Augmented Reality for Deaf Students: Can Mobile Devices Make it Possible?

Abstract. Digital and real world events can be combined to create powerful learning opportunities for students, but time, tools, and expertise have been traditional barriers to teacher-created enhancements. This paper provides a rationale for using emerging, teacher-friendly tools, to merge real space and virtual space through video and 2D barcodes. The results of three pilot studies combine to illustrate the potential for using these tools. Results indicate that cell phones have the potential to facilitate augmented reality experiences for deaf students and adults

School principals as promoters of education for sustainable development. Report on the research project “Lead4ESD Principal Study”

Schulleitungen üben entscheidenden Einfluss auf Schulkultur oder Leistung einer Schule aus. Ihre Rolle bei der Implementation von Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung (BNE) wurde bisher jedoch kaum untersucht. Der Bericht gibt Einblick in ein Forschungsprojekt zu Aktivitäten, Kompetenzen und Einfluss von Schulleitungen im Kontext von Schulentwicklung für BNE. (DIPF/Orig.)Principals exert decisive influence regarding culture or performance of a school. Their role in the implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), however, has rarely been investigated so far. The report gives an insight into a research project on activities, competencies and influence of school leaders in the context of school development for ESD. (DIPF/Orig.

Emotional responses to irony and emoticons in written language: evidence from EDA and facial EMG

While the basic nature of irony is saying one thing and communicating the opposite, it may also serve additional social and emotional functions, such as projecting humour or anger. Emoticons often accompany irony in computer-mediated communication, and have been suggested to increase enjoyment of communication. In the current study, we aimed to examine on-line emotional responses to ironic vs. literal comments, and the influence of emoticons on this process. Participants read stories with a final comment that was either ironic or literal, praising or critical, and with or without an emoticon. We used psychophysiological measures to capture immediate emotional responses: electrodermal activity to directly measure arousal, and facial electromyography to detect muscle movements indicative of emotional expressions. Results showed higher arousal, reduced frowning, and enhanced smiling for messages with rather than without an emoticon, suggesting that emoticons increase positive emotions. A tendency towards less negative responses (i.e., reduced frowning and enhanced smiling) for ironic than literal criticism, and less positive responses (i.e., enhanced frowning and reduced smiling) for ironic than literal praise suggests that irony weakens the emotional impact of a message. The present findings indicate the utility of a psychophysiological approach in studying on-line emotional responses to written language

Using zeta-potential measurements to quantify peptide partition to lipid membranes

© The Author(s) 2011. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com.Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.Many cellular phenomena occur on the biomembranes. There are plenty of molecules (natural or xenobiotics) that interact directly or partially with the cell membrane. Biomolecules, such as several peptides (e.g., antimicrobial peptides) and proteins, exert their effects at the cell membrane level. This feature makes necessary investigating their interactions with lipids to clarify their mechanisms of action and side effects necessary. The determination of molecular lipid/water partition constants (Kp) is frequently used to quantify the extension of the interaction. The determination of this parameter has been achieved by using different methodologies, such as UV-Vis absorption spectrophotometry, fluorescence spectroscopy and ζ-potential measurements. In this work, we derived and tested a mathematical model to determine the Kp from ζ-potential data. The values obtained with this method were compared with those obtained by fluorescence spectroscopy, which is a regular technique used to quantify the interaction of intrinsically fluorescent peptides with selected biomembrane model systems. Two antimicrobial peptides (BP100 and pepR) were evaluated by this new method. The results obtained by this new methodology show that ζ-potential is a powerful technique to quantify peptide/lipid interactions of a wide variety of charged molecules, overcoming some of the limitations inherent to other techniques, such as the need for fluorescent labeling.This work was partially supported by project PTDC/QUI/ 69937/2006 from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia-Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (FCT-MCTES, Portugal), and by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Portugal). JMF and MMD also thank FCT-MCTES for grants IMM/BT/37-2010 and SFRH/BD/41750/2007, respectively

