Intercomparison of soil pore water extraction methods for stable isotope analysis

Funded by NSERC Discovery Grant U.S. Forest Service U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Bioenergy Technologies OfficePeer reviewedPostprin

A Comparison of Learner Assessment Use Between Physical Education and Core Academic Subjects

As advocated by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, physical education demonstrates the same characteristics that define core academic subject areas (NASPE, 2010). This synthesis investigates a critical mass of research that aims to compare and contrast core academic subjects and non-core academic subjects, specifically physical education and their use of learner assessments. Results from the critical mass identified three main themes: (1) skill acquisition through the use of learner assessments, (2) student perceptions of learner assessments and (3) teacher perceptions of learner assessments and their effects on the stakeholders involved in the teaching-learning process. Skill acquisition through the use of learner assessments refers to a student’s ability to gain knowledge and develop abilities in a multitude of domains. Perceptions of learner assessments for both students and teachers refer to the way in which researchers recognize and interpret the use of learner assessment data as valuable in the teaching-learning process. This synthesis concludes that if students and teachers perceive learner assessment as important and valuable in the teaching-learning process, then assessment in general becomes more in line with the intent of designating which areas become core academic subjects. This includes content areas that generate important educational outcomes that are vital and meaningful for a child’s overall learning experience during school age years

The novel use of a commercially available video-conference platform to facilitate multidisciplinary target volume review and delineation for skull-base radiation therapy during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

Multidisciplinary involvement in radiation therapy (RT) treatment planning is currently underused. A radiation oncologist sought input for generating target contours from a neuro-radiologist (NR) and otolaryngologist (OL) for 3 patients requiring skull-base RT during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. A Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliant virtual meeting between the radiation oncologist, NR, and OL was arranged. Involvement of the OL and NR led to significant changes in the clinical target volume for all patients. Our experience highlights the feasibility of using commercially available video-conference platforms for multidisciplinary target volume delineation for complex RT cases. Further applications include interdisciplinary contour review for RT cases requiring special expertise and joint attending/resident physician contour review for resident education. The video-conference platform technology has demonstrated benefit during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, and we believe it will remain an integral component of our field moving forward

Spin-dependent transport in p+-CdBxF2-x - n-CdF2 planar structures

The CV measurements and tunneling spectroscopy are used to study the ballistic transport of the spin-polarized holes by varying the value of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI) in the p-type quantum well prepared on the surface of the n-CdF2 bulk crystal. The findings of the hole conductance oscillations in the plane of the p-type quantum well that are due to the variations of the Rashba SOI are shown to be evidence of the spin transistor effect, with the amplitude of the oscillations close to e2/h.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Toward a Broader Understanding of Split Alliances in Family Therapy: Adding the Therapist to the Mix

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG[Abstract] To broaden our understanding of a split alliance in fam-ily therapy, we investigated the frequencies and correlates of sessions in which therapists, youth, and caregivers re-ported markedly different perceptions of the alliance. The sample consisted of 156 Spanish families who received Alliance Empowerment Family Therapy (Escudero, Adolescentes y familias en conf licto, 2013) for child mal-treatment. Family members and therapists rated the al-liance on the SOFTA-s (Friedlander et al., Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2006, 53, 214) after sessions 3, 6, and 9; family members rated their perceptions of treat-ment progress before sessions 4, 7, and 10. A cluster analy-sis differentiated sessions with a split adult- youth alliance(27.7%) from a split family- therapist alliance (44.1%), and a balanced alliance (similar ratings across the three per-spectives; 28.2%). Client- rated treatment progress was dif-ferentially associated with the type of alliance split and the average alliance rating, whereas better posttreatment outcomes (child functioning and family goal attainment) were associated with fewer sessions having either type of split allianceThis study was carried out with the collaboration of the Program for Therapeutic Treatment of Children and Adolescents at Risk, financed by the Xunta de Galicia, Spai

Exchange Rate Risk and Convergence to the Euro

This paper proposes a new monetary policy framework for effectively navigating the path to adopting the euro. The proposed policy is based on relative inflation forecast targeting and incorporates an ancillary target of declining exchange rate risk, which is suggested as a key criterion for evaluating the currency stability. A model linking exchange rate volatility to differentials over the euro zone in both inflation (target variable) and interest rate (instrument variable) is proposed. The model is empirically tested for the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, the selected new Member States of the EU that use direct inflation targeting to guide their monetary policies. The empirical methodology is based on the TARCH(p,q,r)-M model

How to determine a quantum state by measurements: The Pauli problem for a particle with arbitrary potential

The problem of reconstructing a pure quantum state ¿¿> from measurable quantities is considered for a particle moving in a one-dimensional potential V(x). Suppose that the position probability distribution ¿¿(x,t)¿2 has been measured at time t, and let it have M nodes. It is shown that after measuring the time evolved distribution at a short-time interval ¿t later, ¿¿(x,t+¿t)¿2, the set of wave functions compatible with these distributions is given by a smooth manifold M in Hilbert space. The manifold M is isomorphic to an M-dimensional torus, TM. Finally, M additional expectation values of appropriately chosen nonlocal operators fix the quantum state uniquely. The method used here is the analog of an approach that has been applied successfully to the corresponding problem for a spin system

Impact of naturally occurring amino acid variations on the detection of HIV-1 p24 in diagnostic antigen tests.

The detection of HIV-1 p24 antigen in diagnostic tests relies on antibodies binding to conserved areas of the protein to cover the full range of HIV-1 subtypes. Using a panel of 43 different virus-like particles (VLPs) expressing Gag from clinical HIV-1 isolates, we previously found that some highly sensitive tests completely failed to detect p24 of certain VLPs, seemingly unrelated to their subtype. Here we aimed to investigate the reason for this failure, hypothesising that it might be due to single amino acid variations in conserved epitopes. Using amino acid alignment, we identified single amino acid variations at position 16 or 170 of p24, unique to those VLPs that failed to be detected in certain diagnostic tests. Through DNA-mutagenesis, these amino acids were changed to ones more commonly found at these positions. The impact of these changes on p24 detection was tested in commercial diagnostic tests as well as by Western Blot and ELISA, using epitope-specific antibodies. Changing positions 16 or 170 to consensus amino acids restored the detection of p24 by the investigated diagnostic tests as well as by epitope-specific antibodies in Western Blot and ELISA. Hence, single amino acid changes in conserved epitopes can lead to the failure of p24 detection and thus to false-negative results. To optimise HIV diagnostic tests, they should also be evaluated using isolates which harbour less-frequent epitope variants