175 research outputs found
Overcoming the fear: an autoethnographic narrative of running with epilepsy
Through a phenomenological approach, this article explores the identity conflict that arose within a female runner after diagnosis with epilepsy. Utilising a three month autoethnography to track her experiences of returning to running, the first author narrates the effect of epilepsy on her identity formation. Providing a voice that is absent from a research area dominated by statistics, the reader is asked to involve him/herself in the world of this athlete and in turn embrace the use of narratives as a valuable coping mechanism for those with chronic disorders
Commentary: Essential Programs and Services Model
To further discussion about the Essential Programs and Services (EPS) model for funding public education in Maine, Maine Policy Review asked eight superintendents—representing districts across the state— to provide their views. We also asked each to discuss the needs of his district and whether additional state policy options were necessary to tackle the most pressing issues. The districts represented by these superintendents are a cross section of urban and rural high-receivers and low-receivers. Still, several commonalities emerge: the need for a state commitment that does not wax and wane with the business cycle; the urgency of professional development for new and experienced teachers; and, the importance of linking student outcomes with student assessment measures and student funding. In short, EPS is not seen as a solution to the state’s ongoing debate over public-education funding, but is recognized as a necessary first step
Theory and application of Agricultural Innovation Platforms for improved irrigation scheme management in Southern Africa
Who Benefits From Teams? Comparing Workers, Supervisors, and Managers
This paper offers a political explanation for the diffusion and sustainability of team-based work systems by examining the differential outcomes of team structures for 1200 workers, supervisors, and middle managers in a large unionized telecommunications company. Regression analyses show that participation in self-managed teams is associated with significantly higher levels of perceived discretion, employment security, and satisfaction for workers and the opposite for supervisors. Middle managers who initiate team innovations report higher employment security, but otherwise are not significantly different from their counterparts who are not involved in innovations. By contrast, there are no significant outcomes for employees associated with their participation in offline problem-solving teams
End of the Kiaman Superchron in the Permian of SW England: Magnetostratigraphy of the Aylesbeare Mudstone and Exeter groups
The chronology of Permian strata in SW England is fragmentary and largely based on radiometric dating of associated volcanic units. Magnetostratigraphy from the c. 2 km of sediments in the Exeter and Aylesbeare Mudstone groups was undertaken to define a detailed chronology, using the end of the Kiaman Superchron and the overlying reverse and normal polarity in the Middle and Upper Permian as age constraints. The palaeomagnetic directions are consistent with other European Permian palaeopoles, with data passing fold and reversal tests. The end of the Kiaman Superchron (in the Wordian) occurs in the uppermost part of the Exeter Group. The overlying Aylesbeare Mudstone Group is early Capitanian to latest Wuchiapingian in age. The Changhsingian and most of the Lower Triassic sequence is absent. Magnetostratigraphic comparison with the Southern Permian Basin shows that the Exeter and Aylesbeare Mudstone groups are closely comparable in age with the Havel and Elbe Subgroups of the Rotliegend II succession. The Altmark unconformities in these successions appear similar in age to the sequence boundaries in SW England, indicating that both may be climate controlled. Clasts in the Exeter Group, from unroofing of the Dartmoor Granite, first occurred at a minimum of c. 8 myr after formation of the granite
Meeting Report: Hazard Assessment for Nanoparticles—Report from an Interdisciplinary Workshop
In this report we present the findings from a nanotoxicology workshop held 6–7 April 2006 at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. Over 2 days, 26 scientists from government, academia, industry, and nonprofit organizations addressed two specific questions: what information is needed to understand the human health impact of engineered nanoparticles and how is this information best obtained? To assess hazards of nanoparticles in the near-term, most participants noted the need to use existing in vivo toxicologic tests because of their greater familiarity and interpretability. For all types of toxicology tests, the best measures of nanoparticle dose need to be determined. Most participants agreed that a standard set of nanoparticles should be validated by laboratories worldwide and made available for benchmarking tests of other newly created nanoparticles. The group concluded that a battery of tests should be developed to uncover particularly hazardous properties. Given the large number of diverse materials, most participants favored a tiered approach. Over the long term, research aimed at developing a mechanistic understanding of the numerous characteristics that influence nanoparticle toxicity was deemed essential. Predicting the potential toxicity of emerging nanoparticles will require hypothesis-driven research that elucidates how physicochemical parameters influence toxic effects on biological systems. Research needs should be determined in the context of the current availability of testing methods for nanoscale particles. Finally, the group identified general policy and strategic opportunities to accelerate the development and implementation of testing protocols and ensure that the information generated is translated effectively for all stakeholders
The quest for the solar g modes
Solar gravity modes (or g modes) -- oscillations of the solar interior for
which buoyancy acts as the restoring force -- have the potential to provide
unprecedented inference on the structure and dynamics of the solar core,
inference that is not possible with the well observed acoustic modes (or p
modes). The high amplitude of the g-mode eigenfunctions in the core and the
evanesence of the modes in the convection zone make the modes particularly
sensitive to the physical and dynamical conditions in the core. Owing to the
existence of the convection zone, the g modes have very low amplitudes at
photospheric levels, which makes the modes extremely hard to detect. In this
paper, we review the current state of play regarding attempts to detect g
modes. We review the theory of g modes, including theoretical estimation of the
g-mode frequencies, amplitudes and damping rates. Then we go on to discuss the
techniques that have been used to try to detect g modes. We review results in
the literature, and finish by looking to the future, and the potential advances
that can be made -- from both data and data-analysis perspectives -- to give
unambiguous detections of individual g modes. The review ends by concluding
that, at the time of writing, there is indeed a consensus amongst the authors
that there is currently no undisputed detection of solar g modes.Comment: 71 pages, 18 figures, accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysics Revie
The Resource Curse and Rentier States in the Caspian Region : A Need for Context Analysis
Although much attention is paid to the Caspian region with regard to energy issues, the domestic
consequences of the region’s resource production have so far constituted a neglected field of research.
