The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship.

Deborah Willis presents “the handsomest picture book,” as well as an “elegantly hybrid” and nuanced portrayal of the Black Civil War soldier’s experience—“he was figured as property as often as he was a person . . . he was a martyr and a deserter, an enlisted man, and rarely an officer.

The Financial Procedures Utilized in the Administration of Athletic Programs in the Eight Eastern South Dakota Conference High Schools

Since the late 1800’s when athletics were forced into the secondary school curriculum by popular demand, methods haven been sought by which they could be financed. Gate receipts have and still do provide the bulk of the funds to finance the athletic programs in these schools. Athletics originated as an extra-curricular activity and in many schools are still so regarded. Consequently, school boards generally have not accepted the fact that athletics should be financed from tax funds in the same manner as the academic portion of the secondary school curriculum. The school administrator then, is faced with the problem of providing both a comprehensive program of inter-school athletics, and the major portion of the funds to finance the program. In South Dakota the law does not prescribe detailed procedures for something for these funds, and procedures in individual school reflect the individual policies of the administration concerned. All schools, large or small, receiving and expanding funds should employ sound business methods in their operations. It is with these methods that this study is concerned. This study deals with the financial procedures utilized in the administration of the athletic programs of the eight Easter South Dakota Conference high schools. The study sought to discover the similarities, strong points and weak points of present practices. It is not the intent of this study to examine the amounts of money expended by the various schools in conducting their athletic program or to dram any comparison between schools on this basis. This study is specifically limited to athletic funds, except where the athletic funds are a part of the general activities funds, or district funds are made available for athletic programs. It is hoped that these responsible for athletic programs may find this study useful in evaluating the methods and procedures used in their own schools for handling athletic funds

Insight into the Carboxyl Transferase Domain Mechanism of Pyruvate Carboxylase from \u3cem\u3eRhizobium etli\u3c/em\u3e

The effects of mutations in the active site of the carboxyl transferase domain of Rhizobium etli pyruvate carboxylase have been determined for the forward reaction to form oxaloacetate, the reverse reaction to form MgATP, the oxamate-induced decarboxylation of oxaloacetate, the phosphorylation of MgADP by carbamoyl phosphate, and the bicarbonate-dependent ATPase reaction. Additional studies with these mutants examined the effect of pyruvate and oxamate on the reactions of the biotin carboxylase domain. From these mutagenic studies, putative roles for catalytically relevant active site residues were assigned and a more accurate description of the mechanism of the carboxyl transferase domain is presented. The T882A mutant showed no catalytic activity for reactions involving the carboxyl transferase domain but surprisingly showed 7- and 3.5-fold increases in activity, as compared to that of the wild-type enzyme, for the ADP phosphorylation and bicarbonate-dependent ATPase reactions, respectively. Furthermore, the partial inhibition of the T882A-catalyzed BC domain reactions by oxamate and pyruvate further supports the critical role of Thr882 in the proton transfer between biotin and pyruvate in the carboxyl transferase domain. The catalytic mechanism appears to involve the decarboxylation of carboxybiotin and removal of a proton from Thr882 by the resulting biotin enolate with either a concerted or subsequent transfer of a proton from pyruvate to Thr882. The resulting enolpyruvate then reacts with CO2 to form oxaloacetate and complete the reaction

Probing the Catalytic Roles of Arg548 and Gln552 in the Carboxyl Transferase Domain of the \u3cem\u3eRhizobium etli\u3c/em\u3e Pyruvate Carboxylase by Site-directed Mutagenesis

The roles of Arg548 and Gln552 residues in the active site of the carboxyl transferase domain of Rhizobium etli pyruvate carboxylase were investigated using site-directed mutagenesis. Mutation of Arg548 to alanine or glutamine resulted in the destabilization of the quaternary structure of the enzyme, suggesting that this residue has a structural role. Mutations R548K, Q552N, and Q552A resulted in a loss of the ability to catalyze pyruvate carboxylation, biotin-dependent decarboxylation of oxaloacetate, and the exchange of protons between pyruvate and water. These mutants retained the ability to catalyze reactions that occur at the active site of the biotin carboxylase domain, i.e., bicarbonate-dependent ATP cleavage and ADP phosphorylation by carbamoyl phosphate. The effects of oxamate on the catalysis in the biotin carboxylase domain by the R548K and Q552N mutants were similar to those on the catalysis of reactions by the wild-type enzyme. However, the presence of oxamate had no effect on the reactions catalyzed by the Q552A mutant. We propose that Arg548 and Gln552 facilitate the binding of pyruvate and the subsequent transfer of protons between pyruvate and biotin in the partial reaction catalyzed in the active site of the carboxyl transferase domain of Rhizobium etli pyruvate carboxylase

Empowering Graduates for Knowledge Economies in Developing Countries

© 2018, ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering. Professional, transferable, or 21st century skills such as life-long learning, problem solving and working in a multi-disciplinary team are vitally important for graduates entering knowledge economies. Students in the developing MENA countries have been identified as weak in these skills, which are challenging to both teach and assess. This paper describes the creation and application of the Computing Professional Skills Assessment (CPSA) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), an IT specific instrument to assess students’ abilities in the professional skills, administered using a Learning Management System (LMS). As part of this research students were surveyed on their perceptions and the results revealed a positive response regarding the benefits of the CPSA. It is suggested as an effective and applicable blended learning method in developing countries to better enable students to learn and apply 21st century skills. The use of this method in regions with limited IT infrastructure is discussed