bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evidence that the BBA68 Protein (BbCRASP-1) of the Lyme Disease Spirochetes Does Not Contribute to Factor H-Mediated Immune Evasion in Humans and Other Animals
Authors: McDowell John V. , Hovis Kelley M. , Zhang Hongming , Tran Emily , Lankford Justin , Marconi R. T.
Published: April 2006

BBA68 (BbCRASP-1) of the Lyme disease spirochetes binds human factor H (FH) and FH-like protein 1 (FHL-1). Here we assess transcription of the BBA68 gene and production of BBA68 in infected mice and humans using real-time reverse transcriptase PCR and immunoblotting. The species specificity of FH binding to BBA68 was also tested. The data suggest that BBA68 does not play an important role in immune evasion in animals.
In Vitro and In Vivo Analysis of the Role of PrrA in
Rhodobacter sphaeroides
2.4.1
hemA
Gene Expression
Authors: Ranson-Olson Britton , Jones Denise F. , Donohue Timothy J. , Zeilstra-Ryalls Jill H.
Published: April 2006

The
hemA
gene codes for one of two synthases in
Rhodobacter sphaeroides
2.4.1 which catalyze the formation of 5-aminolevulinic acid. We have examined the role of PrrA, a DNA binding protein that is associated with the metabolic switch between aerobic growth and anoxygenic photosynthetic growth, in
hemA
expression and found that
hemA
transcription is directly activated by PrrA. Using electrophoretic mobility shift assays and DNase I protection assays, we have mapped two binding sites for PrrA within the
hemA
upstream sequences, each of which contains an identical 9-bp motif. Using
lacZ
transcription reporter plasmids in wild-type strain 2.4.1 and PrrA
−
mutant strain PRRA2, we showed that PrrA was required for maximal expression. We also found that the relative impacts of altering DNA sequences within the two binding sites are different depending on whether cells are growing aerobically or anaerobically. This reveals a greater level of complexity associated with PrrA-mediated regulation of transcription than has been heretofore described. Our findings are of particular importance with respect to those genes regulated by PrrA having more than one upstream binding site. In the case of the
hemA
gene, we discuss possibilities as to how these new insights can be accommodated within the context of what has already been established for
hemA
transcription regulation in
R. sphaeroides
.
Pyoverdine-Mediated Iron Uptake in
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
: the Tat System Is Required for PvdN but Not for FpvA Transport
Authors: Voulhoux Romé , Filloux Alain , Schalk Isabelle J.
Published: April 2006

Under iron-limiting conditions,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
PAO1 secretes a fluorescent siderophore called pyoverdine (Pvd). After chelating iron, this ferric siderophore is transported back into the cells via the outer membrane receptor FpvA. The Pvd-dependent iron uptake pathway requires several essential genes involved in both the synthesis of Pvd and the uptake of ferric Pvd inside the cell. A previous study describing the global phenotype of a
tat
-deficient
P. aeruginosa
strain showed that the defect in Pvd-mediated iron uptake was due to the Tat-dependent export of proteins involved in Pvd biogenesis and ferric Pvd uptake (U. Ochsner, A. Snyder, A. I. Vasil, and M. L. Vasil, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99:8312-8317, 2002). Using biochemical and biophysical tools, we showed that despite its predicted Tat signal sequence, FpvA is correctly located in the outer membrane of a
tat
mutant and is fully functional for all steps of the iron uptake process (ferric Pvd uptake and recycling of Pvd on FpvA after iron release). However, in the
tat
mutant, no Pvd was produced. This suggested that a key element in the Pvd biogenesis pathway must be exported to the periplasm by the Tat pathway. We located PvdN, a still unknown but essential component in Pvd biogenesis, at the periplasmic side of the cytoplasmic membrane and showed that its export is Tat dependent. Our results further support the idea that a critical step of the Pvd biogenesis pathway involving PvdN occurs at the periplasmic side of the cytoplasmic membrane.
The Hydantoin Transport Protein from
Microbacterium liquefaciens
Authors: Suzuki Shun'ichi , Henderson Peter J. F.
Published: April 2006

The gene
hyuP
from
Microbacterium liquefaciens
AJ 3912 with an added His
6
tag was cloned into the expression plasmid pTTQ18 in an
Escherichia coli
host strain. The transformed
E. coli
showed transport of radioisotope-labeled 5-substituted hydantoins with apparent

K
m

values in the micromolar range. This activity exhibited a pH optimum of 6.6 and was inhibited by dinitrophenol, indicating the requirement of energy for the transport system. 5-Indolyl methyl hydantoin and 5-benzyl hydantoin were the preferred substrates, with selectivity for a hydrophobic substituent in position 5 of hydantoin and for the
l
isomer over the
d
isomer. Hydantoins with less hydrophobic substituents, cytosine, thiamine, uracil, allantoin, adenine, and guanine, were not effective ligands. The His-tagged hydantoin transport protein was located in the inner membrane fraction, from which it was solubilized and purified and its identity was authenticated.
Heme and a Five-Amino-Acid Hemophore Region Form the Bipartite Stimulus Triggering the
has
Signaling Cascade
Authors: Cwerman Hélène , Wandersman Cécile , Biville Francis
Published: April 2006

