Showing papers by "Doane College published in 2020"

Financial Goal Setting, Financial Anxiety, and Solution-Focused Financial Therapy (SFFT): A Quasi-experimental Outcome Study

Abstract: Financial anxiety appears to have a significant effect on the lives of many Americans (APA Stress in America™, paying with our health, American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, 2015) and a source of client distress among mental health clinicians, financial professionals, and financial therapists Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) has been utilized in number disciplines as a way to help professionals interact with clients to create change and improve well-being This study utilized a version of SFBT that applies its principles and techniques to financially related issues called Solution-Focused Financial Therapy (SFFT; Archuleta et al in J Financial Ther 6(1):1–16, 2015a; in Financial therapy: theory, research, & practice, Springer, New York, 2015b) More specifically, SFFT was applied to a financial goal setting session Using quasi-experimental methods, the purpose of this study was to discover whether or not financial anxiety levels were reduced after clients participated in a brief SFFT goal setting session Results indicate that a SFFT approach to goal setting can reduce financial anxiety for the short-term Implications for research and mental health, financial, and financial therapy practice are provided

Microbial processing of plant remains is co-limited by multiple nutrients in global grasslands.

Abstract: Microbial processing of aggregate-unprotected organic matter inputs is key for soil fertility, long-term ecosystem carbon and nutrient sequestration and sustainable agriculture. We investigated the effects of adding multiple nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium plus nine essential macro- and micro-nutrients) on decomposition and biochemical transformation of standard plant materials buried in 21 grasslands from four continents. Addition of multiple nutrients weakly but consistently increased decomposition and biochemical transformation of plant remains during the peak-season, concurrent with changes in microbial exoenzymatic activity. Higher mean annual precipitation and lower mean annual temperature were the main climatic drivers of higher decomposition rates, while biochemical transformation of plant remains was negatively related to temperature of the wettest quarter. Nutrients enhanced decomposition most at cool, high rainfall sites, indicating that in a warmer and drier future fertilized grassland soils will have an even more limited potential for microbial processing of plant remains.

USP11 deubiquitinates monoubiquitinated SPRTN to repair DNA-protein crosslinks

Abstract: DNA-protein crosslinks (DPCs) are toxic DNA lesions that interfere with DNA metabolic processes such as replication, transcription and recombination. SPRTN is a replication-coupled DNA-dependent metalloprotease that cleaves proteins crosslinked to DNA to promote DPC repair. SPRTN function is tightly regulated by a monoubiquitin switch that controls SPRTN chromatin accessibility during DPC repair. The deubiquitinase regulating SPRTN function in DPC repair is unknown. Here, we identify USP11 as a SPRTN deubiquitinase. USP11 interacts with SPRTN and cleaves monoubiquitinated SPRTN in cells and in vitro. USP11 depletion impairs SPRTN deubiquitination in response to formaldehyde-induced DPCs. Loss of USP11 causes an accumulation of unrepaired DPCs and cellular hypersensitivity to treatment with DPC-inducing agents. Our findings elucidate the function of USP11 in the regulation of SPRTN monoubiquitination and SPRTN-mediated DPC repair.

A collection of Serratia marcescens differing in their insect pathogenicity towards Manduca sexta larvae

Abstract: We investigated the ability of Serratia marcescens to kill Manduca sexta (tobacco/tomato hornworm) larvae following injection of ca. 5 × 105 bacteria into the insect hemolymph. Fifteen bacterial strains were examined, including 12 non-pigmented clinical isolates from humans. They fell into 6 groups depending on the timing and rate at which they caused larval death. Relative insect toxicity was not correlated with pigmentation, colony morphology, biotype, motility, capsule formation, iron availability, surfactant production, swarming ability, antibiotic resistance, bacteriophage susceptibility, salt tolerance, nitrogen utilitization patterns, or the production of 4 exoenzymes: proteases, DNase, lipase, or phospholipase. There were marked differences in chitinase production, the types of homoserine lactone (HSL) quorum sensing molecules produced, and the blood agar hemolysis patterns observed. However, none of these differences correlated with the six insect larval virulence groups. Thus, the actual offensive or defensive virulence factors possessed by these strains remain unidentified. The availability of this set of S. marcescens strains, covering the full range from highly virulent to non-virulent, should permit future genomic comparisons to identify the precise mechanisms of larval toxicity.

