Fragmentation and other institutional changes in large, forest ownerships, Humphreys County, Tennessee, from 1945 to 1975

The study dealt with institutional changes in large forest land tracts, 500 acres or larger, in Humphreys County, Tennessee. Register of Deeds records revealed changes in ownership, fragmentation, consolidation, and turnover over a 30-year period, 1945 to 1975. In 1945, the Tennessee Valley Authority obtained records by professional abstractors of 48 forest land parcels, 500 acres and larger. These records provided the benchmark data for this study. In 1945, 48 original parcels contained 73,880 total acres, of which 71,617 acres were in forest. This forest acreage represented about 30 percent of the forest land of the county. All parcels were privately owned with ownership classes as follows: 50 percent (24) was held by individual owners; about 2 percent (1) was a partnership; about 21 percent (10) was held in estates; about 19 percent (4) was owned by private forest industry; and 8 percent (9) was owned by corporations other than forestry. Tracing the individual 48 parcels revealed much fragmentation by 1975. Nineteen properties were fragmented into two or more smaller tracts. Five parcels had been fragmented so that each of their total woodland acreage was below 500 acres. Remaining properties had been reduced to 64,970 acres, of which 58,460 acres were forest land. Consolidation was minimal, including only three properties totaling 1,969 acres, of which 452 acres were forest land. Two of these properties subsequently fragmented during the 30-year period. By 1975, the original 48 parcels were expanded to 92 parcels of varying sizes. There were 143 sales or transfers to heirs over the 30-year period. The number of partnerships increased nine-fold over the 30-year period. Fifteen of the individually owned properties had sold timber to forest industry, as evidenced by recorded deeds of two years or longer. Four of these were for 99 years. Industrial forest holdings were relatively stable over the 30-year period. Fragmentation was found to be significantly associated with parcels containing less than 75 percent forest land and also by turnover as measured by the average number of sales weighted by years of tenure. That is to say, properties that sold more frequently tended to be more often broken into smaller tracts when adjusted to an average annual sales basis. As expected, the largest parcel remaining of the fragmented parcels had a higher assessed value per acre in 1975 than properties which did not fragment. The average size of large forest tracts in Humphreys County is declining, which may tend to constrain deliberate forest practices due to diseconomies of size; and creates uncertainty regarding timber availability, especially in the long-run

Primary School Parent Governors In A Deprived South Wales Community: How Do Their Experiences Contribute To Our Understanding Of School Governance?

This research is about an institution which appears to have inherent structural weaknesses; the stakeholder model of school governance. Specifically, it is about primary school parent governors whose schools are located in a disadvantaged South Wales valley community. The study took place in the context of a programme of reform, where established practices were considered unable to accommodate the demands of contemporary school governance. It exposes the absence of the parent voice in school governance, the nature of this acquiescence and its implications from a practical and theoretical perspective of school governance as a collaborative undertaking. A mixed methods, interpretivist approach was used. Data was collected from ten participants using a semi structured interview. This was complemented by one open and one closed questionnaire which were used to gather background data. Following the interview phase and participant validation of their accuracy, data were transcribed and uploaded to NVivo qualitative software to assist in preliminary analysis. A thematic approach identified common patterns able to address the research questions. The research found that, prior to taking office, the participants expressed positive views of what the parent governor role entailed. However, in office no participant played an active governor role. Reasons for this centred on the imbalance in status, knowledge and confidence inherent in the headteacher/professional -governor/amateur relationship. Several participants became resigned to playing a supportive role. No distinct governor enablers, which promoted governor agency, were identified but several had the potential to do so. There were several barriers. A strong school-community relationship was important for all participants. The social cohesion, which characterised the distinct socio-cultural-geographic features of the research site, proved a basis to strengthen this relationship. All participants recognised the multifarious negative effects of socio-economic deprivation at school and community level, and the initiatives the school, local authority and the Welsh Government had introduced to ameliorate them. This thesis fills a gap in the current knowledge of school governance in Welsh primary schools situated in a deprived area. It identifies the factors which restrain governor agency, makes suggestions for how this could be addressed, and examines the effect of deprivation on how governors perceive and execute their role. This is a less developed area, yet fundamental to our understanding of school governance and the relationship of the respective interlocutors. It makes a theoretical and a professional contribution which helps explain governor passivity. At present many parent governors are stakeholders in name but not in practice. To address this requires a radical and structured approach so that Welsh school governance is inclusive, egalitarian and collegial

