The influence of immersion and presence in early stage engineering designing and building

This paper explores the role of a designer's sense of engagement in early stage design. In the field of virtual reality, presence and immersion are standard measures of an individual's sense of engagement and involvement in an activity. High levels of presence might indicate that the designer is highly focused on the work. The central research question is the following: do designers who are more engaged in design activity, as measured by presence and immersive tendency questionnaires, produce better designs? An experiment was conducted to assess presence and immersive tendencies within the context of a hands-on, open-ended design-and-build activity. The results indicated that the designers' sense of immersion and presence ranged widely as well as their sense of frustration and calmness while performing the design activity. It was found that higher levels of presence correlated with either high design performance or low design performance. Lower levels of presence correlated with average design performance. No correlations were found between immersive tendency and design performance. This study suggests that some level of presence can be linked with better design, and it implies that level of presence might serve as an indicator of performance and learning in similar design-and-build activities.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Award CMMI-1130791

Functional and antigenic properties of GlpO from Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides SC: characterization of a flavin adenine dinucleotide-binding site deletion mutant

L-α-glycerophosphate oxidase (GlpO) plays a central role in virulence of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides SC, a severe bacterial pathogen causing contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP). It is involved in production and translocation of toxic H2O2 into the host cell, causing inflammation and cell death. The binding site on GlpO for the cofactor flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) has been identified as Gly 12−Gly13−Gly 14−Ile15−Ile16−Gly 17. Recombinant GlpO lacking these six amino acids (GlpOΔFAD) was unable to bind FAD and was also devoid of glycerophosphate oxidase activity, in contrast to non-modified recombinant GlpO that binds FAD and is enzymatically active. Polyclonal monospecific antibodies directed against GlpOΔFAD, similarly to anti-GlpO antibodies, neutralised H2O2 production of M. mycoides subsp. mycoides SC grown in the presence of glycerol, as well as cytotoxicity towards embryonic calf nasal epithelial (ECaNEp) cells. The FAD-binding site of GlpO is therefore suggested as a valuable target site for the future construction of deletion mutants to yield attenuated live vaccines of M. mycoides subsp. mycoides SC necessary to efficiently combat CBPP

Threat to Freedom and the Detrimental Effect of Avoidance Goal Frames: Reactance as a Mediating Variable

Two experiments examined how individuals respond to a restriction presented within an approach versus an avoidance frame. In Study 1, working on a problem-solving task, participants were initially free to choose their strategy, but for a second task were told to change their strategy. The message to change was embedded in either an approach or avoidance frame. When confronted with an avoidance compared to an approach frame, the participants' reactance toward the request was greater and, in turn, led to impaired performance. The role of reactance as a response to threat to freedom was explicitly examined in Study 2, in which participants evaluated a potential change in policy affecting their program of study herein explicitly varying whether a restriction was present or absent and whether the message was embedded in an approach versus avoidance frame. When communicated with an avoidance frame and as a restriction, participants showed the highest resistance in terms of reactance, message agreement and evaluation of the communicator. The difference in agreement with the change was mediated by reactance only when a restriction was present. Overall, avoidance goal frames were associated with more resistance to change on different levels of experience (reactance, performance, and person perception). Reactance mediated the effect of goal frame on other outcomes only when a restriction was present

Cine, disease and theory of evolution: a possible strategy for high school

Our aim is to foment the articulation between the teaching of infectious diseases and evolution.  As a teaching strategy, we will start from the film “The painted veil” (2006), which portrays an epidemic of cholera at China. The methodology involved a qualitative approach, of intervention, with students from a technical course integrated to High School, from a public school, in Petrópolis (RJ). After answering an initial questionnaire, they watched the mentioned film and excerpts from the documentary “The race of species”, which presents evolutionary aspects of diseases. Then, there was a debate and a study on possible relationships between Epidemiology and Evolution. Finally, we applied another questionnaire to try to recognize changes in the responses. The results indicate that certain evolutionary concepts started coexisting with previous concepts.Nosso objetivo é fomentar a articulação entre o ensino de doenças infectocontagiosas e de evolução, a partir do filme (como estratégia de ensino) “O despertar de uma paixão” (2006), que retrata uma epidemia de cólera na China. A metodologia envolveu uma abordagem qualitativa, de intervenção, com alunos de um curso técnico integrado ao Ensino Médio, de uma escola pública, em Petrópolis (RJ). Após responderem a um questionário inicial, eles assistiram ao referido filme e a trechos do documentário “A corrida das espécies”, que apresenta aspectos evolutivos de doenças. Depois, houve um debate e um estudo sobre possíveis relações entre Epidemiologia e Evolução. Por fim, aplicamos outro questionário para tentar reconhecer mudanças nas respostas. Os resultados indicam que certos conceitos evolutivos passaram a coexistir com conceitos prévios

