Performing and Deconstructing Whiteness in Student Affairs

The student affairs profession upholds whiteness through its practices, policies, and structures. The dynamics of whiteness have a particularly harmful impact on student affairs professionals of color. The authors explore the concept of whiteness in relation to their professional identities and unpack how people of color are encouraged to embody whiteness to fit into the field of student affairs. The authors propose suggestions for naming, understanding, and re-framing how professionals of color engage with whiteness

Challenges of Student Engagement in Community Colleges

Student engagement is a major challenge faced by community college administrators. The impact of low student engagement on retention and graduation rates means community colleges across the nation have the opportunity to re-evaluate policies and practices that contribute to or hinder a student culture of engagement (Greene, Marti, & McClenney, 2008; McClenney, 2007). Community colleges are host to a diverse student population including commuter students, non-traditional students, and students with a wide range of academic goals and academic preparedness. The diversity of this population provides a challenging environment in which to foster student engagement. The function and value of student affairs are often diminished on community college campuses with less emphasis on co-curricular student development. This article will review existing literature of challenges faced by community colleges and the role of student affairs in the unique environment of community colleges. The article will conclude with recommendations for developing institution-wide efforts to support student engagement and topics for further research

Antibody-guided Complexes and Their Potential Applications in Poultry Research

Targeting the CD40 receptor displayed by antigen-presenting cells to deliver a specific immunogen has been successfully used to enhance immune responses, specifically increasing antibody production and enhancing antibody affinity. When tested in chickens, this platform induced specific IgG and IgA production within one week post-immunization. However, proof of conferred protective efficacy using the CD40-targeting vaccination method was still undetermined. Whole avian influenza virus was loaded onto the guided complex and immunized birds were challenged with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) to test efficacy. Furthermore, this research addresses the application of guided complexes as an alternative method for epitope mapping of microbial enzymes. Short peptide segments of the Clostridium perfringens alpha toxin were loaded onto the antibody-guided complex and immunized into chickens to induce antibody production for downstream use in neutralization assays to identify specific regions able to block the toxin’s enzymatic functions. Lastly, to expand the antibody-guided system repertoire, monoclonal antibodies against a new receptor, specifically dendritic cell (DC) marker CD205, were developed for potential use to further enhance immune response activation. Anti-CD205 monoclonal antibodies were used to develop a new in vitro DC system obtained from peritoneal exudate cells. In HPAI efficacy studies, functional antibody titers were detected up to six weeks after a single subcutaneous administration. When boosted, the antibody-guided complex conferred 100% protection in birds upon lethal H5N1 challenge. The guided system also proved useful for rapid polyclonal antibody production in chickens, which can be used in epitope mapping studies. This system favors linear peptide targets for immunization in order to maintain cost-effectiveness and short turnover time, but can still be used with conformational epitopes. Monoclonal antibodies were successfully constructed against chicken CD205 and used in a variety of immunoassays, as well as magnetic bead isolation of DCs from peritoneal exudate cell populations. Overall, these data are the first to report protective efficacy using the CD40-targeting system in chickens, the first to propose the use of guided complexes in epitope mapping, and the first to isolate DCs from peritoneal exudate using the anti-CD205 monoclonal antibodies

Complex group algebras of the double covers of the symmetric and alternating groups

We prove that the double covers of the alternating and symmetric groups are determined by their complex group algebras. To be more precise, let $n\geq 5$ be an integer, $G$ a finite group, and let \AAA and \SSS^\pm denote the double covers of \Al_n and \Sy_n, respectively. We prove that \CC G\cong \CC \AAA if and only if G\cong \AAA, and \CC G\cong \CC \SSS^+\cong\CC\SSS^- if and only if G\cong \SSS^+ or \SSS^-. This in particular completes the proof of a conjecture proposed by the second and fourth authors that every finite quasi-simple group is determined uniquely up to isomorphism by the structure of its complex group algebra. The known results on prime power degrees and relatively small degrees of irreducible (linear and projective) representations of the symmetric and alternating groups together with the classification of finite simple groups play an essential role in the proofs.Comment: 27 pages, the previous version is revised slightly, to appear in Algebra & Number Theor

A perspective on the impact of radiation therapy on the immune rheostat.

