Disability Studies and Disaster Services: Putting the “DS” in “DS”

This article is a synopsis of articles found in this special issue of the Review of Disability Studies that focused on disability and disaster. In this article, information is gleaned and summarized from all the historical, research, and current events discussed in this issue. As part of the synopsis, the question is posed, “How can Disability Studies, as an academic and social endeavor, inform disaster services?” Examples from various articles are provided to inform readers how “DS” (disability studies) might influence “DS” (disaster services)

Who is Disabled? Who is Not? Teachers Perceptions of Disability in Lesotho

This paper reports on educational research conducted in Lesotho, Southern Africa. Mixed methods of research were used to elicit and describe teachers’ attitudes toward children they perceived as disabled. The study took place in a country where discussions on ‘the continuum’ of services, specialist diagnoses, and Western notions of assistive technology are largely irrelevant. Over-arching themes are compared to themes that have emerged from special education and Disability Studies literature over the past decade

Educational Leadership in the Era of Accountability

Recent changes in federal legislation, including the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), have placed greater emphasis on accountability via mandated reporting of performance measures

Control of Aggregated Bacterial Communities through Engineered Surface Displayed Proteins

Bacterial aggregation through surface display of cross-associating proteins has previously been demonstrated, but the formation of these aggregates is only controllable and reversible through the addition of chemical inducers or soluble proteins. Here, we present a design for a photoswitchable surface-display system that causes bacterial aggregation. This system should reversibly disaggregate under exposure to blue light. We created our mutant by modifying Photoactive Yellow Protein (PYP), a fluorescent protein that undergoes a large reversible conformational change when exposed to blue light. We computationally designed this mutant to drive photoswitchable sequestration of a cap domain that is designed to selectively aggregate with SynZip18. Characterization of this designed protein's photoactivity was inconclusive due to its limited solubility though the synthesized chormophore, a p-coumaric acid derivative, was capable of reconstituting native photoactive PYP. While we did not show that the designed mutant could cause disaggregation under exposure to blue light, it was capable of selectively aggregating with surface displayed SynZip18 as desired.</p

L’analyse du discours et les études rhétoriques

Ce texte est une introduction à un ouvrage intitulé La rhétorique en détail, qui se propose de montrer l’importance de l’analyse du discours pour les études de rhétorique telles qu’elles sont aujourd’hui pratiquées aux Etats-Unis. Il insiste sur la façon dont une attention soutenue à la matérialité du langage peut enrichir les diverses branches de la rhétorique contemporaine en présentant une méthode fondée sur l’étude concrète des textes qui vise à dégager leur logique interne. Il offre ce faisant une définition de l’analyse du discours, une réflexion sur la question de l’agentivité, et une « heuristique » dans le sens d’un « un ensemble de procédures de découverte à appliquer méthodiquement ».This text is the introduction to a book entitled Rhetoric in Detail that is intended to demonstrate the importance of Discourse Analysis for American Rhetorical Studies. It emphasizes the contribution that close attention to language can make to various branches of contemporary rhetoric, and offers an empirical approach based on the study of actual texts and talk, looking for their internal logic. It provides a definition of Discourse Analysis as well as an approach to the question of agency, and a heuristic in the sense of a “set of discovery procedures for systematic application

Response of the Agile Antechinus to Habitat Edge, Configuration and Condition in Fragmented Forest

Habitat fragmentation and degradation seriously threaten native animal communities. We studied the response of a small marsupial, the agile antechinus Antechinus agilis, to several environmental variables in anthropogenically fragmented Eucalyptus forest in south-east Australia. Agile antechinus were captured more in microhabitats dominated by woody debris than in other microhabitats. Relative abundances of both sexes were positively correlated with fragment core area. Male and female mass-size residuals were smaller in larger fragments. A health status indicator, haemoglobin-haematocrit residuals (HHR), did not vary as a function of any environmental variable in females, but male HHR indicated better health where sites' microhabitats were dominated by shrubs, woody debris and trees other than Eucalyptus. Females were trapped less often in edge than interior fragment habitat and their physiological stress level, indicated by the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio in peripheral blood, was higher where fragments had a greater proportion of edge habitat. The latter trend was potentially due to lymphopoenia resulting from stress hormone-mediated leukocyte trafficking. Using multiple indicators of population condition and health status facilitates a comprehensive examination of the effects of anthropogenic disturbances, such as habitat fragmentation and degradation, on native vertebrates. Male agile antechinus' health responded negatively to habitat degradation, whilst females responded negatively to the proportion of edge habitat. The health and condition indicators used could be employed to identify conservation strategies that would make habitat fragments less stressful for this or similar native, small mammals