The portrayal and frequency of religion in secular rap music

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on September 10, 2012).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. Cynthia FrisbyIncludes bibliographical references.M.A. University of Missouri--Columbia 2012."May 2012"Secular rap has arguably become one of the most influential and popular genres in music, and its effects on aspects of American culture, like sexuality (Ward, Hansbrough, & Walker, 2005) and violence (Jones, 1997), have been measured. The way rap music may have potentially influenced the religiosity of its listeners has yet to be explored. This study starts that line of research by measuring the amount of religious references in secular rap songs and examining any possible relationships between the amounts of religious references and how religion is portrayed in those songs. The researcher conducted a content analysis of lyrics from twenty influential rappers. The researcher then compared the portrayal of religion in rap songs released before the death of rapper Tupac Shakur to the songs released after that date. The results indicated a significant relationship between the amount of religious references and the framing of religion, while the researcher found significant negative relationships in how religion was framed after the death of Shakur. The results indicate a need for media effects research on the lyrics of Tupac Shakur to further examine the influence the lyrics have on listeners

La investigaci?n formativa en el programa de licenciatura en educaci?n b?sica con ?nfasis en lengua castellana IDEAD

105 p. Recurso Electr?nicoLa investigaci?n formativa es la estrategia pedag?gica utilizada en el programa de Licenciatura en Educaci?n B?sica con ?nfasis en Lengua Castellana del IDEAD para fortalecer la cultura investigativa en sus estudiantes. El presente trabajo monogr?fico denominado ?La investigaci?n formativa en el programa de Licenciatura en Educaci?n B?sica con ?nfasis en Lengua Castellana del IDEAD? pretende conocer si se est?n cumpliendo los prop?sitos de la investigaci?n formativa, encontrar sus falencias y fortalezas en este programa en el CREAD Ibagu? a partir del an?lisis y la interpretaci?n de encuestas aplicadas a todos los estudiantes matriculados para el semestre B de 2015. En el desarrollo de la investigaci?n se presentan unos antecedentes de la investigaci?n formativa desde sus inicios en el programa Licenciatura en Educaci?n B?sica con ?nfasis en Lengua Castellana y de la revisi?n de los Acuerdos y Resoluciones facilitados por la secretaria del programa.The formative research is a pedagogical strategy implemented in the program of Licenciatura en educaci?n b?scia con enfasis en Lengua castellana of IDEAD to strengthen the investigative culture in the students belonging to this academic program. This monographic research is named ?La investigaci?n formativa en el programa de Licenciatura en educaci?n b?sica con enf?sis en Lengua Castellana del IDEAD? aims to know if the formative research purposes are being fulfilled, also, to find if its weaknesses and strengths into the program in the CREAD Ibagu? from the analysis and interpretation of surveys applied to whole students enrolled in the semester B of 2015. In the research development are presented some background regarding to formative research from the beginning of the program which were built through interviews done forteachers who has been the head of the program "Licenciatura en educaci?n b?sica con ?nfasis en Lengua Castellana del IDEAD" and the agreements review and resolutions given by the office of the program. Keywords: Formative research, research culture, pedagogical strategies

Increase in TNF-α and inducible nitric oxide synthase-expressing dendritic cells in psoriasis and reduction with efalizumab (anti-CD11a)

We find that CD11c+ cells with many markers of dendritic cells (DCs) are a major cell type in the skin lesions of psoriasis. These CD11c + cells, which are evident in both epidermis and dermis, are the sites for the expression of two mediators of inflammation, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and TNF-α in diseased skin. These cells express HLA-DR, CD40, and CD86, lack the Langerin and CD14 markers of Langerhans cells and monocytes, respectively, and to a significant extent express the DC maturation markers DC-LAMP and CD83. Treatment of psoriasis with efalizumab (anti-CD11a a, Raptiva) strongly reduces infiltration by these DCs in patients responding to this agent. Disease activity after therapy was more related to DC infiltrates and iNOS mRNA levels than T cell infiltrates, and CD11c+ cells responded more quickly to therapy than epidermal keratinocytes. Our results suggest that a type of DC, which resembles murine Tip-DCs that can accumulate during infection, has proinflammatory effects in psoriasis through nitric oxide and TNF-α production, and can be an important target for suppressive therapies

Lattice Model for water-solute mixtures

A lattice model for the study of mixtures of associating liquids is proposed. Solvent and solute are modeled by adapting the associating lattice gas (ALG) model. The nature of interaction solute/solvent is controlled by tuning the energy interactions between the patches of ALG model. We have studied three set of parameters, resulting on, hydrophilic, inert and hydrophobic interactions. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations were carried out and the behavior of pure components and the excess properties of the mixtures have been studied. The pure components: water (solvent) and solute, have quite similar phase diagrams, presenting: gas, low density liquid, and high density liquid phases. In the case of solute, the regions of coexistence are substantially reduced when compared with both the water and the standard ALG models. A numerical procedure has been developed in order to attain series of results at constant pressure from simulations of the lattice gas model in the grand canonical ensemble. The excess properties of the mixtures: volume and enthalpy as the function of the solute fraction have been studied for different interaction parameters of the model. Our model is able to reproduce qualitatively well the excess volume and enthalpy for different aqueous solutions. For the hydrophilic case, we show that the model is able to reproduce the excess volume and enthalpy of mixtures of small alcohols and amines. The inert case reproduces the behavior of large alcohols such as, propanol, butanol and pentanol. For last case (hydrophobic), the excess properties reproduce the behavior of ionic liquids in aqueous solution.Comment: 28 pages, 13 figure

