A Professional Development Program to Improve Math Skills Among Preschool Children in Head Start

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of providing early educators professional development experiences and activities to improve the mathematical skills of preschool children in Head Start around four domains of mathematics. Because of the need to provide necessary mathematical experiences to young children to improve their early understanding and skills and provide the foundation for future success in mathematics, we provided the treatment group of early educators with professional development and center-based activities to promote four critical areas in mathematics. By randomly selecting Head Start centers to participate as the treatment group or control group, we were able to examine the effects of the professional development and set of activities on preschool children’s knowledge over a six-month period. We found children in the treatment group were more fluent and flexible with number concepts, were better at solving contextual problems, and had better measurement and spatial abilities than children in the control group

Release of cell wall phenolic esters during hydrothermal pretreatment of rice husk and rice straw

Background: Rice husk and rice straw represent promising sources of biomass for production of renewable fuels and chemicals. For efficient utilisation, lignocellulosic components must first be pretreated to enable efficient enzymatic saccharification and subsequent fermentation. Existing pretreatments create breakdown products such as sugar-derived furans, and lignin-derived phenolics that inhibit enzymes and fermenting organisms. Alkali pretreatments have also been shown to release significant levels of simple, free phenolics such as ferulic acid that are normally esterified to cell wall polysaccharides in the intact plant. These phenolics have recently been found to have considerable inhibitory properties. The aim of this research has been to establish the extent to which such free phenolic acids are also released during hydrothermal pretreatment of rice straw (RS) and rice husk (RH). Results: RS and RH were subjected to hydrothermal pretreatments over a wide range of severities (1.57–5.45). FTIR analysis showed that the pretreatments hydrolysed and solubilised hemicellulosic moieties, leading to an enrichment of lignin and crystalline cellulose in the insoluble residue. The residues also lost the capacity for UV autofluorescence at pH 7 or pH 10, indicating the breakdown or release of cell wall phenolics. Saponification of raw RS and RH enabled identification and quantification of substantial levels of simple phenolics including ferulic acid (tFA), coumaric acid (pCA) and several diferulic acids (DiFAs) including 8-O-4′-DiFA, 8,5′-DiFA and 5,5′-DiFA. RH had higher levels of pCA and lower levels of tFA and DiFAs compared with RS. Assessment of the pretreatment liquors revealed that pretreatment-liberated phenolics present were not free but remained as phenolic esters (at mM concentrations) that could be readily freed by saponification. Many were lost, presumably through degradation, at the higher severities. Conclusion: Differences in lignin, tFA, DiFAs and pCA between RS and RH reflect differences in cell wall physiology, and probably contribute to the higher recalcitrance of RH compared with RS. Hydrothermal pretreatments, unlike alkali pretreatments, release cinnamic acid components as esters. The potential for pretreatment-liberated phenolic esters to be inhibitory to fermenting microorganisms is not known. However, the present study shows that they are found at concentrations that could be significantly inhibitory if released as free forms by enzyme activity

Evaluating the stationarity assumption in statistically downscaled climate projections: is past performance an indicator of future results?

© 2016, The Author(s). cc-byEmpirical statistical downscaling (ESD) methods seek to refine global climate model (GCM) outputs via processes that glean information from a combination of observations and GCM simulations. They aim to create value-added climate projections by reducing biases and adding finer spatial detail. Analysis techniques, such as cross-validation, allow assessments of how well ESD methods meet these goals during observational periods. However, the extent to which an ESD method’s skill might differ when applied to future climate projections cannot be assessed readily in the same manner. Here we present a “perfect model” experimental design that quantifies aspects of ESD method performance for both historical and late 21st century time periods. The experimental design tests a key stationarity assumption inherent to ESD methods – namely, that ESD performance when applied to future projections is similar to that during the observational training period. Case study results employing a single ESD method (an Asynchronous Regional Regression Model variant) and climate variable (daily maximum temperature) demonstrate that violations of the stationarity assumption can vary geographically, seasonally, and with the amount of projected climate change. For the ESD method tested, the greatest challenges in downscaling daily maximum temperature projections are revealed to occur along coasts, in summer, and under conditions of greater projected warming. We conclude with a discussion of the potential use and expansion of the perfect model experimental design, both to inform the development of improved ESD methods and to provide guidance on the use of ESD products in climate impacts analyses and decision-support applications

