125 research outputs found
Towards a history for 'unlearning racism': exploring Ontario history teacher candidates' knowledges, purposes and identities
This thesis, located in critical race theory (CRT), explores how 46 Ontario history
teacher candidates were positioned to take up a history for âunlearning racismâ
(Ladson-Billings, 2003). Through an eclectic qualitative approach that combined a
âmapping activityâ (Seixas, 1997), a âtimeline activityâ (Epstein, 1998; Peck, 2010),
short answer questions and follow-up interviews, a rich body of data was gathered that
revealed teacher candidatesâ knowledges, views on the purpose of teaching and their
role as history teachers, as well as the ways that they negotiated their racial and
intersecting identitiesâ influence.
The study found that a majority of participants did not possess the knowledges,
political impetus, nor a sophisticated understanding of the influence of their racial
identities to take up a history for âunlearning racismâ. Three teacher candidates,
however, stood apart, displaying not only the knowledges but also an understanding
of the intimately political and personal ways in which histories are produced, learned
and taught. Additionally, drawing from their experiences as a result of their respective
marginalized identities, they possessed a lived awareness of the intrinsic role of race
and racism in Canadian history and its ongoing legacy. Their marginalized identities,
while compelling them to teach a history for âunlearning racismâ also worked to inhibit
them from doing so, their already tenuous membership in the teaching profession
further at risk if they opted to âteach against the grainâ.
I recommend, on the one hand, that there needs to be a radical change in the selection
of history teacher candidates and the focus of the history methods course. On the other,
the three participantsâ experiences in their placements point to the vital role played by
associate teachers and hence, recommendations are made regarding their selection. It
is hoped that this research will help move all teacher candidates toward a history âfor
unlearning racismâ and ensure that those âalready thereâ are supported in doing so
Femmes Ă©crivains dans l'ombre de la Renaissance: L'"Imitation de la victoire de Iudith" de Gabrielle de Coignard
Gabrielle de Coignard is the first woman to have
transformed a biblical theme into an epic. She is the author of a collection of
129 devotional sonnets and approximately 165 pages of longer poems, including
the "Imitation de Ia victoire de Judith," an epic in 1600 lines. The aim of this
paper, apart from the intention to rekindle an interest in this hitherto largely
neglected poet, is to compare her epic to that of a contemporary, Guillaume du
Bartas, and to demonstrate that the two sexually distinct textual voices
correspond with the conceptual definition of epic poetry.PoÚte toulousaine de la deuxiÚme moitié du XVIe siÚcle,
Gabrielle de Coignard est la premiĂšre femme Ă avoir transforrne un theme
biblique en épopée. Auteure des Oeuvres chrestiennes qui comprennent 129 sonnets
spirituels et environ 165 pages de poĂšmes plus longs, elle est auteure de
l'"Imitation de la victoire de Iudith." Le but du présent article est, a partir
du desir de ressusciter cette poÚte négligée, de juxtaposer son épopée a celle
d'un contemporain, Guillaume du Bartas, eta démontrer que deux voix textuelles
distinctes, en reflétant le sexe de leur auteur( e), coincident avec le concept
poétique du genre épique
A systematic investigation of production of synthetic prions from recombinant prion protein
According to the protein-only hypothesis, infectious mammalian prions, which exist as distinct strains with discrete biological properties, consist of multichain assemblies of misfolded cellular prion protein (PrP). A critical test would be to produce prion strains synthetically from defined components. Crucially, high-titre 'synthetic' prions could then be used to determine the structural basis of infectivity and strain diversity at the atomic level. While there have been multiple reports of production of prions from bacterially expressed recombinant PrP using various methods, systematic production of high-titre material in a form suitable for structural analysis remains a key goal. Here, we report a novel high-throughput strategy for exploring a matrix of conditions, additives and potential cofactors that might generate high-titre prions from recombinant mouse PrP, with screening for infectivity using a sensitive automated cell-based bioassay. Overall, approximately 20 000 unique conditions were examined. While some resulted in apparently infected cell cultures, this was transient and not reproducible. We also adapted published methods that reported production of synthetic prions from recombinant hamster PrP, but again did not find evidence of significant infectious titre when using recombinant mouse PrP as substrate. Collectively, our findings are consistent with the formation of prion infectivity from recombinant mouse PrP being a rare stochastic event and we conclude that systematic generation of prions from recombinant PrP may only become possible once the detailed structure of authentic ex vivo prions is solved
Shell structure of superheavy nuclei in self-consistent mean-field models
We study the extrapolation of nuclear shell structure to the region of
superheavy nuclei in self-consistent mean-field models -- the
Skyrme-Hartree-Fock approach and the relativistic mean-field model -- using a
large number of parameterizations. Results obtained with the Folded-Yukawa
potential are shown for comparison. We focus on differences in the isospin
dependence of the spin-orbit interaction and the effective mass between the
models and their influence on single-particle spectra. While all relativistic
models give a reasonable description of spin-orbit splittings, all
non-relativistic models show a wrong trend with mass number. The spin-orbit
splitting of heavy nuclei might be overestimated by 40%-80%. Spherical
doubly-magic superheavy nuclei are found at (Z=114,N=184), (Z=120,N=172) or
(Z=126,N=184) depending on the parameterization. The Z=114 proton shell
closure, which is related to a large spin-orbit splitting of proton 2f states,
is predicted only by forces which by far overestimate the proton spin-orbit
splitting in Pb208. The Z=120 and N=172 shell closures predicted by the
relativistic models and some Skyrme interactions are found to be related to a
central depression of the nuclear density distribution. This effect cannot
appear in macroscopic-microscopic models which have a limited freedom for the
density distribution only. In summary, our findings give a strong argument for
(Z=120,N=172) to be the next spherical doubly-magic superheavy nucleus.Comment: 22 pages REVTeX, 16 eps figures, accepted for publication in Phys.
