Level of influence of selected factors upon Missouri agricultural education teachers' choice to instruct agricultural mechanics curriculum

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on May 28, 2010).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Dissertation advisor: Dr. Robert Terry, Jr.Vita.Ph. D. University of Missouri--Columbia 2010.The purpose of this study was to determine the factors influencing school-based agricultural educators in Missouri to instruct the curriculum found within the course Agricultural Construction 1 and/or Agricultural Construction 2. The Missouri Agricultural Mechanics Assessment was distributed via e-mail to all teachers who instructed Agricultural Construction 1 and/or Agricultural Construction 2, during the 2009-2010 academic school year (N = 257). A total of 203 (79%) teachers completed the instrument. Personal Importance was the most influential factor impacting their decision to teach the agricultural mechanics curriculum areas: Arc Welding, Project Construction, Oxy-Gas and Other Cutting/Welding Processes, Woodworking, Metals, and Finishing. Administration Importance was the least influential factor influencing Missouri agriculture teachers to instruct the agricultural mechanics curriculum areas. Overall, negligible to small relationships were found between teacher characteristics and the summated variables: Importance to Teach and Teacher Self-Efficacy, based upon teaching the curriculum areas.Includes bibliographical reference

Stage-specific requirement for Eomes in mature NK cell homeostasis and cytotoxicity

Natural killer (NK) cells are cytotoxic innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) that mediate antiviral and antitumor responses and require the transcriptional regulator Eomesodermin (Eomes) for early development. However, the role of Eomes and its molecular program in mature NK cell biology is unclear. To address this, we develop a tamoxifen-inducible, type-1-ILC-specific (Ncr1-targeted) cre mouse and combine this with Eomes-floxed mice. Eomes deletion after normal NK cell ontogeny results in a rapid loss of NK cells (but not ILC1s), with a particularly profound effect on penultimately mature stage III NK cells. Mechanisms responsible for stage III reduction include increased apoptosis and impaired maturation from stage II precursors. Induced Eomes deletion also decreases NK cell cytotoxicity and abrogates in vivo rejection of major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-class-I-deficient cells. However, other NK cell functional responses, and stage IV NK cells, are largely preserved. These data indicate that mature NK cells have distinct Eomes-dependent and -independent stages

Personality traits and mental disorders

Peer reviewe

An Excel-Based Mean Weighted Discrepancy Score Calculator

The Borich (1980) needs assessment model requires that a mean weighted discrepancy score be calculated for each item, competency or activity included in the needs assessment. The two most common types of Borich-type discrepancy scores noted in the agricultural education literature are importance/ability or what is/what should be. An Excel-based mean weighted discrepancy score calculator provides a simplified process of calculating mean weighted discrepancy score and reduces opportunities for user error. The Excel-based mean weighted discrepancy score calculator is a free Microsoft Excel file that allows individuals to calculate discrepancy scores for importance/ability or what is/what should be scores

Acadia Dark Sky

Light pollution has harmful impacts on both natural and human made systems. Organizations such as the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) aim to mitigate these damages. The project's goal was to assess the nightscapes of Acadia National Park and its potential of becoming an International Dark Sky Park (IDSP). To realize this goal, the team examined Acadia’s compliance with IDA IDSP requirements for sky darkness quality, community outreach, and outdoor lighting through a combination of field measurements, night sky photography, and surveys. Acadia excelled in night sky quality and dedicated night sky outreach. While complete lighting compliance could not be determined, an inventory of over half the park's outdoor fixtures indicated that compliance is achievable with minimal action

SNP-based non-invasive prenatal testing detects sex chromosome aneuploidies with high accuracy

OBJECTIVE: To develop a single nucleotide polymorphism- and informatics-based non-invasive prenatal test that detects sex chromosome aneuploidies early in pregnancy. METHODS: Fifteen aneuploid samples, including thirteen 45,X, two 47,XXY, and one 47,XYY, along with 185 euploid controls, were analyzed. Cell-free DNA was isolated from maternal plasma, amplified in a single multiplex PCR assay that targeted 19,488 polymorphic loci covering chromosomes 13, 18, 21, X, and Y, and sequenced. Sequencing results were analyzed using a Bayesian-based maximum likelihood statistical method to determine copy number of interrogated chromosomes, calculating sample-specific accuracies. RESULTS: Of the samples that passed a stringent quality control metric (93%), the algorithm correctly identified copy number at all five chromosomes in all 187 samples, for 934/935 correct calls as early as 9.4 weeks of gestation. We detected 45,X with 91.7% sensitivity (CI: 61.5-99.8%) and 100% specificity (CI: 97.9-100%), and 47,XXY and 47,XYY. The average calculated accuracy was 99.78%. CONCLUSION: This method non-invasively detected 45,X, 47,XXY, and 47,XYY fetuses from cfDNA isolated from maternal plasma with high calculated accuracies, and thus offers a non-invasive method with the potential to function as a routine screen allowing for early prenatal detection of rarely diagnosed yet commonly occurring sex aneuploidies