history, legend and practice in three contemporary performances in Portugal, Spain and Brazil

PEst-OE/SADG/UI4038/2011Performances of dramatized encounters between Moors and Christians can be found in many European countries, with particular emphasis on Portugal and Spain, as well as in many countries of Latin and South America, where they are important elements in local patron- saint festivals and other religious celebrations. These encounters consist of choreographed sequences of varying complexity, duration and content, which in some instances are referred to as dances (see: AMADO, 1966; ALGE, 2010; RAPOSO 1998; CARRASCO URGOITI, 1996; HARRIS, 2000). I focus on three of these dramatizations, incorporated in contemporary performances in northern Portugal Sobrado town, in southern Spain Beneixama village and in the city of Pirenópolis in Brazil, respectively. Although the three performances are quite different in composition and context, they are comparable at the level of their underlying theme: the dramatized enactment of a battle between Moors and Christians. The article opens with a historical account of the form and content of dances of Moors and Christians in the European context, and how these dances have been defined and interpreted by different researchers, followed by performances descriptions in the three celebrations mentioned above, with particular regard to their relation with dance. The article concludes with a brief analysis of the role these performances played in the local community in terms of sociability and social status. The data presented is based on participant observation and interviews, carried out during fieldwork on the performances between 2008 and 2011, and combined with the analysis of secondary documentary information.publishersversionpublishe

Anoxic nitrification in marine sediments

Nitrate peaks are found in pore-water profiles in marine sediments at depths considerably below the conventional zone of oxic nitrification. These have been interpreted to represent nonsteady- state effects produced by the activity of nitrifying bacteria, and suggest that nitrification occurs throughout the anoxic sediment region. In this study, ΣNO3 peaks and molecular analysis of DNA and RNA extracted from anoxic sediments of Loch Duich, an organic-rich marine fjord, are consistent with nitrification occurring in the anoxic zone. Analysis of ammonia oxidiser 16S rRNA gene fragments amplified from sediment DNA indicated the abundance of autotrophic ammonia-oxidising bacteria throughout the sediment depth sampled (40 cm), while RT-PCR analysis indicated their potential activity throughout this region. A large non-steady-state pore-water ΣNO3 peak at ~21 cm correlated with discontinuities in this ammonia-oxidiser community. In addition, a subsurface nitrate peak at ~8 cm below the oxygen penetration depth, correlated with the depth of a peak in nitrification rate, assessed by transformation of 15N-labelled ammonia. The source of the oxidant required to support nitrification within the anoxic region is uncertain. It is suggested that rapid recycling of N is occurring, based on a coupled reaction involving Mn oxides (or possibly highly labile Fe oxides) buried during small-scale slumping events. However, to fully investigate this coupling, advances in the capability of high-resolution pore-water techniques are required

Impact of the dynamics of discourses on the development of organic farming in Flanders

Discursive dynamics have played an important role in determining the development of the organic farming sector in Flanders (the northern part of Belgium). These dynamics co-shaped political and institutional changes including the implementation of EU regulations and the deployment of supply-and market-driven measures. Moreover, discursive dynamics mediated the effects of these political-institutional changes on the willingness of agricultural stakeholders –including individual farmers– to contribute to a growth of the organic agricultural sector. Our results suggest that a focus on institutional changes or individual farmers’ willingness to convert may be useful but only partially explains organic agricultural developments

Engineered Phagemids for Nonlytic, Targeted Antibacterial Therapies

The increasing incidence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections is creating a global public health threat. Because conventional antibiotic drug discovery has failed to keep pace with the rise of resistance, a growing need exists to develop novel antibacterial methodologies. Replication-competent bacteriophages have been utilized in a limited fashion to treat bacterial infections. However, this approach can result in the release of harmful endotoxins, leading to untoward side effects. Here, we engineer bacterial phagemids to express antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and protein toxins that disrupt intracellular processes, leading to rapid, nonlytic bacterial death. We show that this approach is highly modular, enabling one to readily alter the number and type of AMPs and toxins encoded by the phagemids. Furthermore, we demonstrate the effectiveness of engineered phagemids in an in vivo murine peritonitis infection model. This work shows that targeted, engineered phagemid therapy can serve as a viable, nonantibiotic means to treat bacterial infections, while avoiding the health issues inherent to lytic and replicative bacteriophage use.Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) (HDTRA1-14-1-0006