β-D-Glucoside utilization by Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides SC: possible involvement in the control of cytotoxicity towards bovine lung cells

BACKGROUND: Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) caused by Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides small-colony type (SC) is among the most serious threats for livestock producers in Africa. Glycerol metabolism-associated H(2)O(2 )production seems to play a crucial role in virulence of this mycoplasma. A wide number of attenuated strains of M. mycoides subsp. mycoides SC are currently used in Africa as live vaccines. Glycerol metabolism is not affected in these vaccine strains and therefore it does not seem to be the determinant of their attenuation. A non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the bgl gene coding for the 6-phospho-β-glucosidase (Bgl) has been described recently. The SNP differentiates virulent African strains isolated from outbreaks with severe CBPP, which express the Bgl isoform Val(204), from strains to be considered less virulent isolated from CBPP outbreaks with low mortality and vaccine strains, which express the Bgl isoform Ala(204). RESULTS: Strains of M. mycoides subsp. mycoides SC considered virulent and possessing the Bgl isoform Val(204), but not strains with the Bgl isoform Ala(204), do trigger elevated levels of damage to embryonic bovine lung (EBL) cells upon incubation with the disaccharides (i.e., β-D-glucosides) sucrose and lactose. However, strains expressing the Bgl isoform Val(204 )show a lower hydrolysing activity on the chromogenic substrate p-nitrophenyl-β-D-glucopyranoside (pNPbG) when compared to strains that possess the Bgl isoform Ala(204). Defective activity of Bgl in M. mycoides subsp. mycoides SC does not lead to H(2)O(2 )production. Rather, the viability during addition of β-D-glucosides in medium-free buffers is higher for strains harbouring the Bgl isoform Val(204 )than for those with the isoform Ala(204). CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that the studied SNP in the bgl gene is one possible cause of the difference in bacterial virulence among strains of M. mycoides subsp. mycoides SC. Bgl does not act as a direct virulence factor, but strains possessing the Bgl isoform Val(204 )with low hydrolysing activity are more prone to survive in environments that contain high levels of β-D-glucosides, thus contributing in some extent to mycoplasmaemia

Mycoplasma bovis shares insertion sequences with Mycoplasma agalactiae and Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides SC: Evolutionary and developmental aspects

Three new insertion elements, ISMbov1, ISMbov2 and ISMbov3, which are closely related to ISMag1 (Mycoplasma agalactiae), ISMmy1 and IS1634 (both Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides SC), respectively, have been discovered in Mycoplasma bovis, an important pathogen of cattle. Southern blotting showed that the genome of M. bovis harbours 6-12 copies of ISMbov1, 11-15 copies of ISMbov2 and 4-10 copies of ISMbov3, depending on the strain. A fourth insertion element, the IS30-like element, is present in 4-8 copies. This high number of IS elements in M. bovis, which represent a substantial part of its genome, and their relatedness with IS elements of both M. agalactiae and M. mycoides subsp. mycoides SC suggest the occurrence of two evolutionary events: (i) a divergent evolution into M. agalactiae and M. bovis upon infection of different hosts; (ii) a horizontal transfer of IS elements during co-infection with M. mycoides subsp. mycoides SC and M. bovis of a same bovine hos

Culture, self and the emergence of reactance: is there a “universal” freedom?

In this article we suggest that independent vs. interdependent aspects of the self yield different manifestations of psychological reactance and that this is especially relevant in a cross-cultural context. In Studies 1, 2 and 4 we showed that people from collectivistic cultural backgrounds (individuals holding more interdependent attitudes and values) were less sensitive to a threat to their individual freedom than people from individualistic cultural backgrounds (individuals holding more independent attitudes and values), but more sensitive if their collective freedom was threatened. In Study 3 we activated independent vs. interdependent attitudes and values utilizing a cognitive priming method and yielded similar results as the other studies hinting at the important causal role of self-related aspects in understanding reactance in a cross-cultural context