Uphill Task Research Articles

The Dynamics of Literary Response: Students as Readers of African Women's Writing

At the 1998 Book Day Symposium organised by the British Council in Lagos, almost everyone who spoke lamented the near absence of a reading culture in Nigeria. As one of the guest speakers, I tried to highlight and discuss some of the factors that militate against the development of a reading culture in our society. Naturally I also suggested ways by which this anomaly could be remedied. Few or a negligible proportion of people read for pleasure in Nigeria. And among these, students at the various levels of formal education - primary, secondary and tertiary - constitute the greater part of the reading public. But unfortunately, these students read only to write and pass their examinations, which implies a wilful circumscription of books, especially literary texts. Even at the tertiary level, it is usually an uphill task persuading the students, even of literary studies, to go beyond the required or recommended texts in their reading.

Communicating the Addiction Message in the Unwritten Language

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on drug abuse prevention strategies in the unwritten language–the media option. The media shapes public opinion. As such, reporting about addicts becomes a platform from which society views them. It is high time media practitioners turn to positive reporting to promote developmental communication for the benefit of the addicts. They should treat addiction stories based on knowledge of their communities rather than mere news events. To treat the addiction message in an unwritten language for the consumption of the illiterate and semiliterate rural communities untouched by the addiction message, some communication strategies must be considered. Such include simplicity in reporting, thinking in a local language, translating Western thought and then retranslating in a local language coupled with training. The complex method of adaptation and adoption that goes beyond news in the breaking of law takes primary place in treatment by the media. The journalist explores the story to identify with addicts. In so doing, he provides alternatives to the non-medical use of drugs. This, in a nutshell, is action-oriented information that changes apathy to action in health and human advancement. But the men and women of God working in the Ministry of Addiction and Recovery have an uphill task in society. It is to combine the spiritual dimension of the victim with the other disciplinary approaches in order to restore hope in the addict in particular and society in general.

Changing phases of quality department: An Indian experience

Organization for quality has remained static, though the name has been changing from time to time. The competitive environment of today is demanding products of high quality at lesser cost. Industries have been caught unawares and do not know how to face this price war. Cost has to be brought down, while quality level has to go up-quite an uphill task. The need of the hour is aggressive practice of QC by one and all. QC department has to take a lead in promoting and facilitating prevention among the employees. One of the reasons for todays's limping status of quality improvement programmes in many companies is a weak QC department. Management cannot aff ord to be inactive on this issue of reorganization of QC department any more. The sooner it is done, the better it is. There is a need for total restructuring of QC department. This paper discusses the issues to be addressed by QC department, the type of organization structure it should have and how to bring in a change in QC department.

Modulation of Memory, Reinforcement and Anxiety Parameters by Intra-Amygdala Injection of Cholecystokinin-Fragments Boc-CCK-4 and CCK-8s

Huston, J. P., S. Schildein, P. Gerhardt, C. Privou, H. Fink and R. U. Hasenöhrl. Modulation of memory, reinforcement and anxiety parameters by intra-amygdala injection of cholecystokinin-fragments Boc-CCK-4 and CCK-8s. Peptides 19(1) 27–37, 1998.—This series of experiments examined the effects of the cholecystokinin (CCK) fragments Boc-CCK-4 and CCK-8s on memory, reinforcement and anxiety following unilateral injection into the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA). In experiment 1, rats with chronically implanted cannulae were injected with CCK-8s or Boc-CCK-4 and were tested on a one-trial uphill avoidance task. Post-trial injection of 20 ng Boc-CCK-4 or 1 ng CCK-8s was found to improve the retention performance, whereas lower and higher doses had no effect. The hypermnestic effects of Boc-CCK-4 and CCK-8s were no longer evident when injection was performed 5 h, rather than immediately, after the learning trial. In experiment 2, the elevated plus-maze was used to gauge anxiogenous properties of intra-amygdala injections of Boc-CCK-4 and CCK-8s in memory-enhancing doses. The treatment with 20 ng Boc-CCK-4 and 1 ng CCK-8s did not influence the number of entries into and time spent on the open and enclosed arms of the maze as well as other anxiety-related behaviors. In experiment 3, possible reinforcing effects of the CCK-fragments were examined. After intra-amygdala injection of Boc-CCK-4 or CCK-8s in memory-enhancing doses the rats were placed into one of four restricted quadrants of a circular open field (closed corral) for a single conditioning trial. Subsequent tests for conditioned corral preference revealed no evidence for reinforcing or aversive effects of the CCK-fragments. In sum, these findings indicate that Boc-CCK-4 and CCK-8s facilitate memory processing upon injection into the CeA without exerting reinforcing or anxiogenous effects.

