AN EVALUATION OF PHYSIOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL INDICATORS OF POSTPARTUM DISEASES AND HEAT STRESS IN DAIRY COWS

Precision dairy monitoring technologies can be used to monitor changes in physiology and behavior associated with transition period postpartum diseases and heat stress. Research Objective One was to evaluate how traditional visual examination, body condition, and locomotion with and without blood, milk, and urine variables and precision dairy monitoring technologies determine variable association with hyperketonemia, metritis, mastitis, hypocalcemia and retained placenta,. This was accomplished by monitoring cows 2 weeks before calving to 3 weeks after calving for any postpartum diseases using daily visual examination and automatically detected variables including activity, milk yield, milk components, lying behavior, feeding behavior, rumination time, and reticulorumen temperature. Deviations in reticulorumen temperature, milk production, eating time, lying time, and activity were detected by precision dairy monitoring technologies among cows with postpartum diseases. Research Objective Two was to determine the association between automatically detected variables and heat stress. This objective was accomplished by monitoring cows under natural ventilation, fans, and fans plus sprinklers for variations under each condition. Changes in physiology and behavior as detected by precision dairy monitoring technologies was associated with postpartum diseases and heat stress. Using precision dairy monitoring technologies and visual examinations may aid producers in identifying postpartum disease and heat stress

A study of turnaround efforts in high-poverty schools: characteristics of High Reliability Organizations that determine why some efforts succeed and others fail

The inception of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has focused national attention on improving the academic achievement of all students. In response to this federal legislation, educators, policymakers and others have sought remedies to turnaround chronically low-performing schools. The academic achievement outcomes of implementing such strategies have been mixed. Some schools have experienced clear, unambiguous growth. Others have remained stagnant. Others have regressed. Because of these mixed results, the research was designed to ascertain the factors that determine what makes these strategies succeed or fail. The researcher took a qualitative approach, the multiple case study design. Using the characteristics of High Reliability Organizations, the researcher used an interview guide that was developed by the researcher to interview 10 participants who consisted of teachers, principals, and their immediate district-level supervisors, as well as reviewed artifacts from four high-poverty schools that were all labeled as academically unacceptable by the state of Louisiana in 2007. The outcomes of turnaround strategies were mixed as measured by their school performance scores. Two of the schools experienced clear, unambiguous growth. One of the schools remained stagnant. The other school regressed. Findings of the data analysis indicated that schools with clear, unambiguous growth demonstrated all five characteristics of High Reliability Organizations. The schools that either remained stagnant or declined did not

Learning the Meets Life: The Lived Experience of Teaching with Secular Spiritual Pedagogy

Spirituality is an elusive, hard-to-define quality that is impossible to measure. Spirituality is often conflated with religion, even though the two have different definitions and purposes. For these reasons and more, spirituality is regularly an overlooked or taboo topic in K-12 education. Likewise, spiritual pedagogy, which considers spirituality a central aspect of education, is often ignored. Yet empirical research is revealing that humans, at our core, are spiritual beings. Studies indicate that when education affirms the animating life force of humans and focuses on the development of people’s inner lives, humans thrive. Thus, the phenomenon of teaching with secular spiritual pedagogy is well worth investigating. First, however, the phenomenon needs to be understood. Therefore, this study explored the following research question: What is the lived experience of teaching with secular spiritual pedagogy? The research employed a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology to illuminate the essence of the lived experience of teaching with secular spiritual pedagogy. I conducted two in-depth interviews with each of seven K-12 teachers who employ secular spiritual pedagogical practices. Interviews were conducted as open-ended guided conversations, asking teachers to describe what spirituality looks and feels like in their classrooms and to reflect on how they make meaning of their experience. In addition, four of the teachers participated in a focus group to reflect on the early findings. The findings indicated that teaching with spiritual pedagogy is an extra-ordinary spiritual learning opportunity that some teachers consider to be a spiritual path. Findings are organized into The Path of Spiritual Learning, a conceptual map with six essential themes. The Path is framed by the theme of Meaning and Purpose, has Connection as a foundation, and moves toward Authenticity. The themes on The Path are synthesized with transformative learning theory, Heron’s theory of personhood, whole person learning, and the developing theoretical understanding of authenticity within the field of adult learning. Recommendations for K-12 and adult education are to evolve toward a participatory, or relational, epistemology, where the interconnectedness of life is the guiding ontological framework – one that values the flourishing of all human life as the central goal of education

