Ben Jonson's Sejanus: historiography and the political tragedy

Though Ben Jonson's Sejanus has received virtually no approbation as a work for the theater, it has yet been the subject of much critical attention. There is widespread recognition that the play is no ordinary failure, that it is a work full of learning, carefully structured and thematically potent, an intelligent effort to reform Renaissance historical tragedy. Still there is no agreement about what kind of achievement the play actually represents. The concern of this dissertation is with the intellectual origins of the play; it is a study in the traditions and methods which appear to have guided Jonson in his writing of Sejanus. It is my thesis that its genesis is to be found in Jonson's interest in non-literary discipines - history, methods of historical writing, politics and constitutional issues - rather than in literary criticism and conventions. Jonson found his new style in political history, his themes in the conflict between morality and the logistics of realpolitik

Gastrointestinal tract size, total-tract digestibility, and rumen microflora in different dairy cow genotypes

peer-reviewedThe superior milk production efficiency of Jersey (JE) and Jersey × Holstein-Friesian (JE × HF) cows compared with Holstein-Friesian (HF) has been widely published. The biological differences among dairy cow genotypes, which could contribute to the milk production efficiency differences, have not been as widely studied however. A series of component studies were conducted using cows sourced from a longer-term genotype comparison study (JE, JE × HF, and HF). The objectives were to (1) determine if differences exist among genotypes regarding gastrointestinal tract (GIT) weight, (2) assess and quantify whether the genotypes tested differ in their ability to digest perennial ryegrass, and (3) examine the relative abundance of specific rumen microbial populations potentially relating to feed digestibility. Over 3 yr, the GIT weight was obtained from 33 HF, 35 JE, and 27 JE × HF nonlactating cows postslaughter. During the dry period the cows were offered a perennial ryegrass silage diet at maintenance level. The unadjusted GIT weight was heavier for the HF than for JE and JE × HF. When expressed as a proportion of body weight (BW), JE and JE × HF had a heavier GIT weight than HF. In vivo digestibility was evaluated on 16 each of JE, JE × HF, and HF lactating dairy cows. Cows were individually stalled, allowing for the total collection of feces and were offered freshly cut grass twice daily. During this time, daily milk yield, BW, and dry matter intake (DMI) were greater for HF and JE × HF than for JE; milk fat and protein concentration ranked oppositely. Daily milk solids yield did not differ among the 3 genotypes. Intake capacity, expressed as DMI per BW, tended to be different among treatments, with JE having the greatest DMI per BW, HF the lowest, and JE × HF being intermediate. Production efficiency, expressed as milk solids per DMI, was higher for JE than HF and JE × HF. Digestive efficiency, expressed as digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, N, neutral detergent fiber, and acid detergent fiber, was higher for JE than HF. In grazing cows (n = 15 per genotype) samples of rumen fluid, collected using a transesophageal sampling device, were analyzed to determine the relative abundance of rumen microbial populations of cellulolytic bacteria, protozoa, and fungi. These are critically important for fermentation of feed into short-chain fatty acids. A decrease was observed in the relative abundance of Ruminococcus flavefaciens in the JE rumen compared with HF and JE × HF. We can deduce from this study that the JE genotype has greater digestibility and a different rumen microbial population than HF. Jersey and JE × HF cows had a proportionally greater GIT weight than HF. These differences are likely to contribute to the production efficiency differences among genotypes previously reported

Integrated metabolome and transcriptome analysis of the NCI60 dataset

Abstract Background Metabolite profiles can be used for identifying molecular signatures and mechanisms underlying diseases since they reflect the outcome of complex upstream genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and environmental events. The scarcity of publicly accessible large scale metabolome datasets related to human disease has been a major obstacle for assessing the potential of metabolites as biomarkers as well as understanding the molecular events underlying disease-related metabolic changes. The availability of metabolite and gene expression profiles for the NCI-60 cell lines offers the possibility of identifying significant metabolome and transcriptome features and discovering unique molecular processes related to different cancer types. Methods We utilized a combination of analytical methods in the R statistical package to evaluate metabolic features associated with cancer cell lines from different tissue origins, identify metabolite-gene correlations and detect outliers cell lines based on metabolome and transcriptome data. Statistical analysis results are integrated with metabolic pathway annotations as well as COSMIC and Tumorscape databases to explore associated molecular mechanisms. Results Our analysis reveals that although the NCI-60 metabolome dataset is quite noisy comparing with microarray-based transcriptome data, it does contain tissue origin specific signatures. We also identified biologically meaningful gene-metabolite associations. Most remarkably, several abnormal gene-metabolite relationships identified by our approach can be directly linked to known gene mutations and copy number variations in the corresponding cell lines. Conclusions Our results suggest that integrative metabolome and transcriptome analysis is a powerful method for understanding molecular machinery underlying various pathophysiological processes. We expect the availability of large scale metabolome data in the coming years will significantly promote the discovery of novel biomarkers, which will in turn improve the understanding of molecular mechanism underlying diseases.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112946/1/12859_2011_Article_4394.pd

