'Toxic' and 'Nontoxic': confirming critical terminology concepts and context for clear communication

If 'the dose makes the poison', and if the context of an exposure to a hazard shapes the risk as much as the innate character of the hazard itself, then what is 'toxic' and what is 'nontoxic'? This article is intended to help readers and communicators: anticipate that concepts such as 'toxic' and 'nontoxic' may have different meanings to different stakeholders in different contexts of general use, commerce, science, and the law; recognize specific situations in which terms and related information could potentially be misperceived or misinterpreted; evaluate the relevance, reliability, and other attributes of information for a given situation; control actions, assumptions, interpretations, conclusions, and decisions to avoid flaws and achieve a desired outcome; and confirm that the desired outcome has been achieved. To meet those objectives, we provide some examples of differing toxicology terminology concepts and contexts; a comprehensive decision-making framework for understanding and managing risk; along with a communication and education message and audience-planning matrix to support the involvement of all relevant stakeholders; a set of CLEAR-communication assessment criteria for use by both readers and communicators; example flaws in decision-making; a suite of three tools to assign relevance vs reliability, align know vs show, and refine perception vs reality aspects of information; and four steps to foster effective community involvement and support. The framework and supporting process are generally applicable to meeting any objective.

Marcia J. Bates: El context i la interacció han de ser elements bàsics en els sistemes de recuperació de la informació

Entrevista a Marcia J. Bates a la University od California at Los Angeles i experta en sistemes de recuperació de la Informació orientats a l'usuari i en representació del contingut i accés per matèries. Es parla de l'evolució de les tecnologies i l'automatització de tasques que requereixen la capacitat de raonament de la persona, del comportament de l'usuari quan cerca per matèries, de la formació en competències en el maneig de la informació, de la necessitat del context en la indexació i la recuperació per matèries, i l'empatia en les relacions entre bibliotecaris i usuaris.

Sistemes de gestió de continguts en la gestió del coneixement

Since the second half of the 1990s, knowledge management has taken shape and has been firmly consolidated as a new discipline within the realm of organisations. The principal objective of this work is to determine whether content management systems (CMS) can become the most appropriate technological standard for consolidating this field. The article describes and analyses the major functions (publishing and exploitation) of these new systems. It then examines the field of knowledge management ¿what are the different types of knowledge that we can find within an organisational context¿ and then identifies and analyses the operations critical to managing it appropriately. The article concludes by evaluating the extent to which technological solutions provided by CMS can assist in properly implementing these critical operations.

Sistemas de gestión de contenidos en la gestión del conocimiento

Since the second half of the 1990s, knowledge management has taken shape and has been firmly consolidated as a new discipline within the realm of organisations. The principal objective of this work is to determine whether content management systems (CMS) can become the most appropriate technological standard for consolidating this field. The article describes and analyses the major functions (publishing and exploitation) of these new systems. It then examines the field of knowledge management ¿what are the different types of knowledge that we can find within an organisational context¿ and then identifies and analyses the operations critical to managing it appropriately. The article concludes by evaluating the extent to which technological solutions provided by CMS can assist in properly implementing these critical operations.

Evaluating solutions to process, view and listen mathematical formula within an accessible context

Proves de conversió de fòrmules matemàtiques des d'editors de text ofimàtics i des de Làtex. Visionat en HTML i MathML. El millor resultat s'aconsegueix amb MSWord+MathType i IE+MathPlayer.

Micropatterning of single endothelial cell shape reveals a tight coupling between nuclear volume in G1 and proliferation

Shape-dependent local differentials in cell proliferation are considered to be a major driving mechanism of structuring processes in vivo, such as embryogenesis, wound healing, and angiogenesis. However, the specific biophysical signaling by which changes in cell shape contribute to cell cycle regulation remains poorly understood. Here, we describe our study of the roles of nuclear volume and cytoskeletal mechanics in mediating shape control of proliferation in single endothelial cells. Micropatterned adhesive islands were used to independently control cell spreading and elongation. We show that, irrespective of elongation, nuclear volume and apparent chromatin decondensation of cells in G1 systematically increased with cell spreading and highly correlated with DNA synthesis (percent of cells in the S phase). In contrast, cell elongation dramatically affected the organization of the actin cytoskeleton, markedly reduced both cytoskeletal stiffness (measured dorsally with atomic force microscopy) and contractility (measured ventrally with traction microscopy), and increased mechanical anisotropy, without affecting either DNA synthesis or nuclear volume. Our results reveal that the nuclear volume in G1 is predictive of the proliferative status of single endothelial cells within a population, whereas cell stiffness and contractility are not. These findings show that the effects of cell mechanics in shape control of proliferation are far more complex than a linear or straightforward relationship. Our data are consistent with a mechanism by which spreading of cells in G1 partially enhances proliferation by inducing nuclear swelling and decreasing chromatin condensation, thereby rendering DNA more accessible to the replication machinery.

