Beyond Passive Learning: Utilizing Active Learning Tools for Engagement, Reflection, and Creation

The twenty-first-century student frequently engages with mobile environments to fulfill his or her information needs. Reports from the Pew Research Center (Duggan, 2015) indicate an increasing trend in the use of mobile social media platforms in the US adult population. According to the report, Social Media Usage: 2005–2015 (2015), 65 percent of American adults use social networking sites, and young adults (ages 18–29) reported the highest social media usage for all age groups, at 90 percent. Among the young adult age group, social media usage in 2005 was reported to be 12 percent (Perrin, 2015). This sharp 650 percent rise illustrates the increasingly networked environment inhabited by young adults. In an effort to engage students in the online environment they frequent, educators at the University of Massachusetts Boston utilized iPads to integrate mobile technology into library instruction and other teaching initiatives. This chapter will discuss activities that integrate iPads into library instruction and highlight the use of research guides, web-based polling, gaming pedagogy, online surveys, and other web-based applications for academic research that participants directly engage with, reflect upon, and use to create information in transformative ways

Expressivism and its (Dis)Contents: Tracing Theory and Practice from History to Here and Now

This dissertation explores the theory and practice of expressivism as a pedagogy viable for the twenty-first century. Expressivism, in its inception (1960s), was wrongly perceived in many ways for the seemingly superfluous nature of its intentions; mainly it was targeted as an elitist, individualistic approach to the teaching of composition, only seen as suitable for a privileged student body. What was entirely overlooked that expressivism offered, were the more conventional ideologies and activities, such as process theory and peer review—things we use and cherish to this day. What I discovered through archival research was that expressivism then was inadvertently divided into two camps: the radical expressivists and the moderate expressivists. The former camp having no direct names of association, the latter holding some of the biggest names in the field of composition pedagogy: Peter Elbow, Donald Murray, and Ken Macrorie. It was the former camp that stigmatized expressivism with the label that it has carried all these decades, while the important work that we continue to use has been disregarded as belonging to expressivism in the first place. Despite its sordid past and current reputation, I look to expressivism, in all it has to offer, as not only being a useful means of composition pedagogy, in general, but particularly for more diverse and underprivileged student bodies, seeing how certain elements, such narrative and journaling, can lead to awareness and even activism through sharing stories and experiences in the classroom. I turn to my own classroom experiences and the work of my students, who mainly come from working-class and/or backgrounds of poverty, to show how the use of expressivist frameworks has proven beneficial in our composition classrooms. I look to the history of expressivism first to see how it was used, where it was used and in what contexts, seeing its short-lived stint in college composition. I then look to the history of CUNY (The City University of New York) where I teach, to see how expressivist frameworks may or may not have been used in the composition classroom as the time of expressivism’s inception intersects with CUNY’s Open Admissions Policy. From here, I turn to the current-day classroom to confront the issues of sharing personal experiences and stories in public spaces, as expressivism does, and lastly I confront the issue of students’ use of their own language in writing—an ideal I feel coincides very much with expressivist practice in regards to adhering to the authenticity of the writer. I have come to call this practice “neo-expressivism,” as in my research and writing I have had to consider both the good and bad that came with expressivism—not to disregard “the bad,” but to reconsider it, rework it, and create a pedagogy that welcomes everyone and their unique experiences

Covalent Immobilization of Antibodies through Tetrazine-TCO Reaction to Improve Sensitivity of ELISA Technique

This research was funded by Compra Publica Precomercial, Reference 2012/000069, Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, Espana. ONCOVER project: Volatile compound detection system for early cancer diagnosis.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is routinely used to detect biomolecules related to several diseases facilitating diagnosis and monitoring of these, as well as the possibility of decreasing their mortality rate. Several methods have been carried out to improve the ELISA sensitivity through antibodies immobilization on the microtiter plates. Here, we have developed a strategy of antibodies immobilization to improve the ELISA sensitivity increasing the antibody density surface through the tetrazine (Tz)-trans-cyclooctene (TCO) reaction. For this, we prepared surfaces with tetrazine groups while the captured antibody was conjugated with TCO. The tetrazine surfaces were prepared in two different ways: (1) from aminated plates and (2) from Tz-BSA-coated plates. The surfaces were evaluated using two sandwich ELISA models, one of them using the low-affinity antibody anti-c-myc as a capture antibody to detect the c-myc-GST-IL8h recombinant protein, and the other one to detect the carcinoembryonic human protein (CEA). The sensitivity increased in both surfaces treated with tetrazine in comparison with the standard unmodified surface. The c-myc-GST-IL8h detection was around 10-fold more sensible on both tetrazine surfaces, while CEA ELISA detection increased 12-fold on surfaces coated with Tz-BSA. In conclusion, we show that it is possible to improve the ELISA sensitivity using this immobilization system, where capture antibodies bond covalently to surfaces.Compra Publica Precomercial, Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, Espana 2012/00006

Roll Angle Estimation of a Motorcycle through Inertial Measurements

Abstract: Currently, the interest in creating autonomous driving vehicles and progressively more sophisticated active safety systems is growing enormously, being a prevailing importance factor for the end user when choosing between either one or another commercial vehicle model. While fourwheelers are ahead in the adoption of these systems, the development for two-wheelers is beginning to gain importance within the sector. This makes sense, since the vulnerability for the driver is much higher in these vehicles compared to traditional four-wheelers. The particular dynamics and stability that govern the behavior of single-track vehicles (STVs) make the task of designing active control systems, such as Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) systems or active or semi-active suspension systems, particularly challenging. The roll angle can achieve high values, which greatly affects the general behavior of the vehicle. Therefore, it is a magnitude of the utmost importance; however, its accurate measurement or estimation is far from trivial. This work is based on a previous paper, in which a roll angle estimator based on the Kalman filter was presented and tested on an instrumented bicycle. In this work, a further refinement of the method is proposed, and it is tested in more challenging situations using the multibody model of a motorcycle. Moreover, an extension of the method is also presented to improve the way noise is modeled within this Kalman filter.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades; (TRA2017-86488-R)

