The Relationship Between Alumni Relations and Fund-Raising: A Study on the Effect of Departmental Integration on Alumni Giving

This study examined the effect of integration between alumni relations and development departments on alumni giving. Integration was defined as the degree to which members of alumni and development departments achieve unity of effort. To determine the level of integration, the study looked at organizational structure, collective planning, collaboration, communication, and participation. As a primary focus, the study measured the level of interdepartmental integration and compared the results with actual alumni giving at each school. The study also compared the level of integration between schools with centralized and decentralized organizational structures. The study demonstrated an inverse relationship between interdepartmental integration and alumni giving. Most schools in the study with high alumni giving did not have highly integrated alumni relations and development departments. Schools with low alumni giving were more highly integrated. Further research, however, indicated that factors such as a school\u27s age, size, and number of alumni and development staff significantly affected both alumni giving and integration, overshadowing this study\u27s results. The study did find that schools with a centralized organizational structure were consistently more integrated than decentralized schools

Kingdom Animalia, phylum Gastrotricha (hairy-bellied worms)

The New Zealand Gastrotricha fauna is effectively unknown (Table 10.1; Fig. 10.1). The total number of recorded taxa from the Aotearoa New Zealand region is four genera and four undescribed species from the order Macrodasyida, and one undescribed specimen from the order Chaetonotida (fam., genus et sp. indet.; Table 10.1). In addition, there are over 330 specimens of unidentified Gastrotricha collected from New Zealand. The discovery rate, rate of description, and increase in our knowledge of gastrotrich diversity for New Zealand waters has remained unchanged during the last two decades (since Sterrer 2009). A checklist of New Zealand Gastrotricha is provided

Migration, Human Capital Formation and the Beneficial Brain Drain Hypothesis: A Note

The recent brain drain literature suggests that migration of highly skilled people can be beneficial for a country as it gives incentives to form additional human capital. We criticise this claim by developing a career concerns model and propose that migration opportunity as an incentive mechanism is unreliable. In addition, we show that when an individual forms two types of human capital, increased migration opportunity for one type has a negative effect on the formation of the other type. The economic benefit and full policy implications of the findings were not addressed in this paper

Use of weaning concentrate in the feeding suckling kids: effects on meat quality

The effect of a feeding supplementation with starter concentrate on “Capretto” meat production and its qualitative characteristics was investigated. The results showed that the effect of concentrate supplementation did not influence the slaughter weight, slaughter and dissection data, tissue composition and meat chemical composition of the pelvic limb. No differences were found for rheological characteristics of LD meat, except cohesiveness values, which were higher in the concentrate group kids

Status of the Italian Freshwater Gastrotricha Biodiversity, with the Creation of an Interactive GIS-Based Web Map

Gastrotricha are microscopic benthic animals found in almost all water bodies. To date, over 890 species distributed in 71 genera, 18 families, and two orders are known. There are 376 freshwater species, and several are also found in Italy; however, a compendium of the studies carried out so far, and a georeferenced distribution of the species, still need to be provided. This project summarizes information about the diversity and geographic distribution of Italian gastrotrichs. Diversity data, acquired over 239 years, were reviewed and corrected based on taxonomic and nomenclatural updates and, in addition to distribution information, were organized into a data matrix valuable for statistical analysis. The data were fed into geographic information system software to understand the overall figures more easily. The results indicated that Italy is one of the best-known countries regarding freshwater gastrotrichs. With 92 species in 17 genera and three families from 61 investigated localities, Italy counts 17 type localities and 19 endemic species. Despite this high biodiversity, many Italian regions still need to be investigated, and should, therefore, be the focus of future research. The implementation of a web-mapping plugin enabled the creation of interactive maps for an easy and modern method for sharing the work done, and the information acquired

Un estudio sobre las nociones de conservación que tienen estudiantes universitarios

