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An integral, glacial and periglacial, inventory of the cryosphere in the Atacama region in Chile was carried out to estimate the amount of frozen water reserves in this arid to hyper-arid region. The inventory was carried out with medium to high spatial resolution satellite images and resulted in a total of 168,908 ha of landforms with significant ice content in one of the most fragile Andean ecosystems: the semi-arid – hyper-arid zones. This study shows an integral mapping of the cryosphere including glaciers and ice-bearing periglacial landforms. The different ice landforms in the Atacama region shows a progressive change in the landforms containing ice responding to the northwards increase of aridity upon entry to the South American hyper-arid axis. The main change observed is that uncovered glaciers are not present north of 26.5°S, being replaced by creeping permafrost landforms. Uncovered glaciers may produce more water annually compared to other ice-bearing landforms, but they only represent 2.7% of the cryospheric area. However, cryoforms containing a mixture of ice, sediment and rock fragments could be more important as water reserves because of their large extensions that cover c. 97% of the total area of ice-bearing landforms mapped. It also shows that the water-supply potential of ice-bearing periglacial landforms could be much higher than that of the glaciers in arid zones. The comparison with the previous inventory of 1987 suggests a reduction of 34% of uncovered glaciers, which is consistent with the aridization process observed in almost all of northern Chile. These findings reinforce the fact that glaciers and other types of permanent ice-bearing landforms need to be inventoried together if the objective is to provide the society with a realistic view of the distribution of the cryospheric hydrological resources in desert regions. Fil: García, Ayôn. Universidad de Atacama; Chile Fil: Ulloa, Christopher. Universidad de Atacama; Chile Fil: Amigo, Gonzalo. Universidad de Atacama; Chile Fil: Milana, Juan Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Centro de Investigaciones de la Geosfera y Biosfera. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones de la Geosfera y Biosfera; Argentina Fil: Medina, Catherine. Universidad de Atacama; Chile

As the older adult population in the United States increases and diversifies, understanding and reducing risks for hospitalization and institutionalization can reduce burdens for this vulnerable population. Using evidence-based assessment tools to understand medical, psychosocial, pharmacologic, and functional status can aid an interprofessional team to best evaluate older adults at risk. By providing culturally competent care for a diversifying older adult demographic, attention to social determinants can improve health equity for this population. This article describes in a case study exemplar, how one such interprofessional collaborative practice program, Geriatric Outreach and Training with Care (GOT Care!) provides a comprehensive assessment for high-risk older adults, identifies and documents these risks, and shares recommendations and rationale with the primary care provider toward risk reduction and improvement of outcomes.

A concrete–semiconcrete–abstract (CSA) instructional approach derived from discovery learning (DIS) was embedded in a direct instruction (DI) methodology to teach eight elementary students with math disabilities. One-minute abstract-level probes were the primary metric used to assess student performance on subtraction problems (minuends 0–9). A single-subject, multiple-baseline across-participants design was used to identify the differential effects of discontinuing instruction at crossover (i.e., the point when the correct response rate exceeded the incorrect response rate). Results indicate that the commonly accepted practice of teaching an entire CSA unit of lessons may not be the most efficacious approach for classroom teachers. Instead, through daily data collection and application of the “crossover decision rule” (discontinue rule), teachers can selectively target those students appropriate for additional concrete- and/or semiconcrete-level instruction and those students for whom continued practice at the abstract level is more appropriate. Implications for teaching computational skills are examined.

