EFFECT OF PLANTING DATE, NITROGEN RATE, AND HYBRID ON SUNFLOWER

Sunflower is a potential crop for the southeastern United States for production of cooking oil or biodiesel. In 2007, we evaluated the effect of planting date (PD, 20 April, 20 May, and 20 June), nitrogen (N) application rate (0, 67, 134, and 202 kg ha−1), and hybrid (‘DKF3875’, ‘DKF2990’, ‘DKF3510’, and ‘DKF3901’) on sunflower productivity and oil profile in four Mississippi locations, Newton, Starkville, and two sites in Verona. There was a trend of increased oleic acid concentration with earlier planting dates, especially in hybrids with lower oleic acid concentration. Earlier planting dates of ‘DKF3901’ and ‘DKF2990’ (the hybrid with the lowest oleic acid) actually had 200 to 300 g kg−1 higher concentration of oleic acid when grown in Mississippi vs. the original seed of the same hybrids used for planting and produced at a more northern latitude. This and a recent study in Mississippi suggest that modern hybrids could provide ample yields even when the N fertilization is relatively low

Late-stage diagnosis of HIV infection in Brazilian children: evidence from two national cohort studies

This study analyzed data from two consecutive retrospective cohort samples (1983 to 1998 and 1999 to 2002) of Brazilian children with AIDS (N = 1,758) through mother-to-child-transmission. Late-stage diagnosis (CDC category C) was investigated in relation to the following variables: year of birth, year of HIV diagnosis, and time periods related to changes in government treatment guidelines. Late-stage diagnosis occurred in 731 (41.6%) of cases and was more prevalent in infants under 12 months of age. The rate of late-stage diagnosis decreased from 48% to 36% between the two periods studied. We also observed a reduction in the proportion of late-stage diagnoses and the time lapse between HIV diagnosis and ART initiation. A significant association was found between timely diagnosis and having been born in recent years (OR = 0.62; p = 0.009) and year of HIV diagnosis (OR = 0.72; p = 0.002/OR = 0.62; p < 0.001). Infants under the age of 12 months were more likely to be diagnosed at a late stage than older children (OR = 1.70; p = 0.004). Despite advances, there is a need to improve the effectiveness of policies and programs focused on improving early diagnosis and management of HIV/AIDS

Some clues about story in crime fiction

I want to begin my talk at this colloquium by saying from the start that I am outclassed here. I have published one crime novel, and while I have used some aspects of the crime genre in my current novel - notably a kind of mystery and a movement towards resolution - I would not classify myself as an expert. What I do know about is the teaching of writing, the value of plot and the ever-important idea of story. Story and aspects of plot are vital ingredients in crime fiction and so I come to the task of writing this paper searching for more clues about how to write story in crime fiction.<br /

A question of genre : de-mystifying the exegesis

In this paper I wish to draw together two on-oing debates which are being played out, at least in part, in TEXT. These debates concern the nature of research for the discipline of Creative Writing and those dealing with problems associated with awarding and assessing research higher degrees - MAs, MA(Hons), MPhils and PhDs. In particular I wish to suggest that the combination of these two debates sheds considerable light on the nature and role of the research higher degree\u27s exegesis which accompanies the creative product.<br /

Fragments of a map ; an exegesis concerning the novel, Fragments of a map

The novel explores the journey towards completion for two women and, through its concerns and structure, plays with the notion of research in the creative arts. The exegesis comments upon the concerns of the novel, and the writing and research processes

An Allegory

Arts, Education & Law Group, School of Humanities, Languages and Social SciencesNo Full Tex

Collaborative practice categorising forms of collaboration for practitioners

Collaborative works are intrinsically different than books written by one author alone...the decision to collaborate determines the work's contours, and the way it is read. Books with two authors are specimens of relation, and show writing to be a quality of motion and exchange, not a fixed thing. (Koestenbaum 1989: 2) Faced with the prospects of a collaborative writing venture, a contract and a tight deadline for our collaborative text The Girls Guide to Real Estate (Brady & Brien 2002) we realised that our understanding of collaboration had not been much more than a general motherhood concept tossed about with nods of approval but rarely unpacked. In setting out to write our collaborative text we needed more insights into the various forms of collaboration and more to hang our authorial hats on than those feel-good pegs. In addition, at a time when collaboration is increasingly becoming part of a writers' working life, and as teachers and practitioners of writing, we felt we needed more understanding of the collaborative process in general. A survey of the literature found that much of the discourse concerning collaboration clusters the various diverse forms in a way which was unhelpful to us. One form of clustering, for instance, was so broad as to render all art and writing collaborative -which has a point, of course, but is not useful to us here. Another concertinaed together ghost-writing, biographical writing and the formation of literary movements, as collaborative processes of the same ilk. (Clemens & McCooey 2000, Chadwick & D. Courtivron 1993) While we have no problem in recognising that these are all kinds of collaboration, such generalised groupings did not allow us enough scope to unpack the processes and issues relating to our specific form of collaboration. We felt that any analyses of collaborative writing which would be useful to the practitioner first needed to separate out the various forms of collaboration occurring in the arts, in general, and in writing in particular. This separation needed to be in terms of authorial intention and credit, along with expected outcomes and goals. In other words, the division of various forms of collaboration needed to be made from the creative practitioner's point of view and not from that of the text's reader or critic. It needed to come from where the writer is standing looking outwards through the text, not from where a reader looks inwards towards the text. Consequently, we found it necessary, in the first instance, to devise a series of categories of collaboration. In doing this, we have, to date, isolated twelve separate forms of collaborative practice. It should be noted that any given work, at various stages of its development, can move or slide from one form of collaboration to another. This movement between categories generates its own concerns, which are discussed below