Unexpected Questions Research Articles

Triazine-Based Tool Box for Developing Peptidic PET Imaging Probes: Syntheses, Microfluidic Radiolabeling, and Structure–Activity Evaluation

This study was aimed at developing a triazine-based modular platform for targeted PET imaging. We synthesized mono- or bis-cyclo(RGDfK) linked triazine-based conjugates specifically targeting integrin αvβ3 receptors. The core molecules could be easily linked to targeting peptide and radiolabeled bifunctional chelator. The spacer core molecule was synthesized in 2 or 3 steps in 64–80% yield, and the following conjugation reactions with cyclo(RGDfK) peptide or bifunctional chelator were accomplished using “click” chemistry or amidation reactions. The DOTA-TZ-Bis-cyclo(RGDfK) 13 conjugate was radiolabeled successfully with 64Cu(OAc)2 using a microfluidic method, resulting in higher specific activity with above 95% labeling yields compared to conventional radiolabeling (SA ca. 850 vs 600 Ci/mmol). The dimeric cyclo(RGDfK) peptide was found to display significant bivalency effect using I125-Echistatin binding assay with IC50 value as 178.5 ± 57.1 nM, which displayed a 3.6-fold enhancement of binding affinity compared to DOTA-TZ-cyclo(RGDfK) 14 conjugate on U87MG human glioblastoma cell. Biodistribution of all four conjugates in female athymic nude mice were evaluated. DOTA-“Click”-cyclo(RGDfK) 15 had the highest tumor uptake among these four at 4 h p.i. with 1.90 ± 0.65%ID/g, while there was no clear bivalency effect for DOTA-TZ-BisRGD in vivo, which needs further experiments to address the unexpected questions.

ESTHER'S ETHER: ATMOSPHERIC CHARACTER IN CHARLES DICKENS'S BLEAK HOUSE

Five chapters after the famousfoggy opening of Charles Dickens'sBleak House(1853), the novel's protagonist Esther Summerson disappears into thick air. Esther's “darling,” the young orphan Ada Clare, first discloses her companion's climatic dissolution when she celebrates her kind-hearted treatment of the hapless Jellyby children. Although Ada and Esther's guardian John Jarndyce maintains that a shower of “sugar-plums, or three-cornered raspberry tarts,” might be a suitable remedy for the children's neglect, Ada contradicts this proposition when she makes the odd claim, “It did better than that. It rained Esther” (61). This assertion that Esther's precipitated personhood is a “better” palliative than an abundance of sugared confections undoubtedly evinces Ada's childlike appreciation of her companion's effusive goodness. Within the larger scope of the novel, however, the remarkable notion that Esther's seemingly embodied actions and emotions are equivalent to rain, raises an unexpected but essential question: To what ends does Dickens's protagonist evaporate into the dense atmosphere we traditionally associate with the setting ofBleak House?

'I don't ever want to leave this room': benefits of researching 'with' children

This paper considers an alternative perspective to complement the existing body of research in child EFL/ESL. This perspective assumes that children�s views are different from those of adults, and, since children are �experts� of their own lives, it is worthwhile for adults to explore innovative ways in which their unique experiences and perspectives can be uncovered. The paper reports on the two authors� joint research projects in which children have been involved in various participatory activities. Using short extracts taken from conversations between an adult researcher and the children, we attempt to illustrate some of the benefits of researching �with� children. The data indicate that children exercise their agency by shaping the research activities in their own ways, making spontaneous comments, asking unexpected questions, and selecting topics they find relevant. We also consider some of the challenges involved in this type of research, but conclude by recommending that working with children �collaboratively� in research projects is an excellent learning experience for teachers, researchers, and children alike.

