Lincoln Advanced Science and Engineering Reinforcement (LASER) program

Lincoln University, under the Lincoln Advanced Science and Engineering Reinforcement (LASER) Program, has identified and successfully recruited over 100 students for majors in technical fields. To date, over 70 percent of these students have completed or will complete technical degrees in engineering, physics, chemistry, and computer science. Of those completing the undergraduate degree, over 40 percent have gone on to graduate and professional schools. This success is attributable to well planned approaches to student recruitment, training, personal motivation, retention, and program staff. Very closely coupled to the above factors is a focus designed to achieve excellence in program services and student performance. Future contributions by the LASER Program to the pool of technical minority graduates will have a significant impact. This is already evident from the success of the students that began the first year of the program. With program plans to refine many of the already successful techniques, follow-on activities are expected to make even greater contributions to the availability of technically trained minorities. For example, undergraduate research exposure, broadened summer, and co-op work experiences will be enhanced

Principal Leadership Style, Teacher Motivation, and Teacher Retention

The problem of teacher turnover in the United States has received significant attention from policymakers and district leaders. Improving teacher motivation is a concern and challenge for principals because they are faced with retaining highly qualified and capable teachers in the classroom. Researchers have indicated that principals can play a crucial role in motivating teachers. This nonexperimental correlational study used Deci and Ryan\u27s self-determination theory and the leadership theories of Burns, Avolio, and Bass as a framework to address 2 research questions. The first research question examined the relationship between principal leadership style and teacher motivation, and the second question addressed principal leadership style and teacher retention. The sample included 55 certified teachers working in public middle school and high school in a southeastern state. The teachers completed electronic versions of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, the Basic Needs Satisfaction at Work, and demographic questionnaire. For the first research question, results from a multiple linear regression showed transformational leadership to be a significant predictor of teacher motivation. For the second research question, a binary logistic regression did not support a relationship between principal leadership style and teacher commitment to teaching. The information gained from this study may benefit principals and teachers by informing leadership approaches for organizational change that may enhance teacher motivation

Sherman, Shakers, and Shenanigans

The first 122 pages of this book relate to Bulloch County and form Book 10: Readings in Bulloch County History. The remainder comprise the Southern Folkways Journal Review No. 3, and relate to Southeast Georgia and to the Southeastern region of the United States. The first collection begins with a poem by Dr. John Ransom Lewis, followed by three articles on Dan Bland and the biographies of prominent African American citizens. Also included are two articles on the Hardy Moore family, student papers on vanishing Bulloch County communities, information on Joseph Jackson, articles on three local churches, and the Muster Roll of Toombs Guards. The second section of this book begins with an article on Western Shakers by Dr. Dale Covington, followed by “Hostau Reminisces,” and several articles on the Cherokee and the Lumbee Indians.https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/bchs-pubs/1033/thumbnail.jp

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Pan genome of the phytoplankton Emiliania underpins its global distribution

Coccolithophores have influenced the global climate for over 200 million years1. These marine phytoplankton can account for 20 per cent of total carbon fixation in some systems2. They form blooms that can occupy hundreds of thousands of square kilometres and are distinguished by their elegantly sculpted calcium carbonate exoskeletons (coccoliths), rendering themvisible fromspace3.Although coccolithophores export carbon in the form of organic matter and calcite to the sea floor, they also release CO2 in the calcification process. Hence, they have a complex influence on the carbon cycle, driving either CO2 production or uptake, sequestration and export to the deep ocean4. Here we report the first haptophyte reference genome, from the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi strain CCMP1516, and sequences from 13 additional isolates. Our analyses reveal a pan genome (core genes plus genes distributed variably between strains) probably supported by an atypical complement of repetitive sequence in the genome. Comparisons across strains demonstrate thatE. huxleyi, which has long been considered a single species, harbours extensive genome variability reflected in different metabolic repertoires. Genome variability within this species complex seems to underpin its capacity both to thrive in habitats ranging from the equator to the subarctic and to form large-scale episodic blooms under a wide variety of environmental conditions