Teachers\u27 and School Administrators\u27 Perceptions of Holistic Education on Preparing More Responsible Students across All Domains for Life

As initiative after initiative is created to improve education in order to compete in the social and economic constructs of our world, and as we are experiencing more and more social discord in our nation, perhaps the reforms are shortsighted in that they are not fully addressing the wide ranging needs of our youth. Perhaps by thinking differently about how we educate children and by moving towards a more holistic model of education, we may produce the results that decades of reforms have failed to produce. This study examines educator perceptions of holistic education through a concurrent triangulation mixed methods design. Quantitative findings reveal statistically significant differences in the perceptions of educators regarding holistic education based on role: teacher or school administrator. The study also established themes regarding educators’ perceptions of holistic education that can be used to guide further development of holistic education in public school settings

The one that got away: Lessons learned from the evaluation of a safety training intervention in the Australian prawn fishing industry

Fishing is an extremely hazardous occupation with one of the highest rates of work-based injuries and fatalities globally. Psychology-based safety training represents one approach to improving fishing safety by addressing safety-related attitudes and beliefs, as well as fostering safety knowledge and more positive safety behaviors (such as safety compliance and safety participation). Partnering with a fishing industry association, we evaluated the impact of safety training within the Australian prawn fishing environment. The study employed a longitudinal design with three data collection points: baseline (pre-program), proximal follow-up (immediately post-program), and one-month follow-up. Although some positive changes were observed for safety knowledge and safety compliance, we encountered logistical challenges that limited our ability to evaluate comprehensively the efficacy of the safety training. Consequently, we provide an analysis of ‘lessons learned’ and offer practical advice to assist applied safety researchers in conducting future safety training studies in the fishing industry. We also describe our psychology-based safety training in detail with the intention of informing future intervention development in this at-risk industry setting

Continuous evolution of B. thuringiensis toxins overcomes insect resistance

The Bacillus thuringiensis δ-endotoxins (Bt toxins) are widely used insecticidal proteins in engineered crops that provide agricultural, economic, and environmental benefits. The development of insect resistance to Bt toxins endangers their long-term effectiveness. We developed a phage-assisted continuous evolution (PACE) selection that rapidly evolves high-affinity protein-protein interactions, and applied this system to evolve variants of the Bt toxin Cry1Ac that bind a cadherin-like receptor from the insect pest Trichoplusia ni (TnCAD) that is not natively targeted by wild-type Cry1Ac. The resulting evolved Cry1Ac variants bind TnCAD with high affinity (Kd = 11–41 nM), kill TnCAD-expressing insect cells that are not susceptible to wild-type Cry1Ac, and kill Cry1Ac-resistant T. ni insects up to 335-fold more potently than wild-type Cry1Ac. Our findings establish that the evolution of Bt toxins with novel insect cell receptor affinity can overcome Bt toxin resistance in insects and confer lethality approaching that of the wild-type Bt toxin against non-resistant insects

Radical Transformation of Universities to Prepare the Next Generation of Climate Champions

© UNESCO IBE, 2021 | DOI: 10.1163/9789004471818_005 This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 LicensePeer ReviewedThe threat and reality of climate change must be acted upon individually and collectively. Universities have a decisive role to play in this regard – by creating the capacity in all its academic activities to lead in taking on the challenge and by graduating students with the capacity to solve the problems that the climate change situation poses. To take on these roles, universities must accept a “radical transformation”. Radical transformation is a process that requires two integrated activities: radical thinking and transformative action. We propose that it is radical to think of universities as microcosms of society; that is, universities face the same need as everyone else to find ways to mitigate and adapt to climate change. We also propose that it is transformative for universities to inspire and be agents of change for the world: by creatively developing strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change, universities can become global leaders in demonstrating workable solutions capable of being broadly diffused and scaled up. We present a set of design aspirations that can help universities undergo a radical transformation and thereby make headway in addressing the climate crisis

CRISPR-Cas9 screen of E3 ubiquitin ligases identifies TRAF2 and UHRF1 as regulators of HIV latency in primary human T cells

During HIV infection of CD4+ T cells, ubiquitin pathways are essential to viral replication and host innate immune response; however, the role of specific E3 ubiquitin ligases is not well understood. Proteomics analyses identified 116 single-subunit E3 ubiquitin ligases expressed in activated primary human CD4+ T cells. Using a CRISPR-based arrayed spreading infectivity assay, we systematically knocked out 116 E3s from activated primary CD4+ T cells and infected them with NL4-3 GFP reporter HIV-1. We found 10 E3s significantly positively or negatively affected HIV infection in activated primary CD4+ T cells, including UHRF1 (pro-viral) and TRAF2 (anti-viral). Furthermore, deletion of either TRAF2 or UHRF1 in three JLat models of latency spontaneously increased HIV transcription. To verify this effect, we developed a CRISPR-compatible resting primary human CD4+ T cell model of latency. Using this system, we found that deletion of TRAF2 or UHRF1 initiated latency reactivation and increased virus production from primary human resting CD4+ T cells, suggesting these two E3s represent promising targets for future HIV latency reversal strategies.ImportanceHIV, the virus that causes AIDS, heavily relies on the machinery of human cells to infect and replicate. Our study focuses on the host cell's ubiquitination system which is crucial for numerous cellular processes. Many pathogens, including HIV, exploit this system to enhance their own replication and survival. E3 proteins are part of the ubiquitination pathway that are useful drug targets for host-directed therapies. We interrogated the 116 E3s found in human immune cells known as CD4+ T cells, since these are the target cells infected by HIV. Using CRISPR, a gene-editing tool, we individually removed each of these enzymes and observed the impact on HIV infection in human CD4+ T cells isolated from healthy donors. We discovered that 10 of the E3 enzymes had a significant effect on HIV infection. Two of them, TRAF2 and UHRF1, modulated HIV activity within the cells and triggered an increased release of HIV from previously dormant or "latent" cells in a new primary T cell assay. This finding could guide strategies to perturb hidden HIV reservoirs, a major hurdle to curing HIV. Our study offers insights into HIV-host interactions, identifies new factors that influence HIV infection in immune cells, and introduces a novel methodology for studying HIV infection and latency in human immune cells