Class Composition Research Articles

Understanding professional challenges and coping strategies within the resilience process that support teacher well-being.

Teaching is an immensely complex profession with a variety of challenges. This qualitative study explores challenges that teachers face and how teachers cope with these challenges to maintain their well-being. The study is based on the Aligning Well-being and Resilience in Education (AWaRE) model and aims at identifying relevant teacher challenges and coping strategies to contribute to an evidence-based understanding of well-being and resilience within the teaching profession. We analysed teachers’ coping strategies in challenging situations based on semi-structured interviews with N=29 teachers from schools in Switzerland. Results showed that social factors at diverse levels such as school management, parent interaction and class composition represent the central contextual challenges, while social support systems from school management and colleagues and cooperation among teachers are significant contextual resources. Problem-solving was used as a frequent coping strategy. The results of this study provide implications for understanding the ways to support a successful resilience process among teachers and designing interventions to enhance teachers’ resilience.

The Effects of ChatGPT-Assisted Teacher Feedback on Korean College Students’ English Writing

This study investigates the impact of ChatGPT-assisted teacher feedback on the writing skills and motivation of Korean EFL learners, compared to traditional teacher feedback, in two English composition classes at a Korean university. 41 Korean EFL university students were divided into two groups: 20 students in the control group received traditional teacher feedback whereas 21 students in the experimental group received ChatGPT-assisted teacher feedback. Data was collected through writing samples, questionnaires and interviews. To assess the students’ writing skills, pre- and post-tests of writing were administered as well as a survey questionnaire and interviews about their motivation and perceptions of the use of ChatGPT. Students were individually interviewed to examine the influence of ChatGPT-assisted teacher feedback in the revision process. There were statistically significant differences in learners’ writing performance between pre- and post-test scores in both groups. Results revealed that both feedback styles were efficient for an improvement of the learners’ writing ability. However, the two groups were distinguished in terms of their perceptions and attitudes to feedback practices. The control group was motivated with the teacher’s context-specific feedback on content while the experimental group was demotivated with ChatGPT’s hallucinated feedback. This study implicates the effectiveness of using ChatGPT as a supplemental tool for constructive feedback on the revision process with EFL Korean university learners.

Native trees are responsible for the high carbon density in urban natural area forests across eight United States cities

Abstract Urban natural area forests provide cities with crucial ecosystem services, including carbon storage and sequestration. Although previous work from a single city has suggested that urban natural area forests may be carbon‐rich and dominated by native species, it is unclear if that pattern is widespread. Indeed, little is known about the species composition and carbon storage in these green spaces, or how urban natural area forests compared with similar rural forests. Here, we use data collected by the Forests in Cities network to quantify carbon stored in urban natural area forests across 1852 plots in eight of the most populous US cities and examine patterns in woody vegetation carbon storage by tree species composition and size class. We also compare the carbon storage in these urban natural area forests to similar rural forests using USDA FS Forest Inventory and Analysis data. We found that urban natural area forests store between 214 and 267 Mg C ha−1, with the majority (on average 55%) in the above‐ground portion of live trees and shrubs. This carbon was primarily stored by native trees and increased with the proportion of native species, as native trees tended to be larger. The proportion of non‐native species was higher in smaller size classes. Overall, the woody vegetation carbon density in urban natural area forests was higher than similar forest types in rural settings, a phenomenon driven by the presence of more large trees. Synthesis and applications: Together these results demonstrate the importance of urban natural area forests as carbon‐dense ecosystems and havens for native tree species. However, because of the greater number of non‐native species in smaller size classes, these forests may also be at risk of transitioning away from native‐dominated systems. Therefore, greater monitoring efforts and increased management activities such as non‐native species removal will be crucial to maintaining the high carbon storage and health of these ecosystems.

Evaluating the Extraction and Quantification of Marine Surfactants from Seawater through Solid Phase Extraction and Subsequent Colorimetric Analyses.

