Virtual communities in schools as tools to promote social capital with high schools students

The general aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that students belonging to a school online community would show higher levels of both offline bridging and bonding social capital than a control group of students, not using the online community. We further hypothesized that the more students used the online community the higher their level of their offline bonding and bridging social capital. Participants were 264 high school boys and girls, 126, (62 males and 64 females) who had joined the community online Spallanzani shout and 138, (62 males and 76 females) who did not. ANOVAs analysis showed that levels of bridging and bonding social capitals were significantly higher for members. Instead intensity of use was significantly related only to bridging but not to bonding social capital. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

A QFD-based method to support SMEs in benchmarking co-design tools

Efficient collaborative product design is crucial for extended enterprises willing to develop complex products pursuing a short time to market. However, successful collaborative product design depends on the ability to effectively manage and share engineering knowledge and data throughout the entire product development process. Co-design software platforms aim to facilitate cooperation in distributed teams. In the context of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) the advanced co-design software implementation to support the supply chain is not a trivial task. SMEs have peculiar characteristics such as flexibility, ICT skills and financial resources, which are difficult to be integrated within a structured design network. This paper presents a method to define and evaluate a co-design platform dedicated to SMEs in the mechanical product field. System architecture is defined by applying suitable metrics based on collaborative process characteristics in order to assess functionality performance of the available tools. Benchmarking is based on different levels of collaboration recognized in the typical product development process in SMEs. Correlation between process metrics, software functionalities and specific collaboration requirements is managed by adopting Quality Function Deployment (QFD) techniques. A practical case study allows the robustness of the proposed method to be verified and the main advantages and future developments to be discussed.     

Investigation of reactions in high-alumina fly ash and lime pastes

By-product fly ash from coal combustion generally contains a high percentage of active silica and smaller amounts of alumina, although some coals can have higher alumina contents (30 to 40%). During our experimental tests on the utilization f fly ash in road and highway foundation sheets, we have found a fly ash poor in silica, having an exceptionally high alumina content. This material has shown a good reactivity towards lime paste, giving hardened mixtures with high mechanical properties.     

Development of Interlimb Movement Synchrony in the Rat Fetus.

In the fetal rat, interlimb synchrony is a prominent form of temporally organized spontaneous motor activity in which movement of different limbs occurs at nearly the same instant. In the present study, synchrony profiles were created for different pairwise combinations of limbs over the last 5 days of gestation. Observed rates of synchrony differentiated from randomized time series from Gestational Day 19 to Day 21 (E19-E21), with forelimb synchrony emerging earlier than that of other limb pairs. Synchrony profiles were elevated at the shortest intervals between successive limb movements, indicating that movements became more tightly coupled toward the end of gestation. Interlimb synchrony appears to be a robust method of quantifying fetal movement and may prove useful as a tool for assessing prenatal nervous system functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring search efficiency in complex visual search tasks: Global and local clutter: Correction to Beck et al. (2010).

Reports an error in Measuring search efficiency in complex visual search tasks: Global and local clutter by Melissa R. Beck, Maura C. Lohrenz and J. Gregory Trafton (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 2010[Sep], Vol 16[3], 238-250). The copyright for the article was incorrectly listed. The correct copyright information is provided in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2010-19027-002.) Set size and crowding affect search efficiency by limiting attention for recognition and attention against competition; however, these factors can be difficult to quantify in complex search tasks. The current experiments use a quantitative measure of the amount and variability of visual information (i.e., clutter) in highly complex stimuli (i.e., digital aeronautical charts) to examine limits of attention in visual search. Undergraduates at a large southern university searched for a target among 4, 8, or 16 distractors in charts with high, medium, or low global clutter. The target was in a high or low local-clutter region of the chart. In Experiment 1, reaction time increased as global clutter increased, particularly when the target was in a high local-clutter region. However, there was no effect of distractor set size, supporting the notion that global clutter is a better measure of attention against competition in complex visual search tasks. As a control, Experiment 2 demonstrated that increasing the number of distractors leads to a typical set size effect when there is no additional clutter (i.e., no chart). In Experiment 3, the effects of global and local clutter were minimized when the target was highly salient. When the target was nonsalient, more fixations were observed in high global clutter charts, indicating that the number of elements competing with the target for attention was also high. The results suggest design techniques that could improve pilots' search performance in aeronautical charts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A study of hot-electron degradation effects in pseudomorphic HEMTs

In this work we report on hot-electron stress experiments performed on commercial AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs pseudomorphic HEMTs. The stress cycles induce a permanent increase of the gate-drain breakdown voltage (breakdown walkout). Different characterization techniques are applied to thedevices under test, consistently indicating that the physical mechanism underlying walkout is the build-up of negative charge in the region between the gate and drain.     

