When earning a teaching certification, there is no curriculum when it comes to the treatment of students with a diagnosis as well as how to educate their fellow classmates. Diagnoses affect the process of child development of the diagnosed as well as the friends and family. Children of all different ages have different responses and reactions to the world of health. Looking at a developmental perspective, teachers can properly educate themselves and their students about these diagnoses. To be able to successfully inform students of diagnoses, there must be an overall understanding of how well they are able to acquire the knowledge. According to Jean Piaget, a key researcher in cognitive development, the age of the child correlates with their overall understanding and comprehension. In his theory, he explained how he believed that the environment of an organism affects how it will respond and adapt to the situations at hand. There are four stages that are connected to age, from infancy to adolescence and adulthood. Therefore, this project will focus on school-age children who are in the concrete operational stage. The concrete operational stage is made up of elementary and early adolescents and focuses on intelligence that is demonstrated through logical and precise thinking of concrete ideas (Huitt, W., & Hummel, J, 2003). This type of thinking applies to all parts of the child’s life and informs their behaviors on how to “adapt” to new information. Knowing this information, we will be able to create a curriculum of lectures, informational videos, worksheets and quizzes that can properly assess the student’s and their knowledge of the diagnoses.

Introduction: In-store promotion of food products leads to more frequent purchases. Product promotion can vary by store characteristics. We compared marketing strategies used by grocery stores to promote fruit and vegetables (FV) in neighborhoods with varying socio-economic and racial/ethnic characteristics.<br/><br/>Methods: Data was collected from a random sample of 12 large grocery stores from the same national chain located within a 15-mile radius of Downtown Phoenix. Store zip-code level median household income was used to classify stores as located in lower (<$50,000) or higher (>$50,000) income areas. Stores located in neighborhoods with more than 50% Hispanic population were classified as majority Hispanic serving. The ProPromo tool was adapted to document the presence and promotion of FV at 8 distinct locations throughout each store. Types of promotion strategies documented included displays, price promotions, size, or themes.<br/><br/>Results: FV were present at the entrance, islands, checkouts, and produce section; while fruits were promoted in all of these locations, vegetables were promotion in fewer locations. All stores used size and price promotion to promote FV; display was used to promote vegetables in 2 stores and fruits in all stores. On average stores promoted 32 fruits and 38 vegetables. Stores serving higher and lower income areas promoted similar numbers of FV. However, stores in Hispanic majority neighborhoods promoted fewer FV (66) in comparison to those in Hispanic minority areas (73).<br/><br/>Conclusion: Fruit and vegetable promotion disparity associated with neighborhood demographics may contribute to disparities in fruit and vegetable consumption.

For my creative project, I explored using natural sound to create a sound score or song. I used contrasting natural sounds to create the sound scores. Most of the sound recordings are from the New York City subways as well as other recordings around different cities in the United States. I created new sounds using sound manipulation techniques. I explored the use of electronic music production to translate the natural noise into the patterns, repetition and other elemental musical techniques to create a song. I used Ableton as the music production platform to develop the three songs.

Exploration of a mouse model (C57BL/6J) capable of demonstrating behavioral changes after adolescent social isolation that are consistent with prior findings may prove beneficial in later research. This study examined 2 proposed long-term effects of isolated housing (one mouse/cage), when compared to group housing (two mice/cage) during adolescence. Mice were placed in their respective housing conditions after weaning (PND 21) and remained in those conditions until PND 60. The same cohorts were used in both phases of the experiment. Phase 1 sought to confirm previous findings that showed increases in ethanol intake after adolescent social isolation using a 2-bottle preference Drinking-in-the-Dark (DID) design over a 4-day period (PND 64-PND 67.). Phase 2 sought to elucidate the effects present after adolescent social isolation, as measured using response inhibition capabilities demonstrated during fixed-minimum interval (FMI) trials (PND 81-PND 111). Findings in phase 1 of the experiment were non-significant, save a strong tendency for female mice in both housing conditions to drink more as a proportion of their bodyweight (g/kg). However, a trend of lower bodyweight in single housed mice did exist, which does suggest that detrimental stress was applied via the used of adolescent isolation in that housing condition. Findings in phase 2 showed little effect of adolescent social isolation on mean inter-response time (IRT) at any criterion used (FMI-0, FMI-4, FMI-6). Evaluation of mean interquartile range (IQR) of IRTs showed a significantly greater amount of variation in IRT responses within single housed mice at the highest criterion (FMI-6), and a trend in the same direction when FMI-4 and FMI-6 were tested concurrently. Taken as a whole, the findings of this experiment suggest that the effect of adolescent social isolation on ethanol intake is far less robust than the effect of sex and may be difficult to replicate in a low-power study. Additionally, adolescent social isolation may interfere with the ability of mice to show consistent accuracy during FMI tasks or a delay in recognition of FMI criterion change.

