Perampanel inhibition of AMPA receptor currents in cultured hippocampal neurons.

Perampanel is an aryl substituted 2-pyridone AMPA receptor antagonist that was recently approved as a treatment for epilepsy. The drug potently inhibits AMPA receptor responses but the mode of block has not been characterized. Here the action of perampanel on AMPA receptors was investigated by whole-cell voltage-clamp recording in cultured rat hippocampal neurons. Perampanel caused a slow (τ∼1 s at 3 µM), concentration-dependent inhibition of AMPA receptor currents evoked by AMPA and kainate. The rates of block and unblock of AMPA receptor currents were 1.5×105 M-1 s-1 and 0.58 s-1, respectively. Perampanel did not affect NMDA receptor currents. The extent of block of non-desensitizing kainate-evoked currents (IC50, 0.56 µM) was similar at all kainate concentrations (3-100 µM), demonstrating a noncompetitive blocking action. Parampanel did not alter the trajectory of AMPA evoked currents indicating that it does not influence AMPA receptor desensitization. Perampanel is a selective negative allosteric AMPA receptor antagonist of high-affinity and slow blocking kinetics

原理に基づいた決断：日本の大学生対象EFLコース設計に関する考察

大学生EFL 学習者対象に新しいコースをデザインするとき、教師にはさまざまな教育的選択が委ねられる。なかでもシラバスと評価方法に関する考察は特に重要だと言える。そこで、本研究では、原理・理論に基づいたコースの開発・実施後に、コース設計時に教師が下した教育的決断を学習者も有益だと認識したか検証するため学習者の評価を調査した。その結果、学生は（1）成果・過程混成シラバスの構成要素である計画性と反復性が特に有益だと認識していたこと、（2）形成的評価、総括的評価の両者の混成評価を好んでいることが分かった。本研究で明らかになったことは、制限はあるものの、今後同様にコース開発に関わるEFL教師の意思決定過程に役立つものと考える

Relationship-based School & Classroom Management

Participants will learn about the four roles of relationship-based classroom and school management in working with students of all ages. Additionally, participants will have the opportunity to reflect on previous interactions with students (some that went well and some that didn\u27t go so well), learn which role is their strength ( go-to role), and identify the role with which they need peer support. This presentation is given lecture style with encouraged audience participation and includes plenty of laughter, practical applications, and just-in-time ideas to implement the very next day

Using bacterial biomarkers to identify early indicators of cystic fibrosis pulmonary exacerbation onset

Acute periods of pulmonary exacerbation are the single most important cause of morbidity in cystic fibrosis patients, and may be associated with a loss of lung function. Intervening prior to the onset of a substantially increased inflammatory response may limit the associated damage to the airways. While a number of biomarker assays based on inflammatory markers have been developed, providing useful and important measures of disease during these periods, such factors are typically only elevated once the process of exacerbation has been initiated. Identifying biomarkers that can predict the onset of pulmonary exacerbation at an early stage would provide an opportunity to intervene before the establishment of a substantial immune response, with major implications for the advancement of cystic fibrosis care. The precise triggers of pulmonary exacerbation remain to be determined; however, the majority of models relate to the activity of microbes present in the patient's lower airways of cystic fibrosis. Advances in diagnostic microbiology now allow for the examination of these complex systems at a level likely to identify factors on which biomarker assays can be based. In this article, we discuss key considerations in the design and testing of assays that could predict pulmonary exacerbations

A Gaming Laboratory to Study Distributed Collaboration Processes.

Current events present many examples of situations where a fast and coordinated response is required from many and diverse organizations and stakeholders. Technology-mediated communication and collaboration may be the only option for getting things done in situations like these. There is a real need for research on the kinds of environments and processes that best support fast response on urgent tasks for virtual teams. The paper presents the development and initial test of a gaming laboratory to study such processes. The laboratory is adaptable to different kinds of situations. We discuss the design principles and implementation of the laboratory environment, along with lessons learned from the first experiences with it

No quick fix : The effects of awareness-raising and machine translation on error recognition and written accuracy for Japanese EFL learners

The role of the mother tongue in the production of a second language has longbeen established. In particular, raising awareness of the similarities and differencesbetween L1 and L2 has been given increasing credence as a means ofimproving grammatical accuracy. In this study of Japanese university EFLlearners , an experimental group was sequentially exposed to a crosslinguisticintervention and compared with a control group to determinewhether the combined use of (1) an awareness-raising checklist (that emphasized grammatical differences between Japanese and English) and (2) machinetranslation (aimed to facilitate the accuracy of written output) wouldhelp them to report the recognition of errors in a reading task and reduce thenumber of errors produced in a writing task. The study also investigated participantorientations towards the intervention itself. The results indicated that,for the most part, the control and experimental groups did not display any significantdifferences in terms of performance in both recognition and production,although some positive attitudes were observed towards the intervention.Various implications, as well as considerations for future research avenues, are explored

