Unithéâtre, se donnent comme mission de refléter avant tout la réalité fransaskoise. Grâce au travail monumental de ses membres et de ses directeurs artistiques et administratifs, notamment Denis Rouleau et Dany Rousseau, La Troupe du Jour a connu depuis sa fondation un épanouissement qui l’a menée vers l’inauguration de son Centre de production en janvier 2011. Elle a su de plus ouvrir les portes de sa scène théâtrale pour établir une relation entre ses racines fransaskoises et les traces d’un ailleurs ou de l’autre, qu’il soit francophone ou anglophone. Grâce au Cercle des écrivains, qu’elle met sur pied en 2000, la troupe travaille à l’élaboration d’une dramaturgie fransaskoise

The routine psychological screening of cosmetic surgery patients

In order to improve outcomes, the process of patient selection within the cosmetic industry has received considerable attention from surgeons, psychologists and policy makers. Indeed, as increasing numbers of people are seeking cosmetic procedures it is crucial to ensure that patients are appropriately assessed for their suitability for surgery. Pre-operative screening to identify patients at risk of poor post-operative outcomes is now considered a crucial part of the surgeon’s role in providing appropriate care and treatment. In recognition of the importance of patient selection, we have developed a brief, user-friendly screening tool designed for routine use with cosmetic surgery patients. The tool has been designed to identify psychological factors which are likely to increase the risk of a poor psychological outcome. The tool should be used in addition to a thorough pre-operative consultation and as part of a pathway which includes onward referral where necessary

Guide to The Royal Air Force in Oklahoma Collection 1936-2015 (1941-2007)

Finding aid for The Royal Air Force in Oklahoma collection, which is stewarded by UCO Archives & Special Collections

An analysis of the subtypes of dengue fever infections in Barbados 2003–2007 by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To perform a retrospective analysis of patients with IgM antibodies to dengue fever infection to determine the serotypes present by molecular techniques. A representative sample (~20%/per year) of patients diagnosed with dengue fever infection were selected based on the detection of IgM antibodies in the acute phase serum sample. RNA was extracted from each sample and reverse transcribed. Following this, the amplicons were electrophoresed and serotyped based on band sizes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This study consisted of 71 males and 101 females ranging in age from 0 – 50+ yrs giving a total of 172 persons with an average of 34.4 patients per year. Onset averaged 6.9 days ranging from 0–90 days. Common symptoms were as follows: fever (69%), headache (52%), arthralgia (36%), ocular pain (32%), emesis (15%) and lumbar pain (15%). All patients investigated with the exception of one, were infected with DENV-3.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>DENV-3 is currently circulating on the island and not DENV-1 or DENV-2 as in previous years. This has implications for the enhancement of clinical, laboratory and environmental surveillance systems.</p

A ChIP-chip approach reveals a novel role for transcription factor IRF1 in the DNA damage response.

IRF1 is a transcription factor that regulates key processes in the immune system and in tumour suppression. To gain further insight into IRF1's role in these processes, we searched for new target genes by performing chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled to a CpG island microarray (ChIP-chip). Using this approach we identified 202 new IRF1-binding sites with high confidence. Functional categorization of the target genes revealed a surprising cadre of new roles that can be linked to IRF1. One of the major functional categories was the DNA damage response pathway. In order to further validate our findings, we show that IRF1 can regulate the mRNA expression of a number of the DNA damage response genes in our list. In particular, we demonstrate that the mRNA and protein levels of the DNA repair protein BRIP1 [Fanconi anemia gene J (FANC J)] are upregulated after IRF1 over-expression. We also demonstrate that knockdown of IRF1 by siRNA results in loss of BRIP1 expression, abrogation of BRIP1 foci after DNA interstrand crosslink (ICL) damage and hypersensitivity to the DNA crosslinking agent, melphalan; a characteristic phenotype of FANC J cells. Taken together, our data provides a more complete understanding of the regulatory networks controlled by IRF1 and reveals a novel role for IRF1 in regulating the ICL DNA damage response

Investing in People: Assessing the Economic Benefits of 1890 Institutions

The report examines the historical USDA funding levels of 1890 institutions; discusses the outcomes of these investments and potential measurable indicators of these outcomes; and outlines a conceptual model for estimating returns to investment in education tailored to particularities of the 1890's.1890s, land grant universities, human capital, extension service, agricultural research, research funding, Labor and Human Capital, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Regional inactivations of primate ventral prefrontal cortex reveal two distinct mechanisms underlying negative bias in decision making.

Dysregulation of the orbitofrontal and ventrolateral prefrontal cortices is implicated in anxiety and mood disorders, but the specific contributions of each region are unknown, including how they gate the impact of threat on decision making. To address this, the effects of GABAergic inactivation of these regions were studied in marmoset monkeys performing an instrumental approach-avoidance decision-making task that is sensitive to changes in anxiety. Inactivation of either region induced a negative bias away from punishment that could be ameliorated with anxiolytic treatment. However, whereas the effects of ventrolateral prefrontal cortex inactivation on punishment avoidance were seen immediately, those of orbitofrontal cortex inactivation were delayed and their expression was dependent upon an amygdala-anterior hippocampal circuit. We propose that these negative biases result from deficits in attentional control and punishment prediction, respectively, and that they provide the basis for understanding how distinct regional prefrontal dysregulation contributes to the heterogeneity of anxiety disorders with implications for cognitive-behavioral treatment strategies.All authors contributed extensively to the work presented in this article, and we thank Rudolf Cardinal for helpful advice and discussion and Mercedes Arroyo for histology. This research was funded by a Medical Research Council Programme Grant (to A.C.R.) and Career Development Award (to H.F.C.). The research was conducted at the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, which is supported by a joint award from the Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust (G00001354).This is the accepted manuscript of a paper published in PNAS (Clarke HF, Horst NK, Roberts AC, PNAS 2015, 112, 13, 4176-4181, doi:10.1073/pnas.1422440112). The final version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.142244011