I feel like an AP student that doesn’t belong: Nontraditional Students of Color Discuss Academic Identity, Positionality, and Support in the Figured World of AP United States History

The research supporting the importance of high school programming in the entrance and persistence of students into higher education is dense and varied with several studies directly noting the importance of College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) courses specifically in the college admissions process. With typically smaller class sizes, more experienced teachers, and students with stronger academic backgrounds, those taking AP courses benefit from a perceived and actual AP advantage in both high school and subsequent higher education endeavors. Traditionally, however, there has been a significant gap within the make-up of students who enroll and succeed in AP courses. Despite the recognition of the import of AP coursework to future academic effort and dedicated efforts by educational and government entities to increase the number of students entering the AP program, Black and Latinx students remain significantly less likely to enroll in AP classes, take fewer associated national AP exams, and score lower on said exams than their White and Asian peers. A problem connected to students of color, the various issues associated with race and ethnicity have been identified as primary influences in the academic achievement gaps between Black and Latinx students and their White peers. Much research exists to support the reasons why students of color are failing to enroll in AP courses at the same rate as their White and Asian peers; less so, however, exists that discusses these students’ experiences while enrolled in AP class, thus limiting our understanding of the elements that interact to hinder their engagement and achievement in class and in the subsequent national AP exam. Using a theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory and Figured Worlds from Holland et al., this study presents the cases of five Latinx and Afro-Latinx students navigating the particularly complex world of Advanced Placement United States History (APUSH). The research focused on how their experiences shaped their academic identity, how they were positioned and positioned themselves within the class as a result of their academic identity, and how their interactions with their teacher, their traditional and nontraditional peers, and the curriculum influenced their engagement and achievement within the class

Infection-acquired versus vaccine-acquired immunity in an SIRWS model

Despite high vaccine coverage, pertussis has re-emerged as a public health concern in many countries. One hypothesis posed for re-emergence is the waning of immunity. In some disease systems, the process of waning immunity can be non-linear, involving a complex relationship between the duration of immunity and subsequent boosting of immunity through asymptomatic re-exposure. We present and analyse a model of infectious disease transmission to examine the interplay between infection and immunity. By allowing the duration of infection-acquired immunity to differ from that of vaccine-acquired immunity, we explore the impact of the difference in durations on long-term disease patterns and prevalence of infection. Our model demonstrates that vaccination may induce cyclic behaviour, and its ability to reduce the infection prevalence increases with both the duration of infection-acquired immunity and duration of vaccine-acquired immunity. We find that increasing vaccine coverage, while capable of leading to an increase in overall transmission, always results in a reduction in prevalence of primary infections, with epidemic cycles characterised by a longer interepidemic period and taller peaks. Our results show that the epidemiological patterns of an infectious disease may change considerably when the duration of vaccine-acquired immunity differs from that of infection-acquired immunity. Our study highlights that for any particular disease and associated vaccine, a detailed understanding of the duration of protection and how that duration is influenced by infection prevalence is important as we seek to optimise vaccination strategies.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figure

The Planet, 2001, Winter

https://cedar.wwu.edu/planet/1032/thumbnail.jp

The Planet, 2001, Spring

https://cedar.wwu.edu/planet/1031/thumbnail.jp

The Planet, 2000, Fall

https://cedar.wwu.edu/planet/1028/thumbnail.jp

In Tribute: M. Katherine B. Darmer

The editors of the Chapman Law Review respectfully dedicate this issue to Professor M. Katherine B. Darmer

