Supporting Coordinators of Large Units An Integrated, Team Approach - The OK Caral Model – From Peru’s Sandy Caral To Academe’s Stony Walls - Collaboration for Professional Development is OK!

In 2001, the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Teaching and Learning Committee approved funding for a professional development program for Coordinators of Large Units (CLU) for 2002. This program is jointly facilitated by the Human Resources Department (HR) and Teaching and Learning Support Services (TALSS). The program is unique in both its focus and the way it has harnessed the distinct development responsibilities of two departments – HR for development in management and leadership and TALSS for development in teaching and learning. The CLU program facilitation team comprises two staff members from each Department along with joint administrative support. The focus of the CLU program is twofold: a) to support CLUs as a staff cohort with unique and specific needs and b) to acknowledge and make visible the systemic issues associated with teaching large groups of students

Rescue of splicing-mediated intron loss maximizes expression in lentiviral vectors containing the human ubiquitin C promoter.

Lentiviral vectors almost universally use heterologous internal promoters to express transgenes. One of the most commonly used promoter fragments is a 1.2-kb sequence from the human ubiquitin C (UBC) gene, encompassing the promoter, some enhancers, first exon, first intron and a small part of the second exon of UBC. Because splicing can occur after transcription of the vector genome during vector production, we investigated whether the intron within the UBC promoter fragment is faithfully transmitted to target cells. Genetic analysis revealed that more than 80% of proviral forms lack the intron of the UBC promoter. The human elongation factor 1 alpha (EEF1A1) promoter fragment intron was not lost during lentiviral packaging, and this difference between the UBC and EEF1A1 promoter introns was conferred by promoter exonic sequences. UBC promoter intron loss caused a 4-fold reduction in transgene expression. Movement of the expression cassette to the opposite strand prevented intron loss and restored full expression. This increase in expression was mostly due to non-classical enhancer activity within the intron, and movement of putative intronic enhancer sequences to multiple promoter-proximal sites actually repressed expression. Reversal of the UBC promoter also prevented intron loss and restored full expression in bidirectional lentiviral vectors

A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF EFFECTIVE PREVENTION PROGRAMS THAT ARE SUCCESSFUL IN REDUCING HIGH-RISK BEHAVIORS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to provide school administrators with effective programs that are successful in lessening high-risk behaviors among students. Qualitative research methodology was used to collect data through personal interviews and document analysis. The sample population consisted of five senior high school principals administering in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.The research questions investigated key components included in senior high school prevention programs to address high-risk behaviors among students. The methods and indicators of success utilized to determine the effectiveness of the high schools' prevention programs were also examined.As a result of the study, it was found that all of the senior high schools implement preventative and reactive programs to address drug, alcohol and tobacco use and violent activity among students. Specific programs to reduce sexual activity among students were only implemented in one of the five senior high schools participating in this study. Key components included in the programming efforts to reduce high-risk behaviors include increasing student academic achievement, engaging students in their school community, strategies to develop restraint and resistance skills, conflict resolution skills and efforts to build meaningful student-adult relationships.Only one school objectively measures its' program's effectiveness in reducing high-risk behaviors among students. The remainder of the schools utilize subjective evaluations to support the effectiveness of the programming efforts

Multivariate habitat-based predictive modeling of three demersal rockfish species in central California

Accurate, spatially explicit models of rockfish abundance are critical in implementing ecosystem-based management strategies and designating essential fish habitats and marine protected areas. Multibeam bathymetry methods and visual, non-extractive submersible transect surveys were combined to collect environmental variables and fish abundance data at three distinct sites within the study region. Zero-adjusted models were developed using habitat classification analyses of high-resolution (5 m) digital elevation models. Model accuracies were assessed by using a reserved subset of the original datasets. To demonstrate that a model’s predictive power was linked to its spatial origins, Mean Absolute Error and coefficient of determination values were recorded when the site-trained model was used to predict that site’s own test data, and when it predicted species’ distribution at the two other sites whose training data were not used to inform the model. The habitat characteristics of importance to each species varied across sites, and model accuracies declined when applied to a site that differed in physical composition, suggesting a species will alter their habitat associations in accordance to the relative availability of preferred substrata and terrain

The Quest for a General Theory of Leadership

In this compelling book, top scholars from diverse fields describe the progress they have made in developing a general theory of leadership. Led by James MacGregor Burns, Pulitzer Prize winning author of the classic Leadership (1978), they tell the story of this intellectual venture and the conclusions and questions that arose from it.https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/1009/thumbnail.jp