Use of South African Clawed Frog Larvae (Xenopus Laevis) in Flow-through Toxicity Tests for Naphthalene

Zoolog

Isolated Tumor Cell Plasma Membranes and Modified Whole Tumor Cells as Anticancer Immunizing Agents

Microbiolog

Cold terror : cultural crisis creation in the rhetoric of Truman and Bush

The war on terror has been continually compared to the Cold War, and in this thesis, I examine the speeches that mark the start of each war: Bush’s September 20, 2001, speech and the Truman Doctrine respectively. Through cultural criticism and the alignment of the texts within the genre of crisis rhetoric, I analyze the two speeches to demonstrate how they fit into the genre, as well as how they create a rhetorical consciousness of the times in which they were given. I use the analysis of values, ideographs, myths, and fantasy themes, as outlined by Roderick Hart and Suzanne Daughton, to focus my approach to cultural criticism, and each analysis is explicated in a different chapter. Each chapter reveals how the incorporation of the specific cultural criticism approach contributes to the persuasiveness and aids in the creation of consciousness and crisis in Truman and Bush’s speeches. Crisis and consciousness creation are the means by which rhetors set up their argument in order to persuade their audiences. Crisis creation creates exigence even if there is not a crisis situation and defines it if there is. Consciousness creation provides the rhetorical vision for the audience to interpret and respond to a given situation. In order to explicate the creation of consciousness, I apply Ernest Bormann, John Cragan, and Donald Shields’s theory on symbolic convergence theory and the Cold War, and for crisis creation, I apply the three elements of the crisis rhetoric genre as outlined by Theodore Windt. Both presidents’ speeches call upon theoretic, economic, social, religious, and political values; the ideographs of freedom, democracy, justice; identity and eschatological myths; and the One World, Power Politics, and Red Fascism fantasy theme rhetorical visions to create rhetorical consciousness and crisis among the American people

Assistive Autonomous Mobile Robot Identifies and Retrieves Target Objects

This engineering article presents an original method of building and operating an assistive autonomous mobile robot based on a custom-designed LEGO® structure using Raspberry Pi® Model B computers, Dexter Industries® BrickPi boards, and LEGO NXT peripherals. The robot is programmed using the Python language to detect, identify, and handle objects in places that are inaccessible or dangerous to humans. The robot assists people with limited mobility to find and retrieve hidden or lost objects. The two distinct modes of operation are the assistive autonomous mode, and the exploratory, operator-controlled mode, respectively. In the autonomous mode, the robot moves automatically and uses its pre-programmed input parameters and signals from the ultrasonic sensors and video camera to navigate by avoiding obstacles; upon detecting the target object, the motion ceases, the robotic arm extends, grasps, and retrieves the object. The operator can afterwards direct the robot towards other zones for exploration or object retrieval. In the exploratory mode, the operator controls the movement of the robot and visualizes on a monitor the images continuously sent by the on-board video camera. Future development may consist of implementing the autonomous mode in which objects in motion will be tracked and retrieved

Structural Assessment of the Seismic Behavior of the Dome of the Taj Mahal

This paper presents the results of a study of the structural assessment of the seismic behavior of the main dome of the Taj Mahal, in Agra, India. Built by the Moghul emperor Shah Jahan between 1632 – 1648 AD, the structure is one of most famous buildings in the world and the finest and most sophisticated symbol of Moghul architecture in India. As it is located in a zone of moderate seismicity, there is an urgent need for ensuring the structural safety and preservation of this iconic cultural heritage for future generations. The objective of this study is to develop a simplified approach to enhance our conceptual understanding of the mechanism of load path/transfer in the dome of the Taj Mahal under both gravity and seismic loads, as well as to better understand the influence of the geometry of the dome on its structural behavior. Using the software SAP2000, a finite element model of the dome is created and analyzed under the action of gravity and seismic loads, with the seismic loading assumed to have a PGA of 0.25g based on the results of a study conducted by the Indian National Disaster Management Authority. The results obtained include plots of the distribution of nodal reactions at selected levels to represent the lateral load behavior of the dome of the Taj, as well as plots illustrating the paths of load transfer under the action of gravity and seismic loads. Free body diagrams of selected rings are also presented to illustrate the ‘hoop’ forces in the dome, while simplified internal stresses are computed and compared with known material properties. Observations are also presented about the effect of the dome geometry, especially the bulging part of the dome, on the distribution of reactions and the resulting mechanism of load transfer in the structure under both gravity and seismic loading

Effects of Nitrogen and Planting Seed Size on Cotton Growth, Development, and Yield

A standardized experiment was conducted during 2009 and 2010 at 20 location-years across U.S. cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)-producing states to compare the N use requirement of contemporary cotton cultivars based on their planting seed size. Treatments consisted of three cotton varieties with planting seed of different numbers of seed per kg and N rates of 0, 45, 90, and 134 kg ha⁻¹. Soil at each trial location was sampled and tested for nitrate presence. High levels of soil nitrate (>91 N-NO₃⁻kg ha⁻¹) were found in Arizona and western Texas, and soil nitrate in the range of 45 to 73 kg N-NO₃⁻ ha⁻¹ was found at locations in the central United States. Cotton lint yield responded to applied N at 11 of 20 locations. Considering only sites that responded to applied N, highest lint yields were achieved with 112 to 224 kg ha⁻¹of applied plus pre-plant residual soil NO₃—translating to an optimal N requirement of 23 kg ha⁻¹ per 218 kg bale of lint produced. Among the varieties tested those with medium-sized seed produced higher yields in response to N than did larger and smaller seeded varieties. Varieties with larger seed had longer and stronger fibers, higher fiber length uniformity than small seeded varieties and decreased micronaire. Seed protein and oil increased and decreased slightly in response to increasing amounts of soil nitrate plus applied N, respectively

Nicaragua divided : La Prensa and the Chamorro legacy

In this story of Chamorro’s late husband, La Prensa publisher and editor Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, and of their family, Patricia Edmisten clarifies the interrelationship of family, politics, and economics critical to an understanding of the Nicaraguan conflict and people. As a Time article has suggested, The private pain of the Chamorro family is a microcosm of Nicaragua’s national agony. The book’s fulcrum is Chamorro’s 1978 assassination, an event that galvanized anti-Somoza forces and brought the Sandinista front to power. Edmisten traces the family’s fortunes from the beginnings of the antagonism between the Chamorros and Somozas to the Iran-Contra affair and the present ideological division among the Chamorros, a division Edmisten finds typical of Nicaraguan families today and one that reflects the polarity in Nicaraguan society.https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/petry-books/1043/thumbnail.jp

ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF AN AMINOPEPTIDASE FROM THE CULTURAL FLUID OF BACILLUS SUBTILIS

Abstract not availabl