An investigation of the relationships of student engagement and academic performance of supplemental instruction students concurrently enrolled in a gateway mathematics course at California State University in Southern California

This study, conducted at California State University (CSU) in Southern California, focused on student engagement factors and academic performance of supplemental instruction (SI) students concurrently enrolled in a gateway mathematics course. The purpose of this quantitative correlational survey study was to investigate engagement factors employed by SI students enrolled in gateway mathematics courses; the researcher explored the relationships of the SI students’ engagement factors to their gateway mathematics course grades. The participants completed a web-based survey in which they responded to items regarding their behaviors, thoughts, and feelings as experienced in the gateway mathematics course and the SI class sessions. The responses were scored within 4 engagement factor scales including skills engagement, emotional engagement, participation/interaction engagement, and performance engagement. The results of this study provided support for 2 alternative hypotheses: (a) there was a positive relationship between each of the 4 engagement factors and the gateway mathematics course grades of the participants, and (b) there was a positive relationship of the linear combination of the 4 engagement factors to the gateway mathematics course grades of the participants. The findings of this research study supported 3 conclusions: (a) engagement is a multidimensional construct, and the more students are engaged in their studies, the more likely they are to earn higher grades in a gateway mathematics course; (b) academic support and resources are essential for student learning; (c) college success, specifically, positive academic course performance, is a significant indicator of persistence toward college completion. Recommendations based on the findings and conclusions of this study include regular collaboration of efforts among all university stakeholders to provide a variety of student-centered venues for academic support and resources to engage students in developing self-efficacy for academic success in gateway mathematics courses

State-Branded Programs and Consumer Preference for Locally Grown Produce

Revitalization of state brands is deemed important to several constituencies. Stated preference with choice experiment methods were used to elicit consumer preferences for two locally grown products: spinach, which has had a well-publicized food safety incidence, and carrots, which have had no such incidence in recent history. A full factorial design was used to implement the choice experiment, with each commodity having four identical attributes varying at different levels. Findings reveal that consumers are willing to pay a premium for locally grown spinach marked with the Arizona Grown label over locally grown spinach that was not labeled. This premium was higher than the premium that would be paid for state-branded carrots. This difference highlights consumers’ perceptions of “locally grown†as an indicator of safety in their food supply. Findings have important implications with respect to providing consumer value and point to differentiated positioning strategies for state-branded produce.state-branded produce, certification, food safety, traceability, discrete choice models, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,

Isolation and characterization of a C4-like complement protein from chicken plasma

The motivation for this study was to find a third genetic marker of the chicken B complex. The approach followed three stages: First, isolate and purify the fourth component of complement (C4) from chicken plasma. Secondly, generate a monospecific antibody to C4 to permit a study of its genetic variation. Thirdly, investigate the linkage relationship between C4 and B complex.;The primary objective achieved was that a C4 like protein was isolated and purified using affinity chromatography. The purified C4 protein has a molecular weight of 210,000 daltons determined by SDS-PAGE and dissociates into three subunits of 91,000, 79,000 and 30,000 daltons after reduction.;The monospecific antisera to chicken C4 was generated from rabbits. This antiserum not only cross-reacted with human C4 but also blocked the hemolytic ability of both human and chicken plasma.;A kinetic study of C4 protein serum concentration was carried out. The means levels of C4 protein were 1.06 mg/ml, 1.30 mg/ml, 1.90 mg/ml, 2.20 mg/ml, and 2.50 mg/ml at age of 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 6 weeks, 10 weeks and 20 weeks, respectively.;The C4 protein level differed significantly between tumor progressors and tumor regressors and tumor regressors after Rous sarcoma virus inoculation. The progressors had an average C4 protein level of 77.3 d(\u272), which is less than that of the regressors, 85.7 d(\u272).;A Class I antigen was immunoprecipitated from erythrocytes by monospecific anti-C4 antiserum whereas a Class II antigen (in question) was immunoprecipitated from B lymphocytes by the same antiserum.;The molecular weight of chicken C4, its hemolytic function in tumor regression and its relationship to Class I antigens have been found to be rather similar to the C4 properties of the human and mouse systems. Thus, it seems that chicken C4 is linked to the MHC just as found in human and mouse system. In particular, this possibility was strongly suggested by the results of the elaborate immunoprecipitation study. However, conclusive evidence for the linkage relation between C4 and B complex requires further study

