Work on Internet child exploitation (ICE) teams require individuals to perform a number of investigative tasks, including viewing graphic images and videos of young children being sexually assaulted and tortured, to identify victims and locate perpetrators. Individuals involved in this work may be at higher risk for experiencing secondary traumatic stress because of the graphic images and sounds to which they are exposed. The impact of ICE investigations and what helps and hinders coping with the work was explored using the Critical Incident Technique with 14 members of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police integrated ICE team. Results suggest that there are a number of organizational and personal strategies that can assist those who work in this field to cope more effectively.
The defining feature of immersion language learning is the omnipresent pressure to communicate in the second language (L2), even as incipient skills are being acquired. This study uses the focused essay technique to investigate ambivalence about communicating among adolescent French immersion students (12-14 years of age). Students described situations in which they were most willing to communicate (241 entries received) and situations in which they were least willing to communicate (179 entries received). Responses reveal complex interrelations among linguistic development, L2 self-development, and the nonlinguistic issues that typically face adolescents. Most frequently, students discussed communication with teachers and friends in a school context, but other entries described situations outside the classroom, with extended family or encounters with media. Perceived competence and error correction were identified as major issues. Students also described feeling excluded or mocked because of their status as immersion students, but at other times they used language to form a secret club to exclude or poke fun at other people. Although we found substantial similarities between situations in which students are most or least willing to communicate, they can be differentiated by subtle changes in context that affect the authenticity of communication and needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness.ACQUIRING THE ABILITY TO COMMUNI-CATE in a second language (L2) is a complex process that features a dynamic interplay between the language learning context and the psychology of the learner. Immersion education and contentbased learning (Lyster, 2007) are particularly interesting pedagogical approaches because, in addition to their effects on L2 learning (Fortune &
A study was conducted in two parts to determine the prevalence of toxigenic Clostridium difficile in veal calves and retail meat. The first part of the study focused on the veal production continuum (farm to abattoir). Fifty calves from 4 veal herds (n=200) were followed for 18-22 weeks from the time of arrival on the veal farm to the time of slaughter. Fecal samples were collected from calves every 4-6 weeks. Half of the calves included in the study (n=100) were followed to the abattoir where carcass swabs were collected post slaughter. Fecal samples and carcass swabs were screened for genes encoding C. difficile toxins TcdA, TcdB, and CDT by using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Carcass swabs were also screened for toxigenic C. difficile by using traditional culture methods. In the second part of the study, ground veal products (n=50 samples) purchased from local grocery stores were examined for toxigenic C. difficile by using real-time PCR and traditional culture methods. Fecal samples from 56 of 200 (28%) calves tested positive for C. difficile toxin genes at least once over the course of the study. Calf age (p=0.011) influenced prevalence of C. difficile toxin genes in calf feces. Toxin genes of C. difficile were detected in one carcass swab by multiplex real-time PCR only. Toxigenic C. difficile was detected by PCR and culture in four (8%) and three (6%) ground veal samples, respectively. The findings of the study reveal that toxigenic C. difficile was most prevalent in veal calves (12%) just before slaughter, although viable toxigenic C. difficile was not recovered from veal carcasses. On the contrary, viable toxigenic C. difficle was recovered from 6% retail meat, thus suggesting that contamination occurs either during or after veal fabrication.
Embolic protection during transcatheter aortic valve intervention seems feasible and might have the potential to reduce the risk of cerebral embolism and stroke.
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