Hogyan bonthatók le a látható és láthatatlan falak? – Kooperatív kutatás a megváltozott munkaképességűek foglalkoztatásával kapcsolatos mentális gátak lebontásáról (How to break down the visible and unvisible walls? – A cooperative research about the breaking down of mental barriers of the employment of disabled people)

A szerzők tanulmányukban egy kooperatív kutatási projekt eredményeit mutatják be, melyet emberierőforrás- menedzsment szakos master hallgatókkal folytattak megváltozott munkaképességűek foglalkoztatásával kapcsolatban. Magyarországon rendkívül magas a munkanélküliség a fogyatékkal élők körében, és a szerzők úgy vélik, hogy a HR-szakértőknek kulcsfontosságú szerepük van abban, hogy a foglalkoztatási korlátokat fenntartják-e, vagy változtatnak a jelenlegi helyzeten. A kritikai emberierőforrás-fejlesztés és a kritikai pedagógia hagyományait követve kutatásuk kettős célt tűzött ki. Céljuk volt egyrészt a jövő HRszakembereinek megváltozott munkaképességűek foglalkoztatásával kapcsolatos mentális mintázatainak, attitűdjeinek és hiedelmeinek feltárása, amelyek az elnyomás, diszkrimináció vagy kizsákmányolás gyökerei lehetnek. Másrészt pedig a kooperatív kutatás alkalmazásával a hallgatók emancipációját szándékoztak előmozdítani, továbbá az üzleti felsőoktatást uraló pozitivista filozófiát és értékrendszert kívánták kihívás elé állítani, s ily módon segíteni egy kritikusabb világnézet kibontakozását. ________ In this paper we present the results of a cooperative inquiry research project undertaken with Master students specialized in Human Resource Management on the employment of disabled people. Unemployment among people with disabilities is very high in Hungary and HR professionals have a key role in maintaining or reducing employment barriers and modifying the present situation. Following the tradition of critical Human Resource Development and critical pedagogy, the aim of the research project was twofold. First, we aimed to reveal the mental patterns, attitudes and beliefs of future HR professionals to the employment of people with disabilities, which might become roots causes of domination, discrimination or exploitation. Secondly, through applying cooperative inquiry, researchers aimed to emancipate students and challenge the positivist philosophy and value system which usually dominate business education and thereby engender a more critical worldview.

Influence of parameters of drying on laser induced diffuse reflectance of banana discs

Banana discs of 1 cm thickness were immersed into different antioxidant solutions to slow down potentially disturbing discoloration during drying. Samples were randomly split into 8 groups according to the 2^p experimental design. Two antioxidant solutions with 1.66% and 4.59% ascorbic acid, two levels of drying temperature with 50°C and 80°C, two levels of drying time with 6h and 8h were used or adjusted. Laser diodes of seven wavelengths (532, 635, 650, 780, 808, 850 and 1064 nm) were selected to illuminate the surface and light penetration pattern was evaluated on the basis of radial profiles. Profiles acquired at three wavelengths (532, 635 and 650 nm) were found to respond sensitively to adjusted parameters. As a result of drying, intensity decay was observed to move closer to incident point. Significant effect (p<0.01) of temperature, drying time and their interaction was found on extracted descriptive attributes of intensity profiles: full width at half maximum (FWHM), distance of inflection point (DIP) and slope of logarithmic decay (SLD). Beyond their presence, antioxidant concentration was neutral factor without significant contribution to the model. Results were in agreement with reference spectroscopic measurements, especially with NDVI index. Promising results suggest that evaluated method might be suitable for monitoring purposes during drying of fruits.

TS/Ph-7 aerial photo, Taylor Slough

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.

Hyponatremia in Endurance Athletes

The purpose of this paper was to identify the relationship between hyponatremia, or water intoxication, and endurance athletes. Athletic trainers and paramedics must be educated about this potentially fatal problem and be able to determine the appropriate treatment for a hyponatremic athlete.

Medical Curriculum at Selected Colleges: Foundations and Integrated Presentation of Basic Medical Sciences Distribution over Pre-Clerkship Period

Overview and statistics on the medical curriculum at Arizona, Emory, FIU, Rochester, and Vermont.

Geographic provenancing of unprocessed cotton using elemental analysis and stable isotope ratios

Cotton is the most abundant natural fiber in the world. Many countries are involved in the growing, importation, exportation and production of this commodity. Paper documentation claiming geographic origin is the current method employed at U.S. ports for identifying cotton sources and enforcing tariffs. Because customs documentation can be easily falsified, it is necessary to develop a robust method for authenticating or refuting the source of the cotton commodities. This work presents, for the first time, a comprehensive approach to the chemical characterization of unprocessed cotton in order to provide an independent tool to establish geographic origin. Elemental and stable isotope ratio analysis of unprocessed cotton provides a means to increase the ability to distinguish cotton in addition to any physical and morphological examinations that could be, and are currently performed. Elemental analysis has been conducted using LA-ICP-MS, LA-ICP-OES and LIBS in order to offer a direct comparison of the analytical performance of each technique and determine the utility of each technique for this purpose. Multivariate predictive modeling approaches are used to determine the potential of elemental and stable isotopic information to aide in the geographic provenancing of unprocessed cotton of both domestic and foreign origin. These approaches assess the stability of the profiles to temporal and spatial variation to determine the feasibility of this application. This dissertation also evaluates plasma conditions and ablation processes so as to improve the quality of analytical measurements made using atomic emission spectroscopy techniques. These interactions, in LIBS particularly, are assessed to determine any potential simplification of the instrumental design and method development phases. This is accomplished through the analysis of several matrices representing different physical substrates to determine the potential of adopting universal LIBS parameters for 532 nm and 1064 nm LIBS for some important operating parameters. A novel approach to evaluate both ablation processes and plasma conditions using a single measurement was developed and utilized to determine the "useful ablation efficiency" for different materials. The work presented here demonstrates the potential for an a priori prediction of some probable laser parameters important in analytical LIBS measurement.

