Evaluation of the Emotional Responsiveness of Splanchnicectomized Laboratory Rats Using the Elevated Plus-Maze

The goal of this study was to ascertain whether emotional responsiveness is attenuated when a subject undergoes bilateral splanchnicectomy. To accomplish this, the splanchnic nerve was severed bilaterally, below the branches to the adrenal glands. The majority of visceral information reaches spinal and medullary centers via the splanchnic, vagus, and pelvic nerves. Therefore, when severing the splanchnic nerve one eliminates one of the major afferent pathways transmitting visceral information to the central nervous system. Thus, we were testing the hypothesis that decreased feedback from portions of the gastrointestinal system would decrease emotional reactivity in a mildly arousing situation. No significant differences in plus-maze behavior were observed between the splanchnicectomized, control and sham-operated groups, however. This indicates that splanchnic afferent fibers do not represent a significant pathway by which visceral sensation modulates central nervous system arousal

The Economic Impact of the Arts, Film, History and Tourism Industries in Connecticut

This report contains four ecnomic impact studies corresponding to the four divisions (arts, film, historic preservation, and tourism) of the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism that commissioned them. There is an Executive Summar, the four industry studies, and a methodological overview that includes a discussion of the overall approach, economic impact multipliers, data sources, and an explanation of the conservative nature of the studies.Arts, Film, Historic preservation, heritage, Tourism, travel, impact, Connecticut,

Prolonged and tunable residence time using reversible covalent kinase inhibitors.

Drugs with prolonged on-target residence times often show superior efficacy, yet general strategies for optimizing drug-target residence time are lacking. Here we made progress toward this elusive goal by targeting a noncatalytic cysteine in Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) with reversible covalent inhibitors. Using an inverted orientation of the cysteine-reactive cyanoacrylamide electrophile, we identified potent and selective BTK inhibitors that demonstrated biochemical residence times spanning from minutes to 7 d. An inverted cyanoacrylamide with prolonged residence time in vivo remained bound to BTK for more than 18 h after clearance from the circulation. The inverted cyanoacrylamide strategy was further used to discover fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) kinase inhibitors with residence times of several days, demonstrating the generalizability of the approach. Targeting of noncatalytic cysteines with inverted cyanoacrylamides may serve as a broadly applicable platform that facilitates 'residence time by design', the ability to modulate and improve the duration of target engagement in vivo

Replicating the Networking, Mentoring and Venture Creation Benefits of Entrepreneurship Centres on a Shoestring: A Student-centred Approach to Entrepreneurship Education and Venture Creation

As support for both university-level entrepreneurial education and the use of experiential learning methods to foster student entrepreneurs increases, so too have the number of university-established or affiliated entrepreneurship centers. The activity at the center of this study aimed to combine experiential learning methods with assets associated with entrepreneurship centers, including venture creation, networking, and mentoring. Students were invited to participate in a competition wherein they were guided through the business creation process and pitched their ideas to investor judges who chose the winner and provided capital start-up funding and consulting. This research puts forth that university faculty at institutions without entrepreneurship centers can organize experiences to provide the benefits of entrepreneurship centers. The study used interviews to find that many of the benefits of entrepreneurship centers were able to be replicated using this method. The project is outlined, outcomes are analyzed, and the results and lessons learned are discussed

Politics, Development strategy, and Family y Planning Programs in India and Pakistan

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66711/2/10.1177_009539977100300301.pd

Comparative analysis of techniques for shooting trajectory reconstruction.

Shooting trajectory reconstruction is a common discipline in the field of crime scene reconstruction. This discipline, however, has minimal published history about the origin, the most valuable techniques and methods, or journal articles. In addition, this type of reconstruction is used on a daily basis by law enforcement, but there is no validation of its procedures or tools. This study advanced the knowledge of the discipline of shooting trajectory reconstruction by applying geometric principles and modern day crime scene reconstruction techniques to help with the history of the discipline. Through the use of comparative analysis, this project determined beneficial and hindering aspects of modern tools. This was accomplished by analyzing three shooting scene reconstruction tools; specifically use of the Smart Tool, angle finder, and manual calculations utilizing a digital caliper to determine the efficiency of each technique. This project examined data taken by participants and determined the accuracy, precision, and error rate for the three tools. The study provided law enforcement with research enabling them to choose the most effective tool for crime scene analysis based on the tools tested in this project. This research also began the process validating the discipline of shooting trajectory reconstruction. A statistically significant difference in accuracy (mean bias) and precision (standard deviation) was found between the three tools. The difference between the accuracy and precision for the Smart Tool and angle finder was not statistically significant, however, the difference between those two tools and the digital caliper was significant. This difference between tools means that they cannot be averaged together when calculating results from a crime scene. No statistically significant difference in accuracy or precision was found between examiners and students, independent of the tools. Results indicate the angle finder was the most efficient tool tested. There was a statistically significant interaction found between the impact angles tested in this project. This interaction makes an overall error rate for the tools or discipline impossible.--Abstract

Freesources: a Treasure Chest of Free-to-Use Online Tools and Goodies

One of the most amazing things about the Internet is its wealth of free, high-quality resources. Come learn about some free, online sources for video and infographic creation, productivity tools, and image and audio sources and software. This whirlwind tour will cover more than twenty resources, so you should be able to find at least one new tool for your professional (or personal) toolkit

Assessing juvenile sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) energy densities and their habitat quality in the Chignik watershed, Alaska

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2004The Chignik watershed, on the southern side of the Alaska Peninsula, supports a large salmon fishery vital to the local economy. Recent morphological changes to the watershed generated concern regarding the sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) stock that rears in Black Lake, at the head of the system. Studies of the Chignik watershed to date have not incorporated energy density data to explain the life history strategies of Chignik sockeye salmon. Re-estimated condition factor parameters improved our understanding of the length-weight relationships to fish health that isometric models described in Chignik sockeye salmon. Subsequent comparisons of age, length, weight, location, and temperature data to energy density indicated that Black Lake fish, which were all age 0 fish, were significantly affected by temperature and had energy densities greater than did fish from other areas of the watershed. Sockeye salmon captured in Chignik Lake, Chignik River, and Chignik Lagoon were only energetically different from one another based on age. Observed seasonal trends suggested juvenile sockeye salmon emigrate from Black Lake before the onset of winter due to forage and temperature limitations. A constant downstream migration occurred in the watershed during the summer, which suggested smoltification and osmoregulation processes in Chignik Lagoon fish