Surfactants are amphiphilic molecules that adsorb to interfaces and affect the interfacial tension. Surfactants in seawater can impact gas-exchange, surface properties, and the composition and fate of sea spray aerosol. The accurate quantification of surfactants and their classes is crucial to constraining the effect of surfactants in seawater and their role in air-sea exchanges. Here, we evaluate and optimize a solid phase extraction (SPE) method paired with colorimetry and UV-vis spectroscopy to quantify the concentrations of anionic, cationic, and nonionic surfactants in seawater. We compare tandem SPE with two-step SPE and different elution volumes and evaluate the impact of different interferents. Improved extraction efficiencies were obtained with an 8 mL acetonitrile elution and with separate ENVI-18 and ENVI-Carb extractions, instead of tandem. With complex surfactant mixtures, the presence of anionic surfactants interfered with the quantification of cationic surfactants and caused underestimations of up to 83%. Using a two-step extraction and analyzing each seawater SPE extract separately during colorimetric quantification help avoid the effects of interferents and ensure more representative quantification of surfactants. With this method, average seawater surfactant concentrations ranged from 0.04 to 0.06 μM. At the highest concentrations, the class composition comprised 23% anionic, 21% cationic, and 56% nonionic surfactants.

Lipidomic Profiling of Common Wheat Flours from 1891-2010.

Wheat lipids are a minor constituent of wheat, with an important influence on its processing properties. While breeding aimed to improve the protein composition of wheat flour, its influence on the lipid composition remains unknown. We therefore analyzed the lipidome of 60 different common wheat (Triticum aestivum) flours representing cultivars registered and grown in Germany from 1891 to 2010. Four different extraction techniques were tested before the application of a semiquantitative, untargeted UHPLC-MS/MS method. The measurements included 16 different lipid classes and 102 different lipid species. Based on the lipid profile, discrimination between old (registered between 1891 to 1950) and modern (1951 to 2010) cultivars was possible. While the lipid class composition remained constant, differences were due to variations within the class of triacylglycerols, with modern cultivars containing less unsaturated fatty acids than the older ones. Our results imply that improving the lipid class composition of common wheat is a promising target for further breeding.

Dynamics of the number and productivity of <i>Hereford</i> breeding cattle in the Novosibirsk region

The article presents an analysis of the state of the breeding stock of Hereford cattle in the Novosibirsk region in dynamics for 2021–2023. The Hereford breed is one of the most common breeds of beef cattle in Russia and in the world, and its productive qualities and the ability to adapt to different climatic conditions and pasture content allows it to be successfully used to produce high-quality and environmentally friendly meat. The results of zootechnical reports on bonification from breeding farms of the Novosibirsk region were analyzed, a comparison of indicators of productivity and use of herd animals, including own productivity, growth and development of young animals, reproductive qualities and longevity of cows of breeding herds, was carried out. It was found that despite the reduction in the number of breeding farms and breeding stock of Hereford cattle in the Novosibirsk region, is an improvement in both individual signs of productivity of cows and young animals, as well as in the overall class composition of the herd. Nevertheless, the available livestock seems to be insufficient in terms of meeting the needs of farms for breeding animals adapted to the climate conditions of Western Siberia and year-round outdoor maintenance. Currently, the animals produced at Sibirskaya Niva LLC most adequately meet the requirements of the market, but their number is extremely insufficient both for the formation of breeding herds of commodity farms in volumes corresponding to those necessary to fill the beef market, and for the formation of daughter breeding herds in the region.

