Does Location Really Matter? Exploring the Role of Place in Domestic and International Service-Learning Experiences

Although increasingly popular, international/global service-learning programs are not without critique; in fact, the role of crossing national borders in service-learning is highly contested. The purpose of the study discussed in this article was to explore this role of crossing borders within the context of a particular experience: participation in an alternative break (AB) program. The authors sought to understand whether there is an aspect of learning in specific places, namely learning across national borders, that is separate (and separable) from what happens in those places. Participants reported a high level of influence of their AB experience on both their intentions to volunteer and to travel internationally, although there were a number of differences between students who participated in domestic and international ABs. Mediation analysis showed that the relationship between program location and the influence of the AB on students’ plans to volunteer was mediated completely by features of the AB program itself, while the relationship between program location and the influence of the AB on students’ plans to travel internationally was only partially mediated by program features

Enacting Efficacy In Early Career: Narratives Of Agency, Growth, And Identity

Aim/Purpose: To explore how early career faculty in the field of higher education administration develop and enact their personal and professional identities. Background: Participants sought to understand themselves, to understand their environments and the “rules” of the academic “game,” and to reconcile conflicts between their own values and identities and the expectations and culture of their environments. Methodology: In-depth case studies of seventeen early career scholars in the field. Contribution: The participants’ experiences underscore important implications for mentoring and socialization that takes into consideration the unique motivation and identity development of aspiring and new faculty members. Findings: Identifies the early career period as one where new faculty are working to develop a strong internal foundation upon which they can manage the many challenges of their personal and professional lives. Recommendations: The findings point to implications for practice, both in graduate education and in departments hiring new faculty members

Excretory-secretory products from adult helminth <i>Nippostrongylus brasiliensis</i> have <i>in vitro</i> bactericidal activity

Introduction. Intestinal helminths and microbiota share the same anatomical niche during infection and are likely to interact either directly or indirectly. Whether intestinal helminths employ bactericidal strategies that influence their microbial environment is not completely understood.Hypothesis. In the present study, the hypothesis that the adult hookworm Nippostrongylus brasiliensis produces molecules that impair bacterial growth in vitro, is tested.Aim. To investigate the in vitro bactericidal activity of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis against commensal and pathogenic bacteria.Methodology. The bactericidal effect of somatic extract and excretory-secretory products of adult Nippostrongylus brasiliensis on Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, and Klebsiella pneumoniae) bacteria was assessed using growth assays. Minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration assays were performed using excretory-secretory products released from the pathogen.Results. Broad-spectrum in vitro bactericidal activity in excretory-secretory products, but not somatic extract of adult Nippostrongylus brasiliensis was detected. The bactericidal activity of excretory-secretory products was concentration-dependent, maintained after heat treatment, and preserved after repeated freezing and thawing.Conclusion. The results of this study demonstrate that helminths such as Nippostrongylus brasiliensis release molecules via their excretory-secretory pathway that have broad-spectrum bactericidal activity. The mechanisms responsible for this bactericidal activity remain to be determined and further studies aimed at isolating and identifying active bactericidal molecules are needed

Assessing student expectations and perceptions of a shortâ term international serviceâ learning experience

ObjectivesDespite nursing studentsâ need for cultural education, few studies have measured what students expect from international serviceâ learning experiences and how their perceptions of the actual experience compare to these expectations. To increase understanding of global nursing experiences, the purpose of this study was to examine the similarities and differences between nursing studentsâ anticipated (preâ travel) personal and professional developmental expectations and reported (posttravel) personal and developmental outcomes.DesignThis study employed a mixed descriptive research design. Quantitative data was secured through survey methodology. Written responses to openâ ended questions provided qualitative data for analysis.SampleBetween 2012 and 2017, 43 undergraduate and graduate nursing students at a Midwestern university completed surveys and narratives about their participation in an international serviceâ learning course in Kenya.ResultsStudentsâ anticipated learning was achieved through their international experiences. Participants also experienced personal growth, professional development, cultural competency enhancement, and transformation from the educational experience. They also described how their experiences would change their personal and professional lives.ConclusionThe depth and breadth of the growth and learning described by students is consistent with the expectations of highâ impact educational practices.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153597/1/phn12669_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153597/2/phn12669.pd

Comparative analysis of machine learning algorithms for multi-syndrome classification of neurodegenerative syndromes

Importance: The entry of artificial intelligence into medicine is pending. Several methods have been used for the predictions of structured neuroimaging data, yet nobody compared them in this context. Objective: Multi-class prediction is key for building computational aid systems for differential diagnosis. We compared support vector machine, random forest, gradient boosting, and deep feed-forward neural networks for the classification of different neurodegenerative syndromes based on structural magnetic resonance imaging. Design, setting, and participants: Atlas-based volumetry was performed on multi-centric T1-weighted MRI data from 940 subjects, i.e., 124 healthy controls and 816 patients with ten different neurodegenerative diseases, leading to a multi-diagnostic multi-class classification task with eleven different classes. Interventions: N.A. Main outcomes and measures: Cohen's kappa, accuracy, and F1-score to assess model performance. Results: Overall, the neural network produced both the best performance measures and the most robust results. The smaller classes however were better classified by either the ensemble learning methods or the support vector machine, while performance measures for small classes were comparatively low, as expected. Diseases with regionally specific and pronounced atrophy patterns were generally better classified than diseases with widespread and rather weak atrophy. Conclusions and relevance: Our study furthermore underlines the necessity of larger data sets but also calls for a careful consideration of different machine learning methods that can handle the type of data and the classification task best

