Constitutional Convention Essay -- essays research papers

May 25, 1787   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Fifty five delegates from twelve of the thirteen states met in Philadelphia today. Rhode Island is the only state of the thirteen that chose not to attend the revising of the Articles of Confederation. Though, after the delegates reviewed the articles, they agreed that they were not worth saving.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The delegates agreed to make a new document, a constitution, that would bring an entirely new type of government. Since they decided to create a new constitution, the meeting is to b e called the Constitutional Convention. The delegates of the Constitutional Convention were not ordinary American people. They were all professionals and businessmen, and they were all white men. More than half of the delegates are under 40. ...

Rememory in Toni Morrisons Beloved Essay -- Toni Morrison Beloved Ess

Rememory in Toni Morrison's Beloved To survive, one must depend on the acceptance and integration of what is past and what is present. In her novel Beloved, Toni Morrison carefully constructs events that parallel the way the human mind functions; this serves as a means by which the reader can understand the activity of memory. "Rememory" enables Sethe, the novel's protagonist, to reconstruct her past realities. The vividness that Sethe brings to every moment through recurring images characterizes her understanding of herself. Through rememory, Morrison is able to carry Sethe on a journey from being a woman who identifies herself only with motherhood, to a woman who begins to identify herself as a human being. Morrison glorifies the potential of language, and her faith in the power and construction of words instills trust in her readers that Sethe has claimed ownership of her freed self. The structure of Morrison's novel, which is arranged in trimesters, carries the reader on a mother's journey beginning with th e recognition of a haunting "new" presence, then gradually coming to terms with one's fears and reservations, and finally giving birth to a new identity while reclaiming one's own. Morrison characterizes the first trimester of Beloved as a time of unrest in order to create an unpleasant tone associated with any memories being stirred. Sethe struggles daily to block out her past. The first thing that she does when she gets to work is to knead bread: "Working dough. Working, working dough. Nothing better than that to the day's serious work of beating back the past" (Morrison 73). The internal and external scars which slavery has left on Sethe's soul are irreparable. Each time she relives a memory, she ... ...ge with Sethe. She not only searches for her face, but wants to be that face. In taking ownership of herself, Sethe unshackles herself from the ghosts of her past. Beloved has helped Sethe to free herself, and now can finally depart. Beloved takes Sethe's complex past and from it lifts one of life's simple truths: only you can define yourself. Sethe is finally free and at peace. From spiteful to loud to quiet, 124 Bluestone Road has evolved just as the characters have. All have remembered. Redemption comes because the past has been reconciled. Forgetting comes only with the pain of remembering, and in a world of rememories, we are bound to bump in to one of our own. Morrison gives birth to a story and in doing so claims ownership for herself, which is something only she could do. Works Cited Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Plume, 1987.

Great Romantic Expectations :: Great Expectations Essays

  In Great Expectations Pip is devastated to find out that the convict he helped years ago on the marshes is the benefactor of his riches in life.   His distress is exemplified by the fact that he deserted his loyal friend Joe for the life that the convict Magwitch has given him.   His greatest grief, however, came from the fact that he believed he could never win the love of Estella, learning that she had married Bentley Drummel.   Pip remained in a depression over his situation until he discovered the truth of Estella’s parentage.   The strange coincidence of these findings cause Pip to change his attitude toward his further expectation and resume his belief that he still might have a chance with Estella.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Clearly the story is well underway before any indication is made to the truth about Estella being an adopted child of Miss Havisham.   After this is established through the revelation of Herbert telling Pip this story, Pip gradually starts to pick up clues of his own from different sources.   He notices the similarities of Molly, Jagger’s housekeeper, and questions Wemmick about her resemblance to Estella.   Then Pip continues his pursuit by questioning Miss Havisham about Estella’s background.   Disclosures by Magwitch start to mesh the story together in Pip’s mind as he puts his entire finding together in a neat little package.   That package is the picture of the true parents of Estella.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Most interesting as the clues unfold are the connections between Estella, Magwitch, and Miss Havisham to the lawyer Mr. Jaggers. For each one of them he has provided a service or has been in their employ.   In addition to their connection to Jaggers they were all connected to the convict Compeyson through his victimization of them each in a different way.   Pip sees all of these connections gradually through his pursuit of the facts.   Through his endeavors he is strangely affected by the true realization of the truth of Estella’s parents.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pip continues to question and observe the actions of those connected to his query to corroborate his guesses.   He does not truly understand his intent on proving the identity of Estella’s parents.   Just before Pip comes to the conclusion that Molly may be the mother of Estella his depression is spoken of by referral his mood to stop reading newspapers since he heard the news of Estella marrying Drummle.   Then Pip looks at Molly and decides that she is the woman who surely gave birth to Estella.

