A survey measuring perceptions of tenth grade English students at Thomas Jefferson High School toward the use of computers in writing for applied oral communications

The purpose of the study was to measure the perceptions of tenth grade English students at Thomas Jefferson High School who use computers in writing for applied oral communications. Does the use of technology provide measurable results on tenth grade English students who use computers in writing for oral communications? The study used approximately 100 (four sections, computer-assigned) tenth grade Language arts, untracked students which were scheduled for a one semester class (18 weeks). Students were assigned to one teacher. The four sections were taught applied oral communications using computer assisted instruction and computers to produce the final written documents. Measurement and documentation were taken from all groups in the form of a pre test survey which described students’ perceptions at the beginning of an eight week period towards computer applications in the areas of essay composting, research, speech writing, and editing for a final draft. A post test survey was given to measure the changes in students’ perceptions after eight weeks of computer assisted instruction in the areas of essay composing, research, speech writing and editing for a final draft document. Teacher observations through journaling (by the teacher) generated documentation which cultivated underlying useful data. The hypothesis investigated was; technology does affect students’ perceptions which can extend learning experiences and opportunities. The change in perceptions provided conditions which enabled students to formulate and construct their own understanding from observable facts to clear concise conclusions which could be interactively (computer generated) communication through the written composition and speech

Canine-assisted therapy: The impact of service dog partnership on symptoms of PTSD in veterans

This literature review will seek to review and analyze the efficacy of Canine-Assisted Therapy as a complementary method for combat veterans suffering symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress .Disorder (PTSD), with a particular focus on those who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and/or Operation New Dawn (ONO). In recent years, many programs, agencies and therapists have more frequently incorporated the use of service dogs into therapy for post-deployment veterans. In past decades, some studies\u27 results were deemed inconclusive by accredited authorities due to their low level of generalizability and lack of quantitative methodology and analysis. However, more recent studies have exposed data that suggests Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) utilizing dogs, horses and cats, when used in a complementary manner in conjunction with other more conventional, evidence-based psychotherapies, present the potential for substantially improving the results of therapy, increasing participation and shortening recovery time through impacting the above mentioned areas of physical, psychological, emotional PTSD symptoms, social experiences and levels of support. Therefore, this newer approach holds the promise of bettering PTSD treatment and increasing effectivity by filling in the gaps of traditional therapies currently used by the Veteran Health Administration (VHA) within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) such as Cognitive Behaviora

Activist Investors: A Corporate Social Responsibility Perspective on Hedge Fund Activism and the Need for Focus on All Stakeholders

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) can result in distinctly different visions when instituted under the enlightened stakeholder theory or the shareholder maximization theory. The critical variation between these two theories is the principal party that businesses consider when instituting strategic decisions. Firms following the enlightened stakeholder theory will base decisions on all the various stakeholders of the company and develop policies which increase long-term firm value. Companies pursuing shareholder value maximization will consider all strategies through the eyes of the stockholders and how these individuals will be affected. Neither theory is more valid than the other, since many factors must be assessed. However, if companies are earnest about the CSR concept, they should give significant consideration to the impact that their decisions will have on employees, communities, and other stakeholders, as well as long-term value. The extent to which business decisions affect all stakeholders should be at the forefront of company strategy. Prioritizing the desires of a select few over the needs of the majority, many of whom are significantly impacted by company policies, does not evidence the desire to improve society. Corporate social responsibility is an opportunity for firms to demonstrate their comprehensive focus on all affected groups. Corporate leadership is challenged to value the communities, culture, and all stakeholders over short-term profit, even without monetary gain from their actions. The enlightened stakeholder theory balances the needs of corporate constituencies, while pursuing long-term value creation and producing an optimal environment for sustainable CSR success

Global Localization in Unstructured Environments using Semantic Object Maps Built from Various Viewpoints

