Constructing Drug Using Victims: Race and Class in Policy Debates on Ecstasy Use in the U.S.

Sociologists and political scientists examining the social construction of public anxiety surrounding drug use in the United States have argued that racial minorities are the targets of the harshest drug laws, while middle-class whites are shielded. In this article, I provide further evidence that middle-class, white drug users are shielded from harsh punishment by analyzing the process through which U.S. legislators and policymakers decide which drug users need punishment and which deserve protection and treatment. Analyzing transcripts from federal Congressional hearings, I examine the rhetoric of legislators and stakeholder witnesses concerning the use of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) by middle-class whites. Building on the social construction literature, I use social identity theory to demonstrate how legislators within Congressional hearings create in- and out-groups in order to categorize different drug users and dealers. My analysis of Congressional hearing language concerning white MDMA use demonstrates that Congressional speakers use rhetoric to convince committee members and the wider public that middle-class, white drug users are different from drug users of color and that the appropriate policy response is education and treatment, rather than punishment. My findings highlight how middle-class, white drug users are characterized differently from drug users of color, providing further evidence that U.S. drug policy has historically favored middle-class, white drug users

A Learning Experience with the Digital Interactive Whiteboard in Pre-Scholar Education

La educación infantil se considera clave para el éxito futuro de los alumnos. En esta investigación analizamos la viabilidad del uso de contenidos trabajados con la PDI (Pizarra Digital Interactiva) con alumnos en edad preescolar como una herramienta para mejorar su proceso de aprendizaje. Presentamos un diseño cuasi-experimental basado en cuatro grupos no equivalentes, con postest. Los grupos de control han realizado todas las actividades definidas en los materiales didácticos, mientras que los grupos experimentales se les han proporcionado los contenidos desarrollados con la PDI. Las conclusiones muestran mejores resultados de aprendizaje en los grupos experimentales con respecto a los grupos de control.The pre-scholar education is considered a key factor for the future pupil success. Along this investigation we analyze the viability of working with the interactive whiteboard (IWB) with pre-school pupils in order to improve their learning process. We present a quasi-experimental design based on four nonequivalent groups and posttest. The control groups have done all the activities defined, while the experimental groups have received the contents in the IWB. The conclusions are that better learning results are obtained in the experimental groups than in the control ones.Generalitat Valencian

Demystifying Negative Connotations of Hybridization for Less Biased Conservation Policies

Interspecific hybridization is one of the most controversial—and usually neglected— issues in conservation due to its multiple evolutionary consequences that might include the origin and transfer of adaptations, the blur of distinctive lineages or the formation of maladaptive hybrids. However, despite different outcomes, most conservation laws do not offer any possibility of hybrids being protected since they are perceived as a threat to the survival of pure species. We assessed how much hybridization has contributed to species extinction considering all IUCN Red Data assessments. However, we found that it has been scarcely reported as a threat contributing to extinction: only 11 extinct species out of 120,369 assessments mentioned hybridization. Although the causes that contribute to species extinctions should be controlled, the reasons for not conserving hybrids seem subjective rather than empirically supported. In a genomic era where hybridization is being more frequently detected, the debate involving the conservation of hybrids should be re-opened. Should we conserve hybrids despite the possibility of gene flow with parental species? Should we protect only natural hybrids? The resolution of this debate goes to the heart of what we mean to conserve and the time scale of conservation. But hybridization is part of the evolutionary process and might even increase in the future due to human-induced changes. As such, it becomes clear that we need to move beyond the causes and instead tackle the consequences of hybridization to create environmental policies for the management of hybrids, considering both positive and negative consequences.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

La Higiene y Seguridad del trabajo en el beneficio “La Providencia S.A” del municipio de Matagalpa, al II semestre del 2012

Con la presente investigación se analizaron las medidas de la higiene y seguridad laboral proporcionadas a personal administrativo y personal operativo del beneficio de café seco “La Providencia S.A” del municipio de Matagalpa durante el segundo semestre del año 2012. Las variables evaluadas fueron servicio de beneficiado seco, medidas de la higiene y seguridad laboral así como las condiciones ambientales de trabajo proporcionadas al personal administrativo y personal operativo, esto fue posible mediante la utilización de instrumentos como la entrevista, encuesta y guía de observación. Los resultados obtenidos revelaron que el beneficio de café seco “La Providencia S.A” del municipio de Matagalpa, no cuenta con un plan de medidas tendientes al cumplimiento de las normas de higiene y seguridad laboral dispuestas en la ley 618, su reglamento, código del trabajo (ley 185) constitución política de Nicaragua y otras resoluciones del Ministerio del trabajo (MITRAB) y con ninguna persona especialista en la materia de higiene y seguridad labora

