Diverse Forms (diverse + form)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Xylanases, xylanase families and extremophilic xylanases

FEMS MICROBIOLOGY REVIEWS, Issue 1 2005
Tony Collins
Abstract Xylanases are hydrolytic enzymes which randomly cleave the , 1,4 backbone of the complex plant cell wall polysaccharide xylan. Diverse forms of these enzymes exist, displaying varying folds, mechanisms of action, substrate specificities, hydrolytic activities (yields, rates and products) and physicochemical characteristics. Research has mainly focused on only two of the xylanase containing glycoside hydrolase families, namely families 10 and 11, yet enzymes with xylanase activity belonging to families 5, 7, 8 and 43 have also been identified and studied, albeit to a lesser extent. Driven by industrial demands for enzymes that can operate under process conditions, a number of extremophilic xylanases have been isolated, in particular those from thermophiles, alkaliphiles and acidiphiles, while little attention has been paid to cold-adapted xylanases. Here, the diverse physicochemical and functional characteristics, as well as the folds and mechanisms of action of all six xylanase containing families will be discussed. The adaptation strategies of the extremophilic xylanases isolated to date and the potential industrial applications of these enzymes will also be presented. [source]


Studies on Jacobi,Davidson, Rayleigh quotient iteration, inverse iteration generalized Davidson and Newton updates

NUMERICAL LINEAR ALGEBRA WITH APPLICATIONS, Issue 8 2006
Yunkai Zhou
Abstract We study Davidson-type subspace eigensolvers. Correction equations of Jacobi,Davidson and several other schemes are reviewed. New correction equations are derived. A general correction equation is constructed, existing correction equations may be considered as special cases of this general equation. The main theme of this study is to identify the essential common ingredient that leads to the efficiency of a diverse form of Davidson-type methods. We emphasize the importance of the approximate Rayleigh-quotient-iteration direction. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Globalization from Below: Free Software and Alternatives to Neoliberalism

DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 6 2007
Sara Schoonmaker
ABSTRACT This article explores one of the central struggles over the politics of globalization: forging alternatives to neoliberalism by developing new forms of globalization from below. It focuses on a unique facet of this struggle, rooted in the centrality of information technologies for global trade and production, as well as new forms of media and digital culture. The analysis has four main parts: examining the key role of software as a technological infrastructure for diverse forms of globalization; conceptualizing the contradictory implications of three software business models for realizing the utopian potential of digital technology to develop forms of globalization from below; exploring how three free and open source software business models were put into practice by Red Hat, IBM and the Free Software Foundation; and analysing Brazilian software policy as a form of globalization from below that challenges the historical dominance of the global North and seeks to develop new forms of digital inclusion and digital culture. [source]


EVOLUTION OF MOUTHBROODING AND LIFE-HISTORY CORRELATES IN THE FIGHTING FISH GENUS BETTA

EVOLUTION, Issue 4 2004
Lukas Rüber
Abstract The origin of and evolutionary transitions among the extraordinary diverse forms of parental care in teleost fish remain largely unknown. The "safe harbor" hypothesis predicts that the evolution from a "guarding" to a "brooding" form of care in teleost fish is associated with shifts in reproductive and life-history features such as reduced fecundity, and increased egg volume with higher parental investment. Robust phylogenetic hypotheses may help to identify evolutionary changes in key traits associated with differences in the form of parental care. Here, we used reconstruction of ancestral character states to study the evolution of the two forms of parental care, bubble nesting and mouthbrooding in the fighting fish genus Betta. We also applied a comparative analysis using the phylogenetic generalized least-squares method to test the "safe harbor" hypothesis by evaluating differences between the two forms of parental care in standard length, life-history traits, and three habitat variables. Evolutionary hypotheses were derived from the first molecular phylogeny (nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequence data; 4448 bp) of this speciose group. Ancestral character state reconstructions of the evolution of the form of parental care in the genus Betta, using the methods of unweighted parsimony and maximum likelihood, are uncertain and further indicate a high rate of evolutionary transitions. Applying different weights for the suspected directionality of changes, based on the consistent phenotypic and behavioral differences found between bubble nesters and mouthbrooders, recurrent origin of mouthbrooding in the genus Betta is favored using parsimony. Our comparative analyses further demonstrate that bubble nesters and mouthbrooders do not have a consistent set of life-history correlates. The form of parental care in Betta is correlated only with offspring size, with mouthbrooders having significantly bigger offspring than bubble nesters, but is not correlated with egg volume, clutch size, and broodcare duration, nor with any of the three habitat variables tested. Our results thus challenge the general predictions of the "safe harbor" hypothesis for the evolution of alternative brood care forms in the fighting fish genus Betta. [source]


Contributions of the mother,infant relationship to dissociative, borderline, and conduct symptoms in young adulthood

INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 3 2008
Karlen Lyons-Ruth
Recent high-risk longitudinal studies have documented a unique contribution of the quality of the early mother,child relationship to diverse forms of psychopathology in young adulthood, even with family economic status, later traumatic experiences, and some genetic factors controlled. In addition, measures of attachment-related deviations in caregiver,infant interaction predict more than measures of infant attachment behavior alone. This article reviews those findings in the context of cross-disciplinary thinking on the importance of shared subjectivities in human evolution and development and in the context of recent studies beginning to map the intersection between processes of interaction and the development of the child's propensities to share mental states with others. [source]


Redefining citizenship for the 21st century: from the National Welfare State to the UN Global Compact

