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El siguiente trabajo se deriva de la investigación que establece como objetivo, analizar las trasformaciones generadas en la producción textual en los estudiantes de grado cuarto de la institución educativa el Chiquí y la enseñanza de la escritura docente, luego de la implementación de una estrategia pedagógica de escritura creativa con enfoque sociocultural. Los objetivos específicos fueron: Identificar las características de la producción textual en los estudiantes; caracterizar las prácticas de enseñanza de la escritura de la docente; determinar los rasgos de diseño de una estrategia pedagógica ( secuencia didáctica) y evaluar los resultados de la implementación de dicha estrategia, esto a través de diferentes técnicas de recolección de información como: observaciones, entrevistas y talleres diagnósticos; por lo tanto, el proyecto se enmarca en el paradigma sociocritico, con un enfoque de tipo cualitativo, bajo los preceptos del método de investigación acción; lo cual permitió analizar la realidad del ámbito académico, identificando los procesos de enseñanza aprendizaje desde la competencia escritural; concluyendo a su vez, que la producción textual transmitida a través de la escritura creativa dentro del contexto escolar, es necesaria, puesto que permite abrir espacios de imaginación e inventiva que conlleven al estudiante a romper paradigmas de enseñanzas tradicionales, ya que el acto de escribir es una habilidad que no mide límites y que actúa como parte esencial del engranaje sociocultural que necesita el ser humano para poder comunicarse.

Carbon and water cycle dynamics of vegetation are controlled primarily by photosynthesis and stomatal conductance (gs). Our goal is to improve the representation of these key physiological processes within the JULES land surface model, with a particular focus on refining the temperature sensitivity of photosynthesis, impacting modelled carbon, energy and water fluxes. We test (1) an implementation of the Farquhar et al. (1980) photosynthesis scheme and associated plant functional type-dependent photosynthetic temperature response functions, (2) the optimality-based gs scheme from Medlyn et al. (2011) and (3) the Kattge and Knorr (2007) photosynthetic capacity thermal acclimation scheme. New parameters for each model configuration are adopted from recent large observational datasets that synthesise global experimental data. These developments to JULES incorporate current physiological understanding of vegetation behaviour into the model and enable users to derive direct links between model parameters and ongoing measurement campaigns that refine such parameter values. Replacement of the original Collatz et al. (1991) C3 photosynthesis model with the Farquhar scheme results in large changes in GPP for the current day, with ∼ 10 % reduction in seasonal (June–August, JJA, and December–February, DJF) mean GPP in tropical forests and ∼ 20 % increase in the northern high-latitude forests in JJA. The optimality-based gs model decreases the latent heat flux for the present day (∼ 10 %, with an associated increase in sensible heat flux) across regions dominated by needleleaf evergreen forest in the Northern Hemisphere summer. Thermal acclimation of photosynthesis coupled with the Medlyn gs scheme reduced tropical forest GPP by up to 5 % and increased GPP in the high-northern-latitude forests by between 2 % and 5 %. Evaluation of simulated carbon and water fluxes by each model configuration against global data products shows this latter configuration generates improvements in these key areas. Thermal acclimation of photosynthesis coupled with the Medlyn gs scheme improved modelled carbon fluxes in tropical and high-northern-latitude forests in JJA and improved the simulation of evapotranspiration across much of the Northern Hemisphere in JJA. Having established good model performance for the contemporary period, we force this new version of JULES offline with a future climate scenario corresponding to rising atmospheric greenhouse gases (Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP5), Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5)). In particular, these calculations allow for understanding of the effects of long-term warming. We find that the impact of thermal acclimation coupled with the optimality-based gs model on simulated fluxes increases latent heat flux (+50 %) by the year 2050 compared to the JULES model configuration without acclimation. This new JULES configuration also projects increased GPP across tropical (+10 %) and northern-latitude regions (+30 %) by 2050. We conclude that thermal acclimation of photosynthesis with the Farquhar photosynthesis scheme and the new optimality-based gs scheme together improve the simulation of carbon and water fluxes for the current day and have a large impact on modelled future carbon cycle dynamics in a warming world.

