Recipient orinentation in verbal report protocols: Methodological issues in concurrent think-alaud

Verbal report protocols have been widely used as a research methodology to gain information about cognitive processes. Although such self-reports have been considered direct representations of cognitive processes if elicited under appropriate conditions (Ericsson & Simon, 1984, 1993), some researchers (e.g., Witte & Cherry, 1994; Smagorinsky, 1998, 2001) have argued that verbal reports are socially situated constructs rather than merely representations of the thought processes unfolding in the individual mind. The present study examined the social nature of verbal reports, particularly focusing on whether and in what ways concurrent think-aloud (TA) protocol data in interlanguage pragmatics research are recipient designed. Verbal reports were collected from eight native speakers of Japanese engaged in answering a rating scale instrument on refusal strategies. The data were audio-taped, coded, and analyzed qualitatively. These data suggest that verbal reports elicited by means of TA procedures do contain interactive and social features, that the participants orient to a listener while carrying out the protocol, and that they are selective about what information to report while carrying out the task. The verbal report data gathered in Japanese revealed much information that is not available from data in English. The results of this study suggest that treating verbal report protocols as solely cognitive products under-represents what they actually reveal. Protocols are socially and interactively constituted, and this fact has to be taken into consideration when analyzing TA data. The strong orientations to the listener observed in this study suggest that a different recipient might evoke different content or types of protocol, just as other social factors could influence the data. Therefore, researchers need to take into consideration that verbal report is a socially situated activity when they collect, analyze, and interpret protocol data

Refined metadynamics through canonical sampling using time-invariant bias potential: A study of polyalcohol dehydration in hot acidic solutions

We propose a canonical sampling method to refine metadynamics simulations a posteriori, where the hills obtained from metadynamics are used as a time‐invariant bias potential. In this way, the statistical error in the computed reaction barriers is reduced by an efficient sampling of the collective variable space at the free energy level of interest. This simple approach could be useful particularly when two or more free energy barriers are to be compared among chemical reactions in different or competing conditions. The method was then applied to study the acid dependence of polyalcohol dehydration reactions in high‐temperature aqueous solutions. It was found that the reaction proceeds consistently via an SN2 mechanism, whereby the free energy of protonation of the hydroxyl group created as an intermediate is affected significantly by the acidic species. Although demonstration is shown for a specific problem, the computational method suggested herein could be generally used for simulations of complex reactions in the condensed phase

Downregulation of CD4 is required for maintenance of viral infectivity of HIV-1

AbstractDownregulation of virus receptors on the cell surface is considered to be important in preventing superinfection. HIV-1 encodes multiple gene products, Env, Vpu, and Nef, involved in downregulation of CD4, a major HIV-1 receptor. We found that simultaneous mutations in both vpu and nef severely impaired virus replication. We examined the involvement of CD4 downregulation mediated by Vpu and Nef in the modification of virus infectivity. The mutation in vpu increased CD4 incorporation into virions without affecting the Env content in it, inhibiting the attachment step of virions to the CD4-positive cell surface. Although a single mutation in nef suppresses virus infectivity via a CD4-independent mechanism, it could augment CD4 incorporation in virions in combination with a vpu mutation. These results indicated that CD4 downregulation was necessary for maintenance of Env function in the virion

Resolvins as Regulators of the Immune System

Inflammation is the first response of the immune system to infection or injury, but excessive or inappropriate inflammatory responses contribute to a range of acute and chronic human diseases. Clinical assessment of dietary supplementation of ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (i.e., eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA] and docosahexaenoic acid [DHA]) indicate that they have beneficial impact on these diseases, although the mechanisms are poorly understood at the molecular level. In this decade, it has been revealed that EPA and DHA are enzymatically converted to bioactive metabolites in the course of acute inflammation and resolution. These metabolites were shown to regulate immune cell functions and to display potent anti-inflammatory actions both in vitro and in vivo. Because of their ability to resolve an acute inflammatory response, they are referred to as proresolving mediators, or resolvins. In this review, we provide an overview of the formation and actions of these lipid mediators

