A Content Analysis Of The Developmental Bibliotherapeutic Implications Of The Books Nominated For The California Young Reader Medal (1975--1986)

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to investigate the developmental bibliotherapeutic implications of the California Young Reader Medal nominated books from 1975-1986 in six different selected categories of thematic content. Emotional Health, Self-Awareness, and Identity Needs; Cultural Differences; Family Relationships and Dynamics; Peer Relationships and Dynamics; Physical Limitations and Handicaps; and Economic Situations and Factors. Findings. Primary Category books, largely modern fanciful fiction, demonstrated limited developmental bibliotherapeutic potential. However, story illustrations affected the over-all impact of the story. Intermediate Category books had greater levels of potential, especially stories dealing with family, peers, and emotional health. The greatest levels of potential were present in the contemporary realistic fiction genre and in historical fiction. Intermediate Category books from the 1980s were higher in potential than books of the 1970s. Little distinction was found between the Primary Category books of the 70s and the 80s. Similar elements of story potential were identified by all groups, although at varying levels of sophistication. Many of the California titles had regional and national appeal. Recommendations. Based on the findings of this study, the major recommendations are as follows: (1) Developmental bibliotherapy as an art should be used in the study of literature with young children. Educators need to have an awareness of current issues confronting children and how these issues are treated in current literature. (2) Authors and publishers should produce quality books dealing with cultural differences and universal understanding as well as meaningful books in the genre of contemporary realistic fiction and historical fiction. Consideration should also be given to promoting books dealing with physical limitations and handicaps. (3) Teachers and librarians should continue the oral tradition of shared literature with children to enhance a child\u27s understanding and appreciation of the beauty of words, writing styles, cultural differences, and changing life situations. (4) State young reader program committees, librarians, and educators should identify quality books for inclusion on their masterlists to be read by children. (5) More content analysis studies, similar to this study, should be conducted to enrich the body of knowledge about children\u27s literature and to extend the understanding of the current thematic trends present in literature for the younger readers. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.

Selection, Drift, and Independent Contrasts: Defending the Methodological Foundations of the FIC

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13752-012-0070-2.Felsenstein’s method of independent contrasts (FIC) is one of the most widely used approaches to the study of correlated evolution. However, it is also quite controversial: numerous researchers have called various aspects of the method into question. Among these objections, there is one that, for two reasons, stands out from the rest: first, it is rather philosophical in nature; and second, it has received very little attention in the literature thus far. This objection concerns Sober’s charge that the FIC is methodologically flawed due to its (seemingly) resting on the assumption that the traits it studies evolved by drift—and thus ruling out selective hypotheses from the start. In this article, I try to rebut this charge. To do this, I first consider a preliminary conceptual worry—the question of how it is even possible for two drift-driven traits to be evolutionarily correlated—and show that it can be answered by noting that the FIC can be seen as being concerned with the investigation of the modularity of the relevant traits. Given this, I then show that Sober’s methodological charge can at least be mitigated by noting that the assumptions behind the FIC do not in fact preclude it from investigating selective hypotheses. I end by pointing out that making this clearer is not just relevant for defending the cogency of the FIC, but also for developing a deeper understanding of correlated evolution in general

Hierarchical Salient Object Detection for Assisted Grasping

Visual scene decomposition into semantic entities is one of the major challenges when creating a reliable object grasping system. Recently, we introduced a bottom-up hierarchical clustering approach which is able to segment objects and parts in a scene. In this paper, we introduce a transform from such a segmentation into a corresponding, hierarchical saliency function. In comprehensive experiments we demonstrate its ability to detect salient objects in a scene. Furthermore, this hierarchical saliency defines a most salient corresponding region (scale) for every point in an image. Based on this, an easy-to-use pick and place manipulation system was developed and tested exemplarily.Comment: Accepted for ICRA 201

The logic and pragmatics of the representation and alteration of beliefs.