Animals Represent the past and the Future

It has been proposed by some that only humans have the ability to mentally travel back in time (i.e., have episodic memory) and forward in time (i.e., have the ability to simulate the future). However, there is evidence from a variety of nonhuman animals (e.g., primates, dolphins, scrub jays, rats, and pigeons) that they have some ability to recover personal memories of what-where-when an event occurred (an earlier requirement of the ability to recover an episodic memory) and answer unexpected questions (another requirement to distinguish between semantic and episodic memory). Also, perhaps more critically, according to Tulving’s more recent definition of mental time-travel, several animals (primates and scrub jays) have been shown to be able to pass the spoon test. That is, they are able to plan for the future. Thus, although humans show an advanced ability to mentally travel backward and forward in time, there is growing evidence that nonhuman animals have some of this capacity as well.

Meaning making as an interactional accomplishment: A temporal analysis of intentionality and improvisation in classroom dialogue

In this paper we offer a significant development of Baldry and Thibault's (2006) notion of a ‘meaning-making trajectory’ to explore the collective, and often improvisational, interactional processes of meaning making in classroom dialogue. We report a sociocultural discourse analysis (Mercer, 2004) of a series of history lessons with a class of 6–7 year-old children, which utilises the notion of ‘meaning potential’: to highlight the valuable distinction and flexible interplay between a teacher's intended meaning-making trajectory, and the meaning-making trajectories that are instantiated in interaction with pupils through dialogic interaction. We argue that where disparities are identified, often through pupils’ unexpected questions or contributions, there can be valuable teaching-and-learning opportunities for collaboratively constructing and appropriating common knowledge.

Interfaith Encounters between Jews and Christians in the Early Modern Period and Beyond: Toward a Framework

THE STUDY OF JEWISH HISTORY has come a long way since Salo Baron, in a seminal 1928 essay, demanded a break with the “lachrymose conception” of the history of the Jews in premodern Europe.1 Today, pre-Enlightenment Jewish history is no longer depicted as an uninterrupted chain of conflict and oppression—although, of course, those aspects cannot and should not be overlooked. On the other hand, it has been rightly stated that Baron’s “challenge was not really taken up by scholars in any systematic fashion,” and there are significant lacunae in the study of JewishChristian encounters and relations.2 In particular, we lack a framework for surveying the entire spectrum. While conflict and persecution were on one end, what exactly was on the other? This issue can be explored by way of a simple but maybe unexpected question: Were there amicable relations and friendships between Jews and Christians in medieval and early modern Europe? And if so—leaving aside, for the moment, the question of their frequency—how do we integrate them into our understanding of Christian-Jewish relations? By raising these questions, we can begin to outline a framework for the historical study of interfaith relations. In the process, we can shed new light on the general nature, perception, and practice of friendship in premodern Europe. The issue is thus not only the fact of interfaith friendships, but also how these particular friendships, characterized as they were by religious difference, fitted into the spectrum of practices and expectations associated with friendship. The question of premodern Jewish-Christian friendship has been tackled by scholars only reluctantly; some have even rejected it outright. Nearly half a century ago, Jacob Katz declared sweepingly that “the outside world did not overly occupy the Jewish mind” during that period.3 In this “outside world,” according to Katz, interaction between Jews and Christians was almost entirely “governed by the im-

Expect the Unexpected? Variations in Question Type Elicit Cues to Deception in Joint Interviewer Contexts

SummaryWe examined the effect of (i) a second interviewer's demeanour and (ii) asking expected and unexpected questions on cues to deception. We predicted that liars compared with truth tellers would provide more detail to expected questions and less detail to unexpected questions, particularly when the second interviewer is supportive. Liars prepare answers for expected questions, and a supportive interviewer will encourage them to provide more detail. By definition, liars have not prepared answers for unexpected questions, and their answers to such questions will be less detailed. Participants (N = 168) appeared before two interviewers: The first asked all the questions, and the second remained silent. The second interviewer exhibited either a supportive or a neutral demeanour. As predicted, liars provided more detail to expected questions and less detail to unexpected questions, particularly when the second interviewer was supportive. In conclusion, a supportive second interviewer elicits cues to deceit. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Effects of Unexpected Questions on Detecting Familiar and Unfamiliar Lies

Previous research suggests that lie detection can be improved by asking the interviewee unexpected questions. The present experiment investigates the effect of two types of unexpected questions: background questions and detail questions, on detecting lies about topics with which the interviewee is (a) familiar or (b) unfamiliar. In this experiment, 66 participants read interviews in which interviewees answered background or detail questions, either truthfully or deceptively. Those who answered deceptively could be lying about a topic they were familiar with or about a topic they were unfamiliar with. The participants were asked to judge whether the interviewees were lying. The results revealed that background questions distinguished truths from both types of lies, while the detail questions distinguished truths from unfamiliar lies, but not from familiar lies. The implications of these findings are discussed.

