Remapping Capricornia: Xavier Herbert’s Cosmopolitan Imagination

Since its publication in 1938 critics have generally read Xavier Herbert’s Capricornia as a nationalist novel, even when its nationalism is seen to be structured by contradiction. But little attention has been given to the ways in which Herbert’s complex, multifarious and heteroglossic novel exceeds and challenges the very possibility of coherent national space and a coherent national story. This essay considers moments and spaces in Herbert’s novel where the national is displaced and unravelled. Drawing on Rebecca Walkowitz’s idea of cosmopolitan style and Suvendrini Perera’s work on Australia’s insular imagination I identify a critical cosmopolitanism that inheres in the novel’s geographical imagination and its literary form, particularly the narrative voice which retains a critical distance from the nationalist sensibility of various characters and plot lines, performing a detached and restless homelessness that I identify with the cosmopolitan. Ultimately I ask how the novel’s spatial and environmental imagination displaces its nationalist agenda, making space for a different kind of social imagination—one that does not confine itself to the terms of the nation or organise itself around a central figure for the nation

Porites superfusa mortality and recovery from a bleaching event at Palmyra Atoll, USA.

BackgroundThe demography of a coral colony is not a binary trajectory of life and death. Based on the flexibility afforded by colonial organization, most reef-building corals employ a variety of dynamic survival strategies, including growth and shrinkage. The demographic flexibility affects coral size, shape and reproductive output, among other factors. It is thus critical to quantify the relative importance of key dynamics of recruitment, mortality, growth and shrinkage in changing the overall cover of coral on a reef.MethodsUsing fixed photographic quadrats, we tracked the patterns of change in the cover of one common central Pacific coral, Porites superfusa, before and after the 2009 ENSO event.ResultsCoral colonies suffered both whole and partial colony mortality, although larger colonies were more likely to survive. In subsequent years, recruitment of new colonies and regrowth of surviving colonies both contributed to the modest recovery of P. superfusa.DiscussionThis study is unique in its quantitative comparisons of coral recruitment versus regrowth during periods of areal expansion. Our data suggest that recovery is not limited simply to the long pathway of settlement, recruitment and early growth of new colonies but is accelerated by means of regrowth of already established colonies having suffered partial mortality

The island of Kauai, Hawaii's progressive shoreline setback and coastal protection ordinance

Approximately two-thirds of coastal and Great Lakes states have some type of shoreline construction setback or construction control line requiring development to be a certain distance from the shoreline or other coastal feature (OCRM, 2008). Nineteen of 30 coastal states currently use erosion rates for new construction close to the shoreline. Seven states established setback distances based on expected years from the shoreline: the remainder specify a fixed setback distance (Heinz Report, 2000). Following public hearings by the County of Kauai Planning Commission and Kauai County Council, the ‘Shoreline Setback and Coastal Protection Ordinance’ was signed by the Mayor of Kauai on January 25, 2008. After a year of experience implementing this progressive, balanced shoreline setback ordinance several amendments were recently incorporated into the Ordinance (#887; Bill #2319 Draft 3). The Kauai Planning Department is presently drafting several more amendments to improve the effectiveness of the Ordinance. The intent of shoreline setbacks is to establish a buffer zone to protect shorefront development from loss due to coastal erosion - for a period of time; to provide protection from storm waves; to allow the natural dynamic cycles of erosion and accretion of beaches and dunes to occur; to maintain beach and dune habitat; and, to maintain lateral beach access and open space for the enjoyment of the natural shoreline environment. In addition, a primary goal of the Kauai setback ordinance is to avoid armoring or hardening of the shore which along eroding coasts has been documented to ultimately eliminate the fronting beach. (PDF contains 4 pages

Comparison of extrapolated maximal workloads from various submaximal loads

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1979 S64Master of Scienc

Current Reading Research: What Does it Tell the Classroom Teacher?

Teachers often consider research as an entity separate from classroom practices. However, if one looks carefully at research results, implications that have a direct bearing on classroom practices can be found. In the field of reading, there is a growing abundance of research results which can affect what is done in the classroom. It is the purpose of this article to present an brief overview of current research done in reading and point out some implications for classroom reading teachers. Standal (1978) descriptive model of reading is used as a framework in which to present the research. Standal\u27 s components of reading include physiology, phonology, understanding and learning

Examination of Teachers\u27 Participation in Teacher Leadership in A Rural District in Georgia

