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Agenda, December 23, 2009

Agendas and Minutes

No abstract provided.

Minutes, 2009 December 23

Agendas and Minutes

No abstract provided.

Volume 15, Number 4: November/December 2009, Suzanne Zack

UConn Libraries Newsletter

Page 2 The Vice Provost for University Libraries looks at how undergraduates are being supported by the library.

Faculty learn the nuances of making map mash-ups for their classes.

Page 3 Scholars come from throughout the U.S. and abroad to research at Archives & Special Collections at the Dodd Research Center.

Page 5 A trip to Kenya by a journalism professor opens a door to the world for his students.

Minutes December 14, 2009

Minutes

No abstract provided.

Agenda And Attachments, December 10, 2009

Agendas and Minutes

No abstract provided.

Minutes, 2009 December 10

Agendas and Minutes

No abstract provided.

Dna, Red Tide And The Sea: A New Exhibit At Mystic Aquarium & Ife, Margaret (Peg) A. Van_Patten

Wrack Lines

DNA, Red Tide and the Sea is a new exhibit at Mystic Aquarium & IFE. It was developed by UConn Marine Sciences Professor Senjie Lin, and Mystic Aquarium. Children can extract DNA from fruit and learn about genetic codes and red tides in the ocean.

Marine Spatial Planning Is Coming To An Ocean Near You, Robert S. Pomeroy

Wrack Lines

There are too many conflicting uses of the ocean in a time where resources are rapidly dwindling. Marine Spatial Planning is catching on globally, and may soon come to Long Island Sound, but it may be difficult to decide who gets to do what, where.

Looking Ahead To Spring's Returning Bounty: Natal Homing, Jason Vokoun, Benjamin Gahagan

Wrack Lines

Natal homing plays a part in fisheries restoration. This article describes research by Dr. Jason Vokoun and his students on otoliths in migratory finfish such as river herring, alewives, etc.

Tc17 Cd8 T Cells: Functional Plasticity And Subset Diversity, Adam J. Adler

UCHC Articles - Research

L-17-secreting CD8 T cells (Tc17) have been described in several settings, but little is known regarding their functional characteristics. While Tc1 cells produced IFN-γ and efficiently killed targets, Tc17 cells lacked lytic function in vitro. Interestingly, the small numbers of IFN-γ-positive or IL-17/IFN-γ-double-positive cells generated under Tc17 conditions also lacked lytic activity and expressed a similar pattern of cell surface proteins to IL-17-producing cells. As is the case for Th17 (CD4) cells, STAT3 is important for Tc17 polarization, both in vitro and in vivo. Adoptive transfer of highly purified, Ag-specific IL-17-secreting Tc17 cells into Ag-bearing hosts resulted in near complete …

Priming Deficiency In Male Subjects At Risk For Alcoholism: The N4 During A Lexical Decision Task, Lance O. Bauer

UCHC Articles - Research

Abstract

Background

While there is extensive literature on the relationship between the P3 component of event-related potentials (ERPs) and risk for alcoholism, there are few published studies regarding other potentially important ERP components. One important candidate is the N4(00) component in the context of semantic processing, as abnormalities in this component have been reported for adult alcoholics.

Method

A semantic priming task was administered to non-alcohol dependent male offspring (18 to 25 years) of alcoholic fathers [high risk (HR) n=23] and non-alcoholic fathers [low risk (LR) n=28], to study whether the two groups differ in terms of the N4 component. …

Effect Of Hcv Rna Suppression During Peginterferon Alfa-2a Maintenance Therapy On Clinical Outcomes In The Halt-C Trial, Herbert L. Bonkovsky

UCHC Articles - Research

Background and Aims

The HALT-C trial demonstrated that low-dose peginterferon maintenance therapy was ineffective in preventing clinical outcomes in patients with chronic hepatitis C, advanced fibrosis and failure to achieve a sustained virologic response during lead-in phase treatment with standard dose peginterferon/ribavirin. This analysis was performed to determine if suppressing HCV RNA during the trial was associated with a reduction in clinical outcomes.

Methods

764 patients treated during the lead-in phase of HALT-C were randomized to either peginterferon alfa-2a (90 mcg/week) maintenance therapy or no treatment (control) for 3.5 years. Clinical outcomes included an increase in Child-Turcotte-Pugh score, ascites, spontaneous …

The Evolution Of Copyright Law In The Arts, Kevin Liftig

Honors Scholar Theses

As digital storage of intellectual goods such as literature and music has become widespread, the duplication and unlicensed distribution of these goods has become a frequent source of legal contention. When technology for production and replication of intellectual goods advanced, there were disputes concerning the rights to produce and duplicate these works. As new technologies have made copies of intellectual goods more accessible, legal institutions have largely moved to protect the rights of ownership of ideas through copyright laws. This paper will examine key changes in the technology that affect intellectual property, and the responses that legal institutions have made …