Среднемасштабное интернет-картографирование почвенного покрова

The article presents the results of the development of an open geoinformation system of soil cover based on a medium-scale soil map. The scale of the map is 1:100 000. Coverage of the territory—Okhansky Urban District of the Perm Krai. The relevance of the work performed is caused by the growing demand for digital soil-cartographic information on a medium scale, which is characterized by representativeness in the conduct of a land cadastre, environmental impact assessment, obtaining information about the thickness of the fertile layer in civil, industrial and road construction, as well as in the development of adaptive landscape farming systems. The purpose of the research is to develop and test a method for integrating archival soil-cartographic materials with open web GIS solutions for a modern level of visualization and efficient use of soil maps (using the example of a medium-scale level within the boundaries of the Okhansky Urban District of the Perm Krai). For vectorization, the scanned map was defined in the coordinate system of the Pulkovo 1942/Gauss-Kruger zone 10 projection. As a result of vectorization, the total number of soil contours was 648. The source of attributive information is the soil outlines of land uses in the Okhansky District of the Perm Krai. The structure of the GIS project, in addition to the layer of soil contours, contains thematic layers characterizing the granulometric composition and quality classes of soils, calculated by the method of A.S. Fatyanov. The developed technological scheme for creating an open soil web GIS has two main blocks: the development of a GIS project and web design. Between them is the result of the functioning of the qgis2web module, which allows you to create a web map from a GIS project. Open access to GIS is organized at the web page [Web resource: https://chascshin.github.io/Ohansk-GIS (accessed 27.09.24)]. Using GitHub Pages to host a site with a web map significantly reduces the cost of the final geoinformation project. However, the main disadvantage of GitHub hosting is the limitations on the count and amount of data.

무용창작 수업에서 대학생의 경험에 대한 개방성 창의적, 프로세스 참여 내재적 동기 및 창의적 수행 간의 관계

Objectives The purpose of this study was to explore the latent factor structure of the Creative Process Engagement Scale (Zhang & Bartol, 2010a) and the Creative Performance Scale (Mutonyi & Slatten, 2020) adapted for college dance students (Study 1), and to examine the effects of openness to experience on college students' creative performance through creative process engagement and intrinsic motivation (Study 2). Methods Study 1 was conducted on 127 undergraduate dance majors (17 males, 110 females) to test the validity and reliability of two scales. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, principal component analysis, and re-liability analysis. Study 2 was conducted on 428 dance majors (54 males, 374 females, mean age= 20.08±1.62) to examine the mediating effects of creative process engagement and intrinsic motivation on the relationship be-tween openness to experience and creative performance. The data were analyzed using confirmatory factor anal-ysis, internal consistency, and regression analysis. Results In Study 1, the latent factor structure of the Creative Process Engagement Scale and Creative Performance Scale fit a two-factor structure. The internal consistency coefficient (ɑ) was .927 for the creative process engage-ment scale and .838 for the creative performance scale. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor structure for the creative process engagement scale and a single-factor and two-factor structure for the creative performance scale. Regression analysis showed that openness to experience has an indirect effect on creative performance through idea generation and intrinsic motivation. Conclusions Findings suggest that fostering college students' engagement in the creative process, intrinsic moti-vation, and creative performance in dance composition classes requires the promotion of cognitive styles that are open to experience.

Bioactive metabolites: a clue to the link between MASLD and CKD?

Metabolites produced as intermediaries or end-products of microbial metabolism provide crucial signals for health and diseases, such as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). These metabolites include products of the bacterial metabolism of dietary substrates, modification of host molecules [such as bile acids (BAs), trimethylamine-N-oxide, and short-chain fatty acids], or products directly derived from bacteria. Recent studies have provided new insights into the association between MASLD and the risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD). Furthermore, alterations in microbiota composition and metabolite profiles, notably altered BAs, have been described in studies investigating the association between MASLD and the risk of CKD. This narrative review discusses alterations of specific classes of metabolites, BAs, fructose, vitamin D, and microbiota composition that may be implicated in the link between MASLD and CKD.

Demonstrating the Underestimated Effect of Landscape Pattern on Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus Concentrations Based on Cellular Automata–Markov Model in Taihu Lake Basin

The expanding cropland profoundly affects stream water quality. However, the relationships between landscape patterns and stream water quality in different cropland composition classes remain unclear. We observed total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) concentrations, and landscape patterns changed in 78 sub-watersheds of the Taihu Lake Basin’s Jiangsu segment from 2005 to 2020. The results showed that cropland area was positively correlated with TN and TP concentrations. The 21.10% reduction in cropland area, coupled with a 41.00% increase in building land, has led to an escalation in cropland fragmentation. Meanwhile, TN and TP concentrations declined by 26.67% and 28.57%, respectively. Partial least squares suggested that forest interspersion and juxtaposition metrics and forest area percentage were dominant factors influencing water quality in high- and medium-density cropland zones, respectively. The Cellular Automata–Markov Model shows reasonable distribution of forests. Scenarios with enhanced forest interspersion and juxtaposition metrics (75.28 to 91.12) showed reductions in TP (26.92% to 34.61%) and TN (18.45% to 25.89%) concentrations by 2025 compared to a natural economic development scenario. Landscape configuration optimization could assist managers in improving water quality.

