Topicality and (Non-)Specificity in Mandarin

Current analyses of specificity are unable to provide an explanatory account for why specific and nonspecific uses of indefinites are available. While Abusch (1994), Reinhart (1997), and Kratzer (1998) provide successful mechanisms for deriving specific readings, they do not provide a fundamental explanation for the availability of this mechanism. This is due to the fact that specific indefinites are treated as involving an interpretive component or procedure unique to themselves: storage (Abusch) or choice function (Reinhart and Kratzer), for example. It would be preferable if specific indefinites could be understood as deriving from the use of independently motivated meaning components and interpretive mechanisms. Here I will pursue the idea, building on Portner & Yabushita (1998), that specificity has to do with the indefinite's interaction with a topical domain (note similarities with the proposals of Enç 1991, Cresti 1995, and Schwarzschild 2000). In this conception, specificity is a matter of degree: the narrower the topical domain, the more specific the indefinite. More precisely, sentences containing specific indefinites will be understood as involving ordinary existential quantification in combination with a topical domain function

Recovery of vegetative bacteria from eccofoam FP and diatomaceous earth

Serratia marcescens cells used to study survival and viability in plastic materials and diatomaceous eart

Comparison of the level of microbial contamination on stainless steel, aluminum, glass, and lucite protection branch report of test no. 15-65

Microbial contamination obtained on stainless steel, aluminum, glass, and lucite surfaces after twenty days exposure to room ai

Dry heat sterilization of microorganisms at 105 deg c

Dry heat sterilization of microorganisms on glass surfaces at 100 deg

Effectiveness of Dry Heat and Ethylene Gas upon Spore Contamination Located Between Mated Surfaces and on Exterior Surfaces of Various Materials

Effectiveness of dry heat and ethylene oxide gas on spore contamination located between mated surfaces and on exterior surfaces of material

Quantitative spore recoveries from diatomaceous earth pellets used as protective material in dry heat sterilization studies

Quantitative spore recoveries from diatomaceous earth pellets used to simulate electronic components in dry heat sterilization studie

Comparison of microbial contamination levels on barbac and cotton herringbone twill cloth

Microbial contamination levels on barbac and cotton twill for astronaut isolation garment

Developing a Milk Quality Program for a Dairy Herd

A successful dairy farm develops individualized mastitis prevention and treatment programs using the milk quality profile of their herd. Port-Haven Dairy’s 230 Brown Swiss milking cow herd’s monthly DHIA somatic cell count data was used to select cows requiring milk sampling. Each quarter of selected cows and cows with clinical mastitis were sampled following a CMT paddle test. Milk samples were cultured and organisms that grew were identified visually and with subsequent tests. A composite sample was also cultured from each fresh cow to test for mycoplasma organisms. Eight positive staphylococcus aureus cows and zero positive mycoplasma cows were found. Two trials of sampling determined that the prevalent mastitis organisms in the herd included environmental streptococcus and skin staphylococcus. Using antibiotic sensitivity results, a treatment program was established for the Staphylococcus aureus cows using Pirsue. The predominant environmental organisms lead to the examination of milking procedures, the barn environment, and teat end callouses. These results directed the formation of immediate herd goals including eliminating mycoplasma threats and keeping the bulk tank somatic cell count below 300,000. Increasing the square footage per cow in each barn to decrease environmental organisms and somatic cell count stands as a long term goal

Family planning and fertility : estimating program effects using cross-sectional data

Although reproductive health advocates consider family planning programs the intervention of choice to reduce fertility, there remains a great deal of skepticism among economists as to their effectiveness, despite little rigorous evidence to support either position. This study explores the effects of family planning in Ethiopia using a novel set of instruments to control for potential non-random program placement. The instruments are based on ordinal rankings of area characteristics, motivated by competition between areas for resources. Access to family planning is found to reduce completed fertility by more than one child among women without education. No effect is found among women with some formal schooling, suggesting that family planning and formal education act as substitutes, at least in this low-income, low-growth setting. This provides support to the notion that increasing access to family planning can provide an important, complementary entry point to kick-start the process of fertility reduction.Population Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Adolescent Health,Reproductive Health,Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems