Two models for an effective undergraduate research experience in physiology and other natural sciences

68A realistic research experience is beneficial to undergraduate students, but it is often difficult for liberal arts colleges to offer this opportunity. We describe two approaches for developing and maintaining an interdisciplinary research program at small colleges. An active and continuing involvement of an individual with extensive research experience is an essential element in both. One model was developed by the faculty of Taylor University, Upland, IN and a research scientist who had retired from a major university to join the Taylor faculty as their first Research Professor. The school's Science Research Training Program was initially funded by a modest endowment provided by interested alumni and by extramural grants awarded to the Research Professor and to the institution; the program now enjoys significant funding from diverse sources. Taylor is not located near any large research university and consequently supplies all resources required for the experiments and stipends for students pursuing projects full-time during the summer. The second model was developed by the faculty at Asbury College in Wilmore, KY, working with a scientist having a full-time appointment at the University of Kentucky and a part-time appointment at the college. In this approach, Asbury faculty may place their students for a period of training, often during the summer, in a laboratory of a cooperating host faculty at the University of Kentucky or other institution. The host faculty funds the research and pays a stipend to those students who work full-time during the summer. Relationships established between faculty at the College and at the University of Kentucky have been mutually beneficial. The success of both programs is evidenced by the students' presenting their data at state and national scientific meetings, by their publishing their results in national journals, and by the undergraduate school faculty developing independent research programs.     

Undergraduate cancer education in Spain: The debate,the opportunities and the initiatives of the University Forum of the Spanish Society of Radiation Oncology (SEOR)

Most medical schools in Spain (80%) offer undergraduate training in oncology. This education is highly variable in terms of content (theory and practical training), number of credits, and the medical specialty and departmental affiliation of the professors. Much of this variability is due to university traditions in the configuration of credits and programmes, and also to the structure of the hospital-based practical training. Undergraduate medical students deserve a more coherent and modern approach to education with a strong emphasis on clinical practice. Oncology is an interdisciplinary science that requires the input of professors from multiple specialties to provide the primary body of knowledge and skills needed to obtain both a theoretical and clinical understanding of cancer. Clinical skills should be a key focus due to their importance in the current model of integrated medical management and care.Clinical radiation oncology is a traditional and comprehensive hospital-based platform for undergraduate education in oncology. In Spain, a significant number (n = 80) of radiation oncology specialists have a contractual relationship to teach university courses. Most Spanish universities (80%) have a radiation oncologist on staff, some of whom are department chairs and many others are full professors who have been hired and promoted under competitive conditions of evaluation as established by the National Agency for Quality Evaluation.The Spanish Society of Radiation Oncology (SEOR) has identified new opportunities to improve undergraduate education in oncology. In this article, we discuss proposals related to theoretical (20 items) and practical clinical training (9 items). We also describe the SEOR University Forum, which is an initiative to develop a strategic plan to implement and organize cancer education at the undergraduate level in an interdisciplinary teaching spirit and with a strong contribution from radiation oncologists.     

新世纪中推动生物科学发展的“Bio-X”

近二年国际上正掀起建立以生物科学为中心的交叉学科研究中心或研究所等实体的热潮。其中最引入注目的是美国斯坦福大学以诺贝尔物理学奖获得者朱棣文教授等人组建的“Bio-X”研究中心。Bio-X中的Bio为生物学,X泛指物理学、化学、工程学、医学等其它学科,在新世纪到来之时,生物科学中有不少迅速发展的领域迫切需要多学科交叉共同研究和参与,特别是：后基因组、基于同步辐射的结构生物学、单分子测量、纳米技术、脑科学、生物医学工程等。     

Staff Nurses’ Perceptions and Experiences about Structural Empowerment: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study

