Teaching to the Canon or the Students: The Use of Popular Literature in ELA Classrooms

There is an explicit need for the education system to expand the current canon to integrate popular literature into middle and high school classrooms. Students at these levels are being underexposed to this group of texts in the classroom, but many are plunging themselves into contemporary works at home. The authors of young adult books are aiming their texts to reach out to those learning at the secondary level, while many of the books being taught there were originated for the general amusement of an entirely different generation and age group. For the purpose of this paper the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer will serve as a model of contemporary author deliberately using and challenging the devices of classic literature within her own work. Not only will Meyer\u27s work be explored side by side with Shakespeare\u27s Romeo and Juliet, Emily Bronte\u27s Wuthering Heights, and Charlotte Bronte\u27 s Jane Eyre because of their common theme as love stories, but also because of the minor parallels between each text that Meyer illuminates by bringing her predecessors\u27 works into her own text. Along with this, the way in which Meyer\u27s vampire are similar to or recreate the vampires of Bram Stoker\u27s iconic novel Dracula will be discussed. The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling will be an example of a contemporary work that educators can use to draw connections between popular and canonical literature where the author does not mention classic pieces of literature. Harry Potter will be places alongside other orphans of literature like those found in Frances Hodgson Burnett\u27s The Secret Garden, Mark Twain\u27s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Charlotte Bronte\u27s Jane Eyre. Not only will these texts be discussed as orphan texts, but also as pieces of literature in which power struggles are driving forces. In addition, the future implications that popular literature has for the classroom will be explored

Design of a cold gas micro thruster

Keywords: Micro satellites, Micro propulsion, MEMS technologie

Modular Micro Propulsion System

The miniaturization of space applicable devices by means of MEMS technology is pursued by many research groups. MEMS devices are often designed as stand alone and require individual packaging which often makes them still quite large. Focusing on the integration of several MEMS components has the advantage of reducing size and mass much more. An integrated and miniaturized cold gas propulsion system for micro satellites is presented which consists of a valve, a particle filter, a pressure sensor, a nozzle and a gas tank. By selecting a convenient package first and adjusting the MEMS part to fit the package, costs are reduced and modularity is obtained. The baseline of the system is a glass tube bonded on a silicon disc which contains a valve seat as shown in Figure 1. The valve is normally closed by an embossed membrane which is stacked inside the glass tube. A piezo-disc is glued to the boss of the membrane to actuate the valve. The glass tube is functioning as hermetically sealed package as well as fluidic interconnect with the macro world. The pressure sensor and particle filter are suspended in the glass tube. This integrated system is connected to a pressurized N2 gas tank which is developed by TNO [1]. The tank contains 8 cold gas generators which makes it possible to reduce the working pressure to 3.4bar withoutcompromising on the amount of gas. During the symposium the technical development and results will be presented

Near-optimal two-mode spin squeezing via feedback

We propose a feedback scheme for the production of two-mode spin squeezing. We determine a general expression for the optimal feedback, which is also applicable to the case of single-mode spin squeezing. The two-mode spin squeezed states obtained via this feedback are optimal for j=1/2 and are very close to optimal for j>1/2. In addition, the master equation suggests a Hamiltonian that would produce two-mode spin squeezing without feedback, and is analogous to the two-axis countertwisting Hamiltonian in the single mode case.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, journal versio

An improved Plasmodium cynomolgi genome assembly reveals an unexpected methyltransferase gene expansion.

Background: Plasmodium cynomolgi, a non-human primate malaria parasite species, has been an important model parasite since its discovery in 1907. Similarities in the biology of P. cynomolgi to the closely related, but less tractable, human malaria parasite P. vivax make it the model parasite of choice for liver biology and vaccine studies pertinent to P. vivax malaria. Molecular and genome-scale studies of P. cynomolgi have relied on the current reference genome sequence, which remains highly fragmented with 1,649 unassigned scaffolds and little representation of the subtelomeres. Methods: Using long-read sequence data (Pacific Biosciences SMRT technology), we assembled and annotated a new reference genome sequence, PcyM, sourced from an Indian rhesus monkey. We compare the newly assembled genome sequence with those of several other Plasmodium species, including a re-annotated P. coatneyi assembly. Results: The new PcyM genome assembly is of significantly higher quality than the existing reference, comprising only 56 pieces, no gaps and an improved average gene length. Detailed manual curation has ensured a comprehensive annotation of the genome with 6,632 genes, nearly 1,000 more than previously attributed to P. cynomolgi. The new assembly also has an improved representation of the subtelomeric regions, which account for nearly 40% of the sequence. Within the subtelomeres, we identified more than 1300 Plasmodium interspersed repeat (pir) genes, as well as a striking expansion of 36 methyltransferase pseudogenes that originated from a single copy on chromosome 9. Conclusions: The manually curated PcyM reference genome sequence is an important new resource for the malaria research community. The high quality and contiguity of the data have enabled the discovery of a novel expansion of methyltransferase in the subtelomeres, and illustrates the new comparative genomics capabilities that are being unlocked by complete reference genomes