Synthesis of monoprotected derivatives of homo-bifunctional molecules

Selective derivatization of one of the two functional groups in a symmetrical homo-bifunctional molecule is always an uphill synthetic task. A novel method for synthesis of mono-protected homo-bifunctional poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) is described in this work. The methodology utilizes a combination of two protecting groups that are orthogonal to each other for the introduction of one of these groups into symmetrical homo-bifunctional PEG polymers. Different well-known protecting groups, namely the carbobenzyloxy (Z) and the t-butyloxycarbonyl (Boc) groups, have been evaluated for this particular purpose. The approach appears to be straightforward in terms of separation of desired products from other non-desirable products or reactants. The methodology described here might be applicable to any symmetrical homo-bifunctional molecular substance and for synthesis of its corresponding monoprotected derivatives.

How Well Do the Us Standards Work Together? An Analysis of the Economic Content of Four National Standards for Social Studies

The standards movement in the United States — a movement, which is roughly analogous to the National Curriculum movement in the United Kingdom, has now produced national standards for several subject areas. Social studies educators in the United States now possess a set of five national standards. But will these standards make reforming the curriculum more or less difficult? We used the economics content standards published by the National Council on Economic Education as the basis examining the economic content in the social studies, history, civics, and geography standards. Our analysis suggests that important economics content is absent in places where it should be prominent; it is presupposed in places where it should be explicitly identified, and it is sometimes represented inaccurately. If our analysis is correct, then efforts to use the national standards as the basis of curriculum improvement — especially as efforts relate to improving economic understanding — face an uphill task.

The Monti Report: the uphill task of harmonizing direct tax systems of EC Member States

The Monti Report: the uphill task of harmonizing direct tax systems of EC Member States

Women's Employment and Child Care in Brazil

This study describes and tests a theoretical model of the relationship between womens employment and child care decisions in metropolitan Brazil. Results are considered as supportive of the hypothesis that womens employment and child care are competing uses of womens time. This article provides a description of the Brazilian context and a brief literature review a theoretical framework and hypotheses estimation methods data and variables and empirical modeling. Findings indicate that maternal employment status was an important determinant of the demand for nonparental child care for young children. Child quality issues appeared to be more important factors in the choice of part-time nonparental child care than full-time nonparental care. Increased income was related to the decreased probability of womens employment but increased the probability of nonparental child care. The probability of womens employment and nonparental child care was affected by the presence of potential alternative care givers in the household. Females and particularly female teenaged relatives were more likely to serve as maternal child care substitutes in the home. Working age females were more likely to serve as labor force substitutes than younger or older females. Although the 1988 Brazilian constitution mandates free day care and preschool for all 0-6 year olds programs have not been implemented. The findings suggest a need for nonparental child care and consideration of the trade-offs that families make in substituting female teenagers as parental child care providers which jeopardizes their educational advancement.

Performance evaluation of cost effective buildings—A cost, emissions and employment point of view

Given the uphill task of providing housing for all within a short time frame and making it affordable, the construction industry has to look into various low cost options of construction using locally available building materials. This paper evaluates various dimensions of low cost techniques. For the same engineering criterion to be satisfied, a room of dimensions 3.5 m × 3.5 m × 3.14 m constructed using low cost techniques costs only 66% of the conventional construction cost. Since these materials are low energy consuming, the associated CO 2 emission is also low. The CO 2 emission with the conventional method of construction is 5.88 tonnes compared to 2.42 tonnes in the low cost method of construction. There is a possibility of further reducing the emissions by 23% with 0.03% increase in the cost. Another implicit advantage for a country like India with surplus labour force, is that employment increases with greater use of methods of construction involving reduction in CO 2 emission due to the switch towards labour intensive techniques.

