Parents Online

Presents findings from surveys conducted between 2000 and 2002. Looks at the use of the Internet and other technology by parents with a child at home, in comparison with non-parents

Gravitational Biology Facility on Space Station: Meeting the needs of space biology

The Gravitational Biology Facility (GBF) is a set of generic laboratory equipment needed to conduct research on Space Station Freedom (SSF), focusing on Space Biology Program science (Cell and Developmental Biology and Plant Biology). The GBF will be functional from the earliest utilization flights through the permanent manned phase. Gravitational biology research will also make use of other Life Sciences equipment on the space station as well as existing equipment developed for the space shuttle. The facility equipment will be developed based on requirements derived from experiments proposed by the scientific community to address critical questions in the Space Biology Program. This requires that the facility have the ability to house a wide variety of species, various methods of observation, and numerous methods of sample collection, preservation, and storage. The selection of the equipment will be done by the members of a scientific working group (5 members representing cell biology, 6 developmental biology, and 6 plant biology) who also provide requirements to design engineers to ensure that the equipment will meet scientific needs. All equipment will undergo extensive ground based experimental validation studies by various investigators addressing a variety of experimental questions. Equipment will be designed to be adaptable to other space platforms. The theme of the Gravitational Biology Facility effort is to provide optimal and reliable equipment to answer the critical questions in Space Biology as to the effects of gravity on living systems

What Joy from Misery: the Pleasures of Horror

This thesis investigates the allure of narrative genres, such as horror, that have historically been viewed as philosophically (and often morally) problematic owing to their negative content and the painful emotional responses they elicit. It departs from the majority of classical and contemporary solutions to the alleged paradox posed by such genres, in that it does not attempt to render their pleasures explicable by appealing to their fictive status, thematic or ideological meanings or the more comprehensibly-pleasurable meta-responses they inspire. Rather, this account suggests that we choose to consume stories – fictional and factual – that depict violent or distressing situations and evoke discomforting emotions, for the same reason we choose to engage with less obviously conflict-filled narratives. Fictions compel our attention insofar as they resemble potentially salient information, appealing to a set of deeply ingrained and unconscious cognitive biases that prompt us to attend to certain kinds of stimuli. We are capable of finding narrative genres such as horror, tragedy and the ‘misery memoir’ compelling – without, it is important to note, finding their content in any way pleasant – because we are predisposed to find some types of mental effort rewarding. While horror is often criticised – and defended – on the grounds that its pleasures must lie in slaking anti-social appetites, this thesis criticises the model of fiction’s appeal on which such assumptions are based. Instead it suggests that narrative pleasure characteristically resides in intellectual and emotional absorption or stimulation rather than any straightforward fulfilment of our real life desires. In support of this contention, this account incorporates analyses of a number of related topics, examining subjects such as the alleged rationality of the emotions, whether our attraction to non-factual narratives represents an adaptive trait and how fiction-making, criticism and consuming function as cultural practices

The effects of troglitazone and PMA on AMPK in HepG2 cells

Type 2 diabetes, as well as other metabolic diseases, is an increasing global health concern and many of the mechanisms of both the disease and its current drug treatments have not been fully described. It has been shown that the anti-diabetic class of drugs, the thiazolidinediones, work via both a known PPARγ-dependent, and a lesser known PPARγ-independent mechanism of action. This PPARγ-independent mechanism likely involves the metabolic regulatory molecule AMPK, which has a newly elucidated inhibitory site of phosphorylation at Ser485/Ser491. In this study we sought to determine if the thiazolidinedione troglitazone affects AMPK in HepG2 liver cells via phosphorylation at both the known Thr172 site as well as the letter understood Ser485 site. We also looked for potential upstream kinases of the Ser485 site by comparing our results to recently proposed mechanisms of phosphorylation here. HepG2 cells were cultured in the lab and treated with troglitazone to determine time- and dose- dependent effects on AMPK. We also treated cultured HepG2 cells with PMA as well as troglitazone and PMA in order to compare mechanisms of action of troglitazone on AMPK. Results were analyzed using common western blot techniques and statistical analysis. Our data found that troglitazone increased AMPK activity by increasing phosphorylation at Thr172 in a time- and dose- dependent manner. The inhibitory site Ser485 was also increasingly phosphorylated with troglitazone treatments, although the net result of troglitazone treatment remained AMPK activation. The recently elucidated results from our laboratory showing the mechanism of p-AMPK Ser485 phosphorylation via PKD after PMA treatment also occurred in HepG2 cells, although this did not appear to be the mechanism by which troglitazone phosphorylated AMPK at Ser485. These data support the current research that there is an AMPK mediated PPARγ-independent mechanism of troglitazone treatment for type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases. The results do however bring into question the full effects of the drug on AMPK at a molecular level and leaves room for new research in this area, specifically the exact mechanism by which troglitazone phosphorylates AMPK at Ser485. Our data also brings up new questions as to the simultaneous phosphorylation of AMPK at both Thr172 and Ser485 and what this means for the activity of the molecule as a whole, a current area of critical research. Lastly our data support the newly elucidated mechanism of AMPK phosphorylation at Ser485 via PKD1, an exciting and novel discovery and potential target for therapeutic intervention