Benefits of a College STEM Faculty Development Initiative: Instructors Report Increased and Sustained Implementation of Research-Based Instructional Strategies

Abstract: The Summer Institutes on Scientific Teaching (SI) is a faculty development workshop in which science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instructors, particularly from biology, are trained in the Scientific Teaching (ST) pedagogy. While participants have generally reported positive experiences, we aimed to assess how the SI affected participants' teaching practices. Building on a previously developed taxonomy of ST practices, we surveyed SI participants from the 2004-2014 SI classes regarding specific ST practices. Participants' self-reported use and implementation of ST practices increased immediately after SI attendance as well as over a longer time frame, suggesting that implementation persisted and even increased with time. However, instructors reported implementation gains for some practices more than others. The practices with the highest gains were engaging students in their own learning, using learning goals in course design, employing formative assessment, developing overarching course learning goals, representing science as a process, and facilitating group discussion activities. We propose that the ST practices showing the greatest gains may serve as beneficial focal points for professional development programs, while practices with smaller gains may require modified dissemination approaches or support structures.

Through the Lens of a Millennial: Opening the Aperture of Millennials’ Views of Leaders

Abstract: As more women joined the workforce in the last few decades, scholars have continued to research why women do not occupy more senior levels of leadership. While many variables have been researched, a pervasive theory is that women are expected to act in communal ways, but leadership is described as agentic; typically attributed to male behaviors. Namely, women in more senior roles must display male, agentic behaviors to be perceived as a credible leader, yet still maintain their communal traits to avoid being perceived as duplicitous. With more females in the workplace, acting as new exemplars for the millennial workforce, have the views of leadership changed to be less agentic? This quantitative study investigated; whether male millennials in the workforce maintain as agentic a view of leadership as their predecessors, whether female millennials in the workforce maintain as agentic a view of leadership as their predecessors, and whether the presence of women in leadership roles has influenced leadership behaviors in either gender. In this study, millennials are surveyed regarding the most important leadership characteristics and how gender undulates through the perceived effectiveness. The researchers found that leadership descriptors are more gender-agnostic, influencing a broader view of how leadership is seen across both genders. The implications for this finding are that millennials are softening the more traditional view of agentic leadership and expanding leadership to include more communal traits.

Characterizing expression of candidate genes of a glutamate receptor pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana using real-time RT-PCR

Abstract: The Arabidopsis thaliana genome contains twenty genes that are analogous to mammalian ionotropic glutamate receptors. There are sixteen mammalian glutamate receptors, which are best known for their roles in neuroplasticity, learning, and memory. The large number of glutamate receptors in A. thaliana suggests they play important roles in the plant9s growth and development, possibly serving to regulate function like they do in non-excitable mammalian tissues. A specific glutamate receptor, GLR3.3, is highly expressed in root tissue of plants, and has been found to promote stronger, more coordinated curvature development during the process of gravitropism. Gravitropism is the ability of a plant to change its orientation to that of the gravity vector when displaced from its gravitational set point angle (GSPA). A previous association study identified six candidate genes which were correlated with the same phenotypic characteristics of gravitropism as GLR3.3. Utilizing real time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) expression profiles were created for each candidate gene, including GLR3.3. A qRT-PCR method was developed to provide a more quantitative and sensitive way for measuring gene expression than traditional PCR methods. Furthermore, MIQE (Minimum Information for Publication of Quantitative Real-Time PCR Experiments) guidelines were followed to ensure data robustness. Expression profiles that were similar to GLR3.3 were hypothesized to be good candidates as cell signaling components of this novel pathway. This is the beginning of a process that will identify a GLR-dependent pathway, the role of this novel pathway in the gravitropic response, and the influence of GLRs in plant physiology.