Papers in Hellenistic Philosophy (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 223 Hellenistic Philosophy. By A. A. Long. (London: Duckworth, 1974. Pp. 262. s 4.95) The last general appraisal of Hellenistic philosophy was that of R. D. Hicks, which appeared in 1910, three decades after the translation of Zeller's work covering the same period. Long's work is of great interest for two main reasons: (i) much specialized work has been done on Hellenistic philosophy since the publication of Hicks's work, but there has been no general appraisal of the period to help the nonspecialist find his way through it; and (ii) Long contends that the period is both "historically and conceptually fascinating," and he aims, after an introductory historical chapter, to make the reader appreciate the intrinsic philosophical interest of Hellenistic philosophers by giving a critical analysis of their ideas and modes of thought. In his introductory chapter Long gives a brisk treatment of the political background to the intellectual life of the Hellenistic period and surveys the philosophical milieu--Plato, Aristotle , Diogenes the Cynic, and the minor Socratic schools. He remarks upon the popular appeal of the Epicureans and Stoics but stresses that serious philosophical work beyond mere edification was expected of students within the schools. As for the invidious contrast afoot since the publication of Zeller's Die Philosophie der Greichen in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwicklung (1844-1852), between the superior philosophical labors of Plato and Aristotle, on the one hand, and the soft-headedness of the Hellenistic philosophers, on the other, Long sketches two lines of defense. One is that Plato and Aristotle would tower over anyone in the history of Western philosophy, for they are philosophical giants; and the second is that we have only fragmentary remains of the writings of Epicurus and the early Stoics. Finally, Long brings out in his historical survey that philosophy becomes more narrow in scope, more rigidified, and more detached from the departmental sciences in the Hellenistic period. Given this separation between philosophy and the special sciences one is made a little suspicious about the possibly fascinating character of Hellenistic conceptual systems, and one is initially inclined to think that Zeller was right after all in thinking that after Aristotle there was a great falling off. One suspects that Long is going to have an uphill task on his hands in the analytical chapters that follow his historical preview. Concerned to set forth critically the theory of Epicureanism, Long lays out his chapter on the subject in an admirable way. After introductory sections on Epicurus's life and works and the scope of his philosophy, Long takes the reader through Epicurus's theory of knowledge, his metaphysics, and his ethics. He holds that Epicurus was a moralist and a philosopher. Epicurus is the advocate of a certain way of life, and he proceeds by the presentation of arguments and evidence in order to displace with true beliefs certain false and anxietyproducing beliefs "about the gods, the destiny of the soul, and the objects in life which are truly valuable" (p. 14). It is the empiricism of Epicurus, according to Long, that holds together his theory of knowledge, metaphysics, and ethics. The immediacy of sensations and feelings gives us our hold on reality, and it is this fundamental doctrine that separates Epicurus most radically from Plato and Aristotle. Long acknowledges that there is no necessary connection between atomism and hedonism (p. 21), except the internal connection provided by empiricism. This unsays slightly the claim he makes on page 13 that "the ethical values of both philosophies [Stoicism and Epicureanism] are related to two fully developed, if divergent, conceptions of the universe ." In his account of Epicurus's empiricism Long raises critical questions, which make his essay all the more interesting philosophically; but there is one problem he overlooks or fails to regard as problematic: sensations are evidence of effulgences. When these sensations are clear, one may assume that no distortion has occurred in the continuous stream of effulgences from a material object to one's sense organs. Clarity of sense impression is, however, only a necessary condition of knowledge. If we are to know what something is, the sense impression produced by the effulgences coming from it...

Facilitation of learning following injection of the chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan biglycan into the vicinity of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of biglycan, a small chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan with neurotrophic activity, on memory and reinforcement upon unilateral injection into the region of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM). In experiment 1, rats with chronically implanted cannulas were injected with biglycan and tested on the uphill avoidance task, which involves punishment of a high-probability turning response on a tilted platform (negative geotaxis). Immediately after the training trial, that is, after a tail-shock was administered upon performing the response, rats received one microinjection (0.5 μl) of substance P (SP) in a reference dosage of 0.74 pmol or biglycan (doses ranging from 1.3 to 1300.0 nmol) into the NBM region. When tested 24 h later, rats treated with SP (0.74 pmol) or biglycan (2.1 and 2.6 nmol) had significantly longer uphill latencies than vehicle (PBS) controls, indicative of superior learning of the avoidance response. In experiment 2, a test for possible proactive effects of post-trial biglycan on performance during the retention trial was performed. Furthermore, the uphill avoidance task was combined with a conditioned place preference task to assess possible reinforcing effects of biglycan. Rats were injected with either 2.6 or 130.0 nmol biglycan immediately after the training trial of the uphill task. One control group received 2.6 nmol biglycan 5 h after the trial, a second group was sham-operated. Additional groups were included which received biglycan (2.6 or 130.0 nmol), SP (0.74 pmol) or PBS after the training trial but no tail-shock. After training these rats were placed into one of four restricted quadrants of a circular open field (closed corral) for a single conditioning trial. When tested 24 h later on the uphill task, rats injected with 2.6 nmol biglycan again exhibited significantly longer uphill latencies than did vehicle-injected rats. Retention latencies for the rats of the biglycan 5-h delay group did not differ from those of the vehicle-injected animals, ruling out proactive effects of biglycan on performance. Rats receiving biglycan or vehicle but no tail-shock showed poor retention performance on the uphill task. Subsequent tests for conditioned place preference in the open corral revealed that, unlike SP, injection of biglycan had no positively reinforcing effects upon injection into the NBM. In summary, these findings indicate that biglycan facilitates memory processing when injected into the NBM region.