Nature Based Therapy

Introduction Nature based therapy is not a new concept, our well – being and association with nature is part of the never-ending human quest of who were are and just where is our place in this vast environment which surrounds us. In order to better grasp the topic of nature based therapy or ecotherapy, studies consulted were those pertaining to our connection with nature and our wellbeing. Just how does nature connectedness affect our experiencing of a good life is the subject of the first paper reviewed, by Howell, J. A. , Dopko, R. L. , Passmore, H. , Buro, K. (2011).The second paper by Jordan & Marshall (2010) describes a the changes to the traditional therapy frame in a the uncertain environment of the outdoors. In taking therapy outside, we work with nature as one of the variables in the therapeutic relationship. The integrative, often experiential approach of nature- based therapy or ecotherapy, is gaining rapid ground in the field of counselling and psychotherapy. My fi nal research paper aims at looking further into this growing field and how it can help those suffering from anxiety, burnout and depression. Article Review A Howell, J. A. , Dopko,R. L. Passmore, H. , Buro, K. (2011). Nature connectedness: Associations with well- being and mindfulness. Personality and Individual Differences, 51 (2), 166-171. Howell, Dopko, Passmore and Buro (2011) delve deeply into the question of our connectedness with nature and how it can be measured as a reflection of our mental well- being. The authors, all from the Grant MacEwen University in Edmonton Alberta conducted two empirical studies evidencing this association with data demonstrating that connection to nature may be more beneficial to our emotional and social well- being that previously realized.Drawing from the Biophilia hypothesis argued by Harvard evolutionary biologist E. O Wilson in 1984, that human beings have an instinctive, emotional and genetic need to be in contact with nature, Howell et al. , thus hypothesize that â€Å"higher levels of nature connectedness would be associated with higher levels of well-being and with greater mindfulness. † Many studies have been conducted on the subject with various results. Howell et al. , describe a study conducted by Mayer and Franz in 2004 which showed a â€Å"significant correlation between trait nature connectedness and life satisfaction† (p. 66). They are careful to define the word trait and provide a seemingly through review of the qualitative variables in current literature, discussing the changes in definition of well- being by various theorists (Nisbert, Zelenski and Murphy, 2011). The team from Alberta builds upon current research by probing further into the question of the â€Å"whether trait nature connectedness was associated with feeling well †¦ and with functioning well †¦ as well as the relations among nature connectedness and a second index of positive mental health, mindfulness† (p. 6 7). Howell et al. , review a large amount of research, define terminology and uncover new holes in the theories, they then go on to pose the hypotheses: â€Å"are higher levels of nature connectedness associated both with higher levels of well being and with greater mindfulness? † Methodology Howell et al. , conducted two studies using quantitative methods. In the first study, data was collected from 452 university students, primarily female, with â€Å"81. 1% identifying Canada as their country of birth† (p. 167).Using a variety of questionnaires including Mayer and Franz (2004) 14- item Connectedness to Nature Scale, Keyes' (2005) 40- item, measure of well being and Brown ; Ryan's (2003) Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MASS). In order to ensure objectivity of results, Howell et al. , balanced these scales by using Paulhus's (1994) Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding which serves to filter out â€Å"unintentionally inflated self-descriptions and impression management† (p 168). In the second study 275 students participated, all students of similar age and demographic as thefirst study.Howell et al. , used a few of the same questionnaires adding the Allo-Inclusive Identity Scale (Leary, Tipsord ; Tate, 2008) as well as the Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale (PMS) (Cardaciotto, Herbert, Forman, Moitra, Farrow, 2008). In an attempt to provide consistency and validity to the results, Howell et al. , provide succinct definitions and examples for some of the questions on these scales in order that the reader better understand the subtle differences in the descriptive statistics of the variables.Results Variables such as connectedness to nature, nature relatedness, allo inclusive identity, emotional well being, psychological well being, social well being, MAAS, PMS awareness and PMS acceptance showed correlations between nature connectedness and well being. Descriptive statistics were measured and then correlated among variables using confi rmatory factor analysis (CFA). Howell et al. , also provided models with hypothesized correlations between nature connectedness, well -being and mindfulness.In the first study â€Å"associations between nature connectedness and well- being and between well- being and mindfulness were significant; however, the association between nature connectedness and mindfulness