1,232 research outputs found
Dr. Kevin Kuswa - Faculty Author Interview
No full textDr. Kevin Kuswa, Director of Debate in the department of Rhetoric and Communication Studies, discusses “Blowback the Enemy T/here: Errors, Terrors, and the Rhetorical Agenda of WMDs”, a chapter in the recently published book, Entertaining Fear: Rhetoric and the Political Economy of Social Control. Dr. Kuswa has been teaching a class on terrorism and security since 2002, focusing on perhaps the most important social dynamic of our time, the rhetoric of fear. Kuswa’s chapter focuses on understanding the “logics and discourses through the trope of ‘blow-back,\u27” a phrase describing the ways a state’s aggressive military action can circle back to confront the state itself
Heterogeneous and tissue-specific regulation of effector T cell responses by IFN-gamma during Plasmodium berghei ANKA infection.
Get PDFIFN-γ and T cells are both required for the development of experimental cerebral malaria during Plasmodium berghei ANKA infection. Surprisingly, however, the role of IFN-γ in shaping the effector CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell response during this infection has not been examined in detail. To address this, we have compared the effector T cell responses in wild-type and IFN-γ(-/-) mice during P. berghei ANKA infection. The expansion of splenic CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells during P. berghei ANKA infection was unaffected by the absence of IFN-γ, but the contraction phase of the T cell response was significantly attenuated. Splenic T cell activation and effector function were essentially normal in IFN-γ(-/-) mice; however, the migration to, and accumulation of, effector CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells in the lung, liver, and brain was altered in IFN-γ(-/-) mice. Interestingly, activation and accumulation of T cells in various nonlymphoid organs was differently affected by lack of IFN-γ, suggesting that IFN-γ influences T cell effector function to varying levels in different anatomical locations. Importantly, control of splenic T cell numbers during P. berghei ANKA infection depended on active IFN-γ-dependent environmental signals--leading to T cell apoptosis--rather than upon intrinsic alterations in T cell programming. To our knowledge, this is the first study to fully investigate the role of IFN-γ in modulating T cell function during P. berghei ANKA infection and reveals that IFN-γ is required for efficient contraction of the pool of activated T cells
Continuous metadata flows for distributed multimedia
No full textThe practical use of temporal multimedia has increased markedly in recent years as enabling technologies for the distribution and streaming of media have become available. As a part of this trend, hypermedia systems and models have adapted accordingly to incorporate such distributed multimedia for presentation. Structured interpretation of information has long been a fundamental feature of both open hypermedia systems and knowledge systems. Metadata, in its many forms, has become the cornerstone for providing this structured knowledge above and beyond basic data and information. This thesis presents the rationale and requirements for continuous metadata, which supports the metadata accompanying distributed multimedia throughout the lifecycle of streamed media, from generation, through distribution, to presentation. Throughout this process it is the temporal and continuous nature of the metadata which is paramount. A conceptual framework for continuous metadata is proposed to encapsulate these principles and ideas. Continuous metadata and the associated framework enable the development, in particular, of real-time, collaborative, semantically enriched distributed multimedia applications. Experience building one such system using continuous metadata is evaluated within the framework. An ontology is developed for the system to enable the collation, distribution, and presentation of structure aiding navigation of multimedia, and it is shown how continuous metadata utilising the ontology can be distributed using multicas
Androgen Deprivation Therapy and Dementia: New Opportunities and Challenges in the Big-Data Era
No full textLocal government chief executives’ everyday hauntings : towards a theory of organizational ghosts
No full textThis paper develops a theory of organizational ghosts, a concept that describes the haunted and burdensome aspects of organizational life and in particular of leadership action. The concept of organizational ghosts is not offered as yet another metaphor, a lens through which to analyse particular organizations. Rather, I offer my discussion of ghosts as a theoretical concept that explains how inheritances of the past haunt the relations and struggles of the present. I tell a ghostly tale of the everyday leadership and learning practices of UK local government chief executives, and provide an exploration of organizational ghosts as a contribution to the growing interest in the action in the shadows, atmospheres, margins and boundaries of organizations. Drawing upon an ethnographic study of UK local councils, and embracing the multiplicity and heterogeneity of organizational ghosts, the paper considers the theoretical, political and ethical stakes involved in taking ghosts seriously. Its contribution is to show how ghosts are insinuated in organizations and to highlight leaders as figures who are both willing agents and uneasy hosts of hauntings, and to point to the mediating role of leaders in handling confrontations between the past, the present and the future.Peer reviewe
The Lost State of Franklin: America\u27s First Secession
Get PDFIn the years following the Revolutionary War, the young American nation was in a state of chaos. Citizens pleaded with government leaders to reorganize local infrastructures and heighten regulations, but economic turmoil, Native American warfare, and political unrest persisted. By 1784, one group of North Carolina frontiersmen could no longer stand the unresponsiveness of state leaders to their growing demands. This ambitious coalition of Tennessee Valley citizens declared their region independent from North Carolina, forming the state of Franklin.
