English in Wartime: A Symposium by College Teachers

After the declaration of war upon us by the Axis nations, it seemed the editors of College English that the members of the College should, as soon as possible, co-operate in determining how best to fulfil our special responsibility throughout World War II. As a first step, we invited twenty-five teachers of English in colleges and universities to suggest how we should meet this professional emergency. The Planning Commission of the N.C.T.E., at their meeting in Chicago during the Christmas holidays, and the College Section, at their meeting in Indianapolis with the M.L.A., considered general and basic wartime policies for the National Council. The result of these deliberations will be presented in the March College English. To assemble a preliminary survey of opinion on the teaching of English in World War II, we had to act quickly in order to meet the deadline for the February issue. Nine letters from college men and women came back in time to be included in the symposium. The weakness of the small number, however, is overcome by the strength of the unified and obviously representative character of the responses. Teachers of English believe in the permanent value of the work they are doing. In peace or in war the discipline of the humanities is a way to decency in human relations. Those who have written for the symposium agree that our time of emergency requires of us, as teachers of English, a more vigorous concentration than ever upon clear expression and broad, permanently vital reading. We will need to make curriculum changes, and individually we will perform special wartime duties; but the initial message from outstanding college teachers is that we must do the job for which we are trained: help others to realize the power which emanates from great literature to live humanely in the midst of conflict

Binary-induced magnetic activity? Time-series echelle spectroscopy and photometry of HD123351 = CZ CVn

We present a first and detailed study of the bright and active K0IV-III star HD 123351. The star is found to be a single-lined spectroscopic binary with a period of 147.8919+-0.0003 days and a large eccentricity of e=0.8086+-0.0001. The rms of the orbital solution is just 47 m/s, making it the most precise orbit ever obtained for an active binary system. The rotation period is constrained from long-term photometry to be 58.32+-0.01 days. It shows that HD 123351 is a very asynchronous rotator, rotating five times slower than the expected pseudo-synchronous value. Two spotted regions persisted throughout the 12 years of our observations. Four years of Halpha, CaII H&K and HeI D3 monitoring identifies the same main periodicity as the photometry but dynamic spectra also indicate that there is an intermittent dependence on the orbital period, in particular for Ca ii H&K in 2008. Line-profile inversions of a pair of Zeeman sensitive/insensitive iron lines yield an average surface magnetic-flux density of 542+-72 G. The time series for 2008 is modulated by the stellar rotation as well as the orbital motion, such that the magnetic flux is generally weaker during times of periastron and that the chromospheric emissions vary in anti-phase with the magnetic flux. We also identify a broad and asymmetric lithium line profile and measure an abundance of log n(Li) = 1.70+-0.05. The star's position in the H-R diagram indicates a mass of 1.2+-0.1 Msun and an age of 6-7 Gyr. We interpret the anti-phase relation of the magnetic flux with the chromospheric emissions as evidence that there are two magnetic fields present at the same time, a localized surface magnetic field associated with spots and a global field that is oriented towards the (low-mass) secondary component

Two-dimensional finite element simulation of fracture and fatigue behaviours of alumina microstructures for hip prosthesis

This paper describes a two-dimensional (2D) finite element simulation for fracture and fatigue behaviours of pure alumina microstructures such as those found at hip prostheses. Finite element models are developed using actual Al2O3 microstructures and a bilinear cohesive zone law. Simulation conditions are similar to those found at a slip zone in a dry contact between a femoral head and an acetabular cup of hip prosthesis. Contact stresses are imposed to generate cracks in the models. Magnitudes of imposed stresses are higher than those found at the microscopic scale. Effects of microstructures and contact stresses are investigated in terms of crack formation. In addition, fatigue behaviour of the microstructure is determined by performing simulations under cyclic loading conditions. It is shown that crack density observed in a microstructure increases with increasing magnitude of applied contact stress. Moreover, crack density increases linearly with respect to the number of fatigue cycles within a given contact stress range. Meanwhile, as applied contact stress increases, number of cycles to failure decreases gradually. Finally, this proposed finite element simulation offers an effective method for identifying fracture and fatigue behaviours of a microstructure provided that microstructure images are available

Postcopulatory sexual selection

The female reproductive tract is where competition between the sperm of different males takes place, aided and abetted by the female herself. Intense postcopulatory sexual selection fosters inter-sexual conflict and drives rapid evolutionary change to generate a startling diversity of morphological, behavioural and physiological adaptations. We identify three main issues that should be resolved to advance our understanding of postcopulatory sexual selection. We need to determine the genetic basis of different male fertility traits and female traits that mediate sperm selection; identify the genes or genomic regions that control these traits; and establish the coevolutionary trajectory of sexes

Asteroseismology and Interferometry

Asteroseismology provides us with a unique opportunity to improve our understanding of stellar structure and evolution. Recent developments, including the first systematic studies of solar-like pulsators, have boosted the impact of this field of research within Astrophysics and have led to a significant increase in the size of the research community. In the present paper we start by reviewing the basic observational and theoretical properties of classical and solar-like pulsators and present results from some of the most recent and outstanding studies of these stars. We centre our review on those classes of pulsators for which interferometric studies are expected to provide a significant input. We discuss current limitations to asteroseismic studies, including difficulties in mode identification and in the accurate determination of global parameters of pulsating stars, and, after a brief review of those aspects of interferometry that are most relevant in this context, anticipate how interferometric observations may contribute to overcome these limitations. Moreover, we present results of recent pilot studies of pulsating stars involving both asteroseismic and interferometric constraints and look into the future, summarizing ongoing efforts concerning the development of future instruments and satellite missions which are expected to have an impact in this field of research.Comment: Version as published in The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review, Volume 14, Issue 3-4, pp. 217-36

