Intersecting Identities: A Look at How Ethnic Identity Interacts With Science Identity in Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Students.

Understanding the experiences of Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHPI) students in science courses can help us foster inclusivity and belonging for these often excluded and unacknowledged students. Using social influence theory as a framework, we investigated the intersection between ethnic-racial identity and science identity in NHPI students to better understand their experiences in undergraduate Biology courses. We collected both quantitative and qualitative data and used concurrent triangulation design in our mixed-methods approach.

An Instructor's Guide to Including Traditional Ecological Knowledge in the Undergraduate Biology Classroom.

Indigenous students are underrepresented in science, and the exclusion of Indigenous knowledge from Western education may be a contributor. Recently, Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers have called for a better integration of Indigenous knowledge systems into Western science. One suggestion from the literature is to integrate Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), or the diverse intimate knowledges and practices that relate to the environment that are commonly held by Indigenous peoples around the world, into our classrooms.

The retention benefits of cumulative versus non-cumulative midterms in introductory biology may depend on students' reasoning skills.

Assessment has long played an important role as a measurement tool of student mastery over course content. However, testing has also been shown to be an effective learning tool. Cumulative testing, in which all material from the entire learning period is covered, has been assumed to be effective, yet few studies have explicitly tested its effectiveness compared to non-cumulative testing.

Teaching Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium using Population-Level Punnett Squares: Facilitating Calculation for Students with Math Anxiety.

Hardy-Weinberg (HW) equilibrium and its accompanying equations are widely taught in introductory biology courses, but high math anxiety and low math proficiency have been suggested as two barriers to student success. Population-level Punnett squares have been presented as a potential tool for HW equilibrium, but actual data from classrooms have not yet validated their use. We used a quasi-experimental design to test the effectiveness of Punnett squares over 2 days of instruction in an introductory biology course.

Intermittent pneumatic compression for venous thromboembolism prevention: a systematic review on factors affecting adherence.

Objective: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a potentially fatal complication of hospitalisation. Intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) is one approach to reducing the likelihood of a VTE. Adherence to IPC is known to be inadequate though the reasons for this remain unclear.

Female In-Class Participation and Performance Increase with More Female Peers and/or a Female Instructor in Life Sciences Courses.

As we strive to make science education more inclusive, more research is needed to fully understand gender gaps in academic performance and in-class participation in the life sciences. Studies suggest that male voices dominate introductory biology courses, but no studies have been done on upper-level courses. Results on achievement gender gaps in biology vary and often conflict, and no studies have been done on the correlation between participation and academic performance gaps.

The emergence of sequence-dependent structural motifs in stretched, torsionally constrained DNA.

The double-helical structure of DNA results from canonical base pairing and stacking interactions. However, variations from steady-state conformations resulting from mechanical perturbations in cells have physiological relevance but their dependence on sequence remains unclear. Here, we use molecular dynamics simulations showing sequence differences result in markedly different structural motifs upon physiological twisting and stretching.

Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of venous thromboembolism.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) occurs more frequently in older people. For those nursing older people in a variety of settings, knowledge of VTE prevention, diagnosis and treatment is essential. This article discusses simple, practical measures that can be used to reduce the risk of VTE, including good hydration and promotion of mobilisation.

Milking regimes to shorten milking duration.

Four milking regimes using automatic cluster removers (ACR) were tested over a 19-week period, from mid to late lactation. Each treatment group consisted of 16 slow-milking cows. The milking regimes used were: an ACR setting of 200 ml/min (Control); raised ACR setting from 200 to 500 in steps of 100 ml/min (Raised ACR); raised ACR as above in conjunction with pre-milking teat stimulation (Raised ACR+Stim); and terminating the milking when an ACR threshold of 200 ml/min was reached or when a predetermined maximum milking duration was reached (Timer).

Influence of spermine on DNA conformation in a molecular dynamics trajectory of d(CGCGAATTCGCG)(2): major groove binding by one spermine molecule delays the A-->B transition.

