The University of Pennsylvania Faculty: A Study in American Higher Education

Excellence in the University of Pennsylvania, as in other universities, exists or can be attained only by virtue of excellence in its faculties. Policies and procedures which improve the quality of the faculties are therefore vital to the well-being of the institution; and this conclusion - though a seeming truism - must be central to all thinking about the University\u27s future. The present study deals with this essential theme, which for the sake of brevity may be termed the faculty program. The subject relates to all the major purposes of the University, since these must be carried out - ultimately - by the academic staff. Moreover, it transcends the interests of particular schools or areas of learning, and cuts across the resulting boundaries of institutional structures and functions. Under these circumstances, a faculty program may seem so all-embracing as to be almost the equivalent of university policy as a whole. Yet faculties must admit, with becoming modesty, that they alone do not constitute the University of Pennsylvania. Studies of other essential elements in this or any similar institution - as of administrators or of students - will also ramify in all directions. Delimitation of themes here is a matter of focus and emphasis. The present study concentrates on the academic staff and considers other categories only in so far as they enter the resulting picture

Geothermal Cementing - The State of the Art

Much emphasis today is being placed on the drilling and completion of steam wells. Success or failure depends greatly on the cementing process, which requires not only the selection of competent and durable materials but also the complete understanding of placement techniques. Immobile muds, crooked holes, lost circulation, poor centralization, and the inability to move pipe are some of the major areas which contribute to good or bad results. This presentation covers a ''state of the art'' of the various techniques, materials, and equipment being used in cementing steam wells in the US and Mexico

An Ethnohistorical Perspective on Cheyenne Demography

Administrative censuses of the Southern Cheyenne Indians from 1880,1891, and 1900 permit family reconstitution, identification of residence groups, and comparisons of fertility between monogamous and polygynous women, when the records are approached by ethnohistori cal methods. This approach includes an awareness of the aboriginal adoption practices, kinship system, and naming practices. It is argued that the biases and distortions of administrative records can be effectively corrected to add to our store of information on band and tribal societies.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

DIETARY VITAMIN A AND RISK OF CANCER IN THE WESTERN ELECTRIC STUDY

Intake of dietary provitamin A (carotene) was inversely related to the 19-year incidence of lung cancer in a prospective epidemiological study of 1954 middle-aged men. The relative risks of lung cancer in the first (lowest) to fourth quartiles of the distribution of carotene intake were respectively, 7[middle dot]0, 5[middle dot] 5, 3.0, and 1.0 for all men in the study, and 8[middle dot] 1, 5.6, 3.9, and 1.0 for men who had smoked cigarettes for 30 or more years. Intake of preformed vitamin A (retinol) and intake of other nutrients were not significantly related to the risk of lung cancer. Neither carotene nor retinol intake was significantly related to the risk of other carcinomas grouped together, although for men in whom epidermoid carcinomas of the head and neck subsequently developed, carotene intake tended to be below average. These results support the hypothesis that dietary beta-carotene decreases the risk of lung cancer. However, cigarette smoking also increases the risk of serious diseases other than lung cancer, and there is no evidence that dietary carotenoids affect these other risks in any way.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/24193/1/0000452.pd

‘How can I be post-Soviet if I was never Soviet?’ Rethinking categories of time and social change – a perspective from Kulob, southern Tajikistan

Based on anthropological fieldwork conducted in the Kulob region of southern Tajikistan, this paper examines the extent to which the existing periodization ‘Soviet/post-Soviet’ is still valid to frame scholarly works concerning Central Asia. It does so through an analysis of ‘alternative temporalities’ conveyed by Kulob residents to the author. These alternative temporalities are fashioned in especially clear ways in a relationship to the physical transformations occurring to two types of housing, namely flats in building blocks and detached houses. Without arguing that the categories ‘Soviet’ and ‘post-Soviet’ have become futile, the author advocates that the uncritically use of Soviet/post-Soviet has the unwanted effect of shaping the Central Asian region as a temporalized and specialized ‘other’

Short-Term Trends in Bastardy in Taiwan

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68002/2/10.1177_036319908000500303.pd

SOCS2-Induced Proteasome-Dependent TRAF6 Degradation: A Common Anti-Inflammatory Pathway for Control of Innate Immune Responses

Pattern recognition receptors and receptors for pro-inflammatory cytokines provide critical signals to drive the development of protective immunity to infection. Therefore, counter-regulatory pathways are required to ensure that overwhelming inflammation harm host tissues. Previously, we showed that lipoxins modulate immune response during infection, restraining inflammation during infectious diseases in an Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)/suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS)2-dependent-manner. Recently, Indoleamine-pyrrole 2,3- dioxygenase (IDO)-derived tryptophan metabolites, including L-kynurenine, were also shown to be involved in several counter-regulatory mechanisms. Herein, we addressed whether the intracellular molecular events induced by lipoxins mediating control of innate immune signaling are part of a common regulatory pathway also shared by L-kynurenine exposure. We demonstrate that Tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor (TRAF)6 – member of a family of adapter molecules that couple the TNF receptor and interleukin-1 receptor/Toll-like receptor families to intracellular signaling events essential for the development of immune responses – is targeted by both lipoxins and L-kynurenine via an AhR/SOCS2-dependent pathway. Furthermore, we show that LXA4- and L-kynurenine-induced AhR activation, its subsequent nuclear translocation, leading SOCS2 expression and TRAF6 Lys47-linked poly-ubiquitination and proteosome-mediated degradation of the adapter proteins. The in vitro consequences of such molecular interactions included inhibition of TLR- and cytokine receptor-driven signal transduction and cytokine production. Subsequently, in vivo proteosome inhibition led to unresponsiveness to lipoxins, as well as to uncontrolled pro-inflammatory reactions and elevated mortality during toxoplasmosis. In summary, our results establish proteasome degradation of TRAF6 as a key molecular target for the anti-inflammatory pathway triggered by lipoxins and L-kynurenine, critical counter-regulatory mediators in the innate and adaptive immune systems

Features of adenosine metabolism of mouse heart

Adenosine metabolism and transport were evaluated in the isolated perfused mouse heart and compared with the well-established model of isolated perfused guinea pig heart. Coronary venous release of adenosine under well-oxygenated conditions in the mouse exceeds that in the guinea pig threefold when related to tissue mass. Total myocardial adenosine production rate under this condition was approximately 2 nmol/min per gramme and similar in both species. Coronary resistance vessels of mice are highly sensitive to exogenous adenosine, and the threshold for adenosine-induced vasodilation is approximately 30 nmol/l. Adenosine membrane transport was largely insensitive to nitrobenzyl-thioinosine (NBTI) in mouse heart, which is in contrast to guinea pig and several other species. This indicates the dominance of NBTI-insensitive transporters in mouse heart. For future studies, the assessment of cytosolic and extracellular adenosine metabolism and its relationship with coronary flow will require the use of more effective membrane transport blockers