Diagnosing collaboration in practice-based learning: Equality and intra-individual variability of physical interactivity

Collaborative problem solving (CPS), as a teaching and learning approach, is considered to have the potential to improve some of the most important skills to prepare students for their future. CPS often differs in its nature, practice, and learning outcomes from other kinds of peer learning approaches, including peer tutoring and cooperation; and it is important to establish what identifies collaboration in problem-solving situations. The identification of indicators of collaboration is a challenging task. However, students physical interactivity can hold clues of such indicators. In this paper, we investigate two non-verbal indexes of student physical interactivity to interpret collaboration in practice-based learning environments: equality and intra-individual variability. Our data was generated from twelve groups of three Engineering students working on open-ended tasks using a learning analytics system. The results show that high collaboration groups have member students who present high and equal amounts of physical interactivity and low and equal amounts of intra-individual variability

Effects of zilpaterol hydrochloride and zinc methionine on growth performance and carcass characteristics of beef bulls

Sixty beef bulls with a body weight (BW) of 314.79 16.2 kg were used to evaluate the effects of zilpaterol hydrochloride (ZH) and zinc methionine (ZM) on growth performance and carcass characteristics. The experimental design was a randomized complete block, with a factorial 22 arrangement of treatments (ZH: 0 and 0.15 mg kg 1 BW; ZM: 0 and 80 mg kg 1 dry matter). The ZH increased (PB0.05) the final BW, average daily gain, feed conversion, carcass yield and longissimus dorsi area. Bulls fed ZH plus ZM had less (PB0.01) backfat thickness and intramuscular fat (IMF) compared with those fed ZH or ZM alone. The ZH increased (PB0.02) the meat crude protein content and cooking loss. It is therefore concluded that ZH increases growth performance, carcass yield, longissimus dorsi area, and meat crude protein. The interaction of ZM and ZH did not present additional advantages. The reason for the reduction in backfat thickness and IMF by ZH plus ZM is unclear, and implies that our knowledge of b-agonistic adrenergic substances and their interactions with minerals is incomplete

THE IMPACT OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION ON FOOD INSECURITY AMONG DIVISION 1 STUDENT ATHLETES

Jackson Dellana1, Lexi Chimera1, Alisha Farris1, Danielle Nunnery1, Tara Harman2, Aston Dommel2, Kelsey Rushing2, Lee Stowers2, Christian Behrens Jr1. 1Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. 2University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL. BACKGROUND: Food insecurity is a growing health concern among U.S. college students with reported incidence as high as 59%. Among this population are LGBTQ+ students and student athletes. It is well established that individuals identifying as LGBTQ+ are disproportionately affected by FI. However, data on student athletes, and particularly LGBTQ+ student athletes is lacking. Inadequate access to consistent, nutritious food can present barriers detrimental to success in the classroom as well as competitive athleticism. Therefore, the objective of this study was to measure the prevalence and severity of food insecurity among heterosexual (HS) and LGBTQ+ Division 1 student athletes and to identify possible reasons for observed differences in FI between these two groups. METHODS: Eligible Division 1 NCAA student athletes 18 years of age or older were included in this multi-site cross-sectional survey study. Data was collected using an anonymous online questionnaire (Qualtrics®), with food security status measured via the validated 10-item USDA survey. Additional information including demographic data, food and nutrition-related knowledge, and questions on sexual orientation were collected. RESULTS: A total of 404 participants completed the survey, with 380 identifying as HS and 24 identifying as LGBTQ+. A total of 59 (15.5%) HS student athletes experienced low food security and 67 (17.6%) experienced very low food security in the past 12 months. Conversely, 2 (8.3%) LGBTQ+ student athletes experienced low food security with 1 having experienced very low food security (4.2%) in the past 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: These results illustrate the high prevalence of food insecurity among Division 1 student athletes at two southeastern universities. When very low, low, and marginal FI are combined, approximately 50% of student athletes identified as food insecure. Though contrary to similar comparative studies on the LGBTQ+ population, our results show LGBTQ+ student athletes experiencing less food insecurity than the HS student athletes. Overall, these results demonstrate a need for strategies and interventions that increase access to consistent food resources in this population

Isolation of Polycavernoside D from a Marine Cyanobacterium

The polycavernosides make up a unique class of marine-derived macrolides that were implicated in the poisoning of 49 people in the South Western Pacific resulting in 11 deaths. The original source ascribed to these environmental toxins was from the edible red alga <i>Polycavernosa tsudai</i> (also known as <i>Gracilaria edulis</i>); however, the inability to reisolate these metabolites from the alga, along with structural resemblance to several marine cyanobacterial natural products, suggested that these compounds derive from these latter photosynthetic prokaryotes. In this study, we identified a new analogue “polycavernoside D” from an environmental sample of the marine cyanobacterium <i>Okeania</i> sp., thus providing the first experimental evidence that these lethal toxins are in fact cyanobacterial secondary metabolites. Moreover, the new metabolite was obtained from a Caribbean cyanobacterial collection, thus suggesting this toxin family to be of broader environmental occurrence than previously realized, and raising concerns about unrecognized human exposure in diverse tropical marine environments