Dynamics of Faculty Engagement in the Movement for Democracy's Education at Nothern Arizona University: Backgrounds, Practices, and Future Horizons

As scholarship has become increasingly narrow and disconnected from public life, Kettering research has documented an intense sense of malaise in higher education, what Harry Boyte has called a loss of civic agency. Surprisingly, however, faculty at a few campuses have begun to self-organize to integrate civic work into their teaching and research. This study, by Blase Scarnati and Romand Coles, documents such efforts at Northern Arizona University. Rather than making civic engagement a specific project of one or two faculty, what makes this campus special is that civic engagement has taken hold across the university. Building on research by KerryAnn O'Meara, this working paper shows that civic engagement is not only fulfilling to faculty at an individual level but is starting to impact the civic culture of their institutions

Feeding rates of Aphyosemion geryyi (Cyprinodontidae) on mosquito larvae in the laboratory and in the field

L'analyse du contenu stomacal de trois populations d'#Aphyosemion geryi originaires de la Guinée (Conakry) a montré que cette espèce se nourrit principalement de petits crustacés, de formicidés et de larves de chironomes. La capacité prédatrice de ce poisson envers deux espèces de moustiques #Aedes aegypti et #Culex thalassius a été examinée par des expériences en laboratoire. La taille des proies, laquelle peut être en relation avec la mobilité des larves, est un facteur important pour déterminer la capacité prédatrice. #A. geryi, qui se nourrit aussi bien la nuit que le jour, présente cependant un maximum entre 10-19h00. Des expériences réalisées dans des habitats naturels montrent que ce poisson a un impact important sur les plus jeunes stades larvaires. Une réduction de 90% de la population de larves de culicidés a été obtenue pendant la période maximale de prise de nourriture. Au vu de ces résultats, cette espèce de #Cyprinodontidae$ pourrait être considérée pour une utilisation possible dans le contrôle biologique des larves de moustiques en Afrique de l'Ouest. (Résumé d'auteur

A nationwide survey of intensive care unit discharge practices

Objective: To describe intensive care unit (ICU) discharge practices, examine factors associated with physicians' discharge decisions, and explore ICU and hospital characteristics and clinical determinants associated with the discharge process. Design: Survey in adult ICUs affiliated with the Swiss Society of Intensive Care Medicine. Interventions: Questionnaire inquiring about ICU structure and organization mailed to 73 medical directors. Level of monitoring, intravenous medications, and physiological variables were proposed as elements of discharge decision. Five clinical situations were presented with request to assign a discharge disposition. Measurements and results: Fifty-five ICUs participated, representing 75% of adult Swiss ICUs. Responsibility for patient management was assigned in 91% to the ICU team directing patient care. Only 22% of responding centers used written discharge guidelines. One-half of the respondents considered at least 10 of 15 proposed criteria to decide patient discharge. ICUs in central referral hospitals used fewer criteria than community and private hospitals. The availability of intermediate care units was significantly greater in university hospitals. The ICU director's level of experience was not associated with the number of criteria used. In the five clinical scenarios there was wide variation in discharge decision. Conclusions: Our data indicate that there is marked heterogeneity in ICUs discharge practices, and that discharge decisions may be influenced by institutional factors. University teaching hospitals had more intermediate care facilities available. Written discharge guidelines were not widely use

Solubility of platinum in aqueous solutions at 25°C and pHs 4 to 10 under oxidizing conditions

