Dying for a Cause: Meaning, Commitment, and Self-Sacrifice

Some people willingly risk or give up their lives for something they deeply believe in, for instance standing up to a dictator. A good example of this are members of the White Rose student resistance group, who rebelled against the Nazi regime and paid for it with their lives. I argue that when the cause is good, such risky activities (and even deaths themselves) can contribute to meaning in life in its different forms – meaning-as-mattering, meaning-as-purpose, and meaning-as-intelligibility. Such cases highlight the importance of integrity, or living up to one's commitments, in meaningful living, or dying, as it may be, as well as the risk involved in commitment, since if you die for a bad cause, you have only harmed yourself. However, if leading a more rather than less meaningful life benefits rather than harms you, there are possible scenarios in which you yourself are better off dying for a good cause than living a longer moderately happy life. This presents a version of a well-known puzzle: what, then, makes dying for a cause a self-sacrifice, as it usually seems to be? I sketch some possible answers, and critically examine relevant work in empirical psychology.

Potato virus Y biological strain group YD: hypersensitive resistance genes elicited and phylogenetic placement

Potato virus Y (PVY) disrupts healthy seed potato production and causes tuber yield and quality losses globally. Its subdivisions consist of strain groups defined by potato hypersensitive resistance (HR) genes and phylogroups defined by sequencing. When PVY isolate PP was inoculated to potato cultivar differentials with HR genes, the HR phenotype pattern obtained resembled that caused by strain group PVYD isolate KIP1. A complete genome of isolate PP was obtained by high throughput sequencing. After removal of its short terminal recombinant segment, it was subjected to phylogenetic analysis together with 30 complete non-recombinant PVY genomes. It fitted within the same minor phylogroup PVYO3 sub-clade as KIP1. Putative HR gene Nd was proposed previously to explain the unique HR phenotype pattern that developed when differentials were inoculated with PVYD. However, an alternative explanation was that PVYD elicits HR, with HR genes Nc and Ny instead. To establish which gene(s) it elicits, isolates KIP1 and PP were inoculated to F1 potato seedlings from: (i) crossing Kipfler and White Rose with Ruby Lou, and (ii) self-pollinated Desiree and Ruby Lou; where Kipfler is susceptible (S) but White Rose, Desiree and Ruby Lou develop HR. With both isolates, the HR:S segregation ratios obtained fitted 5:1 for Kipfler x Ruby Lou, 11:1 for White Rose x Ruby Lou, and 3:1 for Desiree. Those for Ruby Lou were 68:1 (isolate PP) and 52:0 (isolate KIP1). Since potato is tetraploid, these ratios suggest PVYD elicits HR with Ny from Ruby Lou (duplex condition) and Desiree (simplex condition), and Nc from White Rose (simplex condition), but provide no evidence that Nd exists. Therefore, our differential cultivar inoculations and inheritance studies highlight that PVYD isolates elicit an HR phenotype in potato cultivars with either of two HR genes, Nc or Ny, so putative gene Nd can be discounted. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis placed the complete genome of isolate PP within the same minor phylogroup PVYO3 sub-clade as KIP1 which constitutes the most basal divergence within overall major phylogroup PVYO.

Dante’s Other Worlds

When Dante chose to situate his Commedia in the three realms of the Catholic afterlife, he had many sources to draw upon: Aeneid VI, the legacy of Scripture, medieval dream visions, theologians like Augustine and Aquinas, iconography, and perhaps even Mohammed’s Night Journey. What he borrowed, however, he invariably made his own. His hell brings order and psychological depth to the traditional welter of infernal retribution. His purgatory spirals above ground along the radiant slopes of an antipodean mountain, while paradise moves from one light show to another before blossoming into a white rose. The cities and landmarks of the world he knew also become ways to conjure the imagined other world, forging a lively connection between the two. Each afterlife realm, moreover, explores a spiritual disposition articulated through landscape, dialogue, and imagery: the claustrophobic egotism of Inferno, the dynamic of transformation in Purgatorio, and the luminous intersubjectivity of Paradiso.

