Media(ting) Between Generations: Common Sense and Perceptions of New Media by Young People and Teachers

The wide spread of mobile communication devices, the expansion of social media and participatory media platforms, the ease to edit, share and produce media content, indicate a trend of change in the media system that influences the production and consumption of knowledge and generates new paths for the young\u2019s identity construction. This raises necessary questions about the ways not only young, but also the education agencies \u2013 school in particular \u2013 relate to these transformations, starting from taking into account the production of common sense on the use, risks and opportunities of the media. Based on these considerations, in this paper, we will discuss the results of a qualitative case study carried out in the Veneto Region (Italy) on upper secondary school students and teachers in order to detect and compare the perception that young and educators have of the media, trying to identify boundaries or land on which to build exchange opportunities for dialogue between the generations

The representation of fashion in three of Carmen Martín Gaite’s novels

El artículo pretende ofrecer una nueva y contemporánea lectura de la obra de Carmen Martín Gaite a través del análisis de tres novelas (El cuarto de atrás, Nubosidad variable, Irse de casa) en el ámbito de los estudios culturales y, en particular, de la Fashion Theory, que se ocupa de la relación de la moda con otras expresiones culturales, en este caso la literatura. La moda como fenómeno social, como sistema lingüístico no verbal y como elemento cultural entra en el estudio de las obras, en las que, con sus extensiones, desempeña distintas funciones, útiles a la caracterización de los personajes, a la creación de los ambientes, y, gracias al abundante simbolismo, a la representación metafóricaThe article aims to produce a new contemporary reading of Carmen Martín Gaite’s work through the analysis of three novels (El cuarto de atrás, Nubosidad variable, Irse de casa) from the perspective of the Cultural Studies’ branch of Fashion Theory, which offers an interpretation of the connection between fashion and other cultural phenomena, in this case literature. Fashion as social event, as non-verbal linguistic system and cultural aspect is involved in the literary criticism of the books, in which it plays different functions, useful to the character’s definition, the description of the places and, thanks to its important symbolism, the metaphorical representatio

Simultaneous growth of two cancer cell lines evidences variability in growth rates

Cancer cells co-cultured in vitro reveal unexpected differential growth rates that classical exponential growth models cannot account for. Two non-interacting cell lines were grown in the same culture, and counts of each species were recorded at periodic times. The relative growth of population ratios was found to depend on the initial proportion, in contradiction with the traditional exponential growth model. The proposed explanation is the variability of growth rates for clones inside the same cell line. This leads to a log-quadratic growth model that provides both a theoretical explanation to the phenomenon that was observed, and a better fit to our growth data

Fast on-wafer electrical, mechanical, and electromechanical characterization of piezoresistive cantilever force sensors

Validation of a technological process requires an intensive characterization of the performance of the resulting devices, circuits, or systems. The technology for the fabrication of micro and nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS) is evolving rapidly, with new kind of device concepts for applications like sensing or harvesting are being proposed and demonstrated. However, the characterization tools and methods for these new devices are still not fully developed. Here, we present an on-wafer, highly precise, and rapid characterization method to measure the mechanical, electrical, and electromechanical properties of piezoresistive cantilevers. The setup is based on a combination of probe-card and atomic force microscopy technology, it allows accessing many devices across a wafer and it can be applied to a broad range of MEMS and NEMS. Using this setup we have characterized the performance of multiple submicron thick piezoresistive cantilever force sensors. For the best design we have obtained a force sensitivity ℜ_F = 158μV/nN, a noise of 5.8 μV (1 Hz–1 kHz) and a minimum detectable force of 37 pN with a relative standard deviation of σ_r ≈ 8%. This small value of σr, together with a high fabrication yield >95%, validates our fabrication technology. These devices are intended to be used as bio-molecular detectors for the measurement of intermolecular forces between ligand and receptor molecule pairs

LOS SENTIDOS DE LA CULTURA ESCRITA EN LA CREAR (1973-1975)

