Setting the Stage: Practical Ideas for Implementing High-Quality Afterschool Arts Programs

Afterschool programs looking to add high-quality arts learning to their programming might do well to keep three practices in mind: Employ professional teaching artistsProvide current, high-quality equipmentCreate dedicated art spaces that welcome and inspireThese practices are essential to enriching arts experiences that engage young people. They may entail higher costs than what an organization currently spends on arts programs. But these costs may not be vastly different from the costs of sports, STEM, or other programs.And there are ways to keep the costs down.  These are the major findings from research about a Wallace Foundation effort that sought to increase access to high-quality arts education for students from historically marginalized backgrounds

Undergraduate Mathematics Students' Understanding of the Concept of Function

Concern has been expressed that many commencing undergraduate mathematics students have mastered skills without conceptual understanding. A pilot study carried out at a leading Australian university indicates that a significant number of students, with high tertiary entrance ranks, have very limited understanding of the concept of function, despite the emphasis it receives in the secondary mathematics curriculum. Whilst most students were familiar with families of functions, many were unable to give an appropriate definition or recognize whether a given graph or rule represents a function; and could not make correct connections between function graphs and tables of values

Meshing Employment Services

Working with vocational rehab, DDS, and community agencies to secure community employment with the supports you need for success

Improvement of properties, and water and clay movement in vertisol-amended sand columns

Adição de argila pode melhorar a produtividade agrícola de solos arenosos, por aumentar a capacidade de retenção de água e nutrientes. O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar o efeito da adição de material de Vertissolo na taxa de infiltração, teor de água disponível, capacidade de troca de cátions e migração de argila e carbono em colunas de areia. Areia de quartzo lavada foi colocada em colunas de PVC e coberta com 10 cm de mistura de Vertissolo-areia contendo 50, 100, 200 ou 400 g kg-1 do horizonte Ap de um Vertissolo. As colunas foram irrigadas a cada dois dias. O conteúdo de água nas colunas, volume de água drenada e o teor de carbono na água foram medidos a cada duas semanas. Após 10 semanas, as colunas foram seccionadas em 4 camadas para determinação das propriedades físicas e químicas. A capacidade de retenção de água, o teor de água disponível e a capacidade de troca de cátions aumentaram com a concentração de Vertissolo na mistura. A quantidade de carbono na água de drenagem também aumentou com a concentração de Vertissolo e diminuiu com o tempo. A mistura de 400 g kg-1 causou extremo decréscimo na taxa de infiltração, possivelmente devido ao encrostamento. A mistura de 200 g kg-1 apresentou, de forma geral, melhorias nas propriedades químicas e físicas capazes de melhorar a produtividade das culturas, mantendo ainda razoável taxa de infiltração de água.Clay amendments may improve agricultural productivity of sandy soils by increasing nutrient- and water-holding capacities. The objective of this research was to determine the effect of Vertisol amendments on infiltration rate, available water capacity, cation exchange capacity, and clay and carbon migration in sandy soil columns. Acid-washed quartz sand was packed into PVC columns and covered with 10 cm of a Vertisol-sand mixture that contained 50, 100, 200, or 400 g kg-1 of the Ap horizon of a Vertisol (fine, montmorillonitic, thermic Typic Chromoxererts). Water was applied every other day. Leachate volume and dissolved organic carbon were measured biweekly. After 10 weeks, columns were sectioned into four layers, and chemical and physical properties were measured in each layer. Water retention, available water capacity, and cation exchange capacity increased with increasing Vertisol content. Dissolved organic C in column leachates also increased with increasing Vertisol concentration and decreased with time. The 400 g kg-1 Vertisol mixture had extremely low infiltration rate, possibly because of surface crusting. The results of this study suggest that the 200 g kg-1 Vertisol mixture had the overall physical and chemical properties most conductive to improved agricultural productivity with reasonable infiltration rate

3D Air Quality and the Clean Air Interstate Rule: Lagrangian Sampling of CMAQ Model Results to Aid Regional Accountability Metrics

The Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) is expected to reduce transport of air pollutants (e.g. fine sulfate particles) in nonattainment areas in the Eastern United States. CAIR highlights the need for an integrated air quality observational and modeling system to understand sulfate as it moves in multiple dimensions, both spatially and temporally. Here, we demonstrate how results from an air quality model can be combined with a 3d monitoring network to provide decision makers with a tool to help quantify the impact of CAIR reductions in SO2 emissions on regional transport contributions to sulfate concentrations at surface monitors in the Baltimore, MD area, and help improve decision making for strategic implementation plans (SIPs). We sample results from the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model using ensemble back trajectories computed with the NASA Langley Research Center trajectory model to provide Lagrangian time series and vertical profile information, that can be compared with NASA satellite (MODIS), EPA surface, and lidar measurements. Results are used to assess the regional transport contribution to surface SO4 measurements in the Baltimore MSA, and to characterize the dominant source regions for low, medium, and high SO4 episodes

