Annotated Bibliography on Research Related to Arts for Children & Youth

Provides a bibliography of reports demonstrating the positive effects of arts education on children and youth. Includes hyperlinks and abstracts

The Dimerization Kinetics of NCAD12 with a Mutated Cis-X-Pro Bond

VICTORIA RAE McCLEARN: DIMERIZATION KINECTICS OF NCAD12 P16A (Under the direction Dr. Susan Pedigo) Calcium binding causes a conformational change into a strand swapped dimer for the cadherins. However, regardless of the sequence similarity for Epithelial Cadherin (ECAD) and Neural Cadherin (NCAD), they respond to the presence of calcium differently. For NCAD, the rate of assembly and disassembly depends upon the presence of calcium, whereas for ECAD the rate of exchange is independent of calcium. Studies into a kinetic model to explain the differences between the rates have been recently conducted. It is believed that ECAD uses an X-dimer intermediate between the monomer and dimer state. However, there is no kinetic model for the transition of monomer to dimer for NCAD. The purpose of the experiment was to mutate the 16th amino acid residue in NCAD from a proline to an alanine in order to investigate the potential kinetic role of this residue. The presence of the double cis-X-pro bond between the 14th and 19th residues differs from that of ECAD. There are two cis-X-pro bonds in NCAD and only one in ECAD, which may affect the rate of dimer formation. Stability, calcium binding affinity and dimer assembly studies resulted in interesting observations about the differences between NCAD12 P16A and wild type NCAD12. First, the P16A mutation does not affect the global stability of the protein, or the average calcium binding affinity. However, the calcium binding transition is distinctly more cooperative than seen in titrations of NCAD12 wild type. Secondly, the P16A appears to increase the Kd of dimerization. Thirdly, the rate of assembly of NCAD12 P16A dimers is dependent upon incubation time in calcium. In conclusion we notice an interesting and dramatic effect on both the kinetics and equilibria of dimerization in the P16A mutant of NCAD12. It further supports the supposition from the X-dimer literature that the N-terminal end of the βB-strand is important for the kinetics of dimerization, but shifts focus from the basic residue in position 14 to βB-strand conformation generally

Design, Manufacturing, and Testing of a Small Through-Flow Wave for Use Within the Brayton Cycle

With the ever growing popularity of drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles for military, commercial, and private usage, there is a desire to improve performance in terms of range, altitude, and flight speed. Current technology uses either electric motors or internal combustion engines: both piston and jet engine types. These sorts of engines undergo significant efficiency degradation as their size decreases. While some efficiency may be recovered via intensive design studies, the cycles are approaching the limit to their operating physics. A possible solution to this is to change the operating physics to something more immune to scaling losses; a pressure exchange device known as a wave rotor is one option. A wave rotor operates via oscillating pressure waves in order to compress the gas as opposed to the mechanical compression utilized by conventional engines. This thesis outlines the design, manufacture, and component testing of a wave rotor within the Brayton cycle. While the focus of this research was the wave rotor, included in the design and testing were the many support components necessary to drive the cycle, notably a small can-type combustor. Using a NASA developed quasi one dimensional CFD code, the wave rotor cycle was designed to power a kilowatt sized Class 2 UAVs. After the CFD modeling, hardware design and manufacture began on the various components. After manufacture, the various components were tested including the venturis, the combustor, and the wave rotor itself. The component testing showed great promise for the full rig testing. Hardware build up and the test plan is ongoing but expected to show efficiency gains when compared to similar sized combustion engines. Improved efficiency gains will significantly decrease the operating costs of small drones while improving range and altitude performance to all operator

Untangling Language Labeling and Mental Health: The Relationship between Middle School Students’ Language Acquisition Status and Self-Reported Mental Health

Across the United States, public K-12 schools are more diverse today than ever before. In the last two decades, there has been a significant rise in the prevalence of mental health conditions among children and adolescents. What’s more, mental health has garnered increased public attention with concern whether the novel coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing or resulted in the onset of new mental health conditions. While scholars have analyzed mental health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities, there has been scarce investigation into English language acquisition status. Thus, the study described the difference among English Learner (EL), English Only (EO), Initial Fluent English Proficient (IFEP), Long Term English Learner (LTEL), and Reclassified Fluent English Proficient (RFEP) middle school students’ mental health and determined if there was a relationship between mental health and academic achievement. The researcher describes the difference in mental health and the relationship to academic achievement to shed light on (in)equitable differences in the context of English language acquisition. A non-experimental research design was employed and utilized descriptive, inferential, and correlational statistics (Patten & Newhart, 2018; Trzesniewski et al., 2011). Archived, secondary data was obtained from one public, urban school district located in a city east of Los Angeles, California. Results indicated a statistically significant difference in the mean mental health scores of EL, EO, IFEP, LTEL, and RFEP middle school students and a statistically significant correlation among EO and RFEP middle school students’ mental health and academic achievement. Through the lens of the Ecological Systems Theory, recommendations for future research and practice are discussed

