Connecticut College

About: Connecticut College is a education organization based out in New London, Connecticut, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Luciferase. The organization has 1419 authors who have published 2188 publications receiving 67427 citations. The organization is also known as: Conn College & Conn.

School Engagement: Potential of the Concept, State of the Evidence

Abstract: The concept of school engagement has attracted increasing attention as representing a possible antidote to declining academic motivation and achievement. Engagement is presumed to be malleable, responsive to contextual features, and amenable to environmental change. Researchers describe behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement and recommend studying engagement as a multifaceted construct. This article reviews definitions, measures, precursors, and outcomes of engagement; discusses limitations in the existing research; and suggests improvements. The authors conclude that, although much has been learned, the potential contribution of the concept of school engagement to research on student experience has yet to be realized. They call for richer characterizations of how students behave, feel, and think—research that could aid in the development of finely tuned interventions

Isolation of an autotrophic ammonia-oxidizing marine archaeon

Abstract: For years, microbiologists characterized the Archaea as obligate extremophiles that thrive in environments too harsh for other organisms. The limited physiological diversity among cultivated Archaea suggested that these organisms were metabolically constrained to a few environmental niches. For instance, all Crenarchaeota that are currently cultivated are sulphur-metabolizing thermophiles. However, landmark studies using cultivation-independent methods uncovered vast numbers of Crenarchaeota in cold oxic ocean waters. Subsequent molecular surveys demonstrated the ubiquity of these low-temperature Crenarchaeota in aquatic and terrestrial environments. The numerical dominance of marine Crenarchaeota--estimated at 10(28) cells in the world's oceans--suggests that they have a major role in global biogeochemical cycles. Indeed, isotopic analyses of marine crenarchaeal lipids suggest that these planktonic Archaea fix inorganic carbon. Here we report the isolation of a marine crenarchaeote that grows chemolithoautotrophically by aerobically oxidizing ammonia to nitrite--the first observation of nitrification in the Archaea. The autotrophic metabolism of this isolate, and its close phylogenetic relationship to environmental marine crenarchaeal sequences, suggests that nitrifying marine Crenarchaeota may be important to global carbon and nitrogen cycles.

Children's competence and value beliefs from childhood through adolescence: growth trajectories in two male-sex-typed domains.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to document gender differences in children's competence and value beliefs (N =514) from the 1st through 12th grades and to investigate the relation of these trends to initial differences in parents' perceptions of children's ability. Six separate growth models were tested: math competence, math interest, math importance, sports competence, sports interest, and sports importance. Across all 6 models, children's self-perceptions declined from 1st grade to 12th grade. Gender differences in competence and value beliefs were found. The gap between boys' and girls' competence beliefs decreased over time. In addition, parents' initial ratings of children's ability helped to explain mean level differences and variations in the rate of change in children's beliefs over time, with the effect being strongest in the sports models.

Coastal eutrophication as a driver of salt marsh loss

Abstract: A nine-year whole-ecosystem experiment demonstrates that nutrient enrichment, a global problem in coastal ecosystems, can be a driver of salt-marsh loss. Salt marshes provide important ecosystem services such as storm protection for coastal cities, nutrient removal and carbon sequestration, but despite protective measures these ecosystems are in decline. Nine years of data from a whole-ecosystem nutrient-enrichment experiment now demonstrate that current levels of coastal nutrient loading can alter key salt-marsh-ecosystem properties, leading to the collapse of creek banks and, ultimately, the conversion of salt marsh into mudflat. The potential deterioration of coastal marshes owing to eutrophication adds another dimension to the challenge of managing nitrogen while meeting food-production demands in the twenty-first century. Salt marshes are highly productive coastal wetlands that provide important ecosystem services such as storm protection for coastal cities, nutrient removal and carbon sequestration. Despite protective measures, however, worldwide losses of these ecosystems have accelerated in recent decades1. Here we present data from a nine-year whole-ecosystem nutrient-enrichment experiment. Our study demonstrates that nutrient enrichment, a global problem for coastal ecosystems2,3,4, can be a driver of salt marsh loss. We show that nutrient levels commonly associated with coastal eutrophication increased above-ground leaf biomass, decreased the dense, below-ground biomass of bank-stabilizing roots, and increased microbial decomposition of organic matter. Alterations in these key ecosystem properties reduced geomorphic stability, resulting in creek-bank collapse with significant areas of creek-bank marsh converted to unvegetated mud. This pattern of marsh loss parallels observations for anthropogenically nutrient-enriched marshes worldwide, with creek-edge and bay-edge marsh evolving into mudflats and wider creeks5,6,7. Our work suggests that current nutrient loading rates to many coastal ecosystems have overwhelmed the capacity of marshes to remove nitrogen without deleterious effects. Projected increases in nitrogen flux to the coast, related to increased fertilizer use required to feed an expanding human population, may rapidly result in a coastal landscape with less marsh, which would reduce the capacity of coastal regions to provide important ecological and economic services.