The Development of Preservice Teachers’ Self-Efficacy for Classroom and Behavior Management Across Multiple Field Experiences

Classroom and behaviour management difficulties are consistently reported among the top reasons given by both novice and experienced teachers for leaving the profession. In order to successfully prepare and retain teachers, it is imperative that we understand the factors related to issues of classroom and behaviour management that may influence their decision to remain in the field. This study explored the development of preservice special education teachers’ self-efficacy for classroom and behaviour management as they progressed through a four-semester professional development sequence. Findings indicated that although self-efficacy levels were variable across semesters, statistically significant changes in group self-efficacy levels were noted when compared to beginning levels. Despite noted increases in self-efficacy levels, participants continued to express a need for training in evidence-based practices and strategies for addressing extreme behaviours. Implications and limitations are discussed

ORCAE-AOCC : a centralized portal for the annotation of African orphan crop genomes

ORCAE (Online Resource for Community Annotation of Eukaryotes) is a public genome annotation curation resource. ORCAE-AOCC is a branch that is dedicated to the genomes published as part of the African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC). The motivation behind the development of the ORCAE platform was to create a knowledge-based website where the research-community can make contributions to improve genome annotations. All changes to any given gene-model or gene description are stored, and the entire annotation history can be retrieved. Genomes can either be set to “public” or “restricted” mode; anonymous users can browse public genomes but cannot make any changes. Aside from providing a user- friendly interface to view genome annotations, the platform also includes tools and information (such as gene expression evidence) that enables authorized users to edit and validate genome annotations. The ORCAE-AOCC platform will enable various stakeholders from around the world to coordinate their efforts to annotate and study underutilized crops

The spatial evolution of the chemotaxis proteins of the Bacillus subtilis group

The aim of this work was to study spatial evolution of the chemotaxis proteins of a group of plant-associated soil-dwelling bacteria vernacularly referred to as the B. subtilis group. This was achieved by creating homology models for the chemotaxis proteins if a suitable template was available, and by analysing the selective forces (positive, purifying or neutral) acting upon the chemotaxis proteins. Chemotaxis is the phenomenon in which bacteria direct their movement towards more favourable conditions, and is critical for processes such as obtaining nutrients, escaping toxic compounds, host colonization and bio-film formation. Members of the B. subtilis group exhibit different preferences for certain host plants, and it is therefore feasible that their chemotactic machinery are fine-tuned to respond optimally to the conditions of the various niches that the strains inhabit. Homology models were inferred for the plant growth promoting B. amyloliquefaciens FZB42 proteins CheB, CheC, CheD, CheR, CheW and CheY. The interactions between: CheC-CheD, the P1 and P2 domains of CheA with CheY and CheB, and the P4 and P5 domains of CheA with CheW were also modelled. The hydrophobic interactions contributing to intra- and inter-protein contacts were analysed. The models of the interactions between CheB and the various domains of CheA are of particular interest, because to date no structures have been solved that show an interaction between a histidine kinase (such as CheA) and a multidomain response regulator (such as CheB). Furthermore, evidence that phospho-CheB may inhibit the formation of phospho-CheY by competitively binding to the P2 domain of CheA is also presented. Proteins were analysed to determine if individual amino acid sites are under positive, neutral or purifying selection. The Methyl Accepting Chemotaxis Proteins (MCPs), CheA and CheV were also analyzed, but due to a lack of suitable templates, no homology models were constructed. Site-specific positive and purifying selection were estimated by comparing the ratios of non-synonymous to synonymous substitutions at each site in the sequences for the chemotaxis proteins as well as for the receptors McpA, McpB, and McpC. Homology models were coloured according to intensity of selective forces. It was found that the chemotaxis proteins of member of the B. subtilis group are under strong evolutionary constraints, hence it is unlikely that positive selection in these proteins are responsible for the differences in habitat preference that these organism exhibit

Características clínicas y epidemiológicas de pacientes con diagnóstico de COVID-19 atendidos en el Hospital Santa Rosa de Puerto Maldonado de abril del 2020 a marzo del 2021

Objetivo: Conocer las características clínicas y epidemiológicas de pacientes con diagnóstico de COVID - 19 atendidos en el Hospital Santa Rosa de Puerto Maldonado de abril del 2020 a marzo del 2021. Métodos: El diseño de la investigación es observacional, descriptiva, transversal y retrospectiva. La muestra fue es de 4430 pacientes con diagnóstico de COVID – 19 atendidos en el Hospital Santa Rosa de Puerto Maldonado durante el periodo de abril del 2020 a marzo del 2021. Se llenó la ficha de recolección, revisando los datos registrados en las historias clínicas. Finalmente se realizó un análisis estadístico descriptivo. Resultados: La prevalencia de pacientes con diagnóstico de COVID – 19 fue de 3%. De estos el 50.43% fueron mujeres, la mediana de edad fue de 39 años. Siendo el mes de junio el de más prevalencia con 19.5% del total de pacientes. Se encontró que 159 pacientes (3.6%), se hospitalizaron en el área de UCI COVID; de estos, 106 casos (2.4%) correspondieron al sexo masculino, además se evidenció que un total de 3357 pacientes (75.8%) fueron dados de alta por indicación médica, la mayoría de estas altas fueron del sexo femenino con 1826 casos (81.7%). Respecto a la estancia hospitalaria encontrada en nuestro estudio tuvo un promedio de 2.7 días. De los 301 pacientes fallecidos (6.8%), el 71.3% fueron hombres y el 28.7% fueron mujeres, que en su mayoría estuvieron hospitalizados en el área de UCI COVID con 119 casos (39.5%). Las manifestaciones clínicas más frecuentes fueron: disnea (70%), tos (58.7%) y fiebre (56.8%). Las tres comorbilidades más frecuentes fueron: diabetes mellitus (21.9%), obesidad (10.7%) e hipertensión arterial (6%). Dentro de los hallazgos tomográficos se encontró neumonía atípica difusa compatible con SARS – COV – 2 y que, según el grado de afectación, fue leve en 1657 casos (57.3%), con compromiso de ambos campos pulmonares 1973 casos (44%) y con patrón en vidrio esmerilado 1690 casos (58%). También se evidenció alteraciones en los exámenes de laboratorio, una PCR mayor de 5 mg/dl encontrada en 2050 pacientes (46.30%), linfopenia en 2640 pacientes (59.50%), leucocitosis, TGO y TGP elevada y Glicemia por encima de los valores normales. Conclusión: Las características más importantes de los pacientes con diagnóstico de COVID – 19 atendidos en el Hospital Santa Rosa de Puerto Maldonado fueron adultos, de sexo femenino, con manifestación clínica caracterizado principalmente por disnea/dificultad respiratoria, tos y fiebre. Además, las comorbilidades más frecuentes fueron diabetes mellitus, obesidad e hipertensión arterial. El compromiso pulmonar principalmente fue de tipo neumonía atípica difusa con afectación leve, compromiso de ambos campos pulmonares y patrón en vidrio esmerilado

