Forty Years of Celebration of Discipline: An Interview with Richard Foster

Wow, Richard, it’s been 40 years since your first book, Celebration of Discipline, was published, and it’s still a best seller (selling over 2 million copies), having been translated into 25 languages! Reflecting on that now, could you say something about your original vision for the book, and how God has blessed its impact over the years

Cambodia in the Mill City: The Place-Making Influence of an Urban Ethnic Enclave

In Lowell, Massachusetts, a city with a long history of serving as a magnet for immigrants, the Cambodian community is both the most recent and most populous immigrant group that has helped transformed this postindustrial city into one of the most ethnically diverse in New England. This research seeks to explore the ways in which the development and growth of an ethnic community can influence the place-making process and built environment of cities. Specifically, this thesis conducts a case study of the Cambodian community in Lowell, Massachusetts, and examines the ways in which the development of this specific urban ethnic community has helped to shape the post-industrial city in which it is found, and how Lowell has influenced Cambodian-American ethnic identity

Monitoring Training Load Using the Acute: Chronic Workload Ratio in Non-Elite Intercollegiate Female Athletes

Monitoring training load and its progression in athletes is important to optimise adaptations to training while simultaneously preventing injury. A recent development in this field is the acute: chronic workload ratio (ACWR), which track s average acute training load against average chronic training load to describe training load progression. Furthermore, a new method of calculating the ACWR has been developed using exponentially weighted moving averages (EWMA) which accounts for the decay of fitness and fatigue. This study sought to investigate the relationship between the EWMA and ACWR (based upon session rating of perceived exertion (sRPE)), and injury risk in intercollegiate female athletes (N=4). Participants performed adductor squeeze tests (ASTs) once a week for 8 week s, while their training and wel lness were monitored with sRPE and a daily questionnaire respectively. A hierarchical regression demonstrated that monitoring of average sleep length, average stress, sRPE work loads and an EWMA provided the best model for predicting injury risk in athletes (R2 = 0.47). The findings indicate that the EWMA may be a effective training load monitoring tool than the ACWR model

Web-Based Training for Native American Tribes

The authors describe a project undertaken at the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Northern Arizona University in which the internet is used to present Native American tribes in Arizona with customer service training. It discusses why the project was instigated looks at its development and funding, and highlights the educational and technological challenges that had to be overcome. This is the second in a series of articles on the uses of the internet in educating non-university student constituencies interested in hospitality management.\u2

Insensitivity of alkenone carbon isotopes to atmospheric CO₂ at low to moderate CO₂ levels

Atmospheric pCO2 is a critical component of the global carbon system and is considered to be the major control of Earth’s past, present and future climate. Accurate and precise reconstructions of its concentration through geological time are, therefore, crucial to our understanding of the Earth system. Ice core records document pCO2 for the past 800 kyrs, but at no point during this interval were CO2 levels higher than today. Interpretation of older pCO2 has been hampered by discrepancies during some time intervals between two of the main ocean-based proxy methods used to reconstruct pCO2: the carbon isotope fractionation that occurs during photosynthesis as recorded by haptophyte biomarkers (alkenones) and the boron isotope composition (δ11B) of foraminifer shells. Here we present alkenone and δ11B-based pCO2 reconstructions generated from the same samples from the Plio-Pleistocene at ODP Site 999 across a glacial-interglacial cycle. We find a muted response to pCO2 in the alkenone record compared to contemporaneous ice core and δ11B records, suggesting caution in the interpretation of alkenone-based records at low pCO2 levels. This is possibly caused by the physiology of CO2 uptake in the haptophytes. Our new understanding resolves some of the inconsistencies between the proxies and highlights that caution may be required when interpreting alkenone-based reconstructions of pCO2

