Investigation of distal repetitive sequences in the genus allium

PhDThe telomere is a DNA/protein structure required to maintain the ends of linear chromosomes. Usually the DNA component comprises a highly conserved tandemly repeated minisatellite sequence. In most plants the minisatellite sequence is typically present in several hundred copies at each chromosome end, and is extended primarily by telomerase, which adds telomere repeats to the 3’ end. In the plant genus Allium, which contains around 700 species, there is an absence of typical telomeric DNA repeats. It is of great interest to determine what sequence or sequences have replaced the ancestral repeats and how they are lengthened. A range of molecular cloning methods were used to isolate candidate telomere sequences from the genomes of two diverged species, Allium cernuum and Allium cepa. I analyse several putative telomere sequences, isolated in this work and by others, but no proven candidate sequence has emerged. Nevertheless, one of those sequences, 35S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) encoding 35S rRNA, proved to have a structure that is previously not described for plants. I show that some units have a Ty1/copia retrotransposon fragment in the intergenic spacer region. Sequence analysis indicates that there was a single insertion followed by amplification, probably involving homogenisation mechanisms. Furthermore, I show high levels of rDNA length heterogeneity and rDNA unit divergence both within species and across the genus, respectively

Toward Enhanced Military Chaplaincy Education at Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Problem. Military chaplains who are graduates of the Master of Divinity (MDiv) program at Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary (SDATS) will require enhanced military chaplaincy training to identify and cope with the rapidly changing needs of modern military chaplaincy. Information relating to the United States (US) Navy Chaplain Corps will be presented within this project to illustrate the broader need within the military chaplain community. The needs within the US Navy are largely due to the implementation of four programs: The revised Chaplain Command Program within Secretary of the Navy Instruction (SECNAVINST) 1730.8B, Professional Naval Chaplaincy within SECNAVINST 5351.1, Naval Combat Operational Stress Control (NCOSC), and Clinical Training for Combat Stress within the Professional Development Training Course (PDTC). US Navy Chaplain candidates are now required to screen for selection to active duty. A primary factor in this screening is the examination of the candidate’s professional education (see Appendices A and I) The move toward enhancing the current MDiv program at Andrews University SDATS with the latest in military chaplaincy instruction will create the possibility of producing a specialty degree from the existing military chaplaincy training. Graduates with this enhanced degree will achieve a sub-specialty code that will affect their professional selection and advancement opportunities and will make them more desirable as candidates. Several accredited theological seminaries throughout the country are in the process of shifting their MDiv programs from a broad scope of ministry to professionally-focused degrees in military chaplaincy (see Appendix C). Andrews University SDATS must not fall behind in this arena of education, so that its graduates can continue to be placed among the most highly trained chaplains in the military. Results. The result of this project document will be the identification of enhanced professional requirements within the rapidly changing profession of military chaplaincy. The primary reference literature of the United States Navy Chaplain Corps describes the need for enhanced educational requirements within the new Professional Naval Chaplaincy (PNC) Instruction as shown in Appendices A and L-M. A primary factor in the screening of military chaplain candidates is the examination of the candidate’s professional education (see Appendices A and L). The move toward enhancing the current MDiv emphasis in chaplaincy at AU SDATS with the latest in military chaplaincy instruction will create the opportunity for a specialty degree. Graduates with this enhanced degree will achieve a sub-specialty code that will affect their professional selection and advancement opportunities and will make them more desirable as candidates. This specialized education will prepare students venturing forth into this increasingly complex field of military ministry with documented subspecialty education. The desired objective of this project document is to move Andrews University SDATS toward offering a Master of Divinity in Military Chaplaincy specialty degree that will provide these key advantages. Conclusions. The current MDiv emphasis in chaplaincy at AU SDATS must be upgraded with the most recent teachable subject matter to avoid the danger of falling behind in this competitive educational arena. As demonstrated in Appendix C, other accredited seminaries in the United States are advertising Master of Divinity in Military Chaplaincy degrees. This project will demonstrate that enhancing military chaplaincy training within the existing Master of Divinity at AU SDATS will prepare graduates for professional, comprehensive ministry and make them more competitive for selection into the active chaplain corps ranks

Report from the MPP Working Group to the NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications

NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA) gave a select group of scientists the opportunity to test and implement their computational algorithms on the Massively Parallel Processor (MPP) located at Goddard Space Flight Center, beginning in late 1985. One year later, the Working Group presented its report, which addressed the following: algorithms, programming languages, architecture, programming environments, the way theory relates, and performance measured. The findings point to a number of demonstrated computational techniques for which the MPP architecture is ideally suited. For example, besides executing much faster on the MPP than on conventional computers, systolic VLSI simulation (where distances are short), lattice simulation, neural network simulation, and image problems were found to be easier to program on the MPP's architecture than on a CYBER 205 or even a VAX. The report also makes technical recommendations covering all aspects of MPP use, and recommendations concerning the future of the MPP and machines based on similar architectures, expansion of the Working Group, and study of the role of future parallel processors for space station, EOS, and the Great Observatories era

Monstrous M-theory

We define a $D=26+1$ Monstrous, purely bosonic M-theory, whose massless spectrum, of dimension $196,884$, is acted upon by the Monster group. Upon reduction to $D=25+1$, this gives rise to a plethora of non-supersymmetric, gravito-dilatonic theories, whose spectrum irreducibly splits under the Monster as $196,884=\mathbf{1}\oplus\mathbf{196,883}$, where the singlet is identified with the dilaton, and $\mathbf{196,883}$ denotes the smallest non-trivial representation of the Monster. This clarifies the definition of the Monster as the automorphism of the Griess algebra, by showing that such an algebra is not merely a sum of unrelated spaces, but rather an algebra of massless states for a Monstrous M-theory, which includes Horowitz and Susskind's bosonic M-theory as a subsector. Remarkably, a certain subsector of Monstrous M-theory, when coupled to a Rarita-Schwinger massless field in $26+1$, exhibits the same number of bosonic and fermionic degrees of freedom.Comment: 20 pages, 0 figure

Case Study: Potential Trademark Infringements

This is a case study of trademark infringement disputes.  One of the authors (Cosgrove) incorporated The Econoclast, Inc. that owns a registered trademark (Econoclast®) that has provided capital market publications to financial and nonfinancial institutions since 1979.  Over the years, others have used the same name for similar services.  The case study explains the basics of trademark law and the meaning of trademark infringement.  The authors describe the practical steps Cosgrove undertook to prevent infringement of his trademark in three different situations. There remains an on-going dispute involving possible international infringement in one of the illustrations

Beyond the standard model with six-dimensional spacetime

6D spacetime with $SO(3,3)$ symmetry is utilized to efficiently encode three generations of matter. A graviGUT model is generalized to a class of models that all contain three generations and Higgs boson candidates. Pati-Salam, $SU(5)$, and $SO(10)$ grand unified theories are found when a single generation is isolated. For example, a $SO(4,2)$ spacetime group may be used for conformal symmetry, $AdS_5\rightarrow dS_4$, or simply broken to $SO(3,1)$ of Minkowski space. Another class of models finds $SO(2,2)$ and can give $AdS_3$.Comment: 20 pages with references, 1 figure; v2 : Abstract changed, small changes, Ref. adde

“Why can’t they be in the community?” A policy and practice analysis of transforming care for offenders with intellectual disability

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe key policy and practice issues regarding a significant subgroup of people with intellectual disability – those with offending behaviour being treated in forensic hospitals. Design/methodology/approach – The reasons why psychiatrists continue to be involved in the treatment of people with intellectual disability and mental health or behavioural problems and the factors that may lead to patients needing hospital admission are examined. Using two illustrative examples, three key questions – containment vs treatment, hospital care vs conditional discharge and hospital treatment vs using deprivation of liberty safeguards usage in the community are explored. Findings – Patients with intellectual disability, mental health problems and offending behaviours who are treated within forensic inpatient units tend to have long lengths of stay. The key variable that mediates this length of stay is the risk that they pose to themselves or others. Clinicians work within the framework of mental health law and have to be mindful that pragmatic solutions to hasten discharge into the community may not fall within the law. Originality/value – This paper makes practical suggestions for the future on how to best integrate hospital and community care for people with intellectual disability, mental health and offending behaviours. </jats:sec