An Empirical Look At Developmental Interventions And Student Performance In The First Intermediate Accounting Course

Due to concerns about student performance in Intermediate Accounting I, our Department of Accounting established an Intermediate Readiness Committee in the spring of 2006 to create a developmental program for students entering Intermediate I, with the goal of improving performance in that course.  Over the next two years, the Committee established the Developmental Program with two escalating interventions to improve performance in Intermediate I.  These interventions were comprised of readiness testing with study sessions and readiness testing with use of developmental software.  This study reports the impact these interventions had on student performance in Intermediate I.  The authors control for gender, grades earned in each of the two accounting principles courses, whether the student took Principles II at school of study or transferred the course credit from another school, and overall undergraduate grade point average upon entering Intermediate I.  Results indicate that each intervention resulted in significantly higher grades than observed in a Base Period without intervention

Intergenerational education mobility and depressive symptoms in a population of Mexican origin

Low educational attainment has been associated with depression among Latinos. However, few studies have collected intergenerational data to assess mental health effects of educational mobility across generations

Randomized controlled trial of SPIRIT: An effective approach to preparing African-American dialysis patients and families for end of life

This randomized controlled trial tested an intervention, Sharing Patients’ Illness Representations to Increase Trust (SPIRIT), designed to enhance communication regarding end-of-life care between African Americans with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and their chosen surrogate decision makers (N = 58 dyads). We used surveys and semi-structured interviews to determine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of SPIRIT on patient and surrogate outcomes at 1 week and 3 months post-intervention. We also evaluated patients’ deaths and surrogates’ end-of-life decision making to assess surrogates’ perceptions of benefits and limitations of the SPIRIT while facing end-of-life decisions. We found that SPIRIT promoted communication between patients and their surrogates and was effective and well received by the participants

Deaf-1 regulates epithelial cell proliferation and side-branching in the mammary gland

BACKGROUND: The transcription factor DEAF-1 has been identified as a high affinity binding partner of the LIM-only protein LMO4 that plays important roles in mammary gland development and breast cancer. Here we investigated the influence of DEAF-1 on human and mouse mammary epithelial cells both in vitro and in vivo and identified a potential target gene. RESULTS: Overexpression of DEAF-1 in human breast epithelial MCF10A cells enhanced cell proliferation in the mammary acini that develop in 3D cultures. To investigate the effects of Deaf-1 on mammary gland development and oncogenesis, we generated MMTV-Deaf-1 transgenic mice. Increased ductal side-branching was observed in young virgin mammary glands, accompanied by augmented cell proliferation. In addition, the ratio of the progesterone receptor isoforms PRA and PRB, previously implicated in regulating ductal side-branching, was altered. Affymetrix gene profiling studies revealed Rac3 as a potential target gene and quantitative RT-PCR analysis confirmed that Rac3 was upregulated by Deaf-1 in immortalized mouse mammary epithelial cells. Furthermore, MMTV-Deaf-1 transgenic mammary glands were found to have elevated levels of Rac3 mRNA, suggesting that it is a bona fide target. CONCLUSION: We have demonstrated that overexpression of Deaf-1 enhances the proliferation of human breast epithelial cells in vitro and mouse epithelial cells in vivo. Transgenic mammary glands overexpressing Deaf-1 exhibited a modest side-branching phenotype, accompanied by an increase in the number of BrdU-positive cells and a decrease in the proportion of PRA-expressing cells. Although proliferation was enhanced in Deaf-1 transgenic mice, overexpression of this gene was not sufficient to induce the formation of mammary tumors. In addition, our studies identified Rac3, encoding a small Rho-like GTPase, as a potential target of Deaf-1 in mouse mammary epithelial cells

Elemental concentrations in the seed of mutants and natural variants of Arabidopsis thaliana grown under varying soil conditions

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Measurements of Excess O3, CO2, CO, CH4, C2H4, C2H2, HCN, NO, NH3, HCOOH, CH3COOH, HCHO, and CH3OH in 1997 Alaskan Biomass Burning Plumes by Airborne Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (AFTIR)

We used an airborne Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (AFTIR), coupled to a flow-through, air-sampling cell, on a King Air B-90 to make in situ trace gas measurements in isolated smoke plumes from four, large, boreal zone wildfires in interior Alaska during June 1997. AFTIR spectra acquired near the source of the smoke plumes yielded excess mixing ratios for 13 of the most common trace gases: water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, nitric oxide, formaldehyde, acetic acid, formic acid, methanol, ethylene, acetylene, ammonia and hydrogen cyanide. Emission ratios to carbon monoxide for formaldehyde, acetic acid, and methanol were 2.2±0.4%, 1.3±0.4%, and 1.4±0.1%, respectively. For each oxygenated organic compound, a single linear equation fits our emission factors from Alaska, North Carolina, and laboratory fires as a function of modified combustion efficiency (MCE). A linear equation for predicting the NH3/NOx emission ratio as a function of MCE fits our Alaskan AFTIR results and those from many other studies. AFTIR spectra collected in downwind smoke that had aged 2.2±1 hours in the upper, early plume yielded ΔO3/ΔCO ratios of 7.9±2.4% resulting from O3 production rates of ∼50 ppbv h−1. The ΔNH3/ΔCO ratio in another plume decreased to 1/e of its initial value in ∼2.5 hours. A set of average emission ratios and emission factors for fires in Alaskan boreal forests is derived. We estimate that the 1997 Alaskan fires emitted 46±11 Tg of CO2

Using Radical Adult Education to Map Change in a Globalized World

Radical adult education using a sociological frame can support adult educators to see their roles as change agents within their spheres of influence. Using cultural mapping, adult educators define these spheres, stake claims, set benchmarks, grow networks, or develop participatory action research within the identified community

Drawbacks of a Dual Systems Approach to Family Firms: Can We Expand Our Thinking?

Conceptualizing the family firm as a dual system with properties of both the family and the business has prevented the field from fully examining the nature of these firms and has biased our observations and interventions. Too narrow a focus on the contribution of subsystems leads to a stereotyping of subsystem functioning, inconsistent and inadequate analysis of interpersonal dynamics, exaggerated notions of subsystem boundaries, and an underanalysis of whole system characteristics. Each of these drawbacks is discussed, and a beginning view of the family firm as a single entity is presented.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67216/2/10_1111_j_1741-6248_1991_00383_x.pd