The effect of spermine on the A-DNA to B-DNA transition in d(CGCGAATTCGCG)(2) has been investigated by five A-start molecular dynamics simulations, using the Cornell et al. potential. In the absence of spermine an A-->B transition is initiated immediately and the DNA becomes equidistant from the A- and B-forms at 200ps.

X-ray diffraction from DNA fibres under tension.

When DNA fibres are stretched during drying, the polymer undergoes a conformational transition. We present quantitative results from X-ray diffraction studies on such fibres held at various ambient relative humidities. These indicate that the molecules are arranged in arrays which are crystalline in projection down the fibre axis.

Binding sites of the polyamines putrescine, cadaverine, spermidine and spermine on A- and B-DNA located by simulated annealing.

Molecular dynamics simulations with simulated annealing are performed on polyamine-DNA systems in order to determine the binding sites of putrescine, cadaverine, spermidine and spermine on A- and B-DNA. The simulations either contain no additional counterions or sufficient Na+ ions, together with the charge on the polyamine, to provide 73% neutralisation of the charges on the DNA phosphates. The stabilisation energies of the complexes indicate that all four polyamines should stabilise A-DNA in preference to B-DNA, which is in agreement with experiment in the case of spermine and spermidine, but not in the case of putrescine or cadaverine.

Compliance of Victorian dairy farmers with current calf rearing recommendations for control of Johne's disease.

Questionnaires were posted to 800 randomly selected registered Victorian dairy farmers in 1996. Five hundred and thirty-four responses were received and analysed. Johne's disease (JD) had been diagnosed on the farm of 13.

On the application of anomalous scattering in oligonucleotide crystallography.

Simulated anomalous-scattering differences, at wavelengths between 1.5 and 5.5 A, were used with MULTAN to locate P atoms in an oligonucleotide hexamer.

On the application of direct methods to oligonucleotide crystallography.

The direct methods program SAYTAN was applied to simulated data at various resolutions from three oligonucleotides. Success in solving the structures was found to depend more upon the resolution of the data than upon errors in the data or the complexity of the structure. Collecting the data at a reduced temperature has little effect, unless it alters the mosaicity of the crystal or changes the resolution of the data.

Structure factor calculations for a side-by-side model of B-DNA.

In this paper, the side-by-side model of DNA proposed by Premilat and Albiser is investigated. The axial repeat of the model is equal to the c-axis repeat in the observed B-DNA unit cell in fibres. However, the model does not pack into the unit cell as efficiently as the B-DNA double helix does, nor is it as successful as the double helix in predicting the observed Bragg amplitudes.

Neutron fibre diffraction study of DNA hydration.

Interactions with water are crucial to the conformation assumed by the DNA double helix. The location of water around the D conformation has been investigated in a neutron fibre diffraction study which shows that water is ordered in the minor groove of the DNA. The D conformation is important since its occurrence is limited to specific DNA base pair sequences which have been identified as functionally significant.

Time-resolved X-ray diffraction studies of the B in equilibrium D structural transition in the DNA double helix.

Because of the relation between topology and function, there has been much interest in the structural transitions of the various conformations of DNA polymers. The x-ray fiber diffraction analysis system at the Daresbury Synchrotron Radiation Source was used to study the reversible transition between the B and D forms of the synthetic DNA poly[d(A-T)].poly[d(A-T)].

The intraaortic balloon pump: a nonlinear digital computer model.

A computer based model for in-series cardiac assistance by intraaortic balloon pumping was developed in this study. The model, obtained from the Navier-Stokes and Continuity equations, was capable of computing pressures, volumetric flow rates and radii through the arterial system. The model was used to study the effects of a wide range of assist device timing adjustments on the benefits of ventricular assistance under conditions corresponding to those measured during animal experiments.

X-ray diffraction from the side-by-side model of DNA.

An intriguing topological problem posed by the double-helical Watson-Crick model of DNA is that of unwinding the intertwined strands during replication. Several workers have recently proposed novel side-by-side (SBS) structures for DNA. In all these models the two strands are joined by complementary Watson-Crick base pairs and the antiparallel polynucleotide strands alternate between short segments of right- and left-handed helix, thus both reducing the amount of intertwining and alleviating the unwinding problem.