Coupling: Impact and Implications for High-Resolution Time-Lapse Seismic Surveying

Attention to specific parameters can minimize inconsistency in source and receiver coupling thereby minimizing changes in spectral characteristics of time-lapse seismic data related to the near surface. This study concludes that the most repeatable Vibroseis source station terrains are firm, unconsolidated sediments that result in 80% shot-to-shot similarity. The least repeatable Vibroseis source station terrains are compacted sediments, resulting in 36% shot-to-shot similarity. Changes in energy containment, transmission, and spectral characteristics of recorded wavefield components occur with repeat shots from downhole projectile sources and appear to be associated with plastic deformation of hole wall sediment. Changes in hole wall sediment conditions with repeat shots has a different effect on surface waves and compressional waves. This observation has potential application to wavefield separation. Acquisition approaches typically used to optimize 2D or 3D high-resolution seismic surveys may reduce repeatability of high-resolution time-lapse data

Through Their Own Eyes: Exploring New Mexico High School Students\u27 Perceptions of the Influences on Their Food Practices

This project explores New Mexico high school students\u27 perceptions of the influences on their food practices, with a particular focus on how family, culture, interpersonal communication, and cooking influence dietary habits. In light of changes in food practices that have led to unhealthy dietary habits, this research aims to contribute to the understanding of the interplay between food, culture, and communication in order to inform health communication and nutrition education interventions and public policy strategies to promote healthy eating behavior among young people. The theoretical framework of this research is grounded in health communication theoyr--with the socio-ecological model as a central analytical mod--and interpersonal communication theory--with a focus on personal influence theory--as complementary perspectives that allow for the exploration of the complex interrelationships that influence high school students\u27 food practices. The investigation is informed by research on: the changing foodscape and its impact on health; adolescent health and eating behavior; levels of influence on food practices; and communication and eating behavior. The investigation aims to fill a gap in the literature on the role and value of cooking in food practices among high school students. Little previous research has investigated interpersonal communication as a primary influence on food practices among high school students, and, although food preparation skills as a factor of influence on dietary habits has attracted the attention of researchers, there is much to be learned about these skills among adolescents. My interpretative approach focused on the analysis of first-person visual and textual perspectives of New Mexico high school students. The participants in the study were 14 high school students, predominantly Latinos, who were representative of the cultural diversity and demographic trends in the state\u27s public school system. The research design incorporated visual research methods of photo-elicitation and photovoice, focus groups and interviews, and collection of self-reflective writing by participants. Grounded theory procedures were applied to the data analysis process. The study addressed two questions: 1) What do New Mexico high school students identify as the main influences on their food practices? 2) Among the influences perceived by students, what is the value attributed to: a. family and cultural heritage, b. interpersonal communication, and c. the practice of cooking? Findings reveal that the high school students perceived multiple influences on their food practices. These were categorized in the analysis as follows: cultural heritage of families, including cooking as an enactment of tradition; interpersonal influences; gendered roles; economic factors; commercial influence; and perceived health outcomes. Four primary themes emerged in students\u27 visual and verbal narratives: the cultural heritage of family imbues value to food practices; there is a perceived friction between cultural traditions and daily food practices; cooking is perceived as a means of honoring and ensuring continuity of cultural and family heritage; and cooking is an attribute of self-reliance which may increase food access and facilitate health. Three patterns that emerged from the key findings of this study suggest theoretical insights for further research. This research found the role of family influence on high school students\u27 food practices to be primary; second, young people are interested in practicing self-reliance through cooking; and third, cooking is an aspect of food access. This study adds to health communication research by rearticulating the value of interpersonal and socio-cultural influences on high school students\u27 food practices and suggesting future directions for research and practice

Experiencing Positional Turbulence: High School Social Studies Teachers\u27 Perceptions of Instructional Leadership Support While Teaching During National Crises

