Minor Moves: Growth, Fugitivity, and Children's Physical Movement

From tendencies to reduce the Underground Railroad to the imperative "follow the north star" to the iconic images of Ruby Bridges' 1960 "step forward" on the stairs of William Frantz Elementary School, America prefers to picture freedom as an upwardly mobile development. This preoccupation with the subtractive and linear force of development makes it hard to hear the palpable steps of so many truant children marching in the Movement and renders illegible the nonlinear movements of minors in the Underground. Yet a black fugitive hugging a tree, a white boy walking alone in a field, or even pieces of a discarded raft floating downstream like remnants of child's play are constitutive gestures of the Underground's networks of care and escape. Responding to 19th-century Americanists and cultural studies scholars' important illumination of the child as central to national narratives of development and freedom, "Minor Moves" reads major literary narratives not for the child and development but for the fugitive trace of minor and growth.

In four chapters, I trace the physical gestures of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Pearl, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Topsy, Harriet Wilson's Frado, and Mark Twain's Huck against the historical backdrop of the Fugitive Slave Act and the passing of the first compulsory education bills that made truancy illegal. I ask how, within a discourse of independence that fails to imagine any serious movements in the minor, we might understand the depictions of moving children as interrupting a U.S. preoccupation with normative development and recognize in them the emergence of an alternative imaginary. To attend to the movement of the minor is to attend to what the discursive order of a development-centered imaginary deems inconsequential and what its grammar can render only as mistakes. Engaging the insights of performance studies, I regard what these narratives depict as childish missteps (Topsy's spins, Frado's climbing the roof) as dances that trouble the narrative's discursive order. At the same time, drawing upon the observations of black studies and literary theory, I take note of the pressure these "minor moves" put on the literal grammar of the text (Stowe's run-on sentences and Hawthorne's shaky subject-verb agreements). I regard these ungrammatical moves as poetic ruptures from which emerges an alternative and prior force of the imaginary at work in these narratives--a force I call "growth."

Reading these "minor moves" holds open the possibility of thinking about a generative association between blackness and childishness, one that neither supports racist ideas of biological inferiority nor mandates in the name of political uplift the subsequent repudiation of childishness. I argue that recognizing the fugitive force of growth indicated in the interplay between the conceptual and grammatical disjunctures of these minor moves opens a deeper understanding of agency and dependency that exceeds notions of arrested development and social death. For once we interrupt the desire to picture development (which is to say the desire to picture), dependency is no longer a state (of social death or arrested development) of what does not belong, but rather it is what Édouard Glissant might have called a "departure" (from "be[ing] a single being"). Topsy's hard-to-see pick-pocketing and Pearl's running amok with brown men in the market are not moves out of dependency but indeed social turns (a dance) by way of dependency. Dependent, moving and ungrammatical, the growth evidenced in these childish ruptures enables different stories about slavery, freedom, and childishness--ones that do not necessitate a repudiation of childishness in the name of freedom, but recognize in such minor moves a fugitive way out.

Multiscale modelling of dendrite growth during vacuum arc remelting

Vacuum Arc Remelting (VAR) is the accepted method for producing homogeneous, fine microstructures that are free of inclusions required for rotating grade applications. However, as ingot sizes are increasing INCONEL 718 becomes increasingly susceptible to defects such as freckles, tree rings, and white spots increases for large diameter billets. Therefore, predictive models of these defects are required to allow optimization of process parameters. In this paper, a multiscale and multi-physics model is presented to predict the development of microstructures in the VAR ingot during solidification. At the microscale, a combined stochastic nucleation approach and finite difference solution of the solute diffusion is applied in the semi-solid zone of the VAR ingot. The micromodel is coupled with a solution of the macroscale heat transfer, fluid flow and electromagnetism in the VAR process through the temperature, pressure and fluid flow fields. The main objective of this study is to achieve a better understanding of the formation of the defects in VAR by quantifying the influence of VAR processing parameters on grain nucleation and dendrite growth. In particular, the effect of different ingot growth velocities on the microstructure formation was investigated. It was found that reducing the velocity produces significantly more coarse grains.

