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Being Human in STEM: Partnering with Students to Shape Inclusive Practices and Communities
No full textFor all STEM faculty, chairs, administrators, and faculty developers who work to support students\u27 learning and thriving in STEM - especially those students who have felt unwelcome and unsupported in their past STEM experiences - this book offers sustainable strategies that are now being widely adopted to create inclusive environments in undergraduate STEM classes and programs. Further, this book presents a framework for partnering with students to collaboratively envision how STEM can be a space that fosters a sense of belonging for, and promotes the success of, all individuals in STEM.
This book presents the Being Human in STEM Initiative, or HSTEM, as a model for challenging the assumptions we make, and how we communicate to students, about who belongs and who can thrive in STEM. This work arose out of a time of conflict at Amherst College: A four-day sit-in, protesting in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and bringing attention to related experiences of exclusion and marginalization that minoritized students experienced on campus. What emerged from that conflict has been transformative for the college, its students, and for its faculty and staff. In this book, the authors share how the HSTEM course came into being, offer a course overview, readings, and resources for developing an HSTEM course at your own institution, provide recommendations for evaluating the multi-level impact of inclusive change initiatives, and profile models of how the HSTEM course has been adapted at colleges and universities across the country
The Influence of Grip Positioning on Muscle Activation Patterns in Tennis Forehand: A Preliminary Investigation
No full textThis study compared muscle activation patterns during the forehand stroke among thirteen nonprofessional tennis players across three grip positions [Eastern(4), Semi Western(6), Western(3)]. Surface electromyography was used to assess fourteen trunk and dominant upper arm muscles, while hitting forehand crosscourt shots using their preferred grip. Individuals using Semi Western grip demonstrated higher activation of proximal musculature responsible for horizontal flexion/internal rotation at the shoulder (Pectoralis), whereas those using Eastern grip had higher activation in distal musculature (FCU, ECR), acting primarily to control flexion/extension. These differences suggest the Eastern grip requires less axial rotation of the arm but more contribution of wrist flexor/extensors than Semi Western/Western grips, which may relate to grip-specific repetitive strain injuries
Evaluating the Feasibility of a Multiplex qPCR Assay for Diagnosis of Schistosomiasis and Lymphatic Filariasis from Urine
No full textSchistosomiasis and lymphatic filariasis are two neglected tropical diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people globally, primarily in tropical and sub-tropical low- and middle-income countries. In Africa these diseases are caused primarily by Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma haematobium (schistosomiasis), and Wuchereria bancrofti (lymphatic filariasis). Historically these two diseases have been diagnosed with microscopic techniques using urine (S. haematobium), stool (S. mansoni) or blood (W. bancrofti) to detect the presence of parasites or parasite eggs. Microscopy may lead to misidentification of species present as well as false negatives for patients with low-intensity infections, as their sample may not contain the diagnostic material needed to obtain a true positive result from microscopy. More accurate diagnosis of these infections lies in nucleic acid-based diagnostics such as quantitative PCR, which can detect small amounts of parasite DNA. Quantitative PCR assays can detect all three parasites in urine, which is easier to obtain than blood and stool and contains fewer PCR inhibitors. Here, we report the progress of multiplexing three sensitive and specific quantitative PCR assays for diagnosis of S. mansoni, S. haematobium, and W. bancrofti and examine the feasibility of this technique as a urine assay
Handwriting Recognition for Old Nom Handwriting Manuscripts
No full textChu Nom is the ancient handwriting system of Vietnam from the 15th century till the 19th century. Due to various factors, we now have a large collection of digitized Nom manuscripts yet no way to properly and efficiently label and categorize them. In this thesis, we build multiple CRNN models for handwriting recognition for chu Nom. We utilized the dataset collected by the IHR-NomDB project, and perform experiments, evaluations and comparison of the models on this dataset. Our model achieved promising result on both the synthetic dataset and the actual handwriting dataset, which we hope will provide a basis for future research on the topic
Differential Gene Expression of the Spinal Cord and Leg Muscle of the Foot-Flagging Frog, Staurois parvus
No full textPsychometric Properties of a Combined Go/No-Go and Continuous Performance Task Across Childhood
Get PDFDespite the critical importance of attention for children’s self-regulation and mental health, there are few task-based measures of this construct appropriate for use across a wide childhood age range including very young children. Three versions of a combined go/no-go and continuous performance task (GNG/CPT) were created with varying length and timing parameters to maximize their appropriateness for age groups spanning early to middle childhood. As part of the baseline assessment of a clinical trial, 452 children aged 3–12 years (50% male, 50% female; 52% White, non-Hispanic, 27% Black, 16% Hispanic/Latinx; 6% other ethnicity/race) completed the task. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that all task versions assessed two latent factors, labeled response inhibition and sustained attention. Versions for older children elicited lower overall accuracy while equating levels of inhibitory demand. All versions showed limited floor and ceiling effects, as well as developmental sensitivity. Boys showed higher commission error rates and children from lower income households showed lower performance across multiple task metrics. Task metrics, especially d prime and accuracy summary scores, correlated with parent-reported executive function and externalizing behavior. Task scores show promise as valid and sensitive indicators of inhibition and sustained attention across heterogeneous pediatric age groups
Implicit Assessment of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury: Group Differences in Temporal Stability of the Self-Injury Implicit Association Test (SI-IAT)
No full textObjective
We examine differences on the Self-Injury Implicit Association Test (SI-IAT) by history of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), in a test-retest design, to examine short-term temporal stability of SI-IAT scores. Method
Treatment-seeking participants (N = 113; 58% female; 89% White; Mage = 30.57) completed the SI-IAT and self-report measures at two time points (MTimeframe = 3.8 days). Results
Data suggested NSSI (51% of the sample endorsed lifetime NSSI) was related to Time 1 (T1) identity and attitude, and affected stability of scores. T1 and T2 SI-IAT identity and attitude were more strongly related for participants with NSSI history. NSSI characteristics (recency; number of methods) affected stability. Conclusions
The short-term test-retest reliability of the SI-IAT is strong among those with NSSI history from T1 to T2. However, the SI-IATs use with participants without a history of NSSI was not supported beyond its established ability to differentiate between groups by NSSI history. This test may provide clinically-relevant assessment among those with a history of NSSI
Decomposition of Beatty and Complementary Sequences
Get PDFIn this paper we express the difference of two complementary Beatty sequences, as the sum of two Beatty sequences closely related to them. In the process we introduce a new Algorithm that generalizes the well known Minimum Excluded algorithm and provides a method to generate combinatorially any pair of complementary Beatty sequences
A Minimal Model of Peripheral Clocks Reveals Differential Circadian Re-Entrainment in Aging
No full textThe mammalian circadian system comprises a network of endogenous oscillators, spanning from the central clock in the brain to peripheral clocks in other organs. These clocks are tightly coordinated to orchestrate rhythmic physiological and behavioral functions. Dysregulation of these rhythms is a hallmark of aging, yet it remains unclear how age-related changes lead to more easily disrupted circadian rhythms. Using a two-population model of coupled oscillators that integrates the central clock and the peripheral clocks, we derive simple mean-field equations that can capture many aspects of the rich behavior found in the mammalian circadian system. We focus on three age-associated effects that have been posited to contribute to circadian misalignment: attenuated input from the sympathetic pathway, reduced responsiveness to light, and a decline in the expression of neurotransmitters. We find that the first two factors can significantly impede re-entrainment of the clocks following perturbation, while a weaker coupling within the central clock does not affect the recovery rate. Moreover, using our minimal model, we demonstrate the potential of using the feed-fast cycle as an effective intervention to accelerate circadian re-entrainment. These results highlight the importance of peripheral clocks in regulating the circadian rhythm and provide fresh insights into the complex interplay between aging and the resilience of the circadian system
An Adaptive Grid to Compute Earth Mover’s Distances in Search of Quantum Chaos
No full textThe correspondence between classical chaos and quantum mechanics is not well understood. One understudied definition of quantum chaos directly borrows from that of its classical counterpart– a quantum system that is characterized by a positive quantum Lyapunov exponent characterizing an exponential rate of separation of trajectories with infinitesimally close initial conditions in phase space. Describing an exponential rate of separation of trajectories is a challenging problem in quantum mechanics. In phase space, quantum systems are described by their Wigner function rather than a single point, making defining and computing a distance between quantum states a challenge. One metric that can be used to define distances between probability density distributions is the Earth Mover’s Distance (EMD), a distance that can be reformulated as a transportation problem. Current methods for EMD are too computationally intensive to compute quantum Lyapunov exponents. This thesis presents QuadTreeN, a program which produces an N-dimensional adaptive grid to compute the EMD, which was demonstrated to simultaneously improve both the accuracy and speed of EMD calculations in cases where the analytical answer is known. Additionally, we present a Mathematica program to calculate the EMD over time between quantum states and present states of the harmonic oscillator as an example in this work