Quartet for the End of Time

A winner of the John S. Knight Assignment Sequence Prize, this sequence originates from Music 111, Sound, Sense, and Ideas: Famous First Performances. The sequence consists of four units, each of which focuses on a separate composer (Berlioz, Beethoven, Dvorak, and Stravinsky). A fifth unit prepares students to write a review of a concert they attend. Preparatory writing includes personal writing as well as study questions; essay assignments draw on varying genre and rhetorical situations. The sequence aims to turn students into active listeners who can employ musicological terminology while considering the social environments that shaped composers and their audiences. To this end, writing assignments require participation in the "narrative" mode of discourse that musicologists use to explain historical events and works. 12 page pd

The development and evaluation of exercises for group response to word meaning for increasing the speed of word recognition in grade I

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

A study of bubble wetting on surfaces

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 53).In microfluidics, the formation of bubbles within devices obstructs flow and can damage the microfluidic chip or the samples contained therein. This thesis works toward a better understand of bubble wetting on surfaces, so that future microfluidics devices can be designed to be more robust and free of bubbles. Current wetting theory as applied to bubbles is examined, and two key areas for improvement are identified: disjoining pressure effects and gravitationaleffects. Wetting of textured surfaces is also analyzed for bubble application, leading to a prediction that a model based on a Cassie-Baxter analysis with knowledge of bubble wetting on a flat surface would be most accurate compared to other models. Dynamic and sessile bubble contact angles and droplet contact angles were measured on smooth acrylic, fluorosilanized silicon, glass, nylon, and silicon. These results were compared to the existing model, and the resulting error showed a strong correlation with a Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.863 to the magnitude of the bubble contact angle hysteresis. Because contact angle hysteresis can be related to the disjoining pressure, these results were a good indicator that disjoining pressure should be considered in developing improved bubble wetting models. Dynamic and sessile bubble contact angles and droplet contact angles were also measured on four silicon samples with different surface textures. These results were compared to three existing wetting models as applied to bubble wetting, and it was found that the Cassie-Baxter model based on the bubble contact angle on a smooth silicon surface was most accurate, with an average percentage error of 0.8%. Finally, recommendations for further research to support developing models of bubble wetting are made.by Julia Katherine Day.S.B

Histopathology of the Thyroid of the Guinea Pig in Experimental Scurvy

Chronic scurvy was induced in guinea pigs by a diet of dried foods supplemented by 0.25 cc to 5 cc orange juice given daily per os by means of a pipette. Animals of as nearly the same age and weight as possible were selected. The sexes were divided equally between control and experimental groups

Examining Congestive Heart Failure Hospital Readmissions from Skilled Nursing Facilities

In the United States, congestive heart failure (CHF) is a cardiac condition with increasing hospitalization and rehospitalization burden to patients, families, and the healthcare system. This chronic condition is expected to affect more than 8 million people by 2030; however, not much is known about the relationship between risk factors and hospital readmissions once CHF patients are discharged to a skilled nursing facility (SNF). Applying a systems theory unbounded systems thinking, coupled with a systems-thinking approach the purpose of this quantitative, retrospective cohort study was to examine CHF hospital readmissions from SNFs within a 90-day period using a secondary data set of gender, age, race, SNF geographic location, length of SNF stay, and home health use risk factors. A binary logistic regression analysis revealed that out of 238 episodes, 99 patients were readmitted; however, no statistically significant relationship between the risk factors and readmission was found. Findings suggest that CHF readmissions from the SNF are not attributed to only quantifiable risk factors. Based on these findings, further research can support social change through multifaceted quantitative and qualitative systemic analyses to identify and inform how healthcare organizations can better assist the elderly population with CHF and improve future post-acute community-based health education and prevention programs

Mastacembelid eels support Lake Tanganyika as an evolutionary hotspot of diversification

