At Risk Students and Resiliency

Many “at risk” students are successful in middle school and high school, and are college bound, despite the fact that they face numerous factors that place them at-risk for academic failure or for dropping out of school. One of the key factors that makes these students unique and academically successful is resiliency. Resiliency is identified as the ability to recover or adjust easily from misfortune or change. Resiliency might also be defined as an individual’s ability to effectively cope with challenges in a stressful environment. However, this definition does not account for those who are, at one point, not able to effectively cope with challenges, but who are able to reverse this cycle over time. This study sought to better understand the nature by which Hispanic students who were previously failing academically were able to reverse that cycle and become academically successful. For the purpose of this study, resiliency is defined as a process in which individuals overcome hardship and adversity to create lives that are meaningful and successful. What do Hispanic students do that makes them resilient and academically successful after experiencing academic failure? This research study addresses how students move from school related risk to academic resiliency. Many studies explore the qualities of resilient traits, but do not examine how resilient characteristics develop over time and through the interplay of one’s social and personal experiences. Often times, it is assumed that academically successful students have always been resilient, but in many instances, this might not be the case

Altered Ecosystem Nitrogen Dynamics as a Consequence of Land Cover Change in Tallgrass Prairie

ABSTRACT.-Inre cent decades, substantial areas of North American tallgrass prairie have been lost to the establishment and expansion of woodlands and forests, including those dominated by eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana). This shift in dominant plant life form, from C4 grasses to coniferous trees, may be accompanied by changes in productivity, standing stocks of biomass and nutrients and biogeochemical cycles. The goal of this study was to quantify and compare major pools and fluxes of nitrogen in recently established (5 80 y) redcedar forests and adjacent native grasslands. Three former grassland sites in the Flint Hills region of Kansas that developed closed-canopy redcedar forests in the recent past were paired with adjacent grassland sites on similar soil type and topographic position (n = 3 sites/land cover type), and selected soil and plant nitrogen pools and fluxes were measured in replicate plots (n = 6/site) along transects in each forest or grassland site over a 20-mo period. We found few significant differences in median soil inorganic N pools or net N mineralization rates between the forest and grassland sites, though there was a trend for greater concentrations of inorganic N in grassland sites on most sample dates, and cumulative growing season net N mineralization averaged 15% less in forest sites (14.3 kg N-ha-1\u27yr-1) than in grassland sites (16.9 kg N-ha-\u27.yr-1). Mean aboveground plant productivity of forest sites (9162 kg ha-1 yr-1) was about 2.5X greater than that of comparable grasslands (similar soils and topographic position), in spite of similar levels of soil N availability. This resulted in an ecosystem-level nitrogen use efficiency (ANPP:litterfall N) in forests that was more than double that of the grasslands they replaced. Additional changes in N cycling associated with redcedar forest development included large accumulations of N in aboveground biomass and transfer to the forest floor via litterfall; redcedar aboveground biomass contained 617 kg N/ ha, forest floor litter N was 253 kg N/ha, and litterfall N flux was 41 kg ha-l\u27yr-1. These are substantial increases in aboveground biomass N accumulation, surface litter N inputs, and surface litter N accumulation compared to the native grasslands characteristic of this region. These fundamental shifts in ecosystem patterns and processes have the potential to alter regional biogeochemistry and both nitrogen and carbon storage throughout areas of the eastern Central Plains where coverage of redcedars is increasing

ECO and RESOLVE: Galaxy Disk Growth in Environmental Context

We study the relationships between galaxy environments and galaxy properties related to disk (re)growth, considering two highly complete samples that are approximately baryonic mass limited into the high-mass dwarf galaxy regime, the Environmental COntext (ECO) catalog (data release herein) and the B-semester region of the REsolved Spectroscopy Of a Local VolumE (RESOLVE) survey. We quantify galaxy environments using both group identification and smoothed galaxy density field methods. We use by-eye and quantitative morphological classifications plus atomic gas content measurements and estimates. We find that blue early-type (E/S0) galaxies, gas-dominated galaxies, and UV-bright disk host galaxies all become distinctly more common below group halo mass ~10^11.5 Msun, implying that this low group halo mass regime may be a preferred regime for significant disk growth activity. We also find that blue early-type and blue late-type galaxies inhabit environments of similar group halo mass at fixed baryonic mass, consistent with a scenario in which blue early types can regrow late-type disks. In fact, we find that the only significant difference in the typical group halo mass inhabited by different galaxy classes is for satellite galaxies with different colors, where at fixed baryonic mass red early and late types have higher typical group halo masses than blue early and late types. More generally, we argue that the traditional morphology-environment relation (i.e., that denser environments tend to have more early types) can be largely attributed to the morphology-galaxy mass relation for centrals and the color-environment relation for satellites.Comment: 26 pages and 28 figures; v2 contains minor figure and text updates to match final published version in ApJ; ECO data table release now available at http://resolve.astro.unc.edu/pages/data.ph