Objective To compare new bone formation in mandibular symphysis critical-sized bone defects (CSBDs) in healthy and osteoporotic rats filled with bioceramics (BCs) with or without buccal fat pad mesenchymal stem cells (BFPSCs). Materials and methods Thirty-two adult female Sprague–Dawley rats were randomized to two groups (n = 16 per group): group 1 healthy and group 2 osteoporotic (with bilateral ovariectomy). The central portion of the rat mandibular symphysis was used as a physiological CSBD. In each group, eight defects were filled with BC (hydroxyapatite 60% and β-tricalcium phosphate 40%) alone and eight with BFPSCs cultured on BC. The animals were sacrificed at 4 and 8 weeks, and the mandibles were processed for micro-computed tomography to analyze radiological union and bone mineral density (BMD); histological analysis of the bone union; and immunohistochemical analysis, which included immunoreactivity of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2). Results In both groups, CSBDs filled with BC + BFPSCs showed greater radiological bone union, BMD and histological bone union, and more VEGF and BMP-2 positivity, compared with CSBDs treated with BC alone at 4 and 8 weeks. Conclusions The application of BFPSCs cultured on BCs improves bone regeneration in CSBDs compared with BCs alone in healthy and osteoporotic rats. Clinical relevance Our results may aid bone regeneration of maxillofacial CSBDs of both healthy and osteoporotic patients, but further studies are necessary.

Climate warming is causing compositional changes in Andean tropical montane forests (TMFs). These shifts are hypothesised to result from differential responses to warming of cold- and warm-affiliated species, with the former experiencing mortality and the latter migrating upslope. The thermal acclimation potential of Andean TMFs remains unknown.Along a 2000 m Andean altitudinal gradient, we planted individuals of cold- and warm-affiliated species (under common soil and irrigation), exposing them to the hot and cold extremes of their thermal niches, respectively. We measured the response of net photosynthesis (Anet), photosynthetic capacity and leaf dark respiration (Rdark) to warming/cooling, 5 months after planting.In all species, Anet and photosynthetic capacity at 25°C were highest when growing at growth temperatures (Tg) closest to their thermal means, declining with warming and cooling in cold-affiliated and warm-affiliated species, respectively. When expressed at Tg, photosynthetic capacity and Rdark remained unchanged in cold-affiliated species, but the latter decreased in warm-affiliated counterparts. Rdark at 25°C increased with temperature in all species, but remained unchanged when expressed at Tg.Both species groups acclimated to temperature, but only warm-affiliated species decreased Rdark to photosynthetic capacity ratio at Tg as temperature increased. This could confer them a competitive advantage under future warming.

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public Institution(s). Main funding source(s): Research reported in this abstract was supported by the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R44HL158375 (the content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health). Background Placing lesions at the same point (stacking lesions) in the left atrium during radiofrequency (RF) ablation can increase the risk of collateral injury. The use of active esophageal cooling has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of thermal injury to the esophagus, but stacking of lesions may overcome these protective effects. Longer pauses between lesions may reduce this risk, but the effect of very short pauses has not been previously quantified. Purpose To examine the impact of ultra-short pauses between stacked lesions with and without active esophageal cooling. Methods Using a computational model of the left atrium, we measured the effect of RF ablation in the left atrium on injury formation in the esophagus. Models with and without active esophageal cooling, using a dedicated esophageal cooling device, were created. Using a power of 50 W for 10 s, with up to 3 sequential lesions placed in the same location, we used the Arrhenius equation to quantify the fraction of damage (FOD) in the esophageal wall. The time between lesions was set to as short as 1 s, and results were compared to prior studies using longer pauses of up to 20 s. To account for thermal latency, measures of esophageal damage were taken both immediately after RF ablation, and again 90 s afterwards. Results With active cooling in place, esophageal injury was eliminated with active esophageal cooling after the first lesion placement, but reached 21% transmurality without cooling. Lesion transmurality increased after each lesion due to thermal latency, but active esophageal cooling prevented this effect when only one lesion was placed. Subsequent lesions resulted in esophageal injury when placed in the same location. After 3 lesions with 1 s pauses between each, esophageal injury transmurality reached 91% without cooling in place, and 22% with active cooling in place (Figure 1). In contrast, analysis of the intended lesions in the atrial wall demonstrated minimal effects from cooling (Figure 2). Conclusions Active esophageal cooling significantly reduces esophageal injury from RF ablation, but placing additional lesions at the same point can overcome the heat extraction capacity of a dedicated cooling device. Decreased time between lesions exacerbates this risk, with an ultra-short pause of one second posing the greatest risk.