We present a novel framework for global localization and guided relocalization of a vehicle in an unstructured environment. Compared to existing methods, our pipeline does not rely on cues from urban fixtures (e.g., lane markings, buildings), nor does it make assumptions that require the vehicle to be navigating on a road network. Instead, we achieve localization in both urban and non-urban environments by robustly associating and registering the vehicle's local semantic object map with a compact semantic reference map, potentially built from other viewpoints, time periods, and/or modalities. Robustness to noise, outliers, and missing objects is achieved through our graph-based data association algorithm. Further, the guided relocalization capability of our pipeline mitigates drift inherent in odometry-based localization after the initial global localization. We evaluate our pipeline on two publicly-available, real-world datasets to demonstrate its effectiveness at global localization in both non-urban and urban environments. The Katwijk Beach Planetary Rover dataset is used to show our pipeline's ability to perform accurate global localization in unstructured environments. Demonstrations on the KITTI dataset achieve an average pose error of 3.8m across all 35 localization events on Sequence 00 when localizing in a reference map created from aerial images. Compared to existing works, our pipeline is more general because it can perform global localization in unstructured environments using maps built from different viewpoints.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, presented at IROS 202

Pseudomonas putida KT2440 is naturally endowed to withstand industrial-scale stress conditions

Pseudomonas putida is recognized as a very promising strain for industrial application due to its high redox capacity and frequently observed tolerance towards organic solvents. In this research, we studied the metabolic and transcriptional response of P. putida KT2440 exposed to large-scale heterogeneous mixing conditions in the form of repeated glucose shortage. Cellular responses were mimicked in an experimental setup comprising a stirred tank reactor and a connected plug flow reactor. We deciphered that a stringent response-like transcriptional regulation programme is frequently induced, which seems to be linked to the intracellular pool of 3-hydroxyalkanoates (3-HA) that are known to serve as precursors for polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). To be precise, P. putida is endowed with a survival strategy likely to access cellular PHA, amino acids and glycogen in few seconds under glucose starvation to obtain ATP from respiration, thereby replenishing the reduced ATP levels and the adenylate energy charge. Notably, cells only need 0.4% of glucose uptake to build those 3-HA-based energy buffers. Concomitantly, genes that are related to amino acid catabolism and β-oxidation are upregulated during the transient absence of glucose. Furthermore, we provide a detailed list of transcriptional short- and long-term responses that increase the cellular maintenance by about 17% under the industrial-like conditions tested.publishersversionpublishe

Implementation of N-1 process intensification in bioprocess development and production

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Hot Start PCR with heat-activatable primers: a novel approach for improved PCR performance

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is widely used for applications which require a high level of specificity and reliability, such as genetic testing, clinical diagnostics, blood screening, forensics and biodefense. Great improvements to PCR performance have been achieved by the use of Hot Start activation strategies that aim to prevent DNA polymerase extension until more stringent, higher temperatures are reached. Herein we present a novel Hot Start activation approach in PCR where primers contain one or two thermolabile, 4-oxo-1-pentyl (OXP) phosphotriester (PTE) modification groups at 3′-terminal and 3′-penultimate internucleotide linkages. Studies demonstrated that the presence of one or more OXP PTE modifications impaired DNA polymerase primer extension at the lower temperatures that exist prior to PCR amplification. Furthermore, incubation of the OXP-modified primers at elevated temperatures was found to produce the corresponding unmodified phosphodiester (PDE) primer, which was then a suitable DNA polymerase substrate. The OXP-modified primers were tested in conventional PCR with endpoint detection, in one-step reverse transcription (RT)–PCR and in real-time PCR with SYBR Green I dye and Taqman® probe detection. When OXP-modified primers were used as substitutes for unmodified PDE primers in PCR, significant improvement was observed in the specificity and efficiency of nucleic acid target amplification

Actin: its cumbersome pilgrimage through cellular compartments

In this article, we follow the history of one of the most abundant, most intensely studied proteins of the eukaryotic cells: actin. We report on hallmarks of its discovery, its structural and functional characterization and localization over time, and point to present days’ knowledge on its position as a member of a large family. We focus on the rather puzzling number of diverse functions as proposed for actin as a dual compartment protein. Finally, we venture on some speculations as to its origin