Political liberalization and economic reform in Africa

In Africa in the late 1980s, there were vociferous demands for both political liberalization and economic reform. The subsequent experience of a number of states suggests that it will be an uphill task to establish and maintain political democracy and to accommodate radical constitutional change. There are a few states where the prospects for democracy now seem hopeless; others where the transition to multi‐party competition has given rise to political tension and violence; and others again where electoral competition has been managed in favour of the incumbent regime. Fortunately, there are a few more encouraging cases: Zambia is one, though even here elements of continuity from the former regime may be as significant as elements of change. Most African states are pursuing structural adjustment programmes, partly at least in order to gain external support. Yet the price which they have to pay ‐ for example, in removing food subsidies and reducing public expenditure ‐ may be anti‐government demonstrations...

Effects of naloxone treatment on memory-enhancing properties of post-training administration of substance P

The present study investigated the effects of post-trial systemic injections of the neurokinin substance P (SP) on inhibitory avoidance learning in rats treated with naloxone before conditioning and/or test trials. Rats were trained in a step-down or uphill inhibitory avoidance task and tested 24 h later. The animals received, 30 min before training and/or testing an i.p. injection of saline or naloxone (Nx) at doses of 0.5; 1.0; 5.0 or 50 mg/kg. Immediately after training they were administered SP 50 μg/kg or vehicle. Animals that received Nx both before conditioning and test trials (5.0 and 50 mg/kg), in combination with SP, showed better test performance for the uphill and step-down avoidance then those treated only with SP. Nx administered only before training (5.0 and 50 mg/kg) or before test (0.5 to 50 mg/kg) reduced the effects of SP. These data are discussed in terms of the possibility that Nx produces a state-dependent learning when combined with SP.

Enhanced learning produced by injection of neurokinin substance P into the region of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis: Mediation by the N-terminal sequence

The effect of unilateral injection of the neurokinin substance P (SP) and of certain N- or C-terminal SP-fragments into the region of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) on inhibitory avoidance learning was investigated. Rats with chronically implanted cannulae were tested on a one-trial uphill avoidance task. Immediately after the training trial, rats were injected with 0.74 pmol SP or equimolar dosed SP(1–7), DIME-C7, or SP(7–11). Control groups included vehicle-injected rats and a group given an injection of SP(1–7) 5-h after the trial. When tested 24 h later, rats treated with SP or SP(1–7), but not with DIME-C7 or SP(7–11), exhibited longer step-up latencies than vehicle-treated controls. The retention latencies for rats in the SP(1–7) 5-h delay group did not differ from those of vehicle-injected animals, ruling out proactive effects of SP(1–7) on performance. The results show that SP facilitates retention of an inhibitory avoidance response when injected into the NBM. Furthermore, the amino acid sequence that encodes this effect may be located in the N-terminal part of the SP-molecule.

LACONSULTATION GÉNÉRALEET LES PLANS D'UNE COOPÉRATION UNIVERSELLE

The “Consultation” discloses Comenius's lifelong design, viz. the search for a solution of worldwide significance, and paves the way for the Age of Enlightenment. As a theologian, Comenius succeeded in uniting faith and knowledge, while entertaining utopian concerns about society. The responsibilities entailed by his Church caused him to initiate political decisions of international importance. Omnipresent insecurity and Hussite tradition urged Comenius to launch out into “panorthosic” or world‐redress‐ing activities directed towards the establishment of a perfect hierarchy for man to fit in. Shifting from irration al to rational attitudes is no doubt an uphill task, but necessary to make men better and to bring them closer to each other by eradicating individualism. Comenius's dream is still valid today. But our knowledge of man incites us to some pessimism at variance with universal wisdom. The use of technical language and jargon isolates men increasingly. Moreover, human behaviour is very much prompte...