The Amazon is the largest continuous tropical forest in the world and plays a key role in the global carbon cycle. Human-induced disturbances (e.g., deforestation and wildfires) in combination with climate change have impacted its carbon cycling. However, uncertainties remain on the magnitude of carbon fluxes associated with human-induced disturbances and the old-growth forest sink, and thus the net land carbon balance of the Amazon. Here we synthesize state-of-the-art estimates of the land carbon flux components in the Amazon. To quantify the human-disturbance fluxes from deforestation, land use and land cover changes and degradation, we use a set of bookkeeping models. The annual intact sink was quantified using a set of 16 Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs). We then combine the carbon flux estimates from disturbances with the intact sink estimates to provide a bottom-up estimate of the net land carbon flux and compare them alongside top-down estimates from atmospheric model inversions. Between 2010 and 2018, the net land carbon flux in the Brazilian Amazon estimated with the bottom-up approach was -59 (±160) Tg C yr-1 and +36 (±125) Tg C yr-1 with the top-down approach. Despite disagreeing on the sign of the flux, this analysis suggests that the Brazilian Amazon was on average near carbon neutral over the 2010-2018 period, given the large uncertainties underlying both methods. The net land carbon fluxes for the years 2019 and 2020 based on the bottom-up approach were larger than for 2010-2018. This is likely primarily due to direct emissions related to an increase in deforestation although it may possibly be partly caused by a weakening of the forest carbon sink, both in response to deforestation and a warming climate. Spatially, both methodologies agree that the south-eastern Amazon was a net carbon source over the whole study period. These results have important implications for the mitigation potential of Brazilian ecosystems within the goals of the Paris Agreement.

A major limitation in modeling global ozone (O3) vegetation damage has long been the reliance on empirical O3 sensitivity parameters derived from a limited number of species and applied at the level of plant functional types (PFTs), which ignore the large interspecific variations within the same PFT. Here, we present a major advance in large-scale assessments of O3 plant injury by linking the trait leaf mass per area (LMA) and plant O3 sensitivity in a broad and global perspective. Application of the new approach and a global LMA map in a dynamic global vegetation model reasonably represents the observed interspecific responses to O3 with a unified sensitivity parameter for all plant species. Simulations suggest a contemporary global mean reduction of 4.8 % in gross primary productivity by O3, with a range of 1.1 %–12.6 % for varied PFTs. Hotspots with damage >10 % are found in agricultural areas in the eastern US, western Europe, eastern China, and India, accompanied by moderate to high levels of surface O3. Furthermore, we simulate the distribution of plant sensitivity to O3, which is highly linked with the inherent leaf trait trade-off strategies of plants, revealing high risks for fast-growing species with low LMA, such as crops, grasses, and deciduous trees.

Objective To investigate the craniofacial growth outcomes of early secondary alveolar bone grafting(ABG) around 6 years of age. Design Retrospective cohort study Setting 1 North-American and 5 Northern-European cleft centers. Subjects 33 subjects with CUCLP consecutively treated with secondary ABG around 6 years of age were compared to 105 subjects from 4 centers treated with late secondary ABG and 19 subjects from 1 center with primary ABG. Methods Preorthodontic standardized lateral cephalometric radiographs taken after 12 years of age were traced and analyzed according to the Eurocleft Study protocol. Fourteen angular and two proportional measurements were performed. Measurement means from the Study Center(SC) were compared to 5 Northern-European centers using analysis of variance and Welch's modified t-tests, and P Results For the SC, the mean age ± SD at the time of bone graft was 5.85 ± 0.71 years and the mean age at the time of the lateral cephalogram was 13.4 ± 1.8 years. The sagittal maxillary prominence of the SC was favorably comparable to the 5 Northern-European centers. The mean SNA (78.1 ± 4.3) for the SC was significantly higher compared to 4 of the 5 Northern-European centers(all P Conclusions Craniofacial growth outcomes of early secondary ABG around 6 years compare favorably to the outcomes of late secondary ABG.