Bacterial cells sense the extracellular environment and adapt to that environment by activating gene regulation circuits, often by means of signaling molecules. The
Serratia marcescens
hemophore is a signaling molecule that acts as an extracellular heme-scavenging protein. The heme-loaded hemophore interacts with its cognate receptor (HasR), triggering transmembrane signaling and turning on transcription of hemophore-dependent heme uptake genes. We investigated the features of the holo-hemophore, the only HasR ligand known to act as an inducer. We used a hemophore mutant that does not deliver its heme and a HasR mutant that does not bind heme, and we showed that heme transfer from the hemophore to the receptor is necessary for induction. Using a hemophore mutant that does not bind heme and that blocks heme transport, we demonstrated that two molecules that do not interact (heme and the mutant hemophore) may nonetheless induce this system. These findings suggest that hemophore-mediated induction and heme transport involve different mechanisms. The hemophore region important for induction was precisely localized to amino acids 50 to 55, which lie in one of the two HasR-binding hemophore regions. This bipartite stimulus probably corresponds to a physiological process because heme is transferred to the receptor before apo-hemophore release. This bipartite regulation mechanism may allow the bacterium to adjust its heme transport mechanism to the perceived environmental heme concentration.
Positive Selection Acting on a Surface Membrane Protein of the Plant-Pathogenic Phytoplasmas
Authors: Kakizawa Shigeyuki , Oshima Kenro , Jung Hee-Young , Suzuki Shiho , Nishigawa Hisashi , Arashida Ryo , Miyata Shin-ichi , Ugaki Masashi , Kishino Hirohisa , Namba Shigetou
Published: April 2006

Phytoplasmas are plant-pathogenic bacteria that cause numerous diseases. This study shows a strong positive selection on the phytoplasma antigenic membrane protein (Amp). The ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitutions was >1 with all the methods we tested. The clear positive selections imply an important biological role for Amp in host-bacterium interactions.
The role of mechanosensory input in flower handling efficiency and learning byManduca sexta
Authors: Goyret Joaquín , Raguso Robert A.
Published: April 2006

Nectar-foraging animals are known to utilize nectar guides – patterns of visual contrast in flowers – to find hidden nectar. However, few studies have explored the potential for mechanosensory cues to function as nectar guides, particularly for nocturnal pollinators such as the tobacco hornworm moth, Manduca sexta. We used arrays of artificial flowers to investigate the flower handling behavior (the ability to locate and drink from floral nectaries) of naïve moths, looking specifically at: (1) how the shape and size of flat (two-dimensional) artificial corollas affect nectar discovery and (2) whether three-dimensional features of the corolla can be used to facilitate nectar discovery. In these experiments, we decoupled visual from tactile flower features to explore the role of mechanosensory input,putatively attained via the extended proboscides of hovering moths. In addition, we examined changes in nectar discovery times within single foraging bouts to test whether moths can learn to handle different kinds of artificial flowers. We found that corolla surface area negatively affects flower handling efficiency, and that reliable mechanosensory input is crucial for the moths' performance. We also found that three-dimensional features of the corolla, such as grooves, can significantly affect the foraging behavior,both positively (when grooves converge to the nectary) and negatively (when grooves are unnaturally oriented). Lastly, we observed that moths can decrease nectar discovery time during a single foraging bout. This apparent learning ability seems to be possible only when reliable mechanosensory input is available.
Constraints of tolerance: why are desiccation-tolerant organisms so small or rare?
Authors: Alpert Peter
Published: April 2006

Drying to equilibrium with the air kills nearly all animals and flowering plants, including livestock and crops. This makes drought a key ecological problem for terrestrial life and a major cause of human famine. However, the ability to tolerate complete desiccation is widespread in organisms that are either <5 mm long or found mainly where desiccation-sensitive organisms are scarce. This suggests that there is a trade-off between desiccation tolerance and growth. Recent molecular and biochemical research shows that organisms tolerate desiccation through a set of mechanisms, including sugars that replace water and form glasses, proteins that stabilize macromolecules and membranes, and anti-oxidants that counter damage by reactive oxygen species. These protections are often induced by drying, and some of the genes involved may be homologous in microbes, plants and animals. Understanding how mechanisms of desiccation tolerance may constrain growth might show how to undo the constraint in some economically important macroorganisms and elucidate the much-studied but elusive relationship between tolerance of stress and productivity.
Metabolic, respiratory and cardiovascular responses to acute and chronic hypoxic exposure in tadpole shrimp Triops longicaudatus
Authors: Harper S. L. , Reiber C. L.
Published: April 2006

