178 research outputs found

    History on Trial: French Nippon Foundation Sues Scholar for Libel to Protect the Honor of Sasakawa Ryōichi

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    Something unusual happened on 5 March 2009 in the quiet compound of the French school known as Sciences Po, the National Foundation for Political Science, from which most of the past and present French governmental elite graduated. It was the first day of a major conference on “Memory, The Writing of History and Democratization” that assembled political scientists, sociologists, and historians, addressing a vast array of issues related to World War Two, Stalinism and Maoism, and recent African wars. Around one hundred people had gathered in one of the main lecture halls. The first session was ending when a woman from the audience quickly approached the speakers’ table. She was not your typical academic conference attendant. A bailiff, she was there to hand one of the speakers a subpoena to appear before the Paris district court at the request of the “French Sasakawa Foundation” (FFJDS).1 The Foundation, having filed a libel suit against that particular scholar, had chosen this flamboyant way to make the case public..

    Documentation of Caddo Vessels in the Robert L. Turner Collection at Stephen F. Austin State University

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    Perttula et al. (2010) documented more than 300 ceramic vessels in the Robert L. Turner, Jr. collection from ancestral Caddo burial sites in East Texas, primarily from the Big Cypress Creek basin, but also including vessels from sites in the middle Sabine, lower Sulphur River, and Neches/Angelina River basins. When the Turner collection was donated to Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) in 2012, it was noted that some of the vessels in the collection had not been documented by Perttula et al. (2010). In the spring of 2014 we had an opportunity to remedy the situation, and with the permission of DR. George Avery of the Anthropology and Archaeology Laboratory at SFASU, we have documented an additional 38 vessels in the Turner collection. These vessels are from the G. W. Rumsey (41CP3), Tuck Carpenter (41CP5), Harold Williams (41CP10), B. J. Horton (41CP20), and Alex Justiss (41TT13) sites in the Big Cypress Creek basin (Figure 1)

    Documentation of Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Vessels in the Smith County Historical Museum Collections

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    This report puts on record the collection of 34 ancestral Caddo vessels held by the Smith County Historical Museum (SCHM) in Tyler, Texas. Most of the collection was donated to the SCHM in 2013, but several were also donated in 1985 (Carol Kehl, April 2014 personal communication). The vessels in this collection have been documented following the methods employed by the Friends of Northeast Texas Archaeology and Archeological & Environmental Consultants, LLC on a number of ancestral Caddo ceramic collections from East Texas archaeological sites (e.g., Perttula 2011, 2013, 2014; Perttula and Nelson 2013; Perttula and Thacker 2014; Perttula et al. 2007, 2009a, 2009b, 2010a, 2010b, 2010c, 2012a, 2012b, 2012c, 2013, 2014). The provenance of the Caddo vessels includes a number of vessels from sites at Lake O’ the Pines in the Big Cypress Creek basin, while the other 10 vessels are believed to have been collected from sites in the upper Neches River basin in Smith County, Texas. We discuss these conclusions in the “Summary and Conclusions” section of the report, relying on the decorative styles and types of the vessels (see Suhm and Jelks 1962) to sort them into the material culture remains known to be associated with different ancestral Caddo cultural groups in East Texas

    Documentation of Caddo Vessels and Sherds in the Herrington Collection at Tyler Junior College, in Smith County, Texas

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    This report puts on record the collection of ancestral Caddo vessels and sherds held by Tyler Junior College (TJC) in Tyler, Texas. This collection was donated by Al Herrington to TJC in 2012. The vessels and sherds in this collection have been documented following the methods employed by the Friends of Northeast Texas Archaeology and Archeological & Environmental Consultants, LLC on a number of ancestral Caddo ceramic collections from East Texas archaeological sites (e.g., Perttula 2011, 2013, 2014; Perttula and Nelson 2013; Perttula and Thacker 2014; Perttula et al. 2007, 2009a, 2009b, 2010a, 2010b, 2010c, 2012a, 2012b, 2012c, 2013, 2014). The provenance of the Caddo vessels and sherd assemblage is not known with certainty, but (as we discuss in the Summary and Conclusions section of the report) the decorative styles of the vessels and sherds indicate they are from East Texas Caddo sites, most likely from sites in the Neches and Sabine river basins

    The Sanders Site (41LR2): A Middle to Historic Caddo Settlement and Mound Center on the Red River in Lamar County, Texas