Registration of ‘Hallam’ Wheat

‘Hallam’ (Reg. no. CV-983, PI 638790) is a hard red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar developed cooperatively by the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station and the USDA-ARS and released in 2005 by the developing institutions. Hallam was released primarily for its superior adaptation to rainfed wheat production systems in eastern Nebraska. The name Hallam was chosen to honor Hallam, NE, a town and its people rebuilding after a tornado. Hallam was selected from the cross ‘Brule’ (Schmidt et al., 1983)/‘Bennett’ (Schmidt et al., 1981)//‘Niobrara’ (Baenziger et al., 1996) that was made in 1992. The F1 generation was grown in the greenhouse and the F2 to F3 generations were advanced using the bulk breeding method in the field at Mead, NE. In 1995, single F3:4 rows were planted for selection. Hallam was selected in the F4 and there was no further selection thereafter. Hallam was evaluated as NE98471 in Nebraska yield nurseries starting in 1999, in the Northern Regional Performance Nursery in 2001 and 2002, and in Nebraska cultivar performance trials from 2002 to 2004. In the Nebraska cultivar performance trials, it was narrowly adapted and performs best in eastern Nebraska. The average Nebraska rainfed yield of Hallam of 4110 kg ha-1 (41 environments from 2002 to 2004) was greater than the yields of ‘Wahoo’ (4030 kg ha-1; Baenziger et al., 2002), ‘Alliance’ (3880 kg ha-1; Baenziger et al., 1995), and ‘Harry’ (4000 kg ha-1; Baenziger et al., 2004b), but was lower than ‘Millennium’ (4180 kg ha-1; Baenziger et al., 2001) and ‘Wesley’ (4210 kg ha-1; Peterson et al., 2001). In its primary area of adaptation (eastern Nebraska), Hallam has yielded 4540 kg ha-1 (five environments), which was greater than Wesley (4150 kg ha-1), Millennium (4250 kg ha-1), Wahoo (3940 kg ha-1), and Alliance (3900 kg ha21). In the Northern Regional Performance Nursery, Hallam ranked 14th of 30 in 2001 (12 environments) and fourth of 25 entries in 2002 (13 environments) and averaged 100 kg ha-1 more grain yield than ‘Nekota’ (Haley et al., 1996). Hallam is not recommended for use in irrigated production systems where other wheat cultivars with superior performance, especially with better straw strength (described below), would be recommended. Other measurements of performance from comparison trials show that Hallam is moderately early in maturity (142 d after January 1, five environments), about 2.5 d and 1.2 d earlier flowering than Millennium and Wesley, respectively. Hallam is a semidwarf wheat cultivar. Hallam has a medium short coleoptile (46 mm), as expected for a semidwarf wheat cultivar, and is shorter than ‘Goodstreak’ (61 mm; Baenziger et al., 2004a) and slightly longer than semidwarf wheat cultivars such as Harry (36 mm). The mature plant height of Hallam (86 cm) is 3 cm shorter than Millennium and 6 cm taller than Wesley (41 environments). Hallam has moderate straw strength (45% lodged), similar to Wahoo (46% lodged), but worse than Wesley (34% lodged) in those environments (3) where severe lodging was found. The winter hardiness of Hallamis good to very good, similar to ‘Abilene’ (PI 511307) and comparable to other winter wheat cultivars adapted and commonly grown in Nebraska