Medical School Donor Recognition Reception Photo 59

http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/com_images/1064/thumbnail.jpg

A Look at Restaurant Commissaries

Restaurant commissaries range the full spectrum from simple storage of food and supplies to multi-million-dollar processing plants. The author discusses the cost effectiveness of commissary units, including their operating costs, quality control, and scope.

Development of Gene Expression Markers of Acute Heat-Light Stress in Reef-Building Corals of the Genus Porites

Coral reefs are declining worldwide due to increased incidence of climate-induced coral bleaching, which will have widespread biodiversity and economic impacts. A simple method to measure the sub-bleaching level of heat-light stress experienced by corals would greatly inform reef management practices by making it possible to assess the distribution of bleaching risks among individual reef sites. Gene expression analysis based on quantitative PCR (qPCR) can be used as a diagnostic tool to determine coral condition in situ. We evaluated the expression of 13 candidate genes during heat-light stress in a common Caribbean coral Porites astreoides, and observed strong and consistent changes in gene expression in two independent experiments. Furthermore, we found that the apparent return to baseline expression levels during a recovery phase was rapid, despite visible signs of colony bleaching. We show that the response to acute heat-light stress in P. astreoides can be monitored by measuring the difference in expression of only two genes: Hsp16 and actin. We demonstrate that this assay discriminates between corals sampled from two field sites experiencing different temperatures. We also show that the assay is applicable to an Indo-Pacific congener, P. lobata, and therefore could potentially be used to diagnose acute heat-light stress on coral reefs worldwide.

Factors affecting the alignment of *grades and reading scores for third-grade students on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test

The purpose of this study was to aid in understanding the relationship between current Reading report card grading practices and standards-based state standardized testing results in Reading and factors associated with the alignment of this relationship. Report card and Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FLAT) data for 2004 were collected for 1064 third grade students in nine schools of one feeder pattern in Florida's Miami-Dade County Public Schools. A Third Grade Teacher Questionnaire was administered to 48 Reading teachers. The questionnaire contained items relating to teachers' education, teaching experience, grading practices, and beliefs about the FCAT, instructional Reading activities, methods, and materials. ^ Findings of this study support a strong relationship between report card grades and FCAT Reading achievement levels. However, individual school correlational analysis showed significant differences among schools' alignment measures. Higher teacher alignment between grades and FCAT levels was associated with teachers spending more time on individualized methods of Reading instruction and to teachers feeling there was not enough time to teach and help individual students. Lower teacher alignment of grades and achievement levels was associated with teachers taking homework into account in the final Reading grade. Teacher alignment of grades and achievement levels was not associated with teacher beliefs concerning the FCAT, instructional activities in Reading and Language Arts, the Reading program used, the model of delivery of the Reading program, instruction or type of instructional planning done by the teachers. ^ This study highlights the need for further investigations related to determining additional teacher factors that may affect the alignment relationship between report card grades and standards-based state standardized testing results. ^

The Beacon, February 28, 2005

Vol. 17, Issue 43, 12 pages

To Adjust or Not to Adjust? A Seminar on the Cuban Adjustment Act

This flyer promotes the event "To Adjust or Not to Adjust? A Seminar on the Cuban Adjustment Act" and was cosponsored by the Cuban Research Institute and the FIU College of Law.

Understanding the role of Dimethylsulfoniopropionate as a potential chemotactic cue for coral-associated bacteria

Most reef-building corals are known to engage in non-pathogenic symbiosis not only with unicellular dinoflagellates from the genus Symbiodinium, but also with other microscopic organisms such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses. The functional details of these highly complex associations remain largely unclear. The impetus of this study is to gain a better understanding of the symbiotic interaction between marine bacteria and their coral host. Studies have shown that certain bacterial orders associate with specific certain coral species, thus making the symbiotic synergy a non-random consortium. Consequently both corals and bacteria may be capable of emitting chemical cues that enable both parties to find one another and thus generate the symbiosis. The production of these cues by the symbionts may be the result of environmental stimuli such as elevated ocean temperatures, increased water acidity, and even predation. One potential chemical cue could be the compound DMSP (Dimethylsulfoniopropionate) and its sulphur derivatives. Reef-building corals are believed to be the major producers of the DMSP during times of stress. Marine bacteria utilize DMSP as a source of sulfur and carbon. As a result corals could potentially attract their bacterial consortium depending on their DMSP production. This would enable them to adapt to fluctuating environmental conditions by changing their bacterial communities to that which may aid in survival. To test the hypothesis that coral-produced DMSP plays a role in attracting symbiotic bacteria, this study utilized the advent of high-throughput sequencing paired with chemotactic assays to determine the response of coral-associated bacterial isolates towards the DMSP compound at differing concentrations. Chemotaxis assays revealed that some isolates responded positively towards the DMSP compound. This finding adds to existing evidence suggesting that coral-associated pathogens utilize chemotaxis as a host colonization and detection mechanism. Thus the symbiotic bacteria that make up the coral microbiome may also employ this process. Furthermore this study demonstrates that bacterial motility may be a strong contributing factor in the response to the chemotactic cue. Swarming motility may be better suited for bacteria that need to respond to a chemical gradient on the surface of the coral. Therefore the isolates that were able to swarm seemed to respond more strongly to the DMSP.