The aim of the study reported in this article was to investigate staff nurses’ perceptions and experiences about structural empowerment and perceptions regarding the extent to which structural empowerment supports safe quality patient care. To address the complex needs of patients, staff nurse involvement in clinical and organizational decision-making processes within interdisciplinary care settings is crucial. A qualitative study was conducted using individual semi-structured interviews of 11 staff nurses assigned to medical or surgical units in a 600-bed university hospital in Belgium. During the study period, the hospital was going through an organizational transformation process to move from a classic hierarchical and departmental organizational structure to one that was flat and interdisciplinary. Staff nurses reported experiencing structural empowerment and they were willing to be involved in decision-making processes primarily about patient care within the context of their practice unit. However, participants were not always fully aware of the challenges and the effect of empowerment on their daily practice, the quality of care and patient safety. Ongoing hospital change initiatives supported staff nurses’ involvement in decision-making processes for certain matters but for some decisions, a classic hierarchical and departmental process still remained. Nurses perceived relatively high work demands and at times viewed empowerment as presenting additional. Staff nurses recognized the opportunities structural empowerment provided within their daily practice. Nurse managers and unit climate were seen as crucial for success while lack of time and perceived work demands were viewed as barriers to empowerment.     

Ecological genomics—changing perspectives on Darwin’s basic concerns

Ecological Genomics is an interdisciplinary field that seeks to understand the genetic and physiological basis of species interactions for evolutionary inferences. At the 7th annual Ecological Genomics Symposium, November 13–15, 2009, members of the Ecological Genomics program at Kansas State University invited 13 speakers and 56 poster presentations.     

Tay-Sachs disease carrier screening: a 21-year experience

This paper presents the findings of a community-based carrier screening program for Tay-Sachs disease, initiated on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus in 1978. The Madison Community Tay-Sachs Screening Program (MCTSSP) is a collaborative, interdisciplinary program that organizes and conducts periodic screening for Tay-Sachs disease (TSD) for the purpose of identifying Tay-Sachs carriers. We present and analyze data on carrier detection with regard to various demographics, including family history of TSD, ancestry, gender, medication exposure, and illness. Individuals participating in the MCTSSP between 1978 and 1999 were primarily of the target population, and the carrier rate was within the expected range (1/25). Despite aggressive publicity efforts and a well-established program, attendance at the screens has declined. A recent survey of Jewish undergraduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison showed poor recall of family screen history and carrier status and reinforced the perception that utilization of the Madison screening program has been low. Ways to increase awareness of and interest in carrier screening for TSD are explored.     

Adoption of an incident learning system in a regionally expanding academic radiation oncology department

Aim and BackgroundWe describe a successful implementation of a departmental incident learning system (ILS) across a regionally expanding academic radiation oncology department, dovetailing with a structured integration of the safety and quality program across clinical sites.Materials and methods mOver 6 years between 2011 and 2017, a long-standing departmental ILS was deployed to 4 clinical locations beyond the primary clinical location where it had been established. We queried all events reported to the ILS during this period and analyzed trends in reporting by clinical site. The chi-square test was used to determine whether differences over time in the rate of reporting were statistically significant. We describe a synchronous development of a common safety and quality program over the same period.ResultsThere was an overall increase in the number of event reports from each location over the time period from 2011 to 2017. The percentage increase in reported events from the first year of implementation to 2017 was 457% in site 1, 166.7% in site 2, 194.3% in site 3, 1025% in site 4, and 633.3% in site 5, with an overall increase of 677.7%. A statistically significant increase in the rate of reporting was seen from the first year of implementation to 2017 (p < 0.001 for all sites).ConclusionsWe observed significant increases in event reporting over a 6-year period across 5 regional sites within a large academic radiation oncology department, during which time we expanded and enhanced our safety and quality program, including regional integration. Implementing an ILS and structuring a safety and quality program together result in the successful integration of the ILS into existing departmental infrastructure.     