The effect of question expectedness and experience on lying about intentions

In recent years researchers have started to focus on lying about intentions (Granhag, 2010). In the present experiment participants were interviewed about their forthcoming trip. We tested the hypothesis that liars (N=43) compared to truth tellers (N=43) would give fewer details to unexpected questions about planning, transportation and the core event, but an equal amount or more detail to expected questions about the purpose of the trip. We also tested the hypothesis that participants who had previously experienced the intention (i.e., they had made such a trip before) would give more detail than those who had never experienced the intended action. The unexpected question hypothesis was supported, whereas the previous experience effect only emerged in interactions. The benefit of using different types of questions for lie detection purposes is discussed.

Every Day (review)

Reviewed by: Every Day Claire Gross Levithan, David . Every Day. Knopf, 2012. [336p]. Library ed. ISBN 978-0-375-97111-2 $19.99 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-307-93188-7 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 9-12. The narrator of Levithan's innovative, ambitious new novel, known only as A, wakes up in a new body every day, one that's always around the same age as A, always within a couple hours' radius of where the last host was. A has a strict noninterference policy with these borrowed lives and has forged a unique perception of human consciousness and connection as part of this rootless existence. When borrowing Justin, though, A falls for Justin's sweet, troubled girlfriend, Rhiannon, and starts taking risks to court her, including telling her about A's existence. As Rhiannon struggles to adjust to the possibility of falling in love with someone who is only consciousness, unattached to race or gender or any other external characteristic, A is pursued by a former host who, piecing together the clues A was careless enough to leave, starts a public witch hunt for what he believes is a devil bent on possession. At the same time, A begins to suspect that there may be others out there who lead the same strange existence—but how to find them? This unconventional romance considers some fascinating and unexpected questions about the nature of identity, consciousness, love, and gender. The philosophically dense underpinnings don't overwhelm the story, though, which features the sweet, smart, sad, hopeful teens Levithan fans will expect. Readers will identify with A's profound longing for connection ("I want to get back to yesterday. All I get is tomorrow"), but they'll also be intrigued by the butterfly effect A's presence may have on numerous other teens who make brief but memorable appearances. Speculative fiction fans will appreciate the in-depth consideration of the wild premise, while readers who enjoyed McLaughlin's Cycler (BCCB 7/08), Brooklyn, Burning (BCCB 11/11), and other gender-bending tales will find this a rewarding treatment of some similar themes. Copyright © 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

From parcels to global cadastre: challenges and issues of the post-cadastral reform in Quebec

In 1985, the Government of Quebec decided to update its cadastre by producing an accurate computer based representation of private land division in the province. The cadastral reform project is unique in terms of scale, methodology and final product characteristics. The end result of the cadastral reform will be a system no longer based on single parcel paper maps, but a global digital map. Despite the strict framework within which the Quebec cadastral reform was launched in 1992, this renovation has raised unexpected questions that still need to be answered. The aim of our study is to describe the challenges and problems that have been generated by this transition. First of all, the impacts of the new cadastral system on land surveyors’ professional activities have neither been fully identified nor estimated. In the past, the idea of integration into a large cadastral grid was not compulsory and land surveyors used to represent their cadastral operations on parcel plans without showing the neighbouring properties. Therefore, these plans often contained inaccuracies that were non-apparent until one tried to integrate the individual lots and then created into a global map. Discrepancies between neighbouring lots could occur at this occasion, forcing the land surveyor to make a deeper investigation of the area. The main challenge will be to ensure the improvement of the global cadastral map, by enhancing its consistency in accordance with field survey data, and by implementing correction procedures, particularly when scale or projection changes are required.

Animal Memory: Rats Can Answer Unexpected Questions about Past Events

A new study has found that rats are able to answer, in a hippocampus-dependent manner, unexpected questions about whether they recently ate food or not. The results highlight potential shared mechanisms for remembering personal events in rats and humans, and offer new insights into the nature of animal memory.

Rats Answer an Unexpected Question after Incidental Encoding

A fundamental aspect of episodic memory is that retrieval of information can occur when encoding is incidental and memory assessment is unexpected. These features are difficult to model in animals because behavioral training likely gives rise to well-learned expectations about the sequence of events. Thus, the possibility remains that animals may solve an episodic memory test by using well-learned semantic rules without remembering the episode at memory assessment. Here we show that rats can answer an unexpected question after incidental encoding in a hippocampal-dependent manner, consistent with the use of episodic memory. Rats were initially trained to report about a recent event (food versus no food) and separately searched for food where there was no expectation of being asked about the presence of food. To test episodic memory, we gave rats the opportunity to incidentally encode the presence or absence of food and unexpectedly asked them to report about the recent event. Temporary inactivation of the CA3 region of the hippocampus with bilateral infusions of lidocaine selectively eliminated the ability of rats to answer the unexpected, but not the expected, question. Our studies suggest that rats remember an earlier episode after incidental encoding based upon hippocampal-dependent episodic memory.

Small wild cats: the animal answer guide

Did you know that most wild cat species are small and that lions, tigers, and other large cats are the exception? That adult bobcats, clouded leopards, and other small wild cats are completely asocial? And that they fight only as a last resort? This entertaining and informative book reveals these and hundreds of other facts about the behavior, biology, and conservation of the more than 30 small wild cat species. From bobcats to servals, small cats are spread across the globe. They range in size from the rusty-spotted cat and African black-footed cat, each of which weighs around 5 pounds when fully grown, to the Eurasian lynx, which can reach an adult weight of 60 pounds. These felids are elusive, some are nocturnal, others are arboreal, and all are rare and secretive, making them especially difficult to study. James G. Sanderson, the world's leading field expert on small wild cats, and naturalist and wildlife artist Patrick Watson provide informative and entertaining answers to common and unexpected questions about these animals. The authors explain why some small cats live on the ground while others inhabit trees, discuss the form and function of their coat types and colors, offer scientifically sound information on human-small wild cat interactions, and even review the role that small wild cats have played in literature, religion, and mythology. The world of cats is as fascinating as it is diverse. Small Wild Cats: The Animal Answer Guide shows just how important and interesting the littlest of the nondomesticated feline family are.

Contextual social work and internationalizing social work education: Two sides of the same story?

• Summary: Social work is contextual; some may argue that there is a contradiction between advocating more internationalization in social work education and emphasizing the importance of contextual social work. This article starts with a review of some core concepts, followed by a discussion of results from an inquiry into social work around the world. The professors were asked to define and reflect upon the achievements, dilemmas and pitfalls related to the concepts of international, comparative and contextual social work. Together with some relevant literature, their reflections and understandings form the basis for this article. • Findings: The discussion of findings concerns a discourse about how useful global principles, values and ethics may be in approaching dilemmas in social work practices. It is concluded that there is no contradiction between advocating more internationalization in social work education, while at the same time emphasizing the importance of contextual social work. More internationalization by use of comparative social work is very useful, though it is necessary to be aware of the pitfalls and reflect upon how social work ethics can be applied in different contexts. • Applications: Having fellow students and scholars pose unexpected questions and representing new perspectives in the analysis of academic and professional issues is possible to do without diminishing the relevance of local research, education and practice, and will be productive for the learning process.

Answering the unexpected questions: Exploring the relationship between students' creative self-efficacy and teacher ratings of creativity.