Promoters are important regulatory elements that contain the necessary sequence features for cells to initiate transcription. To functionally characterize a large set of human promoters, we measured the transcriptional activities of 4575 putative promoters across eight cell lines using transient transfection reporter assays. In parallel, we measured gene expression in the same cell lines and observed a significant correlation between promoter activity and endogenous gene expression (r = 0.43). As transient transfection assays directly measure the promoting effect of a defined fragment of DNA sequence, decoupled from epigenetic, chromatin, or long-range regulatory effects, we sought to predict whether a promoter was active using sequence features alone. CG dinucleotide content was highly predictive of ubiquitous promoter activity, necessitating the separation of promoters into two groups: high CG promoters, mostly ubiquitously active, and low CG promoters, mostly cell line–specific. Computational models trained on the binding potential of transcriptional factor (TF) binding motifs could predict promoter activities in both high and low CG groups: average area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of the models was 91% and exceeded the AUC of CG content by an average of 23%. Known relationships, for example, between HNF4A and hepatocytes, were recapitulated in the corresponding cell lines, in this case the liver-derived cell line HepG2. Half of the associations between tissue-specific TFs and cell line–specific promoters were new. Our study underscores the importance of collecting functional information from complementary assays and conditions to understand biology in a systematic framework.

Molecular interactions between protein complexes and DNA carry out essential gene regulatory functions. Uncovering such interactions by means of chromatin-immunoprecipitation coupled with massively parallel sequencing (ChIP-Seq) has recently become the focus of intense interest. We here introduce QuEST (Quantitative Enrichment of Sequence Tags), a powerful statistical framework based on the Kernel Density Estimation approach, which utilizes ChIP-Seq data to determine positions where protein complexes come into contact with DNA. Using QuEST, we discovered several thousand binding sites for the human transcription factors SRF, GABP and NRSF at an average resolution of about 20 base-pairs. MEME-based motif analyses on the QuEST-identified sequences revealed DNA binding by cofactors of SRF, providing evidence that cofactor binding specificity can be obtained from ChIP-Seq data. By combining QuEST analyses with gene ontology (GO) annotations and expression data, we illustrate how general functions of transcription factors can be inferred.

Rural graduate students face numerous barriers and obstacles in attending higher education. One such obstacle is academic advising from a distance. The intent of the authors was to examine the advising experiences of master's degree level special education students who had received e-advising from their academic advisor. A short email survey was designed to collect data relating to e-advising received by rural, part-time students. Results of the survey indicated that in-person advising at a university site (traditional advising model) would not have been suitable and e-advising was meeting their needs at this point in their graduate education. The participants also explained that the necessity of being advised in person is no longer valid.

Educational limitations for Mexican American students in American public schools remain in the 21st century. Although Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic population in the United States, education has difficulty meeting the teaching and learning needs of Hispanic students. Beyond ethnicity, Mexican American students suffer from distinct educational, social, and cultural pressures that play out in class. This study represents the voices of six Mexican American students enrolled in special education for learning and/or behavioral disabilities. The students express alienation, disinterest, and anxiety regarding their classrooms, teachers, and classmates. Ever-present concerns and barriers expressed by these students, coupled with current research, point to the ongoing challenges to education and school culture in particular. Learning at the Margins If one is the other, one will inevitably be perceived unidimensionally; will be seen stereotypically; will be defined and delimited by mental sets that may not bear much relation to existing realities. There is a darker side to otherness as well. The other disturbs, disquiets, discomforts. It provokes distrust and suspicion. The other makes people feel anxious, nervous, apprehensive, even fearful. The other frightens, scares. . . . For some of us, being the other is only annoying; for others it is debilitating; for still others it is damning. (Madrid, 1988, p. 56) Hispanics arc the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States, with Mexican Americans comprising the majority of the Hispanic population (see United States Department of Commerce, 2001). Although demographic momentum can sometimes be very powerful, the data continue to show educational gaps and barriers for Mexican American students in public schools. Being the "other," as noted by Madrid (1988), Mexican Americans still face enormous challenges in American education. According to the United States Department of Commerce (2001), Mexican Americans have the highest rate of persons with fewer than five years of schooling (15.9%), and they have been traditionally over-represented in special education classes. The United States Department of Education (1999) reported that there are approximately 9.2 million school age students in the U.S. whose primary language is not English, with Spanish being the most prevalent language spoken after English. Estimating that 10.7% to 15% of these students may have disabilities, then 984,400 to 1,380,000 students with disabilities are also linguistically diverse (Baca & Cervantes, 2003). Research shows that teachers of the majority culture are better able to relate to children of their own ethnic/racial and linguistic background and usually are unaware of their differential and culturebound treatment toward children of the minority culture (e.g., Bennett de Marrais & LeCompte, 1995). Unfortunately, it is estimated that only 5% of our nation's teachers are teachers of color, yet students of color make up 33% of our school-aged population (Walker, Saravanabhavan, & Asbury, 1996). Furthermore, it is projected that by 2020, 46% of all students will be students of color (Cushncr, McClelland, & Stafford, 1996). Students' academic performance often follows in the direction of teacher expectations (Apple, 1996; Cummins, 1989; Sadker & Sadker, 1994), with gender, ethnicity, and social-economic status being traits that influence low teacher-student expectations. Teacher-student interactions and teacher-student cultural incompatibility have contributed to the historical over-representation of ethic minority youth in remedial classes and special education. Ethnic minority students often fail to see themselves positively integrated into the culture of the school (Cazden, 1988). Typically, Hispanic students do not have daily interactions with Hispanic teachers who understand their culture or language. As a consequence, Hispanic students, especially those who are Spanish dominant, may not have the benefit of an appropriate education due to the lack of bilingualqualified educators. …