Single nucleotide polymorphisms for assessing genetic diversity in castor bean (Ricinus communis)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Castor bean (<it>Ricinus communis</it>) is an agricultural crop and garden ornamental that is widely cultivated and has been introduced worldwide. Understanding population structure and the distribution of castor bean cultivars has been challenging because of limited genetic variability. We analyzed the population genetics of <it>R. communis </it>in a worldwide collection of plants from germplasm and from naturalized populations in Florida, U.S. To assess genetic diversity we conducted survey sequencing of the genomes of seven diverse cultivars and compared the data to a reference genome assembly of a widespread cultivar (Hale). We determined the population genetic structure of 676 samples using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at 48 loci.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Bayesian clustering indicated five main groups worldwide and a repeated pattern of mixed genotypes in most countries. High levels of population differentiation occurred between most populations but this structure was not geographically based. Most molecular variance occurred within populations (74%) followed by 22% among populations, and 4% among continents. Samples from naturalized populations in Florida indicated significant population structuring consistent with local demes. There was significant population differentiation for 56 of 78 comparisons in Florida (pairwise population ϕ_PTvalues, <it>p </it>< 0.01).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Low levels of genetic diversity and mixing of genotypes have led to minimal geographic structuring of castor bean populations worldwide. Relatively few lineages occur and these are widely distributed. Our approach of determining population genetic structure using SNPs from genome-wide comparisons constitutes a framework for high-throughput analyses of genetic diversity in plants, particularly in species with limited genetic diversity.</p

“WALK30X5”:A feasibility study of a physiotherapy walking programme for people with mild to moderate musculoskeletal conditions

Objectives: To explore the feasibility of delivering and evaluating a web-based walking intervention for people with long term musculoskeletal conditions (LTMCs), to determine its acceptability and the feasibility of conducting a definitive trial.  Design: Prospective randomised feasibility study, with blind outcome assessment at baseline, 3 and 6 months. Setting: Hospital based physiotherapy service. Participants: Forty one adults referred for assessment and advice for any mild/moderate LTMCs. doing <120 minutes of moderate intensity activity per week.  Interventions: Participants randomised to: 1. Usual care: one usual physiotherapy advice and assessment session, including setting a physical activity goal and one follow up session (8 weeks). 2. “Walk30 × 5”: session one, usual care plus intervention of walking programme. Participants were shown the website and podcasts and practiced how to use them. One follow up session (8 weeks). Outcome measures: Primary: timed six minute walk test (T6MWT). Secondary: step count, self-reported pain, fatigue, mood, self-efficacy, happiness, objective blood pressure, peak expiratory flow rate, and self-report and accelerometer measured physical activity.  Results: Recruitment target achieved. No adverse events occurred. Adherence was high and the intervention acceptable. Loss to follow up n = 3 (7%) at 3 months, n = 8 (20%) at 6 months. T6MWT and step count proved suitable outcomes, unlike accelerometry. Estimated sample size for a definitive trial is 216.  Conclusions: “Walk30 × 5” is ready for evaluation in a future, appropriately powered (n = 216), phase III trial. If effective, the intervention will provide a cheap, highly accessible intervention to enable people with mild/moderate LTMCs to achieve UK physical activity guidelines.  Clinical Trial Registration Number: ISRCTN78581097

Integrin-linked kinase localizes to the centrosome and regulates mitotic spindle organization

Integrin-linked kinase (ILK) is a serine-threonine kinase and scaffold protein with well defined roles in focal adhesions in integrin-mediated cell adhesion, spreading, migration, and signaling. Using mass spectrometry–based proteomic approaches, we identify centrosomal and mitotic spindle proteins as interactors of ILK. α- and β-tubulin, ch-TOG (XMAP215), and RUVBL1 associate with ILK and colocalize with it to mitotic centrosomes. Inhibition of ILK activity or expression induces profound apoptosis-independent defects in the organization of the mitotic spindle and DNA segregation. ILK fails to localize to the centrosomes of abnormal spindles in RUVBL1-depleted cells. Additionally, depletion of ILK expression or inhibition of its activity inhibits Aurora A–TACC3/ch-TOG interactions, which are essential for spindle pole organization and mitosis. These data demonstrate a critical and unexpected function for ILK in the organization of centrosomal protein complexes during mitotic spindle assembly and DNA segregation