Characterisation of symbiotically efficient alfalfa-nodulating rhizobia isolated from acid soils of Argentina and Uruguay

The diversity, growth and symbiotic behaviour of symbiotically efficient alfalfa-nodulating rhizobia isolated from acid soils of Argentina and Uruguay were analysed. Partial sequencing of the 16S rDNA indicated that these isolates belong to Sinorhizobium meliloti species. IS-fingerprinting analysis revealed a high diversity among the isolates but some of them appear related to inoculant strains currently used in the region. The S. meliloti isolates showed a decreased growth rate with increasing acidity. They were, however, able to nodulate alfalfa at pH 5.6, but showed a delayed nodulation and decreased nodule number typical of S. meliloti strains. The impaired nodulation of S. meliloti at pH 5.6 did not result in a reduction of alfalfa dry matter production or nitrogen content. However, significant differences were observed for the relative symbiotic effectiveness of the strains analysed. LPU63 (Argentina) was the most effective among the isolates and exhibited a high nodulation competitiveness at both neutral and acidic pH. These results suggest that the isolate LPU63 may be a potential efficient inoculant for alfalfa in acid soils.Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecula

'To live and die [for] Dixie': Irish civilians and the Confederate States of America

Around 20,000 Irishmen served in the Confederate army in the Civil War. As a result, they left behind, in various Southern towns and cities, large numbers of friends, family, and community leaders. As with native-born Confederates, Irish civilian support was crucial to Irish participation in the Confederate military effort. Also, Irish civilians served in various supporting roles: in factories and hospitals, on railroads and diplomatic missions, and as boosters for the cause. They also, however, suffered in bombardments, sieges, and the blockade. Usually poorer than their native neighbours, they could not afford to become 'refugees' and move away from the centres of conflict. This essay, based on research from manuscript collections, contemporary newspapers, British Consular records, and Federal military records, will examine the role of Irish civilians in the Confederacy, and assess the role this activity had on their integration into Southern communities. It will also look at Irish civilians in the defeat of the Confederacy, particularly when they came under Union occupation. Initial research shows that Irish civilians were not as upset as other whites in the South about Union victory. They welcomed a return to normalcy, and often 'collaborated' with Union authorities. Also, Irish desertion rates in the Confederate army were particularly high, and I will attempt to gauge whether Irish civilians played a role in this. All of the research in this paper will thus be put in the context of the Drew Gilpin Faust/Gary Gallagher debate on the influence of the Confederate homefront on military performance. By studying the Irish civilian experience one can assess how strong the Confederate national experiment was. Was it a nation without a nationalism

Structure determination of the (1×2) and (1×3) reconstructions of Pt(110) by low-energy electron diffraction

The atomic geometry of the (1×2) and (1×3) structures of the Pt(100) surface has been determined from a low-energy electron-diffraction intensity analysis. Both structures are found to be of the missing-row type, consisting of (111) microfacets, and with similar relaxations in the subsurface layers. In both reconstructions the top-layer spacing is contracted by approximately 20% together with a buckling of about 0.17 Å in the third layer and a small lateral shift of about 0.04 Å in the second layer. Further relaxations down to the fourth layer were detectable. The surface relaxations correspond to a variation of interatomic distances, ranging from -7% to +4%, where in general a contraction of approximately 3% for the distances parallel to the surface occurs. The Pendry and Zanazzi-Jona R factors were used in the analysis, resulting in a minimum value of RP=0.36 and RZJ=0.26 for 12 beams at normal incidence for the (1×2) structure, and similar agreement for 19 beams of the (1×3) structure. The (1×3) structure has been reproducibly obtained after heating the crystal in an oxygen atmosphere of 5×10-6 mbar at 1200 K for about 30 min and could be removed by annealing at 1800 K for 45 min after which the (1×2) structure appeared again. Both reconstructed surfaces are clean within the detection limits of the Auger spectrometer. CO adsorption lifts the reconstruction in both structures. After desorption at 500 K the initial structures appear again, indicating that at least one of the reconstructions does not represent the equilibrium structure of the clean surface and may be stabilized by impurities

Revival of the magnetar PSR J1622-4950: observations with MeerKAT, Parkes, XMM-Newton, Swift, Chandra, and NuSTAR

New radio (MeerKAT and Parkes) and X-ray (XMM-Newton, Swift, Chandra, and NuSTAR) observations of PSR J1622-4950 indicate that the magnetar, in a quiescent state since at least early 2015, reactivated between 2017 March 19 and April 5. The radio flux density, while variable, is approximately 100x larger than during its dormant state. The X-ray flux one month after reactivation was at least 800x larger than during quiescence, and has been decaying exponentially on a 111+/-19 day timescale. This high-flux state, together with a radio-derived rotational ephemeris, enabled for the first time the detection of X-ray pulsations for this magnetar. At 5%, the 0.3-6 keV pulsed fraction is comparable to the smallest observed for magnetars. The overall pulsar geometry inferred from polarized radio emission appears to be broadly consistent with that determined 6-8 years earlier. However, rotating vector model fits suggest that we are now seeing radio emission from a different location in the magnetosphere than previously. This indicates a novel way in which radio emission from magnetars can differ from that of ordinary pulsars. The torque on the neutron star is varying rapidly and unsteadily, as is common for magnetars following outburst, having changed by a factor of 7 within six months of reactivation.Comment: Published in ApJ (2018 April 5); 13 pages, 4 figure