Sickness presenteeism determines job satisfaction via affective-motivational states

Research on the consequences of sickness presenteeism, or the phenomenon of attending work whilst ill, has focused predominantly on identifying its economic, health, and absenteeism outcomes, neglecting important attitudinal-motivational outcomes. A mediation model of sickness presenteeism as a determinant of job satisfaction via affective-motivational states (specifically engagement with work and addiction to work) is proposed. This model adds to the current literature, by focusing on (i) job satisfaction as an outcome of presenteeism, and (ii) the psychological processes associated with this. It posits presenteeism as psychological absence and work engagement and work addiction as motivational states that originate in that. An online survey was completed by 158 office workers on sickness presenteeism, work engagement, work addiction, and job satisfaction. The results of bootstrapped mediation analysis with observable variables supported the model. Sickness presenteeism was negatively associated with job satisfaction. This relationship was fully mediated by both engagement with work and addiction to work, explaining a total of 48.07% of the variance in job satisfaction. Despite the small sample, the data provide preliminary support for the model. Given that there is currently no available research on the attitudinal consequences of presenteeism, these findings offer promise for advancing theorising in this area

The bat fauna of Costa Rica’s Reserva Natural Absoluta Cabo Blanco and its implications for bat conservation.

Reserva Natural Absoluta Cabo Blanco, located at the southern tip of northwestern Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula, was established in 1963 and is the country’s oldest nationally protected reserve. Because the climate of the Nicoya Peninsula is ideal for human habitation, the peninsula has been occupied for millennia and is a heavily impacted landscape. The region also is one of the most poorly studied in Central America in terms of biotic diversity. We initiated a multiyear survey of bats in the reserve and the adjacent Refugio de Vida Silvestre Cueva Los Murciélagos to quantify species diversity, abundances, habitat use, seasonality, and reproduction. By surveying bats during 5 rainy seasons and 4 dry seasons from July 1999 through February 2006, we address the following questions: Which species of bats are present in the area? Are the bat communities the same in 3 different habitats—coastal forest, inland forest, and limestone caves? Are the species diversity and abundances of bats in the rainy season similar to those in the dry season? Can we discern seasonal patterns of reproduction? Are the species diversity and abundances of bats at Cabo Blanco (a tropical moist forest in the Holdridge Life Zone classification) similar to those in the nearby tropical dry forest at Parque Nacional Palo Verde? What are the conservation implications of the bat assemblages found in this regenerating forest? Using mist nets, searching for roosting bats, and an acoustical survey, 39 species of bats are documented in the area, including 5 emballonurids, 4 molossids, 1 mormoopid, 1 noctilionid, 21 phyllostomids, and 7 vespertilionids. The 2 most commonly captured bats, Carollia perspicillata and Artibeus jamaicensis, are abundant in both the inland and coastal forests and both are more abundant in the rainy season than in the dry season. Several species have clear habitat preferences, at least during the seasons in which we netted (Glossophaga soricina and Uroderma bilobatum along the coast and Trachops cirrhosus inland). The largest carnivores (Noctilio leporinus, Chrotopterus auritus, Phyllostomus hastatus, Trachops cirrhosus, and Vampyrum spectrum) are present, but the small and middle-sized predatory bats (Micronycteris, Lophostoma, and others) are poorly represented both in terms of diversity and abundance. We captured twice as many bats per hour of effort in the inland forest as we did in the coastal forest. The caves of Refugio de Vida Silvestre Cueva Los Murciélagos have 4 species of bats (Balantiopteryx plicata, Saccopteryx bilineata, Desmodus rotundus, and Phyllostomus hastatus) that are year-round residents. Several species seem to be equally abundant in both seasons, including Balantiopteryx plicata, Saccopteryx bilineata, Noctilio leporinus, Artibeus watsoni, Desmodus rotundus, Glossophaga soricina, Phyllostomus hastatus, Trachops cirrhosus, Lasiurus ega, and Myotis nigricans. Our impression is that some species are more common during the rainy season than the dry season, but more data are needed to substantiate this assertion. Bats in the caves were equally abundant during each of our 8 cave surveys. Desmodus rotundus is the only species for which our data suggest year-round reproduction; we observed scrotal males, pregnant females, and juveniles during each of our visits to Cabo Blanco. Other species are present year-round but have seasonal reproductive activity. We captured Artibeus watsoni and Carollia perspicillata in both seasons but have seen pregnant females only during the rainy season. Carollia perspicillata and Artibeus jamaicensis are the 2 most commonly captured bats at both Cabo Blanco and the nearby Parque Nacional Palo Verde. The species records and abundances of several other species differed between the sites, however. Species that are abundant at Palo Verde, but not yet recorded from Cabo Blanco, include Pteronotus davyi, Pteronotus gymnonotus, Carollia subrufa, Centurio senex, and Natalus stramineus. Phyllostomus hastatus is abundant at Cabo Blanco but not known from Palo Verde. Although both sites are relatively close together in the northern Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica, Cabo Blanco is substantially wetter, and the associated differences in vegetation may be driving bat distributional patterns. We provide a number of new records and ecological information for bats on the Nicoya Peninsula and document that bat diversity and abundances can be substantial in regenerating forest. Several of the most commonly captured bat species are seed dispersers and may be critical to forest regeneration