The advent and success of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in cancer treatment has broadened the spectrum of tumours that might be considered "immunogenic" and susceptible to immunotherapeutic (IT) intervention. Not all cancer types are sensitive, and not all patients with any given type respond. Combination treatment of ICIs with an established cytotoxic modality such as radiation therapy (RT) is a logical step towards improvement. For one, RT alone has been shown to be genuinely immunomodulatory and secondly pre-clinical data generally support combined ICI-RT approaches. This new integrated therapy for cancer treatment holds much promise, although there is still a lot to be learned about how best to schedule the treatments, manage the toxicities and determine what biomarkers might predict response, as well as many other issues. This review examines how RT alters the immune rheostat and how it might best be positioned to fully exploit IT

Measuring the progress of the timeliness childhood immunization compliance in Vietnam between 2006-2014 : a decomposition analysis

Vietnam launched the national Expanded Program on Immunization in 1981. Since then, this program has contributed signi cantly to the improvement of child health and to the reduction of child mortality rate. Despite of the fact that the coverage of the national EPI keeps expanding, the number of children who complied with the recommended immunization schedule remains low. This article studies the progress of the timeliness childhood immunization compliance among children between 0-5 years of age in Vietnam from 2006 to 2014 and analyzes the socio-economic factors that account for the changes of the compliance rate during this period. The dataset is extracted from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey in 2006 and 2014. We rst identify the socio-economic factors that impact on the vaccination compliance rate using a logistic regression model. Next, we apply the decomposition method to determine the contribution of each factor on the evolution of the timeliness childhood immunization compliance. The progress of the timeliness childhood immunization has been positive and the major contribution comes from the structure e ect (unmeasured e ect). Rural areas show a stronger improvement as of 2014. Among the socio-economic factors, mother education and birth order are the ones that have the larger in uence on the childhood immunization compliance rate. However, these factors have di erent implications in urban and rural areas. These findings are critical to the current context of Vietnam where the government is designing a strategy focusing on the effectiveness rather than the traditional coverage indicator

Characterizing the Function of the N-Terminal Domain of Omi/HtrA2

The yeast two-hybrid system was used to isolate and characterize protein interactors of the N-terminal domain of the serine protease Omi/HtrA2 (high temperature requirement protein A2) encompassing amino acids 31-133. This large domain of Omi/HtrA2 is usually cleaved and removed through autoproteolysis to produce the mature form of the protein. Whether the N-terminal domain has any function after its removal is unknown. Omi/HtrA2 is involved in a variety of diseases including cancers, neurodegenerative disorders, and metabolic disorders, but thus far, it is assumed that its normal function is the degradation of specific substrates. To characterize any potential function of Omi/HtrA2’s unique amino terminus, specific interactors were isolated. One such interactor was the small GTPase Rab2A protein. We discuss the implications of this interaction and its biological significance

Interrelationship between Sensory Modulation, Altered Interoceptive Awareness, and Anxiety and Impacts on Quality of Life

OBJECTIVE: The negative impacts of sensory modulation disorder (SMD), anxiety, and altered interoceptive awareness (AIA) on daily occupations reinforced the need for the study of the relationship between sensory modulation, anxiety, and interoception in typical adults. Understanding the relationship between the three constructs is the first step in the ultimate goal of developing effective intervention and treatment measures. METHODS: This cross-sectional, exploratory study analyzed the relationship between scores on four self-report measures in an online survey: State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), Sensory Responsiveness Questionnaire (SRQ), and Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, Version 2 (MAIA-2). Participants were recruited via snowballing and a convenience sample of typical adults. Data was analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) (version 22). RESULTS: Data from 186 respondents showed moderately positive significant correlations between variables: (1) MAIA-2 and SRQ sum; (2) MAIA-2 and STAI state anxiety total; (3) MAIA-2 total and STAI trait anxiety total; (4) SRQ sum and STAI state anxiety total; and (5) STAI trait total and SRQ sum. CONCLUSION: This correlational study shines light on the distinct interrelationship between SMD, AIA, and anxiety. Results indicate a significant interrelationship between SMD, AIA, and anxiety. Findings indicate that there is a relationship between co-occurring constructs: SMD and AIA; AIA and anxiety; SMD and anxiety. However, further research needs to be done to determine directionality