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The rise of distinct subcultures of cannabinoid users and the proliferation of new psychoactive substances derived from the hemp plant reflects a dynamic relationship between the development of new cannabis products and the growth of the markets for these goods. This research combines social science and analytical chemistry framework to explore the historical, linguistic, and chemical developments of cannabis acetates and related products over time. Understanding the multiplicity of contexts that have influenced the trajectory of moieties like THC-O-Acetate is an attempt at detecting and identifying other new psychoactive substances with structural or functional similarities to Δ⁹-THC through an interdisciplinary lens.

Over the last 40 years, many environmental design researchers have examined the environment’s impact on people and sought answers to questions on personal feelings with the environment and how people become attached to a place and develop feelings about it. Research in place attachment has primarily focused on the social aspect, leaving a gap in the literature related to concepts of the built environment. The present study seeks to fill this gap by addressing the issue of physical place attachment among specific groups of international graduate students at Texas Tech University, a large public university in West Texas. Previous studies focused on generic and largescale place concepts such as the physical neighborhood ambiance. This study, by contrast, examines how international students from China and India choose and develop an attachment to study spaces around the university. A grounded qualitative research design was selected as the exploratory method of studying how international graduate students select, interact with, and create an attachment to preferred study places on and off-campus. The researcher conducted semi-structured individual and focus group interviews with a purposive sample of 50 Indian and Chinese participants. The results revealed some similarities and differences between Indian and Chinese graduate students in their most and least-preferred physical design and ideal study places. Both groups preferred quietness and natural light. However, Chinese graduate students preferred to study alone, while Indian graduate students felt motivated and supported when studying with others.

Introduction: English-language proficiency of medical practitioners is an issue attracting increasing attention in medical education. To best provide language education support, it is essential that learning needs are assessed and that useful feedback and advice are provided. We report the outcomes of a language assessment that was embedded within the context of a comprehensive general practice learning-needs analysis. Methods: A group of general practitioner registrars (N = 18) training in Adelaide, South Australia, participated in the learning-needs analysis. The analysis used reliable, validated rating scales that provided information on both verbal and written language skills. These scales were used in the context of an objective structured clinical interview. The interviews were videotaped to enable multiple ratings per candidate. Following the learning-needs analysis, ratings were collated and fed back individually to participants according to a feedback report and template. Results: Of this sample, 5 (28%) were found to have no need for any assistance with either spoken or written language, 5 had poor handwriting, 5 were considered to have minor difficulties, and 3 (17%) were identified as having substantial spoken and written English-language difficulties. These outcomes allowed medical educators to focus the language education support offered to the general practitioner registrars appropriately. Conclusions: Language skills can be usefully assessed within a more comprehensive learning-needs analysis. In combination with this assessment, the provision of specific feedback and recommendations for appropriate language-learning opportunities is essential.

Partially purified yeast microsomal signal peptidase appears to be a complex of four polypeptides of 13, 18, 20, and 25 kDa. The 18-kDa chain is the product of the Sec11 gene, which is necessary for signal peptidase activity. The 25-kDa subunit is a glycoprotein that binds Con A. Two related methods for purification of the enzyme are presented; the first includes removal of peripheral membrane proteins from microsomes by alkali extraction, solubilization of the enzyme by nonionic detergent and high salt, and four different chromatographic procedures. An alternative method was developed based on lectin-affinity chromatography.

The benefits of study abroad programs in U.S. higher education are well documented. Lewis and Niesenbaum (2005) concluded that incorporating a service-learning component can greatly enhance a short-term study abroad program for the participant. The purpose of the paper is to document the preliminary results from an on-going study to determine the benefits of incorporating a service-learning component into a study abroad program. A qualitative, rather than quantitative approach was used in the evaluation process. The research involves a course in community-based ecotourism for landscape architecture students from Texas Tech University. It includes three weeks of travel and service-learning projects for rural Mayan villages. Students kept journals as their service-learning reflection activity that were analyzed utilizing the qualitative techniques described by Boyd, et al (2006) to determine themes of students’ interest or concern. The writing was further analyzed within The Taxonomy of the Affective Domain (Krathwohl, 1964) to document the level at which the students were reflecting on their experience. The results indicate an increased level of affective learning by most students, which correlate closely with those of Lewis and Niesenbaum (2005) who found that linking communitybased experiences with a study abroad curriculum enhances learning. Lewis and Niesenbaum also reference studies that indicate reasons why many students do not study abroad, including financial constraints and academic requirements. These concerns are echoed by the authors’ interviews and discussions with students and colleagues. Therefore, students can receive similar benefits from a short-term setting who are unable to participate in long-term programs.

In knowledge acquisition, one typically encounters two difficult situations: First, there are times when the system requests information that, due to a lack of information, the user is not in a position to provide at the level of precision requested. Second, there are situations where the system cannot capture information at the level of precision the user wishes to provide. We describe the techniques that have been developed for CYC to address these two cases during the extension of a variety of domains.

Excerpt A review of the literature reveals no well documented case of the existence of diabetes mellitus, hyperthyroidism and Addison's disease in one patient. Rowntree and Snell1reported one such ...

The study of peripheral vascular diseases has made rapid strides in the past decade, and has now reached the stage at which it can benefit from a clear, concise and descriptive classification. The need for such a classification becomes obvious when an attempt is made to cull the literature or to abstract hospital records. Increasing interest in peripheral vascular diseases has led to rapid accumulation of new knowledge, and the multiplicity of investigative reports has sharpened the need for some degree of uniformity in clinical designation. Repeatedly, methods of treatment reported to have yielded excellent results are subsequently found to be of no value in other hands. The reason too often is that widely differing stages of a disease process are grouped together as an entity, and cases included in one classification in one clinic are called instances of something else in another clinic. The simplest and most practical method

Excerpt It has become the custom, in the literature on peripheral vascular disease, to state that there has been an upsurge of interest in, and an increase in clinical and physiological understandi...

Excerpt Carbaminoylcholine, known popularly as Doryl, is one of the most powerful parasympathomimetic drugs known. As a choline derivative, its properties causing general vasodilatation suggested i...