AMS Early Career Leadership Academy: From Idea to Reality to Evolution

Abstract The aim of the Early Career Leadership Academy (ECLA; established in 2017) is to improve the retention rates of women; people of color; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+); and people with disabilities in the atmospheric sciences and related fields by cultivating leadership, providing mentorship, and fostering a strong community of supportive peers and collaborators. Since 2017, five classes have completed the program, with the class composition spanning professional sectors and personal identities. Approximately 70% of ECLA participants were identified as women, people of color, LGBTQ+, and/or people with disabilities. Nearly half of all graduates have filled leadership positions within the American Meteorological Society (AMS), with a majority reporting that their first leadership position was not held until after completion of ECLA. A benefit of leadership training that spans across sectors includes the realization that despite different day-to-day responsibilities, many of the challenges faced by early career professionals related to extreme weather, climate change, and diversity and inclusion are similar across workplaces. ECLA is organized by AMS volunteers who created a program based on adaptive leadership principles. Given the diversity of professional backgrounds and lived experiences, the programmatic design of ECLA is also built upon each class’s professional development needs. Many of the topics are fundamental to leading effective, diverse teams, yet are rarely covered in traditional academic preparation. Recommendations and a list of actionable strategies are provided to help ensure that early career professionals will continue to be agents of positive change in the weather, water, and climate enterprise and beyond.

Evaluation of undergraduate research topic skill development

Inspired by the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy frame Research as Inquiry, Lehman College Library conducted an assessment to measure its undergraduate students’ ability to formulate research questions that are appropriately scaled, encourage critical inquiry, and can be supported by available information resources. Using a sample of first-year students enrolled in an English composition class, the assessment revealed that students performed best at locating information resources and struggled most with scaling down a topic. Lessons learned from this study can be extrapolated to outside institutions to improve information literacy learning outcomes.

Winners and losers: Class dynamics and social protection in Pakistan

AbstractThis study responds to the recent call in the literature for the interrogation and understanding of how social protection is accessed and distributed among various groups and classes of society. It explores who stands to win and lose from social protection through the lens of social class using the case study of Pakistan, where the elite class holds significant sway over decision‐making. Using a unique mixed methods approach, this study offers a two‐fold contribution: First, it applies cluster analysis to group households based on their socioeconomic demographics, with clusters serving as proxies for class and thereby giving unique insight into class composition in Pakistan. Second, it provides analysis of access to and experiences with social protection of households in different classes. The study concludes that social protection in Pakistan is insufficient in reaching and aiding lower‐class households. Instead, it predominantly benefits the wealthy, reinforcing a cycle of privilege and disadvantage among different socioeconomic classes. This study contributes to the construction of knowledge on how concentration of power within an elite group leads to resource allocation that perpetuates existing inequalities, hinders social progress and amplifies challenges faced by the lower classes.

Effect of seven baking lipases on the lipid class composition of three different cakes

AbstractLipases are effective clean-label improvers for the baking quality of cake. Insights into lipase activities in different cake formulations in combination with the effect on batter/dough and baking quality are needed to further reveal the underlying mechanisms. Therefore, a method using normal phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to an evaporative light scattering detector was adapted and validated for the five most abundant lipid classes in three common cake recipes, namely triacylglycerols, diacylglycerols, monoacylglycerols, glycerophosphocholine and lysoglycerophosphocholine. The method revealed total changes of 0.2 mg/g to 186.5 mg/g in lipid class content per dry weight after lipase treatments. Comparative investigations on batter/dough and products of basic cake, pound cake and brioche without or with addition of seven lipases showed that the substrate specificity of lipases is the decisive factor for their effectiveness regarding improved dough and product quality. A high lipase activity only supported already matching substrate specificities. Graphical abstract

