An Exploratory Survey of Participants in Urban and Suburban Teacher Academy Programs

In an era plagued by teacher shortages, recruitment and training strategies are crucial. One promising early recruitment strategy is the use of teacher academies, pre-collegiate programs for aspiring teachers. Yet precious little is known about these programs or their students, many of whom appear to mirror the much sought-after diversity hoped for in practicing teachers (Darling-Hammond, Berry, Hasselkorn, & Fideler, 1999). This paper reports results of a survey of 133 students enrolled in 11 teacher academies surrounding a large Midwestern city. Data on students’ demographics, future goals, and perceived program needs are reported. Results indicate strengths in program experiences and cohesiveness, and the need for greater emphasis on college readiness and program organization. Further research on these programs is imperative

Analysis Of The Assembly Of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Cytochrome C Oxidase Subunit Cox2 By The Oxa1 And Cox18 Translocases

Oxa1 and Cox18 are members of a conserved protein family of integral inner membrane translocases responsible for insertion of other proteins into the membranes of chloroplasts, bacteria and mitochondria. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae both Oxa1 and Cox18 are required for the translocation of the hydrophilic domains of cytochrome c oxidase subunit Cox2 into the inner membrane space. Deletions in either oxa1 or cox18 result in yeast strains unable to respire. Over-expression of OXA1 does not allow for respiration in strains with deletions in cox18, but does allow for export of the C-terminus of Cox2. This suggests that Cox18 also has a role in the assembly of Cox2 into functional cytochrome c oxidase following the translocation of the C-terminus. I identified a physical interaction between Cox18 and the noncanonical chaperone Cox20, which is dependent on the presence of the Cox2 peptide. I isolated spontaneous respiring pseudorevertants from cox18 deletion strains carrying OXA1 on a high copy plasmid. Several of these pseudorevertants have mutations in residue 291 of the plasmid borne Oxa1. Substitution of charged residues, both positive and negative, at position 291 results in OXA1 alleles that can compensate for a deletion in cox18 when present in high copy number or when expressed from the chromosomal locus. Neutral substitutions at residue 291 of Oxa1 result in alleles that fail to compliment cox18 when present in high copy. These results show that the presence of a charged residue at position 291 allows Oxa1 to assemble Cox2 independent of Cox18 and its partner Mss2. The mutant alleles all retain Oxa1 function to various degrees. In addition, the alleles with charged residues compensate for a mss2 deletion. Cox20 is not required for assembly by these mutant proteins, although Cox20's chaperoning of Cox2 processing is required. Therefore, these mutant alleles are not simply replacing Cox18 in its normal complexes. Rather, they may interact with the Cox2 peptide in a novel way that makes it competent for assembly

Robonaut 2 - Building a Robot on the International Space Station

In 2010, the Robonaut Project embarked on a multiphase mission to perform technology demonstrations onboard the International Space Station (ISS), showcasing state of the art robotics technologies through the use of Robonaut 2 (R2). This phased approach implements a strategy that allows for the use of ISS as a test bed during early development to both demonstrate capability and test technology while still making advancements in the earth based laboratories for future testing and operations in space. While R2 was performing experimental trials onboard the ISS during the first phase, engineers were actively designing for Phase 2, IntraVehicular Activity (IVA) Mobility, that utilizes a set of zerog climbing legs outfitted with grippers to grasp handrails and seat tracks. In addition to affixing the new climbing legs to the existing R2 torso, it became clear that upgrades to the torso to both physically accommodate the climbing legs and to expand processing power and capabilities of the robot were required. In addition to these upgrades, a new safety architecture was also implemented in order to account for the expanded capabilities of the robot. The IVA climbing legs not only needed to attach structurally to the R2 torso on ISS, but also required power and data connections that did not exist in the upper body. The climbing legs were outfitted with a blind mate adapter and coarse alignment guides for easy installation, but the upper body required extensive rewiring to accommodate the power and data connections. This was achieved by mounting a custom adapter plate to the torso and routing the additional wiring through the waist joint to connect to the new set of processors. In addition to the power and data channels, the integrated unit also required updated electronics boards, additional sensors and updated processors to accommodate a new operating system, software platform, and custom control system. In order to perform the unprecedented task of building a robot in space, extensive practice sessions and meticulous procedures were required. Since crew training time is at a premium, the R2 team took a skillsbased training approach to ensure the astronauts were proficient with a basic skill set while refining the detailed procedures over several practice sessions and simulations. In addition to the crew activities, meticulous ground procedures were required in order to upgrade firmware on the upper body motor drivers. The new firmware for the IVA mobility unit needed to be deployed using the old software system. This also provided an opportunity to upgrade the upper body joints with new software and allowed for limited insight into the success of the updates. Complete verification that the updated firmware was successfully loaded was not confirmed until the rewiring of the upper body torso was complete

The Threshold of Rural Placement Frequency and Duration: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study Examining Rural Career Aspirations Among Student Nurses