This research examined instructional leadership support of eight Louisiana high school social studies teachers as they experienced positional turbulence as a result of teaching to politically and socially aware students in a polarized political and social climate during the 2020-2021 school year. In recent years the American education system has been challenged in unprecedented ways. A global pandemic, renewed calls for social justice, and a highly polarized political climate created an extremely turbulent environment for all educators. Social studies teachers faced a unique set of challenges of integrating controversial current events into a high-stakes standards-based curriculum. Utilizing a conceptual framework of turbulence theory and Leader-Member Exchange theory, this heuristic phenomenological study chronicled the impact of instructional leaders’ support of teachers as they navigated those challenges. Participants experienced primary supports such as modified school schedules and technology integration for instructional purposes. Participants also reported experiencing ancillary support when their instructional leader deferred to their professional judgment trusting their instructional practices. Differentiated support, based on experiences of positional turbulence, was rare and largely resulted from curriculum-based parent complaints. Participants’ identity salience impacted their relationship with their leader and their perceptions of support. Participants primarily relied on colleagues and self-directed learning to solve curriculum dilemmas. Many participants rationalized the lack of support during experiences of positional turbulence by citing a high-quality relationship with their instructional leader that was based on trust, mutual respect, and professionalism. Participants’ stories support the prioritization of two types of relationships to mitigate the effects of extreme positional turbulence: those among teachers that support collegial conversations and dyadic relationships between the leader and teacher that enable high-quality relationships based on trust, sharing of information, teamwork, and strategy formulation that inform the level of support provided by an instructional leader to a faculty member experiencing turbulence

Elongator Function in the Anterior Pituitary and Its Relevance to Familial Dysautonomia

Familial Dysautonomia (FD) is a devastating neurodegenerative childhood disease characterized by a diminished number of autonomic neurons. FD children suffer from a multitude of autonomic symptoms including cardiovascular instability, gastrointestinal incoordination, and respiratory dysfunction. FD patients also exhibit an abnormal autonomic stress response, show poor growth velocity, and have difficulty gaining and maintaining weight. Treatment with growth hormone (GH) has been shown to increase growth velocity in FD patients. FD results from a mutation in the IKBKAP gene and diminished levels of the corresponding protein IKAP, a scaffolding protein that assembles a multi-subunit complex called Elongator. Elongator functions in the modification of tRNAs that mediate translation of AA- and AG-ending codons including lysine, glutamine, and glutamic acid. In the absence of Elongator, small AG biased genes are upregulated and large AA-biased genes are downregulated. IKAP is expressed throughout the autonomic nervous system and historically FD has been considered a strictly neurological disease. Here we show that IKAP is robustly expressed in the pituitary gland, indicating a strong dependence on Elongator. We hypothesize that compromised growth in FD may actually result from dysfunction of somatotrophs in the anterior pituitary, a non-neuronal cell type. To test this hypothesis, we generated a conditional knockout (CKO) mouse where Ikbkap is selectively ablated in anterior pituitary somatotrophs. These CKO mice exhibit decreased growth compared to control littermates. Surprisingly, quantitative immunohistochemistry indicates that GH1 levels may actually be increased in the CKO pituitary. CaBP7, a calcium binding protein that negatively regulates vesicle trafficking, is also found at elevated levels in the CKO, likely because of its strong AG-bias. In combination, these results suggest that upregulation of CaBP7 may inhibit GH1 exocytosis from pituitary cells, decreasing the amount of circulating GH1 and compromising growth in FD patients

Does the Misregulation of Codon-Biased Genes in the Anterior Pituitary Contribute to Familial Dysautonomia?

Familial Dysautonomia (FD) is a devastating neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative childhood disease characterized by a diminished number of autonomic neurons. FD children suffer from a multitude of autonomic symptoms including cardiovascular instability, gastrointestinal incoordination, and respiratory dysfunction. FD patients also exhibit an abnormal autonomic stress response, tend to be small in stature, and have difficulty gaining and maintaining weight.  FD results from a mutation in the IKBKAP gene and diminished levels of the corresponding protein IKAP, a scaffold that assembles the multi-subunit complex, Elongator. Elongator functions in the modification of tRNAs that mediate translation of AA- and AG-ending codons.  IKAP is expressed throughout the autonomic nervous system and historically FD symptoms have been attributed to autonomic dysfunction. Here we show that IKAP is also robustly expressed in the pituitary gland, both during development and in the adult.  We hypothesize that many FD symptoms may actually result from aberrant pituitary regulation of the autonomic nervous system. To test this hypothesis we are currently generating a conditional knockout mouse where Ikbkap will be selectively ablated in the anterior pituitary. While waiting for our mouse model, we have been optimizing techniques for quantifying pituitary specific genes that are likely candidates for Elongator regulation based on their content of AA- and AG-ending codons

Effects of Dopamine Beta Hydroxylase Levels in a Mouse Model of FD

Familial dysautonomia is a severe, recessive disease that devastates the peripheral nervous system, culminating in death of most patients by age 40. The most debilitating feature of familial dysautonomia is the severe autonomic crises that occur. These crises, which can sometimes last for days, cause extreme vomiting and nausea, among other symptoms. The crises have been shown to coincide with an increased level of circulating dopamine following stress. The current hypothesis suggests that elevated levels of tyrosine hydroxylase cause an overproduction of dopamine. The chromaffin cells cannot convert this dopamine into norepinephrine quickly enough; therefore, this dopamine is released into the blood stream. We propose an alternate hypothesis in which the levels of dopamine beta hydroxylase are instead reduced. Reduction of dopamine beta hydroxylase, the enzyme that converts dopamine to norepinephrine, would result in a larger amount of dopamine being released from chromaffin cells during the response to stress. This reduction in enzyme levels is also seen in dopamine beta hydroxylase deficiency, a disease that shares many of the same symptoms of familial dysautonomia. In support of this hypothesis, we have shown through quantitative RT-PCR that dopamine beta hydroxylase transcript levels are decreased in Wnt1-Cre; IkbkapLoxP/ LoxP conditional knockout (CKO) embryos in which Ikbkap is ablated in the adrenal gland. Further analysis of the CKO using immunohistochemistry indicates that DBH protein levels may also be diminished as well as mis-localized within the cell

Contemporary Defenses of Citizen Violence Against Political Rulers

Philosoph

Towards A Theoretical Model Of The Impacts Of Incorporating Webcams In Virtual Teams

Virtual teams have proliferated over the last ten years as businesses realized benefits in coordinating across geographic and departmental boundaries.  Studies of virtual teams, however, have revealed uneven success in team effectiveness. With the increase in quality and availability of video over the Internet, there are opportunities to improve effectiveness of virtual teams by integrating videoconferencing into synchronous meetings.  The purpose of this qualitative study is to evaluate the impact of video on team interactions and effectiveness.  Results showed a relationship between the added richness and authenticity brought about by video and increased effectiveness, while also showing a relationship between the increased stress of learning new technology and decreased effectiveness

The Value Of Webcams For Virtual Teams

The latest low-cost technology solutions provide practical and reliable video options form standard personal computers using the Internet.  By adding video to an established and geographically dispersed team process, this exploratory research tries to establish the experience of participants and perceived effectiveness of the team. Building on the literature, this qualitative research performs a content analysis design on a text transcription of weekly audio logs from participants.  This approach analyzes the rich content of team members to discover the relevance of differing elements within trust, technology, and effectiveness find support. By understanding the influences of adding video to teams, leaders, and managers should be able to make informed decisions regarding the adoption of video for each participant.  The attitude evolution regarding the use of technology over a period of six weeks provides further considerations for deployment

Applying Constant Comparative Method with Multiple Investigators and Inter-Coder Reliability

Building on practice, action research, and theory, the purpose of this paper is to present a 10-step method for applying the Constant Comparative Method (CCM) of grounded theory when multiple researchers perform data analysis and meaning making. CCM is a core qualitative analysis approach for grounded theory research. Literature suggests approaches for increasing the credibility of CCM using multiple researchers and inter-coder reliability (ICR), but documentation of methods for collaboration on CCM data analysis is sparse. The context for developing the10-step CCM approach was a qualitative study conducted to understand the impact of webcams on a virtual team. To develop a methodology for the study, the researchers reviewed grounded theory literature to synthesize an approach for conducting CCM with multiple researchers. Applying action research, an integration of literature and practical experience conducting the qualitative study resulted in a model for using CCM with multiple researchers performing data analysis. The method presented in this paper provides practical guidance for applying CCM collaboratively and shares the researchers’ perspectives on the value of ICR