Temporal relationship between instantaneous pressure gradients and peak‐to‐peak systolic ejection gradient in congenital aortic stenosis

ObjectiveWe sought to identify a time during cardiac ejection when the instantaneous pressure gradient (IPG) correlated best, and near unity, with peak‐to‐peak systolic ejection gradient (PPSG) in patients with congenital aortic stenosis. Noninvasive echocardiographic measurement of IPG has limited correlation with cardiac catheterization measured PPSG across the spectrum of disease severity of congenital aortic stenosis. A major contributor is the observation that these measures are inherently different with a variable relationship dependent on the degree of stenosis.DesignHemodynamic data from cardiac catheterizations utilizing simultaneous pressure measurements from the left ventricle (LV) and ascending aorta (AAo) in patients with congenital valvar aortic stenosis was retrospectively reviewed over the past 5 years. The cardiac cycle was standardized for all patients using the percentage of total LV ejection time (ET). Instantaneous gradient at 5% intervals of ET were compared to PPSG using linear regression and Bland‐Altman analysis.ResultsA total of 22 patients underwent catheterization at a median age of 13.7 years (interquartile range [IQR] 10.3‐18.0) and median weight of 51.1 kg (IQR 34.2‐71.6). The PPSG was 46.5 ± 12.6 mm Hg (mean ± SD) and correlated suboptimally with the maximum and mean IPG. The midsystolic IPG (occurring at 50% of ET) had the strongest correlation with the PPSG (PPSG = 0.97(IPG50%)–1.12, R2 = 0.88), while the IPG at 55% of ET was closest to unity (PPSG = 0.997(IPG55%)–1.17, R2 = 0.87).ConclusionsThe commonly measured maximum and mean IPG are suboptimal estimates of the PPSG in congenital aortic stenosis. Using catheter‐based data, IPG at 50%–55% of ejection correlates well with PPSG. This may allow for a more accurate estimation of PPSG via noninvasive assessment of IPG.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140042/1/chd12514.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140042/2/chd12514_am.pd

Iris: an Extensible Application for Building and Analyzing Spectral Energy Distributions

Iris is an extensible application that provides astronomers with a user-friendly interface capable of ingesting broad-band data from many different sources in order to build, explore, and model spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Iris takes advantage of the standards defined by the International Virtual Observatory Alliance, but hides the technicalities of such standards by implementing different layers of abstraction on top of them. Such intermediate layers provide hooks that users and developers can exploit in order to extend the capabilities provided by Iris. For instance, custom Python models can be combined in arbitrary ways with the Iris built-in models or with other custom functions. As such, Iris offers a platform for the development and integration of SED data, services, and applications, either from the user's system or from the web. In this paper we describe the built-in features provided by Iris for building and analyzing SEDs. We also explore in some detail the Iris framework and software development kit, showing how astronomers and software developers can plug their code into an integrated SED analysis environment.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Computin

Uninterested youth? Young people's attitudes towards party politics in Britain

Following the outcome of the 2001 and 2005 General Elections, when the numbers of abstainers outweighed the numbers of Labour voters on both occasions, much attention has focused upon the state of British democracy and how to enthuse the electorate, especially young people. While the government is exploring ways to make the whole process of voting easier, it may be failing to tackle the real problem - that youth appear to find the business of politics uninviting and irrelevant. This paper examines data derived from a nationwide survey of over 700 young people in order to shed light on what lies at the heart of young people's apparent disengagement from formal politics in Britain - political apathy or a sense of political alienation. The findings reveal that they support the democratic process, but are sceptical of the way the British political system is organised and led, and are turned off by politicians and the political parties. However, there is no uniform youth orientation to politics, and the data indicate that views differ according to social class, educational history, and also gender. However both ethnicity and region of the country in which young people live seem to have little influence in structuring political attitudes and behaviour

Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies Loci for Liver Enzyme Concentrations in Mexican Americans: The GUARDIAN Consortium.

