A database of sources of information on mineral reaction kinetics

The rate and magnitude of geochemical reactions can be described by two main processes; thermodynamics which determines the end point of reaction (i.e. approach to equilibrium conditions), and kinetics which determines how rapidly the reaction proceeds. There have been many studies that have investigated equilibrium conditions and have generated a wealth of data. However, for many systems the rate at which the end point of the reaction is reached is of equal, and possibly greater importance (e.g. the behaviour of waste products stored within the geosphere or during weathering). Predictive geochemical computer modelling is becoming increasingly important for investigating many different scenarios relatively rapidly. Although such models are capable of modelling rate-controlled dissolution and precipitation, there is no standard database of kinetic functions. As a consequence, it is sometimes difficult to locate sources of information to aid modelling. The overall aim of this report, is to provide information on literature sources of mainly mineral reaction rate data. It is hoped that this will facilitate predictive modelling exercises, or laboratory experimental studies addressing gaps in data coverage. Information on the sources of literature information has been produced in the form of an EndNote electronic database (see Appendix I). This study does not however, go as far as extracting and tabulating all the individual data points within these references

Two Voices on Aboriginal Pedagogy: Sharpening the Focus

This paper is the story of the authors’ paths to the shared realization that the strategies and epistemological underpinnings of Aboriginal education need to move out of the margins and into the centre of education in Canada, not only for Aboriginal students, but for all students. Between August, 2010 and April of 2012, the authors were seconded for two years from their Vancouver classrooms to work as Faculty Associates in the teacher preparation program at Simon Fraser University. There we came face to face with the British Columbia Teacher Regulation Branch’s mandate that Aboriginal education courses must be taught to pre-service teachers. Part of our job was to cultivate strategies using Aboriginal pedagogy to inform pre-service teachers’ developing practice and ways of communicating with their students. Here we describe how, after returning to our school district, we changed our teaching practices through actualizing Aboriginal pedagogy

Developing hypnotic analogues of clinical delusions : Mirrored-self misidentification

Introduction. Despite current research interest in delusional beliefs, there are no viable models for studying delusions in the laboratory. However, hypnosis offers a technique for creating transient delusions that are resistant to challenge. The aim of this study was to develop an hypnotic analogue of one important delusion, mirrored-self misidentification. Methods. Twelve high hypnotisable participants received an hypnotic suggestion to see either a stranger in the mirror, a mirror as a window, or a mirror as a window with a view to a stranger. Participants' deluded beliefs were challenged, and following hypnosis, Sheehan and McConkey's (1982) Experiential Analysis Technique was used to explore participants' phenomenological experience of the delusion. Results. The majority of participants did not recognise their reflection in the mirror, described the person in the mirror as having different physical characteristics to themselves, and maintained their delusion when challenged. Conclusions. The hypnotic suggestion created a credible, compelling delusion with features strikingly similar to clinical cases of mirrored-self misidentification. Our findings suggest that Factor 2 within Langdon and Coltheart's (2000) two-factor framework may involve a lowering of the criteria used to accept or reject delusional hypotheses.PostprintPeer reviewe

Religion and womanism in the lives of Central Texas African American Baptist women

African American Baptist churches are not known as bastions of sexual equality. The dominance of males in the pulpit and the conservative and literal interpretation of the Bible often support this idea. African American women, however, were influential in building and expanding the role of the African American church as well as their role within the church, and they remain the greatest percentage of the congregation. African American women, particularly those with a high level of religious commitment, utilize their religious beliefs to construct their ideas of womanhood and those religious beliefs may be shaped by an underlying womanist ideology. This dissertation offers insight into understanding the tension between the perceived sexism in the African American church and women’s continued work in their congregations and utilization of their religious beliefs. Twenty women between the ages of 25 and 55 were encouraged to tell their stories about their experiences with religion in interviews. Each woman’s interview focused on her religious beliefs and church involvement past and present, how her beliefs and activities affected how she felt about herself, and her opinion of women’s influence in the church. Transcripts of the interviews were analyzed for perceptions of self, inequality, power and a connection with womanism. In speaking to each woman could be found the tenets of womanism wrestling with conservative religious beliefs. Despite their church’s conservative environment, the participants attributed their positive self-regard to their faith. Strength, independence, leadership, independent thinking and being community minded were attributes these women sought to emulate and pass on to others. While the participants understood themselves to be equal to men and capable of wielding the power of influence, at the same time there is contentment with or tolerance for the current male dominant structure of their church. This is due to a belief in a hierarchical system of control at home and church, referred to as the ‘God-head hierarchy’. God controls all, man answers to God and woman answers to man. The complexity of womanhood shows as they try to negotiate and interpret their religious ideas with their personal experiences