was not† (p. 168). In the second study , correlations were significant with respect to psychological and social and emotional well being and with the added test scores added to the soup, nature connectedness was found to be significantly correlated to mindfulness. Discussion Howell et al. are satisfied with their consistent findings and that most results of their two studies support their hypothesis and suggest that † nature connectedness is associated with the extent to which people are flourishing in their private, personal lives† (p. 170). Howell et al. do admit that some of the findings were inconsi stent with their hypothesis and that future research could examine â€Å"moderators and mediators of the relationship between nature connectedness and mental health† (p. 170).They go onto discuss future research possibilities and challenges, including how nature could be incorporated into other activities to produce maximum therapeutic results. Howell et al. , produced convincing research into the relationship between connectedness to nature and well being. They took into account multiple scales of affect in order to collect their results and carefully described their differences and their impact on the final results. I feel their downfall is in their sample size and demographic and suspect results may be different depending on age and culture.Perhaps new rating scales would need to be developed in order to reflect these differences. Essentially, nature can benefit us all and regardless of the outcome being present within a natural environment will help you learn to experienc e the moment and perhaps even a renewed vitality in life. Article Review B Jordan, M. , ; Marshall, H. , (2010). Taking counselling and psychotherapy outside: Destruction or enrichment of the therapeutic frame? European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling, 12 (4), 345-359We all know that nature can help us feel better, but just how can we take a traditional therapeutic frame outdoors? What would be the challenges and what is the potential of this upcoming field of ecotherapy? Ecotherapy represents â€Å"a new form of psychotherapy that acknowledges the vital role of nature and addresses the human nature relationship† (p. 354) Martin Jordan and Hayley Marshall use relational therapy concepts in order to investigate mutuality and asymmetry and how they may be experienced differently in the great outdoors.Both Jordan ;Marshall are practicing registered psychotherapists and by using their own experiences, they explore both the successes and challenges to the traditional fram ework of a therapeutic session. Jordan ; Marshall address many fundamental questions including how confidentiality would be addressed in public settings and how timing or the therapeutic session is affected by practicing counselling and psychotherapy outside. They believe that the challenges to the traditional framework could be sorted out between client and therapist and in fact become part of the process .A flexible contract could be drawn up, one open to change. Jordan ; Marshall are careful to provide several definitions of a therapeutic frame, from eh uber- conservative â€Å"Psychotherapy should be carried out in a soundproof consulting room, in a private office in a professional building† (Langs 1982), to â€Å"being seen as a transgression or a dual relationship for the therapist† (Zur 2001). But there are others who believe that the therapeutic boundary should be a dynamic process (Hermansson, 1997) or that the flexibility in the frame is an opportunity for â €Å"deepening the therapeutic work and relationship† (Bridges, 1999).Jordan ; Marshall seem to be covering all bases with their own summary of a therapeutic boundaries,† Working outdoors can throw new light on these traditionally more fixed ideas concerning boundaries and invite an increasingly flexible perspective on issues concerning power and mutuality within the therapeutic relationship† (p. 347). They examine the changes in client therapist relationships and how mutuality must not be equated with equality in terms of the therapeutic relationship. Jordan ; Marshall are not prescribing a recipe for therapy outdoors nor are they saying therapy is better outdoors.Their goal with this paper is to present their experiential findings and observations regarding the challenges various forms of outdoor therapy impart on the traditional therapeutic frame as well as on the relationship between therapist and client. Methodology The qualitative method devised to learn more about the impacts of taking the therapeutic frame outdoors was simple. Jordan ; Marshall began to hold sessions outdoors with their existing clients. They used two types of interactions outdoors: 1. taking the traditional therapeutic frame of one hour into ‘ nearby nature' and 2. aking clients on excursions where the frame is extended to over a weekend or more. Relational theory concepts were used in order to better understand how the traditional frame of psychotherapy elements such as â€Å"confidentiality and timing of therapeutic work, weather, containment and power dynamics† (p. 347), would be challenged by unpredictable natural environment. The variables of mutuality and asymmetry were also studied in terms of the expanding boundaries in the client – therapist relationship. One case