“细菌致病机理”课程的“国际课程周”教学探索

为培养具有国际视野的复合型人才,进一步提高人才培养质量和办学质量,西南大学2019年7月首次举办“国际课程周”。本文以“细菌致病机理”课程为例,就“国际课程周”的开展方法、教学内容安排、教学效果以及师生反馈等方面进行总结。实践表明,“细菌致病机理”作为西南大学生命科学学院开设的课程之一,突破了传统教学模式,是跨学科学生选课、内容前沿且贴近生活的高质量尝试。该课程受到师生们的一致认可,学生的学习效果较好,在培养学生国际化视野和专业素养方面发挥了重要的作用,为今后开展好“国际课程周”这种教学模式积累了宝贵的经验,打下了坚实的基础。     

Postgraduate Veterinary Training in Conservation Medicine: An Interdisciplinary Program at Murdoch University, Australia

Although many veterinarians in Australia have been interested in wildlife conservation, the concept of active and worthwhile involvement in biodiversity conservation has often seemed difficult to achieve. There are many boundaries which may hinder the ability of veterinarians to contribute effectively to wildlife conservation initiatives. This article discusses postgraduate veterinary educational initiatives at Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, which aim to train veterinarians to effectively participate in biodiversity conservation programs. The Master of Veterinary Studies (Conservation Medicine) and the Postgraduate Certificate in Veterinary Conservation Medicine have a flexible program structure and can be undertaken entirely by distance education. Their establishment required the removal of disciplinary, institutional, cultural, experiential, and professional development boundaries, which have traditionally impeded veterinary involvement in wildlife conservation projects. The programs have proven to be very successful and have attracted students across Australia and internationally. The strong commitment of Murdoch University to interdisciplinary study and distance education, the goodwill of staff from other divisions within the university, and enthusiastic support from collaborating institutions were critical for the development and establishment of the programs.     

Finding a suitable system scale to optimize program performance on software DSM systems

Recently, software distributed shared memory systems have successfully provided an easy user interface to parallel user applications on distributed systems. In order to prompt program performance, most of DSM systems usually were greedy to utilize all of available processors in a computer network to execute user programs. However, using more processors to execute programs cannot necessarily guarantee to obtain better program performance. The overhead of paralleling programs is increased by the addition in the number of processors used for program execution. If the performance gain from program parallel cannot compensate for the overhead, increasing the number of execution processors will result in performance degradation and resource waste. In this paper, we proposed a mechanism to dynamically find a suitable system scale to optimize performance for DSM applications according to run-time information. The experimental results show that the proposed mechanism can precisely predict the processor number that will result in the best performance and then effectively optimize the performance of the test applications by adapting system scale according to the predicted result. Yi-Chang Zhuang received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from National Cheng Kung University in 1995, 1997, and 2004. He is currently working as an engineer at Industrial Technology Research Institute in Taiwan. His research interests include object-based storage, file systems, distributed systems, and grid computing. Jyh-Biau Chang is currently an assistant professor at the Information Management Department of Leader University in Taiwan. He received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Electrical Engineering Department of National Cheng Kung University in 1994, 1996, and 2005. His research interest is focused on cluster and grid computing, parallel and distributed system, and operating system. Tyng-Yeu Liang is currently an assistant professor who teaches and studies at Department of Electrical Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences in Taiwan. He received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from National Cheng Kung University in 1992, 1994, and 2000. His study is interested in cluster and grid computing, image processing and multimedia. Ce-Kuen Shieh currently is a professor at the Electrical Engineering Department of National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. He is also the chief of computation center at National Cheng Kung University. He received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Electrical Engineering of National Cheng Kung University in 1988. He was the chairman of the Electrical Engineering Department of National Cheng Kung University from 2002 to 2005. His research interest is focused on computer network, and parallel and distributed system. Laurence T. Yang is a professor at the Department of Computer Science, St. Francis Xavier University, Canada. His research includes high performance computing and networking, embedded systems, ubiquitous/pervasive computing and intelligence, and autonomic and trusted computing.     

