A Path Analysis Exploration of Teacher’s Effect, Self-Efficacy, Demographic Factors, and Attitudes toward Mathematics among College Students Attending s Minority Serving Institution in Face-to-Face and Hybrid Mathematics Courses

Graduation rates in colleges and universities have not kept up with the increase in enrollment. Lack of mathematics competence is a factor that impairs students from completing higher education studies. This problem is even more pervasive in minority groups. The existing body of research on mathematics education have not favored emerging minority populations in terms of addressing their needs for academic program completion across mode of instruction. The study analyzed the relationship between type of instruction and the factors underlying students’ attitudes toward mathematics. Further, this study examined the effect of factors underlying the constructs of teacher’s effect and self-efficacy as well as gender and mode of instruction on factors underlying attitudes of students to learn mathematics. Data were collected from a sample of 390 students enrolled in College Algebra delivered in face-to-face and hybrid learning at a minority-serving college, using three well established instruments. A one-way MANOVA and Path Analyses were used to analyze the data. There were significant differences in the level of importance students attributed to learning mathematics for their life in terms of mode of instruction. Those students who learned mathematics in the hybrid setting believed that learning and mastering mathematics would become an advantageous factor for their life. Beliefs of encouragement from the teacher and mathematics capability to solve procedural problems predicted judgments of satisfaction for being enrolled in College Algebra, as well as judgments of the importance students attributed to learning mathematics for their life. Mode of instruction was also a significant predictor of importance. Mathematics apprehension was significantly predicted by discouragement. Perceptions with respect to performing mathematics problems that required applying several procedures was significantly predicted by the combined effect of judgments of encouragement and discouragement from the teacher. Perceptions of being encouraged from the teacher predicted beliefs to perform critical thinking problems in mathematics

Multiple transport protocols in an adaptive RPC-based framework

The growing demand for distributed systems running in many environments and built atop heterogeneous transport protocols is apparent. However, existing middleware solutions commonly are built atop a unique protocol like TCP. This paper extends an existing framework for building middleware systems by adding several communications protocols. The proposed extensions allow developers to implement a middleware using distinct communication protocols (e.g., UDP, HTTP) or even replace them at runtime. An experimental evaluation was conducted (1) to show the impact of the new extensions on the application's performance and (2) to compare the performance of the proposed extensions with existing commercial middleware systems

Percepción de competencia y adiestramiento profesional especializado relativos al VIH/SIDA en estudiantes y profesionales de la salud: el estigma como un indicador de necesidad

El proceso de estigmatización asume una devaluación de la persona debido a una característica o marca que haya sido identificada socialmente y que permita que se le describa como diferente. Desde que se desató la epidemia del VIH/SIDA, vivir con la enfermedad ha sido señalado de manera social como una marca estigmatizante. Las manifestaciones de dicha estigmatización se han documentado entre profesionales de la salud. Este estigma puede afectar los servicios de salud que las personas que viven con VIH/SIDA reciben de estos profesionales. Los objetivos de esta investigación fueron explorar: 1) la percepción que tienen estudiantes y profesionales de la salud sobre su nivel de competencia para ofrecer servicios a personas que viven con VIH/SIDA, 2) las opiniones de éstos sobre el tipo de adiestramiento profesional recibido y la necesidad del mismo, y 3) la manifestación de actitudes estigmatizantes como indicadores de necesidad de adiestramiento profesional. La muestra total del estudio estuvo compuesta por 80 de diversas profesiones de la salud. Los resultados reflejan que algunos/as de los/as participantes han recibido formación en VIH pero ésta no ha sido suficiente para contrarrestar las nociones estigmatizantes. Discutimos las implicaciones de los resultados para investigaciones futuras y el desarrollo de intervenciones con vías de minimizar las nociones estigmatizantes en los escenarios de salud.Stigma is defined as the devaluation of a person due to the possession of a characteristic that has negative social meanings. Since the onset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, living with HIV entails a social stigma. Research has documented stigma manifestations among health professionals. These manifestations are particularly dangerous since they might entail lack of services for people who live with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). This study had as its goals to explore: (a) the perceived level of competence of students and health professionals for delivering services to PWLHA, (b) their opinions regarding their completed and needed training, and (c) the existence of stigmatizing attitudes towards PLWHA. The sample includes 80 participants (40 students and 40 professionals) from the fields of medicine, nursing, psychology and social work. Results evidence that participants have received training in HIV but these did not address important social issues such as myths, fears, and stigma. Implications to future research and for the development of interventions to address stigma in health scenarios is discussed.Instituto Nacional de Abuso de Drogas de los Estados Unidos 1 R21 DA017643-0

Acyclic orientations with path constraints

Many well-known combinatorial optimization problems can be stated over the set of acyclic orientations of an undirected graph. For example, acyclic orientations with certain diameter constraints are closely related to the optimal solutions of the vertex coloring and frequency assignment problems. In this paper we introduce a linear programming formulation of acyclic orientations with path constraints, and discuss its use in the solution of the vertex coloring problem and some versions of the frequency assignment problem. A study of the polytope associated with the formulation is presented, including proofs of which constraints of the formulation are facet-defining and the introduction of new classes of valid inequalities