study (in two parts) is presented in order to better grasp the challenges and potential of nature – based therapy.Results Jordan ; Marshall found many potential challenge s in taking the therapeutic frame outdoors. In particular, they found that the boundaries between client and therapist, could become challenged. The outdoors provided a neutral environment which fostered mutuality but maintaining some asymmetry in the relationship could be difficult. In taking this frame outdoors, Jordan ; Marshall also found that the structure of the frame itself may need to be reshaped and become more flexible; perhaps the frame becomes an open process, rather than an ultimate set of rules.They also found that sometimes the unpredictability of the environment created more anxiety, both in the client and the therapist and that the establishment of a therapeutic container or the ‘building of a home in nature' (Berger, 2006) was successful in overcoming some of these obstacles. Discussion The purpose of Jordan ; Marshall's paper was to provide information on the potential and challenges of taking traditional therapy practice outdoors. Jordan & Marshall consulte d a vast reference list including one of the founders of nature- based therapy, Ronen Berger and this provided interesting insight into this emerging field.At times the paper felt disorganized and the case presentation split in two halves was confusing. Results were scattered throughout the paper and the methodology was vague and seemingly structureless. Nevertheless, Jordan & Marshall got to the gist of the subject and were honest with their results, reporting their own struggles with mutuality and asymmetry when taking clients outside of the traditional hour long frame; â€Å"both clients and therapists can experience a blurring of the boundaries between what is therapy and what is social space† (p357).Jordan & Marshall did not however, provide much data as to how many clients they had seen and under what circumstances. Their observations are keen and easily related to when thinking about the traditional therapeutic frame, nevertheless a concrete chart or model, using the r elational as well as other theories or approaches, would have been welcome and interesting. ConclusionOverall I found both these articles fascinating and extremely pertinent to my final research paper. Simply being present within a natural environment can help us feel better. Perhaps when taking therapy outdoors and as nature becomes a dynamic third in the therapeutic relationship, the traditional frame will come alive with an emergent creativity and mindfulness nudging us all towards our own true nature.

Positive nonverbal messages Essay

From the manner we dress to the manner we move. our gestural signals can uncover a great trade about our emotions. perceptual experiences and purposes. When a individual is speaking or listening. he sends uninterrupted messages consciously or unconsciously through his organic structure motions. such as the manner he holds his caput. the angle at which he hold his organic structure. his motions of limbs and his altering facial looks. This sort of communicating in which no verbal linguistic communication is used comes under the class of non verbal communicating. Harmonizing to Knapp & A ; Hall ( 2002 ) non verbal communicating refers to communicating that is produced by some agencies other than words. e. g. . oculus contact. organic structure linguistic communication or vocal cues. The significance of gestural communicating. in set uping interpersonal relationships. is far greater than any one can believe of. Harmonizing to experts. a significant part of our communicating is gestural. On the footing of its consequence gestural communicating can be classified under following three classs. 1. POSITIVE NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION – Positive gestural messages puts the other individual at easiness. When a individual expresses an unfastened and positive attitude towards the individual with whom he is interacting. it creates a supportive and collaborative ambiance. Use of positive non-verbal communicating helps a individual to go more effectual and successful. It significantly affects the degree of interpersonal relationship. It besides determines the overall feeling people form about a individual. There are several types of positive non verbal indexs. For illustration turning face to the transmitter. tilting somewhat frontward towards him bespeak that he is interested. . Noding to show apprehension. smiling or touching the individual gently are other types of positive non verbal cues. The oculus contact is most effectual non verbal cue to accomplish the end of deriving someone’s trust. The manner one uses his organic structure and limbs. his eyes and face. will hold a major influence on how his non verbal messages are perceived. 