DEVELOPING COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT JUDGMENT: USING ONLINE PROGRESSIVE CASES TO INTRODUCE REALISTIC AND UNEXPECTED CHALLENGES

A project is a finite activity aimed at producing a tangible product or service. Designing and developing instruction is a type of project. Instructional design projects (design projects) require instructional designers (IDs) to manage multiple and often overlapping work tasks, balance the triple constraint (time, budget, and quality), and react to project changes. Thus, project management (PM) is a critical aspect of instructional designer competencies. Traditionally, professional development (PD) involves the use of cases that present a complex, realistic problem for learners to discuss. Most of these cases are static; the problem does not change during the learning process. Static cases do not engage learners in anticipating and resolving project changes, including client requests for scope additions, or changes in budget or timelines; therefore, novice IDs and project managers (PMs) are often ill-prepared to work on real-world, complex, dynamic projects. PD should engage learners in thought and action around messy project problems. Zingers, realistic and unexpected challenges, were introduced while graduate students were developing a PM plan for a design project. These zingers were designed to simulate the complex, dynamic real-world practice of PM within instructional design (ID) work. This dissertation study aimed to inform the design of instruction to develop the expert-like thinking strategies and practice strategies required to respond to unexpected events and solve messy problems. The case study research method (CSRM) was used to describe the learning process during the progressive case by tracking participants’ flexible thinking (cognitive flexibility [CF]) and PM judgment in thought and action dimensions over a semester. In general, the selected teams approached the zingers differently. In most cases, teams made optimistic assumptions, did not balance constraints, and submitted PM plans with internal inconsistencies. While teams had difficulty executing responses to unexpected changes on their PM plans, they exhibited flexible thinking and an understanding of PM concepts in their reflections and discussions. Thus, participants demonstrated more CF than PM judgment, and their thoughts exhibited more CF and PM judgment than their actions

Constancy in Integrated Cisplatin Plasma Concentrations Among Pediatric Patients

The authors report on the variability in the integrated quantity of free (unbound) plasma cisplatin (area under curve of plasma concentration versus time, AUC). The AUC was measured in 19 patients receiving cisplatin doses proportional to body surface areas (BSA), 30mg/m2 over 1 hour. The relative standard deviation (RSD, population standard deviation divided by mean value) for the maximum free plasma cisplatin concentration (Cmax, μM) was 0.338; for the half-life (t½, minute), 0.210; and for the AUC (μM minute), 0.320. Thus, BSA-based dosing gave significant variability in the AUC. We attempted to use (weight)a(height)b, seeking values of a and b that gave the smallest RSD in AUC, but only minimal improvement could be obtained by deviating from the BSA formula (a = b = 0.5). However, dosing proportional to (weight)d(Cmax)f (with d ≈ 3/4 and f ≈ –1) reduced the RSD in AUC from ~1/3 to ~1/10. Dosing proportional to (weight)m(Cmax)n(t½)p (with m≈ 0.7, n ≈ –1, and p ≈ –½) reduced it further, to ~1/32. In contrast, using (weight)d(Cmax)f(age)g gave no improvement over (weight)d(Cmax)f. The authors conclude that the inconsistency in AUC can be reduced 10-fold with dosing proportional to the weight and the drug pharmacokinetic parameters [(weight0.7) (Cmax t½ 0.5)]

Boundary value problem of Caputo fractional differential equations of variable order

In this work, we investigate the existence, uniqueness and the stability of solutions to the boundary value problem (BVP) of Caputo fractional differential equations of variable order by converting it into an equivalent standard Caputo BVP of the fractional constant order with the help of the generalized intervals and piecewise constant functions. The results obtained in this interesting study are novel and worthy based on the Krasnoselskii fixed point theorem and the Banach contraction principle. The Ulam-Hyers stability of the given variable-order Caputo fractional boundary value problem is established. A numerical examples is given at the end to support and validate the potentiality of our obtained results.Publisher's Versio

The xbp-1 gene is essential for development in Drosophila.

