Rhetoric, form, and sovereignty in Schubert\u27s Prometheus, D. 674

Franz Schubert\u27s Prometheus, D. 674 (1819), sets a free-verse dramatic monologue by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in which Prometheus, the Titan who presented fire and hope to mankind, declares himself independent from Zeus. This song belongs to a small group of Schubert\u27s Lieder that resemble scenes from operas more than tonally-closed art songs. The paper discusses some of Schubert\u27s compositional influences in the vocal genre, including Johann Friedrich Reichardt, who composed an earlier setting of the same Prometheus text. This paper explores the rhetorical structure of Goethe\u27s text, which follows Quintilian\u27s model for an effective argument, and which Schubert punctuates with changes of musical texture and character. The paper considers previous Schenkerian models-Krebs\u27s dual tonality and Burstein\u27s auxiliary cadence compositions-to arrive at a tonal plan of an incomplete Bassbrechung in C major. Though the keys tonicized in Prometheus belong to the C-minor pitch collection, the title character\u27s forceful conclusion is, ironically, in the key of C major. Schubert foreshadows Prometheus\u27s eventual downfall musically by including elements of modal mixture, illustrating the precariousness of a moment that ought to be Prometheus\u27s most decisive, his declaration of sovereignty

A theoretical study of antecedent soil moisture as it relates to the rainfall-runoff relationship

This paper addresses the feasibility of using antecedent soil moisture as a tool for predicting the extractions from rainfall due to the infiltration process by solving the one-dimensional equation for saturated- unsaturated flow through porous media. Soil moisture characteristics in the form of empirical equations were used to incorporate the hysteretic behavior of the soil-water relationships into the model. Two sets of parameters were developed to be representative of a silty sand and a silty fine sand. Extractions as infiltration from a given storm hyetograph and the total volume of direct runoff were computed for different initial moisture states. When the initial moisture state is such that the applied storm allows resaturation of the soil column, a well-defined relationship exists between soil moisture in the upper 20 or 30 cm of the soil column and the volume of runoff. Temporal distribution of a storm is a reflection of both the rainfall intensities and the storm duration. The correlation between soil moisture at a discrete depth and volume of runoff is greater for storms of high intensities --Abstract, page ii

Board of Director Composition, and Ownership and Their Relationship to Patents: An Empirical Study

In this paper we examine the impact of board structure on patenting activity. In particular, we look at inside directors, board diversity, inside ownership, and board size. Board diversity was significantly and negatively related to patenting activity and inside ownership was marginally and negatively related to patenting activity. The research is relevant to current businesses by illustrating the potential dangers of board diversity and inside ownership on patenting activity

Acute- and late-phase matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 activity is comparable in female and male rats after peripheral nerve injury.

BACKGROUND:In the peripheral nerve, pro-inflammatory matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 performs essential functions in the acute response to injury. Whether MMP-9 activity contributes to late-phase injury or whether MMP-9 expression or activity after nerve injury is sexually dimorphic remains unknown. METHODS:Patterns of MMP-9 expression, activity and excretion were assessed in a model of painful peripheral neuropathy, sciatic nerve chronic constriction injury (CCI), in female and male rats. Real-time Taqman RT-PCR for MMP-9 and its endogenous inhibitor, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) of nerve samples over a 2-month time course of CCI was followed by gelatin zymography of crude nerve extracts and purified MMP-9 from the extracts using gelatin Sepharose-beads. MMP excretion was determined using protease activity assay of urine in female and male rats with CCI. RESULTS:The initial upsurge in nerve MMP-9 expression at day 1 post-CCI was superseded more than 100-fold at day 28 post-CCI. The high level of MMP-9 expression in late-phase nerve injury was accompanied by the reduction in TIMP-1 level. The absence of MMP-9 in the normal nerve and the presence of multiple MMP-9 species (the proenzyme, mature enzyme, homodimers, and heterodimers) was observed at day 1 and day 28 post-CCI. The MMP-9 proenzyme and mature enzyme species dominated in the early- and late-phase nerve injury, consistent with the high and low level of TIMP-1 expression, respectively. The elevated nerve MMP-9 levels corresponded to the elevated urinary MMP excretion post-CCI. All of these findings were comparable in female and male rodents. CONCLUSION:The present study offers the first evidence for the excessive, uninhibited proteolytic MMP-9 activity during late-phase painful peripheral neuropathy and suggests that the pattern of MMP-9 expression, activity, and excretion after peripheral nerve injury is universal in both sexes

Technical Note: Comparing and ranking soil drought indices performance over Europe, through remote-sensing of vegetation

In the past years there have been many attempts to produce and improve global soil-moisture datasets and drought indices. However, comparing and validating these various datasets is not straightforward. Here, interannual variations in drought indices are compared to interannual changes in vegetation, as captured by NDVI. By comparing the correlations of the different indices with NDVI we evaluated which drought index describes most realistically the actual changes in vegetation. Strong correlation between NDVI and the drought indices were found in areas that are classified as warm temperate climate with hot or warm dry summers. In these areas we ranked the PDSI, PSDI-SC, SPI3, and NSM indices, based on the interannual correlation with NDVI, and found that NSM outperformed the rest. Using this best performing index, and the ICA (Independent Component Analysis) technique, we analyzed the response of vegetation to temperature and soil-moisture stresses over Europe

Adapting Global Service-Learning Project and Community Partnership Outcomes Using a “Tele-engineering” Approach in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Water Supply in Developing Countries (WSDC) service-learning course at Purdue University has fostered a strong partnership with the La Vega region in the Dominican Republic since 2012. During this time, an interdisciplinary group of engineering and science students has helped design drinking water treatment systems and the group has developed water, sanitation, and health (WASH) education materials. These WASH education and water safety approaches often have been conducted in person in the past. However, with the state of the COVID-19 pandemic and the inability to travel in the fall and spring semesters of the 2020–2021 academic year, the students have been exploring (1) the impact of the pandemic on the community schools in the La Vega province, (2) the impact of the pandemic on the current water treatment systems, and (3) possible solutions to implement a “virtual installation” of a water treatment system at our newest partner school in the community of Desecho. The coronavirus pandemic has ushered in a new way that we may approach our service-learning experiences in the future. More specifically, in the future, it may be more effective to serve as a “virtual consulting firm” of engineers and consultants, rather than builders, for the implementation and design of the water treatment systems. In this way, we may facilitate a partnership that fosters community agency and solution-based approaches to technical issues are led by local community members

Der Einfluss rhythmischer Instruktion auf das Bewegungslernen

Die vorliegende Studie untersucht am Beispiel einer Schrittfolge aus dem Tanz den Effekt rhythmisch verbaler Kurzphrasen (rvK) auf interne Bewegungsrepräsentationen und Ausführungsleistungen beim initialen Lernen. Es wird angenommen, dass ein positiver Effekt, vorwiegend in Verbindung mit verbaler Instruktion auftritt. Es wurde ein dreifaktorielles Untersuchungsdesign mit Messwiederholung eingesetzt (unabhängige Faktoren: rvK und Instruktion). 80 Versuchspersonen wurden randomisiert einer der vier Versuchsgruppen (VG) (1) Videoinstruktion (VI) + rvK, (2) VI, (3) Textinstruktion (TI) + rvK und (4) TI zugeteilt. Realisierungsversuche (RV) wurden bzgl. struktureller/adaptiver Bewegungsmerkmale und der Bewegungszeiten analysiert. Die Bewegungsrepräsentation wurde mittels instruktionsspezifischer, computerunterstützter Auswahltests (comAT) erfasst und mittels standardisierter Kurzinterviews (KI) erfasst. Zur Erhebung der Veränderung des emotionalen Befindens im Verlauf des Lernexperiments wurden Fragebögen (SBS-BZ) eingesetzt. In der Aneignungsphase absolvierten die Versuchpersonen jeweils dreimal im Abstand von einer Woche die Sequenz Instruktion – comAT – 5 RV – KI – SBS-BZ . Einen Tag später folgte der Retentionstest: comAT – 3 RV – comAT (Crossover Transfer). Die im Rahmen dieser Arbeit ausführlich dargestellten und diskutierten Ergebnisse können die obengenannten Annahmen eines instruktionsspezifischen Effekts rhythmisch verbaler Kurzphrasen nicht bestätigen. Weder bei der Bewegungsrealisierung noch bei der Bewegungsrepräsentation ergibt sich ein differenzieller Effekt der rvK. Auf das emotionale Befinden haben die rvK im Verlauf des Experimentes einen zunehmend positiven Effekt, der aber instruktionsunabhängig ist

Quantifying the Impact of Gene Flow on Phenotype-Environment Mismatch: A Demonstration with the Scarlet Monkeyflower Mimulus cardinalis

Geographic range margins offer testing grounds for limits to adaptation. If range limits are concordant with niche limits, range expansions require the evolution of new phenotypes that can maintain populations beyond current range margins. However, many species\u27 range margins appear static over time, suggesting limits on the ability of marginal populations to evolve appropriate phenotypes. A potential explanation is the swamping gene flow hypothesis, which posits that asymmetrical gene flow from large, well-adapted central populations prevents marginal populations from locally adapting. We present an empirical framework for combining gene flow, environment, and fitness-related phenotypes to infer the potential for maladaptation, and we demonstrate its application using the scarlet monkeyflower Mimulus cardinalis. We grew individuals sampled from populations on a latitudinal transect under varied temperatures and determined the phenotypic deviation (PD), the mismatch between phenotype and local environment. We inferred gene flow among populations and predicted that populations receiving the most temperature- or latitude-weighted immigration would show the greatest PD and that these populations were likely marginal. We found asymmetrical gene flow from central to marginal populations. Populations with more latitude-weighted immigration had significantly greater PD but were not necessarily marginal. Gene flow may limit local adaptation in this species, but swamping gene flow is unlikely to explain its northern range limit