Diversity as an Influence on the Choice of Teaching Positions by Pre-service Students in Special Education

With today\u27s increasingly diverse classrooms, teachers are challenged to provide strategies that are effective in ensuring that all students reach success, regardless of race, class, or disability. Teacher education programs are also responsible for providing the type of experiences that prepare graduates to meet the needs of today\u27s diverse classrooms. This study investigated the types of hypothetical teaching positions that pre-service students in special education deem as most ideal and the factors present within those positions. It also sought to determine if any relationship existed between participants\u27 perceptions of beliefs and their choices of teaching positions. Pre-service students in special education at West Virginia University were asked to rank six (6) teaching positions from most ideal to least ideal. Follow-up interviews were conducted to ascertain the motives behind the rankings and also to determine what factors specifically influenced the type of teaching positions that are chosen upon graduation.;Preliminary results of this study indicate that participants were more drawn to wealthy suburban areas, with little to no racial diversity. However, additional data revealed that participants had a preference for more diversity in terms of race, class, and disability in their ideal teaching positions yet felt as if they were not prepared to effectively teach in these particular teaching environments. The results also indicated that participants found that they were provided with ample clinical experience, yet more exposure to specific areas of student diversity, namely race, class, and disability is needed within these clinical experiences in order for graduates to feel adequately prepared to teach in today\u27s classrooms

The Impact of Brexit on Cross-Border Trade by the Construction Sector in Ireland: an Exploratory Study

Cross-border co-operation can foster learning and contribute positively to business performance and social cohesion. This paper considers construction firms\u27 economic motivation for co-operation around the Ireland - Northern Ireland border. This area, while impacted by the Brexit uncertainty, shares many of the economic and developmental characteristics of border areas throughout Europe. The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of Brexit on cross border trade by the construction sector in Ireland and investigate the current tensions and barriers to that sector. A qualitative methodology adopted a literature review and semi-structured interview strategy. Data was collected from purposively selected contractors in the North and South of Ireland, who have recent experience of cross border construction. Qualitative analysis identifies themes and issues arising which enabled examination of commonalities and differences between the respondents. Differing regulatory regimes, perceived barriers to cross-border co-operation and uncertainty reduce crossborder trade. The study establishes the lack of Brexit preparedness of industry and the need for more industry specific research regarding the level of existing cross border trade, and the measures that could be adopted to resist fragmentation and integrate Irish cross border construction trade in the context of Brexit

Part 2: Preparing Entry-Level Occupational and Physical Therapy Students to Promote Healthy Lifestyles Emphasizing Healthy Eating with Individuals with Disabilities

Rehabilitation professionals including occupational therapists (OT) and physical therapists (PT) are increasingly called upon to incorporate health promotion of lifestyle behaviors including physical activity and healthy eating into routine clinical care. While OTs and PTs may be comfortable promoting activity-related behaviors, many are less comfortable with nutrition behaviors. To address entry-level OT and PT students’ perceived discomfort with discussing diet-related behaviors, faculty developed a healthy eating module for students to use during a community-based service learning program. The purpose of this paper is to describe the formative evaluation process of developing the healthy eating module, and to discuss results of a pilot trial of this module. The formative assessment of the healthy eating module consisted of four steps: focus groups with students, key informant interviews with community partners, expert panel round table, and expert panel review of materials. Students (n=117) completed questionnaires at the end of the service learning program to assess how much they used the new resources, and how useful they found the resources. The final healthy eating module consisted of an on-line training session and a healthy eating toolkit, including resources for assessments, treatment activities and additional nutrition information. Mann-Whitney U tests indicated that students who reported high use of materials found the resources significantly more helpful than those students who reported low use (

Future Ambulance

In March 2014, the Digital Health & Care Institute (DHI) Experience Labs collaborated with the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) to prototype what the ambulance of the future could be like. The ‘Future Ambulance’ project was informed by prior research carried out by the Glasgow School of Art, and utilised a ‘3-Cubed’ methodology, in which participants collaborated in small groups consisting of two designers paired with an SAS paramedic. Eleven ambulance crew members of different levels of seniority and experience, from both rural and urban regions, took part in the Experience Labs, which were held in the Alexander Graham Bell Centre for Life Sciences at Moray College UHI in Elgin. Four spaces were created: Studio (group activities); Control (video monitoring, observation and recording); and Interview Rooms (individual interviews and focus group activity). The Experience Labs included three elements: acting out real-life scenarios provided by the ambulance crews; group discussion; and semi-structured interviews. The outputs included photographs; film; and graphical and written outputs, which were analysed for emerging themes and findings

Part 1: Preparing Entry-Level Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy Students to Promote Health and Wellbeing with Individuals with Disabilities

To address accreditation standards for health and wellbeing within entry-level occupational therapy (OT) and physical therapy (PT) programs, the OT, PT, and Human Studies Departments at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) collaborated with community partners to conduct an interdisciplinary service learning activity based on the I Can Do It, You Can Do It Program (ICDI). This program is a structured community health program where individuals without disabilities are partnered with individuals with disabilities to enhance physical activity, healthy eating, and community participation. The purpose of this paper is to describe a formative evaluation of ICDI at UAB, and to discuss revisions to the program made as a result of the evaluation. Faculty used a qualitative design to collect feedback on perceived benefits and challenges of the program. Focus groups were conducted with students who completed the program, and key informant interviews were conducted with site coordinators from each of the three partnering community sites. Two themes emerged from student focus groups: (1) Program benefits, with sub-themes of hands-on application and interaction, and (2) Challenges with suggestions for change, with sub-themes of preparation, communication, and expectations. Four themes emerged from key informant interviews: (1) Students, (2) Logistics, (3) Program benefits, and (4) Transference. Results of this evaluation led to a number of revisions for the 2016 cohort. Future evaluations will include objective measures of change in student knowledge over time, as well as health and behavioral outcomes of community members who participated in the ICDI program at UAB

Clades of huge phages from across Earth's ecosystems.

Bacteriophages typically have small genomes1 and depend on their bacterial hosts for replication2. Here we sequenced DNA from diverse ecosystems and found hundreds of phage genomes with lengths of more than 200 kilobases (kb), including a genome of 735 kb, which is-to our knowledge-the largest phage genome to be described to date. Thirty-five genomes were manually curated to completion (circular and no gaps). Expanded genetic repertoires include diverse and previously undescribed CRISPR-Cas systems, transfer RNAs (tRNAs), tRNA synthetases, tRNA-modification enzymes, translation-initiation and elongation factors, and ribosomal proteins. The CRISPR-Cas systems of phages have the capacity to silence host transcription factors and translational genes, potentially as part of a larger interaction network that intercepts translation to redirect biosynthesis to phage-encoded functions. In addition, some phages may repurpose bacterial CRISPR-Cas systems to eliminate competing phages. We phylogenetically define the major clades of huge phages from human and other animal microbiomes, as well as from oceans, lakes, sediments, soils and the built environment. We conclude that the large gene inventories of huge phages reflect a conserved biological strategy, and that the phages are distributed across a broad bacterial host range and across Earth's ecosystems

Truncated and Helix-Constrained Peptides with High Affinity and Specificity for the cFos Coiled-Coil of AP-1

Protein-based therapeutics feature large interacting surfaces. Protein folding endows structural stability to localised surface epitopes, imparting high affinity and target specificity upon interactions with binding partners. However, short synthetic peptides with sequences corresponding to such protein epitopes are unstructured in water and promiscuously bind to proteins with low affinity and specificity. Here we combine structural stability and target specificity of proteins, with low cost and rapid synthesis of small molecules, towards meeting the significant challenge of binding coiled coil proteins in transcriptional regulation. By iteratively truncating a Jun-based peptide from 37 to 22 residues, strategically incorporating i-->i+4 helix-inducing constraints, and positioning unnatural amino acids, we have produced short, water-stable, alpha-helical peptides that bind cFos. A three-dimensional NMR-derived structure for one peptide (24) confirmed a highly stable alpha-helix which was resistant to proteolytic degradation in serum. These short structured peptides are entropically pre-organized for binding with high affinity and specificity to cFos, a key component of the oncogenic transcriptional regulator Activator Protein-1 (AP-1). They competitively antagonized the cJun–cFos coiled-coil interaction. Truncating a Jun-based peptide from 37 to 22 residues decreased the binding enthalpy for cJun by ~9 kcal/mol, but this was compensated by increased conformational entropy (TDS ≤ 7.5 kcal/mol). This study demonstrates that rational design of short peptides constrained by alpha-helical cyclic pentapeptide modules is able to retain parental high helicity, as well as high affinity and specificity for cFos. These are important steps towards small antagonists of the cJun-cFos interaction that mediates gene transcription in cancer and inflammatory diseases