Search

The National Science Foundation projects that the United States could see over 2 million unfilled STEM jobs in 2025 (National Science Foundation, 2018). At Redacted University for Review faculty from the STEM fields have undertaken the Science and Mathematics Attraction, Retention, and Training for Texas (SMART Texas) project, a National Science Foundation initiative funded under the Scholarship in STEM program to increase recruiting and retention. Scholars enrolled in SMART Texas were provided scholarship support, a STEM first-year success course, a STEM residential learning community (RLC), and opportunities to engage in STEM conferences and undergraduate research. These scholars and this program demonstrated great levels of success, given six years to graduate, 70% of SMART Texas scholars graduated with a STEM degree. Programs like SMART Texas can assist in the national efforts to both recruit and retain STEM majors to meet the growing and continual demand.

Retaining mathematics majors is a pressing concern in many departments. We examined the pass rates of students across our mathematics major and then analyzed student persistence between math courses along with the underlying data collection required to make these analyses. We found that mathematics majors leaving the major after successfully completing a mathematics course is a huge issue and particularly prevalent among female and Hispanic students. Finally, we consider why this lack of persistence might exist and possible avenues to assist students in continuing a mathematics major.

Many educator preparation programs have formal and informal mentoring for pre-service teachers. However, few educator preparation programs continue the mentoring of mathematics teachers after graduation. This qualitative research examines the impact of a mentoring network for pre-service mathematics teachers embedded in the educator preparation program and continuing after they graduated from a rural university in Texas. The focus of the research is to evaluate the impact of the mentoring network on the choice of instructional methods used in classrooms by novice mathematics teachers.

In this study of new teacher recruiting programs, the authors researched the differences in the motivation of STEM students before and after a job-shadowing experience.

Summary: Rhizophagus irregularis is the model species for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) research and the most widely propagated species for commercial plant biostimulants.Using asymbiotic and symbiotic cultivation systems initiated from single spores, advanced microscopy, Sanger sequencing of the glomalin gene, and PacBio sequencing of the partial 45S rRNA gene, we show that four strains of R. irregularis produce spores of two distinct morphotypes, one corresponding to the morphotype described in the R. irregularis protologue and the other having the phenotype of R. fasciculatus.The two spore morphs are easily distinguished by spore colour, thickness of the subtending hypha, thickness of the second wall layer, lamination of the innermost layer, and the dextrinoid reaction of the two outer spore wall layers to Melzer's reagent. The glomalin gene of the two spore morphs is identical and that of the PacBio sequences of the partial SSU‐ITS‐LSU region (2780 bp) obtained from single spores of the R. cf fasciculatus morphotype has a median pairwise similarity of 99.8% (SD = 0.005%) to the rDNA ribotypes of R. irregularis DAOM 197198.Based on these results, we conclude that the model AMF species R. irregularis is dimorphic, which has caused taxonomic confusion in culture collections and possibly in AMF research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors describe successful STEM teacher recruiting and training practices developed through the Talented Teachers in Training for Texas (T4) program. They discuss implementing three distinctive recruiting experiences--a STEM Master Teacher Job Shadow, a STEM Day, and a NASA Aerospace Teachers Program--along with a multiyear scholarship and mentoring program designed to invite preservice teachers into an authentic, sustained academic community of practice supported by high levels of engagement with caring STEM practitioners.

Richard Vedder's contributions to academic scholarship over the decades span many subdisciplines in economics. Many of his earlier works focused on various issues in state and local government finance. In [...]

A taxonomic revision of the hitherto monotypic genus Blumeria was conducted incorporating multi-gene sequence analyses, host preference data and morphological criteria. The sequenced loci included rDNA ITS, partial chitin synthase gene (CHS1), as well as fragments of two unnamed orthologous genes (Bgt-1929, Bgt-4572). The combined evidence led to a reassessment and a new neotypification of B. graminis s. str. (emend.), and the description of seven additional species, viz. B. americana sp. nov. (mainly on hosts of the Triticeae), B. avenae sp. nov. (on Avena spp.), B. bromi-cathartici sp. nov. (on Bromus catharticus), B. bulbigera comb. nov. (on Bromus spp.), B. dactylidis sp. nov. (on Dactylis glomerata as the main host, but also on various other hosts), B. graminicola sp. nov. (on Poa spp. as principal hosts, but also on various other hosts), and B. hordei sp. nov. (on Hordeum spp.). Synonyms were assessed, some were lectotypified, and questionable names previously associated with powdery mildew on monocots were discussed although their identities remained unresolved. Keys to the described species were developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a moral dilemma for use in K-12 social studies courses focusing on the incident of the Japanese ship, the Komagata Maru, and its Sikh passengers who unsuccessfully attempted to enter Canada in 1914. It is intended to help Canadian youth understand racial relations between East Asians and Canadians. (AM)

