Basic Science and Risk Communication: A Dialogue-Based Study

The authors use ethnographic analysis of a focus group discussion between scientists and laypersons to study information exchange in risk communication

Choosing to Serve? An Exploration of Student Self-Selection of Service Learning Projects

This study explores student selection of service learning projects in lieu of traditional library research projects. One hundred fifty-four strategic management students completed surveys exploring their tolerance of ambiguity, time pressure, attitudes toward civic participation, self-efficacy toward service, political conservatism, and the role business school’s should play in civic education. The study examined their responses to survey questions in light of their project selection. The study identified factors important for faculty in designing and developing service learning projects as well as key areas for future research

HCI performance evaluation of horizontal and vertical list controls

Microsoft Windows 95 uses both vertical arrangements of items in lists and horizontal groupings of smaller vertical lists. This paper reports the results of an experiment to evaluate selection times using horizontal and vertical lists. Two GOMS (Goals, Operators, Methods, Selection rules) models were developed to predict differences. There was no significant difference in selection times, but the results showed interesting trends in learning behaviour

Assessing Teaching Effectiveness in a Basic Foods Laboratory Setting: Phase Four - Pilot Testing the Instrument

This is the fourth phase of a research project to develop a student evaluation tool (SET) to evaluate teaching effectiveness in a basic foods laboratory taught at senior institutions. The goal of phase four is to test the instrument among students enrolled in basic foods laboratories. Four hundred seventy five students at eight U.S. universities who were enrolled in a basic food laboratory completed the SET and a demographic questionnaire. Reliability using Cronbach’s coefficient alpha was .962 and factor analysis yielded 3 factors comparable to those identified by the Delphi Panel. Results from the first part of pilot testing indicate a reliable instrument preferred by students enrolled in basic food laboratory classes

First Operation of a Resistive Shell Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber -- A new Approach to Electric-Field Shaping

We present a new technology for the shaping of the electric field in Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) using a carbon-loaded polyimide foil. This technology allows for the minimisation of passive material near the active volume of the TPC and thus is capable to reduce background events originating from radioactive decays or scattering on the material itself. Furthermore, the high and continuous electric resistivity of the foil limits the power dissipation per unit area and minimizes the risks of damages in the case of an electric field breakdown. Replacing the conventional field cage with a resistive plastic film structure called 'shell' decreases the number of components within the TPC and therefore reduces the potential points of failure when operating the detector. A prototype liquid argon (LAr) TPC with such a resistive shell and with a cathode made of the same material was successfully tested for long term operation with electric field values up to about 1.5 kV/cm. The experiment shows that it is feasible to successfully produce and shape the electric field in liquefied noble-gas detectors with this new technology.Comment: 13 page

The management of tree genetic resources and the livelihoods of rural communities in the tropics: non-timber forest products, smallholder agroforestry practices and tree commodity crops

Products and services provided by trees in forests and farmland support the needs and promote the wellbeing of hundreds of millions of people in the tropics. Value depends on managing both the diversity of tree species present in landscapes and the genetic variation within these species. The benefits from trees and their genetic resources are, however, often not well quantified because trade is frequently outside formal markets, there is a multiplicity of species and ways in which trees are used and managed, and genetic diversity within species is frequently not given proper consideration. We review here what is known about the value of trees to rural communities through considering three production categories: non-timber products harvested from trees in natural and managed forests and woodlands; the various products and services obtained from a wide range of trees planted and/or retained in smallholders’ agroforestry systems; and the commercial products harvested from cultivated tree commodity crops. Where possible, we focus on the role of intra-specific genetic variation in providing support to livelihoods, and for each of the three production categories we also consider wider conservation and sustainability issues, including the linkages between categories in terms of management. Challenges to ‘conventional wisdom’ on tree resource use, value and management – such as in the posited links between commercialisation, cultivation and conservation – are highlighted, and constraints and opportunities to maintain and enhance value are described

AMP peptide targets tight junctions to protect and heal barrier structure and function in models of IBD.

Background: A peptide derived from Antrum Mucosal Protein (AMP)-18 (gastrokine-1) reduces the extent of mucosal erosions and clinical severity in mice with dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colonic injury. The present study set out to determine if AMP peptide was also therapeutic for immune- and cytokine-mediated mouse models of intestinal injury and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) by enhancing and stabilizing tight junctions (TJs). Methods: Therapeutic effects of AMP peptide were examined in interleukin-10 deficient and a T cell adoptive transfer models of colitis in immunodeficient recombinase activating gene-1 knock-out (RAG-1−/−) mice. Mechanisms by which AMP peptide enhances barrier function and structure were studied ex vivo using intestine and colon from mice given lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and in AMP-18 deficient mice given DSS. Results: In interleukin-10 deficient mice given piroxicam, AMP peptide enhanced recovery after weight loss, protected against colon shortening and segmental dilation, and reduced the colitis activity score. In the T cell transfer model, treatment with the peptide protected against colon shortening. In mice given LPS in vivo to induce gut injury, AMP peptide prevented the onset of, and reversed established intestinal hyperpermeability by targeting TJ proteins and perijunctional actin