Remembrance of a Christian Brothers’ Education

This study describes the experiences of a group of individuals who attended a southern California Catholic boys’ high school, and the men who taught them. The goal of this study was to relate a narrative that explained how an education, steeped in the Christian Brothers’ mission provided a quality education for the poor, and shaped the lives, perspectives, and values of the graduates. The narrative, reported through a social perspective inspired by Catholic Social Teaching (CST), the philosophical writings of Jacques Maritain and Alisdair MacIntyre, showed how the graduates received a quality education from the Brothers, and absorbed a strong sense of Catholic virtue, including a commitment toward social justice, an understanding of role of building and sustaining community, and an appreciation for giving back to society. Cathedral High, a small Catholic high school in Los Angeles, is an embodiment of MacIntyre’s belief that small communities, dedicated to upholding moral virtue and civility offer the possibility of reforming a society currently mired in individualistic and materialistic pursuits. A further implication is that Catholic schools, with their well-documented record for providing effective education for the poor, should remain an educational option for inner-city families

Educating for Social Justice: Drawing from Catholic Social Teaching

This article uses a duoethnographic process to develop a model for socially just education based on social justice theory and Catholic social teaching. Three major issues are addressed, including: (a) the definition of socially just education, (b) explaining a vision for establishing socially just schools, and (c) providing a practical guide for educational leaders to promote social justice ideals. The authors propose a vision for socially just education that calls for schools to instill social justice virtues into young people, much as one would instill virtues such as morality, honesty, and fairness. As Pieper (2003) declared: “the good [person] is above all the just [person]” (p.64). Enseignement en faveur de la justice sociale : en s\u27inspirant des enseignements sociaux catholiques Cet article a recours à un processus duo-ethnographique pour mettre au point un modèle d\u27enseignement socialement juste, basé sur la théorie de la justice sociale et l\u27enseignement social catholique. Les trois principaux problèmes sont évoqués et comprennent : (a) la définition d\u27un enseignement socialement juste, (b) l\u27explication d\u27une vision pour établissement d\u27écoles socialement justes et (c) la production d\u27un guide pratique destiné aux responsable de l\u27enseignement pour la promotion des idéaux de justice sociale. Les auteurs proposent une vision d\u27un enseignement socialement juste qui appelle les écoles à instiller les vertus de la justice sociale chez les jeunes, à la manière dont on instillerait des qualités comme la moralité, l\u27honnêteté, l\u27impartialité. Comme le déclarait Pieper en 2003 : « celui qui est bon est avant tout celui qui est juste » (p.64). Mots-clés: Justice sociale, enseignement de la justice, dialectique socratique, enseignement social catholique, duo-ethnographie Educar para la justicia social: esbozos de la enseñanza social católica El presente artículo emplea un proceso duoetnográfico para desarrollar un modelo de educación socialmente justa basado en la teoría de la justicia social y la enseñanza social católica. Se abordan tres aspectos principales: (a) la definición de educación socialmente justa, (b) la explicación de una visión para establecer escuelas socialmente justas; y (c) proveer una guía práctica para la educación de líderes para que promuevan los ideales de la justicia social. Los autores proponen una visión de una educación socialmente justa que llama a las escuelas a inculcar virtudes de justicia social en los jóvenes, tal y como se inculcarían virtudes como la moralidad, la honestidad y la equidad. Así como Pieper (2003) declaró: “la [persona] buena es ante todo la [persona] justa” (p. 64). Palabras clave: Justicia social, justicia educativa, dialéctica socrática, enseñanza social católica , duoetnografí

Effects of Space Flight on Neutrophil Functions in Astronauts

Neutrophil phagocytosis, oxidative burst, degranulation, and the expression of selected surface markers were studied in 25 astronauts following 4 space shuttle missions. Space flight duration ranged from 5 to 11 days. Blood specimens were obtained 10 days before launch, immediately after landing, and again at 3 days after landing. The number of neutrophils increased at landing by 85%. Phagocytosis of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and oxidative burst following the medium length (9 to 11 days) missions were lower than the control mean values. Whereas, following the short-duration (5 days) mission, these functions were unchanged from control values. No consistent changes in degranulation were observed following either short or medium length space missions. The expression of CD16, CD32, CD11a, CD11b, CD11c, L-selectin and CD36 were measured and found to be variable. Specifically, CD16 and CD32 did not correlate with the changes in oxidative burst. Mission duration appears to be a factor in phagocytic and oxidative functions

Green Synthesis of Metallic and Carbon Nanostructures

The technological and biomedical applications of low toxicity and eco-friendly organic compounds are nowadays increasingly attracting the attention of researchers in nanoscience, who are aiming for more biocompatible and nanostructured systems for their application in antineoplastic therapies. This study presents the significance of “green components” in the production of graphene, metallic, and semiconductor nanoparticles, due to their antioxidant and antitumor properties. The formation of nanostructures is caused during green synthesis methods by organic molecules or carboxylic acid groups present in some plant extracts; for this reason, we include here a recapitulation and analysis of the role of carboxylic acids in those systems (organic). Furthermore, we propose the use of the extract from Opuntia ficus-indica cladodes to obtain metallic and carbon nanostructures, as an alternative biosynthesis method for the development of future nanobiotechnological applications