Two genetic differences between closely related zika virus strains determine pathogenic outcome in mice

Recent Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreaks and unexpected clinical manifestations of ZIKV infection have prompted an increase in ZIKV-related research. Here, we identify two strain-specific determinants of ZIKV virulence in mice. We found that strain H/PF/2013 caused 100% lethality in Ifnar1-/- mice, whereas PRVABC59 caused no lethality; both strains caused 100% lethality in Ifnar1-/- Ifngr1-/- doubleknockout (DKO) mice. Deep sequencing revealed a high-frequency variant in PRVABC59 not present in H/PF/2013: A G-to-T change at nucleotide 1965 producing a Val-to-Leu substitution at position 330 of the viral envelope (E) protein. We show that the V330 variant is lethal on both virus strain backgrounds, whereas the L330 variant is attenuating only on the PRVABC59 background. These results identify a balanced polymorphism in the E protein that is sufficient to attenuate the PRVABC59 strain but not H/PF/2013. The consensus sequences of H/PF/2013 and PRVABC59 differ by 3 amino acids, but these were not responsible for the difference in virulence between the two strains. H/PF/2013 and PRVABC59 differ by an additional 31 noncoding or silent nucleotide changes. We made a panel of chimeric viruses with identical amino acid sequences but nucleotide sequences derived from H/PF/2013 or PRVABC59. We found that 6 nucleotide differences in the 3= quarter of the H/PF/ 2013 genome were sufficient to confer virulence in Ifnar1-/- mice. Altogether, our work identifies a large and previously unreported difference in virulence between two commonly used ZIKV strains, in two widely used mouse models of ZIKV pathogenesis (Ifnar1-/- and Ifnar1-/- Ifngr1-/- DKO mice)

Homodyne Bell's inequalities for entangled mesoscopic superpositions

We present a scheme for demonstrating violation of Bell's inequalities using a spin-1/2 system entangled with a pair of classically distinguishable wave packets in a harmonic potential. In the optical domain, such wave packets can be represented by coherent states of a single light mode. The proposed scheme involves standard spin-1/2 projections and measurements of the position and the momentum of the harmonic oscillator system, which for a light mode can be realized by means of homodyne detection. We discuss effects of imperfections, including non-unit efficiency of the homodyne detector, and point out a close link between the visibility of interference and violation of Bell's inequalities in the described scheme.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Extended version, journal reference adde

WS1.3 Respiratory microbiota dynamics in newborns with cystic fibrosis and healthy controls: A longitudinal study

IEEEMost malware are introduced into a computer system by applications that communicate with the outside world. These applications (called portals) are key components for system security. This paper presents an efficient anti-malware framework un

Quantum central limit theorem for continuous-time quantum walks on odd graphs in quantum probability theory

The method of the quantum probability theory only requires simple structural data of graph and allows us to avoid a heavy combinational argument often necessary to obtain full description of spectrum of the adjacency matrix. In the present paper, by using the idea of calculation of the probability amplitudes for continuous-time quantum walk in terms of the quantum probability theory, we investigate quantum central limit theorem for continuous-time quantum walks on odd graphs.Comment: 19 page, 1 figure

Persistent mucosal damage and risk of epilepsy in people with celiac disease

BACKGROUND: Celiac disease (CD) is associated with an increased risk of developing epilepsy, a risk that persists after CD diagnosis. A significant proportion of CD patients have persistent villous atrophy (VA) on follow-up biopsy. This study's objective was to determine whether persistent VA on follow-up biopsy affects long-term epilepsy risk and epilepsy-related hospital emergency admissions. METHODS: Nationwide Cohort Study. We identified all people in Sweden with histological evidence of CD who underwent a follow-up small intestinal biopsy (1969-2008). We compared those with persistent VA to those who showed histological improvement, assessing the development of epilepsy and related emergency hospital admissions (defined according to relevant ICD codes in the Swedish Patient Register). Cox regression analysis was used to assess outcome measures. RESULTS: Of 7590 people with CD who had a follow-up biopsy, VA was present in 43%. The presence of persistent VA was significantly associated with a reduced risk of developing newly-diagnosed epilepsy (hazard ratio [HR] 0.61; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.38-0.98). On stratified analysis this effect was primarily amongst males (HR 0.35; 95 CI 0.15-0.80). Among the 58 CD patients with a prior diagnosis of epilepsy, those with persistent VA were less likely to visit an emergency department with epilepsy (HR 0.37; 95%CI 0.09-1.09). CONCLUSIONS: In a population-based study of CD individuals, persisting VA on follow up biopsy was associated with reduced future risk of developing epilepsy but did not influence emergency epilepsy-related hospital admissions. Mechanisms as to why persistent VA confers this benefit requires further exploration