An evaluation of advertising strategies developed according to the FCB grid and the Bendinger formula

This thesis argues that the FCB (Foote, Cone and Belding) grid can not only be used by advertising students to write strategy, but also to write superior strategies. To demonstrate this, the research in this study identifies two versions of the FCB grid that can serve as guidelines for students when writing advertising strategy. The argument is substantiated by the results of a statistical analysis of strategies written according to the FCB grid and the Bendinger formula. A discussion of the areas which were researched and led to the introduction of the FCB grid, as well as an explanation of the FCB grid, provide the context in which the grid should be viewed as a guideline for writing advertising strategy. Thereafter, a summative overview of what advertising strategy and the Bendinger formula encompass, identifies the complexed nature of advertising strategy, as well as the minimum areas which need to be addressed when attempting to write strategy. A detailed discussion of the method which was employed and the instrument developed to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies, precedes the experimental results. A critical discussion of the results obtained from the statistical analysis and the literature on advertising strategy provide a theoretical foundation on which a model, to be used in conjunction with the FCB grid to write strategy, is designed. The model is then explained to illustrate how students can, in conjunction with the FCB grid, apply it to write advertising strategy. This thesis recommends that, in order to improve on the suggested method of evaluating strategies, the measurement scale developed in this study could be considered as a starting point. A further recommendation is that the experiment comparing strategies written according to the FCB sextant grid to those written according to the FCB quadrant grid, could provide the need for further research. The thesis concludes that as far as could be determined, this was the first time that a study of this nature was undertaken and that the need for future research to validate this study and its results, exists.Communication ScienceD. Litt et Phil. (Communication

Draft genomes of two Artocarpus plants, jackfruit (A. heterophyllus) and breadfruit (A. altilis)

Two of the most economically important plants in the Artocarpus genus are jackfruit (A. heterophyllus Lam.) and breadfruit (A. altilis (Parkinson) Fosberg). Both species are long-lived trees that have been cultivated for thousands of years in their native regions. Today they are grown throughout tropical to subtropical areas as an important source of starch and other valuable nutrients. There are hundreds of breadfruit varieties that are native to Oceania, of which the most commonly distributed types are seedless triploids. Jackfruit is likely native to the Western Ghats of India and produces one of the largest tree-borne fruit structures (reaching up to 45 kg). To-date, there is limited genomic information for these two economically important species. Here, we generated 273 Gb and 227 Gb of raw data from jackfruit and breadfruit, respectively. The high-quality reads from jackfruit were assembled into 162,440 scaffolds totaling 982 Mb with 35,858 genes. Similarly, the breadfruit reads were assembled into 180,971 scaffolds totaling 833 Mb with 34,010 genes. A total of 2822 and 2034 expanded gene families were found in jackfruit and breadfruit, respectively, enriched in pathways including starch and sucrose metabolism, photosynthesis, and others. The copy number of several starch synthesis-related genes were found to be increased in jackfruit and breadfruit compared to closely-related species, and the tissue-specific expression might imply their sugar-rich and starch-rich characteristics. Overall, the publication of high-quality genomes for jackfruit and breadfruit provides information about their specific composition and the underlying genes involved in sugar and starch metabolism

Dengue and Chikungunya Coinfection – The Emergence of an Underestimated Threat

Both Dengue (DENV) and Chikungunya (CHIKV) viruses can be transmitted by Aedes mosquito species and the diseases that they cause have several clinical symptoms in common. Co-circulation of DENV and CHIKV is increasing around the world and must therefore be considered as an emerging threat with an important public health concern. At present, very little is known about the clinical manifestations and biological consequences of coinfection by both viruses. Thus, numerous questions such as clinical severity and dynamics of viral replication of DENV and CHIKV coinfections, as well as vectorial competence, have yet to be addressed in this important and challenging research area. The ensuring knowledge will enhance the clinical surveillance and the development of diagnostic tools able to differentiate DENV and CHIKV in order to early detect virus invasion and local transmission, as well as to improve patient care and timely control measures. In this review, we highlight the current knowledge on DENV and CHIKV coinfections. We also discuss research perspectives and challenges in order to further understand the ecology and biology of this phenomenon

Identification of an osteoclastogenic CD4+ T cell population producing IL-17 and TNFα

Poster presentationInternational audienc