Wave Energy

Part of the immense solar energy input to the earth is converted by natural processes into energy associated with ocean waves. The geographical location of the United Kingdom renders it one of the world ' s most favoured countries with respect to the potential availability of wave energy. In principle. the waves reaching our coastal waters from the North Atlantic might satisfy a considerable fraction of our electricity demand provided that reasonably high overall conversion efficiencies can be achieved . Inventors have recognised the power of the sea for many decades. and there has been no lack of ideas on how it might be tapped . But none of the ideas was developed on a substantial scale. since ample and relatively cheap supplies of other resources were always available . In recent years. however. there has been a growing recognition that--on a world scale-the presently used forms of energy may become too expensive,. too scarce or otherwise unavailable to meet our energy needs by themselves . The Government's responsibility is to ensure that as wide a range as possible of energy supply options are available when they may be needed . Research and development can provide the necessary technical and econom i c data on which the ultimate choices can be made . Within this context. the Government announced in 197 6 the start of an R and D programme on wave energy for which the first phase was to be a feasibility study lasting for two years. The funding level has been increased twice since that time to maintain the momentum of the programme in the light of technical progress . The programme has had three main components: -exploratory deve lopment of several different engineering concepts of wave energy converter; -supporting research in relevant engineering and scientific areas : • the collection and analysis of wave data. • analysis of the structural response to wave-induced motions. • mooring. • energy conversion and transm issi on. • environmental aspects ; -working up preliminary reference designs of full scale stations for tech nical and economic appraisal. The purpose of this paper is to review the present state of knowledge of wave energy in the light of the achievements of the first two-year phase of the programme . Development of the converters Four potential designs of converter were adopted for initial study. since the sparse data available were insufficient to enable a single concept to be chosen with confidence. Proposals for alternative concepts are received on a continuing basis and are assessed against a number of criteria: two of them have so far been added to the programme in order to explore new principles Apart from the basic technical differences the six designs differ from each other in their degree of complexity and their state of development. as described in Chapter 3 . Work on two of the designs has been advanced from laboratory wave tanks to the testing of 1 / 1 0th scale models in natural open water at Loch Ness and in the Solent. For all the designs . a combination of theoretical studies. laboratory work and engineering appraisal has clarified the factors which will prove to be the most crucial in determining which of them could be chosen for more extensive development. The programme has progressed from establishing the scientific feasibility of wave energy converters to confirming the engineering feasibility of designing and building some of the designs . In very broad terms: -the early part of the programme placed considerable emphasis on optimising the efficiency of extraction of the wave energy and proving the scientific feasibility ; -the present stage is concerned with the technical viability and is identifying the main cost centres in the designs . which can then be tackled by further R and D; -the immediate future must also place emphasis not only on the problems of construction . operation and maintenance. and on ways in which unit costs may be reduced . but also on the ability to survive in the most severe wave conditions . Whilst the technical feasibility of some types of converter has been established, we are far from the stage of recommending that a full scale generating station should be built . Of the four original concepts. no single design has yet emerged which is outstandingly better than the other designs when all factors are taken into account . The designs have changed considerably in the course of the feasibility study. and a continuing process of evol ution can be expected as in the early stages of any technical development programme. The optimum design may emerge from further changes in one of the original concepts. from a synthesis of ideas or from an alternative concept . The wave energy is distributed over a wide frequency and energy bandwidth and no des ign has yet been optimised to operate at or near peak efficiency over the whole spectrum. However, one of the new concepts introduced into the programme recently may offer significant advantages in this respect. Supporting research The extent of the available data on waves in the sea areas of primary interest is inadequate as yet for the full assessment of the resource . A start has been made in collecting