Because the Night Belongs to Lovers: Occupying the Time of Precarity

While much of Occupy's political power is rooted in its spatial tactic, the movement's temporal realities are also key to understanding its complexities. This talk considers those realities, specifically turning to the night: a time when the spatial practice of occupying and the temporality of precarity find each other in a strange embrace. In the dark, new and unheard of demands emerge for the first time. At night, the fault lines of the movement rupture to the surface in new ways. It is also at night that those outside the camps, from the police, journalists, and the public, fix their gaze upon Occupy. Night also reflects the lived experience of precarity that Occupy and other activists and theorists have long mobilized against. This paper considers what new strategies of resistance loom in the realm of time.     

Head Start and child care providers’ motivators,barriers and facilitators to practicing family-style meal service

This paper presents a qualitative investigation of the motivators, barriers, and facilitators for practicing family-style meal service (FSMS) from the perspective of 18 child care providers serving preschool children in Head Start (HS), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) funded, and non-CACFP child-care centers. Providers were selected based on maximum variation purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews were conducted until saturation was reached. Provider responses were systematically coded using thematic analysis. HS and CACFP providers reported being motivated to practice FSMS because it created pleasant mealtimes, opportunities to role model healthy eating, and healthful child development. CACFP and non-CACFP providers reported not using FSMS because it was resource intensive, messy, and seemed to violate CACFP policy. HS and CACFP providers offered suggestions to overcome these barriers. They suggested that FSMS eventually becomes easier with practice, children can self-regulate their energy intake, and teaching children self-help skills during play time can avoid messes during mealtimes. Findings from this study have implications for programming, policy, and research.     

Circadian rhythms

Living organisms ranging from bacteria to human beings exhibit 24-h rhythms in various behaviours and physiological processes. Matching of the period of such rhythms with that of the daily environmental cycles gives an impression that they are mere passive responses to environmental changes. Here, we discuss the change in our perception about daily biological rhythms, from their identity as rhythmic phenomena occurring as passive response to environmental changes, to the biological clocks. This is the first article in a series of articles on circadian rhythms which will cover discussion on the genetic and molecular basis, circadian organization and its adaptive significance.     

Open learning in India: evolution,diversification and reaching out

Distance education has a history of over four decades in India. There has been a vast growth in the number of learners who need education and thus also the corresponding channels of providing education. Due to the constraints of the traditional educational sector, open and distance learning has been found to be a workable alternative strategy in India. This paper traces the evolution and diversification of open learning in India by examining various factors that led to the growth and success of open learning. This system, as other systems of education, is not free from problems and a critique is provided on the various factors affecting the smooth functioning of India’s open and distance learning system.     

Effects of Active Learning on Enhancing Student Critical Thinking in an Undergraduate General Science Course

To enhance students’ critical thinking in an undergraduate general science course, we designed and implemented active learning modules by incorporating group-based learning with authentic tasks, scaffolding, and individual reports. This study examined the levels of critical thinking students exhibited in individual reports and the students’ critical thinking level change over time. Findings indicated that students’ average critical thinking level fell in the category of “developing”, but students’ scores on individual reports revealed a statistically significant increase. The study suggested that the active learning strategies employed in the study were useful to promote student critical thinking.     

Effect of oral ingestion of different forms of silver on tissue content of some essential elements in chicks

Silver is ingested in India in the form of varak, Ayurvedic bhasm and water contained in silver utensils, but nobody knows their effects. We have examined the effect of interaction of silver ingested in the form of varak (leaf), bhasm (ash) and water (colloidal solution) on some essential elements (Na, K, Ca, Mg, Cu, Fe and Zn) in blood, liver, spleen and kidneys of chicks. The results showed significant rise of silver in all the tissues and significant fall in copper in the blood. The greatest rise was obtained in blood silver by silver sol while it had the lowest amount of silver. Iron significantly increased in tissues but somewhat decreased in blood. Zinc content increased in all the tissues by leaf and ash but decreased by sol. No consistent pattern was seen in case of other elements.     

hs-CRP and oxidative stress in young CAD patients: A pilot study

Premature coronary artery disease (CAD) is common in India. We, therefore, studied oxidative stress, dyslipidemia, and high sensitivity-C reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels in young CAD patients. Present study consisted of male CAD patients below 40 years and age and sex matched healthy controls (n=30 each). Fasting blood samples were analyzed for serum lipid profile, malondialdehyde, antioxidant enzymes and hs-CRP levels. Dyslipidemia was observed in 90% of the young CAD patients, of which 72.2% showed increased serum triglycerides and decreased HDL-cholesterol. LDL-cholesterol levels were high in 77.8%. Serum malondialdehyde and hs-CRP levels were increased significantly (p<0.0001) as compared to controls. hs-CRP levels were in high risk range in all the young patients. However, glutathione peroxidase activity was reduced significantly (p<0.05). Our data suggests that elevated hs-CRP levels along with dyslipidemia and oxidative stress adds to the predictive value of premature CAD in young Indians.     

Preliminary studies on the detection ofMycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex using DNA probe from a clinical isolate

Genomic DNA from a clinical isolate ofMycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex was purified and cloned in PBR 322 at the tetracycline resistance site using Bam HI restriction enzyme. A 16 kb cloned fragment was purified, radiolabeled and used as a probe. Genomic DNA isolated from nineteen MAC strains, threeM. tuberculosis strains and oneM. kansasii strain were digested with Eco RI restriction enzyme, Southern blotted and hybridized with the 16 kb cloned and labeled fragment. Twelve MAC strains showed positive hybridization although five strains gave faint signals. Positive hybridization was noted in two out of the threeM. tuberculosis strains, possibly due to shared DNA homology. No signal was received from the singleM. kansasii strain used in this study.