2. NEGATIVE NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION – Sometimes not verbal organic structure motions. gestures and facial looks generate disinterest & A ; misgiving. It creates a province of confusion on the portion of the receiving system. The type of communicating which comes under the above class is known as negative gestural communicating. Negative gestural messages shackles collaborative and supportive environment. To guarantee effectual communicating one must avoid giving such type of cues. Gazing or staring at other can make force per unit area and tenseness between the receiving system and the transmitter. Negative facial look. devious eyes. excessively much eye blink suggest misrepresentation Eyebrow musculus draws the superciliums down and toward the centre of the face if person is annoyed. Talking to person without keeping the oculus contact is deflecting and frequently interpreted as insulting. If a individual keeps speaking on phone or keeps working on the computing machine during the conversation. it shows that he is non interested. 3. NEUTRAL NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION –This is the type of gestural communicating which have neither positive or negative consequence on the receiving system. The type of organic structure motions. positions and tone which have impersonal consequence on the receiving systems feelings and emotions comes under this class. It is really hard to label any non verbal cue as impersonal. Peoples attach intending even to a impersonal message. During listening one seldom can remain soundless for long. silence in some cases may be treated as impersonal non verbal communicating. If it lasts more than for 5-6 seconds so it turns into a negative cue. Sounds like ‘Mmm’ . ‘Ah’ and ‘Hmmm’ when used in a impersonal manner invite scholar to go on speaking. CONCLUSION – Sending clear gestural messages and understanding right the message send by person. mostly depends upon the manner how you are comprehending the entire state of affairs. and the individual with whom you are pass oning. Your head set and the environment in which the communicating is taking topographic point besides find how you interpret and react to the non verbal messages. Interpretation of the messages depends upon past experiences. feelings. attitude and socio cultural background of the receiving system. Communication can be misperceived if the beginning and the receiving system does non portion common experiences and common frame of mention. REFERENCES Knapp. M. L & A ; Hall. J. A ( 2002 ) Non Verbal Communication in Human Interaction. Crawfordsville. Inch: Thompson Learning Smith. T. E. & A ; Gartin B. C. Murdick. N. L. & A ; Hilton. A ( 2006 ) : Positive Indicator Of Non Verbal Communication Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall retrieved on 13th May. 2010 Windle. R & A ; Warren. S Communication Skills retrieved on 13th May 2010 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. directionservice. org/cadre/section4. cfm

Bahlawane Discussion

The discussion is formulated, as the entire thesis, along with the two major investigations done during this study. These are the study of the regulatory mechanism of wg genes expression in the first part and of Rem expression in the second part. An emphasis is given to the role of MucR in both regulation paths. Finally, the conclusion will try to point out the consequences of an inter-connected regulation and be closed on the role of MucR for the symbiosis efficiency in S. meliloti. I. Regulation scheme of galactoglucan synthesis in low and high Pi Published, also already edited II.Regulation scheme of motility genes in S. meliloti. Motility and chemotaxis offers micro – organisms a distinct advantage when faced with starvation, toxic substances or a requirement to approach the appropriate host. However, the motility machinery places high energy demands on the cell. Bacteria develop a strict regulation network to control the expression of motility – related genes to av oid inappropriate energy expenditure. Bacteria also invoke alternative strategies for the regulation of motility when faced with starvation or reduced nutrient conditions. In some bacteria, e. g., Serratia liquefaciens and Escherichia coli, this strict regulation results an increase of ability to migrate when faced with reduced nutrient conditions (Sharma, Anand, 2002). Apparently the strategy is to engage the motility machinery only in response to stress / starvation conditions by moving towards a better environment. In other bacteria, e. g. S. meliloti, the strict regulation results migration toward chemo-attractants under nutrient sufficient or excess conditions and the development of the vegetative state and biofilm upon encountering stress/starvation conditions (Wei, Bauer, 1998).Thus, S. meliloti was found to be motile throughout active growth, when nutrients are readily available, and to become non-motile upon transition to the stationary phase (Rotter et al. , 2006). The clu e of this regulation remained unknown up to the present. Some advances have been performed by the discovery of Rem (Rotter et al. , 2006), a Class Ib regulator, which expression follows the cell motility. Recently, Hoang et al. (Hoang et al. , 2008) demonstrated that quorum sensing (QS) regulated motility in strain Rm8530 through the regulation of visNR expression by ExpR by using an unknown mechanism.1. Modulation of rem expression Since rem expression was found to be growth – dependent and that visN expression was constant all through the growth, new regulators of motility were expected (Rotter et al. , 2006). In the present study, we demonstrated that MucR affects motility by regulation of rem expression. Binding of MucR to the promoter region upstream of rem was shown and a