Hypoxic exposure experienced during sensitive developmental periods can shape adult physiological capabilities and define regulatory limits. Tadpole shrimp were reared under normoxic (19–21 kPa O2), moderate(10–13 kPa O2) or severe (1–3 kPa O2)hypoxic conditions to investigate the influence of developmental oxygen partial pressure (PO2) on adult metabolic,respiratory and cardiovascular physiology. Developmental PO2 had no effect on metabolic rate or metabolic response to hypoxic exposure in adults. All rearing groups decreased O2 consumption as water PO2decreased. Heart rate, stroke volume and cardiac output were independent of PO2 down to 5 kPa O2 in all rearing groups. Below this, cardiac output was maintained only in tadpole shrimp reared under severe hypoxic conditions. The enhanced ability to maintain cardiac output was attributed to an increase in hemoglobin concentration and O2-binding affinity in those animals. Oxygen-delivery potential was also significantly higher in the group reared under severe hypoxic conditions(1336 μl O2 min–1) when compared with the group reared under normoxic conditions (274 μl O2min–1). Differences among the rearing groups that were dependent on hemoglobin were not considered developmental effects because hemoglobin concentration could be increased within seven days of hypoxic exposure independent of developmental PO2. Hypoxia-induced hemoglobin synthesis may be a compensatory mechanism that allows tadpole shrimp to regulate O2 uptake and transport in euryoxic (O2 variable) environments. The results of this study indicate that increased hemoglobin concentration, increased O2-binding affinity and transient decreases in metabolic demand may account for tadpole shrimp hypoxic tolerance.
Polarization sensitivity in the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii enhances the detection of moving transparent objects
Authors: Tuthill John C. , Johnsen Sönke
Published: April 2006

We tested the hypothesis that polarization sensitivity enhances the detection of moving, transparent objects by examining the escape response of the red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii Girard) from a visual threat. A transparent, birefringent target trans-illuminated by either partially linear polarized or unpolarized light was advanced toward individual crayfish. The optical axis of the target was aligned such that it would be conspicuous to a viewer with polarization sensitivity when trans-illuminated by polarized light. Under polarized light, significantly more crayfish retreated from the target than under unpolarized light of identical intensity(P<0.00005, Fisher's exact test). Whereas the potential for polarization sensitivity has been shown in neurophysiological and structural studies of the visual system of P. clarkii and the signal crayfish Pasifastacus leniusculus (Dana), our results provide the first behavioral evidence for polarization sensitivity among crayfish. The ecological function of this ability is unclear, but it may enhance the detection of fish with silvered scales, transparent zooplankton or macroinvertebrates. Because escape responses are generally more reliably induced than other behaviors, the method employed in this study may prove useful for examining sensory capabilities in other species.
The significance of spiracle conductance and spatial arrangement for flight muscle function and aerodynamic performance in flyingDrosophila
Authors: Heymann Nicole , Lehmann Fritz-Olaf
Published: April 2006

During elevated locomotor activity such as flight, Drosophilasatisfies its increased respiratory demands by increasing the total spiracle opening area of the tracheal gas exchange system. It has been assumed that in a diffusion-based system, each spiracle contributes to oxygen flux into and carbon dioxide flux out of the tracheal system according to the size of its opening. We evaluated this hypothesis by determining how a reduction in size and interference with the spatial distribution of gas exchange areas impair flight muscle function and aerodynamic force production in the small fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. This was done by selectively blocking thoracic spiracles of tethered flies flying inside a flight simulator. Flow-through respirometry and simultaneous measurements of flight force production and wing kinematics revealed a negligible functional safety margin for respiration. Maximum locomotor performance was only achieved by unmanipulated flies, supporting the general assumption that at the animal's maximum locomotor capacity, maximum spiracle opening area matches respiratory need. The maximum total buffer capacity for carbon dioxide in Drosophila amounts to approximately 33.5 μl g–1body mass, estimated from the temporal integral of carbon dioxide release rate during the resting period after flight. By comparing flight variables in unmanipulated and `spiracle-blocked' flies at comparable flight forces, we found that (i) stroke amplitude, stroke frequency and the chemo-mechanical conversion efficiency of the indirect flight musculature were broadly independent of the arrangement of spiracle conductance, while (ii) muscle mechanical power significantly increased, and (iii) mean lift coefficient and aerodynamic efficiency significantly decreased up to approximately 50% with an increasing number of blocked spiracles. The data suggest that Drosophila apparently maximizes the total efficiency of its locomotor system for flight by allowing oxygen delivery to the flight musculature through multiple spiracles of the thorax.
Beyond the central pattern generator: amine modulation of decision-making neural pathways descending from the brain of the medicinal leech
Authors: Crisp Kevin M. , Mesce Karen A.
Published: April 2006