“When Katie Comes Down to the Gate”/ “A Little White Rose”

This chapter discusses Murphy Brothers, “When Katie Comes Down to the Gate”, “A Little White Rose”, old-time music, family bands, harmonica, and Gennett Records

Application and efficiency of body volume formula for predicting live weight in two strains of broiler chickens in Zaria, Nigeria

Records from 120 day-old Arbor Acre (n = 60) and White Rose (11 = 60) broiler strains of mixed sexes were used. The experiment was carried out at the Poultry Unit, Teaching and Research Farm of the Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna state. Traits considered from day old to 8 weeks included body weight (BW), body length (BL) as well as chest girt (CG). The chickens were assigned to two treatments with three replications each having twenty chickens per replicate and were fed the same type of feed. The weights were taken on weekly basis. The seed consumed was also measured on daily basis. The body parameter such as body length and chest girth was also taken on weekly basis. The chick's body volume (BV) was estimated by cylinder volume using a formula derived from the work of Paputugan. Results obtained showed that age significantly (P<0.05) affected BW at all ages where the White Rose strain consistently weigh heavier than Arbor Acre. Similarly the BV of Arbor Acre is less than that of White Rose strain only at week 2. No significant difference (P>0.05) was obtained for the other parameters investigated across age. Coefficient of correlation among parameters obtained in this study were low and insignificant (P>0.05). However, all the values recorded were positive indicating that selection for any trait will lead to correlated response in the others. The multiple regression models for predicting live weight from chest girth, body length and body volume in the two strains revealed that coefficient of determination (R2) for BV was higher (0.96 to 0.98) compared with those of chest girth (0.56 to 0.73) and body length (0.87 to 0.88). It was concluded therefore that body volume was more efficient and better predictor of live body weight than BL and/or CG.

Application and efficiency of body volume formula for predicting live weight in two strains of broiler chickens in Zaria, Nigeria

Records from 120 day-old Arbor Acre (n = 60) and White Rose (n = 60) broiler strains of mixed sexes were used. The experiment was carried out at the Poultry Unit, Teaching and Research Farm of the Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna state. Traits considered from day old to 8 weeks included body weight (BW), body length (BL) as well as chest girt (CG). The chickens were assigned to two treatments with three replications each having twenty chickens per replicate and were fed the same type of feed. The weights were taken on weekly basis. The feed consumed was also measured on daily basis. The body parameter such as body length and chest girth was also taken on weekly basis. The chick's body volume (BV) was estimated by cylinder volume using a formula derived from the work of Paputungan. Results obtained showed that age significantly (P<0.05) affected BW at all ages where the White Rose strain consistently weigh heavier than Arbor Acre. Similarly the BV of Arbor Acre is less than that of White Rose strain only at week 2. No significant difference (P>0.05) was obtained for the other parameters investigated across age. Coefficient of correlation among parameters obtained in this study were low and insignificant (P>0.05). However, all the values recorded were positive indicating that selection for any trait will lead to correlated response in the others. The multiple regression models for predicting live weight from chest girth, body length and body volume in the two strains revealed that coefficient of determination (R2 ) for BV was higher (0.96 to 0.98) compared with those of chest girth (0.56 to 0.73) and body length (0.81 to 0.88). It was concluded therefore that body volume was more efficient and better predictor of live body weight than BL and/or CG.

The impact of enological products for tartaric stabilization on wine filterability

The aim of this research was to evaluate the impact of most commonly used agents for tartaric stabilization of wine, such as metatartaric acid, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), mannoproteins and gum arabic, on the filterability of white, rose and red wine previously pre-filtered and prepared for the final filtration and bottling. Wine filterability after sweetening with rectified concentrated must was also assessed. The experiments were carried out using Quality Filterability Test and the obtained results were expressed through filterability index (FI), and maximum filterable volume (Vmax). The results confirmed that used enological agents for the inhibition of tartaric instabilities generally did not worsen the filterability of white and rose wine (FI<20). However, it was evident that products containing mannoproteins and metatartaric acid considerably reduced red wine filterability (FI>500). The correlation between white and rose wine turbidity and filterability was recorded in the trials but the same trend was not registered for the red wine. The results of this study are important since membrane (final) filtration of improperly prepared wine characterized by low filterability can both increase the costs and lead to hold up on the bottling line.