Premature babies are at risk of death from immature lung development. For this reason, pregnant mothers at risk for preterm delivery are administered dexamethasone (DEX), a synthetic glucocorticoid that promotes fetal lung development. However, exposure to DEX in utero is associated with low birth weight and cardiovascular development pathologies. Moreover, our lab found that DEX administration in-utero leads to a sex-specific increase in stress-induced tachycardia in female, but not male offspring. This project seeks to expand on this preliminary finding of the heart by examining local effectors of activity from the sympathetic system (tyrosine hydroxylase and catechol-o-methyltransferase). Tyrosine hydroxylase was measured as it catalyzes the rate limiting step of norepinephrine synthesis while catechol-O- methyltransferase was studied as it catalyzes the degradation of norepinephrine. Acetylcholinesterase was used to measure parasympathetic activity as it catalyzes the degradation of the primary neurotransmitter of the parasympathetic nervous system, acetylcholine. Analyses of sympathetic as well as parasympathetic activity were done to determine influences of in-utero DEX exposure on autonomic regulation in adulthood. Pregnant rats were administered DEX (0.4 mg/kg, i.p.) or vehicle (20% w/v 2-hydroxypropyl ß- cyclodextran) at gestation days 18-21, with euthanasia of offspring occurring at around the time the offspring reached 13-15 weeks of age. Left ventricles and right atria were pulverized, processed and subjected to western blot analysis to determine expression of proteins of interest. Males exposed to DEX in-utero saw a decrease in tyrosine hydroxylase expression in left ventricle and right atrium when compared to vehicle control, a difference not seen with females. In addition, catechol-o-methyltransferase expression was increased in right atria from male, but not female rats. Acetylcholinesterase expression was reduced in the right atria of female, but not male rats. The present findings suggest reduced norepinephrine signaling in the heart of male, but not female DEX-exposed offspring. Given that we have previously found that female, but not male rats exhibit exaggerated stress-induced tachycardia, our current findings suggest that males possess a sex-specific compensatory mechanism allowing the heart to resist increased sympathetic signaling from the brain, one that females do not possess. The underlying mechanics of this proposed mechanism are unclear, and further investigation is needed in this subject to determine the significance of the findings from our study.

The thesis project merges interdisciplinary research to develop a self-directed creative intervention for immigrant youth, allowing them to make sense of their social and cultural identities. It takes research on self-awareness, multicultural identification, perceived belonging, and bibliotherapy to create a guided journal titled "Unearth," filled with art and writing prompts that are age-appropriate for adolescents and that serve as avenues for self-exploration. The project ultimately engages a focus group discussion to understand the usability and accessibility of the intervention.

In females, critical hormonal shifts occur during puberty, menstruation, pregnancy, and <br/>menopause. The fluctuating ovarian hormone levels across a woman’s lifespan likely contribute <br/>to inflammatory responses driven by the immune system, which is regulated by a variety of <br/>physiological pathways and microbiological cues. Pregnancy in particular results in drastic <br/>changes in circulating hormone profiles, and involves a variety of physiological changes, <br/>including inflammatory responses of the immune system. There is evidence that these effects are <br/>mediated, in part, by the significant hormone fluctuations that characterize pregnancy and <br/>postpartum periods. This thesis highlights and synthesizes important physiological changes <br/>associated with pregnancy, and their potential implications on cognitive and brain aging in <br/>women. A tertiary model of cognition is presented depicting interactions between hormonal <br/>history, reproductive history, and immune functions. This research is important to create a better <br/>understanding of women’s health and enhance medical care for women throughout pregnancy <br/>and across reproductive hormone shifts across the lifespan.

The goal of this project was to design and create a genetic construct that would allow for <br/>tumor growth to be induced in the center of the wing imaginal disc of Drosophila larvae, the <br/>R85E08 domain, using a heat shock. The resulting transgene would be combined with other <br/>transgenes in a single fly that would allow for simultaneous expression of the oncogene and, in <br/>the surrounding cells, other genes of interest. This system would help establish Drosophila as a <br/>more versatile and reliable model organism for cancer research. Furthermore, pilot studies were <br/>performed, using elements of the final proposed system, to determine if tumor growth is possible <br/>in the center of the disc, which oncogene produces the best results, and if oncogene expression <br/>induced later in development causes tumor growth. Three different candidate genes were <br/>investigated: RasV12, PvrACT, and Avli.

Soccer is bar none, the most popular sport in the entire world. It is played, followed, and loved by virtually every single country on Earth. Despite this massive support for the sport which houses some of the world’s biggest names in the world, its shortcomings when dealing with issues of racial injustice and incidents of racist behavior have become more pronounced in recent years. Although this open discussion regarding racism within the sport has recently begun to sprout, its roots can be tied back to decades ago while continuing to the present day, with players, referees, coaches, fans, commentators, and more all involved on both sides of the issue. <br/> We found this topic to be most prevalent in today’s society after witnessing multiple shameful racist incidents that have occurred to some of the world’s biggest players throughout European football in 2019, as well as the recent ongoing fight for racial reform and increased awareness regarding racial injustice in the United States. By doing comprehensive research and analysis on such incidents that have occurred throughout the years we hope to raise more awareness regarding this subject that has plagued the beautiful game. In addition, we hope to offer ways to remedy the problem one step at a time, all while answering the tough, but necessary questions regarding what specifically should be done in the sport, that others have been afraid to talk about for far too long. Specifically, we wanted to mainly highlight the experience of black players, with a further discussion on other minority groups, in English and Italian football as these two leagues have been a part of the largest debate between how club traditions, player-fan interactions, league policies, and staff management have all affected the way we view the game as the endemic of racism within the sport is exacerbated.