School Safety and Violence Prevention Programs as Seen Through the Eyes of Instructional Staff and Students

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Classification of Stabilometric Time-Series Using an Adaptive Fuzzy Inference Neural Network System

Stabilometry is a branch of medicine that studies balance-related human functions. The analysis of stabilometric-generated time series can be very useful to the diagnosis and treatment balance-related dysfunctions such as dizziness. In stabilometry, the key nuggets of information in a time series signal are concentrated within definite time periods known as events. In this study, a feature extraction scheme has been developed to identify and characterise the events. The proposed scheme utilises a statistical method that goes through the whole time series from the start to the end, looking for the conditions that define events, according to the experts¿ criteria. Based on these extracted features, an Adaptive Fuzzy Inference Neural Network (AFINN) has been applied for the classification of stabilometric signals. The experimental results validated the proposed methodology

THE EFFECTS OF INTENTIONAL PAIRING OF TEACHER CANDIDATES AND COOPERATING TEACHERS IN EARLY FIELD EXPERIENCES

Field experiences are critical components of educator preparation programs. The opportunity for a teacher candidate to collaborate with an experienced mentor in an authentic classroom environment can be of great benefit to the teacher candidate, the cooperating teacher, the students in the class, and the reciprocal partnership between the educator preparation program and the school district. When pairing teacher candidates with cooperating teachers, current practices are generally random and based on the number of candidates needing placement and the availability of qualified cooperating teachers willing to engage in the process of mentoring a pre-service teacher. This mixed-methods, pragmatic case study research investigates the effectiveness of an intentional, inverse pairing of teacher candidates and cooperating teachers based on their perceived competency levels in the Texas Teacher Standards. Surveys were sent to the participating teacher candidates and cooperating teachers, asking them to score themselves on a Likert scale indicating their level of competency in each area. Qualitative data were also collected from both the teacher candidates and the cooperating teachers to inform the pairing process. The data were analyzed, and pairings were made, matching teacher candidates with lower competency levels with cooperating teachers who reported higher competency in each standard. At the end of the ten-week field experience, teacher candidates were once again asked to score themselves on their perceived level of competency. Cooperating teachers scored the teacher candidate(s) with whom they worked in each standard based on what they had observed and experienced while v collaborating over the ten-week period. Findings reveal that teacher candidates rated themselves higher at the conclusion of the field experiences after working with a cooperating teacher on tasks and experiences related to the Texas Teacher Standards. Ratings of the cooperating teachers were lower than that of the teacher candidates. Additional qualitative data suggest areas in which to strengthen the field experience and content covered in prerequisite courses. Implications for future research could include adding additional layers to the data collected to inform the pairings and professional development or training opportunities for teacher candidates and cooperating teachers to provide a framework for their collaboration

Glosario de términos en Acuicultura

175 páginas[ES] Este glosario recoge los principales términos del idioma castellano utilizados en Acuicultura con su correspondencia en inglés, francés, italiano y alemán y el nombre científico latino, cuando corresponde. Constituye por tanto una parte importante de la terminología científica utilizada en Acuicultura en relación con la reproducción, genética, patología, cultivo, nutrición, etc. tanto de especies acuícolas cultivables como de especies auxiliares.[EN] This glossary contains the main terms of the Spanish language used in Aquaculture with its correspondence in English, French, Italian and German and Latin scientific name, where it’s applicable. Is therefore an important part of the scientific terminology used in Aquaculture in relation to reproduction, genetics, pathology, crop, nutrition, etc. as arable aquaculture species as auxiliary species.Peer reviewe

Immobilization of proteins in silica gel: Biochemical and biophysical properties

The development of silica-based sol-gel techniques compatible with the retention of protein structure and function started more than 20 years ago, mainly for the design of biotechnological devices or biomedical applications. Silica gels are optically transparent, exhibit good mechanical stability, are manufactured with different geometries, and are easily separated from the reaction media. Biomolecules encapsulated in silica gel normally retain their structural and functional properties, are stabilized with respect to chemical and physical insults, and can sometimes exhibit enhanced activity in comparison to the soluble form. This review briefly describes the chemistry of protein encapsulation within the pores of a silica gel three-dimensional network, the mechanism of interaction between the protein and the gel matrix, and its effects on protein structure, function, stability and dynamics. The main applications in the field of biosensor design are described. Special emphasis is devoted to silica gel encapsulation as a tool to selectively stabilize subsets of protein conformations for biochemical and biophysical studies, an application where silica-based encapsulation demonstrated superior performance with respect to other immobilization techniques

Lattice diffusion and surface segregation of B during growth of SiGe heterostructures by molecular beam epitaxy: effect of Ge concentration and biaxial stress

Si1-xGex/Si1-yGey/Si(100) heterostructures grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) were used in order to study B surface segregation during growth and B lattice diffusion. Ge concentration and stress effects were separated. Analysis of B segregation during growth shows that: i) for layers in epitaxy on (100)Si), B segregation decreases with increasing Ge concentration, i.e. with increased compressive stress, ii) for unstressed layers, B segregation increases with Ge concentration, iii) at constant Ge concentration, B segregation increases for layers in tension and decreases for layers in compression. The contrasting behaviors observed as a function of Ge concentration in compressively stressed and unstressed layers can be explained by an increase of the equilibrium segregation driving force induced by Ge additions and an increase of near-surface diffusion in compressively stressed layers. Analysis of lattice diffusion shows that: i) in unstressed layers, B lattice diffusion coefficient decreases with increasing Ge concentration, ii) at constant Ge concentration, the diffusion coefficient of B decreases with compressive biaxial stress and increases with tensile biaxial stress, iii) the volume of activation of B diffusion () is positive for biaxial stress while it is negative in the case of hydrostatic pressure. This confirms that under a biaxial stress the activation volume is reduced to the relaxation volume

Iron metabolism at the interface between host and pathogen: From nutritional immunity to antibacterial development

Nutritional immunity is a form of innate immunity widespread in both vertebrates and invertebrates. The term refers to a rich repertoire of mechanisms set up by the host to inhibit bacterial proliferation by sequestering trace minerals (mainly iron, but also zinc and manganese). This strategy, selected by evolution, represents an effective front-line defense against pathogens and has thus inspired the exploitation of iron restriction in the development of innovative antimicrobials or enhancers of antimicrobial therapy. This review focuses on the mechanisms of nutritional immunity, the strategies adopted by opportunistic human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus to circumvent it, and the impact of deletion mutants on the fitness, infectivity, and persistence inside the host. This information finally converges in an overview of the current development of inhibitors targeting the different stages of iron uptake, an as-yet unexploited target in the field of antistaphylococcal drug discovery