Getting “Just Deserts” or Seeing the “Silver Lining”: The Relation between Judgments of Immanent and Ultimate Justice

People can perceive misfortunes as caused by previous bad deeds (immanent justice reasoning) or resulting in ultimate compensation (ultimate justice reasoning). Across two studies, we investigated the relation between these types of justice reasoning and identified the processes (perceptions of deservingness) that underlie them for both others (Study 1) and the self (Study 2). Study 1 demonstrated that observers engaged in more ultimate (vs. immanent) justice reasoning for a "good" victim and greater immanent (vs. ultimate) justice reasoning for a "bad" victim. In Study 2, participants' construals of their bad breaks varied as a function of their self-worth, with greater ultimate (immanent) justice reasoning for participants with higher (lower) self-esteem. Across both studies, perceived deservingness of bad breaks or perceived deservingness of ultimate compensation mediated immanent and ultimate justice reasoning respectively. © 2014 Harvey and Callan

Role of deep sponge grounds in the Mediterranean Sea: a case study in southern Italy

The Mediterranean spongofauna is relatively well-known for habitats shallower than 100 m, but, differently from oceanic basins, information upon diversity and functional role of sponge grounds inhabiting deep environments is much more fragmentary. Aims of this article are to characterize through ROV image analysis the population structure of the sponge assemblages found in two deep habitats of the Mediterranean Sea and to test their structuring role, mainly focusing on the demosponges Pachastrella monilifera Schmidt, 1868 and Poecillastra compressa (Bowerbank, 1866). In both study sites, the two target sponge species constitute a mixed assemblage. In the Amendolara Bank (Ionian Sea), where P. compressa is the most abundant species, sponges extend on a peculiar tabular bedrock between 120 and 180 m depth with an average total abundance of 7.3 +/- 1.1 specimens m(-2) (approximately 230 gWW m(-2) of biomass). In contrast, the deeper assemblage of Bari Canyon (average total abundance 10.0 +/- 0.7 specimens m(-2), approximately 315 gWW m(-2) of biomass), located in the southwestern Adriatic Sea between 380 and 500 m depth, is dominated by P. monilifera mixed with living colonies of the scleractinian Madrepora oculata Linnaeus, 1758, the latter showing a total biomass comparable to that of sponges (386 gWW m(-2)). Due to their erect growth habit, these sponges contribute to create complex three-dimensional habitats in otherwise homogenous environments exposed to high sedimentation rates and attract numerous species of mobile invertebrates (mainly echinoderms) and fish. Sponges themselves may represent a secondary substrate for a specialized associated fauna, such zoanthids. As demonstrated in oceanic environments sponge beds support also in the Mediterranean Sea locally rich biodiversity levels. Sponges emerge also as important elements of benthic-pelagic coupling in these deep habitats. In fact, while exploiting the suspended organic matter, about 20% of the Bari sponge assemblage is also severely affected by cidarid sea urchin grazing, responsible to cause visible damages to the sponge tissues (an average of 12.1 +/- 1.8 gWW of individual biomass removed by grazing). Hence, in deep-sea ecosystems, not only the coral habitats, but also the grounds of massive sponges represent important biodiversity reservoirs and contribute to the trophic recycling of organic matter

The genetics of neuropathic pain from model organisms to clinical application

Neuropathic pain (NeuP) arises due to injury of the somatosensory nervous system and is both common and disabling, rendering an urgent need for non-addictive, effective new therapies. Given the high evolutionary conservation of pain, investigative approaches from Drosophila mutagenesis to human Mendelian genetics have aided our understanding of the maladaptive plasticity underlying NeuP. Successes include the identification of ion channel variants causing hyper-excitability and the importance of neuro-immune signaling. Recent developments encompass improved sensory phenotyping in animal models and patients, brain imaging, and electrophysiology-based pain biomarkers, the collection of large well-phenotyped population cohorts, neurons derived from patient stem cells, and high-precision CRISPR generated genetic editing. We will discuss how to harness these resources to understand the pathophysiological drivers of NeuP, define its relationship with comorbidities such as anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders, and explore how to apply these findings to the prediction, diagnosis, and treatment of NeuP in the clinic

Perspectives on tracking data reuse across biodata resources

c The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press.Motivation: Data reuse is a common and vital practice in molecular biology and enables the knowledge gathered over recent decades to drive discovery and innovation in the life sciences. Much of this knowledge has been collated into molecular biology databases, such as UniProtKB, and these resources derive enormous value from sharing data among themselves. However, quantifying and documenting this kind of data reuse remains a challenge. Results: The article reports on a one-day virtual workshop hosted by the UniProt Consortium in March 2023, attended by representatives from biodata resources, experts in data management, and NIH program managers. Workshop discussions focused on strategies for tracking data reuse, best practices for reusing data, and the challenges associated with data reuse and tracking. Surveys and discussions showed that data reuse is widespread, but critical information for reproducibility is sometimes lacking. Challenges include costs of tracking data reuse, tensions between tracking data and open sharing, restrictive licenses, and difficulties in tracking commercial data use. Recommendations that emerged from the discussion include: development of standardized formats for documenting data reuse, education about the obstacles posed by restrictive licenses, and continued recognition by funding agencies that data management is a critical activity that requires dedicated resources