Intersection between metabolic dysfunction, high fat diet consumption, and brain aging

Deleterious neurochemical, structural, and behavioral alterations are a seemingly unavoidable aspect of brain aging. However, the basis for these alterations, as well as the basis for the tremendous variability in regards to the degree to which these aspects are altered in aging individuals, remains to be elucidated. An increasing number of individuals regularly consume a diet high in fat, with high‐fat diet consumption known to be sufficient to promote metabolic dysfunction, although the links between high‐fat diet consumption and aging are only now beginning to be elucidated. In this review we discuss the potential role for age‐related metabolic disturbances serving as an important basis for deleterious perturbations in the aging brain. These data not only have important implications for understanding the basis of brain aging, but also may be important to the development of therapeutic interventions which promote successful brain aging.Fil: Uranga, Romina Maria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Bahía Blanca. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Bahía Blanca; ArgentinaFil: Bruce Keller, Annadora J.. State University of Louisiana; Estados UnidosFil: Morrison, Christopher D.. State University of Louisiana; Estados UnidosFil: Fernandez Kim, Sun Ok. State University of Louisiana; Estados UnidosFil: Ebenezer, Philip J.. State University of Louisiana; Estados UnidosFil: Zhang, Le. State University of Louisiana; Estados UnidosFil: Dasuri, Kalavathi. State University of Louisiana; Estados UnidosFil: Keller, Jeffrey N.. State University of Louisiana; Estados Unido

The Everyday Security of Living With Conflict

When ‘cyber’ is used as a prefix, attention is typically drawn to the technologicaland spectacular aspects of war and conflict – and, by extension, security. Weoffer a different approach to engaging with and understanding security in suchcontexts, by foregrounding the everyday – mundane – experiences of securitywithin communities living with and fleeing from war. We do so through threevignettes from our field research in Colombia, Lebanon and Sweden, respectively,and by highlighting the significance of ethnography for security research withcommunities living in regions afflicted by war. We conclude by setting out a call toaction for security researchers and practitioners to consider such livedexperiences in the design of security technology that aims to cater to the needs ofcommunities in ‘global conflict and disaster regions’

Othered, Silenced and Scapegoated: Understanding the Situated Security of Marginalised Populations in Lebanon

In this paper we explore the digital security experiences of marginalised populations in Lebanon such as LGBTQI+ identifying people, refugees and women. We situate our work in the post-conflict Lebanese context, which is shaped by sectarian divides, failing governance and economic collapse. We do so through an ethnographically informed study conducted in Beirut, Lebanon, in July 2022 and through interviews with 13 people with Lebanese digital and human rights expertise. Our research highlights how LGBTQI+ identifying people and refugees are scapegoated for the failings of the Lebanese government, while women who speak out against such failings are silenced. We show how government-supported incitements of violence aimed at transferring blame from the political leadership to these groups lead to amplified digital security risks for already at-risk populations. Positioning our work in broader sociological understandings of security, we discuss how the Lebanese context impacts identity and ontological security. We conclude by proposing to design for and with positive security in post-conflict settings.Comment: To appear at the USENIX Security Symposium 202

Security Patchworking in Lebanon: Infrastructuring Across Failing Infrastructures

In this paper we bring to light the infrastructuring work carried out by people in Lebanon to establish and maintain everyday security in response to multiple simultaneously failing infrastructures. We do so through interviews with 13 participants from 12 digital and human rights organisations and two weeks of ethnographically informed fieldwork in Beirut, Lebanon, in July 2022. Through our analysis we develop the notion of security patchworking that makes visible the infrastructuring work necessitated to secure basic needs such as electricity provision, identity authentication and financial resources. Such practices are rooted in differing mechanisms of protection that often result in new forms of insecurity. We discuss the implications for CSCW and HCI researchers and point to security patchworking as a lens to be used when designing technologies to support infrastructuring, while advocating for collaborative work across CSCW and security research.Comment: To appear at ACM Conference On Computer-Supported Cooperative Work And Social Computing (CSCW) 202