"The eyes of the blind shall be opened:" blindness in biblical discourse

This thesis is an examination of key texts in the Bible that feature blindness as a theme, and of the interpretation history of these texts. The aim of the thesis is to expose the manner in which the biblical texts have influenced contemporary thinking on blindness and disability more broadly, and how traditional methods of biblical interpretation have lent themselves to an oppressive and marginalizing reading of the blind characters in the biblical text that continues to be harmful for individuals who are blind into the present day. By re-reading the stories of Isaac, Samson and Saul, this thesis then argues for an alternative reading of the text that does not stigmatize the lack of sight and allows for blind characters to be active and powerful agents in their own right, rather than being reduced to the status of metaphor

Cloud microphysical characteristics versus temperature for three Canadian field projects

International audienceThe purpose of this study is to better understand how cloud microphysical characteristics such as liquid water content (LWC) and droplet number concentration (Nd) change with temperature (T). The in situ observations were collected during three research projects including: the Radiation, Aerosol, and Cloud Experiment (RACE) which took place over the Bay of Fundy and Central Ontario during August 1995, the First International Regional Arctic Cloud Experiment (FIRE.ACE) which took place in the Arctic Ocean during April 1998, and the Alliance Icing Research Study (AIRS) which took place in the Ontario region during the winter of 1999?2000. The RACE, FIRE.ACE, and AIRS projects represent summer mid-latitude clouds, Arctic clouds, and mid-latitude winter clouds, respectively. A LWC threshold of 0.005 g m-3 was used for this study. Similar to other studies, LWC was observed to decrease with decreasing T. The LWC-T relationship was similar for all projects, although the range of T conditions for each project was substantially different, and the variability of LWC within each project was considerable. Nd also decreased with decreasing T, and a parameterization for Nd versus T is suggested that may be useful for modeling studies

Impacts of freeze-thaw processes on phosphorus release from a variety of cover crop species in a temperate climate

Cover crops (CC) are grown by farmers as an agricultural best management practice (BMP) to improve soil health during the non-growing season (NGS), and potentially reduce soil erosion. Some managers have cautioned against the use of CC due to their potential to act as sources of phosphorus (P) following exposure to freeze-thaw cycles (FTC), given that P has been strongly linked to eutrophication and algal blooms in freshwater systems. Existing literature on the effects of FTC on CC has indicated that the degree of P leaching may be influenced by multiple factors, including the number and/or magnitude of FTC, CC species, and the duration, intensity, and type of leaching event. However, much of the research has been done in laboratory studies, using conditions that are not representative of temperate climates or practices used in Southern Ontario. The objectives of this thesis were to evaluate the effects of FTC intensity and CC species on P release, using conditions and CC species commonly used in Ontario. These objectives were addressed in two separate experiments. The first experiment was done in the laboratory, where clippings of five CC species were exposed to five FTC at varying intensities (4 °C, -4 to 4 °C, -18 to 4 °C, and -18 to 10 °C), prior to extraction of P and nitrogen (N). The impact of termination was evaluated by comparing living CC samples to CC which were terminated with glyphosate. The second experiment was done in the field, and included seven plots of different CC species and mixtures. Plant and soil samples were analysed for P content throughout the NGS, and runoff and shallow groundwater were sampled on an event basis to evaluate the timing of P release from CC and the pathways through which the P moved. This thesis showed that CC species ranged greatly in P released after FTC, but N leaching was unaffected. Heavy frost ( -4 °C) did not. Termination resulted in increased P and ammonium-N release from all species, but did not have an additive effect in combination with FTC. In a field setting, P release from CC was smaller in magnitude than was observed in the lab, consistent with the more moderate air temperatures that occurred. However, P release from CC was not related to P concentrations in surface soils and shallow groundwater, and, the pool of water extractable P was much smaller in the CC than in surface soil (5 cm). This thesis has shown that the tested CC species did not present risk for increased edge of field P loss, which is predicted to be consistent with other CC species grown in temperate climates. Planting CC should continue to be promoted as a BMP in Southern Ontario; however, in regions with colder climates, frost-tolerant CC species are recommended