We document trends in nonprofit accounting research during the past two decades, specifically identifying data sources used, research topics investigated, and journals that published this work. Accessibility to new data sources has allowed scholars to broaden the overall scope of research questions examined and better understand the ramifications of a wide variety of factors on organizational performance, managers' behavior, and donor decision making. Our findings indicate that accessible and affordable digitized data opened the field to scholars who may have previously perceived data collection as a barrier to entry in the field. Nonprofit accounting research has increased significantly and is now published broadly in a wide array of journals. As the field has developed, those who conduct nonprofit research have diversified the data sources and research methods in their research designs. Overall, the trends in availability and variety of data bode well for the future of nonprofit accounting research.

Global process-based models with dynamic vegetation and functions show an increasing ongoing land carbon (C) sink, primarily due to CO2 fertilization effects (Sitch et al., 2008; Schimel et al., 2015). However, the phosphorus (P) and Nitrogen (N) related processes may constrain the plant’s photosynthetic and growth capacity and the C sink magnitude in temperate forests consequently (Aerts and Chapin, 1999; Vitousek et al., 1997; Vitousek, 2004). The co-limitation of N and P changes the plant C fixation capacity and the uptake of the atmospheric CO2 consequently. However, modelling studies are incapable of reproducing the productivity decrease due to these limitations (Fleischer et al., 2019). In this study, we introduced the P dynamics, and its interaction with N and C cycles in the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES-CNP), and parametrized and calibrated it using a well-site Free-Air Carbon Enrichment (FACE) facility in Mill Haft woodland, England. We further investigate the role of N and P availability and limiting impact on C cycles under different CO2 conditions. Furthermore, we modified the SOC representation in JULES (RothC model) to simulate observed Soil C soil stabilization capacity that is mainly related to soil texture. Our study shows an NPP reduction due to N and P limitation under both ambient and elevated CO2 conditions at the study site. Furthermore, using an improved SOC model in JULES, our results show an increase in soil C turnover with rising CO2 which leads to lower equilibrium soil C stocks than expected from the rise in soil C input alone. Reference: Aerts, R. and Chapin, F. S.: The Mineral Nutrition of Wild Plants Revisited: A Re-evaluation of Processes and Patterns, Adv. Ecol. Res., 30, 1–67, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2504(08)60016-1, 1999. Fleischer, K., Rammig, A., De Kauwe, M. G., Walker, A. P., Domingues, T. F., Fuchslueger, L., Garcia, S., Goll, D. S., Grandis, A., Jiang, M., Haverd, V., Hofhansl, F., Holm, J. A., Kruijt, B., Leung, F., Medlyn, B. E., Mercado, L. M., Norby, R. J., Pak, B., von Randow, C., Quesada, C. A., Schaap, K. J., Valverde-Barrantes, O. J., Wang, Y.-P., Yang, X., Zaehle, S., Zhu, Q., and Lapola, D. M.: Amazon forest response to CO2 fertilization dependent on plant phosphorus acquisition, Nat. Geosci., 12, 736–741, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0404-9, 2019. Vitousek, P. M.: Nutrient Cycling and Limitation: Hawai’i as a Model System, Princeton University Press, 2004. Vitousek, P. M., Mooney, H. A., Lubchenco, J. M., and Melillo, J. M.: Human Domination of Earth Ecosystems, Science (80-. )., 278, 21, 1997.