High density mangrove plantation enhances surface accretion, surface elevation change, and tree survival in coastal areas susceptible to sea-level rise

Survival, growth, above ground biomass accumulation, soil surface elevation dynamics and nitrogen accumulation in accreted sediments were studied in experimental treatments planted with four different densities (6.96, 3.26, 1.93 and 0.95 seedlings m-2) of the mangrove Rhizophora mucronata in Puttalam Lagoon, Sri Lanka. Measurements were taken over a period of 1171 days and were compared with those from unplanted controls. Trees at the lowest density showed significantly reduced survival, whilst measures of individual tree growth did not differ significantly among treatments. Rates of surface sediment accretion (means ± S.E.) were 13.0 (±1.3), 10.5 (±0.9), 8.4 (±0.3), 6.9 (±0.5) and 5.7 (±0.3) mm yr-1 at planting densities of 6.96, 3.26, 1.93, 0.95, and 0 (unplanted control) seedlings m-2, respectively, showing highly significant differences among treatments. Mean (± S.E.) rates of surface elevation change were much lower than rates of accretion at 2.8 (±0.2), 1.6 (±0.1), 1.1 (±0.2), 0.6 (±0.2) and -0.3 (±0.1) mm yr-1 for 6.96, 3.26, 1.93, 0.95, and 0 seedlings m-2, respectively. All planted treatments appeared to accumulate greater nitrogen concentrations in the sediment compared to the unplanted control, and suggests one potential causal mechanism for the facilitatory effects observed; high densities of plants potentially contribute to the accretion of greater amounts of nutrient rich sediment. While this potential process needs further study, this study demonstrated how higher densities of mangroves enhance rates of sediment accretion and surface elevation, processes that may be crucial in mangrove ecosystem adaptation to sea level rise. There was no evidence that increasing plant density evoked a trade-off with growth and survival of the planted trees. Rather facilitatory effects enhanced survival at high densities, suggesting that local land managers may be able to take advantage of plantation densities to help mitigate sea-level rise effects by encouraging positive soil surface elevation increment, and perhaps even greater nutrient retention to promote mangrove growth and ameliorate nearshore eutrophication in tropical island environments.

Aflatoxin exposure in utero causes growth faltering in Gambian infants

Background Growth faltering in West African children has previously been associated with dietary exposure to aflatoxins, particularly upon weaning. However, in animal studies in utero exposure to low levels of aflatoxin also results in growth faltering.

Objective This study investigated the effect of in utero aflatoxin exposure on infant growth in the first year of life in The Gambia.

Methods Height and weight were measured for 138 infants at birth and at regular monthly intervals for one year. Aflatoxin-albumin (AF-alb) adduct level was measured in maternal blood during pregnancy, in cord blood and in infants at age 16 weeks.

Results The geometric mean AF-alb levels were 40.4pg/mg (range 4.82-60.8pg/mg), 10.1pg/mg (range 5.01-89.6pg/mg) and 8.7pg/mg (range 5.0-30.2pg/mg) in maternal, cord and infant blood, respectively. AF-alb in maternal blood was a strong predictor of both weight (P = 0.012) and height (P = 0.044) gain, with lower gain in those with higher exposure. A reduction of maternal AF-alb from 110pg/mg to 10pg/mg would lead to a 0.8kg increase in weight and 2cm increase in height within the first year of life.

Conclusions This study shows a strong effect of maternal aflatoxin exposure during pregnancy on growth in the first year of life and thus extends earlier observations of an association between aflatoxin exposure during infancy and growth faltering. The findings imply value in targeting intervention strategies at early life exposures.