The biological mechanisms of behavioral selection, as it relates to locomotion, are far from understood, even in relatively simple invertebrate animals. In the medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis, the decision to swim is distributed across populations of swim-activating and swim-inactivating neurons descending from the subesophageal ganglion of the compound cephalic ganglion, i.e. the brain. In the present study, we demonstrate that the serotonergic LL and Retzius cells in the brain are excited by swim-initiating stimuli and during spontaneous swim episodes. This activity likely influences or resets the neuromodulatory state of neural circuits involved in the activation or subsequent termination of locomotion. When serotonin (5-HT) was perfused over the brain, multi-unit recordings from descending brain neurons revealed rapid and substantial alterations. Subsequent intracellular recordings from identified command-like brain interneurons demonstrated that 5-HT, especially in combination with octopamine, inhibited swim-triggering neuron Tr1, as well as swim-inactivating neurons Tr2 and SIN1. Although 5-HT inhibited elements of the swim-inactivation pathway, rather than promoting them, the indirect and net effect of the amine was a reliable and sustained reduction in the firing of the segmental swim-gating neuron 204. This modulation caused cell 204 to relinquish its excitatory drive to the swim central pattern generator. The activation pattern of serotonergic brain neurons that we observed during swimming and the 5-HT-immunoreactive staining pattern obtained, suggest that within the head brain 5-HT secretion is massive. Over time, 5-HT secretion may provide a homeostatic feedback mechanism to limit swimming activity at the level of the head brain.
Archaeology and evolution of transfer RNA genes in the Escherichia coli genome
Authors: Withers Mike , Wernisch Lorenz , Reis Mario Dos
Published: April 2006

Transfer RNA genes tend to be presented in multiple copies in the genomes of most organisms, from bacteria to eukaryotes. The evolution and genomic structure of tRNA genes has been a somewhat neglected area of molecular evolution. Escherichia coli, the first phylogenetic species for which more than two different strains have been sequenced, provides an invaluable framework to study the evolution of tRNA genes. In this work, a detailed analysis of the tRNA structure of the genomes of Escherichia coli strains K12, CFT073, and O157:H7, Shigella flexneri 2a 301, and Salmonella typhimurium LT2 was carried out. A phylogenetic analysis of these organisms was completed, and an archaeological map depicting the main events in the evolution of tRNA genes was drawn. It is shown that duplications, deletions, and horizontal gene transfers are the main factors driving tRNA evolution in these genomes. On average, 0.64 tRNA insertions/duplications occur every million years (Myr) per genome per lineage, while deletions occur at the slower rate of 0.30 per million years per genome per lineage. This work provides a first genomic glance at the problem of tRNA evolution as a repetitive process, and the relationship of this mechanism to genome evolution and codon usage is discussed.
Equivariant periodicity for compact group actions
Authors: Weinberger Shmuel , Yan Min
Published: April 2006

For a manifold M, the structure set S (M, rel ∂ )
is the collection of manifolds homotopy equivalent to M relative to the boundary.
Siebenmann [R. C. Kirby, L. C. Siebenmann, Foundational essays on
topological manifolds, smoothings, and triangulations. Princeton Univ.
Press 1977] showed that in the topological category, the structure set is
4-periodic: S (M, rel ∂ ) ≅ S (MｘD 4
, rel ∂ ) up to a copy of ℤ. The periodicity has
been extended to topological manifolds with homotopically stratiﬁed group
actions for various representations in place of D 4, including
twice any complex representation of a compact abelian group. In this paper, we
extend the result to twice any complex representation of a compact Lie group. We
also prove the bundle version of the periodicity.
Category overlap and neutralization: The importance of speakers' classifications in phonology
Authors: Mompeán-González José A.
Published: April 2006

This article briefly reviews categorization models in both cognitive psychology and cognitive phonology in order to set the background for a psycholinguistically plausible account of the classification of the allophones involved in category overlaps (i.e., the overlapping areas between phoneme categories) and in the so-called positions of neutralization. In addition, the traditional proposals of both Bloomfieldian phonemics (i.e., phonetic similarity) and the Prague School (i.e., archiphonemes) are discussed and an alternative proposal is offered. The latter claims that phonological theory should be informed by psycholinguistic evidence obtained by experimental methods. This line of research will progressively make cognitive phonology a functional phonological theory consistent with the way speakers classify the sounds of their language and will contribute to theoretical progress in phonological theory.
The acquisition of auxiliary syntax: BE and HAVE
Authors: Theakston Anna L. , Lieven Elena V. M. , Pine Julian M. , Rowland Caroline F.
Published: April 2006

This study examined patterns of auxiliary provision and omission for the auxiliaries BE and HAVE in a longitudinal data set from 11 children between the ages of two and three years. Four possible explanations for auxiliary omission—a lack of lexical knowledge, performance limitations in production, the Optional Infinitive hypothesis, and patterns of auxiliary use in the input—were examined. The data suggest that although none of these accounts provides a full explanation for the pattern of auxiliary use and nonuse observed in children's early speech, integrating input-based and lexical learning-based accounts of early language acquisition within a constructivist approach appears to provide a possible framework in which to understand the patterns of auxiliary use found in the children's speech. The implications of these findings for models of children's early language acquisition are discussed.
Towards a lexically specific grammar of children’s question constructions
Authors: Dąbrowska Ewa , Lieven Elena
Published: April 2006

This paper examines early syntactic development from a
usage-based perspective, using transcripts of the spontaneous speech of two
Englishspeaking children recorded at relatively dense intervals at ages 2;0 and
3;0. We focus primarily on the children’s question constructions, in an effort
to determine (i) what kinds of units they initially extract from the input
(their size and degree of specificity / abstractness); (ii) what operations they
must perform in order to construct novel utterances using these units; and (iii)
how the units and the operations change between the ages of two and three. In
contrast to nativist theories of language development which suggest that
children are working with abstract syntactic categories from an early point in
development, we suggest that the data are better accounted for by the proposal
that children begin with lexically specific phrases and gradually build up a
repertoire of increasingly abstract constructions.
Converging evidence: Bringing together experimental and corpus data on the association of verbs and constructions
Authors: Gries Stefan Th. , Hampe Beate , Schönefeld Doris
Published: April 2006