Coping Methods And Meaning Making Of Liberian Refugees In The Buduburam Refugee Camp Of Ghana, Abena Gyamfuah Sarfo-Mensah

Honors Scholar Theses

The mental health of war-impacted individuals has been an issue of growing concern to many researchers and practitioners internationally (Miller, Kulkarni, & Kushner, 2006). According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2006a), Africans are disproportionately impacted by conflict-related displacement. To date, however, much of the research on the mental health of refugees has been based mostly on Western views of health and trauma. The current study is a mixed-methods investigation of stressors, coping strategies, and meaning making of Liberian refugees in the Buduburam Refugee Camp of Ghana. Results from the Brief COPE, focus groups, and semi-structured ethnographic interviews …

School Of Medicine Academic Plan, 2009-2014

Annual Reports - Education

The University of Connecticut School of Medicine is the only public medical school in the state and one of only three public medical schools in the New England. Consequently, it plays a pivotal role in education, research, and healthcare delivery in both the state and the region. The primary mission of the School of Medicine is education at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels for practitioners, teachers, and researchers, conducted in an environment of exemplary patient care, research, and public service.

Minutes November 9, 2009

Minutes

No abstract provided.

Agenda And Attachments, November 5, 2009

Agendas and Minutes

No abstract provided.

Minutes, 2009 November 5

Agendas and Minutes

No abstract provided.

Alcohol Use And Gender Effects On Hiv Risk Behaviors In Cocaine-Using Methadone Patients, Carla J. Rash, Nancy M. Petry

UCHC Articles - Research

Injection drug users engage in behaviors that increase the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other infectious diseases. Although methadone maintenance (MM) is highly effective in decreasing heroin use and the spread of HIV, polydrug use, especially the combined use of cocaine and alcohol, is common in MM patients. Alcohol use is independently associated with HIV risk behaviors, and the effects of alcohol use on risk behaviors may vary by gender. This study evaluated the effects of recent heavy alcohol use and gender with respect to HIV risk behaviors in 118 cocaine-abusing methadone patients. Both lifetime and past month …

Individualized Assessment And Treatment Program For Alcohol Dependence: Results Of An Initial Study To Train Coping Skills, Mark D. Litt, Ronald M. Kadden, Elise Kabela-Cormier

UCHC Articles - Research

Cognitive-behavioral treatments (CBT) are among the most popular interventions offered for alcohol and other substance use disorders, but it is not clear how they achieve their effects. CBT is purported to exert its beneficial effects by altering coping skills, but data supporting coping changes as the mechanism of action are mixed. The purpose of this pilot study was to test a treatment in which coping skills were trained in a highly individualized way, allowing us to determine if such training would result in an effective treatment. Conclusions The IATP approach was more successful than PCBT at training adaptive coping responses …

Rna-Guided Rna Cleavage By A Crispr Rna-Cas Protein Complex, Brenton R. Graveley, Sara Olson, Michael O. Duff

UCHC Articles - Research

Compelling evidence indicates that the CRISPR-Cas system protects prokaryotes from viruses and other potential genome invaders. This adaptive prokaryotic immune system arises from the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) found in prokaryotic genomes, which harbor short invader-derived sequences, and the CRISPR-associated (Cas) protein-coding genes. Here we have identified a CRISPR-Cas effector complex that is comprised of small invader-targeting RNAs from the CRISPR loci (termed prokaryotic silencing (psi)RNAs) and the RAMP module (or Cmr) Cas proteins. The psiRNA-Cmr protein complexes cleave complementary target RNAs at a fixed distance from the 3' end of the integral psiRNAs. In Pyrococcus furiosus …

Control Of Electrochemical And Ferryloxy Formation Kinetics Of Cyt P450s In Polyion Films By Heme Iron Spin State And Secondary Structure, Sadagopan Krishnan, Amila Abeykoon, John B. Schenkman, James F. Rusling

UCHC Articles - Research

Voltammetry of cytochrome P450 (cyt P450) enzymes in ultrathin films with polyions was related for the first time to electronic and secondary structure. Heterogeneous electron transfer (hET) rate constants for reduction of the cyt P450s depended on heme iron spin state, with low spin cyt P450cam giving a value 40-fold larger than high spin human cyt P450 1A2, with mixed spin human P450 cyt 2E1 at an intermediate value. Asymmetric reduction–oxidation peak separations with increasing scan rates were explained by simulations featuring faster oxidation than reduction. Results are consistent with a square scheme in which oxidized and reduced forms of …

Undergraduate Engineering Students' Understanding Of Heat, Temperature, And Radiation, Katharyn E.K. Nottis, Michael Prince, Margot Vigeant, Sarah Nelson, Kathryn Hartsock

NERA Conference Proceedings 2009

Difficulty understanding heat and temperature concepts has been recognized in engineering education. Confusion has been shown to persist after instruction. The purpose of this study was to determine whether undergraduate engineering students’ knowledge of four heat transfer concept areas significantly changed with instruction and whether this varied by major and GPA. Two hundred twenty-eight undergraduate engineering students from six institutions were assessed prior to and after instruction. Results showed significant improvement in most concept areas but mean scores were below mastery. Previously documented misconceptions persisted after instruction. Significant differences were found by major and GPA. Suggestions for future research provided.