ObjectivePopulations of Mexican American ancestry are at an increased risk for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. The objective of this study was to determine whether loci in known and novel genes were associated with variation in aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (n = 3,644), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (n = 3,595), and gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) (n = 1,577) levels by conducting the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) of liver enzymes, which commonly measure liver function, in individuals of Mexican American ancestry.MethodsLevels of AST, ALT, and GGT were determined by enzymatic colorimetric assays. A multi-cohort GWAS of individuals of Mexican American ancestry was performed. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) were tested for association with liver outcomes by multivariable linear regression using an additive genetic model. Association analyses were conducted separately in each cohort, followed by a nonparametric meta-analysis.ResultsIn the PNPLA3 gene, rs4823173 (P = 3.44 × 10-10 ), rs2896019 (P = 7.29 × 10-9 ), and rs2281135 (P = 8.73 × 10-9 ) were significantly associated with AST levels. Although not genome-wide significant, these same SNPs were the top hits for ALT (P = 7.12 × 10-8 , P = 1.98 × 10-7 , and P = 1.81 × 10-7 , respectively). The strong correlation (r2  = 1.0) for these SNPs indicated a single hit in the PNPLA3 gene. No genome-wide significant associations were found for GGT.ConclusionsPNPLA3, a locus previously identified with ALT, AST, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in European and Japanese GWAS, is also associated with liver enzymes in populations of Mexican American ancestry

Early childhood weight gain: Latent patterns and body composition outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Despite early childhood weight gain being a key indicator of obesity risk, we do not have a good understanding of the different patterns that exist. OBJECTIVES: To identify and characterise distinct groups of children displaying similar early-life weight trajectories. METHODS: A growth mixture model captured heterogeneity in weight trajectories between 0 and 60 months in 1390 children in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Differences between the classes in characteristics and body size/composition at 9 years were investigated. RESULTS: The best model had five classes. The "Normal" (45%) and "Normal after initial catch-down" (24%) classes were close to the 50th centile of a growth standard between 24 and 60 months. The "High-decreasing" (21%) and "Stable-high" (7%) classes peaked at the ~91st centile at 12-18 months, but while the former declined to the ~75th centile and comprised constitutionally big children, the latter did not. The "Rapidly increasing" (3%) class gained weight from below the 50th centile at 4 months to above the 91st centile at 60 months. By 9 years, their mean body mass index (BMI) placed them at the 98th centile. This class was characterised by the highest maternal BMI; highest parity; highest levels of gestational hypertension and diabetes; and the lowest socio-economic position. At 9 years, the "Rapidly increasing" class was estimated to have 68.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] 48.3, 88.1) more fat mass than the "Normal" class, but only 14.0% (95% CI 9.1, 18.9) more lean mass. CONCLUSIONS: Criteria used in growth monitoring practice are unlikely to consistently distinguish between the different patterns of weight gain reported here

Geologic and Structural Evolution of the NE Lau Basin, Tonga: Morphotectonic Analysis and Classification of Structures Using Shallow Seismicity

The transition from subduction to transform motion along horizontal terminations of trenches is associated with tearing of the subducting slab and strike-slip tectonics in the overriding plate. One prominent example is the northern Tonga subduction zone, where abundant strike-slip faulting in the NE Lau back-arc basin is associated with transform motion along the northern plate boundary and asymmetric slab rollback. Here, we address the fundamental question: how does this subduction-transform motion influence the structural and magmatic evolution of the back-arc region? To answer this, we undertake the first comprehensive study of the geology and geodynamics of this region through analyses of morphotectonics (remote-predictive geologic mapping) and fault kinematics interpreted from ship-based multibeam bathymetry and Centroid-Moment Tensor data. Our results highlight two unique features of the NE Lau Basin: (1) the occurrence of widely distributed off-axis volcanism, in contrast to typical ridge-centered back-arc volcanism, and (2) fault kinematics dominated by shallow-crustal strike slip-faulting (rather than normal faulting) extending over ~120 km from the transform boundary. The orientations of these strike-slip faults are consistent with reactivation of earlier-formed normal faults in a sinistral megashear zone. Notably, two distinct sets of Riedel megashears are identified, indicating a recent counter-clockwise rotation of part of the stress field in the back-arc region closest to the arc. Importantly, these structures directly control the development of complex volcanic-compositional provinces, which are characterized by variably-oriented spreading centers, off-axis volcanic ridges, extensive lava flows, and point-source rear-arc volcanoes that sample a heterogenous mantle wedge, with sharp gradients and contrasts in composition and magmatic affinity. This study adds to our understanding of the geologic and structural evolution of modern backarc systems, including the association between subduction-transform motions and the siting and style of seafloor volcanism

Full-Polarization Observations of OH Masers in Massive Star-Forming Regions: I. Data

We present full-polarization VLBA maps of the ground-state, main-line, 2 Pi 3/2, J = 3/2 OH masers in 18 Galactic massive star-forming regions. This is the first large polarization survey of interstellar hydroxyl masers at VLBI resolution. A total of 184 Zeeman pairs are identified, and the corresponding magnetic field strengths are indicated. We also present spectra of the NH3 emission or absorption in these star-forming regions. Analysis of these data will be presented in a companion paper.Comment: 111 pages, including 42 figures and 21 tables, to appear in ApJ