A Kinder, Gentler Nation: Education and Rhetoric in the Bush Era

The present political climate and new social agendas for education deserve more critical meditation than they usually receive at professional meetings and in scholarly journals. For, unless we think that the conditions for teaching and for making rhetoric are immutable over the centuries since Plato and Aristotle theorized these activities, or unless we think that conditions change but education and rhetoric stand apart from history, how can those who teach and think about rhetoric plan and understand our work without an assessment ofits role in the social process-including a particular society's political climate and agenda for education? I offer no fruits of specialist research or new theory, just my efforts as an intellectual and citizen to locate our professional work on a historical map of its context. To do that, I decided, out of infinitely many possibilities, to scan the doings and sayings of Mr. Bush and his associates on education and culture to see how they articulate the tremendously appealing slogan, repeated dozens of times since Mr. Bush's acceptance of his party's nomination, "a kinder, gentler nation." What does he take to be its deficits in kindness? How does he propose to amend them in the arena of education? What rhetoric do he and his speechwriters use to explain this administration's projects? This approach would show how political authority construes and constructs our situation, and later I will address that subject. But first, the final phrase in my title calls for some independent construal of that situation, against which to measure the project of our national leadership. What is the "Bush era," apart from what Mr. Bush says it is? As a dissident intellectual, I would have no difficulty laying out such a vision, and you know in advance pretty much what it is. To relate it to our present concerns, however, I decided to anchor it in a collage of facts: the news; first, because the news is what most of us use to read the era we live in; second, because the news comes at us in a disjointed form highly characteristic of public discourse in this era; and third, because, in myview, any serious proposal for education, rhetorical education in particular, would have to address the task ordinary citizens face in resolving collages of news into pictures of our historical moment that can guide writing and other action within and beyond it

Occupy and Education: Introduction

We were inspired by Occupy Wall Street (OWS) and the rapid spread of Occupy across the United States and beyond. The commune-like camp sites, the general assemblies and use of the people’s mic, the marches and demonstrations, the provocative refusal to issue demands, the proliferation of working groups and spokes councils, the creative explosion of revolutionary slogans and art, the direct condemnation of corporate finance and of the massive inequalities that structure our society, the “free university” teach-ins, the campaigns against foreclosure and debt—all these elements of Occupy gave us new hope that radical change might happen in our time

昭和3年より昭和7年に至る皮膚泌尿器科新來患者の統計的觀察

Clinical subgroup phyla stratified for gender. (DOCX 93 kb

Genetic identification of unique immunological responses in mice infected with virulent and attenuated Francisella tularensis

Francisella tularensis is a category A select agent based on its infectivity and virulence but disease mechanisms in infection remain poorly understood. Murine pulmonary models of infection were therefore employed to assess and compare dissemination and pathology and to elucidate the host immune response to infection with the highly virulent Type A F. tularensis strain Schu4 versus the less virulent Type B live vaccine strain (LVS). We found that dissemination and pathology in the spleen was significantly greater in mice infected with F. tularensis Schu4 compared to mice infected with F. tularensis LVS. Using gene expression rofiling to compare the response to infection with the two F. tularensis strains, we found that there were significant differences in the expression of genes involved in the apoptosis pathway, antigen processing and presentation pathways, and inflammatory response pathways in mice infected with Schu4 when compared to LVS. These transcriptional differences coincided with marked differences in dissemination and severity of organ lesions in mice infected with the Schu4 and LVS strains. Therefore, these findings indicate that altered apoptosis, antigen presentation and production of inflammatory mediators explain the differences in pathogenicity of F. tularensis Schu4 and LVS

Deoxyribonucleic Acid Encoded and Size-Defined π-Stacking of Perylene Diimides.

Funder: University of CambridgeNatural photosystems use protein scaffolds to control intermolecular interactions that enable exciton flow, charge generation, and long-range charge separation. In contrast, there is limited structural control in current organic electronic devices such as OLEDs and solar cells. We report here the DNA-encoded assembly of π-conjugated perylene diimides (PDIs) with deterministic control over the number of electronically coupled molecules. The PDIs are integrated within DNA chains using phosphoramidite coupling chemistry, allowing selection of the DNA sequence to either side, and specification of intermolecular DNA hybridization. In this way, we have developed a "toolbox" for construction of any stacking sequence of these semiconducting molecules. We have discovered that we need to use a full hierarchy of interactions: DNA guides the semiconductors into specified close proximity, hydrophobic-hydrophilic differentiation drives aggregation of the semiconductor moieties, and local geometry and electrostatic interactions define intermolecular positioning. As a result, the PDIs pack to give substantial intermolecular π wave function overlap, leading to an evolution of singlet excited states from localized excitons in the PDI monomer to excimers with wave functions delocalized over all five PDIs in the pentamer. This is accompanied by a change in the dominant triplet forming mechanism from localized spin-orbit charge transfer mediated intersystem crossing for the monomer toward a delocalized excimer process for the pentamer. Our modular DNA-based assembly reveals real opportunities for the rapid development of bespoke semiconductor architectures with molecule-by-molecule precision.ERC Horizon 2020 (grant agreement No 670405 and No 803326) EPSRC Tier-2 capital grant EP/P020259/1. Winton Advanced Research Programme for the Physics of Sustainability. Simons Foundation (Grant 601946). Swedish research council, Vetenskapsrådet 2018-0023

