The adaptation of Afrikan students to Iowa State University

Within the past two decades there has been a tremendous increase of Afrikan students in the United States (Arubayi, 1981). Afrikan students at Iowa State University are experiencing difficulty in a variety of areas. Economic problems have always been the most severe difficulty experienced by Afrikan students in the United States (Arubayi, 1981). They also experience difficulty in communicating with Americans, (Pruitt, 1978); feelings of homesickness that can often lead to alcohol abuse (Oshodin, 1982); social problems, (Arubayi, 1981; Teferra, 1978; Adelegan & Parks, 1985; Ekaiko, 1981); and food problems (Hossain, 1982), including preparation and consumption of American foods and the procurement of familiar foods and ingredients for preparation of traditional meals of their home country. Their acculturation to this country is often based on negative experiences within the university;Although the problems experienced by Afrikan students are well documented,there is less information available on personal attributes and environmental conditions that may account for the extent to which the problems are experienced. This study supports the literature that older students do not adjust as easy as younger students. Many of the students surveyed in this study were married, but separated from their families, which could contribute to their feelings of loneliness. This study also supported that portion of the literature that indicates that locating appropriate food is a problem for many Afrikan students;This study sought to compare the adaptation of students from different countries on the continent of Afrika, to Iowa State University, regarding housing, communication with Americans, discrimination, financial matters, food, immigration, loneliness, academic progress and feelings of homesickness;The findings indicated that Afrikan students\u27 educational experiences in America did not promote rapport and involvement with Americans. The Americanization of Afrikan students\u27 tastes and lifestyles was found to facilitate the adjustment process to American social relations and economy. Afrikan students tend to watch a great deal of television and a variety of programs. Most of the students included in this survey listed their first language as a traditional Afrikan language, but because so few other students speak their language, they do not get the chance to use their first language. The adaptation of Afrikan students is based, to a great extent, on the background, age, and personality of the individual student

Teacher Enhancement Institute

During the 1980's, a period of intense concern over educational quality in the United States, few indicators of U.S. student achievement garnered the interest of policy makers and pundits as successfully as the results of international testing in mathematics and science. This concern was so great that as a part of the Goals 2000 initiative, President George Bush indicated that 'By the year 2000, U.S. students should be first in the world in mathematics and science.' The Clinton Administration is placing a major emphasis, not only on rigorous academic standards and creating a new system for assessing students' progress, but also including professional development as a major focus. The argument being that teachers need more sustained, intensive training to prepare them to teach to higher standards. Executive order 12821 mandates that national laboratories 'assist in the mathematics and science education of our Nation's students, teachers, parents and the public by establishing programs at their agency to provide for training elementary and secondary school teachers to improve their knowledge of mathematics and science'. These and other issues led to the development of ideas for a project that addresses the need for excellence in mathematics, science and technology instruction. In response to these initiatives the NASA/LaRC Teacher Enhancement Institute was proposed. The TEI incorporated systemic reform perspectives, enhanced content knowledge for teachers, and teacher preparation. Emphasis was also placed on recruiting those educators who teach in impoverished urban school districts with at-risk student populations who have been traditionally under represented in science, mathematics, technology and engineering. Participants in the Teacher Enhancement Institute were 37 teachers from grades K-8, teaching in Region 2 in the state of Virginia, as well as 2 preservice teachers from Norfolk State University and one teacher from Dublin, Virginia, where a Science/Mathematics model school has been established. Teachers selected for this project represented school systems where income levels are extremely low, and students served tend not to receive innovative instruction in mathematics and science and their use of technology is limited. The Teacher Enhancement Institute contained several features, that when combined, allowed for a unique experience. Some of these features included local teachers, administrators and school board members as presenters, instruction and use of technology every day, tours of select features of the research facility, briefings by NASA/LaRC scientists, engineers and researchers as well as individuals from the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF). Another unique feature of this program is to have participants convene on three separate occasions throughout the academic year to discuss strategies for information dissemination and implementation results. Teachers' attitudes towards the use of technology, their ability to develop lessons using technology and their ability to develop lessons using information obtained through TEI were assessed using instruments developed by TEI summer faculty members. Data from these instruments were analyzed and reported in a final report submitted to the director of the Office of Education

DNA Replication Fidelity: Proofreading in Trans

Proofreading is the primary guardian of DNA polymerase fidelity. New work has revealed that polymerases with intrinsic proofreading activity may cooperate with non-proofreading polymerases to ensure faithful DNA replication

Polyphenol-Rich Purple Corn Pericarp Extract Adversely Impacts Herbivore Growth and Development

Plant secondary metabolites such as terpenes, phenolics, glycosides, and alkaloids play various functional roles including pigmentation, foliar and floral volatile synthesis, hormonal regulation, and direct and indirect defenses. Among these, phenolic compounds are commonly found in plants, but vary in the distribution of their specific compounds among plant families. Polyphenols, including anthocyanins and tannins, are widely distributed and have been well documented for their roles- primarily in plant pigmentation and also in plant defenses. However, commercialization of such compounds for use in insect pest management is severely hampered by expensive, inefficient, and time-consuming extraction protocols. Using a recently developed inexpensive and easy extraction method using the byproducts of pigmented (purple) corn processing, we examined whether the crude pericarp extract rich in polyphenols can affect the growth and development of tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta L.) caterpillars. Our findings show that purple corn pericarp extract negatively affected M. sexta egg hatching and larval mass gain and prolonged developmental time compared to regular yellow corn extract or an artificial control diet. We also found that these effects were more severe during the early stages of caterpillar development. These results conclusively demonstrate that purple corn pericarp, an inexpensive by-product of the corn milling industry, is a valuable product with excellent potential as an insect antifeedant