Postweaning exposure to aflatoxin results in impaired child growth: A longitudinal study in Benin, west Africa

Aflatoxins are dietary contaminants that are hepatocarcinogenic and immunotoxic and cause growth retardation in animals, but there is little evidence concerning the latter two parameters in exposed human populations. Aflatoxin exposure of West African children is known to be high, so we conducted a longitudinal study over an 8-month period in Benin to assess the effects of exposure on growth. Two hundred children 16-37 months of age were recruited from four villages, two with high and two with low aflatoxin exposure (50 children per village). Serum aflatoxin-albumin (AF-alb) adducts, anthropometric parameters, information on food consumption, and various demographic data were measured at recruitment (February) and at two subsequent time points (June and October). Plasma levels of vitamin A and zinc were also measured. AF-alb adducts increased markedly between February and October in three of the four villages, with the largest increases in the villages with higher exposures. Children who were fully weaned at recruitment had higher AF-alb than did those still partially breast-fed (p < 0.0001); the major weaning food was a maize-based porridge. There was no association between AF-alb and micronutrient levels, suggesting that aflatoxin exposure was not accompanied by a general nutritional deficiency. There was, however, a strong negative correlation (p < 0.0001) between AF-alb and height increase over the 8-month follow-up after adjustment for age, sex, height at recruitment, socioeconomic status, village, and weaning status; the highest quartile of AF-alb was associated with a mean 1.7 cm reduction in growth over 8 months compared with the lowest quartile. This study emphasizes the association between aflatoxin and stunting, although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Aflatoxin exposure during the weaning period may be critical in terms of adverse health effects in West African children, and intervention measures to reduce exposure merit investigation.

Defining the role of common variation in the genomic and biological architecture of adult human height

Using genome-wide data from 253,288 individuals, we identified 697 variants at genome-wide significance that together explained one-fifth of the heritability for adult height. By testing different numbers of variants in independent studies, we show that the most strongly associated 1/42,000, 1/43,700 and 1/49,500 SNPs explained 1/421%, 1/424% and 1/429% of phenotypic variance. Furthermore, all common variants together captured 60% of heritability. The 697 variants clustered in 423 loci were enriched for genes, pathways and tissue types known to be involved in growth and together implicated genes and pathways not highlighted in earlier efforts, such as signaling by fibroblast growth factors, WNT/I 2-catenin and chondroitin sulfate-related genes. We identified several genes and pathways not previously connected with human skeletal growth, including mTOR, osteoglycin and binding of hyaluronic acid. Our results indicate a genetic architecture for human height that is characterized by a very large but finite number (thousands) of causal variants.

Late Holocene sea-level fall and turn-off of reef flat carbonate production: Rethinking bucket fill and coral reef growth models

Relative sea-level rise has been a major factor driving the evolution of reef systems during the Holocene. Most models of reef evolution suggest that reefs preferentially grow vertically during rising sea level then laterally from windward to leeward, once the reef flat reaches sea level. Continuous lagoonal sedimentation ("bucket fill") and sand apron progradation eventually lead to reef systems with totally filled lagoons. Lagoonal infilling of One Tree Reef (southern Great Barrier Reef) through sand apron accretion was examined in the context of late Holocene relative sea-level change. This analysis was conducted using sedimentological and digital terrain data supported by 50 radiocarbon ages from fossil microatolls, buried patch reefs, foraminifera and shells in sediment cores, and recalibrated previously published radiocarbon ages. This data set challenges the conceptual model of geologically continuous sediment infill during the Holocene through sand apron accretion. Rapid sand apron accretion occurred between 6000 and 3000 calibrated yr before present B.P. (cal. yr B.P.); followed by only small amounts of sedimentation between 3000 cal. yr B.P. and present, with no significant sand apron accretion in the past 2 k.y. This hiatus in sediment infill coincides with a sea-level fall of similar to 1-1.3 m during the late Holocene (ca. 2000 cal. yr B.P.), which would have caused the turn-off of highly productive live coral growth on the reef flats currently dominated by less productive rubble and algal flats, resulting in a reduced sediment input to back-reef environments and the cessation in sand apron accretion. Given that relative sea-level variations of similar to 1 m were common throughout the Holocene, we suggest that this mode of sand apron development and carbonate production is applicable to most reef systems.