“We definitely need an audience”: experiences of Twitter, Twitter networks and tweet content in adults with severe communication disabilities who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the Twitter experiences of adults with severe communication disabilities who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to inform Twitter training and further research on the use of Twitter in populations with communication disabilities. Method: This mixed methods research included five adults with severe communication disabilities who use AAC. It combined (a) quantitative analysis of Twitter networks and (b) manual coding of tweets with (c) narrative interviews with participants on their Twitter experiences and results. Results: The five participants who used AAC and Twitter were diverse in their patterns and experiences of using Twitter. Twitter networks reflected interaction with a close-knit network of people rather than with the broader publics on Twitter. Conversational, Broadcast and Pass Along tweets featured most prominently, with limited use of News or Social Presence tweets. Tweets appeared mostly within each participant's micro- or meso-structural layers of Twitter. Conclusions: People who use AAC report positive experiences in using Twitter. Obtaining help in Twitter, and engaging in hashtag communities facilitated higher frequency of tweets and establishment of Twitter networks. Results reflected an inter-connection of participant Twitter networks that might form part of a larger as yet unexplored emergent community of people who use AAC in Twitter.Implications for RehabilitationTwitter can be used as an important vehicle for conversation and a forum for people with communication disabilities to exchange information and participate socially in online communities.It is important that information and resources relating to the effective use of Twitter for a range of purposes are made available to people with communication disabilities who wish to take up or maintain use of Twitter.People with communication disabilities might benefit from support in using Twitter to meet their goals relating to participation in online forums and information exchange. Practitioners need to consider how their own social media skills might impact on service delivery and supporting these goals

Report of the user requirements and web based access for eResearch workshops

The User Requirements and Web Based Access for eResearch Workshop, organized jointly by NeSC and NCeSS, was held on 19 May 2006. The aim was to identify lessons learned from e-Science projects that would contribute to our capacity to make Grid infrastructures and tools usable and accessible for diverse user communities. Its focus was on providing an opportunity for a pragmatic discussion between e-Science end users and tool builders in order to understand usability challenges, technological options, community-specific content and needs, and methodologies for design and development. We invited members of six UK e-Science projects and one US project, trying as far as possible to pair a user and developer from each project in order to discuss their contrasting perspectives and experiences. Three breakout group sessions covered the topics of user-developer relations, commodification, and functionality. There was also extensive post-meeting discussion, summarized here. Additional information on the workshop, including the agenda, participant list, and talk slides, can be found online at http://www.nesc.ac.uk/esi/events/685/ Reference: NeSC report UKeS-2006-07 available from http://www.nesc.ac.uk/technical_papers/UKeS-2006-07.pd

RING-type E3 ligases: Master manipulators of E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes and ubiquitination

AbstractRING finger domain and RING finger-like ubiquitin ligases (E3s), such as U-box proteins, constitute the vast majority of known E3s. RING-type E3s function together with ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes (E2s) to mediate ubiquitination and are implicated in numerous cellular processes. In part because of their importance in human physiology and disease, these proteins and their cellular functions represent an intense area of study. Here we review recent advances in RING-type E3 recognition of substrates, their cellular regulation, and their varied architecture. Additionally, recent structural insights into RING-type E3 function, with a focus on important interactions with E2s and ubiquitin, are reviewed. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Ubiquitin–Proteasome System. Guest Editors: Thomas Sommer and Dieter H. Wolf

A Station-Based Southern Annular Mode Index from 1884 to 2005

Atmospheric pressure observations from the Southern Hemisphere are used to estimate monthly and annually averaged indexes of the southern annular mode (SAM) back to 1884. This analysis groups all relevant observations in the following four regions: one for Antarctica and three in the subtropical zone. Continuous surface pressure observations are available at a number of locations in the subtropical regions since the end of the nineteenth century. However, year-round observations in the subpolar region near the Antarctic continent began only during the 1940-60 period. The shorter Antarctic records seriously compromise the length of a traditionally estimated SAM index. To improve the situation "proxy'' estimates of Antarctic sea level pressure anomalies are provided based on the concept of atmospheric mass conservation poleward of 208S. This allows deriving a longer SAM index back to 1884. Several aspects of the new record, its statistical properties, seasonal trends, and the regional pressure anomaly correlations, are presented

A protein quality control pathway at the mitochondrial outer membrane.