Platinum has been found to be mobile under supergene conditions, including placers and weathering profiles. To elucidate the nature of Pt mobility in supergene environments, the dissolution of platinum metal was investigated under physicochemical conditions similar to those found in such environments. The solubility of platinum metal was measured at 25°C in several systems: Pt-K-HC8H4O4-H2O (pH 4.02), Pt-Na-HCO3-Cl-H2O (pH 6.40), Pt-Na-K-H2PO4-HPO4-H2O (pH 6.90), Pt-Na-HCO3-H2O (pH 8.30), Pt-Na-OH-H2O (pH 8.54), and Pt-Na-HCO3-H2O (pH 9.91). The redox conditions of these experiments were relatively oxidizing, with measured Eh values ranging from +280 to +590 mV. The ionic strength of the aqueous solutions did not exceed 0.30 (molal scale). The interpretation of the solubility results, in terms of the following reaction and its equilibrium constant, Pt(s)+nH2O left right double arrow Pt(OH)2−nn+nH++2e− served to identify the importance of the hydroxylated complex PtOH+ in the pH range (4 to 10) and to determine its stability constant at 25°C. Linear regression of the solubility data using the function log [Pt]−2pe=n pH+log Kn yielded a value of 1.01 ± 0.07 for n, the average ligand number, and −31.76 ± 0.55 for the thermodynamic equilibrium constant of reaction. The resulting stability constant (β1) of PtOH+ (Pt2+ + OH− left right double arrow PtOH+) is 24.91 ± 0.50, assuming the same value of the free energy of formation of Pt2+, ΔGfo(Pt2+) as that given by Glushko et al. (Thermodynamic Constants of Matter, Academy of Science, USSR, 1972). The range of values of ΔGfo(Pt2+) proposed to date is +185.63 to +258.74 kJ/mol. The value of Glushko et al. (1972) (+244.11 kJ/mol) appears to fit better with our measurements at pH 4 to 10 and with those of Wood (Wood S. A., “Experimental determination of the hydrolysis constants of Pt2+ and Pd2+ at 25°C from the solubility of Pt and Pd in aqueous hydroxide solutions,” Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 55, 1759–1767, 1991) at pH 9 to 15.5. Finally, according to these new measurements of the solubility of platinum, the recommended values for Gibbs free energy (ΔGfo, in kiloJoule per mole) of the different aqueous species of Pt are +244.11 (Pt2+), −55.96 (PtOH+), and −234.48 (Pt(OH)2(aq)). The integration of data from the literature for chloride and sulfate complexes was used to calculate the speciation of platinum in seawater and in solutions with variable chlorinity (0.1, 1, and 3 mol/L NaCl) at 25°C. These calculations showed that in the absence of strong ligands (i.e., S2O32−, CN−), the transport of platinum in supergene environments primarily occurs in the form of PtOH+ (90%) and Pt(OH)2(aq) (9.7%). Chloride complexes (PtCl42− and PtCl3−) account for less than 1% of the dissolved platinum. This study clearly shows that the hydroxylated complexes (PtOH+ and Pt(OH)2(aq)) can play a very important role in controlling platinum transfer mechanisms in surface fluids (soils, placers, weathering profiles, etc.). Because the charged species PtOH+ is largely predominant, the mobility and transfer of platinum can also be affected by adsorption-desorption mechanisms onto oxides and hydroxides

Lack of effect of combination antibiotic therapy on mortality in patients with pneumococcal sepsis

In order to determine whether combination antibiotic therapy decreases mortality after severe pneumococcal infection, a retrospective study of a cohort of 1,840 adult patients with severe sepsis or septic shock enrolled in two multicenter clinical trials between 1994 and 1999 was conducted. Among 107 patients with monobacterial pneumococcal sepsis, the case-fatality rate was 20% (five of 25) for patients who received antibiotic monotherapy compared with 19.5% (16 of 82) for patients who received combination therapy (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.4-3.1). Similarly, monotherapy did not increase the risk of death (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.0; 95% CI, 0.2-4.8) among bacteremic patients (n=75). However, the latter analysis may have been underpowered (power, 58%) to detect a difference in mortality. Overall, in contrast to recently published reports, these results suggest that combination antibiotic therapy does not decrease mortality after severe pneumococcal sepsi

Transpulmonary lactate gradient after hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass

Objective: Several studies demonstrated that the lungs could produce lactate in patients with acute lung injury (ALI). Because after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) some patients develop ALI, the effect of CPB on pulmonary lactate release was investigated. Design: Prospective observational clinical study. Setting: Twenty-beds, surgical ICU at a university hospital. Patients: Sixteen deeply sedated, ventilated and post-cardiac surgery patients, all equipped with a pulmonary artery catheter. Measurements and results: Lactate concentration was measured using a lactate analyser in simultaneously drawn arterial (A) and mixed venous (V) blood samples. Three measurements per patients were taken at 30-min interval, after body temperature reached 37°C. Concomitantly, measurements of cardiac output were also obtained. Pulmonary lactate release was calculated as the product of transpulmonary A-V lactate and cardiac index. The mean cardiopulmonary bypass duration was 100±44min (SD), and the aortic cross-clamping time was 71±33min. After CPB, lactate release was 0.136±0.210mmol/min m−2. These values were not correlated with cardiopulmonary bypass duration. Conclusion: The present study shows that in patients receiving mechanical ventilation after CPB, the lung is a source of lactate production. This pulmonary release was not dependent on cardiopulmonary bypass duratio

Freshwater fishes of Sierra Leone and Liberia : annotated checklist and distribution

A partir des collections déposées dans les muséums d'histoire naturelle européens et dans un muséum américain, réalisées en partie par les auteurs et à partir de travaux effectués dans cette zone, une mise à jour des connaissances de la faune ichtyologique des bassins côtiers de la Sierra Leone et du Liberia est présentée. Il a été tenu compte pour la nomenclature des révisions les plus récentes. Des listes par bassin hydrographique ont été établies qui doivent servir de base à un travail d'ensemble sur la zoogéograhie des poissons d'Afrique de l'ouest. (Résumé d'auteur