Much recent work in Cognitive Linguistics and neighbouring disciplines has
adopted a so-called usage-based perspective in which generalizations are based
on the analysis of authentic usage data provided by computerized corpora.
However, the analysis of such data does not always utilize methodological
findings from other disciplines to avoid analytical pitfalls and, at the same
time, generate robust results. A case in point is the strategy of using corpus
frequencies. In this paper, we take up a recently much debated issue from
construction grammar concerning the association between verbs and
argument-structure constructions, and investigate a construction, the English
as-predicative, in order
to test the predictive power of different kinds of frequency data against that
of a recent, more refined corpus-based approach, the so-called collexeme
analysis. To that end, the results of the application of these corpus-based
approaches to an analysis of the as

predicative are compared
with the results of a sentence-completion experiment. Concerning the topic under
consideration, collexeme analysis is not only shown to be superior on a variety
of theoretical and methodological grounds, it also significantly outperforms
frequency as a predictor of subjects’ production preferences. We conclude by
pointing out some implications for usage-based approaches.
Analyzing scripts in humorous communication
Authors: Brock Alexander
Published: April 2006

The article looks at the assumption of SSTH/GTVH that two fully or partly overlapping semantic scripts in opposition are central to humorous communication. On empirical and technical grounds, it is suggested that the script analysis should be complemented by identifying additional script constellations, i.e. manipulation within one script, the interplay of more than two scripts, and the collision of scripts from different planes of analysis. These suggestions support the idea of multiple incongruities (Attardo et al. 2002: 28), and the category of staggered escalation is put forward for incongruity clusters in addition to Attardo's (2001) strands and stacks.
Intellectual property and genetic sequences: moving towards an integrated information system
Authors: Duval Manuel
Published: April 2006

Granting patents on genes and gene products is not a recent development. In 1982, USPTO granted a patent for a synthetic influenza gene product
The Oviedo Convention: A European Legal Framework at the Intersection of Human Rights and Health Law
Authors: Andorno Roberto
Published: April 2006

Introduction

The European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine of 1997 (“Oviedo Convention“) is the best current example of how to promote the protection of human rights in the biomedical field at a transnational level. The importance of this instrument lies in the fact that it is the first comprehensive multilateral treaty addressing biomedical human rights issues. Certainly, some of the principles it contains were already included in more general terms in previous international human rights treaties, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 and the European Convention on Human Rights of 1950 (e.g. the rights to life, to physical integrity and to privacy, the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment and of any form of discrimination). However, this is the first time that these rights have been developed and assembled in one single multilateral binding instrument entirely devoted to biomedical issues.

The purpose of this paper is, first, to give an overview of the history of the Convention; second, to present its general characteristics; and finally to summarize its key provisions.
Gene – Genome – Systems Biology Engineering Know-How in Greater Demand than Ever
Authors: Hirche Christina
Published: April 2006

From 10-12 May around 1000 professionals came to Wiesbaden for BioPerspectives 2005, an event jointly organized by 16 different bodies. Besides the traditional DECHEMA Annual Meetings, for the first time the annual meeting of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Proteomforschung (German Society for Proteom Research) took place here. The fact that Switzerland was a partner and that the European BREW Project on White Biotechnology was presented made this an event with a strong international bias. “This development is extremely gratifying; it shows that the BioPerspectives concept meets a real need”, said Prof. Alfred Pühler of the University of Bielefeld, chairman of DECHEMA’s Biotechnology Research Committee and Congress chair, in his opening address. It was the declared aim to bring together experts from different disciplines, thus providing as broad a basis as possible for the exchange of ideas and experience and for networking. “It is a wellknown fact that innovations arise at the interfaces of different fields; for this reason we make it a priority to represent the cross-disciplinary character of biotechnology at BioPerspectives”, he stressed.
Episode structures in literary narratives
Authors: Miall David S.
Published: April 2006

This article is concerned with the moment-by-moment unfolding of the text as we might suppose the reader to experience it; in addressing one aspect of this reading experience, I propose a definition of the episode, and of episode structure, in literary narratives. To do so, I draw on insights from Ingarden, Iser, Barthes, Eco, Jim Rosenberg, and Ed Tan, but have found most useful the discussion of narrative structure in a 1922 essay by the Russian Formalist A. A. Reformatsky, which includes an analysis of Maupassant's story “Un Coq Chanta”. Reformatsky's essay is analyzed in detail. In a final section, I review responses to a short story (Kate Chopin's “The Story of an Hour”) and consider the evidence for episodes in readers' responses. To the number of convergent criteria used for characterizing episodes I add the role of the narrative twist occurring at or near the end of an episode, serving to intensify or redirect the issues raised, and itself characterized by a distinct development in readers' feeling. Episodes provide the phases during which issues of concern to readers are managed and developed, and the analysis of the episodes of a story may thus provide a valuable framework for identifying the key developments in the responses of readers.
Interpreting marked order narration: The case of James Joyce’s “Eveline”
Authors: Murphy Terence Patrick
Published: April 2006