Teacher leadership is an integral part of school improvement and an essential component of distributed leadership. The purpose of the study was to understand teacher leadership in a rural school district by analyzing teachers\u27 behaviors mapped to the dimensions of Snell and Swanson\u27s framework of teacher leadership: empowerment; expertise; reflection; and collaboration. The study sought to discover if there was a difference in teachers\u27 participation in teacher leadership in the three school levels of elementary, middle and high school. The study also examined demographic characteristics such as years of experience, educational degrees, and training in teacher preparation programs and their relationship to teacher leadership. Finally, the study examined the concept of courage as a component of teacher leadership. This study focused on a rural school district in Southeast Georgia. The researcher used a quantitative design for the descriptive study of teacher leadership. The researcher-developed instrument was the Teacher Leadership Participation Survey (TLPS) that utilized specific tasks and activities that directly related to the four dimensions of teacher leadership. The survey also included demographic questions that pertained to years of experience in education, highest degree obtained, and training in teacher leadership in teacher preparation programs. 2 The researcher found that teachers in small rural school districts are participating in teacher leadership, but elementary and middle school teachers were more likely to participate in teacher leadership and on a more consistent basis than high school teachers. The study also concluded that training in teacher leadership in teacher preparation programs had a significant impact on participation in teacher leadership. Finally, the component of courage was examined and found to be very consistent with the four dimensions of teacher leadership in relation to frequency of participation. Recommendations for further research included differences between elementary, middle, and high school, importance of teacher preparation programs and continuing education programs, and the importance of courage in the construct of teacher leadership. The concept of teacher leadership is relatively new and continues to evolve, but examination of the practices of teacher leadership may provide vast insight into successful initiatives within the school improvement process

Mechanisms of cellular symmetry breaking in S. cerevisiae

Cell polarization is vital to diverse biological processes, from maintenance of stem cell identity to chemotaxis of neutrophils. The small GTPase Cdc42 has long been known to be a primary regulator of polarity, but the mechanistic details of how Cdc42 may shift from an isotropic to a polarized distribution, balancing diffusion with targeting in a dynamic system, are not well understood. Here we investigate this question using the budding yeast S. cerevisiae as a model system. Yeast polarize via two distinct but coupled mechanisms. Actin-dependent polarization comprises a positive feedback loop wherein Cdc42-dependent nucleation of polarized actin cables leads to a transport of Cdc42 to the polarized site. A standing question in this model was how Cdc42 could maintain concentration in the cap in the presence of membrane flux due to docking and excision of vesicles. Careful imaging revealed a spatiotemporal heterogeneity of Cdc42 distribution at the cap, with peaks corresponding to regions of high exocytosis, low endocytosis, and low diffusion of Cdc42 within the membrane. Mathematical simulation revealed that these microdomains were sufficient to support polarization via the actin pathway in the presence of membrane flux, with concentration of Cdc42 onto vesicles having a lesser impact. We next sought to gain mechanistic insight into actin-independent polarization, which requires both the guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitor (GDI) Rdi1, which extracts Cdc42 from the peripheral membrane into a rapidly diffusing cytosolic complex, and the adaptor molecule Bem1, which binds both active Cdc42GTP and its guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) or activator Cdc24. It was thought that Bem1 mediated symmetry breaking through a positive feedback loop wherein Bem1 recruited Cdc24 to sites of Cdc42GTP, upon which Cdc24 would catalyze the activation of additional Cdc42. To critically test the proposed feedback loop, we examined the capacity of cells to undergo actin-independent polarization when specific steps in the loop were disrupted. We found that although binding of Bem1 with the GEF was required, binding of Bem1 with Cdc42 was not required and, strikingly, nor was localization of Bem1 to the polar cap. Using a Cdc42 activation biosensor, we found that Bem1 binding boosts Cdc24 GEF activity. Importantly, expression of a constitutively active GEF partially rescued actin-independent polarization in the Bem1-Cdc24 binding mutant. Wondering if polarization could occur via an Rdi1-dependent mechanism of extraction and targeted deposition in the presence of uniformly activated Cdc42, we turned to mathematical modeling. We found that polarization could indeed occur within a defined range of Rdi1/Cdc42 ratios, which we verified experimentally

An Examination of the Relationship between Authenticity and Female Sexual Dysfunction

Since the late 1990s, researchers have reported a high degree of sexual dysfunction among American women that is associated with significant negative consequences (e.g., reduced quality of life and sexual satisfaction). In addition, sexual satisfaction is a primary factor in marital stability. Because of the widespread impact on both individual well-being and marital relationships, female sexual dysfunction is a significant public health problem. Most research has supported the predominance of psychocultural factors in women\u27s sexual issues. Authenticity, defined by Kernis and Goldman as acting in accord with one\u27s natural inclinations, is associated with increased well-being, but researchers have often overlooked it in the literature on female sexual dysfunction. This study, guided by Kernis and Goldman\u27s authenticity theory, argued that gender culture impairs the ability of women to be authentic in the sexual realm, and, thereby, increases the risk of sexual problems. The purpose of this research study was to examine the relationship between authenticity, as measured by The Authenticity Inventory, Version 3, and female sexual dysfunction, as measured by The Female Sexual Function Index and The Female Sexual Distress Scale, Revised, in a group of 55 women attending an online university. The hypothesis was that women with higher rates of dysfunction and/or distress would score lower on authenticity. The results from a regression analysis did not reach significance and failed to confirm the hypothesis; however, there was an association between distress and dysfunction. This study contributes to social change by examining an association between authenticity and female sexual dysfunction that is of help to researchers and therapists working with women in the area of sexual health