Adaptation of the Brockton High School literacy initiative to elementary schools in Jackson County, West Virginia

Implementing organizational change related to student achievement is a daunting task that requires buy-in, planning and support structures to ensure fidelity of implementation in the classroom over many years. Brockton High School’s Literacy Model demonstrated such a change is possible and sustainable. Elementary schools in Jackson County, West Virginia were given a mandate from their superintendent to implement the Brockton High School Literacy Model in the kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms in their schools. The immediate concern was how to successfully modify or adapt a high school model to be appropriate for students who were still learning to read and write. Leadership teams in the elementary schools in Jackson County, with support from the principal and county office, formulated plans for implementing the Brockton High Model to kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms. Barriers were the magnitude of the task and teacher buy-in to the process. Interviews of principals identified common elements and unique approaches to ensuring the process was developmentally appropriate for students. Examination of school implementation plans and documents used with students to implement the Brockton Model in the elementary classroom provided insight into the approaches used by schools to implement the initiative. Summative assessment English Language Arts scale scores for the year prior to and the first two years of implementation had statistical differences for all elementary schools in the study, however no statistical significance was observed for changes in Performance Levels. Implications included the successful implementation of a change model required participation of all staff members in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of the initiative. Further study could focus on examining the model’s impact as students transition from elementary to middle to high school and sustainability when there are significant changes in leadership or teachers at a school

Up you mighty people, you can what you will! Elma Lewis And Her School of Fine Arts

Elma Lewis, founder of the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, National Center of Afro-American Artists, and Museum of the National Center of Artists, was the subject of this historical case study. Focused attention was directed at Lewis’ philosophy, her School of Fine Arts, and her use of arts education as a tool for achieving racial pride and equity for mid-century Black Bostonians. Objectives of this study included recording Lewis’ philosophy and its relationship to Garveyism as well as cataloguing the means by which Lewis’ ideals advanced African Americans in their pursuit of racial pride and equity. Data for the study was assembled from primary and secondary sources. Primary source materials preserved in the archives of Elma Lewis, her School of Fine Arts (ELSFA), the National Center of Afro-American Artists (NCAAA), and the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists (MNCAAA) were mined for relevant data as were third party interviews and the NCAAA website. Interviews of former ELSFA faculty, students, parents, and community members conducted by this researcher breathed renewed life into dormant archival materials while simultaneously triangulating all data. Findings identify Lewis’ philosophy of arts education as cultural emancipation (AECE) as an artistic relative of Garveyism and related yet distinct from music education philosophies centering aesthetic education and participatory action. Recommendations for future research identify topics within music/arts education’s burgeoning domain of African American arts education

Trends in UK public library materials expenditure 1998-2008

Compilations of UK public library book fund estimates have been published since 1976, with the aim of providing a simple and immediate statement of library authorities’ expenditure intentions on books and related materials. For the purposes of this study, trends per head of resident population in the number of service points, total library expenditure and materials expenditure for the UK will be examined over the last ten years, alongside corresponding data for other countries such as Australia and the USA. The trends analysis includes the minimum, maximum, upper and lower quartiles along with the mean and median for each year over the period 1997-98 to 2007-08. In particular this study will bring to light how the general decline in materials expenditure in the UK in recent years has not been experienced worldwide

Trends in journal prices: an analysis of selected journals, 2000-2006

This paper presents summary results from an analysis of the institutional subscription prices for journals in biomedical and social sciences, for a selection of eleven publishers. Overall price, price per page and price per point of impact factor have been examined between 2000 and 2006. Considerable variation was found between publishers both in their overall levels of price and in the rates of increase observed over the period. There is some evidence that not-for- profit publishers may, on average, offer better value for money in terms of price per page and price per point of impact factor, but this is far from conclusive

Researchers’ green Open Access practice: a cross-disciplinary analysis

The EC-funded Publishing and the Ecology of European Research (PEER) project (http://www.peerproject.eu/) is an unprecedented collaboration between stakeholders involved in scholarly research and scholarly publishing, looking into specific aspects of the complex relationship between Open Access (OA) and scholarly communication. The project includes publishers and representatives, libraries, open access repositories (OARs) and researchers themselves, both as authors of journal articles and as readers (or consumers) of journal literature. The behavioural research is one of three strands that form the PEER Observatory, which was set up to investigate the effects of the large scale deposit of stage-two manuscripts (also known as authors’ final peer-reviewed and accepted manuscripts) on reader access, journal visibility and viability, and the broader ecology of European research (Shepherd & Wallace, 2009). The PEER behavioural research project was carried out in two phases, between April and September 2009, and from September 2010 to August 2011. Researchers at Loughborough University examined the behavioural aspects affecting self-archiving of stage-two manuscripts in OARs as well as the use of these manuscripts by fellow researchers. Most discussion of Open Access recognises the two main mechanisms to achieving open access. The gold route, often referred to as the ‘author pays’ route, involves payment of an article processing charge to publishers enabling the article to be made available to all without subscription or charge barriers. The alternative green route, often referred to as the ‘self archiving’ route, entails authors submitting manuscripts to traditional journals but maintaining the right to mount a version of their work on an open access repository. Much debate has focussed on the most effective way to achieve Open Access. There are many advocates of the green self archiving route to OA; subject-based repositories containing both stage-two manuscripts and preprints of research articles are a widely accepted development in certain disciplines such as physics and economics. Alongside this, many institutions are developing their own open access repositories and some are mandating deposit into these respositories. ROARMAP (http://roarmap.eprints.org/) and OpenDOAR (http://www.opendoar.org/) outline the extent of these developments worldwide. On the other hand, the recent report by the Working Group on Expanding Access to Published Research Findings, chaired by Professor Dame Janet Finch (Working Group on Expanding Access to Published Research Findings, 2012) recommended developing clear policies in support of publication in Open Access journals. In recommending gold OA, the Finch report requests that repositories carefully consider the balance between the aims of open access and possible risks ‘to the sustainability of subscription-based journals during what is likely to be a lengthy transition to open access’, however the report does recommend the continual development of the infrastructure surrounding subject and institutional repositories, though primarily for the purposes of research data and grey literature. In the lights of current policy developments in favour of the different routes to Open Access, a cross disciplinary analysis of researcher’s views and attitudes towards green (self archiving) OA practice is timely. Based on Phase 2 of the project, this article extends the preliminary results from phase 1 reported in Creaser et al (2010), and further develops understanding of researchers’ green OA experience both as authors and readers of peer-reviewed journal articles by looking in greater detail at their reported use of OARs and the context of that use. The article identifies disciplinary patterns of behaviour at the level of the Medical sciences, Life sciences, Physical sciences & mathematics, and Social sciences, humanities & arts in order to better understand the role of OARs in the scholarly communication landscape