Chromosome 5 is one of the largest human chromosomes and contains numerous intrachromosomal duplications, yet it has one of the lowest gene densities. This is partially explained by numerous gene-poor regions that display a remarkable degree of noncoding conservation with non-mammalian vertebrates, suggesting that they are functionally constrained. In total, we compiled 177.7 million base pairs of highly accurate finished sequence containing 923 manually curated protein-coding genes including the protocadherin and interleukin gene families. We also completely sequenced versions of the large chromosome-5-specific internal duplications. These duplications are very recent evolutionary events and probably have a mechanistic role in human physiological variation, as deletions in these regions are the cause of debilitating disorders including spinal muscular atrophy.

Se ilustra el procedimiento para encontrar un modelo que sea util para obtener pronosticos mensuales de un productos de limpieza en el mercado colombiano. Se hace explicita la metodologia de Box y Jenkins para obtener el modelo final con un ejemplo del proceso completo de modelaje. Ademas, se presenta una comparacion entre los niveles pronosticados y realizados extendiendo la utilizacion de distintos modelos para los diferentes productos.

This article describes the Reaching American Indian Special/Elementary Educators (RAISE) program, a community-based native teacher education program located on the Navajo reservation in Kayenta, Arizona. The RAISE program is a preservice teacher preparation partnership program between Northern Arizona University (NAU) and the Kayenta Unified School District (KUSD). RAISE is designed for two groups of students: uncertified Navajo special and elementary education preservice students who work with the local school district, and traditional teacher education students recruited from the main campus of NAU. The RAISE program prepares students to teach in impoverished rural and remote areas and to work in inclusive schools with culturally and linguistically diverse populations. On completion of the program, the students earn a dual teacher certification in special and elementary education.

This article shares the lives of three Latina faculty members teaching in state colleges of education. Interviews revealed that the personal and professional experiences they encountered on a daily basis reflected tokenism in the academy, varying levels of support, and perceived burdens and expectations. All three women saw knowledge as contextual and often relied on feelings and intuition to describe and assess their lives in the academy. Recommendations for change within the academy are offered.

Students with emotional/behavioral disabilities often come to the classroom with an array of problems. What is it that helps these students become successful in the school environment? In interviewing five Mexican-American adolescents enrolled in public school special education classes and their four teachers, their voices illustrated that special education teachers who exhibit care-giving qualities create positive student–teacher relationships with their students identified as having emotional/behavioral disabilities.

The following article describes a program that was designed to identify gifted and talented Hispanic and Native American children in the visual arts in two rural schools. The multidimensional identification procedures as well as the needs of each community are presented. The overall outcomes are discussed emphasizing the positive effects that were observed in the participating students.