Auslander-Buchweitz approximation theory for triangulated categories

We introduce and develop an analogous of the Auslander-Buchweitz approximation theory (see \cite{AB}) in the context of triangulated categories, by using a version of relative homology in this setting. We also prove several results concerning relative homological algebra in a triangulated category \T, which are based on the behavior of certain subcategories under finiteness of resolutions and vanishing of Hom-spaces. For example: we establish the existence of preenvelopes (and precovers) in certain triangulated subcategories of \T. The results resemble various constructions and results of Auslander and Buchweitz, and are concentrated in exploring the structure of a triangulated category \T equipped with a pair (\X,\omega), where \X is closed under extensions and $\omega$ is a weak-cogenerator in \X, usually under additional conditions. This reduces, among other things, to the existence of distinguished triangles enjoying special properties, and the behavior of (suitably defined) (co)resolutions, projective or injective dimension of objects of \T and the formation of orthogonal subcategories. Finally, some relationships with the Rouquier's dimension in triangulated categories is discussed.Comment: To appear at: Appl. Categor. Struct. (2011); 22 page

Alterations of antitumor and metabolic responses in L5178Y-R lymphoma-bearing mice after only 30-minute daily chronic stress exposure

Aim: In stress research, reducing times of stress induction may contribute to improving the well-being of experimental animals, especially in cancer models, already under physiological distress. To support this idea, we evaluated the effects of a short-timed stress protocol on endocrine, metabolic and immune indicators in mice bearing the L5178Y-R lymphoma. Materials and Methods: A 30-minute daily stress protocol was applied for 28 days to healthy and lymphoma-bearing BALB/c mice; body weight, plasma levels of corticosterone, norepinephrine, Th1/Th2 cytokines, insulin, and leptin, were measured. Results: We found a 12% significant decrease in body weight in non-tumor bearing mice under stress (p < 0.007). The disruption of weight evolution was accompanied by a stress induced 85% decrease in plasmatic leptin (p < 0.01) and total reduction of insulin. Tumor burden alone was associated to an increase in more than two-fold of plasmatic levels of norepinephrine (p < 0.008). Neither stress nor tumor or their combination, resulted in an elevation of systemic IL-6. IFN-γ levels were 20 times higher in lymphoma-bearing animals when compared with non-tumor bearing mice (p < 0.01); however, under stress, this response was reduced by half, indicating a suppressing effect of chronic stress on the antitumor immune response. Conclusion: A short-timed stress induction is enough to cause significant alterations in the metabolism and immunity of healthy and tumor-bearing mice, supporting the use of short-timed protocols as an efficient way to induce chronic stress that also considers concerns regarding the well-being of experimental animals in biomedical research

Dog Burials Associated with Human Burials in the West Indies during the Early Pre-Columbian Ceramic Age (500 BC-600 AD)

Across the Caribbean, the widespread presence of canine remains at archaeological sites from the Saladoid period raises questions about the role of “man’s best friend.” Dog (Canis familiaris) remains have been found located in both refuse middens and burials adjacent to human graves in a number of sites in the French Antilles and Barbuda, West Indies. This paper will critically examine dog remains and discuss the varied duality of the dog’s role in the Saladoid world: from food source to lifelong companion. The importance of dogs within Amerindian sites from Saint Martin, the Guadeloupe archipelago, Martinique and Barbuda will be explored from a zooarchaeological perspective, concluding with a critical discussion of changes in cultural patterns, as seen through the decline in dog remains during the Troumassoid and Suazoid period at the sites in the French Antilles. Résumé Sépultures de chiens associées à des sépultures humaines dans les Petites Antilles à l’Âge du Néoindien ancien (500 av. – 600 ap. J.-C.). Dans les Antilles, la présence généralisée de restes de chiens sur les sites de la période céramique ancienne Saladoïde soulève des questions sur le rôle de ce « meilleur ami de l’homme ». En effet, des chiens (Canis familiaris) ont été trouvés aussi bien dans des zones de rejets, qu’enterrés aux côtés de sépultures humaines dans un certain nombre de sites des Petites Antilles. Ce document examinera ces restes de chiens de façon critique et décrira les morphologies particulières des chiens des sites amérindiens de l’île de Saint-Martin, l\u27archipel de la Guadeloupe, la Martinique et de l’île de Barbuda, dans une perspective archéozoologique. Une discussion critique portera sur l\u27évolution des changements des modèles culturels, comme celui de la chute drastique des chiens enterrés pendant les périodes archéologiques plus tardives, Troumassoïde et Suazoïde, des sites des Antilles françaises. Enfin, la discussion portera sur la dualité du rôle du chien dans le monde Saladoïde, à la fois source de nourriture et compagnon de vie

Observation of multiple van Hove singularities and correlated electronic states in a new topological ferromagnetic kagome metal NdTi3Bi4

Kagome materials have attracted enormous research interest recently owing to its diverse topological phases and manifestation of electronic correlation due to its inherent geometric frustration. Here, we report the electronic structure of a new distorted kagome metal NdTi3Bi4 using a combination of angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurements and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We discover the presence of two at bands which are found to originate from the kagome structure formed by Ti atoms with major contribution from Ti dxy and Ti dx2-y2 orbitals. We also observed multiple van Hove singularities (VHSs) in its electronic structure, with one VHS lying near the Fermi level EF. In addition, the presence of a surface Dirac cone at the G point and a linear Dirac-like state at the K point with its Dirac node lying very close to the EF indicates its topological nature. Our findings reveal NdTi3Bi4 as a potential material to understand the interplay of topology, magnetism, and electron correlation.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure