Comparative severity of respiratory lesions of sialodacryoadenitis virus and Sendai virus infections in LEW and F344 rats

In several chronic diseases, lesions are more severe in LEW rats than in F344 rats. To determine whether or not acute viral diseases also are more severe in LEW rats than in F344 rats, we inoculated 6-7-week-old LEW and F344 rats with 10(7.2) cell culture infective units of sialodacryoadenitis virus or 10(4.7) infective units of Sendai virus. Twenty-four rats of each strain were given each virus. Lesions in nasal passages, tracheas, intrapulmonary airways, and pulmonary alveoli in 6 or 12 rats inoculated with each virus were assessed by scoring 5, 10, and 14 days after inoculation. Both viruses caused typical patchy necrotizing rhinitis, tracheitis, bronchitis, and bronchiolitis, with multifocal pneumonitis, in rats of both strains. Mean lesion indices for LEW rats given sialodacryoadenitis virus were significantly different from those for F344 rats for nasal passages on days 10 (0.999 vs. 0.680) and 14 (0.736 vs. 0.278), bronchi on day 5 (0.479 vs. 0.361), and alveoli on day 5 (0.677 vs. 0.275). Lesion indices for LEW rats given Sendai virus were significantly different from those for F344 rats for nasal passages on days 10 (1.000 vs. 0.611) and 14 (0.778 vs. 0.583); trachea on day 10 (0.625 vs. 0.028); bronchi on days 5 (0.476 vs. 0.331), 10 (0.123 vs. 0.013), and 14 (0.038 vs. 0); and alveoli on days 5 (0.413 vs. 0.114) and 10 (0.185 vs. 0.020). Thus, at the tested doses, both viruses caused more severe respiratory tract lesions in LEW rats than in F344 rats.     

Power up! Using Digital Gaming Techniques to Enhance Library Instruction

ABSTRACT

Incorporating digital gaming into education is an increasingly popular topic in academia. Educators’ views of digital gaming (e.g., computer, video, and online games) have shifted from categorizing these games as an entertaining, yet pedagogically void activity to a promising medium that engages students in the learning process. With over 70% of college students enthusiastically playing digital games, educators are tapping into digital gaming as an effective means to teach millennials problem solving and communication skills. This article investigates gamer characteristics, motivational and engaging aspects of digital games, and the parallels between gaming and the information retrieval process. The authors build on this information to present approaches to incorporate digital gaming techniques into the library classroom since it is not feasible for all libraries to create instructional digital games.     

Inexact graph matching based on kernels for object retrieval in image databases

In the framework of online object retrieval with learning, we address the problem of graph matching using kernel functions. An image is represented by a graph of regions where the edges represent the spatial relationships. Kernels on graphs are built from kernel on walks in the graph. This paper firstly proposes new kernels on graphs and on walks, which are very efficient for graphs of regions. Secondly we propose fast solutions for exact or approximate computation of these kernels. Thirdly we show results for the retrieval of images containing a specific object with the help of very few examples and counter-examples in the framework of an active retrieval scheme.     

Virtual peers as partners in storytelling and literacy learning

Abstract   Literacy learning — learning how to read and write — begins long before children enter school. One of the key skills to reading and writing is the ability to represent thoughts symbolically and share them in language with an audience who may not necessarily share the same temporal and spatial context. Children learn and practice these important language skills everyday, telling stories with the peers and adults around them. In particular, storytelling in the context of peer collaboration provides a key environment for children to learn language skills important for literacy. In light of this, an embodied conversational agent, Sam , who tells stories collaboratively with children was designed. Sam looks like a peer for pre-school children, but tells stories in a developmentally advanced way, modelling narrative skills important for literacy. Results demonstrated that children who played with the virtual peer told stories that more closely resembled the virtual peer's linguistically advanced stories: using more quoted speech and temporal and spatial expressions. In addition, children listened to Sam's stories carefully, assisting her and suggesting improvements. The potential benefits of having technology play a social role in young children's literacy learning is discussed.     

Hydrogen storage in dinuclear Pt(II) metallacycles

Hydrogen gas physisorption in two distinct dinuclear Pt(II) metallacycles was investigated with ²H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Hydrogen adsorption isotherm data and ²H NMR spectroscopy indicated that hydrogen storage occurs via condensation within the cavities of one of the macrocycles and at the interstitial sites in the other. In addition, this study further supports the notion that heat of adsorption and pore size play critical roles in hydrogen storage.     

The power of a nod and a glance: Envelope vs. emotional feedback in animated conversational agents

In this article we describe results froman experiment of user interaction with autonomous , human - like ( humanoid ) conversational agents . We hypothesize that for embodied conversational agents , nonverbal behaviors related to the process of conversation , what we call envelope feedback, is much more important than other feedback , such as emotional expression . We test this hypothesis by having subjects interact with three autonomous agents , all capable of full - duplex multimodal interaction: able to generate and recognize speech , intonation , facial displays , and gesture . Each agent , however , gave a different kind of feedback: ( 1 ) content - related only , ( 2 ) content + envelope feedback , and ( 3 ) content + emotional . Content-related feedback includes answering questions and executing commands; envelope feedback includes behaviors such as gaze , manual beat gesture , and head movements; emotional feedback includes smiles and looks of puzzlement . Subjects' evaluations of the systemwere collected with a questionnaire , and videotapes of their speech patterns and behaviors were scored according to how often the users repeated themselves , how often they hesitated , and how often they got frustrated . The results confirmour hypothesis that envelope feedback is more important in interaction than emotional feedback and that envelope feedback plays a crucial role in supporting the process of dialog . A secondary result fromthis study shows that users give our multimodal conversational humanoids very high ratings of lifelikeness and fluidity of interaction when the agents are capable of giving such feedback .     

Comparison of on-farm laboratory milk progesterone assays for identifying errors in detection of estrus and diagnosis of pregnancy

A field study was conducted in 10 commercial dairy herds to test the efficacy of a rapid enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to identify errors in detection of estrus and diagnosis of pregnancy. Milk samples were collected at the milking following detection of estrus and on d 21 postinsemination. Progesterone was measured on-farm by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and in the laboratory by radioimmunoassay. Agreement between the two methods of progesterone analysis (n = 820) was 89.8%. There were 93 cows (18.7%) by laboratory analysis and 126 cows (25.4%) by on-farm analysis for which concentration of progesterone in the sample collected at suspected estrus (n = 497) was higher than normal estrual values. Exclusion of these cases increased the overall accuracy of pregnancy diagnosis by 6.8 and 6.4% for laboratory and on-farm methods. Overall agreement between pregnancy diagnosis by milk progesterone at d 21 postinsemination and diagnosis by return to estrus or palpation of reproductive organs was 80.5 and 75.8% for laboratory and on-farm methods (75.0% and 69.7% for pregnant cows and 94.5 and 93.9% for nonpregnant cows). These results indicate that an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for milk progesterone performed on-farm was equal in accuracy to a laboratory radioimmunoassay for identifying errors in detection of estrus and diagnosis of pregnancy.     

PHASE EQUILIBRIA OF THE CYCLOHEXANE-TOLUENE-SULFOLANE AND HEXANE-TOLUENE-SULFOLANE TERNARY SYSTEMS

Liquid-liquid equilibrium data for two ternary systems were obtained. The experimental data were measured for cyclohexane-toluene-sulfolane at 17, 25 and 50°C, and for hexane-toluene-sulfolane at 18 and 25°C. The NTRL and UNIQUAC models were used to correlate the experimental results and to calculate the phase compositions of the ternary systems. The agreement between the experimental results and the fitted values was equally good with both of the models.