999 research outputs found
Course Goals and Feedback Workflows: Examining Instructors\u27 Pedagogy in Professional Communication Service Courses
In Professional and Technical Communication (PTC), feedback has not been studied in proportion to its importance, particularly in service, or introductory, courses. Feedback is a form of assessment; therefore, an empirical study of instructor feedback requires attention to PTC instructors’ pedagogical goals and learning outcomes. This research asked and answered three questions about
1. Instructors’ pedagogical goals and learning outcomes for their PTC service courses,
2. Instructors’ approaches to giving feedback on students’ resumes and cover letters, and
3. The extent to which instructors’ pedagogical goals and feedback aligned.
This research contributes data-driven findings on instructor feedback within PTC service courses, implications about how instructors’ training and theoretical backgrounds affect their pedagogy, and information about how instructors’ goals reflect PTC’s overarching goals. I interviewed 10 instructors and collected their service course syllabi, resume and cover letter assignment sheets, and instructors’ feedback on students’ de-identified resumes and cover letters. For analysis, I coded the data using a coding scheme that emerged from the data and from Miller’s genre as social action.
When instructors spoke about their pedagogical goals, they most often discussed Neo-Aristotelian rhetoric and genre. In their syllabi learning outcomes, instructors framed rhetoric and critical thinking as most important. When giving feedback, half of the instructors gave formative feedback while half gave summative feedback. Summative feedback was faster; however, instructors who gave formative feedback generally received more polished writing.
Four implications arose from the discrepancies between instructors’ pedagogical goals and their feedback-giving practices:
1. Instructors’ relationships with theory were informed by their graduate-level training and/or their workplace experience.
2. Instructors rarely discussed teaching information literacy and content-centric writing in their pedagogical goals; however, they gave ample feedback about issues of information, detail, and content on students’ resumes and cover letters.
3. Instructors’ labor conditions informed the perceived quality of their feedback and their adherence to their pedagogical goals.
4. Instructors often imported pedagogical methods from first-year composition into PTC service courses due to a lack of time or training.
This study calls for further empirical research about instructors’ training experiences, instructor feedback, and field-wide goals for the PTC service course
Digital classrooms, public profiles
Framed by the larger questions of digital representation and course management systems, I examine how instructors perceive customized student profile on course management systems. For this exploratory study, I have surveyed 41 instructors and interviewed 9 instructors of English 150 and 250 in the English Department to examine how these instructors use both CMS and student profiles inside and outside of the classroom at Iowa State University.
This study has found that instructors use their course management systems in various online ways: as online syllabi, as workshops for their students, as homework hubs, and as an extension of the classroom. Five main themes from this study include course management systems as a space, course management systems as a resource, boundaries between the physical and online classrooms, online identities through user profiles, and course management systems versus social media
Supreme Court rules in favor of same-sex marriage across theU.S.: USAPP experts react
On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that state bans on gay marriage were unconstitutional in the case Obergefell v. Hodges. We asked our expert contributors for their reactions to the ruling
Characterizing the roGFP2-Orp1 Fluorescent Biosensor for Detecting Oxidative Stress in Mammalian Cells
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease involving the death of neurons in the substantia nigra and loss of the neurotransmitter, dopamine. The disease leads to progressive loss of motor control. Exact causes and mechanisms by which Parkinson’s disease proceeds are unknown, however, previous experiments determine oxidative stress in mitochondria as a factor that results in cell death. Strategies have been implemented to generate fluorescent biosensors to monitor reactive oxygen species (ROS) concentrations while simultaneously measuring the spatiotemporal distribution and correlation between the ROS, cellular function and organelle. Orp1, an enzyme found in yeast, is a sensitive oxidizing species and when coupled with fluorescent protein, roGFP2, the pair acts as a fluorescent biosensor for the ROS, hydrogen peroxide. In this study, Orp1-roGFP2 protein was expressed and purified from bacterial cell cultures and hydrogen peroxide oxidation assays were conducted to compare performance against characteristics reported in the literature.Orp1-roGFP2 is a fluorescence excitation ratiometric probe and the biosensor signal is obtained by the ratio of fluorescent intensities measured with 390 nm and 480 nm excitation. Sigmoidal kinetics were observed for biosensor oxidation by hydrogen peroxide. We also observed the Orp1-roGFP2 is highly susceptible to air oxidation. Finally the mitochondrial targeting mito-Orp1-roGFP2 gene was subcloned into a GW1 plasmid vector for mammalian expression. Future work will entail transfection of mitochondrially-targeted Orp1-roGFP2 into cultured mouse midbrain neurons to enable live-cell imaging of mitochondrial oxidative stress in cellular models of Parkinson’s disease
CLASS Survey Description: Coronal Line Needles in the SDSS Haystack
Coronal lines are a powerful, yet poorly understood, tool to identify and
characterize Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). There have been few large scale
surveys of coronal lines in the general galaxy population in the literature so
far. Using a novel pre-selection technique with a flux-to-RMS ratio ,
followed by Markov-Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) fitting, we searched for the full
suite of 20 coronal lines in the optical spectra of almost 1 million galaxies
from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 8. We present a catalog
of the emission line parameters for the resulting 258 galaxies with detections.
The Coronal Line Activity Spectroscopic Survey (CLASS) includes line
properties, host galaxy properties, and selection criteria for all galaxies in
which at least one line is detected. This comprehensive study reveals that a
significant fraction of coronal line activity is missed in past surveys based
on a more limited set of coronal lines; 60% of our sample do not display
the more widely surveyed [Fe X] 6374. In addition, we discover a
strong correlation between coronal line and WISE W2 luminosities, suggesting
that the mid-infrared flux can be used to predict coronal line fluxes. For each
line we also provide a confidence level that the line is present, generated by
a novel neural network, trained on fully simulated data. We find that after
training the network to detect individual lines using 100,000 simulated
spectra, we achieve an overall true positive rate of 75.49% and a false
positive rate of only 3.96%.Comment: 27 pages, 16 figures, 4 table
TMEM184b promotes axon degeneration and neuromuscular junction maintenance
UNLABELLED: Complex nervous systems achieve proper connectivity during development and must maintain these connections throughout life. The processes of axon and synaptic maintenance and axon degeneration after injury are jointly controlled by a number of proteins within neurons, including ubiquitin ligases and mitogen activated protein kinases. However, our understanding of these molecular cascades is incomplete. Here we describe the phenotype resulting from mutation of TMEM184b, a protein identified in a screen for axon degeneration mediators. TMEM184b is highly expressed in the mouse nervous system and is found in recycling endosomes in neuronal cell bodies and axons. Disruption of TMEM184b expression results in prolonged maintenance of peripheral axons following nerve injury, demonstrating a role for TMEM184b in axon degeneration. In contrast to this protective phenotype in axons, uninjured mutant mice have anatomical and functional impairments in the peripheral nervous system. Loss of TMEM184b causes swellings at neuromuscular junctions that become more numerous with age, demonstrating that TMEM184b is critical for the maintenance of synaptic architecture. These swellings contain abnormal multivesicular structures similar to those seen in patients with neurodegenerative disorders. Mutant animals also show abnormal sensory terminal morphology. TMEM184b mutant animals are deficient on the inverted screen test, illustrating a role for TMEM184b in sensory-motor function. Overall, we have identified an important function for TMEM184b in peripheral nerve terminal structure, function, and the axon degeneration pathway.
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Our work has identified both neuroprotective and neurodegenerative roles for a previously undescribed protein, TMEM184b. TMEM184b mutation causes delayed axon degeneration following peripheral nerve injury, indicating that it participates in the degeneration process. Simultaneously, TMEM184b mutation causes progressive structural abnormalities at neuromuscular synapses and swellings within sensory terminals, and animals with this mutation display profound weakness. Thus, TMEM184b is necessary for normal peripheral nerve terminal morphology and maintenance. Loss of TMEM184b results in accumulation of autophagosomal structures in vivo, fitting with emerging studies that have linked autophagy disruption and neurological disease. Our work recognizes TMEM184b as a new player in the maintenance of the nervous system
Recommended from our members
Acute neuroretinitis as a delayed manifestation of tubulointerstitial nephritis and uveitis syndrome
PurposeTubulointerstitial nephritis syndrome with uveitis (TINU) is a rare, acquired syndrome characterized by interstitial nephritis with bilateral uveitis. We report a case of TINU with typical bilateral anterior uveitis complicated by an atypical, delayed-onset neuroretinitis in a 12-year old patient.ObservationA 12-year-old female with a 21-month history of TINU featuring chronic bilateral anterior uveitis presented with one week of blurred vision in her left eye. On exam she was found to have new-onset disc edema in the right eye and neuroretinitis in the left eye. After a negative infectious disease workup, the patient was treated with a course of intravenous (IV) solumedrol with prednisone taper and advancement of her systemic immunosuppression. In follow up she demonstrated resolution of her disc edema and neuroretinitis with improved visual acuity and clinical exam.ConclusionThis case stresses the importance of monitoring for additional ocular manifestations including neuroretinitis years after the onset of anterior uveitis in TINU. In comparison to the two published cases of TINU with neuroretinitis, this case shares features of uveitis progression, and thus highlights the value of further description of TINU-associated neuroretinitis
Users' perceptions of the contribution of a University green roof to sustainable development
Universities are well placed to adopt and use the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on their campuses to educate and showcase how the SDGs can be delivered in the built environment. Green infrastructure, such as green roofs, green walls, or green parks, are highly visual implementations with environmental and social benefits that contribute to several SDGs, such as 3
(good health and wellbeing), 10 (reduced inequalities), 11 (sustainable cities and communities), 13 (climate action) and 15 (life on land). These features may be referenced in sustainability teaching and learning, which may raise and heighten awareness of the social, economic, and environmental benefits of green infrastructure. In this study, we explored users’ perceptions of the extent to
which a university campus green roof contributes to the SDGs and whether users focussed more on its social or environmental benefits. Statistical analyses, namely independent samples t-tests and analysis of variance, were conducted to determine what influenced users’ perceptions of the green roof. The analyses revealed that users’ perceptions did not differ largely by sociodemographic
characteristics, though students perceived the social benefits as greater than university staff. Those with greater knowledge of green roofs perceived its environmental benefits as greater, but not the social benefits. The findings demonstrate the importance of green infrastructure on university campuses for encouraging engagement with the SDGs, whilst indicating that knowledge of such
infrastructure increases appreciation of their environmental credentials
Dynamic networks differentiate the language ability of children with cochlear implants
Background: Cochlear implantation (CI) in prelingually deafened children has been shown to be an effective intervention for developing language and reading skill. However, there is a substantial proportion of the children receiving CI who struggle with language and reading. The current study–one of the first to implement electrical source imaging in CI population was designed to identify the neural underpinnings in two groups of CI children with good and poor language and reading skill.
Methods: Data using high density electroencephalography (EEG) under a resting state condition was obtained from 75 children, 50 with CIs having good (HL) or poor language skills (LL) and 25 normal hearing (NH) children. We identified coherent sources using dynamic imaging of coherent sources (DICS) and their effective connectivity computing time-frequency causality estimation based on temporal partial directed coherence (TPDC) in the two CI groups compared to a cohort of age and gender matched NH children.
Findings: Sources with higher coherence amplitude were observed in three frequency bands (alpha, beta and gamma) for the CI groups when compared to normal hearing children. The two groups of CI children with good (HL) and poor (LL) language ability exhibited not only different cortical and subcortical source profiles but also distinct effective connectivity between them. Additionally, a support vector machine (SVM) algorithm using these sources and their connectivity patterns for each CI group across the three frequency bands was able to predict the language and reading scores with high accuracy.
Interpretation: Increased coherence in the CI groups suggest overall that the oscillatory activity in some brain areas become more strongly coupled compared to the NH group. Moreover, the different sources and their connectivity patterns and their association to language and reading skill in both groups, suggest a compensatory adaptation that either facilitated or impeded language and reading development. The neural differences in the two groups of CI children may reflect potential biomarkers for predicting outcome success in CI children
Early Career Perspectives For the NASA SMD Bridge Program
In line with the Astro2020 Decadal Report State of the Profession findings
and the NASA core value of Inclusion, the NASA Science Mission Directorate
(SMD) Bridge Program was created to provide financial and programmatic support
to efforts that work to increase the representation and inclusion of students
from under-represented minorities in the STEM fields. To ensure an effective
program, particularly for those who are often left out of these conversations,
the NASA SMD Bridge Program Workshop was developed as a way to gather feedback
from a diverse group of people about their unique needs and interests. The
Early Career Perspectives Working Group was tasked with examining the current
state of bridge programs, academia in general, and its effect on students and
early career professionals. The working group, comprised of 10 early career and
student members, analyzed the discussions and responses from workshop breakout
sessions and two surveys, as well as their own experiences, to develop specific
recommendations and metrics for implementing a successful and supportive bridge
program. In this white paper, we will discuss the key themes that arose through
our work, and highlight select recommendations for the NASA SMD Bridge Program
to best support students and early career professionals.Comment: White paper developed by the Early Career Perspectives Working Group
for the NASA SMD Bridge Program Workshop. 11 page
- …