Hepatic retransplantation in cholestatic liver disease: Impact of the interval to retransplantation on survival and resource utilization

The aim of our study was to quantitatively assess the impact of hepatic retransplantation on patient and graft survival and resource utilization. We studied patients undergoing hepatic retransplantation among 447 transplant recipients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) at 3 transplantation centers. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used for survival analysis. Measures of resource utilization included the duration of hospitalization, length of stay in the intensive care unit, and the duration of transplantation surgery. Forty-six (10.3%) patients received 2 or more grafts during the follow-up period (median, 2.8 years). Patients who underwent retransplantation had a 3.8-fold increase in the risk of death compared with those without retransplantation (P < .01). Retransplantation after an interval of greater than 30 days from the primary graft was associated with a 6.7-fold increase in the risk of death (P < .01). The survival following retransplantations performed 30 days or earlier was similar to primary transplantations. Resource utilization was higher in patients who underwent multiple consecutive transplantations, even after adjustment for the number of grafts during the hospitalization. Among cholestatic liver disease patients, poor survival following hepatic retransplantation is attributed to late retransplantations, namely those performed more than 30 days after the initial transplantation. While efforts must be made to improve the outcome following retransplantation, a more critical evaluation may be warranted for late retransplantation candidates

An unprecedented phosphinine with significant P(π)-donor properties

A hitherto unprecedented electronic situation has been observed for a substituted, pyridyl-functionalized phosphinine. In contrast to previous studies, this compound shows considerable π-donor properties as the result of the rather strong +M effect of the CH3S-substituent, changing the electronic properties of this low-coordinate and aromatic phosphorus heterocycle substantially

Development of a modified SEDEX phosphorus speciation method for ancient rocks and modern iron-rich sediments

We report the development of a modified method for evaluating different reservoirs of sedimentary phosphorus (P) in ancient marine sedimentary rocks and in modern Fe-rich sediments. Utilising the existing SEDEX scheme for P partitioning in modern sediments, we initially demonstrate limitations in the application of the original scheme to sediments and rocks containing crystalline hematite and magnetite. We tested additional extractions for these crystalline Fe phases, using both synthetic minerals, and modern and ancient sediments. The addition of 6 h oxalate and 6 h citrate-dithionate-acetate extractions considerably enhanced the total recovery of synthetic magnetite and hematite to 88.7 ± 1.1% and 76.9 ± 3.8%, respectively. In addition, application of the 6 h oxalate extraction to synthetic P-containing magnetite recovered 93.9 ± 1.7% of the Fe present and 88.2 ± 12.8% of the co-precipitated P. Based upon these results we developed a modified SEDEX extraction scheme. The modified scheme was applied to modern Fe-rich sediments from Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica, which resulted in 16% higher Fe-bound P recovery. Application of the scheme to a variety of ancient marine rocks increased the recovery of Fe-bound P by up to 22%. We also highlight the potential for authigenic carbonate fluorapatite to convert to more crystalline apatite in ancient rocks during deep burial and metamorphism. We suggest that in such systems minimum and maximum estimates of the total reactive P pool may be calculated with and without the inclusion of crystalline P. It is noted that the application of the revised method may have important implications for understanding the cycling of P in ancient marine environments

Haptic feedback in a teleoperated box &amp; blocks task

Haptic feedback is a desired feature in teleoperation as it can improve dexterous manipulation. Direct force feedback to the operator’s hand and fingers requires complex hardware and therefore substituting force by for instance vibration is a relevant topic. In this experiment, we tested performance on a Box &amp; Blocks task in a teleoperation set-up with no feedback, direct force feedback and substituted vibration feedback. Objective performance was the same in all conditions as was the learning effect over three sessions, but participants had a clear preference for haptic feedback over no haptic feedback. The preferred type of feedback (force or vibration or both) varied over participants. In general, this study showed that haptic feedback is preferred in teleoperation, the Box &amp; Blocks task seems not sensitive enough for our (and most) current teleoperation set-up(s), and vibration feedback as substitute for direct force feedback works well and can be used intuitively.</p