Redox Properties of 3-Iodothyronamine (T1AM) and 3-Iodothyroacetic Acid (TA1)

3-iodothyronamine (T1AM) and 3-iodothyroacetic acid (TA1) are thyroid-hormone-related compounds endowed with pharmacological activity through mechanisms that remain elusive. Some evidence suggests that they may have redox features. We assessed the chemical activity of T1AM and TA1 at pro-oxidant conditions. Further, in the cell model consisting of brown adipocytes (BAs) differentiated for 6 days in the absence (M cells) or in the presence of 20 nM T1AM (M + T1AM cells), characterized by pro-oxidant metabolism, or TA1 (M + TA1 cells), we investigated the expression/activity levels of pro- and anti-oxidant proteins, including UCP-1, sirtuin-1 (SIRT1), mitochondrial monoamine (MAO-A and MAO-B), semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO), and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent lipoperoxidation. T1AM and TA1 showed in-vitro antioxidant and superoxide scavenging properties, while only TA1 acted as a hydroxyl radical scavenger. M + T1AM cells showed higher lipoperoxidation levels and reduced SIRT1 expression and activity, similar MAO-A, but higher MAO-B activity in terms of M cells. Instead, the M + TA1 cells exhibited increased levels of SIRT1 protein and activity and significantly lower UCP-1, MAO-A, MAO-B, and SSAO in comparison with the M cells, and did not show signs of lipoperoxidation. Our results suggest that SIRT1 is the mediator of T1AM and TA1 pro-or anti-oxidant effects as a result of ROS intracellular levels, including the hydroxyl radical. Here, we provide evidence indicating that T1AM and TA1 administration impacts on the redox status of a biological system, a feature that indicates the novel mechanism of action of these two thyroid-hormone-related compounds.     

Intercellular Communication in the Central Nervous System as Deduced by Chemical Neuroanatomy and Quantitative Analysis of Images: Impact on Neuropharmacology

In the last decades, new evidence on brain structure and function has been acquired by morphological investigations based on synergic interactions between biochemical anatomy approaches, new techniques in microscopy and brain imaging, and quantitative analysis of the obtained images. This effort produced an expanded view on brain architecture, illustrating the central nervous system as a huge network of cells and regions in which intercellular communication processes, involving not only neurons but also other cell populations, virtually determine all aspects of the integrative function performed by the system. The main features of these processes are described. They include the two basic modes of intercellular communication identified (i.e., wiring and volume transmission) and mechanisms modulating the intercellular signaling, such as cotransmission and allosteric receptor–receptor interactions. These features may also open new possibilities for the development of novel pharmacological approaches to address central nervous system diseases. This aspect, with a potential major impact on molecular medicine, will be also briefly discussed.     

MiR-223 Exclusively Impairs In Vitro Tumor Growth through IGF1R Modulation in Rhabdomyosarcoma of Adolescents and Young Adults

Adolescents and young adults (AYA) with rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) form a subgroup of patients whose optimal clinical management and best possible access to care remain a challenge and whose survival rates lag behind that of children diagnosed with histologically similar tumors. A better understanding of tumor biology that differentiates children (PEDS-) from AYA-RMS could provide critical information and drive new initiatives to improve their final outcome. We investigated the functional role of miRNAs implicated in AYA-RMS development, as they have the potential to lead to discovery of new targets pathways for a more tailored treatment in these age groups of young RMS patients. MiR-223 and miR-486 were observed de-regulated in nine RMS tissues compared to their normal counterparts, yet only miR-223 replacement impaired proliferation and aggressiveness of AYA-RMS cell lines, while inducing apoptosis and determining cell cycle arrest. Interestingly, IGF1R resulted in the direct target of miR-223 in AYA-RMS cells, as demonstrated by IGF1R silencing. Our results highlight an exclusive functional role of miR-223 in AYA-RMS development and aggressiveness.