ChatGPT, a language-learning model chatbot, has garnered considerable attention for its ability to respond to users’ questions. Using data from 14 countries and 186 institutions, we compare ChatGPT and student performance for 28,085 questions from accounting assessments and textbook test banks. As of January 2023, ChatGPT provides correct answers for 56.5 percent of questions and partially correct answers for an additional 9.4 percent of questions. When considering point values for questions, students significantly outperform ChatGPT with a 76.7 percent average on assessments compared to 47.5 percent for ChatGPT if no partial credit is awarded and 56.5 percent if partial credit is awarded. Still, ChatGPT performs better than the student average for 15.8 percent of assessments when we include partial credit. We provide evidence of how ChatGPT performs on different question types, accounting topics, class levels, open/closed assessments, and test bank questions. We also discuss implications for accounting education and research.

Plot-based monitoring has yielded much information on the taxonomic diversity and carbon (C) storage in tropical lowland forests of the Amazon basin. This has resulted in an improved understanding of the relationship between lowland forest biomass dynamics and global change drivers, such as climate change and atmospheric CO2 concentration. Much less attention has been paid to the mountain ecosystems of South America that comprise montane forests and alpine vegetation (páramo, puna, high Andean grasslands, wetlands, and alpine heath). This vegetation complex provides a variety of ecosystem services and forms a natural laboratory along various physiographic, geological and evolutionary history/biogeography, and land use history gradients. Here, we review existing empirical understanding and model-based approaches to quantify the contribution of mountain ecosystems to ecosystem service provision in the rapidly changing socioecological setting of the South American mountains. The objective of this paper is to outline a broad road map for the implementation of mountain vegetation into dynamic global vegetation models (DGVM) for use in Earth System Models (ESM), based on our current understanding of their structure and function and of their responsiveness to global change drivers. We also identify treeline processes, critical in mountain ecosystems, as key missing elements in DGVMs/ESMs, and thus explore in addition a treeline model. Stocktaking of the availability of empirical data was undertaken from eight research sites along the Andes and in south-eastern Brazil. Out of eight sites, two (one each in Venezuela and Brazil) had some climate, ecological and ecophysiological data potentially suitable to parametrise a DGVM. Tree biomass data were available for six sites. A preliminary assessment of the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) DGVM was made to identify gaps in available data and their impacts on model parametrisation and calibration. Additionally, the potential climate-determined elevation of the treeline was modelled to check the DGVM for its ability to identify the transition between the montane forest and alpine vegetation. Outcomes of the evaluation of the JULES land surface model identified the following key processes in montane forests: temperature-related decrease in net primary production, respiration, and allocation to above-ground biomass and increase in soil C stocks with elevation. There was a variable agreement between simulated biomass and those derived from field measurements via allometric equations. We identified major gaps between data availability and the needs for process-based modelling of South American mountain vegetation and its dynamics in DGVMs. To bridge this gap, we propose a transdisciplinary network, composed of members of the theoretical/modelling and empirical scientific communities, to study the natural dynamics of mountain ecosystems and their responses to global change drivers locally, regionally and at the continental scale, within a social-ecological system framework. The work presented here forms the basis for the design of data collection from field measurements and instrumental monitoring stations to parametrise and verify DGVMs. The network is designed to collaborate with and complement existing long-term research initiatives in the region and will adopt existing standard field protocols. Complementary protocols will ensure compatibility between field data collection and data needed for process-based and empirical models.

Enterobacteriaceae is one of the most important bacterial groups within the Proteobacteria phylum. This bacterial group includes pathogens, commensal and beneficial populations. Numerous 16S rRNA gene PCR-based assays have been designed to analyze Enterobacteriaceae diversity and relative abundance, and, to the best of our knowledge, 16 primer pairs have been validated, published and used since 2003. Nonetheless, a comprehensive performance analysis of these primer sets has not yet been carried out. This information is of particular importance due to the recent taxonomic restructuration of Enterobacteriaceae into seven bacterial families. To overcome this lack of information, the identified collection of primer pairs (n = 16) was subjected to primer performance analysis using multiple bioinformatics tools. Herein it was revealed that, based on specificity and coverage of the 16S rRNA gene, these 16 primer sets could be divided into different categories: Enterobacterales-, multi-family-, multi-genus- and Enterobacteriaceae-specific primers. These results highlight the impact of taxonomy changes on performance of molecular assays and data interpretation. Moreover, they underline the urgent need to revise and update the molecular tools used for molecular microbial analyses.

