Contact Theory as a Framework for Experiential Activities as Diversity Education: An Exploratory Study

Participation in experiential education is said to enhance people\u27s appreciation for diversity. This article reports on a study that found significant changes in participants\u27 attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors following a nonformal diversity education program using adventure-based and community-service activities. Additionally, hypothesized program conditions, as outlined by contact theory, were significantly predictive of outcomes, although majority and minority participants differed on their perceptions of these conditions. These findings suggest that experiential activities may be considered a viable approach to diversity education in nonformal settings, assuming key conditions are met. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed

Application of a rule-based knowledge system using CLIPS for the taxonomy of selected Opuntia species

A rule based knowledge system was developed in CLIPS (C Language Integrated Production System) for identifying Opuntia species in the family Cactaceae, which contains approx. 1500 different species. This botanist expert tool system is capable of identifying selected Opuntia plants from the family level down to the species level when given some basic characteristics of the plants. Many plants are becoming of increasing importance because of their nutrition and human health potential, especially in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. The expert tool system described can be extremely useful in an unequivocal identification of many useful Opuntia species

Clinical parameters as predictors of bacterial isolation in the uterine content of dogs suspected of pyometra

In this study, female canines referred with clinical signs consistent with pyometra were prospectively evaluated. Signalment, clinical signs, laboratory findings and surgical findings were compared between dogs with and without bacterial isolation based on aerobic techniques. Patients with positive bacterial isolation were placed in the pyometra group, whereas patients with negative bacterial isolation were grouped as mucometra. A total of 140 dogs (118 with pyometra and 22 with mucometra) met the inclusion criteria. Prereferral antibiotic administration was associated with a prolonged duration of clinical signs in the patients of the pyometra group (12 +/- 2 days versus 7 +/- 1 days; P=0.006). In the pyometra patients, clinical signs, like pyrexia, anorexia and discomfort on abdominal palpation, were observed more commonly than in the mucometra group. The total leukocyte count was the only parameter that differed significantly between the two groups (P=0.01). Although no difference in color and consistency of the uterine fluid was noted, the uteri of the pyometra group were heavier (851.80 +/- 800.30 g compared to 263.50 +/- 297.10 g). E. coil was the most commonly isolated bacterium (92/123)

Document-Driven Design for Distributed CAD Services in Service-Oriented Architecture

Current computer-aided design (CAD) systems only support interactive geometry generation, which is not ideal for distributed engineering services in enterprise-to-enterprise collaboration with a generic thin-client service-oriented architecture. This paper proposes a new feature-based modeling mechanism—document-driven design—to enable batch mode geometry construction for distributed CAD systems. A semantic feature model is developed to represent informative and communicative design intent. Feature semantics is explicitly captured as a trinary relation, which provides good extensibility and prevents semantics loss. Data interoperability between domains is enhanced by schema mapping and multiresolution semantics. This mechanism aims to enable asynchronous communication in distributed CAD environments with ease of design alternative evaluation and reuse, reduced human errors, and improved system throughput and utilization

SOST and DKK: Antagonists of LRP Family Signaling as Targets for Treating Bone Disease

The study of rare human genetic disorders has often led to some of the most significant advances in biomedical research. One such example was the body of work that resulted in the identification of the Low Density Lipoprotein-Related Protein (LRP5) as a key regulator of bone mass. Point mutations were identified that encoded forms of LRP5 associated with very high bone mass (HBM). HBM patients live to a normal age and do not appear to have increased susceptibility to carcinogenesis or other disease. Thus, devising methods to mimic the molecular consequences of this mutation to treat bone diseases associated with low bone mass is a promising avenue to pursue. Two groups of agents related to putative LRP5/6 functions are under development. One group, the focus of this paper, is based on antagonizing the functions of putative inhibitors of Wnt signaling, Dickkopf-1 (DKK1), and Sclerostin (SOST). Another group of reagents under development is based on the observation that LRP5 may function to control bone mass by regulating the secretion of serotonin from the enterrochromaffin cells of the duodenum

Mouse Models of Prostate Cancer

The development and optimization of high-throughput screening methods has identified a multitude of genetic changes associated with human disease. The use of immunodeficient and genetically engineered mouse models that mimic the human disease has been crucial in validating the importance of these genetic pathways in prostate cancer. These models provide a platform for finding novel therapies to treat human patients afflicted with prostate cancer as well as those who have debilitating bone metastases. In this paper, we focus on the historical development and phenotypic descriptions of mouse models used to study prostate cancer. We also comment on how closely each model recapitulates human prostate cancer