International audienceWe report in this paper the characterization of Dxbp-1, the Drosophila homologue of the xpb-1 gene that encodes a "bZIP"-containing transcription factor that plays a key role in the unfolded protein response (UPR), an evolutionarily conserved signalling pathway activated by an overload of misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Dxbp-1 is ubiquitously transcribed, and high levels are found in embryonic salivary glands and in the ovarian follicle cells committed to the synthesis of the respiratory appendages. Loss of function of Dxbp-1 induced a recessive larval lethality, thus, revealing an essential requirement for this gene. The Dxbp-1 transcript was submitted to an "unconventional" splicing that generated a processed Dxbp-1s transcript encoding a DXbp-1 protein isoform, as is the case for yeast, Caenorhabditis elegans and vertebrate hac1/xbp-1 transcripts after UPR activation. However, in the absence of exogenously induced ER stress, the Dxbp-1s transcript was also detectable not only throughout embryonic and larval development but also in adults with a high level of accumulation in the male sexual apparatus and, to a lesser extent, in the salivary glands of the third-instar larvae. Using a Dxbp-1:GFP transgene as an in vivo reporter for Dxbp-1 mRNA unconventional splicing, we confirmed that Dxbp-1 processing took place in the salivary glands of the third-instar larvae. The Dxbp-1 gene appears, thus, to play an essential role during the development of Drosophila, hypothetically by stimulating the folding capacities of the ER in cells committed to intense secretory activities

Oxygen Measurement via Phosphorescence: Reaction of Sodium Dithionite with Dissolved Oxygen

A homemade instrument for the measurement of oxygen concentration in aqueous solutions measures the decay rate of the phosphorescence of a Pd-porphyrin complex (phosphor) dissolved in the solution, which is flashed every 0.1 s with 630 nm light. The concentration of O 2 is a linear function of the decay rate. The instrument is used to study the reaction of dithionite (S 2O 4 2-) with O 2 at 25°C and 37°C. It is found that the ratio of dithionite to oxygen consumed in the reaction is 1.2 ± 0.2 at 25°C and 1.7 ± 0.1 at 37°C, suggesting a temperature-dependent stoichiometry. At both temperatures, the initial rate of O 2 consumption, -d[O 2]/dt, is found to be 1/2 order in S 2O 4 2- and first order in O 2. This finding is consistent with a previously proposed mechanism: S 2O 4 2- ↔ 2SO 2 - comes to a rapid equilibrium, and SO 2 - reacts with O 2 in the rate-determining step

Effects of natural long storage duration on seed germination characteristics of Periploca angustifolia Labill.

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of long-term natural aging on germination ability and several biochemical characteristics regarding soluble sugars and polyphenol matter contents and radical scavenging activity of Periploca angustifolia Labill. (Asclepiadaceae) stored seeds for 1, 3, 7, 10, 11 and 15-years, dry storage compared to freshly collected seeds. The long-term aging caused an important decrease of germination percentage, seed vigor index, seeds’ viability, moisture content and seed vigor except for seeds stored for seven-years. The latter showed the highest percentages of germination and viability, seed vigor index and seed vigor under a 7.3% moisture content when compared to the oldest seeds (15-years old) which presents the lowest moisture content. In our study, aged seeds showed the lowest radical scavenging percentage activity and amounts of polyphenol, keeping free radicals and peroxides at high levels causing thereby seeds deterioration. P. angustifolia seeds undergo a process of after-ripening under the storage conditions, possibly depending on the low, but steady water loss down to an optimal storage water content of approx. 7.3%, thereafter undergoing some deterioration as indicated by reduced amounts of soluble sugars by polyphenol contents and experimentally tested antioxidant activities, which is in line with increased membrane leakages as indicated by increased electrical conductivities of solution from experimentally soaked seeds.Keywords: Periploca angustifolia Labill, polyphenol, germinationAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(15), pp. 1760-176

Quantitative Measure of Cytotoxicity of Anticancer Drugs and Other Agents

Many anticancer drugs act on cancer cells to promote apoptosis, which includes impairment of cellular respiration (mitochondrial O 2 consumption). Other agents also inhibit cellular respiration, sometimes irreversibly. To investigate the sensitivity of cancer cells to cytotoxins, including anticancer drugs, we compare the profiles of cellular O 2 consumption in the absence and presence of these agents. Oxygen measurements are made at 37 °C, using glucose as a substrate, with [O 2] obtained from the phosphorescence decay rate of a palladium phosphor. The rate of respiration k is defined as -d[O 2]/dt in a sealed container. Different toxins produce different profiles of impaired respiration, implying different mechanisms for the drug-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. The decrease in the average value of k over a fixed time period, I, is proposed as a characteristic value to assess mitochondrial injury. The value of I depends on the nature of the toxin, its concentration, and the exposure time as well as on the cell type. Results for several cell types and 10 cytotoxins are presented here