Elementary gifted boys' perceptions of self and school

This ethnographic study seeks to understand elementary-age boys', teachers', and parents' perceptions of giftedness and gendered ability construction. Utilizing the theoretical lens of Herbert Marsh's Frame of Reference theory, this study illuminates how young gifted boys developed academic and social self-perceptions influenced by gender and ability practices. It also explores how teachers and parents perceived giftedness, gifted boys, and their pedagogical and parental experiences. A review of literature explores young boys', teachers', and parent's perspectives on gender and ability, gender construction and the roles gender play in creating stereotypes, and the socially constructed notions of giftedness and its relation to gendered differences. Implementing ethnographic analytic methods, the findings discuss three central themes: conceptualizations of giftedness, the perceptions of gifted boys in classroom spaces, and the complexities of curriculum and instructional design for gifted learners. These findings led to conclusions and implications for educators that included exploring constructions of giftedness with children, understanding how schools influence self-concept formation, recognizing intersections of gender and ability, opening spaces for students' voices to be heard, and pursuing inclusive curriculum design. Further, the study irradiates how gifted and elementary education scholars can center the voices and perspectives of students in scholarship and practice

Pre-registration for Predictive Modeling

Amid rising concerns of reproducibility and generalizability in predictive modeling, we explore the possibility and potential benefits of introducing pre-registration to the field. Despite notable advancements in predictive modeling, spanning core machine learning tasks to various scientific applications, challenges such as overlooked contextual factors, data-dependent decision-making, and unintentional re-use of test data have raised questions about the integrity of results. To address these issues, we propose adapting pre-registration practices from explanatory modeling to predictive modeling. We discuss current best practices in predictive modeling and their limitations, introduce a lightweight pre-registration template, and present a qualitative study with machine learning researchers to gain insight into the effectiveness of pre-registration in preventing biased estimates and promoting more reliable research outcomes. We conclude by exploring the scope of problems that pre-registration can address in predictive modeling and acknowledging its limitations within this context

A Glass of Milk: The Rocha, Nicaragua Goat Project

This panel will talk about their plans to embark on a goat-gifting project in two rural Nicaraguan communities

Активизация инвестиционной деятельности коммерческими банками

В статье рассмотрены основные вопросы активизации инвестиционной деятельности коммерческими банками Украины.У статті розглядаються основні питання активізації інвестиційної діяльності комерційними банками України.The main questions of the investment activity by the commercial banks of Ukraine were descried in the article

BEPCP: Media Campaign to Promote Smoke-Free Facilities

Kentucky continues to have the highest lung cancer rate in the nation and is in the top 10 states for heart disease. Despite progress in local smoke-free policies, rural populations remain disproportionately affected by secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure. Due to the longstanding cultural heritage of tobacco, many rural residents think of SHS as a nuisance rather than a serious health hazard

Investigating How Calcium Diffusion Affects Metabolic Oscillations and Synchronization of Pancreatic Beta Cells

Diabetes is a disease characterized by improper concentrations of blood glucose due to irregular insulin production or sensitivity. Coupled in islets of Langerhans within the pancreas, β-cells are responsible for the production and regulation of insulin based on changes in glucose levels. Using the Dual Oscillator Model (DOM), we will examine how calcium handling between individual pancreatic β-cells affects the synchronization of metabolic oscillations within electrically coupled islets. Calcium permeability was implemented into the DOM, and numerical solutions of the system were obtained via MATLAB using a modified ordinary differential equation solver for stiff systems and the Automatic Differentiation for MATLAB software. We developed a synchronization index to quantitatively describe the synchronization of variables between nearest neighboring cells and throughout the islet as a whole. We considered how calcium permeability between heterogeneous cells affects the behavior of metabolic oscillations and their synchronization. In particular, we examined fructose-1, 6-bisphosphate. In our study metabolic oscillations were always maintained. We also showed that, for low to moderate levels of electrical coupling, calcium permeability increased the synchronization index, but increasing calcium permeability had little effect on synchronization when cells were already strongly synchronized with strong electrical coupling. Heterogeneity due to glucose influx or initial state of the cells had similar synchronization results

Sex and stress modulate pupal defense response in tobacco hornworm

In insects, larval and adult defenses against predators have been well studied. However, pupal (also known as resting stage) defenses have been overlooked and not examined thoroughly. Although some pupa possess antipredator strategies such as hairs, spines, cryptic coloration, and exudation of chemicals, few studies have tested these responses and the factors affecting them. Here, we investigated the behavioral responses in tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta that pupates in soil by introducing an external stimulus using vibrations from an electric toothbrush to mimic predation. We observed that M. sexta made violent wriggling (twitching), followed by pulsating movements in response to the vibrational stimulus. Detailed examination showed that these twitches and pulsating events occurred more frequently and for longer periods of time in male pupa and were dependent on the magnitude of the stress (high and low frequency). However, when we estimated the angular force exerted by pupa using radian and angular momentum of twitches, it was found to be independent of pupal sex. A follow-up experiment on possible cascading effects of stress exposure on eclosion success revealed that low- and high-frequency stress exposure didn’t cause any of the common defects in eclosed adults. Our study clearly demonstrates that the so-called defenseless pupal stage uses a wide range of measurable defense behaviors that can actively defend against predators and should be examined further-linking observed behavior with underlying mechanisms

Comparison of semi-automatic and manual segmentation methods for tumor delineation on head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) positron emission tomography (PET) images

Mahima Merin Philip, Jessica Watts, Fergus McKiddie, Andy Welch and Mintu Nath contributed to the study conception. Jessica Watts, Seyedeh Niki Mir Moeini and Mohammed Musheb generated secondary data. Mahima Merin Philip and Mintu Nath implemented methodologies, prepared, collected and curated the data, conducted statistical analysis and interpreted the results. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Mahima Merin Philip and Mintu Nath. All authors read, commented, and approved the final manuscript.Peer reviewe

Exploring opportunities in rural, primary care nursing: The student nurse perspective.