A brief history of the Graduate Studies Program at The New York Botanical Garden

The New York Botanical Garden initiated its Graduate Studies Program through a cooperative agreement with Columbia University in 1896. This arrangement continued until the late 1960s, when the Biology Department at Columbia chose to emphasize laboratory-related research and discontinued its organismal programs. At the time a new partnership was formed with what was to become Lehman College of the City University of New York—a program that has continued through the present. Since the inception of its Graduate Studies Program 100 years ago, the Garden has provided sponsorship, guidance, and resources to help more than 200 studients receive graduate degrees. In recent years the Garden has expanded its graduate program to include four additional university affiliates: the Department of Biology at New York University, the Institute of Systematic Botany at Cornell University, the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University, and, in a new agreement with an old partner, the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation at Columbia University.     

Milton C. Winternitz and the Yale Institute of Human Relations: a brief chapter in the history of social medicine

This paper considers the antecedent events that led to the development of Yale's Institute of Human Relations, the program of interdisciplinary research and teaching established, and the principal protagonists, James Rowland Angell, President of Yale University, and Milton C. Winternitz, Dean of the School of Medicine, both of whom were committed to the concept that medicine is a social science.     

Linking engineering and medicine: fostering collaboration skills in interdisciplinary teams

Biomedical engineering embodies the spirit of combining disciplines. The engineer's pragmatic approach to--and appetite for--solving problems is matched by a bounty of technical challenges generated in medical domains. From nanoscale diagnostics to the redesign of systems of health-care delivery, engineers have been connecting advances in basic and applied science with applications that have helped to improve medical care and outcomes. Increasingly, however, integrating these areas of knowledge and application is less individualistic and more of a team sport. Success increasingly relies on a direct focus on practicing and developing collaboration skills in interdisciplinary teams. Such an approach does not fit easily into individual-focused, discipline-based programs. Biomedical engineering has done its fair share of silo busting, but new approaches are needed to inspire interdisciplinary teams to form around challenges in particular areas. Health care offers a wide variety of complex challenges across an array of delivery settings that can call for new interdisciplinary approaches. This was recognized by the deans of the University of Southern California's (USC's) Medical and Engineering Schools when they began the planning process, leading to the creation of the Health, Technology, and Engineering (HTE@USC or HTE for short) program. “Health care and technology are changing rapidly, and future physicians and engineers need intellectual tools to stay ahead of this change,” says Carmen A. Puliafito, dean of the Keck School of Medicine. His goal is to train national leaders in the quest for devices and processes to improve health care.     

基于CiteSpace中国海洋生态经济的文献计量分析

以CNKI和CSSCI数据库中1980—2017年的1779篇文献为原始数据,基于文献计量分析方法和文献可视化工具,对海洋生态经济领域的研究成果进行信息挖掘。研究发现:(1)海洋生态经济的研究始于1982年,2009年论文发表数量激增成为学术界的研究热点。(2)狄乾斌、高强、殷克东等在海洋生态经济方面做出了大量研究,中国海洋大学、国家海洋局和辽宁师范大学为主要研究机构,研究机构之间合作联系主要以部门和地域联系为主,跨区域和跨部门的合作有待增强。(3)海洋生态经济的研究热点指向"蓝色经济"、"海洋生态系统协调"、"人海可持续发展"等方向。(4)海洋生态经济研究的综合性不断增强,《海洋开发与管理》是海洋生态经济研究刊文量最多的期刊。     

Effect of blood storage conditions on leucocyte intracellular cytokine production

Intracytoplasmic detection of leucocyte cytokines has become a powerful tool for the characterisation of cytokine-producing cells in heterogeneous cell populations, however the effect of specimen storage conditions is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of whole blood stored at room temperature (RT) or 4 degrees C, on intracellular cytokine production by T cells and monocytes. In cell cultures stored at RT or 4 degrees C for 24h, significant changes in several leucocyte cytokines/chemokines were shown compared to blood cultures stimulated at time=0. There was a significant decrease in IL-2, IL-4 and TNFalpha production by CD4+ T cells in blood cultures stored at RT but an increase in IL-2 in cultures at 4 degrees C. There was a significant decrease in TGFbeta production by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in cultures kept at RT or 4 degrees C. There was a significant increase in MCP-1 and MCP-3 production by monocytes in blood cultures kept at RT or 4 degrees C. There was a decrease in IL-12 production by monocytes in cultures kept at 4 degrees C, whereas IL-10 production was decreased at RT and increased in cultures kept at 4 degrees C. Blood stored at 4 degrees C showed less immunomodulatory changes than blood kept at RT although overall a possible Th1 bias at 4 degrees C.     

