Second Life Complements the Internet for Reference Librarians

The article describes the Second Life culture as an interactive virtual environment from the perspective of a reference librarian. The cited advantages of using Second Life are synchronous interaction with other people, clearer appearance of chat text messages, incorporation of social norms, and accessibility. Among the noted obstacles to using Second Life are its price, intentional distress of other avatars, empty virtual public places, less hierarchy among participants, chatting via rapid typing, and quick change of landscapes and avatars

Renewable housing-VN: Bamboo potentials

Life at water's edge is idyllic when nature is calm. But how can shelter, a basic human need, adapt and respond in situations of natural disaster and post-disaster? The state of how we live with water---with various phases of stability, interference, and transition---repeat and intermingle and demonstrate nature's cyclical ways. By studying a third world site that seasonally floods (the Mekong River Delta region in southern Viet Nam), this thesis proposal investigates the extra small scale of alluvial semi-permanent housing. Structural lightness, material flexibility, and renewability are key, hence the choice of bamboo as a construction material. Another consideration would be assemblage and construction for rapid deployment in post-disaster/emergency/temporary situations such as refugee housing, construction worker housing, etc. Coupled with this investigation are the various implications of economic, environmental, geopolitical and cultural factors affecting those whose livelihoods are intricately tied to living at water's edge

A QUALITATIVE EXPLORATION INTO THE SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCES OF HEALTHCARE SERIAL KILLERS

The prototypical serial killer is widely perceived as extremely violent offender who murders out of sexual gratification (Hodgkinson et al., 2017). The perception of serial killers primarily being sexual sadists may be greatly affected by an overfocus of research on sexually violent serial killers and a lack of attention on their non-sexually motivated counterparts such as healthcare serial killers (HCSK) (Lubaszka et al., 2014). In addition, a lack of qualitative inquiry into the experiences of serial homicide may be an impediment to understanding the deeper psychological reasons of why serial killers commit homicide (Kerr & Beech, 2016; Skrapec, 2001a). The current qualitative study addressed the literature gaps above and used Grounded Theory (GT) to explore how three HCSKs subjectively experience and justify their criminal actions through techniques of neutralization (Bryant et al., 2018) Results suggest that HCSKs in the current study experience serial homicide similarly and use similar neutralization techniques to mitigate their feelings of guilt and responsibility. A notable finding identified in the accounts of HCSKs in the current study are that they experienced a moral conflict in their murders but justified that death liberated their victims from suffering to reduce feelings of guilt. HCSKs in the current study and violent and/or sexually motivated serial killers in the literature also shared similarities in their experiences and justifications of their crimes, most notably feeling victimized by the system and blaming the authorities (e.g., healthcare administrators, law enforcement) for failing to prevent the crimes from occurring. However, HCSKs did not express living a fantasy which is inconsistent with what has been identified in studies on serial sex killers (SSK) (e.g., Ressler et al., 1988). Qualitative inquiry of HCSKs may help provide a holistic understanding of healthcare serial homicide and shed light on the psychological processes experienced by serial killers. Future directions to improve the knowledge of healthcare serial homicide were discussed

Virtual engagement Using Active Learning.

In order to teach information literacy skills in an online library instruction session, a bit of pre-planning involving student/librarian engagement through active learning techniques is always helpful, if not necessary. Sarah Parramore (2019) discusses active learning techniques and information literacy: Active learning techniques are the topics that are dominating the higher education scene. Not only are they the focus on college and university campuses, but academic libraries are also taking notice and integrating these techniques into their lessons on information literacy. (p. 476) Using active learning techniques to increase student engagement works well for face-to-face classes, but how well does this work for increasing student engagement in a live Zoom class? Research librarians at Mercer University are currently researching ways to enhance virtual student-librarian engagement through an IRB-approved research study in which we seek to use two active learning techniques to increase engagement: brainstorming and discussion. Our goal is to study whether using these techniques has a measurable effect on our students\u27 acquisition of information literacy skills