Developing A Scale To Assess Self-Efficacy For Response To Intervention Practices In Schools, Susan K. Barnes, Melinda S. Burchard

NERA Conference Proceedings 2009

Response to Intervention (RTI) is an educational model required by the No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This multi-tiered approach integrates ongoing assessment of individual student progress with targeted instruction, a process previously reserved for students with special needs. Educators are required to use RTI to monitor all children, even those not identified for special services. Effective educators need training in selecting appropriate instruments and conducting accurate assessments. This presentation describes the development of a scale to measure self-efficacy of educators using RTI to better identify areas in which educators need additional support.

The Impact Of Tagging/Metadata Creation Exercises On College Freshmen’S Metacognitive Skills, Hilary Wilder

NERA Conference Proceedings 2009

Tagging is the process of specifying keywords, categories, and other identifying information for online informational and creative pieces such as photos, audio clips, video clips and text pages so that it can be searched for and located by others as well as semantically connected to similar objects on the Web. It was hypothesized that the repeated process of tagging objects and then receiving feedback from peers who try to use the tags to select the correct object as part of an online game-like activity would lead to improved epistemological skills.

High Stakes Testing Literature Review And Critique, Youness Elbousty

NERA Conference Proceedings 2009

Standardized testing has been long established in most of the schools in United States. States have attached "high stakes" to tests as a response to the federal law NCLB. Under this law, schools had to develop or alter their assessments which are administered to gauge school progress. While many agree that high‐stakes testing has an impact on students; studies have been conducted to vet whether such impact has propitious or harmful outcomes. In this paper, I review and critique the literature on high stakes testing coupled with a close scrutiny of the research methods utilized in the articles under review.

The New York City Teaching Fellows Program: A Case Study In Alternative Certification In Mathematics, Brian Evans

NERA Conference Proceedings 2009

The purpose of this study is to understand the mathematical content knowledge new teachers have before and after taking a mathematics methods course in the New York City Teaching Fellows program. Further, the purpose is to understand attitudes toward mathematics Teaching Fellows have over the course of the semester. Findings revealed a significant increase in mathematical content knowledge and positive attitudes toward mathematics. Relationships were found between attitudes and self-efficacy. Finally, Teaching Fellows found that classroom management was the biggest issue in their teaching, and that problem solving and numeracy were the most important topics addressed in the methods course.

An International Professional Development Collaboration In Literacy Education, Miriam Pepper-Sanello, Adrienne Andi Sosin

NERA Conference Proceedings 2009

An International Professional Development Collaboration in Literacy Education is a report of an international professional development project in Guatemala designed to improve literacy instructional practices and thereby raise student achievement in reading and writing. The opportunity for coaching Guatemalan teachers in teaching literacy strategies and skills provides data for this participatory action research study. This research is intended to contribute to cross-cultural understanding by graduate and undergraduate students in literacy, improved pedagogical techniques, international outreach in developing countries, and student academic success worldwide.

Validating The Instrument: Students' Perceptions On Learning Calculus, Su Liang

NERA Conference Proceedings 2009

The purpose of this study is to develop and validate the instrument, Students’ Perceptions on Learning Calculus. The SPLC contains three scales and 31 items. The three scales include Usefulness of Calculus, Professor Efficacy, and Work Ethic. The surveys were given to the students who registered for Calculus I, Calculus II, and Business Calculus at Uconn in spring, 2009. 340 students completed the survey. An exploratory analysis was applied to validate the instrument. Using principal axis factoring with oblique rotation, the analysis suggests that 7 items should be dropped and that the remaining 24 items are best represented by the …

The Relationship Of Student Demographics To 10th Grade Mcas Test Anxiety, Peggy Mccaleb-Kahan, Rolfe Wenner

NERA Conference Proceedings 2009

The intensification of consequential testing situations is associated with an increase in anxiety among American students (Casbarro, 2005). Test anxiety can have negative effects on student test performance (Everson, Millsap, & Rodriguez, 1991). If test anxiety has the potential to decrease students’ test scores, it becomes a factor that can threaten the validity of any inferences drawn between test scores and student progress (Cizek & Burg, 2006).

There are several factors that relate closely to test anxiety (Cizek & Burg, 2006). Variables of key influence include gender, socioeconomic status, and teacher-manifested anxiety (Hembree, 1988). Another influence upon test anxiety is …