Substance P enhancement of inhibitory avoidance learning: Mediation by the N-terminal sequence

Experiments were performed to investigate the effects of intraperitoneally administered undecapeptide substance P (SP), its N-terminal fragment SP(1–7) (SPN) and the C-terminal analog [pGlu 6]-SP(6–11) (SPC) on inhibitory avoidance learning, using a one-trial up-hill avoidance task. In Experiment 1 rats were injected with either SP (50 μg/kg), SPN (3.3, 33, 167, 333 μg/kg) or SPC (2.7, 27, 134, 268 μg/kg) immediately after the training trial. Controls received the diluent vehicles. When tested 24 hr later, rats injected with 50 μg/kg SP (37 nmol/kg) and 167 μg/kg SPN (185 nmol/kg) exhibited longer step-up latencies than vehicle-treated controls. None of the other doses of SPN nor of the C-terminal fragment influenced performance. In Experiment 2, 167 μg/kg SPN or vehicle was injected posttrial either immediately or 5 hr after the training trial. Retention latencies 24 hr later were longer for rats treated with 167 μg/kg SPN immediately after the training trial. Performance of the SPN 5-hr delay group did not differ from that of the vehicle-injected controls, ruling out proactive effects of SPN on recall.

Subtelencephalic locale of reinforcement and learning: Looking for the minimal necessary structures

This report summarizes 4 experiments which deal with the effects of surgical removal of the rat's telencephalic forebrain structures on performance of an inhibitory avoidance response, which was acquired either before or after the lesion was made. Two experiments provide evidence that inhibitory avoidance learning (using the single-trial up-hill avoidance task) is still possible after removal of all of the forebrain structures except for the hypothalamus. A third study using this preparation dealt with the question of whether this conditioned avoidance response can be eliminated as a consequence of it being punished. In a further experiment the conditioned avoidance response was established prior to ablation of the telencephalon plus thalamus. Recall of the conditioned response survived the lesion, suggesting that the avoidance response is also stored at a subtelencephalic level in the brain-intact animal.

Developmental Psychology and Music Education

The gulf between research in music psychology and practice in music education presents a perennial and pressing problem, and Psychology of Music provides an appropriate forum in which to tackle it but a brief analysis of the contents of the first ten years of the journal suggests that we still face an uphill task. Viewing this problem from a developmental perspective may enable researchers to organise their knowledge such that it is more readily amenable to practical application, and this article sets out the potential scope and aims of a developmental psychology of music. Some growing areas of research are described in each of the three main theoretical perspectives within the subject, namely cognitive psychology (development of melodic processing, singing, and children's representations of music); cognitive-developmental psychology ("music conservation", and the development of aesthetic sensitivity); and behavioural psychology (motiv- ation, affect, and classroom music learning). The developmental perspective should be able to make a direct contribution to issues in music education such as the relationship between formal and intuitive musical understanding, the place of composition, improvisation and non-traditional musics in the curriculum, and the role of assessment and evaluation.

Substance P injected into the region of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis facilitates performance of an inhibitory avoidance task

The neuropeptide substance P (SP) was injected into the region of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM). The influence of SP on the performance of the single trial "uphill avoidance task" was tested. The post-trial injection of 1 ng SP (in 0.5 microliter volume) led to significantly longer latencies in the uphill response. This result can be interpreted in terms of a facilitating effect of SP on performance of an inhibitory avoidance response.

Reversal learning of an avoidance response in detelencephalated rats

Avoidance learning followed by reversal learning was tested in rats after removal of all telencephalic brain structures. In phase I, 24 h after ablation of the telencephalon, rats were given a learning trial in the up-hill avoidance task and tested for retention 2 h later. The animals receiving a tail-shock contingent on the up-hill response showed significant increases in step-up latencies in comparison with control animals that had received noncontingent shock. In phase II, rats of the “reversal learning” group received a tail-shock if they did not perform the up-hill response within 5 s. Control animals received either another up-hill contingent shock or no shock. Two hours later the “reversal” group animals showed a decrement in step-up latencies in comparison with control animals, suggesting that reversal learning of the up-hill avoidance task is possible in rats devoid of the telencephalon.