Cada vez mais se buscam alternativas visando à melhora da saúde e da qualidade de vida da população, tendo em vista as diversas transformações e situações onde o mundo atual se encontra. Nesse sentido, a Agenda 2030 para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável, proposta durante a Assembleia Geral das Nações Unidas no ano de 2015, trata a saúde e bem-estar como um dos objetivos a serem desenvolvidos ao nível mundial. No Brasil, através do Sistema Único de Saúde, a promoção de saúde está diretamente ligada ao desenvolvimento de ações pautadas na melhora da qualidade de vida dos indivíduos, das quais se destaca a Política Nacional de Práticas Integrativas e Complementares, instituída no ano de 2006. Dentro dessa política é possível identificar práticas corporais responsáveis por promover e afetar de maneira positiva inúmeros aspectos que compõem a saúde do ser humano, onde se destacam as sessões de Danças Circulares e de Biodança, que buscam por meio do movimento e da dança estabelecer vivências significativas para cada indivíduo.

Background The use of proactive esophageal cooling using a dedicated cooling device during radiofrequency (RF) left atrial ablation has increased, with endoscopic studies showing reductions in esophageal lesions using medium power ablation settings. With no atrioesophageal fistula yet identified using esophageal cooling, and clinical practice increasingly shifting to high-power short-duration (HPSD) ablation, additional data on the protective potential of this technique in HPSD ablation may help guide RF ablation strategies. In particular, a better understanding of the effects of anatomical variations in myocardial thickness on cooling efficacy is warranted. Purpose We sought to evaluate the influence of atrial wall thickness on the protective effects of proactive esophageal cooling during HPSD ablation. Methods Using a computer model of the left atrium and esophagus, we analyzed the esophageal damage that occurs under two HPSD ablation conditions (50 W for 10 s and 90 W for 4 s) with and without proactive esophageal cooling while varying atrial wall thickness. Injury to the esophagus was quantified using the Arrhenius equation as well as by determining the percentage of tissue reaching a 50°C lethal isotherm. Atrial thickness was varied between 0.6 mm to 2.0 mm. Esophageal cooling was set to the recommended 4°C coolant temperature. Results Using 50 W power settings in control (non-cooled) conditions, esophageal lesion transmurality ranged from 75% to 82% as calculated by the Arrhenius equation, with decreased transmurality seen as atrial wall thickness increased. With the addition of proactive cooling, lesion transmurality decreased to less than 43% in the thinnest atrial wall sections, and to less than 25% in the thickest atrial wall sections. Using 90 W power settings, control conditions showed esophageal lesion transmurality ranging from 52% to 63%, with the greatest damage seen in the middle-range atrial thicknesses (1 and 1.5 mm). Active esophageal cooling reduced this esophageal injury to less than 12% transmurality through the esophagus in all anatomic scenarios. Conclusions Modeling suggests that the use of proactive esophageal cooling significantly reduces esophageal lesion transmurality under HPSD ablation conditions across a range of typical atrial wall thicknesses, including in very thin myocardium, where the risk of esophageal injury is greatest. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Private company. Main funding source(s): Attune

Variability in composition and structure of the mesozooplankton communities in the Bay of Malaga (SW Mediterranean) were characterized during a 26 h cycle using an integrative taxonomic approach. We combined microscopic identification of organisms, with metabarcoding for the genes of the mitochondrial DNA COI and the V9 hypervariable region of the ribosomal RNA 18S. Richness and diversity obtained by microscopy were higher than those measured with COI, as COI did not detect some phyla. COI however allowed for the identification to species level of several taxa that were left at higher taxonomic rank under the microscope. 18S detected a wider range of taxa than COI and microscopy, although with lower taxonomic resolution. Differences between coastal-night and shelf-day zooplankton communities structure were detected by both microscopy and metabarcoding. The combination of these two approaches increased the known copepod species in the SW Mediterranean Sea by 9%. An integrative approach combining morphology and COI metabarcoding is proposed to further facilitate mesozooplankton biodiversity studies., SI