The Victorian Newsletter (Spring 1965)

The Victorian Newsletter is edited for the English X Group of the Modern Language Association by William E. Buckler, New York University, New York, N.Y. 10003.Methods in the Study of Victorian Style / Richard Ohmann -- The Prose of the Apologia Pro Vita Sua / George Levine -- Scott and Dickens: Realist and Romantic / Edgar Johnson -- A Note on Hegel and George Eliot / Darrel Mansell, Jr. -- Dialectical Structures in Hardy's Poems / D. E. Mayers -- William Johnson Fox and Mill's Essays on Poetry / F. Parvin Sharpless -- Parents and Children in Great Expectations / Vereen M. Bell -- The Name Jude / Robert F . Fleissner -- A Note on Browning's "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" / Victor Hoar -- Religion, Art, and the Poet / Arthur F. Beringause -- Henry James to Stopford Brooke: An Unpublished Letter / Fred L. Standley -- Carlyle, Jeffrey, and the "Helotage" Chapter of Sartor Resartus / Alvan S. Ryan -- English X New

Pre-clinical lung squamous cell carcinoma mouse models to identify novel biomarkers and therapeutic interventions

Primary lung carcinoma or lung cancer (LC) is classified into small-cell or non-small-cell (NSCLC) lung carcinoma. Lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is the second most common subtype of NSCLC responsible for 30% of all LCs, and its survival remains low with only 24% of patients living for five years or longer post-diagnosis primarily due to the advanced stage of tumors at the time of diagnosis. The pathogenesis of LSCC is still poorly understood and has hampered the development of effective diagnostics and therapies. This review highlights the known risk factors, genetic and epigenetic alterations, miRNA biomarkers linked to the development and diagnosis of LSCC and the lack of therapeutic strategies to target specifically LSCC. We will also discuss existing animal models of LSCC including carcinogen induced, transgenic and xenograft mouse models, and their advantages and limitations along with the chemopreventive studies and molecular studies conducted using them. The importance of developing new and improved mouse models will also be discussed that will provide further insights into the initiation and progression of LSCC, and enable the identification of new biomarkers and therapeutic targets

The swan genome and transcriptome, its not all black and white

BACKGROUND: The Australian black swan (Cygnus atratus) is an iconic species with contrasting plumage to that of the closely related northern hemisphere white swans. The relative geographic isolation of the black swan may have resulted in a limited immune repertoire and increased susceptibility to infectious diseases, notably infectious diseases from which Australia has been largely shielded. Unlike mallard ducks and the mute swan (Cygnus olor), the black swan is extremely sensitive to highly pathogenic avian influenza. Understanding this susceptibility has been impaired by the absence of any available swan genome and transcriptome information. RESULTS: Here, we generate the first chromosome-length black and mute swan genomes annotated with transcriptome data, all using long-read based pipelines generated for vertebrate species. We use these genomes and transcriptomes to show that unlike other wild waterfowl, black swans lack an expanded immune gene repertoire, lack a key viral pattern-recognition receptor in endothelial cells and mount a poorly controlled inflammatory response to highly pathogenic avian influenza. We also implicate genetic differences in SLC45A2 gene in the iconic plumage of the black swan. CONCLUSION: Together, these data suggest that the immune system of the black swan is such that should any avian viral infection become established in its native habitat, the black swan would be in a significant peril. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13059-022-02838-0

The swan genome and transcriptome, it is not all black and white

Background: The Australian black swan (Cygnus atratus) is an iconic species with contrasting plumage to that of the closely related northern hemisphere white swans. The relative geographic isolation of the black swan may have resulted in a limited immune repertoire and increased susceptibility to infectious diseases, notably infectious diseases from which Australia has been largely shielded. Unlike mallard ducks and the mute swan (Cygnus olor), the black swan is extremely sensitive to highly pathogenic avian influenza. Understanding this susceptibility has been impaired by the absence of any available swan genome and transcriptome information. Results: Here, we generate the first chromosome-length black and mute swan genomes annotated with transcriptome data, all using long-read based pipelines generated for vertebrate species. We use these genomes and transcriptomes to show that unlike other wild waterfowl, black swans lack an expanded immune gene repertoire, lack a key viral pattern-recognition receptor in endothelial cells and mount a poorly controlled inflammatory response to highly pathogenic avian influenza. We also implicate genetic differences in SLC45A2 gene in the iconic plumage of the black swan. Conclusion: Together, these data suggest that the immune system of the black swan is such that should any avian viral infection become established in its native habitat, the black swan would be in a significant peril

Historical Reflections on Accountability

Imagine that almost all academics think of ourselves as responsible to others, and, if pressed, might allow substitution of "accountable." Responsibility to our employers is contractual, and the professional ethos urges responsibility to students (our clients), to colleagues, and to vague but strong principles of intellectual conduct that obtain in our disciplines. The professional idea calls for responsibility to society as well: we earn our privileges not just by guarding and augmenting our special bodies of knowledge, but by undertaking to put those knowledges to work for the good of all