UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING IN ONLINE CREDIT RECOVERY: DO COURSE FEATURES IMPACT ACHIEVEMENT?

This experimental study investigated whether the addition of course features based on the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework impacted achievement in an online English 1A credit recovery course offered by a state virtual school in the Western United States. An alternative format for completing course mastery assignments and eText support tools (ReadSpeaker and TextAid) were added to an existing version of the course. Writing prompts were also included in the alternative mastery assignments. Credit recovery students were randomly enrolled by school personnel into control and treatment sections of the English 1A courses using the enrollment mechanism of the school’s Student Information System (SIS). Out of the enrolled students approved to participate in the study (n=133/157), the control section had 68 enrollments, and the treatment section had 65 enrollments. Experimental data was gathered via pre-test, post-test scores on the four end of module tests. Course grade and final grade data was also provided through the Learning Management System (LMS) and SIS and analyzed using Independent Samples T-Tests. The state Office of Public Instruction provided demographic information on participants. Surveys were used to gather qualitative and quantitative data on the learning experience, and the course instructor was interviewed on perceptions of the course participants, UDL course features and the student learning experience. Results from the experimental aspect of the study demonstrated the null hypothesis could not be rejected. Mean score gain differences on pre-test, post-test scores were not statistically significant or important across control and treatment groups. Course grade and final grade data also did not demonstrate a statistically significant or important difference in achievement across the groups. Passing rates were higher in the treatment group than the control group (9% based on enrollment numbers, and 5% for individuals). Results from the open-ended survey questions and qualitative interviews revealed three key themes: 1) appreciation of the mastery assignment options 2) the importance of instructor/course mentor support 3) and the initial time commitment of working with the new assignment type for the instructor. Results indicated that an incremental approach to including UDL course features did not result in a statistically significant impact on student achievement. However, the results suggest that a more robust development of the learning experience based on Universal Design for Learning principles may be more likely to increase the impact on student achievement in the courses. The importance of local support on student achievement was also observed. Future research, therefore, might consider a more substantial redesign of the learning experience based on Universal Design for Learning principles as well as additional influences associated with individual engagement and the local learning environment. In addition, it was suggested that researchers also continue to investigate administrative and instructional efficacy when redesigning online credit recovery courses based on UDL principles

SB53-13/14: Sustainability

SB53-13/14: Sustainability. This resolution passed by voice vote at the January 29, 2014 meeting of the Associated Students of the University of Montana (ASUM)

Acute Liver Dysfunction Criteria in Critically Ill Children: The PODIUM Consensus Conference

CONTEXT Develop evidence-based criteria for individual organ dysfunction. OBJECTIVES Evaluate current evidence and develop contemporary consensus criteria for acute liver dysfunction with associated outcomes in critically ill children. DATA SOURCES Electronic searches of PubMed and Embase conducted from January 1992 to January 2020, used medical subject heading terms and text words to characterize acute liver dysfunction and outcomes. STUDY SELECTION Studies evaluating critically ill children with acute liver dysfunction, assessed screening tools, and outcomes were included. Studies evaluating adults, infants ≤36 weeks gestational age, or animals or were reviews/commentaries, case series with sample size ≤10, or non-English language studies were excluded. DATA EXTRACTION Data were abstracted from each eligible study into a data extraction form along with risk of bias assessment by a task force member. RESULTS The systematic review supports criteria for acute liver dysfunction, in the absence of known chronic liver disease, as having onset of symptoms <8 weeks, combined with biochemical evidence of acute liver injury, and liver-based coagulopathy, with hepatic encephalopathy required for an international normalized ratio between 1.5 and 2.0. LIMITATIONS Unable to assess acute-on-chronic liver dysfunction, subjective nature of hepatic encephalopathy, relevant articles missed by reviewers. CONCLUSIONS Proposed criteria identify an infant, child, or adolescent who has reached a clinical threshold where any of the 3 outcomes (alive with native liver, death, or liver transplant) are possible and should prompt an urgent liaison with a recognized pediatric liver transplant center if liver failure is the principal driver of multiple organ dysfunction