Links between instructional quality and classroom composition in classes taught by the same teacher

BackgroundAs instructional quality is crucial for successful learning, its conditional factors are of particular interest for research and practice. Research showed that distal as well as proximal class composition factors are related to instructional quality. However, it is still unclear to what extent these aspects explain differences in instructional quality between classes of the same teacher. AimThis study investigates differences in instructional quality (cognitive activation, classroom management, student support) between classes taught by the same teacher and how these differences are related to distal (gender ratio, SES, proportion of multilingual learners) and proximal (self-concept, interest, mathematics grade) classroom composition factors. SampleAnalyses are based on 3566 students in 219 classes taught by 106 teachers in 9th-grade mathematics classrooms in Germany. MethodsWe estimated three-level doubly-latent linear mixed models regressing instructional quality on class composition factors with students at level 1, classes at level 2, and teachers at level 3. ResultsRoughly 7–13 % of the variance in instructional quality perceived by the students can be attributed to class characteristics. Higher class-mean interest and a lower proportion of multilingual learners are related to higher cognitive activation. Class-mean self-concept is negatively and interest is positively related to student support. Higher discipline can be significantly explained by higher mean mathematics grades and more female students in the class. ConclusionsOur results underline the importance of considering the classroom context when striving for high instructional quality, highlighting the importance of promoting proximal factors such as student interest.

Despotic dominion and union organizing: Law, property, and the historical geography of class struggle in California agribusiness

This paper examines the role of law, particularly law related to private property, in the historical geography of class struggle. At the center of the analysis is the ‘access rule’, written by the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board in 1975 and struck down by the United States Supreme Court in 2021. Responding to the specific geography of California agribusiness labor relations and the long history of violent repression of workers' organizing rights, the rule allowed union organizers onto growers' property under highly constrained conditions to speak with workers about the merits of unionization. The paper traces the ‘pre-history’ of the rule – the decades of law officers and growers' efforts to deny organizers access to California's rural working class – the working of the rule during its more than forty-five years of existence, and its demise at the hands of the current, conservative supreme court. In doing so, it shows how law not only shapes class composition in particular landscapes but is an essential tool, strategically deployed, by all sides in class struggles.

Exposure to harm as a function of bargaining position: The class composition of hospitality workers in Sheffield

This article advances a zemiological framework of work-based harms, as a means of interrogating the contemporary crisis in the quality of work. Such a framework provides a more nuanced conceptualisation and a stronger political framing of the various harms that are incurred in the workplace than alternative understandings. We critically appraise the development of zemiology out of critical criminology and review recent models which demonstrate the value and insights of the approach to the topic of work-based harms. Nonetheless, these accounts tend to neglect the role of worker resistance in determining the distribution of harm, and we draw on Class Composition Analysis from Autonomist Marxism as a way of better understanding the bargaining power of workers, which in our understanding is synonymous with their ability to resist the imposition of harm. We apply this combined framework to an analysis of hospitality work in Sheffield. First, we describe workers’ experiences of three significant forms of harm (employment insecurity, wage thefts and health and safety during the COVID pandemic). Second, we explore the barriers to union organisation, which very often are linked to the dynamics generating harms in the workplace. Finally, we examine how those barriers were overcome and harms effectively contested, drawing on the example of the Sheffield Needs A Pay Rise campaign.

Changes in maternal blood and placental lipidomic profile in obesity and gestational diabetes: Evidence for sexual dimorphism.

