3,115 research outputs found
Artifact identification and signal restoring in HARDI data by using spherical harmonic model
No full textA fast and effecctive strategy for artifact identification and signal restoring with HARDI data
No full textDirect replacement of antibodies with molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) nanoparticles in ELISA - development of a novel assay for vancomycin
No full textA simple and straightforward technique for coating microplate wells with molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles (nanoMIPs) to develop ELISA type assays is presented here for the first time. NanoMIPs were synthesized by a solid phase approach with immobilized vancomycin (template) and characterized using Biacore 3000, dynamic light scattering and electron microscopy. Immobilization, blocking and washing conditions were optimized in microplate format. The detection of vancomycin was achieved in competitive binding experiments with a HRP-vancomycin conjugate. The assay was capable of measuring vancomycin in buffer and in blood plasma within the range 0.001-70 nM with a detection limit of 0.0025 nM (2.5 pM). The sensitivity of the assay was three orders of magnitude better than a previously described ELISA based on antibodies. In these experiments nanoMIPs have shown high affinity and minimal interference from blood plasma components. Immobilized nanoMIPs were stored for 1 month at room temperature without any detrimental effects to their binding properties. The high affinity of nanoMIPs and the lack of a requirement for cold chain logistics make them an attractive alternative to traditional antibodies used in ELIS
Correlation of Brain Structural and Functional Connectivity Indexes
No full textResting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) and tractography, derived from diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), are well-established neuroimaging techniques to investigate respectively brain functional connectivity (FC) and structural connectivity (SC) (van den Heuvel et al., 2009). The aim of this work was exploring the correlation between FC and SC within the default mode network (DMN), the left lateral network (LLN) and the right lateral network (RLN). In a sample of 19 healthy subjects, the RSNs were extracted at group level through the spatial independent component analysis (ICA), according to Dipasquale et al. (2015). DMN, LLN and RLN were selected and then divided into their spatial nodes, defined as anatomically separated clusters. For each subject, FC strength was calculated as the Pearson correlation coefficient (transformed in Z-score) between the pairs of rsfMRI signal time courses associated to the pairs of the RSN nodes. Averaging these values across subjects, group FC indexes were obtained. The same pairs of clusters were also used as seed and target regions in single subject probabilistic tractography. For each reconstructed tract the number of voxels above-threshold (15%) (Khalsa et al., 2014) was adopted as SC index. Averaging these values across subjects, the group SC indexes were obtained for each RSN. Finally, FC and SC indexes were correlated by Pearson correlation coefficient. As a result, we observed a positive FC-SC correlation in LLN (statistically significant, p<0.05) and in RLN. Regarding the DMN, no significant FC-SC correlation was found, even though it revealed high values of FC and SC separately. Our results suggest that combining FC and SC indexes allows to evaluate if a high communication level within RSNs is determined by direct white matter fiber pathways or rather by collateral circuits not detectable with the available tractographic techniques
Mapping residuals along tracts: an effective quality control approach for tract specific measurements
No full textCoaching early career teachers in urban elementary schools: A mixed method study
No full textCoaching for urban early career teachers (ECTs) offers promise and aligns with features of effective professional development to support the implementation of evidence-based practices. However, the functional components and key elements of coaching and coach supervision are not well specified in the literature. The goal of the current study was to examine adherence and feasibility of a coaching intervention designed to provide urban ECTs with concentrated support in classroom management and engaging learners—two instructional domains that are robust predictors of attrition (Ingersoll and Strong in Rev Educ Res 81:201–233, 2011). Coaches (n = 6) worked with ECTs (n = 15) in three urban, high-poverty elementary schools during the 2-year intervention. A mixed-method design was employed, such that qualitative data (i.e., semi-structured interviews) and quantitative data (i.e., adherence measures) were collected concurrently, remained independent during analyses, and were integrated during interpretation (Creswell and Clark in Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Sage, Thousand Oaks, 2007). Findings revealed that ECTs generally received the intended frequency and duration of coaching but with fewer opportunities for post-conferences. Coach supervision, on average, was delivered with intended frequency, with variability across coaches. Thematic analyses highlighted coach provision of emotional and instrumental support, emphasized consistent coaching as critical, and that time was a significant barrier to ECT participation in coaching. Supervision promoted social support among coaches and provided opportunities to adapt the model to ECT needs.Peer reviewe
Communautés et écriture en ligne. Histoire, devenir, un dialogue
No full textIn this interview, Elisa Bricco talks to writer Benoît Vincent about
the transformations that have taken place over the last twenty years
as a result of the technological turn in literary production. We look
at the repercussions of technology’s hold over literary production, and
in particular at the development of the notion of author in the context
of collective writing. The example of the General Instin project will
be used to highlight some of the issues raised by digital technology in
relation to the production of literary texts.Dans cet entretien, Elisa Bricco discute avec l’écrivain Benoît Vincent
sur les transformations qui sont survenues dans les vingt dernières
années à cause du tournant technologique de la production littéraire. On
s’interroge sur les répercussions de l’emprise de la technologie sur le
faire littéraire et notamment sur le développement de la notion d’auteur
dans le contexte de l’écriture collective. L’exemple du projet Général
Instin servira pour mettre en lumières quelques enjeux du numérique
par rapport à la production de textes littéraires
Communautés et écriture en ligne. Histoire, devenir, un dialogue
No full textIn this interview, Elisa Bricco talks to writer Benoît Vincent about the transformations that have taken place over the last twenty years as a result of the technological turn in literary production. We look at the repercussions of technology’s hold over literary production, and in particular at the development of the notion of author in the context of collective writing. The example of the Général Instin project will be used to highlight some of the issues raised by digital technology in relation to the production of literary texts.Dans cet entretien, Elisa Bricco discute avec l’écrivain Benoît Vincent sur les transformations qui sont survenues dans les vingt dernières années à cause du tournant technologique de la production littéraire. On s’interroge sur les répercussions de l’emprise de la technologie sur le faire littéraire et notamment sur le développement de la notion d’auteur dans le contexte de l’écriture collective. L’exemple du projet Général Instin servira pour mettre en lumières quelques enjeux du numérique par rapport à la production de textes littéraires
Comment on Bandelli and Porcelli/1 - Against Moral Panic, in Defence of Data
No full textElisa Giomi’s commentary is an answer to Bandelli and Porcelli’s essay “Femicide in Italy. ‘Femminicidio,’ Moral Panic and Progressivist Discourse” [2016]. Although Giomi assumes that Bandelli and Porcelli effectively illustrate the instrumentalization of lethal violence against women in Italian political discourse, yet she criticizes their reading of the “femminicidio narrative” as a phenomenon of moral panic that locates the threat in the typical Italian heterosexual family/couple: all the available empirical findings confirm that these are precisely the contexts where lethal aggressions against women most frequently occur. The author also disagrees with the authors’ conclusion that the femminicidio narrative authorized “the application of a gender paradigm to the official reading of domestic/partner violence” in 2012/13 Italian public discourse. Finally, she contends that in their essay the “feminist discourse” is represented in a stereotypical way, one that is instrumental in depicting it as a hegemonic discourse
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