Registration of ‘Hallam’ Wheat

‘Hallam’ (Reg. no. CV-983, PI 638790) is a hard red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar developed cooperatively by the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station and the USDA-ARS and released in 2005 by the developing institutions. Hallam was released primarily for its superior adaptation to rainfed wheat production systems in eastern Nebraska. The name Hallam was chosen to honor Hallam, NE, a town and its people rebuilding after a tornado. Hallam was selected from the cross ‘Brule’ (Schmidt et al., 1983)/‘Bennett’ (Schmidt et al., 1981)//‘Niobrara’ (Baenziger et al., 1996) that was made in 1992. The F1 generation was grown in the greenhouse and the F2 to F3 generations were advanced using the bulk breeding method in the field at Mead, NE. In 1995, single F3:4 rows were planted for selection. Hallam was selected in the F4 and there was no further selection thereafter. Hallam was evaluated as NE98471 in Nebraska yield nurseries starting in 1999, in the Northern Regional Performance Nursery in 2001 and 2002, and in Nebraska cultivar performance trials from 2002 to 2004. In the Nebraska cultivar performance trials, it was narrowly adapted and performs best in eastern Nebraska. The average Nebraska rainfed yield of Hallam of 4110 kg ha-1 (41 environments from 2002 to 2004) was greater than the yields of ‘Wahoo’ (4030 kg ha-1; Baenziger et al., 2002), ‘Alliance’ (3880 kg ha-1; Baenziger et al., 1995), and ‘Harry’ (4000 kg ha-1; Baenziger et al., 2004b), but was lower than ‘Millennium’ (4180 kg ha-1; Baenziger et al., 2001) and ‘Wesley’ (4210 kg ha-1; Peterson et al., 2001). In its primary area of adaptation (eastern Nebraska), Hallam has yielded 4540 kg ha-1 (five environments), which was greater than Wesley (4150 kg ha-1), Millennium (4250 kg ha-1), Wahoo (3940 kg ha-1), and Alliance (3900 kg ha21). In the Northern Regional Performance Nursery, Hallam ranked 14th of 30 in 2001 (12 environments) and fourth of 25 entries in 2002 (13 environments) and averaged 100 kg ha-1 more grain yield than ‘Nekota’ (Haley et al., 1996). Hallam is not recommended for use in irrigated production systems where other wheat cultivars with superior performance, especially with better straw strength (described below), would be recommended. Other measurements of performance from comparison trials show that Hallam is moderately early in maturity (142 d after January 1, five environments), about 2.5 d and 1.2 d earlier flowering than Millennium and Wesley, respectively. Hallam is a semidwarf wheat cultivar. Hallam has a medium short coleoptile (46 mm), as expected for a semidwarf wheat cultivar, and is shorter than ‘Goodstreak’ (61 mm; Baenziger et al., 2004a) and slightly longer than semidwarf wheat cultivars such as Harry (36 mm). The mature plant height of Hallam (86 cm) is 3 cm shorter than Millennium and 6 cm taller than Wesley (41 environments). Hallam has moderate straw strength (45% lodged), similar to Wahoo (46% lodged), but worse than Wesley (34% lodged) in those environments (3) where severe lodging was found. The winter hardiness of Hallamis good to very good, similar to ‘Abilene’ (PI 511307) and comparable to other winter wheat cultivars adapted and commonly grown in Nebraska

Exact Bayesian curve fitting and signal segmentation.

We consider regression models where the underlying functional relationship between the response and the explanatory variable is modeled as independent linear regressions on disjoint segments. We present an algorithm for perfect simulation from the posterior distribution of such a model, even allowing for an unknown number of segments and an unknown model order for the linear regressions within each segment. The algorithm is simple, can scale well to large data sets, and avoids the problem of diagnosing convergence that is present with Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) approaches to this problem. We demonstrate our algorithm on standard denoising problems, on a piecewise constant AR model, and on a speech segmentation problem

Research priority setting related to older adults: a scoping review to inform the Cochrane-Campbell Global Ageing Partnership work programme.

OBJECTIVE: To explore and map the findings of prior research priority-setting initiatives related to improving the health and well-being of older adults. DESIGN: Scoping review. DATA SOURCES: Searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, AgeLine, CINAHL and PsycINFO databases from January 2014 to 26 April 2021, and the James Lind Alliance top 10 priorities. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: We included primary studies reporting research priorities gathered from stakeholders that focused on ageing or the health of older adults (≥60 years). There were no restrictions by setting, but language was limited to English and French. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: We used a modified Reporting Guideline for Priority Setting of Health Research (REPRISE) guideline to assess the transparency of the reported methods. Population-intervention-control-outcome (PICO) priorities were categorised according to their associated International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI) and International Classification of Functioning (ICF) outcomes. Broad research topics were categorised thematically. RESULTS: Sixty-four studies met our inclusion criteria. The studies gathered opinions from various stakeholder groups, including clinicians (n=56 studies) and older adults (n=35), and caregivers (n=24), with 75% of the initiatives involving multiple groups. None of the included priority-setting initiatives reported gathering opinions from stakeholders located in low-income or middle-income countries. Of the priorities extracted, 272 were identified as broad research topics, while 217 were identified as PICO priorities. PICO priorities that involved clinical outcomes (n=165 priorities) and interventions concerning health-related behaviours (n=59) were identified most often. Broad research topics on health services and systems were identified most often (n=60). Across all these included studies, the reporting of six REPRISE elements was deemed to be critically low. CONCLUSION: Future priority setting initiatives should focus on documenting a more detailed methodology with all initiatives eliciting opinions from caregivers and older adults to ensure priorities reflect the opinions of all key stakeholder groups

On the Security Cost of Using a Free and Open Source Component in a Proprietary Product

The work presented in this paper is motivated by the need to estimate the security effort of consuming Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) components within a proprietary software supply chain of a large European software vendor. To this extent we have identified three different cost models: centralized (the company checks each component and propagates changes to the different product groups), distributed (each product group is in charge of evaluating and fixing its consumed FOSS components), and hybrid (only the least used components are checked individually by each development team). We investigated publicly available factors (\eg, development activity such as commits, code size, or fraction of code size in different programming languages) to identify which one has the major impact on the security effort of using a FOSS component in a larger software product