Whose Needs Does Service Serve? Complicating the Citizen Soldier Narrative

The growth of conscript militaries was integral to the creation of civil rights in European nation-states, which established militaries as a key site of claims-making. However, the United States military has diverged from these models, and most cases of inclusion or integration of social groups are not directly connected with claims-making. What has influenced the U.S. military’s responsiveness to pressures, both internal and external, and how has this changed over time? I employ a comparative historical approach to three cases—African-Americans, women, and non-heterosexuals—to unpack the U.S. military as a state institution and a site of claims-making. By incorporating elements unique to American institutions into existing models of militaries, I find that the U.S. military has become increasingly vulnerable to domestic political, international political, internal economic, and internal and external cultural pressures since the World War period. Despite its enormous economic and physical strength, the U.S. military is more responsive now than ever before to internal and external demands

A Forward Genetic Approach in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as a Strategy for Exploring Starch Catabolism

International audienceA screen was recently developed to study the mobilization of starch in the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. This screen relies on starch synthesis accumulation during nitrogen starvation followed by the supply of nitrogen and the switch to darkness. Hence multiple regulatory networks including those of nutrient starvation, cell cycle control and light to dark transitions are likely to impact the recovery of mutant candidates. In this paper we monitor the specificity of this mutant screen by characterizing the nature of the genes disrupted in the selected mutants. We show that one third of the mutants consisted of strains mutated in genes previously reported to be of paramount importance in starch catabolism such as those encoding β-amylases, the maltose export protein, and branching enzyme I. The other mutants were defective for previously uncharacterized functions some of which are likely to define novel proteins affecting starch mobilization in green algae

Far From \u27Easy\u27 Spectroscopy with the 8π and GRIFFIN Spectrometers at TRIUMF-ISAC

The 8π spectrometer, installed at the TRIUMF-ISAC facility, was the world\u27s most sensitive γ-ray spectrometer dedicated to β-decay studies. A description is given of the 8π spectrometer and its auxiliary detectors including the plastic scintillator array SCEPTAR used for β-particle tagging and the Si(Li) array PACES for conversion electron measurements, its moving tape collector, and its data acquisition system. The recent investigation of the decay of 124Cs to study the nuclear structure of 124Xe, and how the β-decay measurements complemented previous Coulomb excitation studies, is highlighted, including the extraction of the deformation parameters for the excited 0+ bands in 124Xe. As a by-product, the decay scheme of the (7+) 124Cs isomeric state, for which the data from the PACES detectors were vital, was studied. Finally, a description of the new GRIFFIN spectrometer, which uses the same auxiliary detectors as the 8π spectrometer, is given

TESS asteroseismology of the known red-giant host stars HD 212771 and HD 203949

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DESCANT and β-Delayed Neutron Measurements at TRIUMF

The DESCANT array (Deuterated Scintillator Array for Neutron Tagging) consists of up to 70 detectors, each filled with approximately 2 liters of deuterated benzene. This scintillator material o_ers pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) capabilities to distinguish between neutrons and γ-rays interacting with the scintillator material. In addition, the anisotropic nature of n – d scattering allows for the determination of the neutron energy spectrum directly from the pulse height spectrum, complementing the traditional time-of-flight (ToF) information. DESCANT can be coupled either to the TIGRESS (TRIUMF-ISAC Gamma-Ray Escape Suppressed Spectrometer) γ-ray spectrometer [1] located in the ISAC-II [2] hall of TRIUMF for in-beam experiments, or to the GRIFFIN (Gamma-Ray Infrastructure For Fundamental Investigations of Nuclei) γ-ray spectrometer [3] located in the ISAC-I hall of TRIUMF for decay spectroscopy experiments

Modulation of EEG spectral edge frequency during patterned pneumatic oral stimulation in preterm infants

Background—Stimulation of the nervous system plays a central role in brain development and neurodevelopmental outcome. Thalamocortical and corticocortical development is diminished in premature infants and correlated to electroencephalography (EEG) progression. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of orocutaneous stimulation on the modulation of spectral edge frequency, fc=90% (SEF-90) derived from EEG recordings in preterm infants. Methods—Twenty two preterm infants were randomized to experimental and control conditions. Pulsed orocutaneous stimulation was presented during gavage feedings begun at around 32 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA). The SEF-90 was derived from 2-channel EEG recordings. Results—Compared to the control condition, the pulsed orocutaneous stimulation produced a significant reorganization of SEF-90 in the left (p = 0.005) and right (p \u3c 0.0001) hemispheres. Notably, the left and right hemisphere showed a reversal in the polarity of frequency shift, demonstrating hemispheric asymmetry in the frequency domain. Pulsed orocutaneous stimulation also produced a significant pattern of short term cortical adaptation and a long term neural adaptation manifest as a 0.5 Hz elevation in SEF-90 after repeated stimulation sessions. Conclusion—This is the first study to demonstrate the modulating effects of a servo-controlled oral somatosensory input on the spectral features of EEG activity in preterm infants

High-Statistics β\u3csup\u3e+\u3c/sup\u3e/EC-Decay Study of \u3csup\u3e122\u3c/sup\u3eXe

Low-lying excited states of 122Xe have been studied via the β+/EC decay of 122Cs with the 8π γ-ray spectrometer at the TRIUMF Isotope Separator and Accelerator facility. The data collected have enabled the observation of new in-band transitions in the excited 0+ state bands. In addition, the 2+ members of the second 0+ and third 0+ state bands have been firmly confirmed by angular correlation analysis

Emergence and Spread of Streptococcus pneumoniae with erm(B) and mef(A) Resistance

Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates (N = 31,001) were collected from patients with community-acquired respiratory tract infections during the PROTEKT US surveillance study (2000–2003). While the macrolide (erythromycin) resistance rate remained stable at ≈29%, the prevalence of resistant isolates containing both erm(B) and mef(A) increased from 9.7% in year 1 to 16.4% in year 3, with substantial regional variability. Almost all (99.2%) dual erm(B)+mef(A) macrolide-resistant isolates exhibited multidrug resistance, whereas 98.6% and 99.0% were levofloxacin- and telithromycin-susceptible, respectively. These strains were most commonly isolated from the ear or middle-ear fluid of children. Of 152 representative erm(B)+mef(A) isolates, >90% were clonally related to the multidrug-resistant international Taiwan19F-14 clonal complex 271 (CC271). Of 366 erm(B)+mef(A) isolates from the PROTEKT global study (1999–2003), 83.3% were CC271, with the highest prevalence seen in South Africa, South Korea, and the United States. This study confirms the increasing global emergence and rapidly increasing US prevalence of this multidrug-resistant pneumococcal clone