When the Court Divides: Reconsidering the Precedential Value of Supreme Court Plurality Decisions

Abstract Many opinions are divided on what religious freedom should protect and the area is unexploredin preschool. Is it the parents, the child or preschool teacher right? The aim of the studywas to investigate Maria klasson Sundin´s concept and theoretical models of religious freedomfor children through three Swedish preschool settings and also how three teachers interpretsand expresses children's freedom of religion. Through a qualitative interview study theaim was to investigate how the concepts of religion, autonomy and freedom is interpreted andexpressed by the teachers so a picture through this three concepts can categorise the teachersin a model; freedom of thought, tradition and life interpretation model so a broader picturecan be made to understand how the children's freedom of religion is expressed in the preschoolsetting and how the teachers work. The Result showed through the analysis that themodels fail to categorise the teachers in any theoretical model but on the other hand the understandingof preschool teacher’s expression and interpretation of the concept of religion,autonomy and freedom showed both diversity and lack of knowledge on the subject mattersreligious freedom which fall within the child rights issues. Furthermore the analysis showsthat children in preschool lack religious freedom, it can be interpreted rather in terms of afreedom of parents and preschool teachers. Further research is needed in the area of children'srights and religious freedom for preschool children and their teachers in (e.g.) investigate differenceof public municipal and private preschools, religious, and non-religious

New perspectives in human movement variability

Movement variability is defined as the normal variations that occur in motor performance across multiple repetitions of a task.2 Bernstein1 described movement variability quite eloquently as ‘‘repetition without repetition.’’ Traditionally, movement variability has been linked to noise and error, being considered to be random and independent. This theoretical approach blends well with traditional statistical and assessment methods of movement variability that assume randomness and independence of observations. However, numerous studies have indicated that when movement is observed over time variations are closely related with each other neither being random nor independent. Practically, traditional methods can mask the temporal structure of movement variability and contain little information about how movement changes over time

A Study of Teacher Absences in the Elementary Schools of the Highline School District of King County, Washington

It was the purpose of this study (1) to classify causes of reported teacher absences; (2) to compare frequency of absences in men and women teachers; (3) to determine months of the year and days of the week showing the greatest number of teacher absences; (4) to compare absence patterns in married and unmarried teachers; (5) to determine age groups of teachers having the greatest frequency of absences; and (6) to determine whether extended sick leave provisions and duty-free noon hours have had any substantial effect on teacher absence patterns

The effects of oncogenic Ras on the ocular lenses of transgenic mice [abstract]

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Lixing Reneker, OphthalmologyAbstract only availableRas is a small GTP-binding protein in the signal transduction pathways activated by growth factors. In most cell types, activation of Ras is essential for normal cell proliferation. A mutation in the Ras gene can lead to a constitutive active (or oncogenic) state of Ras regardless of the upstream stimuli present. Expression of oncogenic Ras in the tissue can result in tumor formation and cancer development. Moreover, thirty percent of human cancer is associated with a mutation in the Ras gene. When we over-express the oncogenic Ras mutant in the ocular lens of transgenic mice, we observe the formation of blood vessels in the lens, a process known as angiogenesis. Angiogenesis is a critical step during cancer development and metastasis. Therefore we can use the transgenic lens as an in vivo model to study the molecular mechanisms of Ras-induced angiogenesis. The purpose of this study is to examine the abnormal development of the vascular system in the lens of the oncogenic Ras transgenic mice. Histology was performed to determine the age at which angiogenesis occurs in the lens of three different Ras transgenic lines. We found that blood vessels begin to develop in the transgenic lens between embryonic days 13 and 15 after lens epithelial cell over-proliferation occurs. Furthermore, the transgenic mice from the line with the highest expression level of oncogenic Ras develop the blood vessel in the lens at the earliest stage, suggesting that angiogenesis has a direct correlation with oncogenic Ras activity. Future studies will be focused on using the RT-PCR technique to examine the expression of genes which are known to induce angiogenesis in the normal and Ras transgenic lenses.Flo Dickey Funk Fellowshi

The effects of oncogenic Ras on the ocular lens

Abstract only availableRas is a small GTP-binding protein in the signal transduction machinery. In most cell types, activation of Ras by growth factors is essential for normal cell proliferation. A mutation in the Ras gene can lead to a constitutive active (or oncogenic) state of Ras regardless of the upstream stimuli present. In fact, about thirty percent of human cancer is associated with a mutation in the Ras gene. When we generated transgenic mice over-expressing oncogenic Ras mutant in the ocular lens, we observed hyperplasia of the lens epithelial cells followed by vascularization in the lens fiber mass. The purpose of this study is to examine the abnormal development of the vascular system in the Ras transgenic lens, and foremost to analyze the molecular mechanisms which induce these abnormalities. Histological analysis was performed in three different transgenic lines to determine the onset of the lens vascularization. We found that the lens capsule, which is the basement membrane of the lens cells, was disrupted in the transgenic mice. Subsequently, the hyaloid vascular cells surrounding the lens began to invade into the transgenic lens at embryonic day 13 to 15. Furthermore, the transgenic mice from the highest expressing lines develop the blood vessel in the lens at the earliest stage and in the most severe state, suggesting that the defect has a direct correlation with the oncogenic Ras activity. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR was used to examine gene expression levels in the wild type and Ras transgenic lenses. Results showed that oncogenic Ras induces upregulation of the genes which are responsible for angiogenesis, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), hypoxia-inducible factor1(HIF1), and erythropoietin (EPO). Additionally, the genes involved in basement membrane remodeling, including matrix metalloproteinase 2, 9, and 14 (MMP-2, 9, 14), were also upregulated in the transgenic lens. We conclude that the Ras transgenic mice can be used as an alternative in vivo model for the study of angiogenesis and vascularization during cancer development.Life Sciences Undergraduate Research Opportunity Progra

Effects of hemodialysis therapy on sit-to-walk characteristics in end stage renal disease patients

Patients with end stage renal diseases (ESRD) undergoing hemodialysis (HD) have high morbidity and mortality due to multiple causes; one of which is dramatically higher fall rates than the general population. In spite of the multiple efforts aiming to decrease the high mortality and improve quality of life in ESRD patients, limited success has been achieved. If adequate interventions for fall prevention are to be achieved, the functional and mobility mechanisms consistent with falls in this population must be understood. Human movements such as sit-to-walk (STW) tasks are clinically significant, and analysis of these movements provides a meaningful evaluation of postural and locomotor performance in elderly patients with functional limitations indicative of fall risks. In order to assess the effects of HD therapy on fall risks, 22 sessions of both pre- and post-HD measurements were obtained in six ESRD patients utilizing customized inertial measurement units (IMU). IMU signals were denoised using ensemble empirical mode decomposition and Savistky-Golay filtering methods to detect relevant events for identification of STW phases. The results indicated that patients were slower to get out of the chair (as measured by trunk flexion angular accelerations, time to peak trunk flexion, and overall STW completion time) following the dialysis therapy session. STW is a frequent movement in activities of daily living, and HD therapy may influence the postural and locomotor control of these movements. The analysis of STW movement may assist in not only assessing a patient's physical status, but in identifying HD-related fall risk as well. This preliminary study presents a non-invasive method of kinematic measurement for early detection of increased fall risk in ESRD patients using portable inertial sensors for out-patient monitoring. This can be helpful in understanding the pathogenesis better, and improve awareness in health care providers in targeting interventions to identify individuals at risk for fall