Differential in vitro and in vivo effect of barley cysteine and serine protease inhibitors on phytopathogenic microorganisms

Protease inhibitors from plants have been involved in defence mechanisms against pests and pathogens. Phytocystatins and trypsin/α-amylase inhibitors are two of the best characterized protease inhibitor families in plants. In barley, thirteen cystatins (HvCPI-1 to 13) and the BTI-CMe trypsin inhibitor have been previously studied. Their capacity to inhibit pest digestive proteases, and the negative in vivo effect caused by plants expressing these inhibitors on pests support the defence function of these proteins. Barley cystatins are also able to inhibit in vitro fungal growth. However, the antifungal effect of these inhibitors in vivo had not been previously tested. Moreover, their in vitro and in vivo effect on plant pathogenous bacteria is still unknown. In order to obtain new insights on this feature, in vitro assays were made against different bacterial and fungal pathogens of plants using the trypsin inhibitor BTI-CMe and the thirteen barley cystatins. Most barley cystatins and the BTI-CMe inhibitor were able to inhibit mycelial growth but no bacterial growth. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants independently expressing the BTI-CMe inhibitor and the cystatin HvCPI-6 were tested against the same bacterial and fungal pathogens. Neither the HvCPI-6 expressing transgenic plants nor the BTI-CMe ones were more resistant to plant pathogen fungi and bacteria than control Arabidopsis plants. The differences observed between the in vitro and in planta assays against phytopathogenic fungi are discusse

Rare earth based nanostructured materials: Synthesis, functionalization, properties and bioimaging and biosensing applications

Rare earth based nanostructures constitute a type of functional materials widely used and studied in the recent literature. The purpose of this review is to provide a general and comprehensive overview of the current state of the art, with special focus on the commonly employed synthesis methods and functionalization strategies of rare earth based nanoparticles and on their different bioimaging and biosensing applications. The luminescent (including downconversion, upconversion and permanent luminescence) and magnetic properties of rare earth based nanoparticles, as well as their ability to absorb X-rays, will also be explained and connected with their luminescent, magnetic resonance and X-ray computed tomography bioimaging applications, respectively. This review is not only restricted to nanoparticles, and recent advances reported for in other nanostructures containing rare earths, such as metal organic frameworks and lanthanide complexes conjugated with biological structures, will also be commented on.European Union 267226Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MAT2014-54852-

Photodynamic Therapy Combined with Antibiotics or Antifungals against Microorganisms That Cause Skin and Soft Tissue Infections: A Planktonic and Biofilm Approach to Overcome Resistances

The present review covers combination approaches of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) plus antibiotics or antifungals to attack bacteria and fungi in vitro (both planktonic and biofilm forms) focused on those microorganisms that cause infections in skin and soft tissues. The combination can prevent failure in the fight against these microorganisms: antimicrobial drugs can increase the susceptibility of microorganisms to aPDT and prevent the possibility of regrowth of those that were not inactivated during the irradiation; meanwhile, aPDT is effective regardless of the resistance pattern of the strain and their use does not contribute to the selection of antimicrobial resistance. Additive or synergistic antimicrobial effects in vitro are evaluated and the best combinations are presented. The use of combined treatment of aPDT with antimicrobials could help overcome the difficulty of fighting high level of resistance microorganisms and, as it is a multi-target approach, it could make the selection of resistant microorganisms more difficult

Composición mineral y relaciones de fase de los arseniuros de Co-Fe-Ni del yacimiento de Aït-Ahmane (Bou-Azzer, Marruecos). Diferencias con otros depósitos.

