A Study of the Relationship Between Admissions Scores and Subsequent Achievement at Brownell-Talbot School

Standardized intelligence and achievement testing has been the center of considerable controversy. Critics of testing have included parents, school boards, legislative bodies, and civil rights organizations. Even national news commentators have attempted to expose the I.Q. as a myth. Independent schools rely upon standardized intelligence and achievement tests as a major component in the admission of new students. It is imperative that educators involved in making decisions regarding the future education of children recognize the limitations of standardized test results as well as their usefulness as predictors of future achievement

Report and Recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations Released Today

Press_Release_DOL_010995.pdf: 169 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

The Effect of Mitochondrial Dysfunction on Cytosolic Nucleotide Metabolism

Several enzymes of the metabolic pathways responsible for metabolism of cytosolic ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides are located in mitochondria. Studies described in this paper suggest dysfunction of the mitochondria to affect these metabolic pathways and limit the available levels of cytosolic ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides, which in turn can result in aberrant RNA and DNA synthesis. Mitochondrial dysfunction has been linked to genomic instability, and it is possible that the limiting effect of mitochondrial dysfunction on the levels of nucleotides and resulting aberrant RNA and DNA synthesis in part can be responsible for this link. This paper summarizes the parts of the metabolic pathways responsible for nucleotide metabolism that can be affected by mitochondrial dysfunction

'Il novello Orfeo' Farinelli: vocal profile, aesthetics, rhetoric

Although Farinelli has received a great deal of attention in scholarship, the early music performance scene and in popular culture, little has been written about his singing. The current perception of Farinelli’s musical profile is based almost entirely on the research of Franz Haböck from the beginning of the 20th century and the writings of Charles Burney. As a result of the emphasis of both writers on Farinelli’s bravura singing, the singer’s name has become synonymous with castrato virtuosity. This study takes a more diffentiated approach. It reconstructs the artistic persona of Farinelli from libretti, scores and documentary evidence, evaluates the veracity of anecdotal information pertaining to his singing that has so far been accepted largely at face value and considers the aesthetic implications of Farinelli’s singing. Part I of this study seeks to reconstruct Farinelli’s vocal profile. In chapter 1, contemporary descriptions by earwitnesses are examined and evaluated with regard to important aspects of his singing, i.e., the sound quality, volume and range of his voice, technical elements such as his trill, agility and breath control, ornamentation and improvisation and, finally, his acting. Chapter 2 summarises the main stages of the singer’s operatic career. The purpose of this chapter is not to reiterate biographical information, but to provide an outline that can serve as a framework for the discussion of the development of Farinelli’s vocal technique, personal style and reception. The chapter also identifies important points of professional interaction between Farinelli and other famous singers. Chapter 3 falls into two parts. Firstly, the main elements of vocal technique, as described in the vastly influential vocal treatises of Tosi and Mancini, are outlined in relation to notational practice of 18th-century manuscript scores and their relevance to the music sung by Farinelli. Secondly, the development of Farinelli’s voice in terms of the singer’s vocal technique, range, volume and details of style is discussed on the basis of the analysis of Farinelli’s operatic roles. Chapter 4 focuses on the analysis and contextualisation of important stylistic changes that occured during Farinelli’s career. Throughout, Farinelli’s stylistic choices are discussed in relation to the aesthetic preferences of the different audiences he encountered. Part 2 explores aspects of Farinelli’s artistic profile from the vantage points of aesthetics and rhetoric. Based on analyses of Farinelli’s arias on nightingale metaphors, chapter 5 discusses the conceptual frameworks and aesthetic issues that have often resulted in a critical reception of his virtuosity, both during his lifetime and in the 20th century. Chapter 6 examines the manner in which the principles of rhetoric have been applied to 18th-century music in recent scholarship. It argues for a different, more integrated approach that reflects the performance-centred period understanding of rhetoric, which, unlike the modern understanding, was not yet inflected by the author and work concepts. Chapter 7 analyses rhetorical strategies in Farinelli’s Venetian bravura arias and their implications with regard to the issues of authorship and the relationship between performer and audience. In chapter 8, the text-music relationship and communicative strategies in Farinelli’s slow expressive arias are scrutinised. The conclusion briefly assesses the impact of Farinelli on Italian opera, theatrical performance practice and musical aesthetics

In Silico screening for functional candidates amongst hypothetical proteins

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The definition of a hypothetical protein is a protein that is predicted to be expressed from an open reading frame, but for which there is no experimental evidence of translation. Hypothetical proteins constitute a substantial fraction of proteomes of human as well as of other eukaryotes. With the general belief that the majority of hypothetical proteins are the product of pseudogenes, it is essential to have a tool with the ability of pinpointing the minority of hypothetical proteins with a high probability of being expressed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we present an <it>in silico </it>selection strategy where eukaryotic hypothetical proteins are sorted according to two criteria that can be reliably identified <it>in silico</it>: the presence of subcellular targeting signals and presence of characterized protein domains. To validate the selection strategy we applied it on a database of human hypothetical proteins dating to 2006 and compared the proteins predicted to be expressed by our selecting strategy, with their status in 2008. For the comparison we focused on mitochondrial proteins, since considerable amounts of research have focused on this field in between 2006 and 2008. Therefore, many proteins, defined as hypothetical in 2006, have later been characterized as mitochondrial.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Among the total amount of human proteins hypothetical in 2006, 21% have later been experimentally characterized and 6% of those have been shown to have a role in a mitochondrial context. In contrast, among the selected hypothetical proteins from the 2006 dataset, predicted by our strategy to have a mitochondrial role, 53-62% have later been experimentally characterized, and 85% of these have actually been assigned a role in mitochondria by 2008.</p> <p>Therefore our <it>in silico </it>selection strategy can be used to select the most promising candidates for subsequent <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo </it>analyses.</p

Muon Collider/Neutrino Factory: Status and Prospects

During the 1990s an international collaboration has been studying the possibility of constructing and operating a high-energy high-luminosity $\mu^+\mu^-$ collider. Such a machine could be the approach of choice to extend our discovery reach beyond that of the LHC. More recently, a growing collaboration is exploring the potential of a stored-muon-beam "neutrino factory" to elucidate neutrino oscillations. A neutrino factory could be an attractive stepping-stone to a muon collider. Its construction, possibly feasible within the coming decade, could have substantial impact on neutrino physics.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, invited talk presented at the 7th International Conference on Instrumentation for Colliding-Beam Physics, Hamamatsu, Japan, Nov. 15-19, 1999. (Revised 1/25/00 to delete misleading column from Table 2.