Abstract: Exploring opportunities in rural, primary care nursing: The student nurse perspective. Background: The demand for primary care services is outpacing the number of primary care providers in practice. This gap in primary care is projected to increase significantly within the next decade. Local Problem: The enhanced primary care RN role is a progressive role that optimizes the role of the RN within an interprofessional care team. Page County is a health professional shortage area, and until 2019 did not have RNs working in primary care settings. Purpose: This project aims to describe an innovation in nursing education and the outcomes of student engagement in the UPCARE program. Methods: The Undergraduate Primary Care and Rural Education (UPCARE) Project is a federally funded program focused on giving student nurses the opportunity to immerse themselves in rural primary care settings within Page County. Interventions: Student nurses in this program work side by side with RNs in the delivery of primary care nursing services. Scholars also participate in a variety of enriching clinical and co-curricular learning activities. Results: There are 25 student scholars participating in the UPCARE Project. The preliminary impact of the project demonstrated new revenue of over $78,000 for services generated by the primary care RNs. Through this collaboration, student scholars participating in UPCARE are able to help improve patient outcomes while gaining valuable experiences and education. Conclusion/Implications: UPCARE is a promising academic-practice partnership that can build on existing BSN curriculum, and leverage the strength of RNs practicing at the fullest scope of their license to provide holistic care to patients in primary care settings

Apposition to endometrial epithelial cells activates mouse blastocysts for implantation.

How do interactions between blastocyst-stage embryos and endometrial epithelial cells regulate the early stages of implantation in an in vitro model?Mouse blastocyst apposition with human endometrial epithelial cells initiates trophectoderm differentiation to trophoblast, which goes on to breach the endometrial epithelium.In vitro models using mouse blastocysts and human endometrial cell lines have proven invaluable in the molecular characterisation of embryo attachment to endometrial epithelium at the onset of implantation. Genes involved in embryonic breaching of the endometrial epithelium have not been investigated in such in vitro models.This study used an established in vitro model of implantation to examine cellular and molecular interactions during blastocyst attachment to endometrial epithelial cells.Mouse blastocysts developed from embryonic day (E) 1.5 in vitro were hatched and co-cultured with confluent human endometrial adenocarcinoma-derived Ishikawa cells in serum-free medium. A scale of attachment stability based on blastocyst oscillation upon agitation was devised. Blastocysts were monitored for 48 h to establish the kinetics of implantation, and optical sectioning using fluorescence microscopy revealed attachment and invasion interfaces. Quantitative PCR was used to determine blastocyst gene expression. Data from a total of 680 mouse blastocysts are reported, with 3-6 experimental replicates. T-test and ANOVA analyses established statistical significance at P < 0.05, P < 0.01 and P < 0.001.Hatched E4.5 mouse blastocysts exhibited weak attachment to confluent Ishikawa cells over the first 24 h of co-culture, with intermediate and stable attachment occurring from 28 h (E5.5 + 4 h) in a hormone-independent manner. Attached embryos fixed after 48 h (E6.5) frequently exhibited outgrowths, characterised morphologically and with antibody markers as trophoblast giant cells (TGCs), which had breached the Ishikawa cell layer. Beginning co-culture at E5.5 also resulted in intermediate and stable attachment from E5.5 + 4 h; however, these embryos did not go on to breach the Ishikawa cell layer, even when co-culture was extended to E7.5 (P < 0.01). Blastocysts cultured from E4.5 in permeable transwell inserts above Ishikawa cells before transfer to direct co-culture at E5.5 went on to attach but failed to breach the Ishikawa cell layer by E6.5 (P < 0.01). Gene expression analysis at E5.5 demonstrated that direct co-culture with Ishikawa cells from E4.5 resulted in downregulation of trophectoderm transcription factors Cdx2 (P < 0.05) and Gata3 (P < 0.05) and upregulation of the TGC transcription factor Hand1 (P < 0.05). Co-culture with non-endometrial human fibroblasts did not alter the expression of these genes.None.The in vitro model used here combines human carcinoma-derived endometrial cells with mouse embryos, in which the cellular interactions observed may not fully recapitulate those in vivo. The data gleaned from such models can be regarded as hypothesis-generating, and research is now needed to develop more sophisticated models of human implantation combining multiple primary endometrial cell types with surrogate and real human embryos.This study implicates blastocyst apposition to endometrial epithelial cells as a critical step in trophoblast differentiation required for implantation. Understanding this maternal regulation of the embryonic developmental programme may lead to novel treatments for infertility.This work was supported by funds from the charities Wellbeing of Women (RG1442) and Diabetes UK (15/0005207), and studentship support for SCB from the Anatomical Society. No conflict of interest is declared