MiNAA: Microbiome Network Alignment Algorithm

Our Microbiome Network Alignment Algorithm (MiNAA) aligns two microbial networks using a combination of the GRAph ALigner (GRAAL) algorithm and the Hungarian algorithm. Network alignment algorithms find pairs of nodes (one node from the first network and the other node from the second network) that have the highest similarity. Traditionally, similarity has been defined as topological similarity such that the neighborhoods around the two nodes are similar. Recent implementations of network alignment methods such as NETAL and L-GRAAL also include measures of biological similarity, yet these methods are restricted to one specific type of biological similarity (e.g. sequence similarity in L-GRAAL). Our work extends existing network alignment implementations by allowing any type of biological similarity to be input by the user. This flexibility allows the user to choose whatever measure of biological similarity is suitable for the study at hand. In addition, unlike most existing network alignment methods that are tailored for protein or gene interaction networks, our work is the first one suited for microbiome networks

An Interaction between the Walker A and D-loop Motifs Is Critical to ATP Hydrolysis and Cooperativity in Bacteriophage T4 Rad50

The ATP binding cassette (ABC) proteins make up a large superfamily with members coming from all kingdoms. The functional form of the ABC protein nucleotide binding domain (NBD) is dimeric with ATP binding sites shared between subunits. The NBD is defined by six motifs: the Walker A, Q-loop, Signature, Walker-B, D-loop, and H-loop. The D-loop contains a conserved aspartate whose function is not clear but has been proposed to be involved in cross-talk between ATP binding sites. Structures of various ABC proteins suggest an interaction between the D-loop aspartate and an asparagine residue located in Walker A loop of the opposing subunit. Here, we evaluate the functional role of the D-loop using a bacteriophage T4 ABC protein, Rad50 (gp46). Mutation of either the D-loop aspartate or the Walker A asparagine results in dramatic reductions in ATP affinity, hydrolysis rate, and cooperativity. The mutant proteins bind Mre11 (gp47) and DNA normally, but no longer support the ATP-dependent nuclease activities of Mre11. We propose that the D-loop aspartate functions to stabilize the Walker A asparagine in a position favorable for catalysis. We find that the asparagine is crucially important to the mechanism of ATP hydrolysis by increasing the affinity for ATP and positioning the γ-phosphate of ATP for catalysis. Additionally, we propose that the asparagine acts as a γ-phosphate sensor and, through its interaction with the conserved D-loop aspartate, transmits conformational changes across the dimer interface to the second ATP binding site

Concert recording 2019-11-16a

[Track 1]. Concert etude / Alexander Goedicke -- [Track 2]. Concerto in F minor. I. Allegro moderato [Track 3]. II. Adagio religioso, allegretto III. Rondo / Oskar Bohme -- [Track 4]. Four miniatures. I. Fanfare [Track 5]. II. Intermezzo [Track 6]. III. Canto [Track 7]. IV. Tarantella / Joseph Turrin -- [Track 8]. Albumblatt / Alexander Glasunow -- [Track 9]. Sonata, op. 18. I. Allegro con brio [Track 10]. II. Andante con espressione [Track 11]. III. Allegro con anima / Thorvald Hansen -- [Track 12]. The maid of the mist / Herbert L. Clarke

Moans, Palpable Groin, and Entrapment of Bone: A Case of Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor in an otherwise Healthy Hispanic Male

Background: Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNTs) are rare malignant soft tissue sarcomas that have an incidence of about 0.001 %. MPNTs typically occur in individuals who have neurofibromatosis or secondary to radiation therapy and rarely occur sporadically. We present a case of a previously healthy 56-year-old gentleman who was diagnosed with MPNTs. Case: A healthy 56-year-old gentleman presented with worsening LLQ abdominal pain for 6 months. Associated symptoms included bloating, LLE swelling, early satiety for the past 2 months, and a 5-10lb unintentional weight loss. Patient denied recent cough, night sweats, dyspnea, fever, chills, melena or hematochezia. Vitals were WNL. Physical examination revealed a palpable mass on LLQ extending into the groin and edema of the left leg with diminished strength 3/5. CBC and CMP were unremarkable. CT abdomen showed a large necrotic mass in the left retroperitoneum infiltrating along the iliopsoas musculature, extending into the left hip and into the left side of L3, L4, L5 vertebral bodies and through L4 transverse process measuring up to 24.6 x 11.5 x 13 cm. Pathology revealed spindle cell sarcoma composed of moderately atypical, elongated spindle cells positive for vimentin, with loss of H3/K27me3, and negative for SMA, S-100 consistent with MPNSTs. Conclusions: The is a rare case of a sporadic presentation of MPNTs. Treatment depends on the extent of tumor burden and metastatic disease is typically treated with chemotherapy. CT chest showed innumerable pulmonary nodules. Patient is currently being treated with Doxorubicin and Ifosfamide with minimal response