What COVID-19 Taught Us about the Blended Model

Initially, many faculty in higher education were apprehensive when courses went online in Spring 2020, but they eventually learned a lot about how to effectively teach online. The need for well-designed online courses for faculty in higher education is more prominent than ever-before in the wake of the COVID-19. As reluctant or apprehensive as faculty members were, the move to an online platform offered an opportunity to learn about diverse tools, resources, and innovative ways to teach both in the blended synchronous model and the asynchronous online model. Faculty and students encountered issues, but quickly learned to overcome these challenges. What COVID-19 taught faculty about the blended synchronous and asynchronous model illustrates that the blended model is ideal, and due to the benefits, faculty should continue to utilize the blended learning model with the blended learning tools and resources post COVID-19

The Impact of COVID-19 on Early Childhood Reading Practices

COVID-19 has changed the daily lives of families, impacted work, social interactions, and mental health. Since spring 2020, parents have been working from home and children have been home from daycare and school. Parents are experiencing stress in an attempt to satisfy the demands of work, family, and COVID-19 concerns. Due to the fact that children have been home from daycare and school, parents have the sole responsibility of caring for and teaching their children until schools are able to fully and effectively meet the needs of educating students in an adapted format. Research provides a wealth of information documenting the advantages of parents’ reading to their children. Children benefit from read-alouds with parental interaction, and these benefits include an increase in oral language skills, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and an increase in motivation to read. The purpose of this study is to answer two questions: (1) Since parents were home more often with their children, were parents spending more quality time reading to their two to four-year-old children? This can be defined as reading developmentally appropriate books to their children with their undivided attention; and (2) Since parents were home more often with their two to four-year-old children, were parents reading more to their young children? Parents of pre-kindergarten students were surveyed to determine the answers to these questions

An ESOL Curricular Model: Infuse ESOL Standards in Teacher Education

Florida approved teacher preparation programs provide coursework in English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) based on a mandate that began for graduates in 2004; however, there are few studies on the effects of an ESOL integrated model. The data show that an ESOL-infused program effectively prepares teacher candidates in demonstrating ESOL standards. The data were applied to a Likert scale and the results revealed that the program ranked between the ranges of average and exceeds expectations. The results will foster further research on a larger scale on ways to effectively prepare teacher candidates to work with English learners (ELs)

The Role of Critical Case Analysis in Interprofessional Education

Goals for interprofessional education include preparing students to work in collaborative practice, teaching them how to work in teams and to asses and improve the quality of patient care. (Barr, 2007, Thibault, 2013). Four core competency domains have been established to inform interprofessional education (Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel, 2011). These are ethics/values, roles/responsibilities, interprofessional communication and teams/teamwork. Various pedagogical approaches have been used to help students meet these competencies. The Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation (2013) recommends development and implementation of innovative models to link interprofessional education and practice. Thibault (2013) recommends students engage in “real work” as part of their interprofessional education experience

The effect of FTO variation on increased osteoarthritis risk is mediated through body mass index : a mendelian randomisation study

Objective: Variation in the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene influences susceptibility to obesity. A variant in the FTO gene has been implicated in genetic risk to osteoarthritis (OA). We examined the role of the FTO polymorphism rs8044769 in risk of knee and hip OA in cases and controls incorporating body mass index (BMI) information. Methods: 5409 knee OA patients, 4355 hip OA patients and up to 5362 healthy controls from 7 independent cohorts from the UK and Australia were genotyped for rs8044769. The association of the FTO variant with OA was investigated in case/control analyses with and without BMI adjustment and in analyses matched for BMI category. A mendelian randomisation approach was employed using the FTO variant as the instrumental variable to evaluate the role of overweight on OA. Results: In the meta-analysis of all overweight (BMI≥25) samples versus normal-weight controls irrespective of OA status the association of rs8044769 with overweight is highly significant (OR[CIs] for allele G=1.14 [01.08 to 1.19], p=7.5×10−7). A significant association with knee OA is present in the analysis without BMI adjustment (OR[CIs]=1.08[1.02 to 1.14], p=0.009) but the signal fully attenuates after BMI adjustment (OR[CIs]=0.99[0.93 to 1.05], p=0.666). We observe no evidence for association in the BMI-matched meta-analyses. Using mendelian randomisation approaches we confirm the causal role of overweight on OA. Conclusions: Our data highlight the contribution of genetic risk to overweight in defining risk to OA but the association is exclusively mediated by the effect on BMI. This is consistent with what is known of the biology of the FTO gene and supports the causative role of high BMI in OA

An Extracellular Polysaccharide-Rich Organic Layer Contributes to Organization of the Coccosphere in Coccolithophores

