Creating Carrot Gold Classroom Activities on a Dollar Tree Budget

Presenter will Provide

Optimisation of Multidisciplinary Collaboration in Fast-Paced Innovation Projects

This paper discusses four factors that influence the initial stages of development of a multidisciplinary team: ‘clarity’, ‘trust’, ‘conflict’ and ‘personal values’. They were uncovered after an empirical study and action research were carried out during projects using a fast-paced collaborative innovation approach in one of the largest electronics firms in the world. In such context collaboration poses multiple challenges to the successful project outcome. Therefore, facilitators need guidance how to optimize the collaboration in the context of the approach

Toxicity Of Potassium Permanganate And Potassium Peroxymonosulfate Controlled Released Biodegradable Polymer To The Non-Target Organism Daphnia Magna

Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) and potassium peroxymonosulfate (Oxone®) are chemical oxidants widely used in natural surface waters and wastewaters for the control and removal of pathogens and the prevention of disease caused by bacteria. However, KMnO4 and Oxone® have the ability to be toxic to aquatic life. Moreover, there is limited information within literature about the toxicity of these oxidizing agents to non-target organisms such as the microcrustacean Daphnia magna (D. magna). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the acute toxicity of KMnO4 and Oxone® to D. magna. The focus for this work is to determine the toxic effects on non-target organisms using the U.S. EPA approved Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Test performed with D. magna. Controlled Release Biodegradable Polymers (CRBP) were produced by encapsulating KMnO4 and Oxone® in polycaprolactone (PCL) per U.S. Patent #8,519,061. The CRBPs have previously been shown to be effective at reducing bacteria levels for Escherichia coli (E. coli), Enterococci, and total coliform in contaminated water. It was hypothesized that the CRBP could be a potential treatment technology to treat natural surface waters without toxicity to aquatic life. The CRBPs were tested at 0.1g KMnO4 encapsulated in 0.5g PCL and 0.3g Oxone® encapsulated in 0.5g PCL and released for 24h, 48h and 72h in 100-1000ml of natural surface test water to determine the toxic effects to D. magna. The results showed that the WET Test using D. magna demonstrated Oxone® CRBP can cause severe toxic effects to non-target organisms when released at any length of time, hence indicating potential damaging effects on higher level aquatic life that may receive effluents treated with this strong oxidant. Further results show that the KMnO4 CRBP caused minimal acute toxic effect in D. magna when released at longer lengths of time. These findings show KMnO4 CRBP exhibit promising minimal toxic effects on non-target organisms during environmental remediation

Weird Science

Childcare providers will become aware of the importance of every day science. They will participate in hands-on science experiments and list benefits of conducting science daily

Role of Micrornas in Impaired Gut Permeability Following Ethanol and Burn Injury

Every year there are nearly 500,000 reported burn injuries in the United States; half of which occur under the influence of alcohol. Clinical studies have shown that burn patients who are intoxicated at the time of injury have a worse prognosis; including increased risk of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and sepsis. The etiology behind these pathological consequences of ethanol and burn injury remains to be elucidated. The Gut-lymph hypothesis of MODS theorizes that trauma (e.g. ethanol and burn injury) results in a redistribution of blood flow to protect more vital organs which leads to ischemia/hypoxia (diminished oxygen delivery) in the intestines. Hypoxia has been demonstrated to negatively affect microRNA (miR) biogenesis. As microRNAs are central to many cellular functions; disruption of these molecules due to hypoxic insult could influence tissue damage, tight junction protein expression and inflammation. However, the role of hypoxia in mediating intestinal barrier disruption following ethanol and burn injury remains largely unknown. The overall objective of this dissertation is to examine how hypoxia following ethanol and burn injury modulates expression of microRNA biogenesis components and microRNAs resulting intestinal barrier disruption. The central hypothesis is that, hypoxic insult following acute ethanol intoxication and burn injury disrupts microRNA biogenesis, resulting in decreased miR-150 expression in isolated small intestinal epithelial cells and increased intestinal permeability in vivo. Our results show that ethanol and burn injury diminishes expression of tight junction proteins, microRNA biogenesis components: (drosha and argonaute-2) and select microRNAs. Furthermore, these changes accompany elevated inflammation, hypoxia (HIF-1α) and bacterial overgrowth. Treatment of mice at the time of injury with PX-478, a HIF-1α inhibitor, restored expression of microRNA biogenesis components, and normalizes the expression of miRs (-7a and -150). These changes coincided with reduced microbial overgrowth, increased tight junction protein expression and decreased intestinal permeability. Together, this work has illuminated the relationship of hypoxia and microRNAs and their role in regulation of the intestinal barrier following ethanol and burn injury

Exploring the Lived Experiences of Black Women Athletic Directors at NCAA Institutions

Historically, college athletics have advanced men over women in top leadership roles, sustaining gender hierarchy. Senior leadership positions within intercollegiate athletics, such as the athletic director or associate athletic director, are mainly held by White men. Women and racial minorities are considerably unrepresented in athletic director roles. In 2021, the National Collegiate Athletic Association reported that Black men held 13% of athletic director positions, whereas the role was held by 3% of Black women. Research indicated there are unique barriers that women of color experience as they strive to obtain the athletic director title. The barriers women of color experience affect diversity, equity, and inclusion in the athletic community as well as the number of Black women mentors and role models within the profession. This qualitative study explored the lived experiences, career challenges, and mentoring experiences of Black women at NCAA member institutions. A phenological approach was utilized to collect data from interviews with seven Black women athletic directors. Confidential, virtual, semistructured interviews were used, and the theoretical framework applied in the study was Black feminist thought. The emerged themes were revealed: (a) early exposure; (b) collegiate athletic mentors; (c) male-dominated industry and imposter syndrome; (d) navigating COVID-19 and chartering new paths; (e) athletic professional development programs; (f) angry Black woman stereotype and aggressiveness; (g) understanding one’s value and networking; (h) budgetary and fundraising experience; (i) biased hiring practices and growing the pipeline; (j) utilization of search firms with diversity, equity and inclusion focus; and (k) creation of Black female student-athlete pipeline. The findings from this study indicate that while Black women have made small strides in reaching the athletic director role, more attention and effort should be placed on the challenges and experiences that impact their paths

Data Mining in Healthcare: Issues and a Research Agenda

While data mining has become a much-lauded tool in business and related fields, its role in the healthcare arena is still being explored. Currently, most applications of data mining in healthcare can be categorized into two areas: decision support for clinical practice, and policy planning/decision making. However, it is challenging to find empirical literature in this area since a substantial amount of existing work in data mining for health care is conceptual in nature. In this paper, we review the challenges that limit the progress made in this area and present considerations for the future of data mining in healthcare

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