The Mont-Mort metapelites: Variscan metamorphism and geodynamic context (Brianconnais basement, Western Alps, Switzerland)

The Mont-Mort metapelites are one of the best preserved relies of the Variscan unit in the Brianconnais basement. These micaschists crystallized during a poly-phase metamorphic cycle, under amphibolite facies conditions. Mineral parageneses and geothermobarometric calculations indicate a two-stage evolution. Stage (1) (550-600 degrees C and 5-8 kbar) is documented by assemblages of zoned garnet, staurolite, kyanite(?), biotite, muscovite, quartz and pla gioclase. Stage (2) (550-600 degrees C and 2 kbar) is illustrated by assemblages of andalusite, sillimanite, muscovite, biotite. This metamorphic evolution is characterized by a nearly isothermal decompression path, terminating with the formation of andalusite-bearing veins. U-Pb monazite dates at 330 Ma and Ar-40/Ar-39 muscovite dates at 290-310 Ma (without substantial evidence of argon resetting) point to Variscan metamorphism and yield an estimate of the time interval between the thermal peak and the retrogression stage within this part of the Brianconnais basement. Restoring the Brianconnais and other Alpine basement units within an existing geodynamic model of Cordillera construction and destruction, it is possible to understand better the transition from a medium pressure/high temperature regime (collision with a peak metamorphism around 330 Ma) to low-P/high-T conditions (decompression in an extensional regime) with high geothermal gradient, as recorded by the successive Variscan parageneses within the Mont-Mort metapelites.

Geomorphological heritage, conservation and promotion in high-alpine protected areas

In recent decades, recognition of both cultural and natural heritage has grown in the Alps. This tendency illustrates a collective identity building (local, national, alpine), but it also highlights, in the current context of global change, a renewed reflection of man's relationship with the environment. Thus, a fundamental and scientific intrinsic value (as a part of wilderness) tends to be recognized in the natural heritage as a whole. However, geoheritage (and geodiversity) is still often perceived as a secondary natural component, compared with bioheritage (and biodiversity). In this context, we study the geomorphological heritage (landforms and the processes that shape them) of Les Contamines-Montjoie Natural Reserve. Indeed, despite the high geomorphological richness (especially glacial) of the reserve, which covers more than 4000 ha of the Mont-Blanc Massif, local recognition of this heritage is still limited. In order to recognize and protect it, and starting with a scientific study, this research identifies the main local richness and assesses the geotourist and educational potentials. Finally, several tools to educate and promote geoheritage (educational paths and website) are proposed.

Context- and Prosody-Driven ERP Markers for Dialog Focus Perception in Children.

The development of language proficiency extends late into childhood and includes not only producing or comprehending sounds, words and sentences, but likewise larger utterances spanning beyond sentence borders like dialogs. Dialogs consist of information units whose value constantly varies within a verbal exchange. While information is focused when introduced for the first time or corrected in order to alter the knowledge state of communication partners, the same information turns into shared knowledge during the further course of a verbal exchange. In many languages, prosodic means are used by speakers to highlight the informational value of information foci. Our study investigated the developmental pattern of event-related potentials (ERPs) in three age groups (12, 8 and 5 years) when perceiving two information focus types (news and corrections) embedded in short question-answer dialogs. The information foci contained in the answer sentences were either adequately marked by prosodic means or not. In so doing, we questioned to what extent children depend on prosodic means to recognize information foci or whether contextual means as provided by dialog questions are sufficient to guide focus processing.Only 12-year-olds yield prosody-independent ERPs when encountering new and corrective information foci, resembling previous findings in adults. Focus processing in the 8-year-olds relied upon prosodic highlighting, and differing ERP responses as a function of focus type were observed. In the 5-year-olds, merely prosody-driven ERP responses were apparent, but no distinctive ERP indicating information focus recognition. Our findings reveal substantial alterations in information focus perception throughout childhood that are likely related to long-lasting maturational changes during brain development.

On the consequences of misspecifing assumptions concerning residuals distribution in a repeated measures and nonlinear mixed modelling context

In this paper we describe the results of a simulation study performed to elucidate the robustness of the Lindstrom and Bates (1990) approximation method under non-normality of the residuals, under different situations. Concerning the fixed effects, the observed coverage probabilities and the true bias and mean square error values, show that some aspects of this inferential approach are not completely reliable. When the true distribution of the residuals is asymmetrical, the true coverage is markedly lower than the nominal one. The best results are obtained for the skew normal distribution, and not for the normal distribution. On the other hand, the results are partially reversed concerning the random effects. Soybean genotypes data are used to illustrate the methods and to motivate the simulation scenarios

Entropy change of martensitic transformations in Cu-based shape-memory alloys

We have investigated the different contributions to the entropy change at the martensitic transition of different families of Cu-based shape-memory alloys. The total entropy change has been obtained through calorimetric measurements. By measuring the evolution of the magnetic susceptibility with temperature, the entropy change associated with conduction electrons has been evaluated. The contribution of the anharmonic vibrations of the lattice has also been estimated using various parameters associated with the anharmonic behavior of these alloys, collected from the literature. The results found in the present work have been compared to values published for the martensitic transition of group-IV metals. For Cu-based alloys, both electron and anharmonic contributions have been shown to be much smaller than the overall entropy change. This finding demonstrates that the harmonic vibrations of the lattice are the most relevant contribution to the stability of the bcc phase in Cu-based alloys.