Background. Lake Tanganyika (LT) is the oldest of the African Rift Lakes and is one of the richest freshwater ecosystems on Earth, with high levels of faunal diversity and endemism. The endemic species flocks that occur in this lake, such as cichlid fishes, gastropods, catfish and crabs, provide unique comparative systems for the study of patterns and processes of speciation. Mastacembelid eels (Teleostei: Mastacembelidae) are a predominately riverine family of freshwater fish, occurring across Africa and Asia, but which also form a small species flock in LT. Methods. Including 25 species across Africa, plus Asian representatives as outgroups, we present the first molecular phylogenetic analysis for the group, focusing particularly on the evolutionary history and biodiversity of LT mastacembelid eels. A combined matrix of nuclear and mitochondrial genes based on 3118 bp are analysed implementing different phylogenetic methods, including Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood. Results. LT Mastacembelus are recovered as monophyletic, and analyses reveal the rapid diversification of five main LT lineages. Relaxed molecular clock dates provide age estimates for the LT flock at ∼7-8 Myr, indicating intralacustrine diversification, with further speciation events coinciding with periods of lower lake level. Our analyses also reveal as yet undescribed diversity of lacustrine and riverine species. A Southern-Eastern African clade, that is younger than the LT flock, is also recovered, while West African taxa are basal members of the African mastacembelid clade. Conclusions. That the LT species flock of mastacembelid eels appears to have colonised and immediately diversified soon after the formation of the lake, supports the view of LT as an evolutionary hotspot of diversification. We find evidence for biogeographic clades mirroring a similar pattern to other ichthyological faunas. In addition, our analyses also highlight a split of African and Asian mastacembelid eels at ∼19 Myr that is considerably younger than the split between their associated continents, suggesting a dispersal scenario for their current distribution. © 2010 Brown et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

CCRaVAT and QuTie - enabling analysis of rare variants in large-scale case control and quantitative trait association studies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genome-wide association studies have been successful in finding common variants influencing common traits. However, these associations only account for a fraction of trait heritability. There has been a shift in the field towards studying low frequency and rare variants, which are now widely recognised as putative complex trait determinants. Despite this increasing focus on examining the role of low frequency and rare variants in complex disease susceptibility, there is a lack of user-friendly analytical packages implementing powerful association tests for the analysis of rare variants.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have developed two software tools, CCRaVAT (Case-Control Rare Variant Analysis Tool) and QuTie (Quantitative Trait), which enable efficient large-scale analysis of low frequency and rare variants. Both programs implement a collapsing method examining the accumulation of low frequency and rare variants across a locus of interest that has more power than single variant analysis. CCRaVAT carries out case-control analyses whereas QuTie has been developed for continuous trait analysis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>CCRaVAT and QuTie are easy to use software tools that allow users to perform genome-wide association analysis on low frequency and rare variants for both binary and quantitative traits. The software is freely available and provides the genetics community with a resource to perform association analysis on rarer genetic variants.</p

Possible Association of APOE Genotype with Working Memory in Young Adults

Possession of the ε4 allele of the Apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease. Early adult life effects of ε4 are less well understood. Working memory has been relatively little studied (compared to episodic memory) in relation to APOE genotype despite its importance in cognitive functioning. Our hypothesis was that ε4 would lead to an impairment in working memory in young adults.We studied working memory using a computerised n-back task in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) at age 18. Data was available for 1049-1927 participants and for the 2- and 3-back versions of the task. Using multiple and multi-level regression controlling for important confounders we examined the association between APOE genotype on accuracy and reaction times.There was no evidence of a genotype effect on accuracy when the two difficulty levels were examined separately. There was some evidence to support a deleterious effect of the ε4 allele on n-back accuracy in the multi-level regression. There was weak evidence that the ε22 group were less accurate but the numbers were very low in this group. The ε34 group had faster reaction times than the reference ε33 group in all adjusted analyses but the ε44 group were only faster in the 3-back condition in multi-level analyses.There was no evidence of benefit in ε4 carriers, but there was some evidence of a detrimental effect on working memory in this large study

Comparative Toxicity of Diphacinone to Northern Bobwhite (\u3ci\u3eColinus virginianus\u3c/i\u3e) and American Kestrels (\u3ci\u3eFalco sparverius\u3c/i\u3e)

The acute oral toxicity of the anticoagulant rodenticide diphacinone was found to be about 20 times greater to American kestrels (LD50=97 mg/kg) than to northern bobwhite (LD50=2,014 mg/kg). Several precise and sensitive clotting assays (prothrombin time, Russell’s Viper venom time, thrombin clotting time) were adapted for use in these species, and this combination of assays is recommended to detect effects of diphacinone and other rodenticides on coagulation. Oral administration of diphacinone over a range of doses (sublethal to the extrapolated LD15) prolonged prothrombin time and Russell’s Viper venom time within 24 to 48 hrs post-exposure. Prolongation of in vitro clotting time reflects impaired coagulation complex activity and was detected before or at the onset of overt signs of toxicity and lethality. These data will assist in the development of a pharmacodynamic model to assess and predict rodenticide toxicity to non-target avian species