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    The T. M. Sanders site (41LR2) is one of the more important (although still not well known or intensively studied) ancestral Caddo sites known in East Texas, primarily because of its two earthen mounds and the well-preserved mortuary features of Caddo elite persons buried in Mound No. 1 (the East Mound). Archaeological work began at the site in 1931 by The University of Texas at Austin, with sporadic work by members of the Dallas Archeological Society in the 1940s and 1950s. Archaeological and bioarchaeological interpretations of the findings from this work at the Sanders site began with Krieger’s analyses of the burial features and associated funerary objects (including marine shell gorgets, shell beads, arrow points, and ceramic vessels). These analyses and studies continue to the present day, and rely upon the reanalysis and reinterpretation of the archaeological and bioarchaeological materials recovered in the Pearce and Jackson and Jackson\u27s work. Although the Sanders site is not dated by radiocarbon analyses, the general consensus is that the main Caddo occupation took place around ca. A.D. 1100-1300, contemporaneous with related sites downstream along the Red River near its confluence with the Kiamichi River, and other sites in the Sabine River basin. A late 17th-early 18th century Caddo occupation is also present at the Sanders site, but remains poorly known. Harris and Harris commented that European “trade material is exceptionally scarce” at the Sanders site, but they do note that 478 glass beads had been found at the site. Harris had previously stated that several Caddo burials with European trade goods had been found along Bois d’Arc Creek south of Mound No. 2, the larger or West Mound. According to Edward B. Jelks, an Historic Caddo area investigated by Lester Wilson (an avocational archaeologist from Wylie, Texas) was about 100 m south of the two mounds at the Sanders site. This may be one of the areas identified by Jackson between ca. 90-150 m south of the mounds where he noted concentrations of triangular arrow points, small end scrapers, flint awls, and other stone tools. A 1971 map in the TARL files drawn by Dee Ann Story locates the historic Caddo settlement east of Bois d’Arc Creek and south of Mound No. 2

    Activation of Arp2/3 Complex: Addition of the First Subunit of the New Filament by a WASP Protein Triggers Rapid ATP Hydrolysis on Arp2

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    In response to activation by WASP-family proteins, the Arp2/3 complex nucleates new actin filaments from the sides of preexisting filaments. The Arp2/3-activating (VCA) region of WASP-family proteins binds both the Arp2/3 complex and an actin monomer and the Arp2 and Arp3 subunits of the Arp2/3 complex bind ATP. We show that Arp2 hydrolyzes ATP rapidly—with no detectable lag—upon nucleation of a new actin filament. Filamentous actin and VCA together do not stimulate ATP hydrolysis on the Arp2/3 complex, nor do monomeric and filamentous actin in the absence of VCA. Actin monomers bound to the marine macrolide Latrunculin B do not polymerize, but in the presence of phalloidin-stabilized actin filaments and VCA, they stimulate rapid ATP hydrolysis on Arp2. These data suggest that ATP hydrolysis on the Arp2/3 complex is stimulated by interaction with a single actin monomer and that the interaction is coordinated by VCA. We show that capping of filament pointed ends by the Arp2/3 complex (which occurs even in the absence of VCA) also stimulates rapid ATP hydrolysis on Arp2, identifying the actin monomer that stimulates ATP hydrolysis as the first monomer at the pointed end of the daughter filament. We conclude that WASP-family VCA domains activate the Arp2/3 complex by driving its interaction with a single conventional actin monomer to form an Arp2–Arp3–actin nucleus. This actin monomer becomes the first monomer of the new daughter filament

    Do Behavioral Foraging Responses of Prey to Predators Function Similarly in Restored and Pristine Foodwebs?

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    Efforts to restore top predators in human-altered systems raise the question of whether rebounds in predator populations are sufficient to restore pristine foodweb dynamics. Ocean ecosystems provide an ideal system to test this question. Removal of fishing in marine reserves often reverses declines in predator densities and size. However, whether this leads to restoration of key functional characteristics of foodwebs, especially prey foraging behavior, is unclear. The question of whether restored and pristine foodwebs function similarly is nonetheless critically important for management and restoration efforts. We explored this question in light of one important determinant of ecosystem function and structure – herbivorous prey foraging behavior. We compared these responses for two functionally distinct herbivorous prey fishes (the damselfish Plectroglyphidodon dickii and the parrotfish Chlorurus sordidus) within pairs of coral reefs in pristine and restored ecosystems in two regions of these species' biogeographic ranges, allowing us to quantify the magnitude and temporal scale of this key ecosystem variable's recovery. We demonstrate that restoration of top predator abundances also restored prey foraging excursion behaviors to a condition closely resembling those of a pristine ecosystem. Increased understanding of behavioral aspects of ecosystem change will greatly improve our ability to predict the cascading consequences of conservation tools aimed at ecological restoration, such as marine reserves

    Rapid Changes in Phospho-MAP/Tau Epitopes during Neuronal Stress: Cofilin-Actin Rods Primarily Recruit Microtubule Binding Domain Epitopes

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    Abnormal mitochondrial function is a widely reported contributor to neurodegenerative disease including Alzheimer's disease (AD), however, a mechanistic link between mitochondrial dysfunction and the initiation of neuropathology remains elusive. In AD, one of the earliest hallmark pathologies is neuropil threads comprising accumulated hyperphosphorylated microtubule-associated protein (MAP) tau in neurites. Rod-like aggregates of actin and its associated protein cofilin (AC rods) also occur in AD. Using a series of antibodies - AT270, AT8, AT100, S214, AT180, 12E8, S396, S404 and S422 - raised against different phosphoepitopes on tau, we characterize the pattern of expression and re-distribution in neurites of these phosphoepitope labels during mitochondrial inhibition. Employing chick primary neuron cultures, we demonstrate that epitopes recognized by the monoclonal antibody 12E8, are the only species rapidly recruited into AC rods. These results were recapitulated with the actin depolymerizing drug Latrunculin B, which induces AC rods and a concomitant increase in the 12E8 signal measured on Western blot. This suggests that AC rods may be one way in which MAP redistribution and phosphorylation is influenced in neurons during mitochondrial stress and potentially in the early pathogenesis of AD
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