Review of Slaves of Our Affection: the Myth of the Happy Pet

This article reviews Charles Danten’s Slaves of Our Affection: the Myth of the Happy Pet, outlining and evaluating Danten’s arguments for the abolition of the pet trade. The review delineates Danten’s main points; that the commodification of companion animals is antithetical to their welfare, that veterinarians, pet food manufacturers and breeders serve the dictates of the economic bottom line rather than the interests of animals, and that the majority of pet owners, while well-intentioned, are ill-equipped to meet the physiological and psychological needs of their animal companions. The reviewer asserts that Danten’s arguments are generally successful, but suggests that the text might have benefited had the author engaged more with the work of other animal ethicists, particularly when making potentially controversial claims about the moral acceptability of euthanizing healthy, but unwanted, animals

On the new frontier of mobile and money in the developing world: mobile phones, M-PESA, and Kenya

Today, nearly six billion of the world’s seven billion people have mobile phones (UN ITU, 2013:1). As this technology has grown in popularity in the developing world, its potential capacity as a development tool has been explored by international agencies, governments, and businesses. While time will reveal the long-term effectiveness and morality of for-profit development ventures, M-PESA stands as an early example of aid agency, government, and commercial cooperation. Its capacity as a program to adapt and change to best suit the needs of its users, and its ability to overcome the many challenges to its success, serve as a precedent for development projects to come

Methods of testing the mechanical properties of orthodontic wires

Evaluates available experimental techniques for the determination of Young's modules. Tensile, bend, resonance and speed of sound tests were performed.Thesis (M.D.S.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Dentistry, 199

Belly Up Down in the Dumps: Bankruptcy and Hazardous Waste Cleanup

In recent years, the critical risks of improper storage and disposal of hazardous and toxic substances have become frighteningly apparent,\u27 and the regulation of hazardous waste disposal has become increasingly comprehensive and complex, on both the federal and state level. On the federal level, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, or the Super fund Act) together provide a comprehensive statutory and regulatory scheme designed to cleanup existing hazardous waste disposal sites and to prevent the growth of future dangerous sites. Other federal statutes address in a more general way the problem of toxic or hazardous substances in the airs and water. In addition, both RCRA and CERCLA allow, encourage, and even demand state participation in establishing and enforcing hazardous waste regulations on a local level. On the state level, regulatory schemes are similar to the federal laws, or even more stringent. With the increasingly comprehensive federal regulation of the hazardous waste disposal industry, the cost of safe and legal disposal has skyrocketed. The huge costs have forced some companies out of business and have prompted other companies to evade regulations by using illegal disposal methods.\u27 Often the companies go into bankruptcy. Conflicts then arise between the goals, policies,and provisions of the Federal Bankruptcy Code and the goals,policies, and provisions of state and federal hazardous waste laws.\u27 The purpose of this Note is to identify the basic conflicts be-tween the Bankruptcy Code and hazardous waste laws and to pro-pose a balancing approach to resolve these conflicts. Part II of this Note identifies points of conflict that have arisen in recent cases and characterizes the conflict as a clash between the economic interests under the Bankruptcy Code and public health and safety concerns under CERCLA and RCRA. Part III proposes a balancing of the equities approach to resolve these conflicts. This approach considers three factors: qualitative interests, quantitative interests, and the good or bad faith of the parties. Part IV concludes that a balancing test is necessary to ensure the proper resolution of the competing concerns at issue and suggests that the courts should balance the equities according to Congress\u27 expressed priorities