Implementing adult safeguarding practices in National Health Service Mental Health Trusts: challenges for leadership and service provision

The abuse and neglect of adults at risk is increasingly recognised as a social problem in the U.K. Policy development for the protection of at risk adults has seen substantial growth since the publication of the No Secrets (2000) guidance. Despite cumulative evidence that National Health Service (NHS) mental health services have been slow to engage with the national adult safeguarding agenda, there is a paucity of research in this area. This poster describes a Grounded Theory study designed to explore the use and implementation of adult safeguarding practices and procedures in three NHS mental health trusts. It specifically presents the findings of sixteen interviews with strategic leaders for adult safeguarding and operational personnel. It will discuss the conceptual components that are central to the implementation of effective adult safeguarding procedures in mental health. It further highlights barriers to practice and demonstrate the need for multi-dimensional approaches within service contexts to ensure that factors inevitably affecting mental health service users are anticipated. Such factors include: the perpetuation of social inequalities and power differentials within healthcare settings, the calamitous relationship between the symptoms of abuse and mental illness, and the internalised collusive culture historical to mental health settings

Prospectus, September 1, 1993

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1993/1012/thumbnail.jp

The Connection between Gardening and Outdoor Activity during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Perceptions of Hope, Hopelessness, and Levels of Stress, Anxiety, and Depression

During the past few years, Americans have experienced a wide variety of stressors, including political tensions, racial/civil unrest, and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. All of these have led to uncertainty within society. Chronic feelings of helplessness can lead to depression or feelings of hopelessness in those who perceive their situation as unchanging. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impacts of gardening and outdoor activities during the COVID-19 pandemic on perceptions of hope, hopelessness, and levels of depression, stress, and anxiety. Participants of this study were recruited through online social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram; 458 participants completed the 21-item Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale inventory as well as the Hope Scale. Our data indicated that individuals who self-reported themselves as gardeners had significantly more positive scores related to levels of stress, anxiety, and depression and a sense of hope. Furthermore, gardeners had lower levels of self-reported depression, anxiety, and stress when compared with those who did not identify themselves as gardeners. The gardeners also had a more positive outlook regarding hope for the future. Additionally, a significant positive correlation was found between the number of hours spent participating in gardening and a sense of hope, and a negative correlation was found between the number of hours gardening and stress levels. Similarly, there was a significant negative correlation between the number of hours spent participating in any outdoor activity and self-reported levels of stress, anxiety, or depression; however, there was a positive correlation between the number of hours spent participating in any outdoor activity and a sense of hope. Our data suggested that more hours spent outside gardening or participating in recreational activities led to less perceived stress, anxiety, and depression and greater levels of hope for the future

Detecting gravitationally lensed population III galaxies with the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope

Small galaxies consisting entirely of population III (pop III) stars may form at high redshifts, and could constitute one of the best probes of such stars. Here, we explore the prospects of detecting gravitationally lensed pop III galaxies behind the galaxy cluster J0717.5+3745 (J0717) with both the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). By projecting simulated catalogs of pop III galaxies at z~7-15 through the J0717 magnification maps, we estimate the lensed number counts as a function of flux detection threshold. We find that the ongoing HST survey CLASH, targeting a total of 25 galaxy clusters including J0717, potentially could detect a small number of pop III galaxies if ~1% of the baryons in these systems have been converted into pop III stars. Using JWST exposures of J0717, this limit can be pushed to ~0.1% of the baryons. Ultra-deep JWST observations of unlensed fields are predicted to do somewhat worse, but will be able to probe pop III galaxies with luminosities intermediate between those detectable in HST/CLASH and in JWST observations of J0717. We also explain how current measurements of the galaxy luminosity function at z=7-10 can be used to constrain pop III galaxy models with very high star formation efficiencies (~10% of the baryons converted into pop III stars).Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS (v.2: presentation improved, but only minor changes in overall results

Developing community-based scientific priorities and new drilling proposals in the southern Indian and southwestern Pacific oceans

An International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) workshop was held at Sydney University, Australia, from 13 to 16 June 2017 and was attended by 97 scientists from 12 countries. The aim of the workshop was to investigate future drilling opportunities in the eastern Indian Ocean, southwestern Pacific Ocean, and the Indian and Pacific sectors of the Southern Ocean. The overlying regional sedimentary strata are underexplored relative to their Northern Hemisphere counterparts, and thus the role of the Southern Hemisphere in past global environmental change is poorly constrained. A total of 23 proposal ideas were discussed, with ~12 of these deemed mature enough for active proposal development or awaiting scheduled site survey cruises. Of the remaining 11 proposals, key regions were identified where fundamental hypotheses are testable by drilling, but either site surveys are required or hypotheses need further development. Refinements are anticipated based upon regional IODP drilling in 2017/2018, analysis of recently collected site survey data, and the development of site survey proposals. We hope and expect that this workshop will lead to a new phase of scientific ocean drilling in the Australasian region in the early 2020s.The organizers gratefully acknowledge generous and critically important funding for participants’ travel to the workshop. Funding came from the Australian and New Zealand IODP Consortium (ANZIC), the US Science Support Program (USSSP), the Magellan-Plus Workshop Program of the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD), the Japan Drilling Earth Consortium (J-DESC), the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), IODP-India, and the home institutions of numerous scientists