Maintaining the essential functions of mitochondria requires mechanisms to recognize and remove misfolded proteins. However, quality control (QC) pathways for misfolded mitochondrial proteins remain poorly defined. Here, we establish temperature-sensitive (ts-) peripheral mitochondrial outer membrane (MOM) proteins as novel model QC substrates in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The ts- proteins sen2-1HAts and sam35-2HAts are degraded from the MOM by the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Ubiquitination of sen2-1HAts is mediated by the ubiquitin ligase (E3) Ubr1, while sam35-2HAts is ubiquitinated primarily by San1. Mitochondria-associated degradation (MAD) of both substrates requires the SSA family of Hsp70s and the Hsp40 Sis1, providing the first evidence for chaperone involvement in MAD. In addition to a role for the Cdc48-Npl4-Ufd1 AAA-ATPase complex, Doa1 and a mitochondrial pool of the transmembrane Cdc48 adaptor, Ubx2, are implicated in their degradation. This study reveals a unique QC pathway comprised of a combination of cytosolic and mitochondrial factors that distinguish it from other cellular QC pathways

The quest for effective interdisciplinary graduate supervision: A critical narrative analysis

Interdisciplinarity is a pervasive trend in 21st-century knowledge building and innovation. It is predicated on the recognition that creative solutions to the world’s increasingly complex problems require the intersection of diverse expertise. Little scholarly attention has been directed towards how the new interdisciplinary (ID) model is in uencing the processes and outcomes of graduate research training. In a qualitative study informed by critical narra- tive analysis and conducted at one institution, we investigate the epistemo- logical, structural, and relational factors that shape ID doctoral research supervision, explore how di ering knowledge cultures and values are negoti- ated in supervisory practices, and consider how established structures and discourses in uence the processes and outcomes of these supervisory rela- tionships

Evaluation of TypeSeq, a Novel High-Throughput, Low-Cost, Next-Generation Sequencing-Based Assay for Detection of 51 Human Papillomavirus Genotypes.

BackgroundHuman papillomaviruses (HPV) cause over 500 000 cervical cancers each year, most of which occur in low-resource settings. Human papillomavirus genotyping is important to study natural history and vaccine efficacy. We evaluated TypeSeq, a novel, next-generation, sequencing-based assay that detects 51 HPV genotypes, in 2 large international epidemiologic studies.MethodsTypeSeq was evaluated in 2804 cervical specimens from the Study to Understand Cervical Cancer Endpoints and Early Determinants (SUCCEED) and in 2357 specimens from the Costa Rica Vaccine Trial (CVT). Positive agreement and risks of precancer for individual genotypes were calculated for TypeSeq in comparison to Linear Array (SUCCEED). In CVT, positive agreement and vaccine efficacy were calculated for TypeSeq and SPF10-LiPA.ResultsWe observed high overall and positive agreement for most genotypes between TypeSeq and Linear Array in SUCCEED and SPF10-LiPA in CVT. There was no significant difference in risk of precancer between TypeSeq and Linear Array in SUCCEED or in estimates of vaccine efficacy between TypeSeq and SPF10-LiPA in CVT.ConclusionsThe agreement of TypeSeq with Linear Array and SPF10-LiPA, 2 well established standards for HPV genotyping, demonstrates its high accuracy. TypeSeq provides high-throughput, affordable HPV genotyping for world-wide studies of cervical precancer risk and of HPV vaccine efficacy

Ednrb−/− mice with hirschsprung disease are missing Gad2-expressing enteric neurons in the ganglionated small intestine

Hirschsprung disease is most often characterized by aganglionosis limited to the distal colon and rectum, and mice lacking the Endothelin receptor type B (Ednrb) faithfully recapitulate this phenotype. However, despite the presence of enteric ganglia in the small intestine, both human patients and Ednrb−/− mice suffer from dysmotility and altered gastrointestinal function, thus raising the possibility of enteric nervous system (ENS) abnormalities proximal to the aganglionic region. We undertook the present study to determine whether abnormalities with the ENS in ganglionated regions may account for abnormal gastrointestinal function. We performed single-cell RNA sequencing on ENS cells from the small intestine of Ednrb−/− mice and compared the results to a published single-cell dataset. Our results identified a missing population of neurons marked by the enzyme Gad2, which catalyzes the production of γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), in the small intestine of Ednrb−/− animals. This result was confirmed by immunostaining enteric ganglia from Ednrb−/− mice and their wild-type littermates. These data show for the first time that ganglionated regions of the Hirschsprung gut lack a neuronal subpopulation, which may explain the persistent gastrointestinal dysfunction after surgical correction of Hirschsprung disease