Designed for a ninth grade gifted history class, this interdisciplinary unit of study includes critical examination of two interpretations of the character of Shakespeare's Richard III. (RM)

Summary: NADPH oxidase (NOX) is one of the sources of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that modulates the activity of proteins through modifications of their cysteine residues. In a previous study, we demonstrated the importance of NOX in both the development and pathogenicity of the phytopathogen Fusarium graminearum. In this article, comparative proteomics between the wild‐type and a Nox mutant of F. graminearum was used to identify active cysteine residues on candidate redox‐sensing proteins. A two‐dimensional gel approach based on labelling with monobromobimane (mBBR) identified 19 candidate proteins, and was complemented with a gel‐free shotgun approach based on a biotin switch method, which yielded 99 candidates. The results indicated that, in addition to temporal regulation, a large number of primary metabolic enzymes are potentially targeted by NoxAB‐generated ROS. Targeted disruption of these metabolic genes showed that, although some are dispensable, others are essential. In addition to metabolic enzymes, developmental proteins, such as the Woronin body major protein (FGSG_08737) and a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)‐anchored protein (FGSG_10089), were also identified. Deletion of either of these genes reduced the virulence of F. graminearum. Furthermore, changing the redox‐modified cysteine (Cys325) residue in FGSG_10089 to either serine or phenylalanine resulted in a similar phenotype to the FGSG_10089 knockout strain, which displayed reduced virulence and altered cell wall morphology; this underscores the importance of Cys325 to the function of the protein. Our results indicate that NOX‐generated ROS act as intracellular signals in F. graminearum and modulate the activity of proteins affecting development and virulence in planta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Arabidopsis pollen grain is covered by a lipidic pollen coat representing select constituents released upon the programmed cell death of the anther secretory tapetum. These constituents originate primarily from two specialized tapetal organelles, elaioplasts and tapetosomes. Tapetosomes are distinctive Brassicaceae organelles derived from the endoplasmic reticulum that store triacylglycerols, flavonoids, alkanes, and proteins. • The tapetosome triacylglycerols are found within lipid droplets surrounded by the highly variable tapetal oleosins that eventually generate the most abundant proteins of the pollen coat. Many questions remain regarding the sub-cellular targeting of tapetal oleosins as well as their role in tapetosome formation. Translational fusions of different tapetal oleosins or their derived domains to marker proteins were introduced into Arabidopsis thaliana to investigate their localization, processing and function. • Arabidopsis tapetal oleosins were shown to be proteolytically cleaved following tapetum degeneration and different protein domains were targeted to the pollen coat despite vast differences in composition and size. Importantly, specific fusions were discovered to affect distinct aspects of tapetosome formation. • This report not only highlighted the critical role of individual tapetal oleosin domains in Arabidopsis tapetosome formation, but revealed translational fusions to be a valuable tool in deciphering this evidently complex developmental process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the microscopic images of nutrients in vegetables. Topics discussed are benefits of being vegetarian which includes lower risk of diseases related Western civilization, food structures images in high magnification using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) which includes corn seeds, potato and carrot, and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM).

The reemergence and spread of Xanthomonas translucens, the causal agent of bacterial leaf streak in cereal crops and wilt in turfgrass and forage species, is a concern to growers in the United States and Canada. The pathogen is seedborne and listed as an A2 quarantine organism by EPPO, making it a major constraint to international trade and exchange of germplasm. The pathovar concept of the X. translucens group is confusing due to overlapping of plant host ranges and specificity. Here, comparative genomics, phylogenomics, and 81 up-to-date bacterial core gene set (ubcg2) were used to assign the pathovars of X. translucens into three genetically and taxonomically distinct clusters. The study also showed that whole genome-based digital DNA-DNA hybridization unambiguously can differentiate the pvs. translucens and undulosa. Orthologous gene and proteome matrix analyses suggest that the cluster consisting of graminis, poae, arrhenatheri, phlei, and phleipratensis is very divergent. Whole-genome data were exploited to develop the first pathovar-specific TaqMan real-time PCR tool for detection of pv. translucens on barley. Specificity of the TaqMan assay was validated using 62 Xanthomonas and non-Xanthomonas strains as well as growth chamber-inoculated and naturally infected barley leaves. Sensitivity levels of 0.1 pg (purified DNA) and 23 CFUs per reaction (direct culture) compared favorably with other previously reported real-time PCR assays. The phylogenomics data reported here suggest that the clusters could constitute novel taxonomic units or new species. Finally, the pathovar-specific diagnostic tool will have significant benefits to growers and facilitate international exchange of barley germplasm and trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]