Editors and staff of the Rural Special Education Quarterly (RSEQ) provide practitioners in the field of rural special education with practical knowledge of the criteria and procedures needed for submitting manuscripts to be considered for publication in the RSEQ. An historical overview of the RSEQ's publication rate, major topical strands, and a brief review of literature addressing publication practices of refereed journals are included. Specific guidelines for manuscript preparation and style are provided.

Theorists and practitioners agree that involving families in the education of a child with a disability is beneficial to all concerned. Unfortunately, initiating and sustaining that involvement is often difficult, particularly in rural communities where distance factors may impede school involvement. In this article, a rationale for and challenges to family involvement are briefly reviewed. Finally, 21 already-been-tried practical strategies for involving rural families with disabled children are presented.

To investigate the role of DNA methylation during human development, we developed Methyl-seq, a method that assays DNA methylation at more than 90,000 regions throughout the genome. Performing Methyl-seq on human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), their derivatives, and human tissues allowed us to identify several trends during hESC and in vivo liver differentiation. First, differentiation results in DNA methylation changes at a minimal number of assayed regions, both in vitro and in vivo (2%–11%). Second, in vitro hESC differentiation is characterized by both de novo methylation and demethylation, whereas in vivo fetal liver development is characterized predominantly by demethylation. Third, hESC differentiation is uniquely characterized by methylation changes specifically at H3K27me3-occupied regions, bivalent domains, and low density CpG promoters (LCPs), suggesting that these regions are more likely to be involved in transcriptional regulation during hESC differentiation. Although both H3K27me3-occupied domains and LCPs are also regions of high variability in DNA methylation state during human liver development, these regions become highly unmethylated, which is a distinct trend from that observed in hESCs. Taken together, our results indicate that hESC differentiation has a unique DNA methylation signature that may not be indicative of in vivo differentiation.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among school-aged students between the ages of 15 and 19. There is an increasing frequency of suicide and other self-destructive behaviors among Mexican American youth and students in special education classrooms for emotional and behavioral disabilities. Recognizing Mexican American youth in special education classes as a separate risk group, this study (a) identifies factors that contribute to suicide, (b) reviews the signs and characteristics associated with these factors, (c) interviews Mexican American students in special education who have either exhibited various characteristics of suicidal thoughts and/or have attempted suicide, (d) explores effective prevention programs, and (e) provides suggestions for school personnel. Interviews with five adolescent Mexican American special education students support previous research findings that depression, substance abuse, social and interpersonal conflict, family distress, and school stress are primary characteristics related to suicidal minority youth.

Ingesting multiple packets of drugs ("body packing") is a well-described method of smuggling. Although older reports suggested that body packers were mostly young men, the demographics of this group may be changing because children, older patients, and pregnant women may be involved. Pregnant patients represent a challenge in management, particularly in the event of package rupture. Modification of standard management protocols, which were developed for nonpregnant body packers, may be necessary to address the anatomic and physiologic changes of pregnancy. We report the case of a pregnant cocaine body packer who required a perimortem cesarean section after the rupture of a cocaine packet. The care of the pregnant body packer is discussed.

Chromosome 19 has the highest gene density of all human chromosomes, more than double the genome-wide average. The large clustered gene families, corresponding high G + C content, CpG islands and density of repetitive DNA indicate a chromosome rich in biological and evolutionary significance. Here we describe 55.8 million base pairs of highly accurate finished sequence representing 99.9% of the euchromatin portion of the chromosome. Manual curation of gene loci reveals 1,461 protein-coding genes and 321 pseudogenes. Among these are genes directly implicated in mendelian disorders, including familial hypercholesterolaemia and insulin-resistant diabetes. Nearly one-quarter of these genes belong to tandemly arranged families, encompassing more than 25% of the chromosome. Comparative analyses show a fascinating picture of conservation and divergence, revealing large blocks of gene orthology with rodents, scattered regions with more recent gene family expansions and deletions, and segments of coding and non-coding conservation with the distant fish species Takifugu.