The Buddhist Tradition of Prosimetric Oral Narrative in Chinese Literature

AbstractVictor H. Mair (University of Pennsylvania) specializes in Chinese literature; among his recent books are Tun-huang Popular Narratives (1983) and T'ang Transformation Texts (1988)

The Origins of the Tun-Huang Popular Narratives and Their Influences on Later Vernacular Literature.

The purpose of this thesis is to understand as much as possible of the history of the popular Chinese literary genre called pien-wen. These texts date from the eighth through the tenth centuries and are important because they represent the earliest surviving examples of extended vernacular narrative known in China. The thesis begins with a brief discussion of the discovery of the pien-wen manuscripts at Tun-huang in the northwestern province of Kansu. The author then turns to an intensive philological study of the term pien-wen and thereby justifies his translation of it as "transformation text." Having completed this analysis, he is in a position to delineate the corpus of pien-wen. In the process, he distinguishes it from other types of popular literary texts discovered at Tun-huang such as sutra lectures (chiang- ching-wen). The author then moves on to the significant questions of who wrote the pien-wen and why. He marshals evidence that most of the copyists were lay students studying at Buddhist monasteries in Tun-huang. The author proceeds to show that pien-wen were the written descendants of a type of oral performance called chuan-pien ("turning transformation [scrolls]"). This was a folk entertainment in which a storyteller used a picture scroll to illustrate his or her tale. The sudden and mysterious disappearance of pien-wen during the first half of the eleventh century is then explained. The last major section of the thesis deals with the effects of pien-wen on later Chinese popular literature, chief among these being the adoption of the prosimetric form and the use of vernacular language. The thesis concludes with an assessment of the current state of research on pien-wen

Preseason Y Balance Test Scores are Not Associated With a Lower Quadrant Sports Injury in a Heterogeneous Population of Division III Collegiate Athletes

Functional performance tests, such as the Y Balance Test-Lower Quarter (YBT-LQ), hold promise as screening tools to identify athletes at risk for injury. The ability of the YBT-LQ to discriminate injury risk in Division III collegiate athletes is unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine if preseason YBT-LQ scores are associated with noncontact time-loss lower-quadrant (low back or lower extremities) injury in a heterogeneous population of Division III collegiate athletes. Two hundred and fourteen athletes (females = 104) performed the YBT-LQ test. Preseason YBT-LQ scores, analyzed by the total population, were not associated with noncontact time-loss lower-quadrant injury. Females with greater reach scores in some directions did have a significantly greater risk of injury. This study adds to a growing body of research demonstrating that the YBT-LQ should not be used as a preseason screening tool

Evidence that a West-East admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as early as the early Bronze Age

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Tarim Basin, located on the ancient Silk Road, played a very important role in the history of human migration and cultural communications between the West and the East. However, both the exact period at which the relevant events occurred and the origins of the people in the area remain very obscure. In this paper, we present data from the analyses of both Y chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) derived from human remains excavated from the Xiaohe cemetery, the oldest archeological site with human remains discovered in the Tarim Basin thus far.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mitochondrial DNA analysis showed that the Xiaohe people carried both the East Eurasian haplogroup (C) and the West Eurasian haplogroups (H and K), whereas Y chromosomal DNA analysis revealed only the West Eurasian haplogroup R1a1a in the male individuals.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results demonstrated that the Xiaohe people were an admixture from populations originating from both the West and the East, implying that the Tarim Basin had been occupied by an admixed population since the early Bronze Age. To our knowledge, this is the earliest genetic evidence of an admixed population settled in the Tarim Basin.</p

The <i>Plasmodium</i> eukaryotic initiation factor-2α kinase IK2 controls the latency of sporozoites in the mosquito salivary glands

Sporozoites, the invasive form of malaria parasites transmitted by mosquitoes, are quiescent while in the insect salivary glands. Sporozoites only differentiate inside of the hepatocytes of the mammalian host. We show that sporozoite latency is an active process controlled by a eukaryotic initiation factor-2α (eIF2α) kinase (IK2) and a phosphatase. IK2 activity is dominant in salivary gland sporozoites, leading to an inhibition of translation and accumulation of stalled mRNAs into granules. When sporozoites are injected into the mammalian host, an eIF2α phosphatase removes the PO4 from eIF2α-P, and the repression of translation is alleviated to permit their transformation into liver stages. In IK2 knockout sporozoites, eIF2α is not phosphorylated and the parasites transform prematurely into liver stages and lose their infectivity. Thus, to complete their life cycle, Plasmodium sporozoites exploit the mechanism that regulates stress responses in eukaryotic cells

Does co-creation impact public service delivery?:The importance of state and governance traditions

Co-creation in public service delivery requires partnerships between citizens and civil servants. The authors argue that whether or not these partnerships will be successful depends on state and governance traditions (for example a tradition of authority sharing or consultation). These traditions determine the extent to which co-creation can become institutionalized in a country’s governance framework

Examining health promotion interventions for patients with chronic conditions using a novel patient-centered complexity model: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Successful chronic care self-management requires adherence to healthy lifestyle behaviors, but many healthcare-based health promotion interventions have resulted in small and unsustainable changes in patient behavior. Patients with chronic conditions may already be overwhelmed by burdensome illnesses and treatments, and not have the capacity to respond well to the additional work required of behavior modifications. To explore this phenomenon, we will apply the cumulative complexity model (CCM), a patient-centered model of patient complexity, to a systematic review and meta-analysis of healthcare-based health behavior interventions. METHODS/DESIGN: This systematic review will include randomized trials published between 2002 and 2012 that compared healthcare-based interventions aimed at improving healthy diet and physical activity in community dwelling adult patients with chronic conditions. After extracting study and risk of bias features from each trial, we will classify the interventions according to the conceptual model. We will then use meta-analysis and subgroup analysis to test hypotheses based on the conceptual model. DISCUSSION: Healthcare providers need evidence of successful health promoting interventions for patients with chronic conditions who display common behavioral risk factors. To better understand how patients respond to interventions, we will apply the CCM, which accounts for both the capacity of patients with chronic conditions and their treatment-related workload, and posits that a balance between capacity and workload predicts successful enactment of self-care. Analysis will also include whether patients with multiple chronic conditions respond differently to interventions compared to those with single chronic conditions. The results of this review will provide insights as to how patients with chronic conditions respond to health-promoting interventions. REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO registration number: CRD42012003428