In this thesis, I show the extent to which the distinction between logical rationality (the consistency with a set of assumptions) and pragmatic rationality (the strong tendency of providing benefits to actual agents) helps to make sense of probabilistic accounts of the representation and alteration of beliefs. In order to do this, I first show how the probabilistic representations of beliefs can be seen to follow on from the failure of the cogency of the Logical Theories of probability. I then move on to discuss the four classic theories of probabilistic representations of belief in the literature (those of Ramsey, de Finetti, Savage and Jeffrey) and a key modern treatment (that of Howson & Urbach). Thirdly, I continue the argument by discussing the two key justifications for the core account of the probabilistic alteration of beliefs - Bayesian Conditionalisation - to show that these arguments - if anything - only show the logical rationality of this way of altering beliefs, but not its pragmatic rationality. In a fourth step, I provide a novel justification of this sort by basing it on the tendency of Bayesian Conditionalisation to structure an agent's thoughts and decisions in a way that lowers her decision-making costs. I also discuss some of the consequences of such a justification for Bayesian Conditionalisation, in particular with a view to other conditionalisation principles like Jeffrey Conditionalisation. Finally, I point out some connections of this discussion to contemporary and traditional philosophy of science

Junctions of multiple quantum wires with different Luttinger parameters

Within the framework of boundary conformal field theory, we evaluate the conductance of stable fixed points of junctions of two and three quantum wires with different Luttinger parameters. For two wires, the physical properties are governed by a single effective Luttinger parameters for each of the charge and spin sectors. We present numerical density-matrix-renormalization-group calculations of the conductance of a junction of two chains of interacting spinless fermions with different interaction strengths, obtained using a recently developed method [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 226803 (2010)]. The numerical results show very good agreement with the analytical predictions. For three spinless wires, i.e., a Y junction, we analytically determine the full phase diagram, and compute all fixed-point conductances as a function of the three Luttinger parameters.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Inhibition of rainbow trout acetylcholinesterase by aqueous and suspended particle-associated organophosphorous insecticides

Spraydrift and edge-of-field runoff are important routes of pesticide entry into streams. Pesticide contamination originating from spraydrift usually resides in the water phase, while pesticides in contaminated runoff are to a large extent associated with suspended particles (SPs). The effects of two organophosphorous insecticides (OPs), chloropyrifos (CPF) and azinphos-methyl (AZP), on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in rainbow trout were compared between two exposure scenarios, simulating spraydrift- and runoff-borne contamination events in the Lourens River (LR), Western Cape, South Africa. NOECs of brain AChE inhibition, determined after 1 h of exposure followed by 24 h of recovery, were 0.33 μg l−1 for aqueous CPF, 200 mg kg−1 for SP-associated CPF and 20 mg kg−1 for SP-associated AZP (at 0.5 g l−1 SP). The highest aqueous AZP concentration tested (3.3 μg l−1) was without significant effects. Previously reported peak levels of aqueous CPF in the LR (not, vert, similar0.2 μg l−1) are close to its NOEC (this study), suggesting a significant toxicological risk to fish in the LR. By contrast, reported levels of SP-associated OPs in the LR are 20–200-fold lower than their NOECs (this study). In a comparative in situ study, trout were exposed for seven days at agricultural (LR2, LR3) and upstream reference (LR1) sites. No runoff occurred during the study. Brain AChE was significantly inhibited at LR3. However, OP levels at LR3 (CPF 0.01 μg l−1; AZP 0.14 μg l−1) were minor compared to concentrations having effects in the laboratory (see above). Additionally, muscle AChE activity was significantly higher in caged trout from LR1 than in animals maintained in laboratory tanks

Effects of ultrafine particles on the allergic inflammation in the lung of asthmatics : results of a double-blinded randomized cross-over clinical pilot study

