Service Learning in the Social Studies

Education reform of the future starts with public service. Over the last two and a half years, I have built a public service program at Lake Park High School in Roselle, IL. The class allows students to pursue topical areas of self-interest in a classroom setting, while supplementing those subject topics with in-depth public service opportunities and experiential learning methodology outside the school building. Students can opt to take the semester elective during their junior or senior year (although the course was recently approved to be offered in full year format). Reform of the future must start with public service courses at all public institutions, elementary through post-secondary. The reason for exposure at all levels is because of the essential skills and development that can occur in this unique classroom setting. Teaching students more math and reading is useful, but if they cannot think, then we as a Nation will continue to tumble down the arbitrary and ambiguous world-education rankings. This paper will outline the path I took to get a non- Advanced Placement elective approved in an environment that is focused on test-scores and AYP. Additionally, the reform component will focus heavily on how any student enrolled in public service courses will develop skills that are essential to continued success in post-secondary environments

Differential coupling of the extreme C-terminus of G protein α subunits to the G protein-coupled melatonin receptors

AbstractMelatonin receptors interact with pertussis toxin-sensitive G proteins to inhibit adenylate cyclase. However, the G protein coupling profiles of melatonin receptor subtypes have not been fully characterised and alternative G protein coupling is evident. The five C-terminal residues of Gα subunits confer coupling specificity to G protein-coupled receptors. This report outlines the use of Gαs chimaeras to alter the signal output of human melatonin receptors and investigate their interaction with the C-termini of Gα subunits. The Gαs portion of the chimaeras confers the ability to activate adenylate cyclase leading to cyclic AMP production. Co-transfection of HEK293 cells expressing MT1 or MT2 melatonin receptors with Gαs chimaeras and a cyclic AMP activated luciferase construct provided a convenient and sensitive assay system for identification of receptor recognition of Gα C-termini. Luciferase assay sensitivity was compared with measurement of cyclic AMP elevations by radioimmunoassay. Differential interactions of the melatonin receptor subtypes with Gα chimaeras were observed. Temporal and kinetic parameters of cyclic AMP responses measured by cyclic AMP radioimmunoassay varied depending on the Gαs chimaeras coupled. Recognition of the C-terminal five amino acids of the Gα subunit is a requisite for coupling to a receptor, but it is not the sole determinant

Factors that impact on recruitment to randomised trials in health care : a qualitative evidence synthesis (Review)

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Strategies to improve retention in randomised trials

Acknowledgements We thank Jayne Tierney, Sally Stenning, Seeromanie Harding, Sarah Meredith, and Irwin Nazareth for their contributions to earlier versions of this review. We also thank all authors of included published studies who provided additional or unreported data and Principal investigators for data on studies in progress or completed and unpublished. This update was funded by a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Incentive Award Scheme 2019 Reference 130660. The Health Services Research Unit, University of Aberdeen receives core funding from the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Directorates. The views expressed in this review are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NIHR, the Department of Health and Social Care or these other funders. Sources of support Internal sources: No sources of support supplied External sources: National Institue for Health Research Incentive Award, UK; This update was funded by a National Institue for Health Research Incentive Award [NIHR IA 130660].Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Summary of findings tables for communicating key findings of systematic reviews

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Factors that impact on recruitment to randomised trials in health care : a qualitative evidence synthesis (Protocol)

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Last Glacial Maximum in the central North Island, New Zealand: palaeoclimate inferences from glacier modelling