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 4 2004
Antonin Wagner
This article analyses the impact of globalisation on the changing role of citizenship as a state-centred mechanism of societal integration. As more diverse forms of society emerged in the second half of the last century, national citizenship came under assault by identity-based social groups from within. They function as integrative mechanisms for those members of society who diverge from the majority position and are committed to replace the nation-state as the dominant integrative device. From without, vast movements of peoples across borders in search of jobs and refuge constitute an even more serious challenge to the traditional notion of citizenship. With reference to the current EU debates about immigration and the idea of a UN Global Compact, the article explores principles of societal integration that transcend the boundaries of national citizenship and involve a governance paradigm built on civil society and voluntary action. [source]


Focus Introduction: Taking the Measure of Jonathan Edwards for Contemporary Religious Ethics

JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS ETHICS, Issue 2 2003
Stephen A. Wilson and
The Journal of Religious Ethics marks the tercentenary of Edwards's birth with the following collection of essays. In keeping with the overall mission of the journal, this tribute takes the form of historical and constructive reflection, in which diverse perspectives on Edwards's work and diverse forms of engagement with it supplement and correct one another. Our hope is that these essays will serve both to generate interest in Edwards's work among those who are unfamiliar with him, and to advance the discussion of central issues in theological and religious ethics. In this introductory essay, we will offer some reflections on Edwards's general significance for contemporary ethics, followed by a closer examination of his main texts and a brief summary of the essays collected here. [source]


Connecting school and community with science learning: Real world problems and school,community partnerships as contextual scaffolds,

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 8 2001
Lisa M. Bouillion
A challenge facing many schools, especially those in urban settings that serve culturally and linguistically diverse populations, is a disconnection between schools and students' home communities, which can have both cognitive and affective implications for students. In this article we explore a form of "connected science," in which real-world problems and school-community partnerships are used as contextual scaffolds for bridging students' community-based knowledge and school-based knowledge, as a way to provide all students opportunities for meaningful and intellectually challenging science learning. The potential of these scaffolds for connected science is examined through a case study in which a team of fifth-grade teachers used the student-identified problem of pollution along a nearby river as an interdisciplinary anchor for teaching science, math, language arts, and civics. Our analysis makes visible how diverse forms of knowledge were able to support project activities, examines the consequences for student learning, and identifies the features of real-world problems and school,community partnerships that created these bridging opportunities. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 878,898, 2001 [source]


Re-founding Representation: Wider, Broader, Closer, Deeper

POLITICAL STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 2 2010
Lucy Taylor
This article challenges conventional understandings and methodologies associated with the study of political representation. It imagines representation as a power relationship and shifts attention from elections to a closer examination of the interface between representatives and those they claim to represent. It argues for the need to make representation studies wider, moving our focus to study polities beyond the confines of prosperous, established democracies. Secondly, we should broaden our understanding of representation agents in two ways. We should consider how non-voters are represented and we should include diverse forms of social organisations, problematising relationships of representation within these groups and taking their political-representational role seriously. Thirdly, we should move closer, conducting not only macro-level analyses but also micro-level studies, exploring representation among and between individuals and groups in order to understand the complex relationships, motives and dynamics of power at work. Finally we need to go deeper, looking at our own subject positions as scholars critically and challenging the neutrality of the ideas and assumptions that we use as intellectual tools. Moreover, we should promote deeper relationships of representation, reconnecting it to ideas and practices of participation, and promoting the role of accountability in ,closing the loop' and enhancing democracy. [source]


Working with Wiki, by Design

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Issue 5 2006
Andrew Burrow
Abstract Andrew Burrow and Jane Burry explain the use of online platforms, such as wiki, employed by the Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory (SIAL) at RMIT University in Melbourne. As they demonstrate, these platforms enable projects whose participants span the globe, in turn situating SIAL within an internationally distributed design research network incorporating diverse forms of expertise. This includes the academic research under way at SIAL, much of which is done collaboratively with various other design and research entities, as well as the international work of SIAL's director Mark Burry, who has been developing innovative design and fabrication methods for the completion of Gaudí's complex proposal for the Sagrada Família church. SIAL's wiki platform collapses geographic and temporal distance to allow geographically dispersed agents to collaborate in unprecedented ways, integrating widely diverse sets of knowledge into the design process. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Organic anion transporters: discovery, pharmacology, regulation and roles in pathophysiology

BIOPHARMACEUTICS AND DRUG DISPOSITION, Issue 1 2010
Adam L. VanWert
Abstract Our understanding of the mechanisms behind inter- and intra-patient variability in drug response is inadequate. Advances in the cytochrome P450 drug metabolizing enzyme field have been remarkable, but those in the drug transporter field have trailed behind. Currently, however, interest in carrier-mediated disposition of pharmacotherapeutics is on a substantial uprise. This is exemplified by the 2006 FDA guidance statement directed to the pharmaceutical industry. The guidance recommended that industry ascertain whether novel drug entities interact with transporters. This suggestion likely stems from the observation that several novel cloned transporters contribute significantly to the disposition of various approved drugs. Many drugs bear anionic functional groups, and thus interact with organic anion transporters (OATs). Collectively, these transporters are nearly ubiquitously expressed in barrier epithelia. Moreover, several reports indicate that OATs are subject to diverse forms of regulation, much like drug metabolizing enzymes and receptors. Thus, critical to furthering our understanding of patient- and condition-specific responses to pharmacotherapy is the complete characterization of OAT interactions with drugs and regulatory factors. This review provides the reader with a comprehensive account of the function and substrate profile of cloned OATs. In addition, a major focus of this review is on the regulation of OATs including the impact of transcriptional and epigenetic factors, phosphorylation, hormones and gender. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]