The narrative use of the reverie over the past has
often been seen as part of the stock-in-trade of popular fiction. This has
produced scandal and silence in about equal measure. In many critical retellings
of James Joyce’s “Eveline”, for example, the strategy of silence has prevailed,
even when critics like Robert Scholes have attempted to make the relationship
between story and récit the focus of their attention. A second form of neglect
has resulted when critics attempt to read all narrative fictions as marked order
narratives. To read all Joycean first-person narratives as marked order fictions
is to obliterate what distinguishes chronologically ordinary and marked order
narration altogether. In contrast, by focussing on the use of a marked order
narrative in “Eveline”, I attempt to demonstrate how an understanding of the
significance of this authorial choice can throw into relief the basis for
divergent critical interpretations of the short story. Through the use of four
diagrams, I also reconstruct the two different chronological possibilities that
critics use when they read “Eveline”.
Back to ‘cinema is filmed theatre’
Authors: Rozik Eli
Published: April 2006

Following its invention, cinema was initially
conceived and approached as photographed theatre. After a reasonable period of
self-establishment, however, it has become commonplace that cinema essentially
differs from theatre, and is thus a new and independent dramatic art form.
Eventually, while the advent of performance art created the illusion of a basic
affinity to theatre, on the grounds of spectators actually experiencing real
bodies on a stage, there has been a broadening of the alleged gap between
theatre and cinema, in which the spectator’s experience is mediated by images of
actors projected on a screen. I reconsider here both the initial and eventual
approaches, reflecting my own intuition that, without ignoring fundamental
differences, a feature film is a recording of a fictional world formulated in
the medium of theatre. It has to be decoded and interpreted, therefore, as a
theatrical text, since a recording does not change the nature of the recorded
text. Consequently, differences between cinema and theatre are fundamentally the
result of technical constraints and advantages. I support these theses by a
thorough analysis and critic of Roland Barthes’ seminal article ‘Rhetoric of the
image’ on still photography.
Theatrical fictional worlds, counterfactuals, and scientific thought experiments
Authors: Degani-Raz Irit
Published: April 2006

It is commonly accepted that theatrical fictional
worlds could serve as a potent tool for increasing man’s understanding of his
own world. This research connects insights that have been developed in such
diverse areas of thought as semiotics of theater and drama, philosophical logic
and ontology, epistemology, and philosophy of science, so as to establish a
model that suggests an explication of this epistemic effect and thereby a new
observation of the theatrical enterprise. The theory advanced in this study
states that fictional worlds are a kind of thought experiment through which
spectators’ theories about their own world may be tested, amended or even
invented.
Toward a Unified Grammar of Reference
Authors: Longobardi Giuseppe
Published: April 2006

The unification of traditionally distinct and apparently unrelated objects of inquiry under common more abstract principles is one of the most welcome results of empirical science. This article proposes to draw together some insights of Longobardi (1994, 1996, 2001) into a unified theory of object- and kind-reference viewed as a single grammatical phenomenon, though crosslinguistically parametrized. The present account aims to improve both in accuracy and explanatory force over those outlined in the articles just cited. To do so, the combined leading intuitions of such works are first spelt out, in section 6, into a deeper generalization about the form/meaning relation in nominals and later deduced from a more principled mapping theory, proposing that a syntactically specified position, traditionally labeled D, is responsible in many languages for one of human fundamental linguistic abilities, reference to individuals (Topological Mapping Theory). After the unification of the syntactic mechanisms available for reference to individuals, virtually all other distinctions simply follow precisely from that between the two varieties of such entities (kinds and objects) previewed in Carlson’s (1977a) ontology, indirectly confirming its continuing heuristic power, and from widely accepted economy conditions of recent syntactic theory.
Methane Pressure-Cycling Process With Horizontal Wells for Thin Heavy-Oil Reservoirs
Authors: Dong Mingzhe , Huang Sam , Hutchence Keith
Published: April 2006

The methane pressure-cycling (MPC) process is an enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) scheme intended for application in some heavy-oil reservoirs after termination of either primary or waterflood production. The essence of the process is the restoration of the solution-gas-drive mechanism. The restoration is accomplished by re-injecting an appropriate amount of solution gas (mainly methane) and then repressuring the gas back into solution by injecting water until approximate original reservoir pressure is reached. This, aside from the replacement of produced oil by water, recreates the primary-production conditions. This novel recovery technique is being developed to target the considerable portion of heavy-oil resources located in thin reservoirs. Primary and secondary methods have managed to recover at best 10% of the initial oil in place (IOIP). Heat losses to overburden and underburden or bottomwater zones make thermal methods unsuitable for thin reservoirs.