This is the final version. Available from Frontiers Media via the DOI in this record.Coccolithophores are globally abundant marine microalgae characterized by their ability to form calcite platelets (coccoliths). The coccoliths are produced internally in a Golgi-derived vesicle. Mature coccoliths are extruded from the cell to form a protective covering on the cell surface, known as the coccosphere. Current evidence indicates that calcite precipitation in the coccolith vesicle (CV) is modulated by coccolith-associated polysaccharides (CAPs). Whilst previous research into CAPs has focussed on their roles in calcite precipitation within the CV, little is known of their extracellular roles. Using fluorescent lectins, we visualize the extracellular polysaccharide-rich organic layer associated with external coccoliths and demonstrate that it differs between species in structure and composition. Biochemical analysis of polysaccharide extracted from coccoliths indicated substantial differences between species in monosaccharide composition and uronic acid content. In Coccolithus braarudii our studies indicate that polysaccharide-rich material is extruded with the coccoliths, where it plays a role in the adhesion of the coccoliths to the cell surface and contributes to the overall organization of the coccosphere. Together, these results highlight the important extracellular roles of CAPs and their contribution to the dynamic nature of the coccosphere.The authors acknowledge funding from NERC SPITFIRE DTP studentship to CW. GW and CB acknowledge support from NERC (NE/N011708/1) and the European Research Council (ERC-ADG 670390). CW was additionally supported by the Gillings Graduate Exchange Programme (University of Southampton/University of North Carolina Wilmington). AT acknowledges NSF support (NSFGEO-NERC-1638838)

Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory - Preliminary Design Report

The DUSEL Project has produced the Preliminary Design of the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) at the rehabilitated former Homestake mine in South Dakota. The Facility design calls for, on the surface, two new buildings - one a visitor and education center, the other an experiment assembly hall - and multiple repurposed existing buildings. To support underground research activities, the design includes two laboratory modules and additional spaces at a level 4,850 feet underground for physics, biology, engineering, and Earth science experiments. On the same level, the design includes a Department of Energy-shepherded Large Cavity supporting the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment. At the 7,400-feet level, the design incorporates one laboratory module and additional spaces for physics and Earth science efforts. With input from some 25 science and engineering collaborations, the Project has designed critical experimental space and infrastructure needs, including space for a suite of multidisciplinary experiments in a laboratory whose projected life span is at least 30 years. From these experiments, a critical suite of experiments is outlined, whose construction will be funded along with the facility. The Facility design permits expansion and evolution, as may be driven by future science requirements, and enables participation by other agencies. The design leverages South Dakota's substantial investment in facility infrastructure, risk retirement, and operation of its Sanford Laboratory at Homestake. The Project is planning education and outreach programs, and has initiated efforts to establish regional partnerships with underserved populations - regional American Indian and rural populations

Hi-MC: a novel method for high-throughput mitochondrial haplogroup classification

Effective approaches for assessing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation are important to multiple scientific disciplines. Mitochondrial haplogroups characterize branch points in the phylogeny of mtDNA. Several tools exist for mitochondrial haplogroup classification. However, most require full or partial mtDNA sequence which is often cost prohibitive for studies with large sample sizes. The purpose of this study was to develop Hi-MC, a high-throughput method for mitochondrial haplogroup classification that is cost effective and applicable to large sample sizes making mitochondrial analysis more accessible in genetic studies. Using rigorous selection criteria, we defined and validated a custom panel of mtDNA single nucleotide polymorphisms that allows for accurate classification of European, African, and Native American mitochondrial haplogroups at broad resolution with minimal genotyping and cost. We demonstrate that Hi-MC performs well in samples of European, African, and Native American ancestries, and that Hi-MC performs comparably to a commonly used classifier. Implementation as a software package in R enables users to download and run the program locally, grants greater flexibility in the number of samples that can be run, and allows for easy expansion in future revisions. Hi-MC is available in the CRAN repository and the source code is freely available at https://github.com/vserch/himc

Placing the library at the heart of plagiarism prevention: The University of Bradford experience.

yesPlagiarism is a vexed issue for Higher Education, affecting student transition, retention and attainment. This paper reports on two initiatives from the University of Bradford library aimed at reducing student plagiarism. The first initiative is an intensive course for students who have contravened plagiarism regulations. The second course introduces new students to the concepts surrounding plagiarism with the aim to prevent plagiarism breaches. Since the Plagiarism Avoidance for New Students course was introduced there has been a significant drop in students referred to the disciplinary programme. This paper discusses the background to both courses and the challenges of implementation