Parents Acquiring Learning Strategies (PALS): How Empowering Hispanic Parents Increases Parental Involvement and Student Achievement

Some Hispanic parents in Miami-Dade County show limited involvement in the educational process of their children. Currently, Miami-Dade County Public schools consists of an increasingly high number of language minority students who come from homes where parents are limited in their English proficiency. Consequently, these parents have difficulty assisting their children with schoolwork and often feel they lack adequate skills to involve themselves in school curricula. The lack of parental involvement by this population has a negative impact on students’ learning and their academic achievement. The purpose of this study is to impact the level of participation of these families and to study its ultimate effect on students’ academic achievement.

Temporal Population Genetic Structure of Eastern Mosquitofish in a Dynamic Aquatic Landscape

We analyzed the effect of periodic drying in the Florida Everglades on spatiotemporal population genetic structure of eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki). Severe periodic drying events force individuals from disparate sources to mix in dry season relatively deep-water refuges. In 1996 (a wet year) and 1999 (a dry year), we sampled mosquitofish at 20 dry-season refuges distributed in 3 water management regions and characterized genetic variation for 10 allozyme and 3 microsatellite loci. In 1996, most of the ecosystem did not dry, whereas in 1999, many of our sampling locations were isolated by expanses of dried marsh surface. In 1996, most spatial genetic variation was attributed to heterogeneity within regions. In 1999, spatial genetic variation within regions was not significant. In both years, a small but significant amount of variation (less than 1% of the total variation) was partitioned among regions. Variance was consistently greater than zero among long-hydroperiod sites within a region, but not among short-hydroperiod sites within a region, where hydroperiod was measured as time since last marsh surface dry-down forcing fishes into local refuges. In 1996, all sites were in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. In 1999, we observed fewer heterozygotes than expected for most loci and sites suggesting a Wahlund effect arising from fish leaving areas that dried and mixing in deep-water refuges.

Modeling Nymphoides architecture: A morphological analysis of Nymphoides aquatica (Menyanthaceae)

• Premise of the study: Species in the aquatic genus Nymphoides have inflorescences that appear to arise from the petioles of floating leaves. The inflorescence-floating leaf complex can produce vegetative propagules and/or additional inflorescences and leaves. We analyzed the morphology of N. aquatica to determine how this complex relates to whole plant architecture and whether whole plant growth is sympodial or monopodial. • Methods: We used dissections, measurements, and microscopic observations of field-collected plants and plants cultivated for 2 years in outdoor tanks in south Florida, USA. • Key results: Nymphoides aquatica had a submerged plagiotropic rhizome that produced floating leaves in an alternate/spiral phyllotaxy. Rhizomes were composed of successive sympodial units that varied in the number of leaves produced before the apex terminated. The basic sympodial unit had a prophyll that subtended a renewal-shoot bud, a short-petioled leaf (SPL) with floating lamina, and an inflorescence; the SPL axillary bud expanded as a vegetative propagule. Plants produced either successive basic sympodial units or expanded sympodia that intercalated long-petioled leaves between the prophyll and the SPL. • Conclusions: Nymphoides aquatica grows sympodially, forming a rhizome composed of successive basic sympodia and expanded sympodial units. Variations on these types of sympodial growth help explain the branching patterns and leaf morphologies described for other Nymphoides species. Monitoring how these two sympodial phases are affected by water depth provides an ecologically meaningful way to assess N. aquatica’s responses to altered hydrology.

