What Students Need from Reference Librarians: Exploring the Complexity of the Individual Consultation

The article reports on an exploratory study that identified the skills used by reference librarians during individual research consultations with undergraduate and graduate students in a wide range of disciplines. The skills fell into eight categories. As expected, librarians needed knowledge about information sources and their effective use, but the project revealed that consultations often involve higher-order skills, as well, such as knowing how to approach and organize the research endeavor, shaping a topic appropriate for the scope of a project, making connections among various pieces of information and applying them to the problem at hand, and identifying alternative research strategies. It is important that the library profession continue to value and nurture these skills in reference librarians. Online discovery tools and even vastly improved computer interfaces are no substitute

Determination of cadmium(II), copper(II), manganese(II) and nickel(II) species in Antarctic seawater with complexing resins

The strong species of cadmium(II), copper(II), manganese(II) and nickel(II) in an Antarctic seawater sample are investigated by a method based on the sorption of metal ions on complexing resins. The resins compete with the ligands present in the sample to combine with the metal ions. Two resins with different adsorbing strengths were used. Very stable metal complexes were investigated with the strong sorbent Chelex 100 and weaker species with the less strong resin, Amberlite CG-50. Strong species were detected for three of the considered metal ions, but not for Mn(II). Cu(II) is completely linked to species with a side reaction coefficient as high as log αM(I)=11.6 at pH=7.3. The ligand concentration was found to be similar to that of the metal ion, and the conditional stability constant was around 1020 M−1. In the considered sample, only a fraction of the metal ions Cd(II) and Ni(II) is bound to the strong ligands, with side reaction coefficients equal to log αM(I)=5.5 and 6.5 at pH=7.3 for Cd(II) and Ni(II), respectively. These findings were confirmed by the test with the weaker sorbent Amberlite G-50. It can be calculated from the sorption equilibria that neither Mn(II) nor Ni(II) is adsorbed on Amberlite CG-50 under the considered conditions and, in fact, only a negligible fraction of Mn(II) and Ni(II) was adsorbed. A noticeable fraction of Cd(II) was adsorbed on Amberlite CG-50, meaning that cadmium(II) is partially linked to weak ligands, possibly chloride, while no copper(II) was adsorbed on this resin, confirming that copper(II) is only combined in strong species. These results are similar, but not identical, to those obtained for other seawater samples examined in previous investigations

heat exchanger design and optimization by using genetic algorithm for externally fired micro turbine

Abstract In this study, a new configuration where syngas produced by downdraft gasifier is feed directly in an externally fired air turbine is discussed. Attention was posed towards the critical component of this configuration: the heat exchanger. To achieve acceptable electrical efficiencies, high temperature of the air at the inlet turbine section was imposed. A code for heat exchanger design was built by using Matlab®, while the geometrical optimization was performed by using modeFRONTIER® by imposing a multi-objective function to maximize the overall heat transfer coefficient and minimize both costs and pressure drops across the equipment

Concentrations of mephedrone in cases of fatal and non-fatal clinical intoxications

Peer reviewe

High link performance of Brillouin-loss based microwave bandpass photonic filters

We present a high link-performance multi-band microwave photonic filter based on stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) loss responses. The bandpass filter response is formed by suppressing the out-of-band signal using multiple broadened SBS loss responses, which avoids introducing additional noise in the passband. The low-noise SBS bandpass filter is implemented in an optimized high-performance MWP link, which enabled the demonstration of filter functionalities with a low noise figure, reconfigurability, and high resolution. A noise figure of 18.9 dB is achieved in the passband with a filter bandwidth of 0.3 GHz at a central frequency of 14 GHz, with a link gain of −13.9 dB and a spurious free dynamic range of 106 dB.Hz2/3. Bandwidth reconfiguration from 0.1 GHz to 1 GHz and multi-bandpass responses are also demonstrated

Understanding the Pathogenesis of Red Mark Syndrome in Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) through an Integrated Morphological and Molecular Approach

