Toward a Student-Ready Cybersecurity Program: Findings from a Survey of STEM-Students

As the number of available cybersecurity jobs continues to grow, colleges strive to offer to their cybersecurity students an environment which will make them sufficiently prepared to enter the workforce after graduation. This paper explores the academic and professional needs of STEM-students in various higher education institutions across Virginia and how cybersecurity programs can cater to these needs. It also seeks to propose an evidence-based approach for improving the existing cybersecurity programs so that they can become more inclusive and student-ready. A survey of 251 college students in four higher-education institutions in Virginia showed that while there are common patterns observed across gender and race, there are still areas in which more should be done regarding some of these groups. In particular, some discrepancies are observed across gender when it comes to students’ preparation with business fundamentals, the overall satisfaction of the received STEM education, and across race and ethnicity, when it comes to college advising, peer-mentoring, tutoring and faculty mentoring. The results from this study inform specific recommendations that will bring higher-education institutions and their cybersecurity program to a more student-ready level. Cover Page Footnote This research is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant DGE1914613 and the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative

Deep sequencing reveals the complex and coordinated transcriptional regulation of genes related to grain quality in rice cultivars

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Milling yield and eating quality are two important grain quality traits in rice. To identify the genes involved in these two traits, we performed a deep transcriptional analysis of developing seeds using both massively parallel signature sequencing (MPSS) and sequencing-by-synthesis (SBS). Five MPSS and five SBS libraries were constructed from 6-day-old developing seeds of Cypress (high milling yield), LaGrue (low milling yield), Ilpumbyeo (high eating quality), YR15965 (low eating quality), and Nipponbare (control).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The transcriptomes revealed by MPSS and SBS had a high correlation co-efficient (0.81 to 0.90), and about 70% of the transcripts were commonly identified in both types of the libraries. SBS, however, identified 30% more transcripts than MPSS. Among the highly expressed genes in Cypress and Ilpumbyeo, over 100 conserved <it>cis </it>regulatory elements were identified. Numerous specifically expressed transcription factor (TF) genes were identified in Cypress (282), LaGrue (312), Ilpumbyeo (363), YR15965 (260), and Nipponbare (357). Many key grain quality-related genes (i.e., genes involved in starch metabolism, aspartate amino acid metabolism, storage and allergenic protein synthesis, and seed maturation) that were expressed at high levels underwent alternative splicing and produced antisense transcripts either in Cypress or Ilpumbyeo. Further, a time course RT-PCR analysis confirmed a higher expression level of genes involved in starch metabolism such as those encoding ADP glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) and granule bound starch synthase I (GBSS I) in Cypress than that in LaGrue during early seed development.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study represents the most comprehensive analysis of the developing seed transcriptome of rice available to date. Using two high throughput sequencing methods, we identified many differentially expressed genes that may affect milling yield or eating quality in rice. Many of the identified genes are involved in the biosynthesis of starch, aspartate family amino acids, and storage proteins. Some of the differentially expressed genes could be useful for the development of molecular markers if they are located in a known QTL region for milling yield or eating quality in the rice genome. Therefore, our comprehensive and deep survey of the developing seed transcriptome in five rice cultivars has provided a rich genomic resource for further elucidating the molecular basis of grain quality in rice.</p

Hydrogen peroxide prolongs nuclear localization of NF-kappaB in activated cells by suppressing negative regulatory mechanisms.

NF-kappaB transcription factors induce pro-inflammatory molecules (e.g. IL-8) in response to cytokines (e.g. TNFalpha, IL-1beta) or other stimuli. In the basal state, they are sequestered in the cytoplasm by inhibitory IkappaB proteins. Pro-inflammatory signaling triggers polyubiquitination of intermediaries (e.g. RIP1), which activate IkappaB kinases that trigger Ser phosphorylation and degradation of IkappaBalpha, thereby promoting nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB. A negative feedback loop exists whereby NF-kappaB drives resynthesis of IkappaBalpha, which promotes export of NF-kappaB from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. This process relies on Cezanne, a deubiquitinating cysteine protease that stabilizes resynthesized IkappaBalpha by removing polyubiquitin from modified intermediaries. H(2)O(2) is generated during inflammation. Here we examined the effects of H(2)O(2) on NF-kappaB dynamics and pro-inflammatory activation in cultured cells co-stimulated with TNFalpha or IL-1beta. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay revealed that H(2)O(2) enhanced the induction of IL-8 by TNFalpha or IL-1beta. We demonstrated by using assays of NF-kappaB nuclear localization and by imaging of live cells expressing a fluorescent form of NF-kappaB that H(2)O(2) prolonged NF-kappaB nuclear localization in cells co-stimulated with TNFalpha or IL-1beta by suppressing its export from the nucleus. We provide evidence that H(2)O(2) suppresses NF-kappaB export by prolonging polyubiquitination of signaling intermediaries, which promotes Ser phosphorylation and destabilization of newly synthesized IkappaBalpha proteins. Finally, we observed that the catalytic activity of Cezanne and its ability to suppress RIP1 polyubiquitination and NF-kappaB transcriptional activity were inhibited by H(2)O(2). We conclude that H(2)O(2) prolongs NF-kappaB activation in co-stimulated cells by suppressing the negative regulatory functions of Cezanne and IkappaBalpha