Organic optoelectronic devices-flexibility versus performance

International audienceIn this paper, we discuss the effect of flexible substrates on the characteristics of two organic optoelectronic devices, namely P3HT:PCBM-based photovoltaic bulk heterojunctions and pentacene-based phototransistors. In addition, we have developed anode materials deposited by ion beam sputtering, a technique which satisfies the low temperature deposition requirements associated with the use of plastic substrates. The anode materials consisted of indium tin oxide (ITO) and ITO/metal/ITO tri-layers. The use of tri-layer anodes in P3HT:PCBM-based solar cells resulted in an increase in the fill factor and the power conversion efficiency reached a value of 2% with an ITO(70 nm)/Ag(14 nm)/ITO(70 nm) anode deposited on a polyphthalate carbonate substrate. In the case of phototransistors, a photosensitivity of 1.6 × 10 under illumination at 365 nm (with a power intensity of 7 mW/cm) was obtained in the off-state of the transistor. We have fine-tuned the anode structure and deposition/annealing conditions towards flexible organic devices and optimal device characteristics

Do Participant-selected Topics Influence L2 Writing Fluency? A Replication Study(岩津洋二教授追悼号)

The concept of fluency now forms a key point in some pedagogical approaches (Willis & Willis, 1996; Nation, 2009). Some commentators have suggested that fluency is more often defined in terms of speaking than writing (e.g. Brown, 2003), thus implying a need for further research in written fluency. Specifically, topic selection and how it might relate to written fluency is an area of developing research and provided the basis for this study. We replicate the procedure used by Bonzo (2008) to investigate whether participant or teacher-generated topics affect fluency performance on free-writing tasks, utilizing 84 learners in general English classes at a Japanese university. Statistical analyses (as operationalized using a fluency index from Bonzo) indicated that participant-selected topics produced a significantly greater degree of written fluency than teacher-selected topics. Other data, drawn from focus group interviews and a post-procedure survey, added an extra dimension to the findings in that a distinction may lie between measurable fluency and the fluency perceived on the part of the learner. Participants selected a number of factors they believed affected their fluency, some of which may be at odds with the findings of the statistical analyses. In light of this, pedagogical implications are discussed so that practical classroom applications can be made

ObserVR

According to Superdata Digital Market Research, investors have poured more than $6 billion into the virtual reality market in the last three years, mostly to catalyze application development for virtual reality gaming. In the last decade, watching live streams of other gamers playing video games has skyrocketed, with the world’s largest esports streaming platform Twitch.tv receiving 53 million unique visitors daily. ObserVR intends to package these technologies and change the way users watch multiple 2D video streams in an immersive 3D environment. By accessing our service, a user can embed URLs for existing video streams through our online application and then launch a motion controlled multi-screen view within their virtual reality headset. By utilizing existing 2D content, our service is changing the current viewing experience by eliminating the hassle of manually changing web browser tabs and offering a way to become your own producer by choosing what camera angles you want to watch at any given time. By providing this service in three dimensions, we are able to bring benefits to each user that current technology does not allow. These benefits include saving time, decreasing hardware space, and providing a community base while enhancing current viewing methods. While most of the technology’s early adopters are gamers, virtual reality devices are expected to become the next household entertainment standard, meaning that the applications for this technology beyond gaming are boundless. To meet our customers’ needs, we will be building an online application that allows users to incorporate any available online video stream into our interface and create a customized viewing layout. Our initial interface will support up to four streams at any one time. By allowing users to embed and launch personally selected content, we are decreasing the amount of behavioral change needed for user adoption. We plan to include the ability to select content directly through our application dashboard, providing a library of all online streamable content

Just cyber war?: Casus belli, information ethics, and the human perspective

Does the advent of cyber-war require us to abandon the traditional ethical framework for thinking about the morality of warfare - just war theory - and develop principles specific to the unique nature of cyber-attacks? Or can just war theory still provide an appropriate basis for thinking through the ethical issues raised by cyber-weapons? This article explores these questions via the issue of whether a cyber-attack can constitute a casus belli. The first half of the paper critically engages with recent attempts to provide a new theory of just information warfare (JIW) that is supposedly better suited to the unique character of cyber war insofar as it is grounded the broader meta-ethical framework of information ethics (IE). Yet the paper argues that not only is JIW fundamentally unsuitable as a way of thinking about cyber-war, but (in the second half) that it is possible to develop a different account of how we can understand a cyber-attack as constituting a casus belli in a way that is in keeping with traditional just war theory. In short, there is no need to reinvent just war theory for the digital age