and analysing new data. which will take several years to reach a satisfactory level. The results so far confirm the general point that the locations around the United Kingdom with the most abundant wave energy lie to the west of the Outer Hebrides, where several hundred km of searoom are available with average annual power levels in the range 35-60 kW / m of wavefront. The majority of the designs un der consideration are free-floating and the converters would operate on or near the water surface-- one of the most hostile environments for engineering structures . The ult imate feasibility. technical and economic . of all designs of floating converter will depend upon extensive further work on mooring and anchoring . Whilst over-designed mooring systems based on present knowledge have allowed the open water trials to proceed with the objective of gaining experience . the existing knowledge is not adequate to design cost-effective mooring systems which will ensure survival at full scale under storm conditions . Considerable progress has been made in assessing and under3tanding suitable energy conversion and transmission systems for the various designs of converter , but much more remains to be done to arrive at the most cost-effective solutions . The general engineering difficulties are quite basic and are related to the properties of the natural wave spectrum : -the conversion system must be able to handle large short-term variations in the instantaneous power level ; -the peak power level in the sea (of the order of 10,OOO kW /m) can be many times greater than the average power level (a few tens of kW / m) ; -the primary output is not in a form which can be handled conventionally (it is . of course . variable with time in a complex way). Moreover. apart from the randomness. other general problems arise from the low energy density of the input and the relatively low speeds and frequency of movement induced by the waves . Engineering devices to transmit large amounts of energy under such conditions must themselves be large. heavy and expensive . The efficient generation of electricity requires machinery operating at relatively high and preferably constant speed . The transition from the one regime to the other appears to be more straightforward for systems involving air turbines than for those which do not: some designs of converter may prove to be intractable in this respect. Many possible forms of energy transmission to the mainland have been reviewed . as summarised in Chapter 6 . Whilst it has been recommended that several options should be kept open in the continuing studies it is likely that most attention will be given to electricity. The overall flow of energy from the waves to a final user connected to the electricity grid involves many separate steps . each of which can involve loss of some of the energy . This can have a considerable influence on the system economics and further work in this area will need to concentrate on both reducing the number of steps and increasing the efficiency (including the directional efficiency of t he converters themselves ) of those which must remain . Unless this can be achieved the usable resource will be only a small proportion of our needs : some pointers to substantial improvements are beginning to emerge. Environmental studies have not revealed any major detrimental effects of the converters provided they are well offshore. More information is needed on the behaviour of salmon and herring off the Outer Hebrides to confirm that the fisheries would not be affected significantly by the widespread installation of converters. Concluding remarks: The costing studies of the reference designs which have been evolved so far indicate that wave-produced electricity is likely to be expensive compared with either nuclear or fossil fuels unless some major breakthrough in the engineering can be achieved . However . this does not imply that the possibility of wave energy should be abandoned at this stage . It must be emphasised that the subject is still at a very ear ly state of development and many unknown factors remain to be resolved . Under these circumstances, wave energy is best regarded at present as a possible insurance technology- the consequences of failure of one of our existing major energy supplies are so severe that it is worth paying an insurance premium to explore fully the alternatives . Nevertheless. the evidence from the feasibility study so far does not allow a recommendation for a full-scale development programme to be made at this time . Much more can be achieved to explore and then to narrow the design choices by continuing work at about the 1 / 1 0th scale coupled with . on the one hand . limited trials of some critical components at larger scale and . on the other hand . f urther creative engineering on the drawing board and laboratory work in a new generation of wave tanks (of which the forerunner has been successfully commissioned at Edinburgh University). The programme has generated a broad basis of knowledge of all aspects of wave energy which did not exist before. so that we can now identify clearly the critical problems to be tackled by further work