sequence sharing similarities with the MucR binding site consensus (Bertram-Drogatz et al. , 1998) was identified in this region.However, further investigations suggested that sequences, downstream of this consensus, could be required for MucR binding to the rem upstream region. Since MucR inhibition was increased by a mutation in rem, we speculated that the ratio of Rem / MucR levels in the cell may contribute to the regulation of motility in S. meliloti. In RU11/001, Rem was found to be present in great amount in cells at low density (Rotter et al. , 2006) and slowly disappear during the exponential growth. We did not retrieve a much higher rem transcription level at low cell density in our wild type Rm2011.However, we cannot exclude that post – transcriptional regulation is responsible for the accumulation of Rem protein in Rm2011 at low cell density. If high levels of Rem are present in the cell, the effect of MucR on regulation of rem appears to be negligible. Consistent with this postulation, we observed that at low cell densities, the expression of rem promoter was inhibited in the presence of an intact mucR locus and a disrupted rem locus, but not in the presence o f a functional rem locus.In such scenario, the quantity of Rem within the cell in a culture of low cell density might be high enough to completely mask the effect of MucR, while at higher cell density, the higher quantity of MucR within the cell might be sufficient to inhibit transcription of rem. Another explanation for the difference of rem expression pattern between the strain RU11/001 and Rm2011 might be the expR status of these two independent wild types. Indeed, Rm2011 exhibits an insertion element within expR (Pellock et al. , 2002), leading to a non – functional gene and consequently a deficient quorum- sensing (QS) system.It was previously shown that the Sin / ExpR quorum sensing system (Marketon et al. , 2002;Marketon et al. , 2003) down-regulates motility and chemotaxis genes and that the visN-visR operon was a target for the LuxR-type regulator ExpR (HOANG 2004, HOANG 2008). We could confirm the inhibition of visN expression by AHL-activated ExpR and its relay to the rem expression. Moreover, McIntosh demonstrated binding of ExpR to the promoter region of visN in the presence of AHLs implying that ExpR directly regulates transcription of visN-visR (personal communication).While rem expression levels are regulated by several regulators, including ExpR, VisN and VisR, as demonstrated in this study and elsewhere (Hoang et al. , 2008;Rotter et al. , 2006) it is unknown what factors affect expression of the autoregulated mucR gene (Muller et al. , 1993). However, MucR appears to function as a repressor, both in the presence and absence of a functional Sin quorum sensing system (Bahlawane C. et al. , 2008;McIntosh et al. , 2008), suggesting that the regulation of mucR expression is not dependent on quorum sensing, although this remains to be confirmed.2. Requirement for swimming and swarming motility This study highlights another interesting aspect of motility in S. meliloti, namely, swarming, but not swimming, depends on the presence of a functio nal quorum sensing system and galactoglucan production. The requirement of exopolysaccharides for swarming was recently highlighted in a large scale analysis of Tn5 mutants exhibiting swarming defects in Rhizobium etli (Braeken et al. , 2008). The requirement of a functional quorum sensing for swarming was likewise found in Rhizobium etli (Braeken et al. , 2008;Daniels et al., 2006). However, this strain exhibits two different quorum sensing systems CinIR and RaiIR, with a much brighter QS signal molecules spectrum. We demonstrated that in S. meliloti, only those strains with an intact ExpR / Sin quorum sensing system and capable of galactoglucan and flagella production showed the ability to swarm. Even if MucR modulated the expression of the regulator of motility, the swimming ability of a mucR, expR – mutant (Rm101) was not affected. Therefore, swimming required flagella production, but not the ExpR/Sin system and galactoglucan biosynthesis.Swimming is an individual endeavo ur, whereas swarming is the coordinated movement of a population of bacteria in high viscosity media or over a surface and has been shown to be widespread among flagellated bacteria, particularly in association with quorum sensing (Harshey, 2003;Sharma, Anand, 2002). Hence, the involvement of quorum sensing in swarming, but not in swimming, may be an important feature in coordination of motility. 3. Interconnection between both regulation networks and comparison with other strainsCoupling of the regulation of bacterial exopolysaccharide production and the regulation of cell motility has also been found in Ralstonia solanacearum (5), Vibrio cholerae (1, 34), and Salmonella enterica (7), and presumably increases the ability of the cells to interact with their prospective host cells. We found that ExpR functions as inhibitor of the master regulator of motility VisNR, in addition to its role as an activator of the expression of the galactoglucan genes in the presence of Sin AHLs and pos itively affect expression of exoK and exsH leading to the depolymerisation of succinoglycan (McIntosh et al., 2008). Moreover, MucR is shown to inhibit the motility through rem expression, in addition to its role in the activation the HMW succinoglycan production and inhibition of the galactoglucan production. This fits well to the opposite regulation for succinoglycan biosynthesis and motility found previously for S. meliloti strains (Hoang et al. , 2008;Wells et al. , 2007;Yao et al. , 2004). A model is therefore proposed (Fig. 4. 