An extended case study on the phenomenology of sequence-space synesthesia

Investigation of synesthesia phenomenology in adults is needed to constrain accounts of developmental trajectories of this trait. We report an extended phenomenological investigation of sequence-space synesthesia in a single case (AB). We used the Elicitation Interview (EI) method to facilitate repeated exploration of AB's synesthetic experience. During an EI the subject's attention is selectively guided by the interviewer in order to reveal precise details about the experience. Detailed analysis of the resulting 9 h of interview transcripts provided a comprehensive description of AB's synesthetic experience, including several novel observations. For example, we describe a specific spatial reference frame (a "mental room") in which AB's concurrents occur, and which overlays his perception of the real world (the "physical room"). AB is able to switch his attention voluntarily between this mental room and the physical room. Exemplifying the EI method, some of our observations were previously unknown even to AB. For example, AB initially reported to experience concurrents following visual presentation, yet we determined that in the majority of cases the concurrent followed an internal verbalization of the inducer, indicating an auditory component to sequence-space synesthesia. This finding is congruent with typical rehearsal of inducer sequences during development, implicating cross-modal interactions between auditory and visual systems in the genesis of this synesthetic form. To our knowledge, this paper describes the first application of an EI to synesthesia, and the first systematic longitudinal investigation of the first-person experience of synesthesia since the re-emergence of interest in this topic in the 1980's. These descriptions move beyond rudimentary graphical or spatial representations of the synesthetic spatial form, thereby providing new targets for neurobehavioral analysis

Biography of Tom Towe

https://digitalcommons.mtech.edu/crucible_bios/1016/thumbnail.jp

Increasing Entrepreneurship in Agriculture in an Economically Depressed Region

The article describes the purpose, conception, development, implementation, and evaluation of a series of workshops to support small/medium farms in a five-county area of northeastern North Carolina. Each of the workshops had a variety of topics to interest small and medium-sized farmers or those entering agriculture or agribusiness fields. The workshops, under a grant by the Golden Leaf Foundation, were to spur entrepreneurship within a rural, economically depressed region and implemented by an alliance of the Pasquotank County Center of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service and the School of Business & Economics at Elizabeth City State University

Transcript for Episode 34: Ending Exploitation: Natural Resource Extraction and 1970s Legislature

https://digitalcommons.mtech.edu/crucible_transcriptions/1033/thumbnail.jp

Choral Ensembles: Choirs in 3-D

Kennesaw State University School of Music presents Choral Ensembles: Choirs in 3-Dhttps://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1637/thumbnail.jp

Impact of carrier media on oxygen transfer and wastewater hydrodynamics on a moving attached growth system

This study investigated the impact of five different carrier media on oxygen transfer efficiency and flow mixing in a 2 m3 moving attached growth system pilot-plant. The five media studied varied in shape (cylindrical and spherical), size, voidage and protected surface area (112-610 m2/m3). In clean water tests, the media enhanced the overall oxygen transfer efficiency by 23-45% and hydraulic efficiency (HE) by 41-53%, compared with operation with no media. When using spherical media (Media 1, 2 and 3), the presence of biofilm increased the HE to 89, 93 and 100%, respectively. Conversely, Media 4 and 5 with biofilm contributed to a reduction in HE to 74 and 63%, respectively. The media protected surface area, the parameter traditionally selected to design biofilm processes, did not correlate with HE or with oxygen transfer efficiency in clean water tests. This study provides clear evidence that other media physical properties play a role in the mixing and oxygen transfer in moving attached growth systems. A correlation (R2) of 0.89 and 0.90 was obtained between the media dimensionality times voidage (Di x Voi) and HE, with and without biofilm development, respectively. The combination of parameters (Di x Voi / HE) also correlated well with oxygen transfer efficiency in clean water (R2 of 0.92 without biofilm and R2 of 0.88 with biofilm). Dimensionality and voidage should be utilised to design and optimise media size and shape, to enhance mixing and oxygen transfer, ultimately contributing to energy savings and higher removal efficiencies

Influence of carrier media physical properties on start-up of moving attached growth systems

Five carrier media with different shapes (spherical and cylindrical), sizes, voidage and protected surface areas (112–610 m2/m3) were studied in a pilot scale moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR). This study aimed at assessing start-up duration using biofilm formation rates. Results indicated that the spherical media required shorter periods to achieve stable biofilm formation rates associated with chemical oxygen demand (COD) (15–17 days), compared to cylindrical high surface area media (23–24 days). Protected surface area presented weaker correlations with the biofilm formation rate for COD (R2 = 0.83) and ammonia removal (R2 = 0.76). However, good correlations were observed with a combination of the media physical factors: dimensionality (Di), voidage (Voi), and hydraulic efficiency (HE) strongly correlated with biofilm formation rates for heterotrophic (R2 = 0.95) and nitrifying bacteria (R2 = 0.92). This study proposes that the media physical properties can contribute to shortening start-up, contributing to improved removal rates and fast commissioning of MBBRs

Media Theory, Public Relevance and the Propaganda Model

Since its initial formulation in 1988, the Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model (PM) has become one of the most widely tested models of media performance in the social sciences. This is largely due to the combined efforts of a loose group of international scholars as well as an increasing number of students who have produced studies in the US, UK, Canadian, Australian, Japanese, Chinese, German, and Dutch contexts, amongst others. Yet, the PM has also been marginalised in media and communication scholarship, largely due to the fact that the PM‟s radical scholarly outlook challenges the liberal and conservative underpinnings of mainstream schools of thought in capitalist democracies. This paper brings together, for the first time, leading scholars to discuss important questions pertaining to the PM‟s origins, public relevance, connections to other approaches within Communication Studies and Cultural Studies, applicability in the social media age, as well as impact and influence. The paper aligns with the 30th anniversary of the PM and the publication of the collected volume, The Propaganda Model Today, and highlights the PM‟s continued relevance at a time of unprecedented corporate consolidation of the media, extreme levels of inequality and class conflict as well as emergence of new forms of authoritarianism

Whole-genome resequencing of Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 undergoing short-term laboratory evolution in lactate minimal media reveals flexible selection of adaptive mutations

Background Short-term laboratory evolution of bacteria followed by genomic sequencing provides insight into the mechanism of adaptive evolution, such as the number of mutations needed for adaptation, genotype-phenotype relationships, and the reproducibility of adaptive outcomes. Results In the present study, we describe the genome sequencing of 11 endpoints of Escherichia coli that underwent 60-day laboratory adaptive evolution under growth rate selection pressure in lactate minimal media. Two to eight mutations were identified per endpoint. Generally, each endpoint acquired mutations to different genes. The most notable exception was an 82 base-pair deletion in the rph-pyrE operon that appeared in 7 of the 11 adapted strains. This mutation conferred an approximately 15% increase to the growth rate when experimentally introduced to the wild-type background and resulted in an approximately 30% increase to growth rate when introduced to a background already harboring two adaptive mutations. Additionally, most endpoints had a mutation in a regulatory gene (crp or relA, for example) or the RNA polymerase. Conclusions The 82 base-pair deletion found in the rph-pyrE operon of many endpoints may function to relieve a pyrimidine biosynthesis defect present in MG1655. In contrast, a variety of regulators acquire mutations in the different endpoints, suggesting flexibility in overcoming regulatory challenges in the adaptation