Background: Epidemiological and experimental studies suggest that exposure to ultrafine particles (UFP) might aggravate the allergic inflammation of the lung in asthmatics. Methods: We exposed 12 allergic asthmatics in two subgroups in a double-blinded randomized cross-over design, first to freshly generated ultrafine carbon particles (64 μg/m3; 6.1 ± 0.4 × 105 particles/cm3 for 2 h) and then to filtered air or vice versa with a 28-day recovery period in-between. Eighteen hours after each exposure, grass pollen was instilled into a lung lobe via bronchoscopy. Another 24 hours later, inflammatory cells were collected by means of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). (Trial registration: NCT00527462) Results: For the entire study group, inhalation of UFP by itself had no significant effect on the allergen induced inflammatory response measured with total cell count as compared to exposure with filtered air (p = 0.188). However, the subgroup of subjects, which inhaled UFP during the first exposure, exhibited a significant increase in total BAL cells (p = 0.021), eosinophils (p = 0.031) and monocytes (p = 0.013) after filtered air exposure and subsequent allergen challenge 28 days later. Additionally, the potential of BAL cells to generate oxidant radicals was significantly elevated at that time point. The subgroup that was exposed first to filtered air and 28 days later to UFP did not reveal differences between sessions. Conclusions: Our data demonstrate that pre-allergen exposure to UFP had no acute effect on the allergic inflammation. However, the subgroup analysis lead to the speculation that inhaled UFP particles might have a long-term effect on the inflammatory course in asthmatic patients. This should be reconfirmed in further studies with an appropriate study design and sufficient number of subjects

Off-target effects of siRNA specific for GFP

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gene knock down by RNAi is a highly effective approach to silence gene expression in experimental as well as therapeutic settings. However, this widely used methodology entails serious pitfalls, especially concerning specificity of the RNAi molecules.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We tested the most widely used control siRNA directed against <it>GFP </it>for off-target effects and found that it deregulates in addition to <it>GFP </it>a set of endogenous target genes. The off-target effects were dependent on the amount of <it>GFP </it>siRNA transfected and were detected in a variety of cell lines. Since the respective siRNA molecule specific for <it>GFP </it>is widely used as negative control for RNAi experiments, we studied the complete set of off-target genes of this molecule by genome-wide expression profiling. The detected modulated mRNAs had target sequences homologous to the siRNA as small as 8 basepairs in size. However, we found no restriction of sequence homology to 3'UTR of target genes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We can show that even siRNAs without a physiological target have sequence-specific off-target effects in mammalian cells. Furthermore, our analysis defines the off-target genes affected by the siRNA that is commonly used as negative control and directed against <it>GFP</it>. Since off-target effects can hardly be avoided, the best strategy is to identify false positives and exclude them from the results. To this end, we provide the set of false positive genes deregulated by the commonly used <it>GFP </it>siRNA as a reference resource for future siRNA experiments.</p

Low-Temperature Phase of the Cd2_2Re2_2O7_7 Superconductor: Ab initio Phonon Calculations and Raman Scattering

Using an {\it ab initio} approach, we report a phonon soft mode in the tetragonal structure described by the space group $I4_{1}22$ of the $1$ K $5d$ superconductor Cd$_2$Re$_2$O$_7$. It induces an orthorhombic distortion to a crystal structure described by the space group $F222$ which hosts the superconducting state. This new phase has a lower total energy than the other known crystal structures of Cd$_2$Re$_2$O$_7$. Comprehensive temperature dependent Raman scattering experiments on isotope enriched samples, $^{116}$Cd$_2$Re$_2{^{18}}$O$_7$, not only confirm the already known structural phase transitions but also allow us to identify a new characteristic temperature regime around $\sim 80$ K, below which the Raman spectra undergo remarkable changes with the development of several sharp modes and mode splitting. Together with the results of the \textit{ab initio} phonon calculations we take these observations as strong evidence for another phase transition to a novel low-temperature crystal structure of Cd$_2$Re$_2$O$_7$.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure