Literary Representation of the Self in Medieval Arabic Autobiographies and the Cultural Barriers to Self‑Cognition. The Literacy Theory Perspective. Part 2

This article addresses the problems associated with the relationship between the influence of writing on cognitive processes and the features of the cul­ture within which writing appears. Classical literacy theory, with the modi­fications that were introduced over the course of time, was embraced as the research perspective. According to these modifications, the change in the cog­nitive processes and content which occurs under the influence of writing is not automatic. Every culture has at its disposal a specific array of factors which influence writing and literacy and which determine the extent to which the potential of writing will be used. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the most important cultural norms and values which, by being practiced socially, could have limited the influence of writing on self-cognitive processes—the consequences of such processes can be found in the literary representation of the self in medieval Arabic autobiographies of the 12th–15th centuries. These features were referred to as traditionalism, the domination of collective aware­ness over individual awareness, the acceptance of social hierarchical structure, and a Quranic vision of the limits to man’s freedom.

Literary Representation of the Self in Medieval Arabic Autobiographies and the Cultural Barriers to Self‑Cognition: The Literacy Theory Perspective.

This article addresses the problems associated with the relationship between the influence of writing on cognitive processes and the features of the cul­ture within which writing appears. Classical literacy theory, with the modi­fications that were introduced over the course of time, was embraced as the research perspective. According to these modifications, the change in the cog­nitive processes and content which occurs under the influence of writing is not automatic. Every culture has at its disposal a specific array of factors which influence writing and literacy and which determine the extent to which the potential of writing will be used. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the most important cultural norms and values which, by being practiced socially, could have limited the influence of writing on self-cognitive pro­cesses—the consequences of such processes can be found in the literary rep­resentation of the self in medieval Arabic autobiographies of the 12th–15th centuries. These features were referred to as traditionalism, the domination of collective awareness over individual awareness, the acceptance of social hierar­chical structure, and a Quranic vision of the limits to man’s freedom.

Electrical Resistivity Imaging near Abandoned Steel Oil Wells: Five Case Studies, USA

Abandoned wells may act as conduits for the contamination of groundwater by oil field brines and other pollutants. The steel casings of abandoned wells eventually develop leaks, which if not properly plugged, can allow pollutants to reach freshwater aquifers that supply drinking water. Resistivity surveys were conducted in the vicinity of five abandoned oil wells in order to characterize the near-surface geology and to determine the effects of the steel casings and potential leakage. The arrays consisted of dipole-dipole (DD) and inverse Schlumberger (SLB) arrays. The effects from steel cased wells can manifest as low resistivity anomalies in the vicinity of the casings, depending on proximity of the line to the well, well location along the line, and the specific array used. These features appear as vertical, circular, elliptical, and bell-like anomalies. However, in some instances with the SLB array, the data appear not to be affected by the presence of steel casings. This observation is significant because resistivity surveys utilizing the SLB array can provide reliable information on near-surface geology next to abandoned wells, and horizontal and vertical extension of brine impacted areas due to leaking abandoned oil wells. The DD array, on the other hand, is better at locating potentially hidden abandoned wells but interpreting subsurface structure or contamination with the array is more difficult.

Comparative analyses of saprotrophy in Salisapilia sapeloensis and diverse plant pathogenic oomycetes reveal lifestyle-specific gene expression

ABSTRACT Oomycetes include many devastating plant pathogens. Across oomycete diversity, plant-infecting lineages are interspersed by non-pathogenic ones. Unfortunately, our understanding of the evolution of lifestyle switches is hampered by a scarcity of data on the molecular biology of saprotrophic oomycetes, ecologically important primary colonizers of dead tissue that can serve as informative reference points for understanding the evolution of pathogens. Here, we established Salisapilia sapeloensis as a tractable system for the study of saprotrophic oomycetes. We generated multiple transcriptomes from S. sapeloensis and compared them with (i) 22 oomycete genomes and (ii) the transcriptomes of eight pathogenic oomycetes grown under 13 conditions. We obtained a global perspective on gene expression signatures of oomycete lifestyles. Our data reveal that oomycete saprotrophs and pathogens use similar molecular mechanisms for colonization but exhibit distinct expression patterns. We identify a S. sapeloensis-specific array and expression of carbohydrate-active enzymes and putative regulatory differences, highlighted by distinct expression levels of transcription factors. Salisapilia sapeloensis expresses only a small repertoire of candidates for virulence-associated genes. Our analyses suggest lifestyle-specific gene regulatory signatures and that, in addition to variation in gene content, shifts in gene regulatory networks underpin the evolution of oomycete lifestyles.

COGNITIVE TERMINOLOGICAL STRUCTURE AS A PROFESSIONAL WORLDVIEW UNIT

The article deals with the study of the theoretical basis for distinguishing the category of cognitive terminological structure as a unit of professional consciousness. The study is based on a cognitive approach to understanding the nature of the term, namely, the statement that each term is aligned with a specific cognitive terminological structure, and each cognitive terminological structure is verbalized by the term. The author gives the analysis of existing approaches to understanding the phenomenon of cognitive structure. Based on observations of linguistic terminological material, as well as the results of cognitive studies in various scientific fields, the author offers a new unit of measurement of a person’s cognitive space – a cognitive terminological structure and defines it as a unit of professional consciousness in which a fragment of a professional worldview is concentrated and which has a verbal implementation in the form of a term. The term is explained by the author as a word or phrase, which represents a fragment of a professional worldview through verbalization of cognitive terminological structure within a specific scientific discourse. The mechanism of linguistic reconstruction of a cognitive terminological structure is seen as a process in which a certain term activates a system of concepts (scientific and unscientific) that enrich the explicit meaning of the term with a large number of implicit meanings and ontological representations of which are introduced into a specific array of empirical data; conceptualization in a specific professional discourse takes place, which ensures the theoretical organization of knowledge around the term and instant multidimensional schematization of intra-system inter-conceptual connections within this discourse, that leads to a concentrated fragment of a professional worldview through the established cognitive terminological structure. Such processes ensure the construction of the mental space of a professional worldview in which semantic structures as a result of the cognitive activity of a metalanguage user co-exist.

Comparative analyses of saprotrophy in Salisapilia sapeloensis and diverse plant pathogenic oomycetes reveal lifestyle-specific gene expression

Oomycetes include many well-studied, devastating plant pathogens. Across oomycete diversity, plant-infecting lineages are interspersed by non-pathogenic ones. Unfortunately, our understanding of the evolution of lifestyle switches is hampered by a scarcity of data on the molecular biology of saprotrophic oomycetes, ecologically important primary colonizers of dead tissue that can serve as informative reference points for understanding the evolution of pathogens. Here, we established Salisapilia sapeloensis growing on axenic litter as a tractable system for the study of saprotrophic oomycetes. We generated multiple transcriptomes from S. sapeloensis and compared them to (a) 22 oomycete genomes and (b) the transcriptomes of eight pathogenic oomycetes grown under 13 conditions (three pathogenic lifestyles, six hosts/substrates, and four tissues). From these analyses we obtained a global perspective on the gene expression signatures of oomycete lifestyles. Our data reveal that oomycete saprotrophs and pathogens use generally similar molecular mechanisms for colonization, but exhibit distinct expression patterns. We identify S. sapeloensis' specific array and expression of carbohydrate-active enzymes and regulatory differences in pathogenicity-associated factors, including the virulence factor EpiC2B. Further, S. sapeloensis was found to express only a small repertoire of effector genes. In conclusion, our analyses reveal lifestyle-specific gene regulatory signatures and suggest that, in addition to variation in gene content, shifts in gene regulatory networks might underpin the evolution of oomycete lifestyles.