Aim: This study aimed to explore what changes rural placement had on the perceptions of nursing students and the impact of placement frequency and duration on student considerations for rural practice. Background: A strong rural healthcare workforce is a global concern and has led countries to look for creative ways to address this challenge. One approach is to train more health professionals, however, nursing students who grew up or lived in metropolitan or urbanised areas are suggested to be less inclined to pursue a rural career. As such it is posited that recurrent exposure to rural settings may exert a positive impact on future intention for rural practice. However, there is a need to explore the specific thresholds related to both the frequency and duration of rural placement exposure, as well as the cumulative impact multiple rural placements may have on the intention to engage in rural practice. Design: A repeated cross-sectional design. Methods: All nursing students from an Australian regional university were invited to complete an online questionnaire between 2019 and 2023. Demographic and placement specific questions were included. A modified version of the Nursing Community Apgar tool also measured the importance of key variables in rural career decision-making. Data were analysed using independent sample t-tests and one-way ANOVAs. Significance was determined at two-tailed p≤.05. Results: Among the 835 respondents (response rate 15.4%), the average number and duration of rural placements was 2.45 placements and 3.01 weeks respectively. Rural placements did not have an impact on students who resided rurally or regionally. However, among metropolitan students who had experienced more than three rural placements, or more than sixteen cumulative weeks of placement, were significantly more likely to consider rural employment. Greater number of rural placements and longer cumulative duration had the greatest impact. Conclusion: Issues related to the nursing rural workforce are dynamic and complex. Understanding the unique drivers that improve the rural experiences among students, particularly metropolitan students, can have an impact on decision-making to pursue employment in rural environments. Importantly, whilst professional and clinical motivation and experiences are influential factors, the socialisation, environment and community features are essential elements that influence students’ decisions to pursue a career in rural practice. Undertaking a nuanced approach that facilitates rural practice understanding among students may help shape future employment decision-making

HIV, disability and discrimination: making the links in international and domestic human rights law

Stigma and discrimination constitute one of the greatest barriers to dealing effectively with the HIV epidemic, underlying a range of human rights violations and hindering access to prevention, care, treatment and support. There is some existing protection against HIV-based discrimination under international law, but the extent of states' obligations to address such discrimination has not been comprehensively addressed in an international instrument

Memory-like differentiation enhances NK cell responses to melanoma

PURPOSE: Treatment of advanced melanoma is a clinical challenge. Natural killer (NK) cells are a promising cellular therapy for T cell-refractory cancers, but are frequently deficient or dysfunctional in patients with melanoma. Thus, new strategies are needed to enhance NK-cell antitumor responses. Cytokine-induced memory-like (ML) differentiation overcomes many barriers in the NK-cell therapeutics field, resulting in potent cytotoxicity and enhanced cytokine production against blood cancer targets. However, the preclinical activity of ML NK against solid tumors remains largely undefined. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Phenotypic and functional alterations of blood and advanced melanoma infiltrating NK cells were evaluated using mass cytometry. ML NK cells from healthy donors (HD) and patients with advanced melanoma were evaluated for their ability to produce IFNγ and kill melanoma targets RESULTS: NK cells in advanced melanoma exhibited a decreased cytotoxic potential compared with blood NK cells. ML NK cells differentiated from HD and patients with advanced melanoma displayed enhanced IFNγ production and cytotoxicity against melanoma targets. This included ML differentiation enhancing melanoma patients\u27 NK-cell responses against autologous targets. The ML NK-cell response against melanoma was partially dependent on the NKG2D- and NKp46-activating receptors. Furthermore, in xenograft NSG mouse models, human ML NK cells demonstrated superior control of melanoma, compared with conventional NK cells. CONCLUSIONS: Blood NK cells from allogeneic HD or patients with advanced melanoma can be differentiated into ML NK cells for use as a novel immunotherapeutic treatment for advanced melanoma, which warrants testing in early-phase clinical trials

Quantum Gas Mixtures and Dual-Species Atom Interferometry in Space

The capability to reach ultracold atomic temperatures in compact instruments has recently been extended into space. Ultracold temperatures amplify quantum effects, while free-fall allows further cooling and longer interactions time with gravity - the final force without a quantum description. On Earth, these devices have produced macroscopic quantum phenomena such as Bose-Einstein condensation (BECs), superfluidity, and strongly interacting quantum gases. Quantum sensors interfering the superposition of two ultracold atomic isotopes have tested the Universality of Free Fall (UFF), a core tenet of Einstein's classical gravitational theory, at the $10^{-12}$ level. In space, cooling the elements needed to explore the rich physics of strong interactions and preparing the multiple species required for quantum tests of the UFF has remained elusive. Here, utilizing upgraded capabilities of the multi-user Cold Atom Lab (CAL) instrument within the International Space Station (ISS), we report the first simultaneous production of a dual species Bose-Einstein condensate in space (formed from $^{87}$Rb and $^{41}$K), observation of interspecies interactions, as well as the production of $^{39}$K ultracold gases. We have further achieved the first space-borne demonstration of simultaneous atom interferometry with two atomic species ($^{87}$Rb and $^{41}$K). These results are an important step towards quantum tests of UFF in space, and will allow scientists to investigate aspects of few-body physics, quantum chemistry, and fundamental physics in novel regimes without the perturbing asymmetry of gravity