2) where the inverse regulation of succinoglycan and flagella synthesis, as well as the role of MucR and ExpR are highlighted. Figure 4.1 Regulation schem of the motility in S. meliloti Dashed lines indicate an unknown regulation path and lines indicate a direct regulation through demonstrated DNA / protein interactions. The direct effect of ExoR /ExoS has to be further analyses, expecially the interaction with visN promoter has to be elucidated. Chapter 2 Conclusion Taking in account the scheme of galactoglucan synthesis regulation (Fig. 4. 1) and the scheme of motility regulation (Fig. 4. 2) proposed in this study, we may try to follow the effect of such regulation paths in the life – styles of the bacteria.The last one is named as free – living microorganism or as symbiont in the plant root. In the first case, the bacteria are exposed to dryness and nutrients starvation. At this stage, the biofilm production is a pre-requisite for survival. Therefore, the EPS’s biosynthesis has to be switched ON. As it is quite improbable that the cell density is high enough to activate the quorum sensing system, we can speculate that MucR plays a key role in activating the succinoglycan biosynthesis. Since the soil exhibits very low level of Pi, galactoglucan is, at this point produced through the activation via phoB and WggR.Upon biofilm formation, the cell density probably increases and could activate the quorum sensing s ystem, allowing the bacteria to produce more galactoglucan and swarm towards better conditions. In such conformation, the cells present within the centre of the swarming population are non motile and synthesized EPS; thus the cells present at the migration front are highly motile but do not synthesized EPS. It would be interesting to clarify whether a cell differentiation, as proposed by Soto (Soto et al. , 2002), takes place at this stage.Finally, if the host is present in the next neighbourhood the chemotactic compounds, as well as the nutrients found in the rood exudates, will attract the bacteria. When approaching the root, the moisture increases, along with the nutrients availability; so that swarming motility will be replaced by swimming motility that decline progressively. Indeed, the bacteria attached to the root, increasing the cell density that may lead to the inhibition of flagella production via ExpR / QS. Instead, EPS are produced, allowing recognition between the plant and the microbe as well as the invasion of the new synthesized infection thread.Once within the root, the bacteria will differentiate to bacteroid and start fixing nitrogen. We tried to highlight in this thesis the relevance of exopolysaccharides and motility for an efficient symbiosis. Great advances have been made the last years, leading to the identification of the quorum sensing interaction with motility. We participate in inclusion of MucR, as new regulator of motility and ExpR as requisite for swarming. However, the full understanding of the influence of motility in symbiosis establishment will require finding out which signals are inducing mucR and exoR/ exoS.Moreover, some tests have to be implemented to investigate the symbiosis establishment in more realistic conditions. Indeed, the bacteria are usually directly inoculated to the root, so that motility, via swarming or swimming is not required. Acknowledgments First and foremost, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Alfred Puh ler, Chair of the Genetics department, for allowing me use the very good infrastructure that promotes a very pleasant and conducive atmosphere during my research using performant techniques. I am especially grateful to Prof.Dr. Anke Becker, my supervisor, for giving me the chance to come back to research. Without her advices, ideas and resources, this work would not be possible and achieved. Thus, I thank her too for the freedom she gave me, as well as her support to test new ideas and her great help by conceiving and writing the manuscripts that become the pillars of this manuscript. Within the laboratory members, I would like to thank first Dr. Birgit Baumgarth who introduced me to the lab and to the investigated organism. Then, special thanks to Dr.Matthew McIntosh for the quorum sensing – related work and his help for preparing the derived publication. Furthermore, I would like to deeply thank Dr. Natasha Pobigaylo for her friendship, her helpful discussions and for givin g me courage when I am about to lose it. I thank Manuela Mayer, too, for the assistance in microarray hybridizations as well as Dr. Lisa Krol, Javier Serrania and Thomas Montfort for the everyday help in the lab. Finally, I would like to thank all Exopol group members for the support and advices.Least, I would like to thank my family for their unending and heartwarming support in many ways. Special thanks to Rachida Bendaou, my mother-in-law, for her support in caring my children during my research. I would like to thank my children, Ines, Soraya and Jasmine, for