From education segregation to inclusion: The policy ramifications on Chinese internal migrant children

The aim of this paper is to analyze a specific array of publicly accessible policy papers and literature necessary to provide a contextualized interpretation of segregation policies and their implications for the educational outcomes of migrant children in China. By teasing out its ramifications for education equity, this paper reveals the unanticipated current challenges resulting from educational inclusion for migrant children in urban China. The paper argues that although China’s new migration reform policies are well-intentioned and appear rationally apposite at the macro level, migrant children are presently experiencing institutional forms of acute marginality and discrimination in inclusive schools. It is to be hoped that the information provided will serve to advance governmental and institutional understanding of the subtleties of inequity that have arisen from the current policy of Chinese urbanization. Given the insights evinced in our paper, it should be evident that achieving equity for migrant children under the present policy reforms governing their admission into integrated public schools requires more philosophical reflection than has yet been given.

Design and Analysis of Low Power Hybrid Braun Multiplier using Ladner Fischer Adder

Multiplier is important in many DSP systems and in many hardware blocks. Multiplier are used in various DSP application like digital filtering, digital communication. This needs parallel array multiplier to attain high speed for execution and better performance. A specific array multiplier is implemented known as Braun design. Braun multiplier is the one which is a kind of parallel multiplier. It contains different CSA count of AND gates. Braun multiplier employing Ripple Carry Adder is developed here having high speed PPA. It will reduce the delay and implemented using Tanner EDA tool.

Genomic diversification of giant enteric symbionts reflects host dietary lifestyles

Herbivorous surgeonfishes are an ecologically successful group of reef fish that rely on marine algae as their principal food source. Here, we elucidated the significance of giant enteric symbionts colonizing these fishes regarding their roles in the digestive processes of hosts feeding predominantly on polysiphonous red algae and brown Turbinaria algae, which contain different polysaccharide constituents. Using metagenomics, single-cell genomics, and metatranscriptomic analyses, we provide evidence of metabolic diversification of enteric microbiota involved in the degradation of algal biomass in these fishes. The enteric microbiota is also phylogenetically and functionally simple relative to the complex lignocellulose-degrading microbiota of terrestrial herbivores. Over 90% of the enzymes for deconstructing algal polysaccharides emanate from members of a single bacterial lineage, “Candidatus Epulopiscium” and related giant bacteria. These symbionts lack cellulases but encode a distinctive and lineage-specific array of mostly intracellular carbohydrases concurrent with the unique and tractable dietary resources of their hosts. Importantly, enzymes initiating the breakdown of the abundant and complex algal polysaccharides also originate from these symbionts. These are also highly transcribed and peak according to the diel lifestyle of their host, further supporting their importance and host–symbiont cospeciation. Because of their distinctive genomic blueprint, we propose the classification of these giant bacteria into three candidate genera. Collectively, our findings show that the acquisition of metabolically distinct “Epulopiscium” symbionts in hosts feeding on compositionally varied algal diets is a key niche-partitioning driver in the nutritional ecology of herbivorous surgeonfishes.

Geosite of a steep lava spatter cone of the 1256 AD, Al Madinah eruption, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

UNESCO promotes geoconservation through various programs intended to establish an inventory of geologically and geomorphologically significant features worldwide that can serve as an important database to understand the Earth’s global geoheritage. An ultimate goal of such projects globally is to establish geoparks that represent an integrated network of knowledge transfer opportunities, based on a specific array of geological and geomorphological sites able to graphically demonstrate how the Earth works to the general public. In these complex geoconservation and geoeducational programs, the identification of significant geological and geomorphological features is very important. These are commonly referred to as ‘geosites’ or ‘geomorphosites’, depending on whether the feature or processes the site demonstrates is more geological or geomorphological, respectively. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an extraordinary place due to its arid climate and therefore perfect exposures of rock formations. The Kingdom is also home to extensive volcanic fields, named “harrats” in Arabic, referring particularly to the black, basaltic lava fields that dominate the desert landscape. Current efforts to increase awareness of the importance of these volcanic fields in the geological landscape of Arabia culminated in the first proposal to incorporate the superbly exposed volcanic features into an integrated geoconservation and geoeducation program that will hopefully lead to the development of a geopark named, “The Harrat Al Madinah Volcanic Geopark” [1]. Here we describe one of the extraordinary features of the proposed Harrat Al Madinah Volcanic Geopark, namely a steep lava spatter cone formed during a historical eruption in 1256 AD.