Review of 'The End of Desertification? Disputing Environmental Change in the Drylands' by Roy H. Behnke and Michael Mortimore

Tales of desertification across the world’s drylands are a recurrent theme in policy discourse. This book takes issue with many of the assumptions around desertification, with cases ranging from Central Asia to West Africa to the Mediterranean to the American West. It is edited by Roy Behnke, an anthropologist with deep knowledge of pastoral areas in North and Southern Africa, West Asia and more, and Michael Mortimore, sadly now late, a development geographer, who knew a huge amount about the drylands of Africa, and particularly northern Nigeria

4-H Community Clubs and the Challenge of Inclusion: The Isleton Experience

In California, where 54% of students in kindergarten through grade 12 are Latino, only 21% of 4-H community club members fit this demographic. Consequently, California 4-H is focused on developing Latino membership. This article describes lessons we learned while developing and delivering a project targeting inclusion of Latino youths in an established 4-H community club

‘Priming’ exercise and O2 uptake kinetics during treadmill running

We tested the hypothesis that priming exercise would speed kinetics during treadmill running. Eight subjects completed a square-wave protocol, involving two bouts of treadmill running at 70% of the difference between the running speeds at lactate threshold (LT) and max, separated by 6-min of walking at 4 km h−1, on two occasions. Oxygen uptake was measured breath-by-breath and subsequently modelled using non-linear regression techniques. Heart rate and blood lactate concentration were significantly elevated prior to the second exercise bout compared to the first. However, kinetics was not significantly different between the first and second exercise bouts (mean ± S.D., phase II time constant, Bout 1: 16 ± 3 s vs. Bout 2: 16 ± 4 s; slow component amplitude, Bout 1: 0.24 ± 0.10 L min−1vs. Bout 2: 0.20 ± 0.12 L min−1; mean response time, Bout 1: 34 ± 4 s vs. Bout 2: 34 ± 6 s; P > 0.05 for all comparisons). These results indicate that, contrary to previous findings with other exercise modalities, priming exercise does not alter kinetics during high-intensity treadmill running, at least in physically active young subjects. We speculate that the relatively fast kinetics and the relatively small slow component in the control (‘un-primed’) condition negated any enhancement of kinetics by priming exercise in this exercise modality

Book review: the international politics of fashion: being fab in a dangerous world by Andreas Behnke

The new collection The International Politics of Fashion: Being Fab in a Dangerous World, edited by Andreas Behnke, argues for the importance of fashion to understanding global politics, with a particular focus on its performative dimensions. In this review essay, Christopher May outlines and builds upon the book’s intervention to propose a international politics of fashion as a set of political economic practices with profound, global implications

Directed evolution converts subtilisin E into a functional equivalent of thermitase

We used directed evolution to convert Bacillus subtilis subtilisin E into an enzyme functionally equivalent to its thermophilic homolog thermitase from Thermoactinomyces vulgaris. Five generations of random mutagenesis, recombination and screening created subtilisin E 5-3H5, whose half-life at 83°C (3.5 min) and temperature optimum for activity (Topt, 76°C) are identical with those of thermitase. The Topt of the evolved enzyme is 17°C higher and its half-life at 65°C is >200 times that of wild-type subtilisin E. In addition, 5-3H5 is more active towards the hydrolysis of succinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-p-nitroanilide than wild-type at all temperatures from 10 to 90°C. Thermitase differs from subtilisin E at 157 amino acid positions. However, only eight amino acid substitutions were sufficient to convert subtilisin E into an enzyme equally thermostable. The eight substitutions, which include known stabilizing mutations (N218S, N76D) and also several not previously reported, are distributed over the surface of the enzyme. Only two (N218S, N181D) are found in thermitase. Directed evolution provides a powerful tool to unveil mechanisms of thermal adaptation and is an effective and efficient approach to increasing thermostability without compromising enzyme activity

The Essentials of NY Mental Health Law: A Straightforward Guide for Clinicians of All Disciplines

Table of Contents onlyhttps://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/fac_books/1122/thumbnail.jp