The Lost State of Franklin: America’s First Secession chronicles the history of this ill-fated movement from its origins in the early settlement of East Tennessee to its eventual violent demise. Author Kevin T. Barksdale investigates how this lost state failed so ruinously, examining its history and tracing the development of its modern mythology. The Franklin independence movement emerged from the shared desires of a powerful group of landed elite, yeoman farmers, and country merchants. Over the course of four years they managed to develop a functioning state government, court system, and backcountry bureaucracy.
Cloaking their motives in the rhetoric of the American Revolution, the Franklinites aimed to defend their land claims, expand their economy, and eradicate the area’s Native American population. They sought admission into the union as America’s fourteenth state, but their secession never garnered support from outside the Tennessee Valley. Confronted by Native American resistance and the opposition of the North Carolina government, the state of Franklin incited a firestorm of partisan and Indian violence. Despite a brief diplomatic flirtation with the nation of Spain during the state’s final days, the state was never able to recover from the warfare, and Franklin collapsed in 1788.
East Tennesseans now regard the lost state of Franklin as a symbol of rugged individualism and regional exceptionalism, but outside the region the movement has been largely forgotten. The Lost State of Franklin presents the complete history of this defiant secession and examines the formation of its romanticized local legacy. In reevaluating this complex political movement, Barksdale sheds light on a remarkable Appalachian insurrection and reminds readers of the extraordinary, fragile nature of America’s young independence.
Kevin T. Barksdale is assistant professor of history at Marshall University.
“Dr. Barksdale writes with admirable clarity, explaining convoluted events with engaging and accessible prose, a straight-forward organizational structure, and a rare sense of passion.”—David C. Hsiung, Juniata College, author of Two Worlds in the Tennessee Mountains: Exploring the Origins of Appalachian Stereotypes
“The Lost State of Franklin speaks to a range of important issues in Southern history, issues that transcend narrow debates about North Carolina and Tennessee history. No scholar has done more to delineate the myths surrounding Franklin\u27s statehood from the bitter political battles that animated southern frontier society.”—Peter S. Carmichael, Eberly Professor of Civil War Studies, West Virginia University, author of The Last Generation: Young Virginias in Peace, War, and Reunion
“A riveting and complex story of settlers and leaders who struggled to establish and maintain an independent government. Although short-lived and often forgotten, Franklin rightly deserves Barksdale’s engaging account.”—Paul H. Bergeron, Professor of History Emeritus, University of Tennessee
“Kevin Barksdale’s painstakingly researched and elegantly written study of America’s first secession is required reading for everyone interested in early America, the frontier, and Appalachia.”—Ronald L. Lewis, Professor of History Emeritus, West Virginia University
“The State of Franklin’s ill-fated quest for statehood is among the most intriguing episodes on the early American frontier and a pivotal movement in the nation’s political history. In Kevin Barksdale’s very able hands, this struggle transcends its Tennessee and Appalachian setting to become an even more significant reflection on the meanings of democracy and independence in the tenuous and tumultuous post-revolutionary era of westward expansion and nation-building.”—John C. Inscoe, author of Race, War, and Remembrance in the Appalachian South
The Lost State of Franklin belongs in the reference collection of any local history buff.”—Bristol Herald Courier
“Deeply researched and painstakingly annotated, this work will be of particular interest to scholars studying the antebellum South. Recommended for Southern history collections in academic libraries.”—Library Journal
“[Barksdale] provides a balanced and accessible account that would interest anyone curious about our regional history.”—Chattanooga Free Press
“I was glad to see a study like this in print, and I recommend it to everyone interested in the eighteenth century or the southern frontier. Thanks to Barksdale’s work, we now have a much clearer picture of this brief but fascinating episode in Tennessee history than we’ve ever had before. The \u27Lost\u27 State of Franklin didn’t endure, but in terms of scholarship, it isn’t lost anymore.”—Past in the Present