Este artigo trata sobre os acessos à cultura escrita que é testada a partir das campanhas de alfabetização. Essas políticas foram amplamente divulgadas, principalmente dos anos 1940. Muitos deles foram guiados pelas diretrizes das organizações internacionais a partir de uma concepção de conhecimento que Freire chamou de "digestivo". As campanhas de alfabetização nos permitem dar uma olhada política na cultura escrita. E, por isso, ele nos pergunta: o que as propostas maciças de alfabetização implicam em termos de como as subjetividades são construídas em relação à cultura escrita? Nesta apresentação, consideramos os resultados da investigação para obter o grau de médico. Analisamos os significados da cultura escrita na Campanha para a Reativação Educativa de Adultos para Reconstrução (CREAR) desenvolvida na Argentina entre 1973 e 1975. Esta experiência apresenta notas distintivas sobre a proposta de alfabetização, uma vez que disputou os sentidos hegemônicos. É interessante analisar como o acesso à cultura escrita ligada a outras práticas sociais foi configurado naquela experiência educacional. Em particular, consideramos como a proposta de alfabetização é inserida nas práticas de organização comunitária. Para isso contamos com documentos da campanha e os depoimentos dos professores de alfabetização. A partir de sua análise, contribuímos com reflexões sobre os quadros das políticas educacionais e da educação popular nos anos 1970, mostrando como nesta convergência uma proposta política pedagógica foi projetada para promover o acesso à cultura alfabetizada nos processos de organização social. Em primeiro lugar, apresentamos algumas considerações teóricas que apoiam a análise das políticas de cultura e alfabetização escritas. Em seguida, analisamos CREAR como uma política de alfabetização, com foco nas concepções que estruturaram a proposta. Em terceiro lugar, abordamos a proposta de alfabetização e as decisões metodológicas. Finalmente, apresentamos algumas reflexões como um fechamento

Motor Neuron Gene Therapy: Lessons from Spinal Muscular Atrophy for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are severe nervous system diseases characterized by the degeneration of lower motor neurons. They share a number of additional pathological, cellular, and genetic parallels suggesting that mechanistic and clinical insights into one disorder may have value for the other. While there are currently no clinical ALS gene therapies, the splice-switching antisense oligonucleotide, nusinersen, was recently approved for SMA. This milestone was achieved through extensive pre-clinical research and patient trials, which together have spawned fundamental insights into motor neuron gene therapy. We have thus tried to distil key information garnered from SMA research, in the hope that it may stimulate a more directed approach to ALS gene therapy. Not only must the type of therapeutic (e.g., antisense oligonucleotide vs. viral vector) be sensibly selected, but considerable thought must be applied to the where, which, what, and when in order to enhance treatment benefit: to where (cell types and tissues) must the drug be delivered and how can this be best achieved? Which perturbed pathways must be corrected and can they be concurrently targeted? What dosing regime and concentration should be used? When should medication be administered? These questions are intuitive, but central to identifying and optimizing a successful gene therapy. Providing definitive solutions to these quandaries will be difficult, but clear thinking about therapeutic testing is necessary if we are to have the best chance of developing viable ALS gene therapies and improving upon early generation SMA treatments

Intramuscular delivery of gene therapy for targeting the nervous system

Virus-mediated gene therapy has the potential to deliver exogenous genetic material into specific cell types to promote survival and counteract disease. This is particularly enticing for neuronal conditions, as the nervous system is renowned for its intransigence to therapeutic targeting. Administration of gene therapy viruses into skeletal muscle, where distal terminals of motor and sensory neurons reside, has been shown to result in extensive transduction of cells within the spinal cord, brainstem, and sensory ganglia. This route is minimally invasive and therefore clinically relevant for gene therapy targeting to peripheral nerve soma. For successful transgene expression, viruses administered into muscle must undergo a series of processes, including host cell interaction and internalization, intracellular sorting, long-range retrograde axonal transport, endosomal liberation, and nuclear import. In this review article, we outline key characteristics of major gene therapy viruses—adenovirus, adeno-associated virus (AAV), and lentivirus—and summarize the mechanisms regulating important steps in the virus journey from binding at peripheral nerve terminals to nuclear delivery. Additionally, we describe how neuropathology can negatively influence these pathways, and conclude by discussing opportunities to optimize the intramuscular administration route to maximize gene delivery and thus therapeutic potential