Abstract. Quantitative palaeoclimate reconstructions provide data for evaluating the mechanisms of past, natural climate variability. Geometries of former mountain glaciers constrained by moraine mapping afford the opportunity to reconstruct palaeoclimate, due to the close relationship between ice extent and local climate. In this study, we present results from a series of experiments using a 2D coupled energy-balance/ice-flow model that investigate the palaeoclimate significance of Last Glacial Maximum moraines within nine catchments in central North Island, New Zealand. We find that the former ice limits can be simulated when present day temperatures are reduced by between 4 °C and 7 °C, when precipitation remains unchanged from present. The spread in the results between the nine catchments is likely to represent the combination of chronological and model uncertainties. The temperature decrease required to simulate the former glaciers falls in the range of 5.1 °C and 6.3 °C for the majority of catchments targeted, which represents our best estimate of the peak temperature anomaly in central North Island, New Zealand during the Last Glacial Maximum. A decrease in precipitation, as suggested by proxy evidence and climate models, of up to 25 % from present, increases the magnitude of the required temperature changes by up to 0.8 °C. Glacier model experiments using reconstructed topographies that exclude the volume of post-glacial (&lt;15 ka) volcanism, generally increased the magnitude of cooling required to simulate the former ice limits by up to 0.5 °C. Our palaeotemperature estimates expand the spatial coverage of proxy-based quantitative palaeoclimate reconstructions in New Zealand, and are consistent with independent, proximal temperature reconstructions from fossil pollen assemblages, as well as similar glacier modelling reconstructions from central Southern Alps. </jats:p

The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: stochastic relative biasing between galaxy populations

It is well known that the clustering of galaxies depends on galaxy type. Such relative bias complicates the inference of cosmological parameters from galaxy redshift surveys, and is a challenge to theories of galaxy formation and evolution. In this paper we perform a joint counts-in-cells analysis on galaxies in the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, classified by both colour and spectral type, η, as early- or late-type galaxies. We fit three different models of relative bias to the joint probability distribution of the cell counts, assuming Poisson sampling of the galaxy density field. We investigate the non-linearity and stochasticity of the relative bias, with cubic cells of side 10 =L = 45 Mpc (h = 0.7). Exact linear bias is ruled out with high significance on all scales. Power-law bias gives a better fit, but likelihood ratios prefer a bivariate lognormal distribution, with a non-zero ‘stochasticity', i.e. scatter that may result from physical effects on galaxy formation other than those from the local density field. Using this model, we measure a correlation coefficient in log-density space (rLN) of 0.958 for cells of length L = 10 Mpc, increasing to 0.970 by L = 45 Mpc. This corresponds to a stochasticity of 0.44 ± 0.02 and 0.27 ± 0.05, respectively. For smaller cells, the Poisson-sampled lognormal distribution presents an increasingly poor fit to the data, especially with regard to the fraction of completely empty cells. We compare these trends with the predictions of semi-analytic galaxy formation models: these match the data well in terms of the overall level of stochasticity, variation with scale and the fraction of empty cell

The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: stochastic relative biasing between galaxy populations

It is well known that the clustering of galaxies depends on galaxy type. Such relative bias complicates the inference of cosmological parameters from galaxy redshift surveys, and is a challenge to theories of galaxy formation and evolution. In this paper we perform a joint counts-in-cells analysis on galaxies in the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, classified by both colour and spectral type, η, as early- or late-type galaxies. We fit three different models of relative bias to the joint probability distribution of the cell counts, assuming Poisson sampling of the galaxy density field. We investigate the non-linearity and stochasticity of the relative bias, with cubic cells of side 10 ⩽ L ⩽ 45 Mpc (h = 0.7). Exact linear bias is ruled out with high significance on all scales. Power-law bias gives a better fit, but likelihood ratios prefer a bivariate lognormal distribution, with a non-zero ‘stochasticity’, i.e. scatter that may result from physical effects on galaxy formation other than those from the local density field. Using this model, we measure a correlation coefficient in log-density space (r_(LN)) of 0.958 for cells of length L = 10 Mpc, increasing to 0.970 by L = 45 Mpc. This corresponds to a stochasticity σ_b/bˆ of 0.44 ± 0.02 and 0.27 ± 0.05, respectively. For smaller cells, the Poisson-sampled lognormal distribution presents an increasingly poor fit to the data, especially with regard to the fraction of completely empty cells. We compare these trends with the predictions of semi-analytic galaxy formation models: these match the data well in terms of the overall level of stochasticity, variation with scale and the fraction of empty cells