PEER behavioural research: authors and users vis-à-vis journals and repositories. D4.2 final report.

The Behavioural research project is one of three independent research projects commissioned and managed by PEER as part of the PEER Observatory. The aim of the Behavioural research project was to address the role of stage-two manuscript repositories in the scholarly and scientific communication system by exploring perceptions, motivations and behaviours of authors and readers. The research was carried out between April 2009 and August 2011 by the Department of Information Science and LISU at Loughborough University, UK

Association of Progressive CD4+ T Cell Decline in SIV Infection with the Induction of Autoreactive Antibodies

The progressive decline of CD4+ T cells is a hallmark of disease progression in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection. Whereas the acute phase of the infection is dominated by virus-mediated depletion of memory CD4+ T cells, chronic infection is often associated with a progressive decline of total CD4+ T cells, including the naïve subset. The mechanism of this second phase of CD4+ T cell loss is unclear and may include immune activation–induced cell death, immune-mediated destruction, and regenerative or homeostatic failure. We studied patterns of CD4+ T cell subset depletion in blood and tissues in a group of 20 rhesus macaques inoculated with derivatives of the pathogenic SIVsmE543-3 or SIVmac239. Phenotypic analysis of CD4+ T cells demonstrated two patterns of CD4+ T cell depletion, primarily affecting either naïve or memory CD4+ T cells. Progressive decline of total CD4+ T cells was observed only in macaques with naïve CD4+ T cell depletion (ND), though the depletion of memory CD4+ T cells was profound in macaques with memory CD4+ T cell depletion (MD). ND macaques exhibited lower viral load and higher SIV-specific antibody responses and greater B cell activation than MD macaques. Depletion of naïve CD4+ T cells was associated with plasma antibodies autoreactive with CD4+ T cells, increasing numbers of IgG-coated CD4+ T cells, and increased incidence of autoreactive antibodies to platelets (GPIIIa), dsDNA, and phospholipid (aPL). Consistent with a biological role of these antibodies, these latter antibodies were accompanied by clinical features associated with autoimmune disorders, thrombocytopenia, and catastrophic thrombotic events. More importantly for AIDS pathogenesis, the level of autoreactive antibodies significantly correlated with the extent of naïve CD4+ T cell depletion. These results suggest an important role of autoreactive antibodies in the CD4+ T cell decline observed during progression to AIDS

Communicating knowledge: how and why UK researchers publish and disseminate their findings

Communicating knowledge: how and why UK researchers publish and disseminate their finding

Application of a Colorimetric Assay to Identify Putative Ribofuranosylaminobenzene 5'-Phosphate Synthase Genes Expressed with Activity in Escherichia coli

Tetrahydromethanopterin (H(4)MPT) is a tetrahydrofolate analog originally discovered in methanogenic archaea, but later found in other archaea and bacteria. The extent to which H(4)MPT occurs among living organisms is unknown. The key enzyme which distinguishes the biosynthetic pathways of H(4)MPT and tetrahydrofolate is ribofuranosylaminobenzene 5'-phosphate synthase (RFAP synthase). Given the importance of RFAP synthase in H(4)MPT biosynthesis, the identification of putative RFAP synthase genes and measurement of RFAP synthase activity would provide an indication of the presence of H(4)MPT in untested microorganisms. Investigation of putative archaeal RFAP synthase genes has been hampered by the tendency of the resulting proteins to form inactive inclusion bodies in Escherichia coli. The current work describes a colorimetric assay for measuring RFAP synthase activity, and two modified procedures for expressing recombinant RFAP synthase genes to produce soluble, active enzyme. By lowering the incubation temperature during expression, RFAP synthase from Archaeoglobus fulgidus was produced in E. coli and purified to homogeneity. The production of active RFAP synthase from Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus was achieved by coexpression of the gene MTH0830 with a molecular chaperone. This is the first direct biochemical identification of a methanogen gene that codes for an active RFAP synthase

Changing the culture of coastal, ocean, and marine sciences : strategies for individual and collective actions

Geoscience is plagued with structural and systemic barriers that prevent people of historically excluded groups from fully participating in, contributing to, and accruing the benefits of geosciences. A change in the culture of our learning and working environments is required to dismantle barriers and promote belonging, accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in our field. Inspired by a session organized at the 2020 Ocean Sciences Meeting, the goal of this paper is to provide a consolidated summary of a few innovative, broadening participation initiatives that are being led by various stakeholders in academia and research sectors (e.g., students, faculty, administrative leaders) at different institutional levels (e.g., universities, professional societies). The authors hope that the strategies outlined in this paper will inspire the coastal, ocean, and marine science community to take individual and collective actions that lead to a positive culture change