Yeast diversity in relation to the production of fuels and chemicals

In addition to ethanol, yeasts have the potential to produce many other industrially-relevant chemicals from numerous different carbon sources. However there remains a paucity of information about overall capability across the yeast family tree. Here, 11 diverse species of yeasts with genetic backgrounds representative of different branches of the family tree were investigated. They were compared for their abilities to grow on a range of sugar carbon sources, to produce potential platform chemicals from such substrates and to ferment hydrothermally pretreated rice straw under simultaneous saccharification and fermentation conditions. The yeasts differed considerably in their metabolic capabilities and production of ethanol. A number could produce significant amounts of ethyl acetate, arabinitol, glycerol and acetate in addition to ethanol, including from hitherto unreported carbon sources. They also demonstrated widely differing efficiencies in the fermentation of sugars derived from pre-treated rice straw biomass and differential sensitivities to fermentation inhibitors. A new catabolic property of Rhodotorula mucilaginosa (NCYC 65) was discovered in which sugar substrate is cleaved but the products are not metabolised. We propose that engineering this and some of the other properties discovered in this study and transferring such properties to conventional industrial yeast strains could greatly expand their biotechnological utility

Meeting NCATE Standard 4: One University’s Plan to Help Preservice Teachers Develop Knowledge, Skills, and Professional Dispositions to Ensure that All Students Learn

Standard 4-Diversity of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) requires that preservice teachers, or candidates, demonstrate and apply proficiencies related to diversity

How Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected the Way We Access and Interact with the Countryside and the Animals within It?

SIMPLE SUMMARY: In March 2020, the UK entered its first mandatory lockdown to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The restrictions associated with the lockdown led to changes in human behaviour, particularly in relation to exercise and accessing the outdoors. This study used an online survey of UK residents to explore these changes and to understand how people interacted with the natural world while they were outside, including interactions with wildlife and domestic animals. There was an increase in how often respondents went for walks outside during lockdown, compared to pre-lockdown levels, and this increase lasted beyond the end of the first lockdown. Interacting with animals was a common feature of walks. This most commonly involved watching wildlife or domestic animals, such as livestock or horses, but sometimes also involved physically interacting with them and/or feeding them which may have implications for their welfare, for example, if inappropriate food is provided. There is also a risk of humans transferring disease between the animals they have contact with or zoonotic disease transmission between the humans and animals. While is it positive that people are interacting with the natural world, it is important that this does not compromise animal wellbeing. ABSTRACT: There is growing evidence that the changes in human behaviour resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have had positive and negative impacts on the natural world. This study used an online survey to explore how the first UK lockdown affected human exercising behaviour, with particular focus on the role of wild and domestic animals. The survey was completed by 308 respondents. There was a significant increase in the frequency that respondents went for walks outdoors during lockdown, in comparison to pre-lockdown levels (p ≤ 0.001), and this was sustained (albeit to a lesser extent) once lockdown ended (p = 0.005). Engaging with the natural world was an important feature of walks outside for 81% of respondents. A small proportion of respondents reported physically interacting with the animals they encountered and/or feeding them, which may have implications for their welfare. The findings suggest that those who value animal encounters during their time outside always seek these interactions, while those who do not, did not tend to change this behaviour following lockdown. Should the changes in human exercising behaviour be sustained, it is important to balance the benefits of walking outdoors for human health and wellbeing with the health and welfare of the animals they encounter

Fostering implementation of health services research findings into practice: a consolidated framework for advancing implementation science