En educación en ciencias, la idea de conservación y los principios asociados presentan dificultades en el aprendizaje. La idea de conservación es central en ciencias, en particular en Física, porque está implicada en principios fundamentales, los cuales resultan útiles para describir y predecir fenómenos. En este trabajo, se propone estudiar, en forma exploratoria, las ideas que tienen los estudiantes universitarios de primer año de Ingeniería, sobre el concepto de conservación. Se diseñó un cuestionario con preguntas abiertas y preguntas cerradas con justificación. Los registros se analizaron a partir de categorías emergentes y categorías encontradas en investigaciones anteriores. Los resultados preliminares muestran que la idea de conservación se asocia a “algo constante”, “inicial igual a final”; también se observa el uso del tiempo como recurso explicativo

Not too big for its mouth: direct evidence of a macrodasyidan gastrotrich preyed in nature by a dileptid ciliate

Nearly ubiquitous and usually speciose in most aquatic habitats, the meiofaunal-sized gastrotrichs are recognized as an important component of marine and freshwater ecosystems. The common observations that gastrotrichs feed on bacteria, microalgae and biodetritus strongly imply that they play a relevant role in linking the microbial loop to the higher trophic levels. Which are the organisms that in turn prey on gastrotrichs is, however, a substantially unexplored question. Inspecting meiofauna samples collected from shallow sites of the Tyrrhenian coast, we had the chance to spot a wild case of a macrodasyidan gastrotrich predated by a dileptid ciliate. This case is documented here with a set of in-vivo photos, jointly with an unequivocal taxonomic identification of the preyed gastrotrich with Paraturbanella teissieri and a tentative identification of the predator ciliate with Pseudomonilicaryon marinus

MiR-205-5p inhibition by locked nucleic acids impairs metastatic potential of breast cancer cells

Mir-205 plays an important role in epithelial biogenesis and in mammary gland development but its role in cancer still remains controversial depending on the specific cellular context and target genes. We have previously reported that miR-205-5p is upregulated in breast cancer stem cells targeting ERBB pathway and leading to targeted therapy resistance. Here we show that miR-205-5p regulates tumorigenic properties of breast cancer cells, as well as epithelial to mesenchymal transition. Silencing this miRNA in breast cancer results in reduced tumor growth and metastatic spreading in mouse models. Moreover, we show that miR-205-5p knock-down can be obtained with the use of specific locked nucleic acids oligonucleotides in vivo suggesting a future potential use of this approach in therapy

Improvement of raw milk cheese hygiene through the selection of starter and non-starter lactic acid bacteria: The successful case of pdo pecorino siciliano cheese

This review article focuses on the technological aspects and microbiological critical points of pressed-cooked cheeses processed from raw ewe’s milk without the inoculation of starter cultures, in particular “Pecorino” cheese typology produced in Italy. After showing the composition of the biofilms adhering to the surface of the traditional dairy equipment (mainly wooden vat used to collect milk) and the microbiological characteristics of PDO Pecorino Siciliano cheese manufactured throughout Sicily, this cheese is taken as a case study to develop a strategy to improve its hygienic and safety characteristics. Basically, the natural lactic acid bacterial populations of fresh and ripened cheeses were characterized to select an autochthonous starter and non-starter cultures to stabilize the microbial community of PDO Pecorino Siciliano cheese. These bacteria were applied at a small scale level to prove their in situ efficacy, and finally introduced within the consortium for protection and promotion of this cheese to disseminate their performances to all dairy factories. The innovation in PDO Pecorino Siciliano cheese production was proven to be respectful of the traditional protocol, the final cheeses preserved their typicality, and the general cheese safety was improved. An overview of the future research prospects is also reported

Bentonite in two-component grout applications

Two-component grout is a cement-based material, currently the most used technology for backfilling in tunnelling applications. Despite its intensive, knowledge on this material is quite limited, especially as concern the role of ingredients and their effect on the properties of fresh mortar and hardened grout. In this work, an accurate and innovative test campaign focused on the role of the bentonite was performed. Three different bentonites were used. The activation of the bentonite and its effect on both mortar stability and grout strength was investigated with the purpose to recognise the bentonite parameters useful to select, at the design stage, the best bentonite according to the designers’ requirements. Swell index and Atterberg's liquid limit were recognised as useful parameters for predicting results in terms of suitable bleeding and surface compression strength