My Dear State of Maine

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-me/1161/thumbnail.jp

The hydrogen-deuterium exchange reaction on cobalt ferrite

The catalytic activity of cobalt ferrite, Co3-xFexO4, for the hydrogen-deuterium exchange reaction and the change in thermoelectric power of the ferrite during the adsorption of hydrogen and oxygen were investigated as functions of the catalyst composition.The exchange reaction was carried out on catalysts with values of x: 1.93, 1.97, 2.02, and 2.07 in a flow reactor in the temperature range 60 [deg] to 130 [deg]C, at 1 atm pressure. It was found that the rate of the reaction was dependent upon the pretreatment of the catalyst while the activation energy increased from about 19 to 24 kcal mole-1 and the pre-exponential factor from 1030 to 1037 min-1 as the compositional parameter, x, progressed from 1.93 to 2.07.The change in thermoelectric power of compressed powder ferrite pellets during the adsorption of hydrogen and oxygen was investigated in the temperature range 88-250 [deg]C on two samples of cobalt ferrite, x = 1.91 and 2.04. At temperatures &gt; 120 [deg]C hydrogen was adsorbed on the cobalt ferrite as an electron donor, and oxygen as an acceptor. However, no change in thermoelectric power was detected at lower temperatures, indicating that in the range in which the catalytic reaction was studied no net electron transfer occurred between the adsorbed molecules and the substrate.It is concluded that the hydrogen-deuterium exchange reaction on cobalt ferrite occurred in two stages. The first is an initial activation step in which the catalytic activity increased with time. This step can be associated with the reduction of the surface of the ferrite and with the exposing of surface cations. In the second stage the exchange reaction proceeded at constant activity. A reaction mechanism involving hydrogen being adsorbed dissociatively on cation-anion couples in such a way as to restore the octahedral coordination of the cations of interest (Co3+, Fe3+) is in accord with the experimental results. The differences in activation energies are qualitatively related to the energies of the Co2+---Co3+ and Fe2+---Fe3+ electron transfers. A theoretically calculated reaction rate, which assumes slow hydrogen desorption, is in accord with the experimental rate.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/32203/1/0000262.pd

Markerless Escherichia coli rrn Deletion Strains for Genetic Determination of Ribosomal Binding Sites

Single-copy rrn strains facilitate genetic ribosomal studies in Escherichia coli. Consecutive markerless deletion of rrn operons resulted in slower growth upon inactivation of the fourth copy, which was reversed by supplying transfer RNA genes encoded in rrn operons in trans. Removal of the sixth, penultimate rrn copy led to a reduced growth rate due to limited rrn gene dosage. Whole-genome sequencing of variants of single-copy rrn strains revealed duplications of large stretches of genomic DNA. The combination of selective pressure, resulting from the decreased growth rate, and the six identical remaining scar sequences, facilitating homologous recombination events, presumably leads to elevated genomic instability

The Properties of Radio Galaxies and the Effect of Environment in Large Scale Structures at z∼1z\sim1

In this study we investigate 89 radio galaxies that are spectroscopically-confirmed to be members of five large scale structures in the redshift range of $0.65 \le z \le 0.96$. Based on a two-stage classification scheme, the radio galaxies are classified into three sub-classes: active galactic nucleus (AGN), hybrid, and star-forming galaxy (SFG). We study the properties of the three radio sub-classes and their global and local environmental preferences. We find AGN hosts are the most massive population and exhibit quiescence in their star-formation activity. The SFG population has a comparable stellar mass to those hosting a radio AGN but are unequivocally powered by star formation. Hybrids, though selected as an intermediate population in our classification scheme, were found in almost all analyses to be a unique type of radio galaxies rather than a mixture of AGN and SFGs. They are dominated by a high-excitation radio galaxy (HERG) population. We discuss environmental effects and scenarios for each sub-class. AGN tend to be preferentially located in locally dense environments and in the cores of clusters/groups, with these preferences persisting when comparing to galaxies of similar colour and stellar mass, suggesting that their activity may be ignited in the cluster/group virialized core regions. Conversely, SFGs exhibit a strong preference for intermediate-density global environments, suggesting that dusty starbursting activity in LSSs is largely driven by galaxy-galaxy interactions and merging.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures, accepted to MNRA

Assessing Predictive Discrimination Performance of Biomarkers in the Presence of Treatment-induced Dependent Censoring

In medical studies, some therapeutic decisions could lead to dependent censoring for the survival outcome of interest. This is exemplified by a study of paediatric acute liver failure, where death was subject to dependent censoring due to liver transplantation. Existing methods for assessing the predictive performance of biomarkers often pose the independent censoring assumption and are thus not applicable. In this work, we propose to tackle the dependence between the failure event and dependent censoring event using auxiliary information in multiple longitudinal risk factors. We propose estimators of sensitivity, specificity and area under curve, to discern the predictive power of biomarkers for the failure event by removing the disturbance of dependent censoring. Point estimation and inferential procedures were developed by adopting the joint modelling framework. The proposed methods performed satisfactorily in extensive simulation studies. We applied them to examine the predictive value of various biomarkers and risk scores for mortality in the motivating example