Improving Skills in Computer Methods: Introductory Toolkit to Python for Undergraduate Physics Majors

The computer-based curriculum for undergraduate physics students before 2019 struggled to stay current and applicable. When the course was created in the early 2000s, MathCad was used daily by many physicists. As computer’s and their computational abilities have grown exponentially, so have programming languages and applications. Now in the late 2010s/early 2020s, Excel, Python, and Mathematica are some of the most common computer appliques. To address this, we created toolkits to give undergraduate physicists the experience for future classes, careers, and graduate school. This paper focuses on the process for creating the Python toolkit and overall class setup. Run on Google Colabratory, no external programs need to be downloaded making the toolkit accessible to all with internet access. The toolkits the main points are: Functions, Loops, Downloading Data, etc. We based examples and problems on physics the students previously learned in their prerequisite classes (Snell’s law, star classification, kinematics). After employing the toolkit in PHYS 2500: Computer Methods at Utah State University for Fall 2019 and Fall 2020, student knowledge on coding, and coding physics, significantly improved and overall satisfactory of the course improved

Cumulative incidence of child protection system contacts among a cohort of Western Australian Aboriginal children born 2000 to 2013

Background: Reducing the over-representation of Aboriginal children in the child protection system is a key target for the Australian government. Objective: We aimed to provide more recent evidence on the population-level cumulative incidence of contacts for Aboriginal children with child protective services (CPS) in Western Australia (WA). Participants and Setting: Linked administrative data was provided for WA CPS between 2000 and 2015 for 33,709 Aboriginal children born in WA between 2000 and 2013. Methods: Descriptive summaries and cumulative incidence estimates were used to examine changes in CPS contact trends over time and within sibling groups. Results: There was an increase in early-childhood contacts for children born more recently, with 7.6 % and 2.3 % of children born in 2000–2001 having a notification and placement in out-of-home care by age one, respectively, compared to 15.1 % and 4.3 % of children born in 2012–2013. Among sibling groups where at least one sibling had a CPS contact, approximately half of children had their first contacts on the same date as another sibling. For children born after one of their siblings had been placed in out-of-home care, 31.9 % had themselves been placed in out-of-home care by age one. Conclusions: Multiple children tend to be placed into out-of-home care when at least one sibling is, which is likely to have a significant impact on families affected. The additional risk of placement also carries over to children born after the first removal in a sibling group, highlighting the need for further support to prevent future removals

2017 Research & Innovation Day Program

A one day showcase of applied research, social innovation, scholarship projects and activities.https://first.fanshawec.ca/cri_cripublications/1004/thumbnail.jp

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

“It\u27s all in the preparation”: An interpretive look at how one teacher prepares her students for participation in literature discussion groups

The goal for many teachers is to instruct their students in such a way that when they work independently of the teacher they are able to do so with competence, as defined by the teacher. For elementary language arts teachers this often means creating an interpretive and literate environment where students are prepared to interact within literature discussion groups free from the direction of the teacher. To accomplish this, teachers must instruct students, both explicitly and implicitly, to recognize and use both literary elements as well as cooperative learning strategies. While much information exists on how and why to conduct book clubs, as well as many descriptive case studies about teachers\u27 trials and tribulations with the implementation of book clubs, little research focuses specifically on the preparation that a teacher does with her students for participation in these discussions. My research study is significant because it fills this gap by examining how one teacher accomplished this preparation and how her students responded and demonstrated these behaviors. This dissertation addresses the following basic research question: How does one third grade teacher prepare her students for participation in book clubs? In conjunction with that major question were the following related questions: Why does this teacher choose to use book clubs over other means of instruction? What counts as literary discussion in this classroom? In other words, what are the explicit and implicit rules that are established for such discussions and who sets them? Which literary elements and/or cooperative learning skills does she value and how does this teacher go about preparing her students to use them: through explicit instruction, role-playing, modeling, and/or discussion? A final, yet all encompassing, question was: How will this preparation be evident in student behaviors? This research was conducted using interpretive, descriptive, and naturalistic methods. Additionally I employed both qualitative and quantitative methods throughout the analysis of the data. It was never the intention of this research to create a how-to manual for teachers to conduct literature discussion groups in their classrooms. Instead, my goal was to present data that supported the basic premise that students will not naturally have grand conversations about books without detailed and careful preparation. Through mindful analysis of the data, I have shown a positive relationship between what the students exhibited in literature discussion groups and the instruction the teacher presented in anticipation of such groups. Several implications can be drawn from this research. First is the basic concept that research questions, like the ones addressed by this study, generally grow from difficulties that are encountered in trying to do what we, as teachers, believe to be right. Hopefully, this research will inspire others to explore their own questions through research. Secondly, I believe this research speaks directly to the need for greater preparation by teachers who expect their students to have deep, intellectual, “grand conversations.” It is anticipated that these implications will not only improve how teachers prepare their students for participation in literature discussion groups, but also provide reasons why such preparation is critical for increased comprehension