Quantitative Trait Locus Mapping of Soybean Maturity Gene E6

Soybean [ Glycine max (L.) Merr.] sensitivity to photoperiod determines adaptation to a specific range of latitudes for soybean cultivars. When temperate-adapted soybean cultivars are grown in low latitude under short day conditions, they flower early, resulting in low grain yield, and consequently limiting their utility in tropical areas. Most cultivars adapted to low-latitude environments have the trait of delayed flowering under short day conditions, and this trait is commonly called long juvenile (LJ). In this study, the E6 locus, the classical locus conditioning the LJ trait, was molecularly mapped on Gm04 near single-nucleotide polymorphism marker HRM101. Testcross, genetic mapping, and sequencing suggest that the E6 and J loci might be tightly linked. Genetic interaction evaluation between E6 and E1 suggests that E6 has a suppressive effect on E1 and that the function of E6 is dependent on E1. The tagging markers for E6 are very useful for molecular breeding for wide adaptation and stable productivity of soybean under lowlatitude environments. Molecular identification and functional characterization of the E6 gene will greatly facilitate the understanding of the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying the LJ trait

Progress in the Development of Practical Remote Detection of Icing Conditions

The NASA Icing Remote Sensing System (NIRSS) has been under definition and development at NASA Glenn Research Center since 1997. The goal of this development activity is to produce and demonstrate the required sensing and data processing technologies required to accurately remotely detect and measure icing conditions aloft. As part of that effort NASA has teamed with NCAR to develop software to fuse data from multiple instruments into a single detected icing condition product. The multiple instrument approach utilizes a X-band vertical staring radar, a multifrequency microwave, and a lidar ceilometer. The radar data determine cloud boundaries, the radiometer determines the sub-freezing temperature heights and total liquid water content, and the ceilometer refines the lower cloud boundary. Data is post-processed with a LabVIEW program with a resultant supercooled liquid water profile and aircraft hazard depiction. Ground-based, remotely-sensed measurements and in-situ measurements from research aircraft were gathered during the international 2003-2004 Alliance Icing Research Study (AIRS II). Comparisons between the remote sensing system s fused icing product and the aircraft measurements are reviewed here. While there are areas where improvement can be made, the cases examined suggest that the fused sensor remote sensing technique appears to be a valid approach

Spectrum of excess mortality due to carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae infections

Patients infected or colonized with carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKp) are often chronically and acutely ill, which results in substantial mortality unrelated to infection. Therefore, estimating excess mortality due to CRKp infections is challenging. The Consortium on Resistance against Carbapenems in K. pneumoniae (CRACKLE) is a prospective multicenter study. Here, patients in CRACKLE were evaluated at the time of their first CRKp bloodstream infection (BSI), pneumonia, or urinary tract infection (UTI). A control cohort of patients with CRKp urinary colonization without CRKp infection was constructed. Excess hospital mortality was defined as mortality in cases after subtracting mortality in controls. In addition, the adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) for time-to-hospital-mortality censored at 30 days associated with infection as compared to colonization were calculated in Cox proportional hazard models. In the study period, 260 patients with CRKp infections were included in the BSI (90), pneumonia (49), and UTI (121) groups, who were compared to 223 controls. All-cause hospital mortality in controls was 12%. Excess hospital mortality was 27% and 27% in patients with BSI and pneumonia, respectively. Excess hospital mortality was not observed in patients with UTI. In multivariable analyses, BSI and pneumonia as compared to controls was associated with an aHR of 2.59 (95% CI 1.52–4.50, p<0.001) and 3.44 (95% CI 1.80–6.48, p<0.001), respectively. In conclusion, in patients with CRKp infection, pneumonia is associated with the highest excess hospital mortality. Patients with BSI have slightly lower excess hospital mortality rates, whereas excess hospital mortality was not observed in hospitalized patients with UTI

Allelic Variation and Distribution of the Major Maturity Genes in Different Soybean Collections

Soybean time of flowering and maturity are genetically controlled by E genes. Different allelic combinations of these genes determine soybean adaptation to a specific latitude. The paper describes the first attempt to assess adaptation of soybean genotypes developed and realized at Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Novi Sad, Serbia [ Novi Sad (NS) varieties and breeding lines] based on E gene variation, as well as to comparatively assess E gene variation in North-American (NA), Chinese, and European genotypes, as most of the studies published so far deal with North-American and Chinese cultivars and breeding material. Allelic variation and distribution of the major maturity genes (E1, E2, E3, and E4) has been determined in 445 genotypes from soybean collections of NA ancestral lines, Chinese germplasm, and European varieties, as well as NS varieties and breeding lines. The study showed that allelic combinations of E1-E4 genes significantly determined the adaptation of varieties to different geographical regions, although they have different impacts on maturity. In general, each collection had one major E genotype haplogroup, comprising over 50% of the lines. The exceptions were European varieties that had two predominant haplogroups and NA ancestral lines distributed almost evenly among several haplogroups. As e1-as/e2/E3/E4 was the most common genotype in NS population, present in the best-performing genotypes in terms of yield, this specific allele combination was proposed as the optimal combination for the environments of Central-Eastern Europe