filling up my life with love and happiness. I would like to apologize for the bad mood and stress situations that are unfortunately connected with such a thesis. My heartfelt gratitude to my understanding and loving husband, Naoufal, for his moral and financial support, for believing in me and for sharing the passion for science with me.Resume In order to enter symbiosis with its legume partner, Sinorhizobium meliloti has t o face continual changing conditions. It has more ability to adapt quickly to the situation than the ability to face it efficiently that makes the difference in term of symbiosis efficiency. For the first interactions with its host, motility is required by S. meliloti to move towards the chemotactic compounds released by its host when exopolysaccharides (EPSs) are required later on, for the attachment to the root as well as for the invasion of the infection thread, leading to the formation of the root nodule.We focused in this study the regulatory networks leading to the coordination of motility and EPS’s production in the strain Rm2011. Depending on the phosphate concentration encountered in the environment Rm2011 synthesizes two different exopolysaccharides (EPS). Galactoglucan (EPS II) is produced under phosphate starvation but also in the presence of extra copies of the transcriptional regulator WggR (ExpG) or as a consequence of a mutation in mucR. The galactoglucan bios ynthesis gene cluster contains the operons wga (expA), wge (expE), wgd (expD), and wggR (expG).Two promoters, differentially controlled by WggR, PhoB, and MucR, were identified upstream of each of these operons. The proximal promoters of the wga, wge, and wgd transcription units were constitutively active when separated from the upstream regulatory sequences. Promoter activity studies and the positions of predicted PhoB and WggR binding sites suggested that the proximal promoters are cooperatively induced by PhoB and WggR. MucR was shown to strongly inhibit the distal promoters and bound to the DNA in the vicinity of the distal transcription start sites.An additional inhibitory effect on the distal promoter of the structural galactoglucan biosynthesis genes was identified as a new feature of WggR in a mucR mutant. Motility is organized in S. meliloti in a hierarchical cascade, with Class Ia genes, encoding the major regulator of motility VisNR; controlling the expression of the clas s Ib gene, rem, which encodes a central regulator, activating the expression of the downstream Class II and class III genes. We could demonstrate that MucR binds a DNA sequence upstream of rem, following a different mechanism as previously observed upon binding upstream of the wg genes.By this way, MucR inhibits rem expression as well as the expression of the Rem-regulated genes such as flaF and flgG. Furthermore, we addressed a balance of the swimming and swarming abilities of several S. meliloti strains derivatives of Rm2011. We could show that all strains, able to build flagella, were swimming on low viscosity agar plates. However, swarming over high viscosity agar plates required all a functional expR / sin locus, the ability to build flagellum and the production of exopolysaccharides. Finally, we propose a model for the coordination of motility and EPSs synthesis in S. meliloti.

The Fall Of Rome

The Book is written by Bryan Ward-Perkins, with the title The Fall Of Rome: And the End of Civilization and printed by Oxford University Pres in 2005. John Bryan Ward-Perkins was born in 1912 in UK. He was a British historian and archeologist and director of British School at Rome. During WWII he served in military, during which he gained the knowledge of Tripolitania and Roman ruins which led him to take interest in history.In 1946 he accepted the position of Director at British school at Rome and stayed on this position till 1974. â€Å"The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization†, addresses the general perception of modern historians about the benign change from Roman Empire to Christianity. The author corrects this thinking through archaeological evidence. He mentions that it was the coming of German tribes and their long term effects that led to the dissolution of Roman Empire.The main argument which I find different from the normal text books is the telling of story of fall of empire from the other side. For example, he mentions that the transition of Roman Empire was neither nor peaceful; instead it was Germanic tribes (Vandals, Visigoth) etc who crossed the river Rhine in 5th BC and took whatever they wanted by force rather than through treaties or negotiations. He argues that one of the main reasons for collapse of Roman Empire was decline of Roman economy through many centuries.He provides a reality check to modern readers shocking them with the truth about a Rome that was caught in economic collapse, rebellions from barbarians and rise of new orthodoxy; all of which became the reasons Rome collapse. The book provides interesting insight into the fall of Roman Empire from a different view compared to popular thinking in schools and text books. I believe this book is essential for any history student to look at a great event of history from a different perspective. Reference: Bryan Ward-Perkins,The Fall Of Rome: And the End of Civilization. Oxf ord University Pres,2005.