Native American Student Achievement in Minnesota

This report includes information about Native American students' graduation rates in Minnesota schools, legislative gains that are helping Native Americans to succeed, profiles of successful schools, and professional development training activities to help teachers work more effectively with Native American parents and students

Professorial Reflections: informal discussions and reflections

We open our issue with ‘Professorial Reflections’ – an informal, but nonetheless productive discussion about researching spirituality in dance and performance studies. We aim to offer this type of discussion, between different leading professors in dance and performance studies, in subsequent issues of DMAS. Our intention here is to open dialogue about spirituality in these fields, through informal discussion and academic chit-chat, with the aim of supporting new areas of research through conversation and reflecting

Accountability without democracy: lessons from african famines in the 1980s

Development economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen argues that democracies, by virtue of mechanisms of accountability, are better able to avert famines than non-democratic regimes. Using empirical evidence from colonial and independent India, Sen argues for the existence of an anti-famine political contract, between the government and its supporters, predicated on the prevention of famine. Building on this theory, Sen later tested his argument using cases in Africa. While Sen’s theory accurately predicts the outcomes, the causal mechanism he uses to explain each variation is falsifiable. In studying the experiences of each African country that succumbed to famine in the 1980s, I find that a free press and competitive elections are neither necessary nor sufficient conditions for a country to avert famine. The results presented in this paper question the presence and role of other causes contributory to famine prevention efforts, as well as the possibility of anti-famine commitments within less-than-democratic polities

Molecular Modulation of Single and Multi-species Biofilm Formation by Orally-associated Bacteria

Biofilms are aggregates of bacterial cells attached to a surface. Oral biofilms (“plague”) are major contributors to tooth decay (dental caries) and are a potential conduit for infection and disease. These biofilms have been shown to be resistant to removal by traditional oral hygiene practices. Novel prophylactic and in situ treatment methods are therefore needed to address this problem. While Oral biofilms have been shown to contain hundreds of species of bacteria we focus on three relevant organisms: Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus sanguinis, and Actinomyces naeslundii (A. oris). Of the many bacteria involved in cavity formation and tooth decay, S. mutans is recognized as the principle causative agent and pioneer. S. sanguinis and A. oris are pioneer-colonizing commensal organisms that are involved in the initial establishment of oral biofilms and are associated with significant human diseases including endocarditis and actinomycosis. Our group previously identified small organic molecule inhibitors of biofilm formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We hypothesize that these compounds directly affect cell-to-cell signaling (“quorum sensing”) pathways that are involved in biofilm formation. Presently, members of our lab have tested the efficacy of similar compounds on the three individual aforementioned strains. In this work, we focus on how these organic compounds interact with communal biofilms consisting of two or more strains

Light Curves in X-Rays and Gamma-Rays

Gamma-ray Bursts are the most luminous and energetic events in the universe. Understanding the intrinsic properties of GRBs allows for their use as standard candles (objects of known distance and luminosity) and for the study of extremely distant regions of space. In this study we use the piecewise Willingale model to fit the X-ray flux vs. time curves (light curves) of 235 GRBs with detectable \u27plateau\u27 phase and known redshift using data from the swift repository. This sample is analyzed for consistency with a relation between the temporal decay and spectral indexes predicted by the Fireball model of GRB Emission. We also check the previously established Dainotti relation between plateau end time, plateau luminosity and peak luminosity. Data analysis was performed using Mathematica for producing non-linear regression fits and Python for data collection and processing. We find that the predicted index relation does not hold, in agreement with previous studies . In our sample we find that 25% or less of GRBs in our sample fulfill this relation, even fewer than at least one previous study . The Dainotti relation is at least qualitatively confirmed in this sample; we find a positive correlation between both luminosity values along with anti-correlation between plateau end time and luminosity. Additionally we fit 298 GRBs without known redshift and compare the index distributions between both GRBs with and without redshift values. Preliminarily, the similarity of these distributions suggests similar consistency with the predicted index relation. Eleven gamma-ray light curves were fit using data from the Fermi telescope and four were found to have detectable plateaus. Future research will perform similar analysis in a comparable sample of gamma-ray light curves

Storage Project of Wet Distillers Grains

On October 18, 2006, one load of wet distillers grains from Pine Lake Corn Processors LLC, Steamboat Rock, IA was delivered to the ISU McNay Research Farm southwest of Chariton, IA via walking-bed semi-truck. The analysis of that product is given in Table 1

Inter-parental conflict and outcomes for children in the contexts of poverty and economic stress: implications aimed at improving outcomes for children

This report provides a review of the evidence on discord between parents (interparental conflict) in the contexts of poverty and economic pressure, and the link to poor outcomes for children and adolescents across emotional, behavioural, social, academic and future relationship domains