Gaps between Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and required workplace skills have been identified in industry, academia, and government. Educators acknowledge the need to reform STEM education to better prepare students for their future careers. We pursue this growing interest in the skills needed for STEM disciplines and ask whether frameworks for 21st century skills and engineering education cover all of important STEM competencies. In this study, we identify important STEM competencies and evaluate the relevance of current frameworks applied in education using the standardized job-specific database operated and maintained by the United States Department of Labor. Our analysis of the importance of 109 skills, types of knowledge and work activities, revealed 18 skills, seven categories of knowledge, and 27 work activities important for STEM workers. We investigate the perspectives of STEM and non-STEM job incumbents, comparing the importance of each skill, knowledge, and work activity for the two groups. We aimed to condense dimensions of the 52 key areas by categorizing them according to the Katz and Kahn (1978) framework and testing for inter-rater reliability. Our findings show frameworks for 21st century skills and engineering education do not encompass all important STEM competencies. Implications for STEM education programs are discussed, including how they can bridge gaps between education and important workplace competencies.

Virtually all human activity involves collaboration, and yet, collaboration during an examination is typically considered cheating. Collaborative assessments have not been widely adopted because of the perceived lack of individual accountability and the notion that collaboration during assessments simply causes propagation of correct answers. Hence, collaboration could help weaker students without providing much benefit to stronger students. In this paper, we examine student performance in open-ended, two-stage collaborative assessments comprised of an individually accountable round followed by an automatically scored, collaborative round. We show that collaboration entails more than just propagation of correct answers. We find greater rates of correct answers after collaboration for all students, including the strongest members of a team. We also find that half of teams that begin without a correct answer to propagate still obtain the correct answer in the collaborative round. Our findings, combined with the convenience of automatic feedback and grading of open-ended questions, provide a strong argument for adopting collaborative assessments as an integral part of education.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by selective death of motor neurons. Mutations in Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD1) causing the gain of its toxic property are the major culprit of familial ALS (fALS). The abnormal SOD1 aggregation in the motor neurons has been suggested as the major pathological hallmark of ALS patients. However, the development of pharmacological interventions against SOD1 still needs further investigation. In this study, using ELISA-based chemical screening with wild and mutant SOD1 proteins, we screened a new small molecule, PRG-A01, which could block the misfolding/aggregation of SOD1 or TDP-43. The drug rescued the cell death induced by mutant SOD1 in human neuroblastoma cell line. Administration of PRG-A01 into the ALS model mouse resulted in significant improvement of muscle strength, motor neuron viability and mobility with extended lifespan. These results suggest that SOD1 misfolding/aggregation is a potent therapeutic target for SOD1 related ALS.

Alpinumisoflavone is a natural prenylated isoflavonoid extracted from the raw fruit of Cudrania tricuspidata. Several studies have reported the beneficial characteristics of alpinumisoflavone, such as its antioxidant, anti-inflammation, anti-bacterial, osteoprotective, and neuroprotective effects. Alpinumisoflavone also has anti-cancer effects on thyroid, renal, and ovarian cancers, but its therapeutic effects on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have not yet been demonstrated. We investigated the anti-cancer effects of alpinumisoflavone on HCC using human liver cancer cell lines, Hep3B and Huh7. Our results confirmed that alpinumisoflavone inhibited viability and regulated the MAPK/PI3K pathway in Hep3B and Huh7 cells. We also verified that alpinumisoflavone can depolarize the mitochondrial membrane potential and suppress the mitochondrial respiration in HCC cells. Moreover, we confirmed the dysregulation of the mitochondrial complexes I, III, and V involving mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation at the mRNA level and the accumulation of calcium ions in the mitochondrial matrix. Lastly, we demonstrated that alpinumisoflavone induced mitochondria-mediated apoptosis via regulation of the Bcl-xL and BAK proteins. This study elucidates the anti-cancer effects of alpinumisoflavone on HCC.

A series of wholly aromatic poly(hydroxyamide)s(PHAs), containing varying amounts of 2,6-dimethylphenoxy group and quinoxaline ring in the main chain, were synthesized by a direct polycondensation method. The inherent viscosities of the PHAs in either DMAc or DMAc/LiCl solution at 35 o C were found to be in the range of 1.02~1.90 dL/g. In the solubility study, we observed that PHA 1, PHA 2, and PHA 3 were dissolved in aprotic solvents such as DMAc, NMP, DMF, and DMSO with LiCl on heating; however, PHA 4, PHA 5, and PHA 6 could be dissolved in aprotic solvents on heating without LiCl. For poly(benzoxazole)s(PBOs), the 10% and maximum weight loss temperatures were in the range of 582~622 o C and 630~659 o C, respectively. Residues of PBOs at 900 o C were found to be relatively high, which were in the range of 65.3~70.8%.