Building Community, Still Thirsty for Justice: Supporting Community Development Efforts in Baltimore

Baltimore is a city of many challenges, but it possesses true communitybased strength. The city’s residents and community organizations are its greatest assets. This article highlights some of the community’s work and how the Community Development Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law (CDC) supports this work through its experiential learning curriculum. The challenges facing Baltimore’s communities (systemic disinvestment, structural racism, vacant buildings, unemployment, and the criminalization of poverty, to name a few) existed long before the national media coverage and uprising surrounding the death of Freddie Gray, an unarmed Black man who suffered a fatal spinal injury while in Baltimore police custody in April 2015.1 In the days that followed Gray’s death, thousands of Baltimoreans took to the streets to protest state-sanctioned violence in low-income Black neighborhoods across the city. After the Baltimore Uprising,2 and in the spirit of the city’s long history of community organizing, new community-based groups formed and existing organizations created wide-tent coalitions to collectively advance their organizing efforts.3 These groups have fostered public discourse not only about police violence, but also about the economic violence that poses an everyday threat to individual and community safety and security, such as the lack of access to basic human needs—food, water, and housing.

Building Community, Still Thirsty for Justice: Supporting Community Development Efforts in Baltimore

Baltimore is a city of many challenges, but it possesses true communitybased strength. The city’s residents and community organizations are its greatest assets. This article highlights some of the community’s work and how the Community Development Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law (CDC) supports this work through its experiential learning curriculum. The challenges facing Baltimore’s communities (systemic disinvestment, structural racism, vacant buildings, unemployment, and the criminalization of poverty, to name a few) existed long before the national media coverage and uprising surrounding the death of Freddie Gray, an unarmed Black man who suffered a fatal spinal injury while in Baltimore police custody in April 2015.1 In the days that followed Gray’s death, thousands of Baltimoreans took to the streets to protest state-sanctioned violence in low-income Black neighborhoods across the city. After the Baltimore Uprising,2 and in the spirit of the city’s long history of community organizing, new community-based groups formed and existing organizations created wide-tent coalitions to collectively advance their organizing efforts.3 These groups have fostered public discourse not only about police violence, but also about the economic violence that poses an everyday threat to individual and community safety and security, such as the lack of access to basic human needs—food, water, and housing.

Physical and biochemical properties of canine knee articular cartilage are affected by selected surgical procedures

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 39-42).by Cynthia R. Lee.S.M

Carbon isotope ratioss of coccolith-associated polysaccharides of Emiliania huxleyi as a function of growth rate and CO2 concentration

The calcite plates, or coccoliths, of haptophyte algae including Emiliania huxleyi are formed in intracellular vesicles in association with water–soluble acidic polysaccharides. These coccolith–associated polysaccharides (CAPs) are involved in regulating coccolith formation and have been recovered from sediment samples dating back to ∼180 Ma. Paired measurements of the carbon isotopic compositions of CAPs and coccolith calcite have been proposed as a novel paleo–pCO2 barometer, but additional proxy validation and development are still required. Here we present culture results quantifying carbon isotopic offsets between CAPs and other cellular components: bulk organic biomass, alkenones, and calcite. E. huxleyi was grown in nitrate–limited chemostat experiments at growth rates (µ) of 0.20–0.62/d and carbon dioxide concentrations of 10.7–17.6 µmol/kg. We find that CAPs are isotopically enriched by 4.5–10.1‰ relative to bulk organic carbon, exhibiting smaller isotopic offsets at faster growth rates and lower CO2 concentrations. This variability suggests that CAPs record a complementary signature of past growth conditions with different sensitivity than alkenones or coccolith calcite. By measuring the isotopic compositions of all three molecules and minerals of self-consistent origin, the ratio µ/[CO2(aq)] may be reconstructed with fewer assumptions than current approaches