“It\u27s all in the preparation”: An interpretive look at how one teacher prepares her students for participation in literature discussion groups

The goal for many teachers is to instruct their students in such a way that when they work independently of the teacher they are able to do so with competence, as defined by the teacher. For elementary language arts teachers this often means creating an interpretive and literate environment where students are prepared to interact within literature discussion groups free from the direction of the teacher. To accomplish this, teachers must instruct students, both explicitly and implicitly, to recognize and use both literary elements as well as cooperative learning strategies. While much information exists on how and why to conduct book clubs, as well as many descriptive case studies about teachers\u27 trials and tribulations with the implementation of book clubs, little research focuses specifically on the preparation that a teacher does with her students for participation in these discussions. My research study is significant because it fills this gap by examining how one teacher accomplished this preparation and how her students responded and demonstrated these behaviors. This dissertation addresses the following basic research question: How does one third grade teacher prepare her students for participation in book clubs? In conjunction with that major question were the following related questions: Why does this teacher choose to use book clubs over other means of instruction? What counts as literary discussion in this classroom? In other words, what are the explicit and implicit rules that are established for such discussions and who sets them? Which literary elements and/or cooperative learning skills does she value and how does this teacher go about preparing her students to use them: through explicit instruction, role-playing, modeling, and/or discussion? A final, yet all encompassing, question was: How will this preparation be evident in student behaviors? This research was conducted using interpretive, descriptive, and naturalistic methods. Additionally I employed both qualitative and quantitative methods throughout the analysis of the data. It was never the intention of this research to create a how-to manual for teachers to conduct literature discussion groups in their classrooms. Instead, my goal was to present data that supported the basic premise that students will not naturally have grand conversations about books without detailed and careful preparation. Through mindful analysis of the data, I have shown a positive relationship between what the students exhibited in literature discussion groups and the instruction the teacher presented in anticipation of such groups. Several implications can be drawn from this research. First is the basic concept that research questions, like the ones addressed by this study, generally grow from difficulties that are encountered in trying to do what we, as teachers, believe to be right. Hopefully, this research will inspire others to explore their own questions through research. Secondly, I believe this research speaks directly to the need for greater preparation by teachers who expect their students to have deep, intellectual, “grand conversations.” It is anticipated that these implications will not only improve how teachers prepare their students for participation in literature discussion groups, but also provide reasons why such preparation is critical for increased comprehension

Interparental conflict, parenting, and childhood depression in a diverse urban population: The role of general cognitive style

Research on the mechanisms by which interparental conflict (IPC) affects child depression suggests that both parenting and children\u27s conflict appraisals play important roles, but few studies have explored the role of general cognitive style or included both parenting and cognitions in the same design. Moreover, the effects of IPC on minority children are not well understood. In this longitudinal study, parenting was examined as a mediator of the relation between increasing IPC and change in depression. General cognitive style was included as a moderator. The combined influence of parenting and cognitions was also explored. A racially and ethnically diverse sample of 88 fifth and sixth graders from two urban schools reported their cognitive style, depressive symptoms, and perceptions of conflict and parenting at two time points separated by one year. Parental warmth/rejection mediated the relation between IPC and depression, and general cognitive style acted as a moderator. Parenting, cognitive style, and IPC did not significantly interact to predict change in depression over time. Findings indicate that both parenting and children\u27s general cognitive style play a role in understanding the impact of increasing IPC on children\u27s well-being. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008

Multifocal cutaneous alternariosis in a 70-year-old Kenyan renal transplant patient

Alternaria species are a group of dematiaceous fungi that are ubiquitous in nature and are becoming an increasingly important cause of disease in immunocompromised patients. We present a case of a 70 year old renal transplant recipient with multiple areas of cutaneous Alternaria infections likely introduced during local trauma. Treatment has required a combination of systemic therapy and surgical excision. This case illustrates the importance of recognizing fungal infections with cutaneous manifestations, such as alternariosis, in immunosuppressed patients