El yacimiento de Aït-Ahmane, localizado en el extremo este del distrito de Bou-Azzer, presenta notables variaciones mineralógicas en función de la etapa de mineralización en el que nos encontramos. El estado I está constituido por skutterudita I y calcita. El estado II, por rammelsbergita junto con miembros de la solución sólida rammelsbergita-safflorita, miembros de la solución sólida rammelsbergita-safflorita-löllingita, mienbros de la solución sólida rammelsbergita-löllingita y safflorita, niquelina, miembros de la solución sólida cobaltita-gersdorffita y dolomita. En el estado III precipitó skutterudita II y dolomita. El último estado IV, está constituido por miembros de la solución sólida safflorita-löllingita, arsenopirita, alloclasita, skutterudita III y löllingita. La skutterudita del estado I indica temperaturas de formación de 650ºC, obtenidas a partir de campos experimentales de estabilidad de solciones sólidas. En el estado II, a partir de la precipitación de rammelsbergita, los fluidos van enriqueciéndose en Co y Fe, y tras la precipitación de los miembros de la serie cobaltita-gerdorffita, aumenta bruscamente la fugacidad del As junto con el aporte de Co, dando lugar a la precipitación de skutterudita del estado III. El estado IV indica un aumento de la fugacidad del S, de manera que trás la precipitación de diarseniuros se produce una etapa de sulfoarseniuros que finaliza con un nuevo aporte de Co y As que supone una nueva precipitación de skutterudita y löllingita. En esta última etapa las temperaturas estarían en torno a los 500ºC según los digramas de fases experimentales. Todas estas etapas de mineralización, con fluidos de composición y fugacidades de As variable produjeron la desestabilización de las fases previas que se reequilibraron bajo las nuevas condiciones

Effect of synthesis conditions on electrical and catalytical properties of perovskites with high value of A-site cation size mismatch

et al.The perovskite La0.15Sm0.35Sr0.08Ba0.42FeO3-δ has been prepared by the glycine nitrate route, varying the calcination temperature, fuel/oxidizer ratio and cooling rate, in order to study the sample preparation influence on the properties in the context of their application as a electrode material for SOFCs. The obtained materials have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, electrical and BET surface area measurements, and also the reaction between oxygen and CO, which can occur in SOFCs during the conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy. As overall results, all the samples present a phase segregation showing two perovskites with rhombohedral structure. SEM images show a well-necked morphology of the powders which are composed of nanosized particles and agglomerations of grains. The BET specific surface area of the samples decreases as calcination temperature increases, as well as for the quenched sample. The measured electronic conductivity values (<50 S/cm) are characteristic for samples with these high values of σ(r) (A cation size disorder). The catalytic activity tests for the CO oxidation reaction showed a T50% (“light-off temperature”, defined as the temperature at which 50% conversion of CO is achieved) value about 440°C–450 °C, CO conversion reaching 100% at approximately 600 °C for all the prepared perovskites. Then, for the La0.15Sm0.35Sr0.08Ba0.42FeO3-δ perovskite, CO conversion temperature is lower than usual SOFCs operating temperature. This points out to the technological interest of these materials in the framework of reducing the operating temperature of SOFCs.This research has been funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 CSD2009-00013), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MAT2013-42092-R and MAT2012-30763), the Feder program of the Europen Union and Dpto. Educación, Política Lingüística y Cultura of the Basque Goverment (IT-630-13). The authors thank for technical and human support provided by SGIker of UPV/EHU. K. Vidal thanks UPV/EHU for funding.Peer Reviewe

Cytotoxicity and biodistribution studies of luminescent Au(i) and Ag(i) N-heterocyclic carbenes. Searching for new biological targets

A range of fluorescent and biologically compatible gold(i)-N-heterocyclic carbenes bearing acridine as a wingtip group and either a 2-mercaptopyridine or a tetra-O-acetyl-1-thio-β-d-glucopyranoside as an ancillary ligand has been synthesised. Their luminescence, cytotoxicity and biodistribution have been investigated together with those of analogous gold(i) and silver(i) chloride- and bis-NHC complexes. All complexes displayed emissions based on IL transitions centred on the acridine moiety. The cytotoxic activity measured in lung, A549, and pancreatic, MiaPaca2, carcinoma cell lines revealed a general cytotoxicity pattern (thiolate > biscarbene > chloride derivatives) and flow cytometry assays pointed towards apoptosis as the cell death mechanism. Moreover, fluorescence cell microscopy disclosed an unusual biodistribution behavior, being mainly localised in lysosomes and to a lesser extent in the nucleus. Preliminary DNA interaction experiments suggested the metal fragment and not the acridine moiety as responsible for such biodistribution, which widen the scope for new biological targets