Sandpack-flood tests in 30.5-cm (length)×5.0-cm (diameter) sandpacks were carried out for oils with a range of dead-oil viscosities from 1700 to 5400 mPa·s. The results showed that the pressure-cycling process could create a favorable condition for recharged gas to contact the remaining oil in reservoirs. This restores the situation whereby substantial amounts of gas are in solution for further "primary" production. The effects on the efficiency of the MPC process of cycle termination strategy, oil viscosity, and mobile-water saturation were investigated. Simulations were conducted to investigate the MPC process in three heavy-oil reservoirs in Saskatchewan, Canada. The effects on the process of infill wells, oil viscosity, gas-injection rate, and the presence of wormholes in reservoirs were studied.
Le Droit d'Aînesse chez les Indigènes du Haut-Ubbangi (Congo Belge)
Authors: Tanghe P. Basile
Published: April 2006

Le droit d'aînesse domine toute la mentalité de nos indigènes, aussi bien leur vie familiale, qui est en même temps leur vie sociale et religieuse, que le concept animiste dans tout ce qui les entoure. En traitant de ce droit nous touchons un point capital autour duquel gravitent toutes leurs compréhensions de la vie.

Chez eux l'aîné a tout à dire. Il est le maître, car il est inouï chez ces animistes qu'un vieux soit obligé, malgré lui, de se soumettre à un plus jeune. De plein droit, c'est l'homme le plus ancien, le plus âgé de la famille qui sera leur chef, car tout village se compose des membres d'une famille.
Personality and Differentiation in the Political Life of the Mendi
Authors: Hofstra Sjoerd
Published: April 2006

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The purpose of this article is to contribute some facts from Mendi life to the problem of differentiation and uniformity in primitive societies. As this problem is closely connected with the wider and controversial issue of the place the individual occupies in primitive group life, a few remarks will precede our facts.
Le Ngo: Société Secrète du Haut-Ogowé (Gabon)
Authors: Hée R.P. A.
Published: April 2006

Dès son apparition sur la terre, l'homme s'est vu entouré de forces mystérieuses. Il essaya, goûta de tout; l'expérience lui démontra qu'il devrait mettre un frein à ses désirs, à ses appétits. Il reconnut des vertus puissantes dans les plantes, dans les éléments: les unes donnent la santé, la force; d'autres les ruinent.
Native Land Tenure in East Africa
Authors: Mair L. P.
Published: April 2006

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Of all the problems of policy which confront colonial administrations, the question of land alienation is the most fundamental and the most pressing. Colonization is meaningless apart from the provision of land for the colonist to live upon; and from the colonist's point of view it is unattractive unless land is provided in large quantities. But since no African colony—and least of all any desirable tract of land in Africa—is entirely uninhabited, the problem immediately becomes that of reconciling conflicting claims. The first duty of every colonial government is to formulate the principles upon which this adjustment shall be made. Whether or not its initial step is to declare that all land belongs to the Crown is of comparatively little relevance; for in any case it is the white government which decides what shall be done with it. The use of another formula does no more than express an intention; it cannot give the native a power which he loses irremediably as soon as colonial government comes into being.
An African Christian Morality
Authors: Hunter Monica
Published: April 2006

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Statements are frequently made by residents and travellers in Africa about the effects of missions on Native communities, but they are seldom backed by an analysis of concrete facts. The African is subject to the influences of Western European culture in many different ways, and it is extremely difficult to isolate the influence of missions from other contact influences, particularly since African Christians tend, for a variety of reasons, to be more affected by these other influences than their pagan neighbour. By comparing, in one area, the life of pagan and Christian families which are subject to similar non-Christian contact influences it is, however, possible to study specific differences in belief and behaviour. One such observable difference is found in the believed working of religious sanctions. Among the Nyakyusa of South Tanganyika behaviour in the pagan community is directly affected by the belief that certain actions are punished by the ancestors, by witchcraft, or by magic. Christian teachers attack these beliefs. The problem then arises as to how far belief in traditional religious sanctions remains in the Christian community, how far it is replaced or modified, and how far changes in belief affect behaviour.
Die Gar-Zeremonie bei den Nuer
Authors: Crazzolara Pasquale
Published: April 2006

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Um weitschweifigen Umschreibungen auszuweichen, wird hier das Nomen ‘Gar’ und das Zeitwort ‘garen’ gebraucht, wofür es kein deutsches Wort gibt. Die Bedeutung der beiden Ausdrücke ergibt sich aus dem Folgenden. Das ‘Gar’ ist die Vornahme der den Nuer kennzeichnenden Stirnschnitte, und damit die Einführung in den Mannesstand.
The Linguistic Situation and Vernacular Literature in British West Africa
Authors: Westermann D.
Published: April 2006

The beginnings of a vernacular literature in languages spoken in British West Africa go back for more than a century. As early as 1815 the gospel of St. Matthew was published in Bulom; in 1816 part of St. Matthew in Susu (Soso), 1829 Genesis and part of Matthew in Mampua, a dialect of Bulom. A translation of the whole Bible appeared in the Ga language in 1866, in Twi in 1871, in Efik in 1868, and in Yoruba in 1880. Since that time there has been a constant increase in the number of languages into which parts of the Bible or the whole Bible and other religious books such as catechisms, hymn-books and prayer-books have been translated. Other books for use in schools and for general reading have also been produced, but only to a very limited extent; the great majority are books written by missionaries for immediate missionary purposes. I know of only two cases in which a complete set of school-books in native languages for a curriculum of about eight or ten years has been published and is in use. These are produced by the Basel Mission on the Gold Coast (Twi and Ga) and the North German Mission in Togoland and on the Gold Coast (Ewe).
La Pédagogie Appliquée à nos Noirs d'Afrique
Authors: Dubois H. M.
Published: April 2006

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Toute culture matérielle ou spirituelle comporte d'une part des principes généraux réglant des opérations communes, et d'autre part des applications particulières, ou façons spéciales, infiniment variées.

