Getting the Word Out in the Last Green Valley: Integrating Digital Video, Direct Mail, and Web-Based Information for Specific Target Audiences

A direct mail mini CD-Rom was developed to bring attention to the Green Valley Institute\u27s (an Extension Partnership Program) new Web site. A quasi-experimental survey design with random assignment to either a treatment or control group was employed to assess the effectiveness of the CD-Rom. The study revealed successes as well as limitations to this approach. Nearly a quarter of the recipients did not recall receiving it, but those who received and viewed the CD were significantly more familiar with the organization\u27s programs and goals, considered the Web site more useful, and had greater intentions to contact the organization for additional information and/or assistance in the future

Academic freedom as a defensive right

Ensuring the proper implementation of academic freedom can be difficult both for policymakers and university authorities. Hence, great emphasis should be given to the defensive function of academic freedom. In this paper, we analyse the legal regulations and the jurisprudence of the constitutional courts of Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, and Spain. We identify who is the holder of academic freedom, how the defensive function of academic freedom works and what academic activities are being protected. The study shows that individual countries emphasise slightly different aspects of the defensive function of academic freedom but remain unanimous on the essence of this function. As academic freedom is not defined unequivocally in most constitutions and legal frameworks, constitutional courts play a significant role in shaping its defensive function.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

In Silico Nanodosimetry: New Insights into Nontargeted Biological Responses to Radiation

The long-held view that radiation-induced biological damage must be initiated in the cell nucleus, either on or near DNA itself, is being confronted by mounting evidence to suggest otherwise. While the efficacy of cell death may be determined by radiation damage to nuclear DNA, a plethora of less deterministic biological responses has been observed when DNA is not targeted. These so-called nontargeted responses cannot be understood in the framework of DNA-centric radiobiological models; what is needed are new physically motivated models that address the damage-sensing signalling pathways triggered by the production of reactive free radicals. To this end, we have conducted a series of in silico experiments aimed at elucidating the underlying physical processes responsible for nontargeted biological responses to radiation. Our simulation studies implement new results on very low-energy electromagnetic interactions in liquid water (applicable down to nanoscales) and we also consider a realistic simulation of extranuclear microbeam irradiation of a cell. Our results support the idea that organelles with important functional roles, such as mitochondria and lysosomes, as well as membranes, are viable targets for ionizations and excitations, and their chemical composition and density are critical to determining the free radical yield and ensuing biological responses

Unraveling Kinase Activation Dynamics Using Kinase-Substrate Relationships from Temporal Large-Scale Phosphoproteomics Studies.

In response to stimuli, biological processes are tightly controlled by dynamic cellular signaling mechanisms. Reversible protein phosphorylation occurs on rapid time-scales (milliseconds to seconds), making it an ideal carrier of these signals. Advances in mass spectrometry-based proteomics have led to the identification of many tens of thousands of phosphorylation sites, yet for the majority of these the kinase is unknown and the underlying network topology of signaling networks therefore remains obscured. Identifying kinase substrate relationships (KSRs) is therefore an important goal in cell signaling research. Existing consensus sequence motif based prediction algorithms do not consider the biological context of KSRs, and are therefore insensitive to many other mechanisms guiding kinase-substrate recognition in cellular contexts. Here, we use temporal information to identify biologically relevant KSRs from Large-scale In Vivo Experiments (KSR-LIVE) in a data-dependent and automated fashion. First, we used available phosphorylation databases to construct a repository of existing experimentally-predicted KSRs. For each kinase in this database, we used time-resolved phosphoproteomics data to examine how its substrates changed in phosphorylation over time. Although substrates for a particular kinase clustered together, they often exhibited a different temporal pattern to the phosphorylation of the kinase. Therefore, although phosphorylation regulates kinase activity, our findings imply that substrate phosphorylation likely serve as a better proxy for kinase activity than kinase phosphorylation. KSR-LIVE can thereby infer which kinases are regulated within a biological context. Moreover, KSR-LIVE can also be used to automatically generate positive training sets for the subsequent prediction of novel KSRs using machine learning approaches. We demonstrate that this approach can distinguish between Akt and Rps6kb1, two kinases that share the same linear consensus motif, and provide evidence suggesting IRS-1 S265 as a novel Akt site. KSR-LIVE is an open-access algorithm that allows users to dissect phosphorylation signaling within a specific biological context, with the potential to be included in the standard analysis workflow for studying temporal high-throughput signal transduction data

The Algebraic Equivalency of Some OLS Estimators and Predictors in the Classical Linear Regression Model with Additive Constant Seasonal Effects

W artykule wykazano, że pewne estymatory MNK (pewne predyktory) stosowane w przypadku klasycznego modelu regresji liniowej, uwzględniającego addytywne stałe efekty sezonowe, są algebraicznie równoważne.In the paper, it was proved that some OLS estimators (some predictors) in the classical linear regression model with additive constant seasonal effects are algebraically equivalent

Professionalisation through Internationalisation in Teacher Education. The International Project (IPC) as an Example for "Internationalization@home"

Professionalisation is a key factor in teacher education and can add towards educating quality teachers. Internationalisation can foster this process, especially in today’s increasingly diversified teaching environment. Being confronted with other education systems, ideas on pedagogy, educational values and traditions can provoke (future) teachers to reflect on their own approaches and beliefs and provide them with a wide range of inspirations on how to handle new and unexpected changes in their future classrooms. Taking Goodwin’s five knowledge domains – personal, contextual, pedagogical, sociological and social knowledge – plus an additional sixth domain – innovative knowledge – as a theoretical framework, this paper analyses how the internationalisation of teacher education can support the process of professionalisation. This theoretical analysis is exemplified by using an "Internationalization@home" project coordinated by Prof. Dr. Klaudia Schultheis at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt as a case study. It highlights how internationalisation can be integrated into teacher education programs and shows that such an international project can lead to increased knowledge in the six knowledge domains