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This essay describes the curriculum and implementation of the Hispanic Leadership Academy (HLA), designed to guide and mentor first generation, Hispanic students into becoming leaders in their comm...

Greenbug and Hessian fly are important pests that decrease wheat production worldwide. We developed and validated breeder-friendly KASP markers for marker-assisted breeding to increase selection efficiency. Greenbug (Schizaphis graminum Rondani) and Hessian fly [Mayetiola destructor (Say)] are two major destructive insect pests of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) throughout wheat production regions in the USA and worldwide. Greenbug and Hessian fly infestation can significantly reduce grain yield and quality. Breeding for resistance to these two pests using marker-assisted selection (MAS) is the most economical strategy to minimize losses. In this study, doubled haploid lines from the Synthetic W7984 × Opata M85 wheat reference population were used to construct linkage maps for the greenbug resistance gene Gb7 and the Hessian fly resistance gene H32 with genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) and 90K array-based single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker data. Flanking markers were closely linked to Gb7 and H32 and were located on chromosome 7DL and 3DL, respectively. Gb7-linked markers (synopGBS773 and synopGBS1141) and H32-linked markers (synopGBS901 and IWB65911) were converted into Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP) assays for MAS in wheat breeding. In addition, comparative mapping identified syntenic regions in Brachypodium distachyon, rice (Oryza sativa), and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) for Gb7 and H32 that can be used for fine mapping and map-based cloning of the genes. The KASP markers developed in this study are the first set of SNPs tightly linked to Gb7 and H32 and will be very useful for MAS in wheat breeding programs and future genetic studies of greenbug and Hessian fly resistance.

Wheat curl mite (WCM, Aceria tosichella Keifer) and WCM-transmitted wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV, genus Tritimovirus) are devastating production constraints for wheat in the US Great Plains. Breeding wheat cultivars with genetic resistance to WCM and WSMV is a viable and economically feasible way to reduce yield loss. The objectives of this study were to (a) identify tightly linked markers for WCM resistance in the wheat cultivar TAM 112 (PI 643143) using linkage and association analysis with the 90K Infinium iSelect SNP array and genotyping-by-sequencing, respectively and (b) develop and test kompetitive allele specific PCR (KASP) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for marker-assisted selection (MAS) of WCM resistance. We tested 124 F5:7 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from the cross of TAM 112 and the WCM-susceptible cultivar TAM 111 (PI 631352). All lines were infested with a Texas WCM collection 2 (TWCMC2) that is virulent to resistance found on the wheat-rye 1AL.1RS translocation at the two-leaf stage and were rated for symptoms on the first and second week after infestation. Linkage maps were constructed with 4890 markers, including SNPs, simple sequence repeats (SSRs), and sequence-tagged site (STS) markers covering 21 chromosomes. A WCM resistance gene present in TAM 112 (CmcTAM112) was mapped onto chromosome arm 6DS. A genome-wide association study of wheat streak mosaic (WSM) symptoms from a separate experiment in Colorado showed significant marker-trait associations at the target regions on 6DS where CmcTAM112 was located, which demonstrated the effectiveness of this gene to reduce symptom severity. Four SNPs flanking CmcTAM112 were mapped within 3.6 cM in the biparental mapping population. We developed two KASP markers that are within 1.3 cM distal to CmcTAM112 and tested in diverse germplasm. These two markers can be used in MAS for improving WCM resistance in some wheat genetic backgrounds.

Scientific misconduct is on the rise with the increasing emphasis on research by many academic institutions A review of the literature shows various reasons behind this trend from the difficulty of publication to the constant pressure to publish in academia Further lack of systematic reporting standards is one of the major contributing factors towards misconduct and unethical practices in scientific research In this analysis the authors will provide a detailed narrative on scientific misconduct along with possible strategies to address this common unethical practice among social science researchers This article will define and discuss the practices of falsification fabrication and plagiarism along with suggestions about how to avoid them

This research is a case study of change and racial/ethnic conflict in the Dallas, Texas, Independent School District (DISD). Data are drawn from observations of monthly meetings of the school board. The focus is on communication as cultural projection among African American and Mexican American delegations at meetings and on the reactions evoked in board decision making. No evidence was found of Black-Brown coalition building; however, findings suggest that different styles of communication influence the treatment African American and Mexican American groups receive and ultimately may affect their access to the scarce resources of public education.

Given the increasing diversity of the U. S. population and social work clients, retention of students of color in baccalaureate social work programs is a major issue. This article reports on a two-phase exploratory study that looked at the retention efforts of accredited baccalaureate social work (BSW) programs and their respective universities in one state. The first phase of the study addressed the types of retention efforts being made toward students of color and the perceived success of those efforts. The second phase looked at students' perceptions of the retention efforts made by their university and their BSW program. The findings indicate that retention efforts offered by social work programs are effective in helping retain students of color, although they also indicate that the retention programs are underused. This may indicate the need for social work educators to work to increase awareness of retention efforts in their universities and programs.

This research examines students' experiences taking a one-semester race and ethnic relations course in different sections with instructors who are African American, Mexican American, and Euro-American. The instructors designed a before-and-after survey as a crude measure of student change between the expected influence of the instructor's race/ethnicity at the beginning of the semester on grading, course content, teaching methodology, and pedagogy and the actual perception of this influence at the end of the semester. Findings show that, with the exception of grading, approximately one-fourth to 40 percent of students did expect, at the beginning of the semester, that the instructor's race/ethnicity would influence the previously mentioned items. However, at the end of the semester, with the exception of grading, the proportion of students who actually thought the instructor's race/ethnicity did make a difference had declined substantially