Obesity and gestational diabetes (GDM) are associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes and program the offspring for cardiometabolic disease in a sexually dimorphic manner. The placenta transfers lipids to the fetus and uses these substrates to support its own metabolism impacting the amount of substrate available to the growing fetus. We collected maternal plasma and placental villous tissue following elective cesarean section at term from women who were lean (pre-pregnancy BMI 18.5-24.9), obese (BMI>30) and type A2 GDM (matched to obese BMI) with male or female fetus (n=4 each group). Lipids were extracted and fatty acid composition of different lipid classes were analyzed by LC-MS/MS analysis. Significant changes in GDM vs obese, GDM vs lean, and obese vs lean were determined using t-test with a Tukey correction set at p<0.05. In placental samples 436 lipids were identified, among which 85 showed significant changes. Of note only in male placentas significant decreases in C22:6 - docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in phosphatidylcholine (PC) and triglyceride lipid species were seen when comparing tissue from GDM women to lean. In maternal plasma we observed no effect of obesity. GDM or fetal sex. This is the first study assessing fatty acid composition of lipids in matched maternal plasma and placental tissue from lean, obese, and GDM women stratified by fetal sex. It highlights how GDM affects distribution of fatty acids in lipid classes changes in a sexually dimorphic manner in the placenta.

Patterns of digital health access and use among US adults: a latent class analysis

BackgroundDigital technologies allow users to engage in health-related behaviors associated with positive outcomes. We aimed to identify classes of US adults with distinct digital technologies access and health use patterns and characterize class composition. Data came from Health Information National Trends Survey Wave 5 Cycles 1–4, a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of US adults (N = 13,993). We used latent class analysis to identify digital technologies access and health use patterns based on 32 ternary variables of behaviors and access to requisite technologies and platforms, including the internet, internet-enabled devices, health monitors, and electronic health records (EHRs). We ran a multinomial logistic regression to identify sociodemographic and health correlates of class membership (n = 10,734).ResultsTen classes captured patterns of digital technology access and health use among US adults. This included a digitally isolated, a mobile-dependent, and a super user class, which made up 8.9%, 7.8%, and 13.6% of US adults, respectively, and captured access patterns from only basic cellphones and health monitors to near complete access to web-, mobile-, and EHR-based platforms. Half of US adults belonged to classes that lacked access to EHRs and relied on alternative web-based tools typical of patient portals. The proportion of class members who used digital technologies for health purposes varied from small to large. Older and less educated adults had lower odds of belonging to classes characterized by access or engagement in health behaviors. Hispanic and Asian adults had higher odds of belonging to the mobile-dependent class. Individuals without a regular healthcare provider and those who had not visited a provider in the past year were more likely to belong to classes with limited digital technologies access or health use.DiscussionOnly one third of US adults belonged to classes that had near complete access to digital technologies and whose members engaged in almost all health behaviors examined. Sex, age, and education were associated with membership in classes that lacked access to 1 + digital technologies or exhibited none to limited health uses of such technologies. Results can guide efforts to improve access and health use of digital technologies to maximize associated health benefits and minimize disparities.

Clostridioides difficile colonization is not mediated by bile salts and requires Stickland fermentation of proline in an in vitro model of infection.

Treatment with antibiotics is a major risk factor for Clostridioides difficile infection, likely due to depletion of the gastrointestinal microbiota. Two microbiota-mediated mechanisms thought to limit C. difficile colonization include conversion of conjugated primary bile salts into secondary bile salts toxic to C. difficile growth, and competition between the microbiota and C. difficile for limiting nutrients. Using a continuous flow model of the distal colon, we investigated how treatment with six clinically-used antibiotics influenced susceptibility to C. difficile infection in 12 different microbial communities cultivated from healthy individuals. Antibiotic treatment reduced microbial richness; disruption varied by antibiotic class and microbiota composition, but did not correlate with C. difficile susceptibility. Antibiotic treatment also disrupted microbial bile salt metabolism, increasing levels of the primary bile salt, cholate, and decreasing levels of the secondary bile salt, deoxycholate. However, decreased levels of deoxycholate did not correlate with increased C. difficile susceptibility. Further, bile salts were not required to inhibit C. difficile colonization. We tested whether amino acid fermentation contributed to persistence of C. difficile in antibiotic-treated communities. C. difficile mutants unable to use proline as an electron acceptor in Stickland fermentation due to disruption of proline reductase (ΔprdB) had significantly lower levels of colonization than wild-type strains in four of six antibiotic-treated communities tested. This data provides further support for the importance of bile salt-independent mechanisms in regulating colonization of C. difficile.