Rev.
Dietary evidence from Central Asian Neanderthals: A combined isotope and plant microremains approach at Chagyrskaya Cave (Altai, Russia)
Neanderthals are known primarily from their habitation of Western Eurasia, but they also populated large expanses of Northern Asia for thousands of years. Owing to a sparse archaeological record, relatively little is known about these eastern Neanderthal populations. Unlike in their western range, there are limited zooarchaeological and paleobotanical studies that inform us about the nature of their subsistence. Here, we perform a combined analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes on bone collagen and microbotanical remains in dental calculus to reconstruct the diet of eastern Neanderthals at Chagyrskaya Cave in the Altai Mountains of Southern Siberia, Russia. Stable isotopes identify one individual as possessing a high trophic level due to the hunting of large- and medium-sized ungulates, while the analysis of dental calculus also indicates the presence of plants in the diet of this individual and others from the site. These findings indicate eastern Neanderthals may have had broadly similar subsistence patterns to those elsewhere in their range
Changing environments during the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition in the eastern Cantabrian Region (Spain): direct evidence from stable isotope studies on ungulate bones
Environmental change has been proposed as a factor that contributed to the extinction of the Neanderthals in Europe during MIS3. Currently, the different local environmental conditions experienced at the time when Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) met Neanderthals are not well known. In the Western Pyrenees, particularly, in the eastern end of the Cantabrian coast of the Iberian Peninsula, extensive evidence of Neanderthal and subsequent AMH activity exists, making it an ideal area in which to explore the palaeoenvironments experienced and resources exploited by both human species during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition. Red deer and horse were analysed using bone collagen stable isotope analysis to reconstruct environmental conditions across the transition. A shift in the ecological niche of horses after the Mousterian demonstrates a change in environment, towards more open vegetation, linked to wider climatic change. In the Mousterian, Aurignacian and Gravettian, high inter-individual nitrogen ranges were observed in both herbivores. This could indicate that these individuals were procured from areas isotopically different in nitrogen. Differences in sulphur values between sites suggest some variability in the hunting locations exploited, reflecting the human use of different parts of the landscape. An alternative and complementary explanation proposed is that there were climatic fluctuations within the time of formation of these archaeological levels, as observed in pollen, marine and ice cores.This research was funded by the European Commission through a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant (FP7-
PEOPLE-2012-CIG-322112), by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (HAR2012-33956 and
Ramon y Cajal-2011-00695), the University of Cantabria and Campus International to ABMA. Radiocarbon
dating at ORAU was funded by MINECO-HAR2012-33956 project. J.J was supported initially by the FP7-
PEOPLE-2012-CIG-322112 and later by a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014-656122).
Laboratory work, associated research expenses and isotopic analysis were kindly funded by the Max Planck
Society to M.R
To meat or not to meat? New perspectives on Neanderthal ecology.
Neanderthals have been commonly depicted as top predators who met their nutritional needs by focusing entirely on meat. This information mostly derives from faunal assemblage analyses and stable isotope studies: methods that tend to underestimate plant consumption and overestimate the intake of animal proteins. Several studies in fact demonstrate that there is a physiological limit to the amount of animal proteins that can be consumed: exceeding these values causes protein toxicity that can be particularly dangerous to pregnant women and newborns. Consequently, to avoid food poisoning from meat-based diets, Neanderthals must have incorporated alternative food sources in their daily diets, including plant materials as well
Tracing the ecophysiology of ungulates and predatorâprey relationships in an early Pleistocene large mammal community
Temporal and spatial analysis of the 2014-2015 Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa
West Africa is currently witnessing the most extensive Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreak so far recorded. Until now, there have been 27,013 reported cases and 11,134 deaths. The origin of the virus is thought to have been a zoonotic transmission from a bat to a two-year-old boy in December 2013 (ref. 2). From this index case the virus was spread by human-to-human contact throughout Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. However, the origin of the particular virus in each country and time of transmission is not known and currently relies on epidemiological analysis, which may be unreliable owing to the difficulties of obtaining patient information. Here we trace the genetic evolution of EBOV in the current outbreak that has resulted in multiple lineages. Deep sequencing of 179 patient samples processed by the European Mobile Laboratory, the first diagnostics unit to be deployed to the epicentre of the outbreak in Guinea, reveals an epidemiological and evolutionary history of the epidemic from March 2014 to January 2015. Analysis of EBOV genome evolution has also benefited from a similar sequencing effort of patient samples from Sierra Leone. Our results confirm that the EBOV from Guinea moved into Sierra Leone, most likely in April or early May. The viruses of the Guinea/Sierra Leone lineage mixed around June/July 2014. Viral sequences covering August, September and October 2014 indicate that this lineage evolved independently within Guinea. These data can be used in conjunction with epidemiological information to test retrospectively the effectiveness of control measures, and provides an unprecedented window into the evolution of an ongoing viral haemorrhagic fever outbreak.status: publishe
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