God* does not exist: a novel logical problem of evil

Abstract: I often tell my students that the only thing that is not controversial in philosophy is that everything else in it is controversial. While this might be a bit of an exaggeration, it does contain a kernel of truth, as many exaggerations do: philosophy is a highly contentious discipline. So it is remarkable the extent to which there is agreement in the philosophy of religion amongst theists, agnostics, and atheists alike that John Mackie’s argument for atheism is either invalid or unsound. As a result, the focus has entirely shifted from the logical problem of evil to the so-called evidential one. But I think that this is a mistake, not necessarily because I think Mackie’s argument is sound, but rather because I reject an assumption made by apparently all parties to the debate, which is that there is only one logical problem of evil. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to defend a deductive argument that God* does not exist. As far as I can tell, the basic idea of this argument is a novel one: while Mackie’s argument (and much of the discussion that occurs in its wake) has a more or less consequentialist framework, mine has a deontological one. The evil of which I will speak is that of our having been thrown into the world.

Digital Imaging and Vision Analysis in Science Project improves the self-efficacy and skill of undergraduate students in computational work

Abstract: In many areas of science, the ability to use computers to process, analyze, and visualize large data sets has become essential. The mismatch between the ability to generate large data sets and the computing skill to analyze them is arguably the most striking within the life sciences. The Digital Image and Vision Applications in Science (DIVAS) project describes a scaffolded series of interventions implemented over the span of a year to build the coding and computing skill of undergraduate students majoring primarily in the natural sciences. The program is designed as a community of practice, providing support within a network of learners. The program focus, images as data, provides a compelling ‘hook’ for participating scholars. Scholars begin the program with a one-credit spring semester seminar where they are exposed to image analysis. The program continues in the summer with a one-week, intensive Python and image processing workshop. From there, scholars tackle image analysis problems using a pair programming approach and finish the summer with independent research. Finally, scholars participate in a follow-up seminar the following spring and help onramp the next cohort of incoming scholars. We observed promising growth in participant self-efficacy in computing that was maintained throughout the project as well as significant growth in key computational skills. DIVAS program funding was able to support seventeen DIVAS over three years, with 76% of DIVAS scholars identifying as women and 14% of scholars being members of an underrepresented minority group. Most scholars (82%) entered the program as freshmen, with 89% of DIVAS scholars retained for the duration of the program and 100% of scholars remaining a STEM major one year after completing the program. The outcomes of the DIVAS project support the efficacy of building computational skill through repeated exposure of scholars to relevant applications over an extended period within a community of practice.

Using computational modeling to teach metabolism as a dynamic system improves student performance

Abstract: Understanding metabolic function requires knowledge of the dynamics, interdependence, and regulation of biochemical networks. However, current approaches are not optimal to develop the needed mechanistic understanding, and misconceptions about biological processes persist even after graduation. To address these issues, we developed a computational modeling and simulation approach that employs scaffolded learning to teach biochemistry students about the regulation of metabolism. The power of the approach lies in students’ abilities to alter any component or connection in a modeled system and instantly observe the effects of their changes. We find that students who use our approach perform better on biochemistry metabolism questions compared to students in a course that did not use this approach. We also investigated performance by gender and found that our modules may have the potential to increase equity in education. We noted that students are generally positive about the approach and appreciate its benefits. Our modules provide life science instructors with a dynamic and systems-driven approach to teach metabolic regulation and control that improves learning and also equips students with important technical skills.

Sequencing and Annotation of Duggie and Hocus, Two Subcluster B1 Mycobacteriophages.

Abstract: Two mycobacteriophage genomes were newly sequenced and annotated. Duggie and Hocus were discovered, enriched, and isolated from soil using Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155. The bacteriophages are lytic Siphoviridae and belong to the B1 subcluster. The Hocus and Duggie genomes are highly similar to one another in both nucleotide sequence and gene content.