Towards Scalable Visual Exploration of Very Large RDF Graphs

In this paper, we outline our work on developing a disk-based infrastructure for efficient visualization and graph exploration operations over very large graphs. The proposed platform, called graphVizdb, is based on a novel technique for indexing and storing the graph. Particularly, the graph layout is indexed with a spatial data structure, i.e., an R-tree, and stored in a database. In runtime, user operations are translated into efficient spatial operations (i.e., window queries) in the backend.Comment: 12th Extended Semantic Web Conference (ESWC 2015

Uso de mezclas de azoxistrobina y triazoles para controlar enfermedades de fin de ciclo de la soja

134-139Widely spread in Argentina, late season diseases (LSD), cause yield losses and seed quality changes. Leaf application of fungicides is an effective procedure to manage LSD under the current cropping conditions (monocrop and no-till system). The aims of the present study were 1) to determine causal agents of LSD, 2) to evaluate yield reduction caused by LSD and 3) to evaluate the efficiency of mixtures containing triazoles and strobirulins, sprayed during R3 or R5 reproductive stages to control LSD. Four experiments were carried out in a randomized complete block design, with four replicates in Armstrong, Santa Fe, Argentina, in a soybean cultivation area in the Pampeana Region. Two assays were performed in 2004/2005, and the remaining ones in 2005/2006 growing seasons. Two azoxystrobin mixtures, one with cyproconazole and the other with difenoconazole, and a mixture of the latter two were tested. The following pathogens were detected: Cercospora kikuchii, Colletotrichum truncatum, Septoria glycines, Glomerella glycines y Phomopsis sojae. All treatments presented higher yield than control, with 5 percent of statistic significance. It can be concluded that, under the present experimental conditions, characterized by frequent rains between R1 and R5.5, the tested mixtures efficiently controlled LSD

Jogo de rol como teste informatizado para avaliar a resolução de conflitos na infância

This paper presents the results from developing an online role-playing game based on simulated situations for assessing the resolutions of conflicts in childhood. We compare the answers provided by two groups of children who answered the computer game test and the board game version with the presence of an interviewer. The results indicate that children who answered the computer-based test were more inclined to attack, than those who answered the board game version. As a conclusion, we can state that the decisions children made in the different situations varied according to a greater or lesser expectation of social sanction when answering the questions. In this way, the use of computer-based tests and simulated situations may help to study spontaneous responses that reflect everyday behaviorSe presentan los resultados del desarrollo de un videojuego online como test informatizado basado en situaciones simuladas para acceder a la resolución de conflictos en la infancia. Comparamos las respuestas dadas por dos grupos de niños quienes respondieron la versión del juego de computador y la versión del juego de mesa con presencia de un entrevistador. Como conclusión se pudo establecer que las decisiones que los niños toman en las distintas situaciones varían de acuerdo a una mayor o menor expectativa de sanción social al responder las preguntas. En este sentido, el uso de test informatizados y la simulación de situaciones podría ayudar a estudiar respuestas más espontáneas que reflejen comportamientos cotidianosEste trabalho apresenta os resultados do desenvolvimento de um videogame online como uma prova computadorizada baseado em situações simuladas para acessar a resolução de conflitos na infância. Comparamos as respostas dadas por dois grupos de crianças que responderam à versão do jogo de computador e à versão do jogo de tabuleiro com a presença de um entrevistador. Como conclusão, foi estabelecido que as decisões que as crianças fazem em diferentes situações variam de acordo com uma maior ou menor expectativa de sanção social ao responder as perguntas. Nesse sentido, o uso de testes computadorizados e a simulação de situações podem ajudar a estudar respostas mais espontâneas que refletem os comportamentos diários das crianças

Electron Capture Dissociation Mass Spectrometry of Tyrosine Nitrated Peptides

In vivo protein nitration is associated with many disease conditions that involve oxidative stress and inflammatory response. The modification involves addition of a nitro group at the position ortho to the phenol group of tyrosine to give 3-nitrotyrosine. To understand the mechanisms and consequences of protein nitration, it is necessary to develop methods for identification of nitrotyrosine-containing proteins and localization of the sites of modification.Here, we have investigated the electron capture dissociation (ECD) and collision-induced association (CID) behavior of 3-nitrotyrosine-containing peptides. The presence of nitration did not affect the CID behavior of the peptides. For the doubly-charged peptides, addition of nitration severely inhibited the production of ECD sequence fragments. However, ECD of the triply-charged nitrated peptides resulted in some singly-charged sequence fragments. ECD of the nitrated peptides is characterized by multiple losses of small neutral species including hydroxyl radicals, water and ammonia. The origin of the neutral losses has been investigated by use of activated ion (AI) ECD. Loss of ammonia appears to be the result of non-covalent interactions between the nitro group and protonated lysine side-chains