Relative toxicity of arsenite and arsenate on germination and early seedling growth of rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Elevated soil arsenic levels resulting from long-term use of arsenic contaminated ground for irrigation in Bangladesh may inhibit seed germination and seedling establishment of rice, the country's main food crop. A germination study on rice seeds and a short-term toxicity experiment with different concentrations of arsenite and arsenate on rice seedlings were conducted. Percent germination over control decreased significantly with increasing concentrations of arsenite and arsenate. Arsenite was found to be more toxic than arsenate for rice seed germination. There were varietal differences among the test varieties in response to arsenite and arsenate exposure. The performance of the dry season variety Purbachi was the best among the varieties. Germination of Purbachi was not inhibited at all up to 4 mg l^-1 arsenite and 8 mg l^-1 arsenate treatment. Root tolerance index (RTI) and relative shoot height (RSH) for rice seedlings decreased with increasing concentrations of arsenite and arsenate. Reduction of RTI caused by arsenate was higher than that of arsenite. In general, dry season varieties have more tolerance to arsenite or arsenate than the wet season varieties.

Solutions of fourth-order parabolic equation modeling thin film growth

In this paper we study the well-posedness for a fourth-order parabolic equation modeling epitaxial thin film growth. Using Kato's Method [1], [2] and [3] we establish existence, uniqueness and regularity of the solution to the model, in suitable spaces, namelyC⁰([0,T];L^p(Ω)) where  with 1<α<2, n∈N and n≥2. We also show the global existence solution to the nonlinear parabolic equations for small initial data. Our main tools are L_p–L_q-estimates, regularization property of the linear part of e^−tΔ2 and successive approximations. Furthermore, we illustrate the qualitative behavior of the approximate solution through some numerical simulations. The approximate solutions exhibit some favorable absorption properties of the model, which highlight the stabilizing effect of our specific formulation of the source term associated with the upward hopping of atoms. Consequently, the solutions describe well some experimentally observed phenomena, which characterize the growth of thin film such as grain coarsening, island formation and thickness growth.

Effect of nitrogen and potassium fertilisation on vegetative growth and flowering of mature carob trees (Ceratonia siliqua): variations in leaf area index and water use indices

This work aimed to assess how potassium (K) and nitrogen (N) fertilisation may affect the use of precipitation in terms of vegetative and flowering response of 15-year-old carob trees during a 3-year experiment. A field trial was conducted in 1997, 1998 and 1999 in Algarve (Southern Portugal) in a calcareous soil. Four fertilisation treatments were tested: no fertiliser (control); 0.8 kg N/tree (N treatment); 1 kg K 2 O/tree (K treatment) and 0.8 kg N/tree plus 1 kg K 2 O/tree (NK treatment). No irrigation was applied during the experimental period. Branch length increments were measured every month throughout the growing season and inflorescence number was registered once per year. There was a strong seasonal effect on vegetative growth, since low levels of precipitation (115 mm) during October 1998–March 1999 suppressed the increment in branch length. N supplied to the trees (N and NK treatments) tended to increase water use indices in terms of vegetative growth. No response to K alone was observed in trees fertilised only with K. The number of inflorescences increased throughout the experimental period, particularly for N and NK treatments, and a reduction of the precipitation amount during April, May and June, may also enhance flowering. This knowledge could be important when making decisions concerning fertilisation under dry conditions. The results reported here indicate that tree growth (expressed as the branch growth) and flower production under dry-farming conditions, may be achieved by applying 0.8 kg of N (as ammonium nitrate) per tree during the growing season. However, N uptake and use depends on soil water availability.

Genome-wide association analysis identifies 20 loci that influence adult height.

Adult height is a model polygenic trait, but there has been limited success in identifying the genes underlying its normal variation. To identify genetic variants influencing adult human height, we used genome-wide association data from 13,665 individuals and genotyped 39 variants in an additional 16,482 samples. We identified 20 variants associated with adult height (P < 5 x 10(-7), with 10 reaching P < 1 x 10(-10)). Combined, the 20 SNPs explain approximately 3% of height variation, with a approximately 5 cm difference between the 6.2% of people with 17 or fewer 'tall' alleles compared to the 5.5% with 27 or more 'tall' alleles. The loci we identified implicate genes in Hedgehog signaling (IHH, HHIP, PTCH1), extracellular matrix (EFEMP1, ADAMTSL3, ACAN) and cancer (CDK6, HMGA2, DLEU7) pathways, and provide new insights into human growth and developmental processes. Finally, our results provide insights into the genetic architecture of a classic quantitative trait.