The presence of polymer transfer residues on graphene surfaces is a major bottleneck to overcome for the commercial and industrial viability of devices incorporating graphene layers. In particular, how clean the surface must be to recover high (>2500 W/mK) thermal conductivity and maximize the heat spreading capability of graphene for thermal management applications remains unclear. Here, we present the first systematic study of the impact of different levels of polymer residues on the in-plane thermal conductivity (κr) of single-layer graphene (SLG) fabricated by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Control over the quantity of surface residue was achieved by varying the length of time each sample was rinsed in toluene to remove the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) support layer. The level of residue contamination was assessed using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and optical characterization. The thermal conductivity of the suspended SLG was measured using an optothermal Raman technique. We observed that the presence of polymer surface residue has a significant impact on the thermal properties of SLG, with the most heavily contaminated sample exhibiting a κr as low as (905 +155/–100) W/mK. Even without complete eradication of surface residues, a thermal conductivity as high as (3100 +1400/–900) W/mK was recovered, where the separation between adjacent clusters was sufficiently large (>700 nm). The proportion of the SLG surface covered by residues and the mean separation distance between clusters were found to be key factors in determining the level of κr suppression. This work has important implications for future large-scale graphene fabrication and transfer, particularly where graphene is to be used as a heat spreading layer in devices. The possibility of new opportunities for manipulation of the thermal properties of SLG via PMMA nanopatterning is also raised.

The purpose of this case study was to examine the researcher’s perceptions of student participants’ intercultural competence during rehearsals, focus groups, and interviews and the perceived benefits and challenges when implementing a researcher-designed curricular unit titled Religious Choral Music from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Worlds in one eighth grade middle school women’s choir. Using Deardorff’s intercultural competence process framework, which provides a method for exploring and categorizing elements of intercultural competence including attitudes, knowledge/skills, internal outcomes, and external outcomes, the researcher adapted Deardorff’s framework to represent how the student participants demonstrated intercultural competence during the music unit, focus groups, and interviews. The perceived benefits of the music unit included student participants’ emerging intercultural competence — their positive attitudes and knowledge of unfamiliar religions broadened their cultural understanding, and their internal and external behaviors demonstrated respect toward religious and cultural differences. The perceived challenges of the music unit included a lack of resources, assumptions that emerged as a result of teaching about religious music, and intersections that occurred for some between religious music at their school, home, and house of worship. Finally, implications for teaching practice based on these findings are that music teachers should consider engaging students in discussions surrounding the religious and cultural elements of diverse religious music intended to foster intercultural competence.

The lack of disease-modifying treatments for Parkinson’s disease (PD) is in part due to an incomplete understanding of the disease’s etiology. Alpha-synuclein (α-syn) has become a point of focus in PD due to its connection to both familial and idiopathic cases—specifically its localization to Lewy bodies (LBs), a pathological hallmark of PD. Within this review, we will present a comprehensive overview of the data linking synuclein-associated Lewy pathology with intracellular dysfunction. We first present the alterations in neuronal proteins and transcriptome associated with LBs in postmortem human PD tissue. We next compare these findings to those associated with LB-like inclusions initiated by in vitro exposure to α-syn preformed fibrils (PFFs) and highlight the profound and relatively unique reduction of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in this model. Finally, we discuss the multitude of ways in which BDNF offers the potential to exert disease-modifying effects on the basal ganglia. What remains unknown is the potential for BDNF to mitigate inclusion-associated dysfunction within the context of synucleinopathy. Collectively, this review reiterates the merit of using the PFF model as a tool to understand the physiological changes associated with LBs, while highlighting the neuroprotective potential of harnessing endogenous BDNF.