Functional paralysis of human natural killer cells by alphaherpesviruses

Natural killer (NK) cells are implicated as important anti-viral immune effectors in varicella zoster virus (VZV) infection. VZV can productively infect human NK cells, yet it is unknown how, or if, VZV can directly affect NK cell function. Here we demonstrate that VZV potently impairs the ability of NK cells to respond to target cell stimulation in vitro, leading to a loss of both cytotoxic and cytokine responses. Remarkably, not only were VZV infected NK cells affected, but VZV antigen negative NK cells that were exposed to virus in culture were also inhibited. This powerful impairment of function was dependent on direct contact between NK cells and VZV infected inoculum cells. Profiling of the NK cell surface receptor phenotype by multiparameter flow cytometry revealed that functional receptor expression is predominantly stable. Furthermore, inhibited NK cells were still capable of releasing cytotoxic granules when the stimulation signal bypassed receptor/ligand interactions and early signalling, suggesting that VZV paralyses NK cells from responding. Phosflow examination of key components in the degranulation signalling cascade also demonstrated perturbation following culture with VZV. In addition to inhibiting degranulation, IFN-γ and TNF production were also repressed by VZV co-culture, which was most strongly regulated in VZV infected NK cells. Interestingly, the closely related virus, herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), was also capable of efficiently infecting NK cells in a cell-associated manner, and demonstrated a similar capacity to render NK cells unresponsive to target cell stimulation–however HSV-1 differentially targeted cytokine production compared to VZV. Our findings progress a growing understanding of pathogen inhibition of NK cell function, and reveal a previously unreported strategy for VZV to manipulate the immune response.This work was funded by NHMRC project grant APP1088005 awarded to AA, BS and BM. and NHMRC project grant APP1126599 awarded to DT and AA. DT was funded by NHMRC fellowship APP110432

EARLY RESULTS OF ECOPOESIS EXPERIMENTS IN THE SHOT MARTIAN ENVIRONMENT SIMULATOR

ABSTRACT Humanity is on the verge of having the capability of constructively directing environmental changes on a planetary scale. One could argue that we are making these changes on Earth today, but in a negative manner. Within the foreseeable future, we will have the technology to modify Mars' environment, and make it a habitable planet. However, we do not have enough information to determine the course of such an event. SHOT has designed and built a test-bed apparatus that can replicate most of Mars' environment conditions (with the notable exceptions of gravity and cosmic radiation) within a 5.6 liter chamber. Here, we present the results of initial experiments to determine the suitability of specific microorganisms as pioneering life-forms for Mars. Included among the potential pioneers were five genera of cyanobacteria (Anabaena, Chroococcidiopsis, Plectonema, Synechococcus and Syenechocystis), and three partially-characterized eubacterial strains that were isolated from Chile's Atacama Desert (two species of Bacillus and Klebsiella oxytoca). During these initial trials, we used a present-day mix of martian atmsospheric gases, but at a pressure of 100 mbar (10 times Mars's current atmospheric pressure). Organisms were inoculated into samples of JSC Mars-1 soil stimulant and exposed to full-spectrum simulated martian sunlight. Day/night temperature cycled from 26°C to -80°C and back. Experiments included a 24-hour, brief-exposure trial, a 7-day trial, a14-day trial and a 5-week trial to determine the survival and growth of our potential martian pioneers

Respondent-Driven Sampling in Participatory Research Contexts: Participant-Driven Recruitment

This article reports on the use of respondent-driven sampling (RDS) in participatory and community-based research. Participant-driven recruitment (PDR) retains all of the analytic capabilities of RDS while enhancing the role of respondents in framing research questions, instrument development, data interpretation, and other aspects of the research process. Merging the capabilities of RDS with participatory research methods, PDR creates new opportunities for engaging community members in research addressing social issues and in utilizing research findings within community contexts. This article outlines PDR’s synthesis of RDS and participatory research approaches, describes how PDR is implemented in community contexts, and provides two examples of the use of PDR, illustrating its process, potentials, and challenges

Considering the Definition of Addiction

The definition of addiction is explored. Elements of addiction derived from a literature search that uncovered 52 studies include: (a) engagement in the behavior to achieve appetitive effects, (b) preoccupation with the behavior, (c) temporary satiation, (d) loss of control, and (e) suffering negative consequences. Differences from compulsions are suggested. While there is some debate on what is intended by the elements of addictive behavior, we conclude that these five constituents provide a reasonable understanding of what is intended by the concept. Conceptual challenges for future research are mentioned