Segmented Iba1-Positive Processes of Microglia in Autism Model Marmosets.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the most widespread neurodevelopmental disorders, characterized by impairment in social interactions, and restricted stereotyped behaviors. Using immunohistochemistry and positron emission tomography (PET), several studies have provided evidence of the existence of activated microglia in ASD patients. Recently, we developed an animal model of ASD using the new world monkey common marmoset () and demonstrated ASD-like social impairment after the administration of valproic acid (VPA). To characterize microglia in this marmoset model of ASD from early toddler to adult, morphological analyses of microglia in VPA marmosets and age-matched unexposed (UE) marmosets were performed using immunohistochemistry for microglia-specific markers, Iba1, and P2RY12. The most robust morphological difference between VPA marmosets and UE marmosets throughout the life span evaluated were the microglia processes in VPA marmosets being frequently segmented by thin and faintly Iba1-positive structures. The segmentation of microglial processes was only rarely observed in UE marmosets. This feature of segmentation of microglial processes in VPA marmosets can also be observed in images from previous studies on ASD conducted in humans and animal models. Apoptotic cells have been shown to have segmented processes. Therefore, our results might suggest that microglia in patients and animals with ASD symptoms could frequently be in the apoptotic phase with high turnover rates of microglia found in some pathological conditions

CD Investigation of Porphyrin-Porphyrin Interaction with Links to Acyclic β-Sheet Peptide Self-Assembled in an Aqueous Media

Amphiphilic peptide, Ac-Cys(Por)-Lys-Val-(-Ser-Val-)n-Lys-Val-NH2 (n = 0 or 1, Cys(Por) = side-chain porphyrin-linked Cys), self-assembled to form the β-sheet in buffer solution-2,2,2-trifluoroethanol and showed exciton coupled Cotton effects in the porphyrin region due to the closely ori?ented porphyrin

The 3′-Phosphoadenosine 5′-Phosphosulfate Transporters, PAPST1 and 2, Contribute to the Maintenance and Differentiation of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

Recently, we have identified two 3′-phosphoadenosine 5′-phosphosulfate (PAPS) transporters (PAPST1 and PAPST2), which contribute to PAPS transport into the Golgi, in both human and Drosophila. Mutation and RNA interference (RNAi) of the Drosophila PAPST have shown the importance of PAPST-dependent sulfation of carbohydrates and proteins during development. However, the functional roles of PAPST in mammals are largely unknown. Here, we investigated whether PAPST-dependent sulfation is involved in regulating signaling pathways required for the maintenance of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs), differentiation into the three germ layers, and neurogenesis. By using a yeast expression system, mouse PAPST1 and PAPST2 proteins were shown to have PAPS transport activity with an apparent Km value of 1.54 µM or 1.49 µM, respectively. RNAi-mediated knockdown of each PAPST induced the reduction of chondroitin sulfate (CS) chain sulfation as well as heparan sulfate (HS) chain sulfation, and inhibited mESC self-renewal due to defects in several signaling pathways. However, we suggest that these effects were due to reduced HS, not CS, chain sulfation, because knockdown of mouse N-deacetylase/N-sulfotransferase, which catalyzes the first step of HS sulfation, in mESCs gave similar results to those observed in PAPST-knockdown mESCs, but depletion of CS chains did not. On the other hand, during embryoid body formation, PAPST-knockdown mESCs exhibited abnormal differentiation, in particular neurogenesis was promoted, presumably due to the observed defects in BMP, FGF and Wnt signaling. The latter were reduced as a result of the reduction in both HS and CS chain sulfation. We propose that PAPST-dependent sulfation of HS or CS chains, which is regulated developmentally, regulates the extrinsic signaling required for the maintenance and normal differentiation of mESCs

アルキ ヘンロ タイケン ニ トモナウ カンドウ ガ ニンゲンテキ セイチョウ ニ オヨボス エイキョウ : ガクセイ ニヨル ソウサク ハイク 600ク ニ ヨミコマレタ ジョウケイ ト シンジョウ ノ ブンセキ カラ

The 240 University students that participated in Aruki−henro expressed their own impression by writing Haikus, a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables. This study examined quality of the being deeply impressed with the Aruki−henro experience by analyzing scene images and an author’s feeling described in 600 haiku poems composed by university students that participated in Aruki−henro. In this study, we used the theory of a emotional intelligence as reference. This study proved that collabolative learning, consisting Aruki−henro experience and expression of the impression acquired by that experience, will form the foundation of human development