Um modelo de portfólio para gestão estratégica de compras hospitalares

O presente estudo, baseado no modelo teórico de portfólio de compras proposto por Kraljic (1983), apresenta um modelo de portfólio de compras voltado para gestão de compras hospitalares, por meio da aplicação do método de decisão multicritério Fuzzy-TOPSIS. Para fins de exemplificação do método, a pesquisa foi aplicada em um Hospital de grande porte localizado em Natal/RN e teve como amostra doze itens de compras. Os itens foram avaliados pelo grupo de decisores nas dimensões de importância da compra e complexidade de fornecimento, sendo cada dimensão composta por quatro critérios. Por meio da utilização do método Fuzzy-TOPSIS e de regras de decisão, os itens foram classificados entre as categorias: estratégicos, gargalos, alavancagem e não-críticos. O resultado dessa etapa identificou três itens estratégicos, seis itens gargalos, um item de alavancagem e dois itens não-críticos. Para os três itens classificados como estratégicos, foi aplicado o método Fuzzy-TOPSIS visando a identificar o posicionamento estratégico do Hospital em relação aos fornecedores desses itens, a partir da avaliação das dimensões força do mercado fornecedor e força da empresa compradora, sendo cada uma composta por quatro critérios. Nessa etapa, foi identificada uma postura de balanceamento das forças. Conclui-se a efetividade da ferramenta de portfólio de compras para gestão hospitalar, proporcionando uma visão mais clara das características, inerentes ao processo de compras nesse contexto complexo. O método Fuzzy-TOPSIS apresentou-se como uma ferramenta flexível, capaz de lidar com problemas de classificação, gerando resultados satisfatórios e contribuindo para a tomada de decisão.

Study protocol of European Fans in Training (EuroFIT) : a four-country randomised controlled trial of a lifestyle program for men delivered in elite football clubs

Funding The EuroFIT study is funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program for research technological development and demonstration under Grant Agreement no: 602170. The Health Services Research Unit, University of Aberdeen, is core funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Directorates.

Cyclical DNA methyltransferase 3a expression is a seasonal and oestrus timer in reproductive tissues

Acknowledgments This work was funded by the University of Aberdeen CLSM grant to TJS. EWJL was funded by a Society for Reproduction and Fertility undergraduate scholarship. TJS conceived the project, designed experiments, analyzed data and wrote the manuscript. EWJL conducted experiments and analyzed the data. CC conducted the immunocytochemistry. ML conducted HEK293 cell culture assays. EMC and ASB provided technical assistance. The authors thank Gerald Lincoln for critical feedback on a previous version of this manuscript.

Future thinking instructions improve prospective memory performance in adolescents

Funding This work was supported by the German Research Foundation [DFG grants SFB 940/1]. Acknowledgements We would like to thank Lia Kvavilashvili for her helpful comments on this study during the International Conference on Prospective Memory (ICPM4) in Naples, Italy, 2014. We thank Daniel P. Sheppard for proofreading the manuscript.

NFAT5 genes are part of the osmotic regulatory system in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

Acknowledgements This study was supported by a grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC, BB/H008063/1), UK to DGH and SAM. Funding also came from Research Council Norway for project number 241016 for DGH and EJ. This work was carried out as part of a PhD thesis funded by the Marine Alliance of Science and Technology Scotland (MASTS).

Cyclical DNA Methyltransferase 3a Expression Is a Seasonal and Estrus Timer in Reproductive Tissues

Acknowledgments This work was funded by the University of Aberdeen CLSM grant to TJS. EWJL was funded by a Society for Reproduction and Fertility undergraduate scholarship. TJS conceived the project, designed experiments, analyzed data and wrote the manuscript. EWJL conducted experiments and analyzed the data. CC conducted the immunocytochemistry. ML conducted HEK293 cell culture assays. EMC and ASB provided technical assistance. The authors thank Gerald Lincoln for critical feedback on a previous version of this manuscript.

Movimento Marcado

Este projeto de carácter experimental visa o desenvolvimento de uma coleção de objetos que permitem proporcionar ao utilizador um conjunto de experiências que relacionam estes com o corpo e com o espaço no qual estão inseridos. O projeto teve como ponto de partida a experiência da autora nas áreas da dança e da arquitetura, que aconteceu numa fase inicial da sua formação e que marca o especial interesse em relacionar o movimento, o uso quotidiano do corpo e do espaço. Os objetos surgem como mediadores convocando os temas mencionados anteriormente, que se inserem na área de interesse actual da autora. Durante o desenvolvimento do projeto foi feito um levantamento de projetos que exploram temáticas próximas e que deram seguimento à elaboração e à execução de um conjunto de exercícios que acompanharam esta tese. Depois destes exercícios e da sua análise, foi possível organizar a informação, passando-a para o projeto da tese e assim selecionar os movimentos e gestos do corpo que mais interessava trabalhar, escolha dos espaços mais apropriados para utilizar e por fim a construção dos objetos.

A Liderança positiva e a supervisão partilhada na melhoria do clima organizacional escolar

Pretende-se com esta pesquisa empírica comprovar que a enfatização de técnicas de liderança positiva, baseadas nas teorias da Psicologia Positiva, e o uso da Inteligência Emocional, assim como da Supervisão Partilhada, entendida como uma prática formativa e colaborativa, podem efetivamente motivar o aperfeiçoamento do desempenho dos membros da organização escolar. Com esse aperfeiçoamento do desempenho docente, e consequente melhoria do clima organizacional, ambiciona-se naturalmente desenvolver a própria organização-escola e sua prestação de serviços. Esta pesquisa incide essencialmente na liderança intermédia, designada nas escolas por coordenações, e no papel que a motivação e a satisfação no trabalho terão nas funções de liderança e de supervisão. Um questionário foi aplicado a coordenadores e ex-coordenadores tratando três parâmetros: relação com a liderança de topo, exercício das funções de liderança intermédia e clima organizacional. Depois de uma primeira análise dos resultados, foram também realizadas entrevistas para melhor os contextualizar na realidade escolar. Comprovou-se que a forma como a liderança de topo se relaciona com a liderança intermédia e esta com os seus colaboradores e colegas contribui para um bom clima organizacional. No entanto, a motivação e satisfação no trabalho estão também relacionados com fatores externos à organização-escola e muito dependentes das opções da tutela.

Understandings of transnational families in debates on Migration and development

International migration sets in motion a range of significant transnational processes that connect countries and people. How migration interacts with development and how policies might promote and enhance such interactions have, since the turn of the millennium, gained attention on the international agenda. The recognition that transnational practices connect migrants and their families across sending and receiving societies forms part of this debate. The ways in which policy debate employs and understands transnational family ties nevertheless remain underexplored. This article sets out to discern the understandings of the family in two (often intermingled) debates concerned with transnational interactions: The largely state and policydriven discourse on the potential benefits of migration on economic development, and the largely academic transnational family literature focusing on issues of care and the micro-politics of gender and generation. Emphasizing the relation between diverse migration-development dynamics and specific family positions, we ask whether an analytical point of departure in respective transnational motherhood, fatherhood or childhood is linked to emphasizing certain outcomes. We conclude by sketching important strands of inclusions and exclusions of family matters in policy discourse and suggest ways to better integrate a transnational family perspective in global migration-development policy.

Examples of “land stewarship” in Brazil. The “Projecto Sempre Viva” (Mucugê-Bahia)

In recent years the concept of "Land Stewardship" has gained a great importance. In short, it means that local entities and individuals can protect enclave of high ecological and cultural value. This vision has been effective in some places in the world with success. For example, the “Projeto Sempre Viva”, created in the town of Mucugê, a place located in one of Brazil´s most renowned Natural Protected Areas: the Chapada Diamantina (State of Bahia). We had looked over the available information about this project on the Internet, as well as a personal visit that was made to the site to know it and to have the possibility to talk to their managers. On this basis, it has been reached to the conclusion that this project, born to protect a Sempre Viva´s endemic species in danger of extinction, has turned into an important site for tourism and environmental education, completed with the preservation of the cultural identity of this region which is linked to diamond mining.

Salicaceae Endophytes: Growth Promotion Potential in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) and Maize (Zea mays L.) and Bio-Control of Plant Pathogen

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08