Coherent Stranski-Krastanov growth in 1+1 dimensions with anharmonic interactions: An equilibrium study

The formation of coherently strained three-dimensional (3D) islands on top of the wetting layer in the Stranski-Krastanov mode of growth is considered in a model in 1 + 1 dimensions accounting for the anharmonicity and nonconvexity of the real interatomic forces. It is shown that coherent 3D islands can be expected to form in compressed rather than expanded overlayers beyond a critical lattice misfit. In expanded overlayers the classical Stranski-Krastanov growth is expected to occur because the misfit dislocations can become energetically favored at smaller island sizes. The thermodynamic reason for coherent 3D islanding is incomplete wetting owing to the weaker adhesion of the edge atoms. Monolayer height islands with a critical size appear as necessary precursors of the 3D islands. This explains the experimentally observed narrow size distribution of the 3D islands. The 2D-3D transformation takes place by consecutive rearrangements of mono- to bilayer, bi- to trilayer islands, etc., after the corresponding critical sizes have been exceeded. The rearrangements are initiated by nucleation events, each one needing to overcome a lower energetic barrier than the one before. The model is in good qualitative agreement with available experimental observations.

Growth and yield of groundnut, sesame and roselle in an Acacia senegal agroforestry system in North Kordofan, Sudan

A field experiment was conducted under rainfed conditions in western Sudan at El-Obeid Research Farm and Eldemokeya Forest Reserve, North Kordofan State, during the growing seasons 2004/05 and 2005/06. The main objective was to investigate the soil physical and chemical properties and yield of groundnut (Arachis hypogea), sesame (Sesamum indicum) and roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) of an Acacia senegal agroforestry system in comparison with the sole cropping system. Data were recorded for soil physical and chemical properties, soil moisture content, number of pods per plant, fresh weight (kg ha^−1) and crop yield (kg ha^−1). The treatments were arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and replicated four times. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were obtained for sand and silt content on both sites, while clay content was not significantly different on both sites. The nitrogen (N) and organic carbon were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in the intercropping system in Eldemokeya Forest Reserve compared with sole cropping. Soil organic carbon, N and pH were not significant on El-Obeid site. Yet the level of organic carbon, N, P and pH was higher in the intercropping system. Fresh weight was significantly different on both sites. The highest fresh weight was found in the intercropping system. Dry weights were significantly different for sesame and roselle on both sites, while groundnut was not significantly different. On both sites intercropping systems reduced groundnut, sesame and roselle yields by 26.3, 12 and 20.2%, respectively. The reduction in yield in intercropping plots could be attributed to high tree density, which resulted in water and light competition between trees and the associated crops.

Bud development, flowering and fruit set of Moringa oleifera Lam. (Horseradish Tree) as affected by various irrigation levels

Moringa oleifera is becoming increasingly popular as an industrial crop due to its multitude of useful attributes as water purifier, nutritional supplement and biofuel feedstock. Given its tolerance to sub-optimal growing conditions, most of the current and anticipated cultivation areas are in medium to low rainfall areas. This study aimed to assess the effect of various irrigation levels on floral initiation, flowering and fruit set. Three treatments namely, a 900 mm (900IT), 600 mm (600IT) and 300 mm (300IT) per annum irrigation treatment were administered through drip irrigation, simulating three total annual rainfall amounts. Individual inflorescences from each treatment were tagged during floral initiation and monitored throughout until fruit set. Flower bud initiation was highest at the 300IT and lowest at the 900IT for two consecutive growing seasons. Fruit set on the other hand, decreased with the decrease in irrigation treatment. Floral abortion, reduced pollen viability as well as moisture stress in the style were contributing factors to the reduction in fruiting/yield observed at the 300IT. Moderate water stress prior to floral initiation could stimulate flower initiation, however, this should be followed by sufficient irrigation to ensure good pollination, fruit set and yield.