Angiomatose bacilar: descrição de 13 casos relatados em cinco centros de referência para tratamento de AIDS no Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

The aim of this case series was to describe the clinical, laboratory and epidemiological characteristics and the presentation of bacillary angiomatosis cases (and/or parenchymal bacillary peliosis) that were identified in five public hospitals of Rio de Janeiro state between 1990 and 1997; these cases were compared with those previously described in the medical literature. Thirteen case-patients were enrolled in the study; the median age was 39 years and all patients were male. All patients were human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infected and they had previous or concomitant HIV-associated opportunistic infections or malignancies diagnosed at the time bacillary angiomatosis was diagnosed. Median T4 helper lymphocyte counts of patients was 96 cells per mm³. Cutaneous involvement was the most common clinical manifestation of bacillary angiomatosis in this study. Clinical remission following appropriate treatment was more common in our case series than that reported in the medical literature, while the incidence of relapse was similar. The frequency of bacillary angiomatosis in HIV patients calculated from two of the hospitals included in our study was 1.42 cases per 1000 patients, similar to the frequencies reported in the medical literature. Bacillary angiomatosis is an unusual opportunistic pathogen in our setting.Esta série de casos foi conduzida com o objetivo de descrever a apresentação clínica, as características epidemiológicas, os exames laboratoriais e a evolução dos casos de angiomatose bacilar (e/ou peliose parenquimatosa bacilar) ocorridos em cinco hospitais públicos do Rio de Janeiro, no período de 1990 a 1997, comparando a casuística encontrada com a relatada na literatura médica. Foram incluídos 13 pacientes com mediana de idade de 39 anos, sendo todos pertencentes ao sexo masculino. Todos os pacientes apresentaram infecções oportunistas e/ou neoplasias associadas ao vírus da imunodeficiência humana (HIV-1) anteriores (ou concomitantes) ao diagnóstico de angiomatose bacilar. A mediana da contagem de linfócitos T Helper encontrada foi de 96 células por mm³. O acometimento cutâneo foi a apresentação clínica de angiomatose bacilar mais freqüente deste estudo. A freqüência de remissão após tratamento específico foi discretamente maior do que a relatada na literatura médica, enquanto a de recidiva foi semelhante. A freqüência de angiomatose bacilar entre indivíduos infectados pelo HIV de dois hospitais do Rio de Janeiro foi de 1,42 casos por 1.000 pacientes, semelhante ao relatado na literatura médica e sugestivo de que a angiomatose bacilar é relativamente incomum em nosso meio

Crioterapia para la prevenci?n de la neuropat?a perif?rica secundaria a quimioterapia. Dispositivo para el enfriamiento de manos y pies

Esta ficha de evaluaci?n de tecnolog?as emergentes eval?a el grado de desarrollo de la crioterapia para la prevenci?n de la neuropat?a perif?rica secundaria a quimioterapia (CIPN, siglas en ingl?s). La ficha analiza aspectos relativos a la efectividad (en variables como dolor o calidad de vida), la seguridad o los costes. La evidencia es amplia, mostrando que el uso de crioterapia podr?a prevenir o disminuir la gravedad de los s?ntomas de la CIPN. Sin embargo, hay que destacar la limitaci?n en el uso del dispositivo que supone la baja tolerancia por parte de los pacientes a la crioterapia mediante guantes y calcetines congelados. Nuevos dispositivos con mayor control de la temperatura (refrigeraci?n l?quida y criocompresi?n) est?n en desarrollo lo que podr? ayudar a mejorar el papel de la crioterapia en la prevenci?n de la CIPN.Esta ficha de avaliaci?n de tecnolox?as emerxentes aval?a o grao de desenvolvemento da crioterapia para a prevenci?n da neuropat?a perif?rica secundaria a quimioterapia (CIPN, siglas en ingl?s). A ficha analiza aspectos relativos ? efectividade (en variables como dor ou calidade de vida), a seguridade ou os custos. A evidencia ? ampla, mostrando que o uso de crioterapia poder?a previr ou diminu?r a gravidade dos s?ntomas da CIPN. Con todo, hai que destacar a limitaci?n no uso do dispositivo que sup?n a baixa tolerancia por parte dos pacientes ? crioterapia mediante luvas e calcet?ns conxelados. Novos dispositivos con maior control da temperatura (refrixeraci?n l?quida e criocompresi?n) est?n en desenvolvemento o que poder? axudar a mellorar o papel da crioterapia na prevenci?n da CIPN

Bioinspired Magneto-optical Bacteria

“Two-in-one” magneto-optical bacteria have been produced using the probiotic Lactobacillus fermentum for the first time. We took advantage of two features of bacteria to synthesize this novel and bifunctional nanostructure: their metal-reducing properties, to produce gold nanoparticles, and their capacity to incorporate iron oxide nanoparticles at their external surface. The magneto-optical bacteria survive the process and behave as a magnet at room temperature.This work was funded by Biosearch S.A. (POSTBIO project-Agency for Innovation and Development of Andalucia IDEA) and by MINECO and FEDER (project CTQ2012-32236)

Essentially pure partial trisomy 6(p21.31-p25) (case report and literature review)

To achieve a better clinical delineation of the 6p syndrome through the description of a patient with partial trisomy 6(p21.31-p25) comparing his characteristics with international reports and to discuss aspects of the phenotype of this syndrom