Abstract Background Many interventions found to be effective in health services research studies fail to translate into meaningful patient care outcomes across multiple contexts. Health services researchers recognize the need to evaluate not only summative outcomes but also formative outcomes to assess the extent to which implementation is effective in a specific setting, prolongs sustainability, and promotes dissemination into other settings. Many implementation theories have been published to help promote effective implementation. However, they overlap considerably in the constructs included in individual theories, and a comparison of theories reveals that each is missing important constructs included in other theories. In addition, terminology and definitions are not consistent across theories. We describe the Consolidated Framework For Implementation Research (CFIR) that offers an overarching typology to promote implementation theory development and verification about what works where and why across multiple contexts. Methods We used a snowball sampling approach to identify published theories that were evaluated to identify constructs based on strength of conceptual or empirical support for influence on implementation, consistency in definitions, alignment with our own findings, and potential for measurement. We combined constructs across published theories that had different labels but were redundant or overlapping in definition, and we parsed apart constructs that conflated underlying concepts. Results The CFIR is composed of five major domains: intervention characteristics, outer setting, inner setting, characteristics of the individuals involved, and the process of implementation. Eight constructs were identified related to the intervention (e.g., evidence strength and quality), four constructs were identified related to outer setting (e.g., patient needs and resources), 12 constructs were identified related to inner setting (e.g., culture, leadership engagement), five constructs were identified related to individual characteristics, and eight constructs were identified related to process (e.g., plan, evaluate, and reflect). We present explicit definitions for each construct. Conclusion The CFIR provides a pragmatic structure for approaching complex, interacting, multi-level, and transient states of constructs in the real world by embracing, consolidating, and unifying key constructs from published implementation theories. It can be used to guide formative evaluations and build the implementation knowledge base across multiple studies and settings.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/1/1748-5908-4-50.xmlhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/2/1748-5908-4-50-S1.PDFhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/3/1748-5908-4-50-S3.PDFhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/4/1748-5908-4-50-S4.PDFhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/5/1748-5908-4-50.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/6/1748-5908-4-50-S2.PDFPeer Reviewe

Engineered 2D Ising interactions on a trapped-ion quantum simulator with hundreds of spins

The presence of long-range quantum spin correlations underlies a variety of physical phenomena in condensed matter systems, potentially including high-temperature superconductivity. However, many properties of exotic strongly correlated spin systems (e.g., spin liquids) have proved difficult to study, in part because calculations involving N-body entanglement become intractable for as few as N~30 particles. Feynman divined that a quantum simulator - a special-purpose "analog" processor built using quantum particles (qubits) - would be inherently adept at such problems. In the context of quantum magnetism, a number of experiments have demonstrated the feasibility of this approach. However, simulations of quantum magnetism allowing controlled, tunable interactions between spins localized on 2D and 3D lattices of more than a few 10's of qubits have yet to be demonstrated, owing in part to the technical challenge of realizing large-scale qubit arrays. Here we demonstrate a variable-range Ising-type spin-spin interaction J_ij on a naturally occurring 2D triangular crystal lattice of hundreds of spin-1/2 particles (9Be+ ions stored in a Penning trap), a computationally relevant scale more than an order of magnitude larger than existing experiments. We show that a spin-dependent optical dipole force can produce an antiferromagnetic interaction J_ij ~ 1/d_ij^a, where a is tunable over 0<a<3; d_ij is the distance between spin pairs. These power-laws correspond physically to infinite-range (a=0), Coulomb-like (a=1), monopole-dipole (a=2) and dipole-dipole (a=3) couplings. Experimentally, we demonstrate excellent agreement with theory for 0.05<a<1.4. This demonstration coupled with the high spin-count, excellent quantum control and low technical complexity of the Penning trap brings within reach simulation of interesting and otherwise computationally intractable problems in quantum magnetism.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures; article plus Supplementary Material