Engineering excellence in breakthrough biomedical technologies: bioengineering at the University of California, Riverside

The Department of Bioengineering at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), was established in 2006 and is the youngest department in the Bourns College of Engineering. It is an interdisciplinary research engine that builds strength from highly recognized experts in biochemistry, biophysics, biology, and engineering, focusing on common critical themes. The range of faculty research interests is notable for its diversity, from the basic cell biology through cell function to the physiology of the whole organism, each directed at breakthroughs in biomedical devices for measurement and therapy. The department forges future leaders in bioengineering, mirroring the field in being energetic, interdisciplinary, and fast moving at the frontiers of biomedical discoveries. Our educational programs combine a solid foundation in bio logical sciences and engineering, diverse communication skills, and training in the most advanced quantitative bioengineering research. Bioengineering at UCR also includes the Bioengineering Interdepartmental Graduate (BIG) program. With its slogan Start-Grow-Be-BIG, it is already recognized for its many accomplishments, including being third in the nation in 2011 for bioengineering students receiving National Science Foundation graduate research fellowships as well as being one of the most ethnically inclusive programs in the nation.     

农林院校生物信息学专业数据库技术课程教学改革刍议

生物信息学是一门交叉学科,对于现代生物学研究具有重要的意义。数据库技术是生物信息学的基础之一。本文对农林院校的生物信息学专业的数据库技术课程的教学现状做了一些介绍,对目前生物信息专业数据库教学存在的问题进行了分析。结合教学的实践,有针对性的提出了一些教学改革的具体措施。     

Isolation of thermotolerant ethanologenic yeasts and use of selected strains in industrial scale fermentation in an Egyptian distillery

An enrichment and isolation program for new ethanol-producing thermotolerant yeasts as well as a screening program of some known thermotolerant strains resulted in the selection of several strains capable of growth at 40-43 degrees C. Among these strains four grew and fermented sugar cane molasses at 43 degrees C under batch conditions with sugar-conversion efficiencies >94% and ethanol concentrations 6.8-8.0% (w/v). The two best-performing strains, a Saccharomyces cerevisiae F111 and a Kluyveromyces marxianus WR12 were used in eight 87.5 m(3) fermentation runs (four using each strain) for industrial ethanol production in an Egyptian distillery using sugar cane molasses. Mean ethanol production was 7.7% and 7.4% (w/v), respectively, with an added advantage of cooling elimination during fermentation and higher ethanol yields compared to the distillery's S. cerevisiae SIIC (ATCC 24855) strain in use. The isolate S. cerevisiae F111 was subsequently adopted by the distillery for regular production with significant economical gains and water conservation.     

Development of an Undergraduate Bioinformatics Degree Program at a Liberal Arts College

The highly interdisciplinary field of bioinformatics has emerged as a powerful modern science. There has been a great demand for undergraduate- and graduate-level trained bioinformaticists in the industry as well in the academia. In order to address the needs for trained bioinformaticists, its curriculum must be offered at the undergraduate level, especially at four-year colleges, where a majority of the United States gets its education. There are many challenges in developing an undergraduate-level bioinformatics program that needs to be carefully designed as a well-integrated and cohesive interdisciplinary curriculum that prepares the students for a wide variety of career options. This article describes the challenges of establishing a highly interdisciplinary undergraduate major, the development of an undergraduate bioinformatics degree program at Ramapo College of New Jersey, and lessons learned in the last 10 years during its management.