Factorbook.org: a Wiki-based database for transcription factor-binding data generated by the ENCODE consortium

The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) consortium aims to identify all functional elements in the human genome including transcripts, transcriptional regulatory regions, along with their chromatin states and DNA methylation patterns. The ENCODE project generates data utilizing a variety of techniques that can enrich for regulatory regions, such as chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), micrococcal nuclease (MNase) digestion and DNase I digestion, followed by deeply sequencing the resulting DNA. As part of the ENCODE project, we have developed a Web-accessible repository accessible at http://factorbook.org. In Wiki format, factorbook is a transcription factor (TF)-centric repository of all ENCODE ChIP-seq datasets on TF-binding regions, as well as the rich analysis results of these data. In the first release, factorbook contains 457 ChIP-seq datasets on 119 TFs in a number of human cell lines, the average profiles of histone modifications and nucleosome positioning around the TF-binding regions, sequence motifs enriched in the regions and the distance and orientation preferences between motif sites

Assessing the Development of Civic Mindedness in a Cohort of Physical Therapy Students

Introduction and Background Colleges and universities have an obligation to educate graduate students who demonstrate civic literacy and who can engage in civic inquiry and action. Service-learning and community engagement courses are highly effective in developing civic-mindedness. Graduate professional programs may have additional reasons for focusing on development of civic mindedness. The purpose of this paper is 1) to determine if civic-mindedness increased in a cohort of physical therapy students exposed to a variety of civic engagement programs and service-learning courses and 2) to determine if there is a difference in civic-mindedness between students serving on a clinic Student Board and their classmates in a graduate physical therapy program. Methods The Civic-Minded Professional Scale (CMP) is a 23-item, 7-point Likert-scale survey designed to measure the domains of self-identity; work, career and profession; and civic attitudes, civic action, and public purpose to measure the construct of civic-mindedness. The CMP was administered to a cohort of graduate physical therapy students at the beginning of the professional curriculum and at the end of each of three years of didactic coursework. Results Friedman’s repeated measures ANOVA with post hoc testing revealed that civic mindedness increased in our students throughout the course of the graduate physical therapy curriculum. Discussion and Conclusion Students involved in service-learning coursework imbedded throughout a graduate physical therapy program had increases in civic-mindedness. Service-learning coursework may be an effective way to develop civic mindedness in graduate students

Sixth Åland Island Conference on von Willebrand disease

Introduction The sixth angstrom land Islands Conference on von Willebrand disease (VWD) on the angstrom land Islands, Finland, was held from 20 to 22 September 2018. Aim The meeting brought together experts in the field of VWD from around the world to share the latest advances and knowledge in VWD. Results and discussion The topics covered both clinical aspects of disease management, and biochemical and laboratory insights into the disease. The clinical topics discussed included epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of VWD in different countries, management of children with VWD, bleeding control during surgery, specific considerations for the management of type 3 VWD and bleeding control in women with VWD. Current approaches to the management of acquired von Willebrand syndrome were also discussed. Despite significant advances in the understanding and therapeutic options for VWD, there remain many challenges to be overcome in order to optimise patient care. In comparison with haemophilia A, there are very few registries of VWD patients, which would be a valuable source of data on the condition and its management. VWD is still underdiagnosed, and many patients suffer recurrent or severe bleeding that could be prevented. Awareness of VWD among healthcare practitioners, including non-haematologists, should be improved to allow timely diagnosis and intervention. Diagnosis remains challenging, and the development of fast, simple assays may help to facilitate accurate and rapid diagnosis of VWD.Peer reviewe

Persistence of livestock-associated antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus among industrial hog operation workers in North Carolina over 14 days

ObjectivesThis study aimed to evaluate the persistence of nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant S. aureus and multidrug-resistant S. aureus over 14 days of follow-up among industrial hog operation workers in North Carolina.MethodsWorkers anticipating at least 24 h away from work were enrolled June–August 2012. Participants self-collected a nasal swab and completed a study journal on the evening of day 1, and each morning and evening on days 2–7 and 14 of the study. S. aureus isolated from nasal swabs were assessed for antibiotic susceptibility, spa type and absence of the scn gene. Livestock association was defined by absence of scn.ResultsTwenty-two workers provided 327 samples. S. aureus carriage end points did not change with time away from work (mean 49 h; range >0–96 h). Ten workers were persistent and six were intermittent carriers of livestock-associated S. aureus. Six workers were persistent and three intermittent carriers of livestock-associated multidrug-resistant S. aureus. One worker persistently carried livestock-associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus. Six workers were non-carriers of livestock-associated S. aureus. Eighty-two per cent of livestock-associated S. aureus demonstrated resistance to tetracycline. A majority of livestock-associated S. aureus isolates (n=169) were CC398 (68%) while 31% were CC9. No CC398 and one CC9 isolate was detected among scn-positive isolates.ConclusionsNasal carriage of livestock-associated S. aureus, multidrug-resistant S. aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus can persist among industrial hog operation workers over a 14-day period, which included up to 96 h away from work