Critical discourse studies: Where to from here?

This paper surveys critical discourse studies to the present and claims that, to avoid lapsing into comfortable orthodoxy in its mature phase, CDS needs to reassert its transformative radical teleology. The initial part of the paper reasserts the need for a strong social theory given the materialist and context-bound nature of discourse in daily activity. From this basis, the paper then characterizes the “new times” in which contemporary discourse occurs, and briefly surveys those issues typically analyzed, namely political economy, race and gender, and critical literacy. By considering people's ordinary lives, the paper then suggests that subject and agency, and calculative technologies of management deserve, and new modalities need, more research. Transdisciplinarity is encouraged, particularly with social psychology and critical management studies

Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of Vagococcus fluvialis, including strains isolated from human sources.

This study presents phenotypic and genotypic data for seven isolates of Vagococcus fluvialis, including four strains recovered from human clinical sources, one strain isolated from an environmental source, and two strains isolated from pigs. On the basis of phenotypic characteristics, most isolates were initially classified as "unidentified enterococci," because they resembled atypical arginine-negative enterococcal species. All seven strains as well as the type strain of V. fluvialis reacted with the AccuProbe Enterococcus genetic probe. The seven isolates had virtually indistinguishable whole-cell protein profiles that were similar to that of the V. fluvialis type strain and distinct from those of Enterococcus and Lactococcus species. DNA-DNA reassociation experiments confirmed that the strains were V. fluvialis. They were 71% or more related to the V. fluvialis type strain under optimum and stringent conditions, with 2.5% or less divergence within related sequences. All strains were susceptible to ampicillin, cefotaxime, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and vancomycin and were resistant to clindamycin, lomefloxacin, and ofloxacin. Strain-to-strain variation was observed in relation to susceptibilities to 18 other antimicrobial agents. Chromosomal DNA was analyzed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) after digestion with SmaI. Distinctive PFGE patterns were generated, suggesting the nonclonal nature of V. fluvialis strains. Although the number of strains was small, this report provides molecular characterization of V. fluvialis and the first evidence of a possible connection of this species with human infections

Modelagem do Processo de Fragmentação de Catalisadores Suportados Durante a Pré-polimerização de Olefinas Modeling of Catalyst Fragmentation During Olefin Pre-polymerizations

Uma metodologia é proposta para descrever a morfologia das partículas de polímero que são obtidas durante os momentos iniciais da polimerização de olefinas via catálise heterogênea. O método é baseado na análise matemática da capacidade da partícula em liberar a energia mecânica acumulada no seu interior devido à rápida produção de polímero. O balanço entre as quantidades de energia acumulada e liberada é calculado com o auxílio de um modelo dinâmico da reação de pré-polimerização. A combinação da metodologia proposta com o modelo dinâmico permitiu a análise dos mecanismos de fragmentação, indicando a morfologia da partícula de polímero produzida em função do tamanho da partícula e da temperatura do reator.<br>A model-based methodology is proposed for describing the morphology of the polymer particles that are obtained during the very early stages of the olefin polymerization. The method is based on the analysis of the particle capacity to release the amount of energy that is accumulated in its interior during the polymerization, due to the fast polymer production. The balance between the accumulated and released amounts of energy is calculated with the help of a dynamic pre-polymerization reaction model. The combination of the fragmentation criteria and of the polymerization model allows the analysis of the prepolymerization step, indicating the morphology of the final polymer particles as a function of the catalyst particle diameter and reactor temperature

Phenotypic and Genotypic Characterization of Pediococcus Strains Isolated from Human Clinical Sources

Seventy-two strains of pediococci isolated from human clinical sources were characterized by conventional physiological tests, chromogenic enzymatic tests, analysis of whole-cell protein profiles (WCPP) by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and analysis of chromosomal DNA restriction profiles by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Conventional tests allowed identification of 67 isolates: 52 strains were identified as Pediococcus acidilactici, 15 strains were identified as Pediococcus pentosaceus, and 5 strains were not identified because of atypical reactions. Analysis of WCPP identified all isolates since each species had a unique WCPP. By the WCPP method, the atypical strains were identified as P. acidilactici (two strains) and P. pentosaceus (three strains). The chromogenic substrate test with o-nitrophenyl-β-d-glucopyranoside differentiated all 54 strains of P. acidilactici (negative reactions) and 13 (72%) of 18 strains of P. pentosaceus (positive reactions). Isolates of both species were shown to be nonclonal as revealed by the genetic diversity when chromosomal DNA was analyzed by PFGE. Using WCPP as the definitive identification procedure, P. acidilactici (28 of 54 strains; 51.8%) was more likely than P. pentosaceus (4 of 18 strains; 22.3%) to be isolated from blood cultures