A systematic survey of the latest research trends in the economic and political causalities of
the resource curse and of rentier states reveals that there is a need for context analysis. In reference
to this, the paper traces any shortcomings and promising approaches in the existent body of literature
on the Caspian region. Following on from this, the paper then proposes a new approach; specifically,
one in which any differences and similarities in the context conditions are captured. This
enables a more precise exploration of the exact ways in which they form contemporary post-Soviet
Caspian rentier states.Obwohl der Region am Kaspischen Meer im Zuge von Energiediskursen große Aufmerksamkeit zuteil
wird, stellen die innerstaatlichen Folgen der Ressourcenproduktion in der Region ein bislang
vernachlässigtes Forschungsfeld dar. Ein systematischer Überblick über die jüngsten Forschungstrends
zu wirtschaftlichen und politischen Kausalzusammenhängen des Ressourcenfluchs und zu
Rentierstaaten offenbart die Notwendigkeit von Kontextanalysen. Hierauf Bezug nehmend, analysiert
der Aufsatz sowohl die Mängel als auch viel versprechende Ansätze in der betreffenden Literatur
zur Region am Kaspischen Meer. Der Aufsatz stellt letztendlich einen neuen Ansatz vor, der
Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten in den Kontextbedingungen erfasst, um zu erforschen, wie diese
die gegenwärtigen post-sowjetischen Rentierstaaten in der Region am Kaspischen Meer tatsächlich
prägen
Prokayrotic Ubiquitin-Like Protein (Pup) Proteome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Prokaryotic ubiquitin-like protein (Pup) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is the first known post-translational small protein modifier in prokaryotes, and targets several proteins for degradation by a bacterial proteasome in a manner akin to ubiquitin (Ub) mediated proteolysis in eukaryotes. To determine the extent of pupylation in Mtb, we used tandem affinity purification to identify its “pupylome”. Mass spectrometry identified 55 out of 604 purified proteins with confirmed pupylation sites. Forty-four proteins, including those with and without identified pupylation sites, were tested as substrates of proteolysis in Mtb. Under steady state conditions, the majority of the test proteins did not accumulate in degradation mutants, suggesting not all targets of pupylation are necessarily substrates of the proteasome under steady state conditions. Four proteins implicated in Mtb pathogenesis, Icl (isocitrate lyase), Ino1 (inositol-1-phosphate synthase), MtrA (Mtb response regulator A) and PhoP (phosphate response regulator P), showed altered levels in degradation defective Mtb. Icl, Ino1 and MtrA accumulated in Mtb degradation mutants, suggesting these proteins are targeted to the proteasome. Unexpectedly, PhoP was present in wild type Mtb but undetectable in the degradation mutants. Taken together, these data demonstrate that pupylation regulates numerous proteins in Mtb and may not always lead to degradation
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Modeling the Gas Thermodynamics in BOSS CMASS galaxies from Kinematic and Thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Measurements
The thermal and kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effects (tSZ, kSZ) probe the
thermodynamic properties of the circumgalactic and intracluster medium (CGM and
ICM) of galaxies, groups, and clusters, since they are proportional,
respectively, to the integrated electron pressure and momentum along the
line-of-sight. We present constraints on the gas thermodynamics of CMASS
galaxies in the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) using new
measurements of the kSZ and tSZ signals obtained in a companion paper.
Combining kSZ and tSZ measurements, we measure within our model the amplitude
of energy injection , where is the stellar
mass, to be , and the amplitude of the
non-thermal pressure profile to be (2),
indicating that less than 20% of the total pressure within the virial radius is
due to a non-thermal component. We estimate the effects of including baryons in
the modeling of weak-lensing galaxy cross-correlation measurements using the
best fit density profile from the kSZ measurement. Our estimate reduces the
difference between the original theoretical model and the weak-lensing galaxy
cross-correlation measurements in arXiv:1611.08606 by half, but does not fully
reconcile it. Comparing the kSZ and tSZ measurements to cosmological
simulations, we find that they under predict the CGM pressure and to a lesser
extent the CGM density at larger radii. This suggests that the energy injected
via feedback models in the simulations that we compared against does not
sufficiently heat the gas at these radii. We do not find significant
disagreement at smaller radii. These measurements provide novel tests of
current and future simulations. This work demonstrates the power of joint, high
signal-to-noise kSZ and tSZ observations, upon which future cross-correlation
studies will improve.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review D. Editors' Suggestion.
New Fig. 1-2, Tab.
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