Sublethal effects of an organophosphate insecticide on the European eel, Anguilla anguilla

Recent research has found that family caregivers do not discuss their caregiving in terms of tasks but instead describe their care as shaped by concerns, commitments and goals. The purpose of this paper is to challenge the ways in which nurses approach the family caregiving process and to explore possibilities for evolving nursing knowledge by questioning existing practice in the light of developing insight into the ways in which being a family caregiver is meaningful. A critique of the philosophical orientations of rationalism and empiricism provides a platform to discuss the merits of a Heideggerian phenomenological approach in assisting nurses to better understand family caring experience. Such critique serves to support the notion of displacing the traditional scientific view as the prime means of disclosing truth, acknowledging alternative ways of knowing.     

Applying black-box testing to UML/OCL database models

Most Unified Modeling Language (UML) computer-aided software engineering tools have been insufficient in the development process because they provide little support for conceptual model testing. Model testing aims to ensure the correctness of a UML/OCL class diagram, or, in other words, that a given class diagram can perfectly meet the user’s requirements. This study proposes the validation of class diagrams with black-box testing, a technique used to test software without focusing on the software’s implementation or structure. An approach is proposed for the automatic transformation of the constraints of a UML/OCL class diagram into test cases. Following the creation of the test cases, they are executed with JUnit and the results produced are shown to the tester. To demonstrate the applicability of this approach, an effectiveness evaluation and an efficiency evaluation are performed here. Evaluation studies show that all faults included in a class diagram have been detected within an efficient time.     

Effect of annealing on the permeation characteristics of gases of coextruded LLDPE films

The temperature dependence of both the permeability and diffusion coefficients of carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen in annealed LLDPE films are studied. It is found that the values of the permeability coefficient through the annealed membranes are nearly four times larger than those through the non-annealed ones. The fact that annealing slightly diminishes the values of the diffusion coefficient leads to the conclusion that the rise in permeability detected in the films by effect of annealing should be attributed to an increase in solubility. The permeability characteristics of the films are interpreted in terms of the free volume theory.     

The assessment of ceramic and mixed recycled aggregates for high strength and low shrinkage concretes

Very few studies on recycled aggregate concretes (RC) have been extended to the use of recycled ceramic and mixed aggregates in relation with high strength concretes. In the main they concentrate only on the analysis of the physical and mechanical properties. This study deals with the investigation of the influence that different percentages (up to 30% substitution for natural aggregates) of high porous ceramic and mixed recycled aggregates have over the plastic, autogenous and drying shrinkage of the concretes. The physical and mechanical properties as well as the chloride resistance were also determine in order to assess the viability of the use of ceramic and mixed recycled aggregates in high strength concretes. The results revealed that the employment of highly porous recycled aggregates reduced the plastic and autogenous shrinkage values of the concrete with respect to those obtained by conventional concrete (CC). Although the total drying shrinkage of the recycled concrete proved to be 25% higher than that of the CC concrete, the CC concrete had in fact a higher shrinkage value than that of the RC from 7 to 150 days of drying. It can be concluded that the RC concrete produced employing up to 30% of fine ceramic aggregates (FCA, with 12% of absorption capacity) achieved the lowest shrinkage values and higher mechanical and chloride ion resistance. In addition, the concrete produced with low percentage (10–15%) of recycled mixed aggregates also had similar properties to conventional concrete.     

The active GTP- and ground GDP-liganded states of tubulin are distinguished by the binding of chiral isomers of ethyl 5-amino-2-methyl-1,2-dihydro-3-phenylpyrido[3,4-b]pyrazin-7-yl carbamate

NSC 613862 (S)-(-) and NSC 613863 (R)-(+) are the two chiral isomers of ethyl-5-amino-2-methyl-1,2-dihydro-3-phenylpyrido[3, 4-b]pyrazin-7-yl carbamate. Both compounds bind to tubulin in a region that overlaps the colchicine site. They induce formation of abnormal polymers from purified GTP-Mg-tubulin, the active assembly form of tubulin, in glycerol-free buffer with magnesium [De Ines, C., Leynadier, D., Barasoain, I., Peyrot, V., Garcia, P., Briand, C., Rener, G. A., and Temple, C., Jr. (1994) Cancer Res. 54, 75-84]. In this study, we observed that the S-isomer can promote polymerization of GDP-tubulin, the inactive assembly-incompetent form of tubulin, into nonmicrotubular structures at a critical protein concentration of 1 mg/mL (12 mM MgCl2). Neither the R-isomer nor colchicine have this ability. By electron microscopy, these tubulin polymers showed the same poorly defined filamentous structure when GDP-tubulin or GTP-Mg-tubulin were used. By HPLC measurements, we demonstrated that a dissociated GTP hydrolysis and exchange of nucleotide occurred during the isomer-induced abnormal assembly. Both isomers inhibited the Mg2+-induced tubulin self-association leading to 42 S double ring formation from GTP-Mg-tubulin or GDP-tubulin. Measurement of their binding under nonassociation conditions revealed a 3-fold decrease in the apparent equilibrium binding constant of the R-isomer to GDP-tubulin relative to GTP-Mg-tubulin. For the S-isomer, the decrease in the binding constant was less pronounced. Binding data, analyzed in terms of a system of linked conformational and association equilibria, provide evidence that the active ("straight") rather than the inactive ("curved") conformation of tubulin differentially recognizes these ligands. Whereas binding of colchicine to tubulin is well-known to induce GTP hydrolysis, this is the first case in which the interaction of a ligand with the colchicine site is shown to be sensitive to the presence of GDP or GTP at the distant nucleotide binding site.     

Predictors of user perceptions of web recommender systems: How the basis for generating experience and search product recommendations affects user responses

One critical question suggested by Web 2.0 is as follows: When is it better to leverage the knowledge of other users vs. rely on the product characteristic-based metrics for online product recommenders? Three recent and notable changes of recommender systems have been as follows: (1) a shift from characteristic-based recommendation algorithms to social-based recommendation algorithms; (2) an increase in the number of dimensions on which algorithms are based; and (3) availability of products that cannot be examined for quality before purchase. The combination of these elements is affecting users’ perceptions and attitudes regarding recommender systems and the products recommended by them, but the psychological effects of these trends remain unexplored. The current study empirically examines the effects of these elements, using a 2 (recommendation approach: content-based vs. collaborative-based, within)×2 (dimensions used to generate recommendations: 6 vs. 30, between)×2 (product type: experience products (fragrances) vs. search products (rugs), between) Web-based study (N=80). Participants were told that they would use two recommender systems distinguished by recommendation approach (in fact, the recommendations were identical). There were no substantive main effects, but all three variables exhibited two-way interactions, indicating that design strategies must be grounded in a multi-dimensional understanding of these variables. The implications of this research for the psychology and design of recommender systems are presented.     

Design guidelines for Classroom Multiplayer Presential Games (CMPG)

In a Classroom Multiplayer Presential Game (CMPG) peers interact collaboratively with the virtual world and amongst themselves in a shared space. The design of this kind of game, however, is a complex process that must consider instruction strategies, methodology, usability and ludic aspects. This article’s aim is to develop and systematize guidelines for the design of CMPGs. To develop these guidelines we used a three-step process: evaluating an initial implementation of a CMPG and finding its problems; defining guidelines that can help overcome these problems; and redesigning the game based on the guidelines before testing it in a real class scenario to assess how helpful the guidelines were in solving the initial problems.     

MOE prediction in Abies pinsapo Boiss. timber: Application of an artificial neural network using non-destructive testing

Determining the modulus of elasticity of wood by applying an artificial neural network using the physical properties and non-destructive testing can be a useful method in assessments of the timber structure in old constructions. The modulus of elasticity of Abies pinsapo Boiss. timber was predicted in this study through the parameters of density, width, thickness, moisture content, ultrasonic wave propagation velocity and visual grading of the test pieces. A feedforward multilayer perceptron network was designed for this purpose, achieving 75.0% success in the testing or unknown group.