Two studies explored the relationship between elementary students’ creative self-efficacy (CSE) beliefs (i.e., self-judgments of creative ability) and teachers’ ratings of students’ creativity. In Study 1, elementary students’ (N 595) CSE beliefs in science predicted teachers’ ratings of students’ creative expression in science, accounting for a significant, but small (3.4%), proportion of variation in teachers’ ratings. Results of Study 1 also indicate that students’ CSE beliefs tended to decline by grade level and teachers tended to rate females and White students as more creative. In Study 2, elementary students’ (N 306) CSE beliefs in science and math predicted teachers’ ratings of creative expression in math and science, again accounting for a significant, but small (2.1% in science; 4.2% in math), proportion of variation in teachers’ ratings. Also similar to Study 1, results indicate students’ CSE beliefs declined by grade level. Results of Study 2 indicate that students tended to underestimate their creative ability and tended to differentiate between creative ability in science and math (whereas their teachers did not). Implications for creativity research are discussed.

Watching What You Say

This article reports 3 pilot studies of cognitively impaired (CI) persons responding to different types of questions. Pilot 1 analyzed responses of 7 people at high CI risk and 7 people at low CI risk to questions asked during seated conversation. High-risk participants paused longer before responding. Pilot 2 identified types of questions asked from 1 participant in seated conversations with 2 interviewers and analyzed her responses. Pilot 3 introduced a dual task, walking while answering an unexpected question. The CI participants paused longer before responding than controls. A subset of 6 time-distance parameters distinguished gait of the 2 participant groups.

A demonstration setup to simulate detection of planets outside the solar system

We constructed a simple demonstration setup to simulate an extrasolar planet and its starrevolving around the system’s centre of mass. Periodic dimming of light from the star bythe transiting planet and the star’s orbital revolution simulate the two major ways ofdeducing the presence of an exoplanet near a distant star. Apart from being a visual aid forthose needing help, the setup also elicited unexpected questions and suggestions fromstudents, who achieved a fairly good level of understanding of the basis for the transit andradial velocity methods.

Drug and alcohol involvement in four types of fatal crashes.

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship of drunk and drugged driving to the occurrence of fatal crashes associated with speeding, failure to obey/yield, inattention, and seat belt nonuse. We examined data for fatally injured drivers involved in single-vehicle crashes killed in states in which more than 79% of the drivers were tested for drugs other than alcohol and had a known result. About 25% of the drivers tested positive for drugs, a figure almost double that estimated by the 2007 National Roadside Survey. Cannabinoids and stimulants each contributed to about 23% of the drugpositive results (6% among all fatally injured single-vehicle drivers). Stimulants more than cannabinoids were found to be associated with the four types of crashes under study. Some drugs showed a protective effect over the four crash types under study. Significant interactions between drugs and alcohol were observed. Stimulants contributed to the different types of fatal crashes irrespective of the levels of alcohol consumed by the drivers. This study provides further evidence of a link between drug consumption and fatal crashes. It also opens the door to some interesting and sometimes unexpected questions regarding the way drugs contribute to crashes, which we found varies depending on the type of crash considered, the class of drug, and the presence of alcohol. Research is also needed on drugs that could have a protective effect on the occurrence of fatal crashes. These findings could be highly relevant to the design of drug-related traffic laws and programs targeted at curbing drugged driving.

Validation of a rodent model of episodic memory

Episodic memory consists of representations of specific episodes that happened in the past. Modeling episodic memory in animals requires careful examination of alternative explanations of performance. Putative evidence of episodic-like memory may be based on encoding failure or expectations derived from well-learned semantic rules. In Experiment 1, rats were tested in a radial maze with study and test phases separated by a retention interval. The replenishment of chocolate (at its study-phase location) depended on two factors: time of day (morning vs. afternoon) and the presence or absence of chocolate pellets at the start of the test phase. Because replenishment could not be decoded until the test phase, rats were required to encode the study episode. Success in this task rules out encoding failure. In Experiment 2, two identical mazes in different rooms were used. Chocolate replenishment was trained in one room, and then they were asked to report about a recent event in a different room, where they had no expectation that the memory assessment would occur. Rats successfully answered the unexpected question, ruling out use of expectations derived from well-learned semantic rules. Our behavioral methods for modeling episodic memory may have broad application for assessments of genetic, neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological bases of both episodic memory and memory disorders such as those that occur in Alzheimer's disease.