Explore the vast range of titles available.

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research Traineeship (NRT) Program fosters interdisciplinarity. It is designed to train scholars with the agility to move beyond their strict disciplinary boundaries. The goal of the Program is to create innovative graduate educational opportunities for broad workforce development. We assessed the professional development skills and activities documented in the annual reports of 20 NRT projects to assess which technical and transferable skills were commonly highlighted, how these skills were integrated into their educational programming, which stakeholders were targeted, and how much time was allocated to the associated activities. We found communication (43%), job readiness (42%), and team science (26%) to be the most common professional development skills provided by the 20 NRT projects. We go into greater depth about three of these NRT projects to more deeply characterize programmatic challenges and successes. Then, we highlight strategies to manage potential points of friction and to recommend approaches that could be adopted as part of other graduate professional development projects. These innovations have the potential to promote transformative change in graduate STEAM education, nationwide.

Background: It is crucial that clinicians develop skillful communication to support patients to improve their illness understanding. A strong understanding of illness is associated with improved quality of life and care that is consistent with patient priorities. Unfortunately, many clinicians lack these skills, and residents, in particular, feel unprepared. The ABCs (All Providers, Better Communication Skills) is a virtual curriculum that teaches core communication skills to facilitate conversations with people who are living with serious illnesses. Objectives: We explored whether the ABCs curriculum increases self-efficacy and addresses self-reported weaknesses in communication training for internal medicine (IM) and family medicine (FM) residents. Design: We conducted a prospective sequential mixed methods cohort study. Methods: Residents completed pre-/post-curriculum self-assessment surveys and a post-curriculum semi-structured interview. Primary outcomes were changes in self-efficacy, whether the curriculum addressed self-identified training needs and feedback on its structure and delivery. Secondary outcomes included feedback on how the modules could be tailored to IM and FM-specific content. Results: Twelve residents completed the study. Most were in IM, female, and aged 26–30 years. Self-efficacy improved significantly as per the SE-12 summative score (mean difference 11.5 points (SD 10.35), p = 0.003). The study-created items showed a significant improvement in breaking bad news (0.83 (SD 0.84), p = 0.005), overall knowledge (0.67 (SD 0.65), p = 0.005), and confidence (0.67 (SD 0.50), p = 0.001). Key strengths of the curriculum were its structured approach, focus on allowing for silence, transferrable skills, and practical application. The virtual format was both a strength and a weakness, as residents appreciated its accessibility but valued real-time practice. Conclusion: The ABCs improved self-efficacy among IM and FM residents. We will use results from this study to inform future iterations of the platform that are tailored to resident-specific learning needs and improving patient-centered outcomes.

The Arkavathi River, one of the major tributaries of the Cauvery River in southern India, is a major source of drinking water and agricultural irrigation to villages and townships in the region. Surface water quality distribution and characteristics of the Arkavathi Reservoir catchment and command area were evaluated using multivariate statistical analysis on 29 water quality parameters collected across 30 monitoring stations over a two-year, three-season period. Factor analysis (FA), agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC), analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-tests were used to reveal strong links between parameters and to reveal significant variations in their concentration levels with respect to monsoon seasons and sampling locations across the sub-watersheds. Results from factor analysis showed strong groupings of specific parameters across seasons, while results from clustering revealed distinct clusters of sampling points around the river, upstream from the reservoir (where human activity is high), in the command area downstream from the reservoir (where irrigation activity is similar), in hilly regions towards the northeast of the study area and in the scrubland regions. Based on multivariate analysis findings, specific recommendations are made for water quality improvement in the reservoir catchment and command area.

Abstract Background: Palatal rugae are asymmetrical elevations present on hard palate and are significant due to their uniqueness, stability and thus, aid in forensic identification. Objective: The objective is to determine palatal rugae morphology between parents and their offsprings and to determine their genetic inheritance. Materials and Methods: This randomized controlled cross-sectional single-blinded study was conducted on 50 families (randomly selected) who visited Vyas Dental College and Hospital. A total of 150 maxillary study models were examined and rugae were delineated and shape, size, and pattern of rugae were recorded. Results: Weak but significant correlation was seen in the nonspecific and angular type of palatal rugae between child and mother and child and father as P < 0.05. Matching with either or both of their parent was seen for curved, wavy, divergent, straight, horseshoe, angular, and nonspecific type of rugae with the higher % of wavy pattern matching (52% with mother and 54% with father). A considerable number of samples showed high heritability of primary and secondary rugae from both parents, but more predominantly to their mothers (branched, nonspecific, and straight). Conclusion: Both environmental and genetic factors can influence the rugae pattern. Further, studies should be conducted on a larger sample size to get more significant results.