Nous n'avons pas à revenir sur les principes, les ayant exposés dans notre précédent article sur Assimilation ou Adaptation'. Venons-en donc tout de suite aux applications, et, sans entrer dans l'infini des détails, essayons de tracer les grandes lignes d'une pédagogie africaine, rationnelle et adaptée, telle qu'elle nous est apparue dans les études jusqu'ici publiées, et plus encore dans des observations personnelles, quotidiennes et directes de plus de vingt années d'enseignement et de direction.
Notes on a Collection of Linguistic Material
Authors: Westermann D.
Published: April 2006

In 1933 a Short Guide to the Recording of African Languages was published as a Supplement to Africa in response to many requests for a publication of the kind. It later appeared as Memorandum XI in the series published by the Institute in connexion with the Journal. The Guide was intended as a first step towards the systematic recording of African languages, and in particular of those about which little or nothing is known. It has been widely used in Africa, both for practical purposes and for the scientific studies of research workers. A number of people have sent to the Institute material collected in this way and a list of the languages so recorded is given here.
The Kenya Masai: A Nomadic People under Modern Adminstration
Authors: James L.
Published: April 2006

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Existing accounts of the Masai may be broadly grouped under three heads: (1) The popular impressionist accounts of the tribe by travellers in East Africa; the numerous travel works on this part of Africa nearly all contain some mention of the tribe, but in the main, these descriptions are calculated for their dramatic effect, and thus become largely inaccurate and valueless for the serious student. (2) Studies of the tribe such as those contained in the works of N. Leys and W. M. Ross. These authors approach the subject rather from the political angle, and make a study of the tribe largely for the purpose of criticizing Kenya's native policy. (3) The works dealing with the tribe from the ethnographic and anthropological standpoint; of the older works, the most important are those by A. C. Hollis and M. Merker. Among the more recent contributions the most outstanding are those by L. S. B. Leakey and S. Storrs-Fox. Daryll Forde has also given an account of the tribe from the point of view of the social geographer.
Native Poetry in East Africa
Authors: Werner A.
Published: April 2006

‘East Africa’ is a somewhat vague term; but for our present purpose we may take it to mean the area between Cape Guardafui and the Zambezi, extending inland to the Great Lakes, and including Nyasaland. Our subject naturally falls under two headings: we have on the one hand to consider the inchoate and sometimes only half articulate poetry of the inland tribes, and on the other the literature, as it may fitly be called, developed by the Swahili under Arab influence, but all the same a genuine product of the soil. The poetic output of the Hamitic Somali and Galla, though little known at present, is certainly worth attention.
Phonetics and African Languages
Authors: James A. Lloyd
Published: April 2006

The resolution of a spoken language into its constituent sounds is an exercise that most of us have practised since first we began to prattle. Our early efforts in the hearing and making of speech sounds were probably as automatic as the act of breathing, and it is very doubtful whether we ever attain any great degree of voluntary control over the physical and mental processes involved in the hearing and making of speech sounds. Before the acquisition of speech is complete, the language problem is further complicated for us by the laborious tasks of learning to read and write, that is to say, learning to see a language with the eye, and to make a visual picture of it with the hand. The result is that language becomes, while we are still young, a medley of complex processes, in which ear, eye, hand, and tongue are co-ordinated by the brain in an intricacy that is probably the crowning achievement of the human mind. Language, visual or oral, heard or seen, made with hand or mouth, rests thereafter upon a congeries of reflex processes that remain at our disposal to serve all the purposes for which language is intended.
L'Habitation chez les Ouled Abderrahman Chaouïa de l'Aurès
Authors: Rivière Thérèse
Published: April 2006

L'aurès, le massif montagneux le plus élevé de l'Algérie, est situé à l'est de la grande trouée de Biskra, au nord du chott Melghir, à l'ouest de la grande dorsale tunisienne et au sud des plateaux de Constantine. C'est une région naturelle très nette, où un groupe berbère important est resté peu arabisé et encore moins européanisé.
Mythes et Légendes sur l'Allume-feu des Populations du Congo Belge
Authors: Maes J.
Published: April 2006

Depuis la publication de nos diverses études sur l'allume-feu des populations du Congo Belge, nous avons reçu de divers collaborateurs d'Afrique de nombreux documents nouveaux sur les mythes et légendes qui se rapportent à l'origine et la première fabrication du feu chez diverses peuplades de l'Afrique Centrale.