Outcomes of Advancing Women Faculty in Engineering and Technology at Historically Black Colleges and Universities: A Retrospective Analysis of ADVANCE-PAID Participants

Keeping up with their historic missions, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have selected and granted progressively more number of degrees to women over the past few decades. From 1993 to 2006, the number of black women undergrads receiving degrees at HBCUs increased by 24%. For example, in 2002, 75% of black women awarded doctorates in Biology had baccalaureate origins from HBCUs. In 2006, data revealed that there were 900 black women faculty in STEM disciplines at HBCUs and 2,810 black women faculty at non-HBCUs. They accounted for 22% and 2% of the faculty at HBCUs and non-HBCUs. The ADVANCE-PAID project, Advancing Women Faculty in Engineering and Technology at HBCUs, was a collaboration between Prairie View A&M University and Texas A&M University that received National Science Foundation funding from September 2009 through August 2014. The project implemented four key activities: (1) annual workshops; (2) seed grants to support research efforts; (3) professional career coaching; and (4) weekly writing groups. Forty-seven women faculty from 14 HBCUs attended at least one annual workshop, 13 from 9 HBCUs received seed grants,11 from 9 HBCUs participated in career coaching, and between 4 and 6 women attended weekly writing groups. A retrospective analysis was conducted to determine the long-term impacts of the four activities. One-on-one, semi-structured interviews were conducted with past participants to determine the impact activities had on their careers. Current faculty rank and position of each participant were compared to the rank and position held when they initially participated in ADVANCE-PAID activities. Surveys were sent to participants to assess how this project impacted their success, informed their decision or interest in pursuing administration, and how the various activities helped them overall. Group averages were compared by activity or combination of activities

Escitalopram and Neuroendocrine Response in Healthy First-Degree Relatives to Depressed Patients – A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial

INTRODUCTION: The mechanisms by which selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRI) act in depressed patients remain unknown. The serotonergic neurotransmitter system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system may interact. The aim of the AGENDA trial was to investigate whether long-term intervention with SSRI versus placebo affects the cortisol response in the dexamethasone corticotropin-releasing hormone (DEX-CRH) test in healthy first-degree relatives to patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: Eighty healthy first-degree relatives to patients with MDD were randomized to escitalopram 10 mg versus matching placebo daily for four weeks. The primary outcome measure was the intervention difference in the change of the total area under the curve (CorAUC(total)) for plasma cortisol in the DEX-CRH test at entry to after four weeks of intervention. RESULTS: Change in CorAUC(total) showed no statistically significant difference between the escitalopram and the placebo group, p = 0.47. There were large intra- and inter-individual differences in the results of the DEX-CRH test. There was statistically significant negative correlation between the plasma escitalopram concentration and change in CorAUC(total), rho = -0.41, p = 0.01. Post-hoc analyses showed a statistically significant interaction between age and intervention group and change in log CorAUC(total). CONCLUSION: The present trial does not support an effect of escitalopram 10 mg daily compared with placebo on the HPA-axis in healthy first-degree relatives to patients with MDD. Increasing levels of escitalopram tended to decrease the HPA-response in the DEX-CRH test and this effect increased with age. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00386841

Brief of Amici Curiae 56 Professors of Law and Economics in Support of Petition of Writ of Certiorari

28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) provides that a defendant in a patent case may be sued where the defendant is incorporated or has a regular and established place of business and has infringed the patent. This Court made clear in Fourco Glass Co. v. Transmirra Prods. Corp., 353 U.S. 222, 223 (1957), that those were the only permissible venues for a patent case. But the Federal Circuit has rejected Fourco and the plain meaning of § 1400(b), instead permitting a patent plaintiff to file suit against a defendant anywhere there is personal jurisdiction over that defendant. The result has been rampant forum shopping, particularly by patent trolls. 44% of 2015 patent lawsuits were filed in a single district: the Eastern District of Texas, a forum with plaintiff-friendly rules and practices, and where few of the defendants are incorporated or have established places of business. And an estimated 86% of 2015 patent cases were filed somewhere other than the jurisdictions specified in the statute. Colleen V. Chien & Michael Risch, Recalibrating Patent Venue, Santa Clara Univ. Legal Studies Research Paper No. 10-1 (Sept. 1, 2016), Table 3. This Court should grant certiorari to review the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) because the Federal Circuit’s dubious interpretation of the statute plays an outsized and detrimental role, both legally and economically, in the patent system