Timing of interfering events in one-trial serial overshadowing of a taste aversion

This set of experiments examined the question of when a stimulus would be most effective in overshadowing the acquisition of long-delay taste aversion learning. In Experiment 1 rats drank sucrose, the target solution, followed by a hydrochloric acid (HCl) solution before lithium injection some time later; HCl was presented either early or late in the interval. The late condition produced greater overshadowing than the early condition. The importance of the HCl-injection interval was confirmed by Experiment 2, in which the sucrose-injection interval was varied. Experiment 3 found that even placement in a different context – an event that normally produces little overshadowing of a CTA – produced one-trial overshadowing of a sucrose aversion as long as the context was novel and exposure to it occurred immediately before lithium injection. No current theoretical account of one-trial overshadowing predicts that a late event produces more overshadowing than an early event. This result can, however, be accommodated within a modified version of the Rescorla-Wagner model.     

Extending the Television Brand: An Examination of Why Consumers Use Broadcast Network Web Sites

Framed by the technology acceptance and customer-based brand equity (CBBE) models, this study investigated how audiences intend to use broadcast television network Web sites. Drawing upon the results of a survey (N = 178), this research found that perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment significantly influence intent to use broadcast Web sites. Findings also reveal that CBBE plays a significant role as a mediator between motivations and behavioral intention to use broadcast networks' Web sites. It is concluded that as the medium of television evolves, networks' Web sites should be conduits for sustained brand allegiance and broadcasters should make more strategic use of their Web sites.     

Glycated nail proteins as a new biomarker in management of the South Kivu Congolese diabetics

Introduction

Diagnosis and monitoring of diabetes mellitus in sub-Saharan Africa, based on blood analyses, are hampered by infrastructural and cultural reasons. The first aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of glycated nail proteins for diabetes mellitus. The second aim was to compare the course of short- and long-term glycemic biomarkers after 6 months of antidiabetic treatment. These objectives should support our hypothesis that glycated nail proteins could be used as an alternative glycemic biomarker.

Materials and methods

This case-control study consisted of 163 black diabetics and 67 non-diabetics of the South Kivu (Democratic Republic of Congo). Diagnostic accuracy of glycated nail proteins was evaluated using ROC curve analysis. At the start of the study, glycated nail protein concentrations were compared between diabetics and non-diabetics, using a nitro blue tetrazolium (NBT) colorimetric method. In a subgroup of 30 diabetics, concentrations of glycated nail proteins, fasting glucose (Accu-Chek® Aviva), serum fructosamine (NBT) and HbA1c (DCA-2000+®) were measured at start and after 6 months.

Results

ROC analysis yielded an AUC of 0.71 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.65-0.76) and a cut-off point of 3.83 μmol/g nail. Concentration of glycated nail proteins was significantly higher (P < 0.001) in diabetics in comparison with non-diabetics. After 6 months of antidiabetic treatment, a significant drop in the fasting glucose concentration (P = 0.017) and concentration of glycated nail proteins (P = 0.008) was observed in contrast to serum fructosamine and HbA1c.

Conclusions

Measurement of glycated nail proteins could be used to diagnose and monitor diabetes mellitus in sub-Saharan Africa.Key words: fasting glucose concentration, fructosamine, hemoglobin A1c protein, nails, sub-Saharan Africa, diabetes mellitus     

British Parliamentary Debate and the Twenty-First-Century Student

British Parliamentary Debate (BP) has grown in popularity in recent years and may be an appropriate debate for contemporary college students or Millennials. We argue that BP debate offers Millennials two distinct advantages: (a) BP is an accessible format, amenable to the demands of busy students; and (b) BP confers global argumentation skills required to be competitive in a globalized society.     

Mind the Gap: Appropriate Evolutionary Perspectives Toward the Integration of the Sciences and Humanities

Although Darwinism has gained a foothold in the social sciences, in the humanities, with a few exceptions, it is still largely rejected—not, as some would claim, because humanists are all radical poststructuralists who deny that material reality exists, but rather because, with notable exceptions, Darwinists who work within the humanities have adopted a trenchant “us against them,” in-group/out-group mentality that has done a good deal more harm than good. In order for evolution to be effectively taught as part of a humanistic approach to literature and art, a more productive, truly “two way” approach is necessary, and must do more than impose the scientific method on the humanities. When this kind of imposition occurs, the humanities are treated only as subject matter, thereby discounting historical and interpretive research that is invaluable to scientists and claims they might make in these areas. This paper claims that for evolution to function as a paradigm with true explanatory power across disciplines, scientifically oriented evolutionists need training in humanistic methodologies just as much as humanistically oriented evolutionists need training in the scientific method. Evolution, in this context, becomes not the paradigm that can explain everything from a scientific point of view but rather the beginnings of a conversation about lower and upper level questions, and how these questions might inform and enrich each other’s research.     

The Piratical Ethos in Streams of Language

This article conducts a discourse analysis related to intellectual property gathered from digital piracy communities. By conducting a quantitative analysis of qualitative data, it renders an account of the piratical subject by exploring what Andersson Schwarz calls “specimens of reasoning” concerning intellectual property and piracy. Varying attitudes toward intellectual property are produced from the data. The outputs of this analysis challenge mainstream articulations of piratical motivations, drawing attention to the complex and often contradictory attitudes that pirates evince with respect to intellectual property. Attention is paid to attitudes that convey support of and resistance to intellectual property on technological, social, and economic grounds.     

Creating the Potential for Organizational Learning Through Interactive Simulation Debriefing Sessions

High‐end and high‐cost technologies such as interactive simulation are increasingly being applied to government operations such as police, emergency management, SWAT, and fire fighter training to maintain readiness and improve performance. The simulation experience, when combined with after‐training debriefing sessions, creates the potential for organizational learning. This research reports findings from field observations of debriefing sessions following organizational operations in interactive simulation systems. The findings focus on the relationship of different debriefing session techniques to identification of potential organizational learning opportunities.     

“想”多快，时间就多慢

正我们的宇宙是从"无"到"有"的,宇宙不可能凭空存在。"无"宇宙状态和"有"宇宙状态是宇宙的两种相互独立而又相互纠缠的存在形式。从理论上讲,"无"状态为虚量子场状态,"有"状态为实量子场状态。量子场是量子所存在的空间,