Halophilic Actinomycetes in 1 Saharan Soils of Algeria: Isolation, Taxonomy and Antagonistic Properties

The diversity of a population of 52 halophilic actinomycetes was evaluated by a polyphasic approach, which showed the presence of Actinopolyspora, Nocardiopsis, Saccharomonospora, Streptomonospora and Saccharopolyspora genera. One strain was considered to be a new member of the last genus and several other strains seem to be new species. Furthermore, 50% of strains were active against a broad range of indicators and contained genes encoding polyketide synthetases and nonribosomal peptide synthetases

Effect of Ca2+ on the Steady-State and Time-Resolved Emission Properties of the Genetically Encoded Fluorescent Sensor CatchER

We previously designed a calcium sensor CatchER (a GFP-based Calcium sensor for detecting high concentrations in the high calcium concentration environment such as ER) with a capability for monitoring calcium ion responses in various types of cells. Calcium binding to CatchER induces the ratiometric changes in the absorption spectra, as well as an increase in fluorescence emission at 510 nm upon excitation at both 395 and 488 nm. Here, we have applied the combination of the steady-state and time-resolved optical methods and Hydrogen/Deuterium isotope exchange to understand the origin of such calcium-induced optical property changes of CatchER. We first demonstrated that calcium binding results in a 44% mean fluorescence lifetime increase of the indirectly excited anionic chromophore. Thus, CatchER is the first protein-based calcium indicator with the single fluorescent moiety to show the direct correlation between the lifetime and calcium binding. Calcium exhibits a strong inhibition on the excited-state proton transfer nonadiabatic geminate recombination in protic (vs deuteric) medium. Analysis of CatchER crystal structures and the MD simulations reveal the proton transfer mechanism in which the disrupted proton migration path in CatchER is rescued by calcium binding. Our finding provides important insights for a strategy to design calcium sensors and suggests that CatchER could be a useful probe for FLIM imaging of calcium in situ

Thermal and vibrational characterization of human skin

For a better understanding of the molecular and organizational changes in human dermis, biophysical methods were tested. The aim of this study was to find suitable and reproducible biomarkers for further clinical studies on intrinsic and extrinsic aging of dermis. Thermoporometry, hydric organization and thermal transitions of fresh and frozen skins were determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to identify the absorption bands of the dermis especially in the 1800–1000 cm−1 zone and to discriminate between the different secondary structures of proteins. A widening of the pore size distribution is evidenced with freezing, but there is no significant difference between the hydric organization and the endothermic collagen denaturation of fresh and frozen skins. The global FTIR spectra and the second derivative spectra in the scanned zone are also identical in fresh and frozen dermis, validating the storage protocol. DSC and FTIR are well-suited techniques to characterize human skin, giving accurate results with high reproducibility. The acquisition of thermal and vibrational biomarkers of the skin at the mesoscale and nanoscale contributes to its better knowledge and is promising for further studies on skin aging

A Subset of Human Bromodomains Recognizes Butyryllysine and Crotonyllysine Histone Peptide Modifications

SummaryBromodomains are epigenetic readers that are recruited to acetyllysine residues in histone tails. Recent studies have identified non-acetyl acyllysine modifications, raising the possibility that these might be read by bromodomains. Profiling the nearly complete human bromodomain family revealed that while most human bromodomains bind only the shorter acetyl and propionyl marks, the bromodomains of BRD9, CECR2, and the second bromodomain of TAF1 also recognize the longer butyryl mark. In addition, the TAF1 second bromodomain is capable of binding crotonyl marks. None of the human bromodomains tested binds succinyl marks. We characterized structurally and biochemically the binding to different acyl groups, identifying bromodomain residues and structural attributes that contribute to specificity. These studies demonstrate a surprising degree of plasticity in some human bromodomains but no single factor controlling specificity across the family. The identification of candidate butyryl- and crotonyllysine readers supports the idea that these marks could have specific physiological functions