La multiplication de matériel de plantation de qualité pour améliorer l'état sanitaire et la productivité des cultures : pratiques clefs pour les bananiers et les bananiers plantain. Guide illustré

Available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic, on line and on CD-ROM, this illustrated guide summarizes the key practices for producing clean planting material of banana with a high yield potential for smallholders, depending on the pests and diseases which are present. The guide is also designed to contribute to better planning of the propagation of planting material for rural development and disaster relief projects. (Résumé d'auteur

The Vehicle, Fall 2008

Table of Contents DwIFoFErREINdTPhilip Gallagherpage 17 LeftoversAmanda Vealepage 18 the bogGrace Lawrencepage 19 Visitor\u27s Morning on EarthSteven T. Coxpage 20 The Moon Man Philip Gallagherpage 21 SearchingsAmanda Vealepage 23 Becoming WiseAmanda Vealepage 24 PerennialsAmanda Vealepage 26 SoldierMary Lieskepage 27 Desecration of a RelicAmanda Vealepage 29 New LifeJennifer O\u27Neilpage 30 GardenerKrystina Levyapage 43 The Reasons WhyMary Lieskepage 44 Dining at the MortuaryAmanda Vealepage 45 Poetry Hop Scotch BehopJake Dawsonpage 1 Empty RoomAmanda Vealepage 2 Mantis (from memory) Muddy ShoesGina Marie LoBiancopage 3 MEMOSamuel Clowardpage 5 MathMary Lieskepage 7 To a Little Black GirlJustin Sudkamppage 8 Government OfficeSamuel Clowardpage 9 FirstKellen Fasnachtpage 10 Seeing Artichoke, Call MeAmanda Vealepage 11 TrumpetSarah Fairchildpage 12 That\u27s the StuffJake Dawsonpage 13 Your Hair is ThinningAmanda Vealepage 15 UnableDonica Millerpage 16 Dance PartnersSamantha Sauerpage 32 I StillMegan Mathypage 33 IncandescenceSarah Fairchildpage 34 Stone CraneBrendan Hughespage 35 The Road TakenSamantha Sauerpage 36 YouMegan Mathypage 37 Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, Zhangjiajie, ChinaBrendan Hughespage 38 Spotlight on 2008 Chapbook LessonsGlen Davispage 62 Interview with Glen DavisRebecca Griffithpage 64 Contributorspage 69 Submission Guidelines/Reading Event Blues Mad FoolJake Dawsonpage 47 Good WomanJake Dawsonpage 49 Good ManJake Dawsonpage 51 And I Miss YouDonica Millerpage 53 Entropy of Your ShirtAmanda Vealepage 56 Mavericks Philip Gallagherpage 57 Untitled [It\u27s 10:15 p.m....]Philip Gallagherpage 59 Prose A Birdhouse for GrandpaLeslie Hancockpage 39 MotivationMary Lieskepage 55 Art Forgotten GardenBrendan Hughescovers BeMegan Mathypage 31https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1088/thumbnail.jp

Monitoring Keap1-Nrf2 interactions in single live cells

AbstractThe transcription factor NF-E2 p45-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and its negative regulator Kelch-like ECH associated protein 1 (Keap1) control the expression of nearly 500 genes with diverse cytoprotective functions. Keap1, a substrate adaptor protein for Cullin3/Rbx1 ubiquitin ligase, normally continuously targets Nrf2 for degradation, but loses this ability in response to electrophiles and oxidants (termed inducers). Consequently, Nrf2 accumulates and activates transcription of its downstream target genes. Many inducers are phytochemicals, and cruciferous vegetables represent one of the richest sources of inducer activity among the most commonly used edible plants. Here we summarize the discovery of the isothiocyanate sulforaphane as a potent inducer which reacts with cysteine sensors of Keap1, leading to activation of Nrf2. We then describe the development of a quantitative Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based methodology combined with multiphoton fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) to investigate the interactions between Keap1 and Nrf2 in single live cells, and the effect of sulforaphane, and other cysteine-reactive inducers, on the dynamics of the Keap1–Nrf2 protein complex. We present the experimental evidence for the “cyclic sequential attachment and regeneration” or “conformation cycling” model of Keap1-mediated Nrf2 degradation. Finally, we discuss the implications of this mode of regulation of Nrf2 for achieving a fine balance under normal physiological conditions, and the consequences and mechanisms of disrupting this balance for tumor biology