Red mark syndrome (RMS) is a widespread skin disorder of rainbow trout in freshwater aquaculture, believed to be caused by a Midichloria-like organism (MLO). Here, we aimed to study the pathologic mechanisms at the origin of RMS by analyzing field samples from a recent outbreak through gene expression, MLO PCR, quantitative PCR, and a histopathological scoring system proposed for RMS lesions. Statistical analyses included a One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with a Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test to assess differences among gene expression groups and a nonparametric Spearman correlation between various categories of skin lesions and PCR results. In short, the results confirmed the presence of a high quantity of 16S gene copy numbers of Midichloria-like organisms in diseased skin tissues. However, the number of Midichloria-like organisms detected was not correlated to the degree of severity of skin disease. Midichloria-like organism DNA was found in the spleen and head kidney. The spleen showed pathologic changes mainly of hyperplastic type, reflecting its direct involvement during infection. The most severe skin lesions were characterized by a high level of inflammatory cytokines sustaining and modulating the severe inflammatory process. IL-1 β, IL-6, IL-10, MHC-II, and TCR were upregulated in severe skin lesions, while IL-10 was highly expressed in moderate to severe ones. In the moderate form, the response was driven to produce immunoglobulins, which appeared crucial in controlling the skin disease’s severity. Altogether our results illustrated a complex immune interaction between the host and Midichloria-like organism

Therapeutic potential of ayahuasca in grief : a prospective, observational study

Recent studies have assessed the therapeutic potential of ayahuasca for the treatment of depression with promising preliminary results. Here, we examine the course of grief over 1 year of follow-up in a bereaved sample that attended a center in Peru to participate in indigenous Shipibo ayahuasca ceremonies. We also explore the roles of experiential avoidance and decentering as mechanisms of change. Bereaved participants who attended the ayahuasca center responded to an online survey that included the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief, Symptom Assessment-45, WHO Quality of Life-Bref, Acceptance and Action Questionnaire, and Decentering. Baseline assessment was completed by 50 individuals (T0). Of these, 39 completed the post-assessment at 15 days (T1), 31 at 3 months (T2), 29 at 6 months (T3), and 27 at 12 months (T4) after leaving the retreat. Pearson's analysis was performed to examine the relationship between the severity of grief and mechanisms of change during the period of T0 and T1. A significant decrease in Texas Revised Inventory was observed at all time points (T1: Cohen's d = 0.84; T2: Cohen's d = 1.38; T3: Cohen's d = 1.16; T4: Cohen's d = 1.39). We found a relationship between experiential avoidance (r = 0.55; p < .01), decentering (r = − 0.47; p < .01), and a reduction in the severity of grief. Our results suggest that the ceremonial use of ayahuasca has therapeutic value by reducing the severity of grief. Acceptance and decentering are both psychological processes that mediate the improvement of grief symptoms

Scintillating fiber devices for particle therapy applications

Particle Therapy (PT) is a radiation therapy technique in which solid tumors are treated with charged ions and exploits the achievable highly localized dose delivery, allowing to spare healthy tissues and organs at risk. The development of a range monitoring technique to be used on-line, during the treatment, capable to reach millimetric precision is considered one of the important steps towards an optimization of the PT efficacy and of the treatment quality. To this aim, charged secondary particles produced in the nuclear interactions between the beam particles and the patient tissues can be exploited. Besides charged secondaries, also neutrons are produced in nuclear interactions. The secondary neutron component might cause an undesired and not negligible dose deposition far away from the tumor region, enhancing the risk of secondary malignant neoplasms that can develop even years after the treatment. An accurate neutron characterization (flux, energy and emission profile) is hence needed for a better evaluation of long-term complications. In this contribution two tracker detectors, both based on scintillating fibers, are presented. The first one, named Dose Profiler (DP), is planned to be used as a beam range monitor in PT treatments with heavy ion beams, exploiting the charged secondary fragments production. The DP is currently under development within the INSIDE (Innovative Solutions for In-beam DosimEtry in hadrontherapy) project. The second one is dedicated to the measurement of the fast and ultrafast neutron component produced in PT treatments, in the framework of the MONDO (MOnitor for Neutron Dose in hadrOntherapy) project. Results of the first calibration tests performed at the Trento Protontherapy center and at CNAO (Italy) are reported, as well as simulation studies