“Barksdale has provided a nuanced and insightful examination of the state of Franklin. The book will serve as a must-read for students of the ‘lost’ state and of the frontier experience more broadly.”—Ohio Valley History
“Kevin Barksdale presents the first scholarly study of the so-called “lost state” of Franklin since Samuel Cole Williams took up the subject in 1933.”—North Carolina Historical Review
“In this welcome contribution to the problems of governance in the early republic, Kevin Barksdale presents a history of the failed State of Franklin. Franklin\u27s rise and fall remains an important counterpoint to much of American history because it is a story of failed possibilities.”—Tennessee Historical Quarterly
“The Lost State of Franklin has a quality of déjà vu, which gives the reader the impression that the story has played out elsewhere. That is because the book is a microlevel reflection of the American experience. Perhaps that explains why it is so captivating and, more importantly, why it is so relevant.”—Journal of American History
“Barksdale’s careful deconstruction of both the myths and realities of the \u27lost\u27 state of Franklin should make this book a standard reference for future scholars.”—American Historical Review
“The book will be valuable for regional specialists and students interested in frontier politics, as well as Appalachian history and memory more broadly.”—West Virginia History
“In the twentieth century, the story of Franklin appeared in memorials and exhibits and even inspired an outdoor drama and two romance novels. The story of Franklin deserves to be explored for its legacy in all three centuries.”—Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
“His book is an important study of community grow on the trans-Appalachian frontier at a time when the guidelines for future expansion were being shaped.”—Journal of Southern Historyhttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_united_states_history/1029/thumbnail.jp
The inadequacy of morphology for species and genus delineation in microbial eukaryotes: An example from the parabasalian termite symbiont <i>coronympha</i>
Get PDFBackground
For the majority of microbial eukaryotes (protists, algae), there is no clearly superior species concept that is consistently applied. In the absence of a practical biological species concept, most species and genus level delineations have historically been based on morphology, which may lead to an underestimate of the diversity of microbial eukaryotes. Indeed, a growing body of molecular evidence, such as barcoding surveys, is beginning to support the conclusion that significant cryptic species diversity exists. This underestimate of diversity appears to be due to a combination of using morphology as the sole basis for assessing diversity and our inability to culture the vast majority of microbial life. Here we have used molecular markers to assess the species delineations in two related but morphologically distinct genera of uncultivated symbionts found in the hindgut of termites.
Methodology/Principal Findings
Using single-cell isolation and environmental PCR, we have used a barcoding approach to characterize the diversity of Coronympha and Metacoronympha symbionts in four species of Incisitermes termites, which were also examined using scanning electron microscopy and light microcopy. Despite the fact that these genera are significantly different in morphological complexity and structural organisation, we find they are two life history stages of the same species. At the same time, we show that the symbionts from different termite hosts show an equal or greater level of sequence diversity than do the hosts, despite the fact that the symbionts are all classified as one species.
Conclusion/Significance
The morphological information used to describe the diversity of these microbial symbionts is misleading at both the genus and species levels, and led to an underestimate of species level diversity as well as an overestimate of genus level diversity. The genus ‘Metacoronympha’ is invalid and appears to be a life history stage of Coronympha, while the single recognized species of Coronympha octonaria, inhabiting these four termites is better described as four distinct species.Peer reviewedPublished: August 11, 2009.CloningTermitesFlagellaInvasive speciesPhylogenetic analysisProtistsRibosomal RNASpecies delimitatio
#73 The Italian Elections and American Foreign Policy.
No full textParticipants include: Wilfred Parsons, S.J., Author and former editor of America James H. Buchholz, Student, Georgetown University Robert T. Trimpe, Student, Georgetown University Kevin P. Kennedy - Moderato
Environmental and Parental Influences on Offspring Health and Growth in Great Tits (Parus major)
Get PDFPMCID: PMC3728352This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
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