The potential of cellulose nanocomposites in the new-generation super-performing nanomaterials is huge, primarily in medical and environment sectors, and secondarily in food, paper, and cosmetic sectors. Despite substantial illumination on the molecular aspects of cellulose synthesis, various process features, namely, cellular export of the nascent polysaccharide chain and arrangement of cellulose fibrils into a quasi-crystalline configuration, remain obscure. To unleash its full potential, current knowledge on nanocellulose dispersion and disintegration of the fibrillar network and the organic/polymer chemistry needs expansion. Bacterial cellulose biosynthesis mechanism for scaled-up production, namely, the kinetics, pathogenicity, production cost, and product quality/consistency remain poorly understood. The bottom-up bacterial cellulose synthesis approach makes it an interesting area for still wider and promising high-end applications, primarily due to the nanosynthesis mechanism involved and the purity of the cellulose. This study attempts to identify the knowledge gap and potential wider applications of bacterial cellulose and bacterial nanocellulose. This review also highlights the manufacture of bacterial cellulose through low-cost substrates, that is, mainly waste from brewing, agriculture, food, and sugar industries as well as textile, lignocellulosic biorefineries, and pulp mills.

Rare earth elements (REEs) have obtained a greatest significant in human lives owing to their important roles in various high technology applications. The present method development was deal technology important REEs such as neodymium, terbium and dysprosium, selective extraction with possible separation and recovery studies, successfully. The chloride mediated mixed aqueous solution containing 1500 mg/L each of REEs such as Nd, Tb and Dy was subjected at selective separation of Nd from other associated REEs. Three organo-phosphorous based commercial extracting agents such as Cyanex 272, PC 88A and D2EHPA, were employed for the extraction, possible separation and recovery of rare earth elements. A comparative extraction behavior of all these three extractants as function of time, pH influence, extractant concentration, temperature and diluents were systematically investigated. The extraction tendency of organo-phosphorus reagents towards the extraction of either of the REEs follows of the sequence as: D2EHPA > PC 88A > Cyanex 272. The thermodynamic behavior of either of the extractants on liquid–liquid extraction processing of REEs was investigated and thermodynamic calculations were calculated and presented. Substantial recovery of neodymium oxalate followed by its calcined product as neodymium oxide was ascertained from XRD study and SEM–EDS analysis.

Objective: The present study aims to evaluate the number of micronuclei (MN) in potentially malignant disorders (PMDs) and oral cancer and correlates them with the control group. Materials and Methods: Subjects included in the study were equally divided into four groups. Exfoliated cells were then obtained from the buccal mucosa using cytological brush. Smears were stained using rapid Pap stain. The smears were observed using a light microscope, and MN was counted out of 10 high-power fields and scored according to PE Tolbert (1992) criteria. Results: The mean MN count was found to be 0.23, 2.10, 3.03, and 3.57 in groups I, II, III, and IV, respectively. The overall intergroup comparison between the four groups was found to be statistically significant with a P value less than 0.05. Conclusion: This study gives a fair assessment that MN assay in exfoliated cells of oral epithelium can be a conducive biomarker while screening for PMDs of the oral cavity in doubtful lesions that are primarily misdiagnosed clinically.

The cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway is well conserved across eukaryotes, and previous work has shown that it plays an important role in regulating development, growth, and virulence in a number of fungi. PKA is activated in response to extracellular nutrients and acts to regulate metabolism and growth. While a number of components in the PKA pathway have been defined in filamentous fungi, current understanding does not provide a global perspective on PKA function. Thus, this work is significant in that it comprehensively identifies proteins and functional pathways regulated by PKA in a model filamentous fungus. This information enhances our understanding of PKA action and may provide information on how to manipulate it for specific purposes. In filamentous fungi, an important kinase responsible for adaptation to changes in available nutrients is cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase (protein kinase A [PKA]). This kinase has been well characterized at a molecular level, but its systemic action and direct/indirect targets are generally not well understood in filamentous fungi. In this work, we used a pkaA deletion strain (Δ pkaA ) to identify Aspergillus nidulans proteins for which phosphorylation is dependent (either directly or indirectly) on PKA. A combination of phosphoproteomic and transcriptomic analyses revealed both direct and indirect targets of PKA and provided a global perspective on its function. One of these targets was the transcription factor CreA, the main repressor responsible for carbon catabolite repression (CCR). In the Δ pkaA strain, we identified a previously unreported phosphosite in CreA, S319, which (based on motif analysis) appears to be a direct target of Stk22 kinase (AN5728). Upon replacement of CreA S319 with an alanine (i.e., phosphonull mutant), the dynamics of CreA import to the nucleus are affected. Collectively, this work provides a global overview of PKA function while also providing novel insight regarding significance of a specific PKA-mediated phosphorylation event. IMPORTANCE The cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway is well conserved across eukaryotes, and previous work has shown that it plays an important role in regulating development, growth, and virulence in a number of fungi. PKA is activated in response to extracellular nutrients and acts to regulate metabolism and growth. While a number of components in the PKA pathway have been defined in filamentous fungi, current understanding does not provide a global perspective on PKA function. Thus, this work is significant in that it comprehensively identifies proteins and functional pathways regulated by PKA in a model filamentous fungus. This information enhances our understanding of PKA action and may provide information on how to manipulate it for specific purposes.

Spent catalyst, containing vanadium and tungsten oxide in a TiO 2 glass fiber matrix, pose a risk of environmental contamination due to the high toxicity of its metal oxides if leached into the soil when disposed in landfills. Due to the increasing demand of metals and the continuous depletion of primary resources there is an growing necessity for recycling and reprocessing of spent catalysts and other secondary metal sources for environmental and economical reasons. Study of spent SCR catalyst soda roasting process with dissolved NaOH compared with the usual NaOH dry roasting and its influence in the subsequent water leaching. After optimization, the ideal parameters are roasting using a 0.4 ratio of NaOH/spent SCR catalyst in solution for 2 h at 973 K and de-ionized water leaching for 30 min, at 298 K with a pulp density of 30%. The research results show an important reduction of the roasting temperature and leaching time during the processing of spent SCR catalyst obtaining a 95.4% W and 80.2% V leaching efficiency liquor. Silicon compounds are one of the main impurities leached alongside the valuable metals and in this work, the silicon compounds leached are reduced significantly with the aim of avoiding the de-silication post-processing of the leach liquor. The main advantage of the proposed process is the increase of the leaching efficiency of vanadium and tungsten with a minimization of silicon impurities in a shorter time regardless of the leaching temperature.

Non-availability of rich primary resources of rare earth metals (REMs) and the generation of huge amounts of discarded magnets containing REMs, compelled the researchers to explore the possibilities for the recovery of REMs from discarded magnets. Therefore, the present paper reports the recovery of REMs (Nd, Pr, and Dy) from discarded Nd-Fe-B magnets. The process consists of demagnetization, pre-treatment, and hydrometallurgical processing to recover REMs as salt. Leaching studies indicate that 95.5% Nd, 99.9% Pr, and 99.9% Dy were found to be dissolved at the optimized experimental condition i.e., acid concentration 2 M H2SO4, temperature 75 °C, pulp density 100 g/L, and mixing time 60 min. Solvent extraction technique was tried for the selective extraction/separation of REMs and Fe. The result indicates that 99.1% (24.42 g/L) of Nd along with 90% (1.08 g/L) of Pr and total Fe were co-extracted using 35% Cyanex 272 at organic to aqueous (O/A) ratio 1/1, eq. pH 3.5 in 10 min of mixing time. It requires multistage separation and therefore, not feasible in view of economics. Thus, direct precipitation of REMs salt and iron oxide as pigment was studied using two stages of precipitation at different pH. The obtained precipitate of REMs and Fe hydroxides were dried separately to remove the moisture and further treated at elevated temperature to get pure REMs oxide and red oxide.