Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP) is the largest recycled good in the United States and 80 million tons are recycled yearly, saving taxpayers about $1.5 billion dollars. This paper explores the possibility of utilizing 100% RAP materials in asphalt pavement. Asphalt mixtures are produced at 135°C in a typical asphalt plant. However, at 135°C, not all binder from RAP materials may not become effective for coating aggregates. The main objective of the study is to determine the amount of effective binder available from RAP in the asphalt plant. The 100% RAP mixes have aged binder that can alter mix designs and interaction with virgin binder. In this study, to determine low temperature cracking resistance and fatigue performance, samples were prepared using a 100% RAP mix with no virgin binder and a 100% RAP mix with virgin asphalt binder to achieve the optimum binder content of the mix. Second, to determine the effectiveness of binder from RAP materials, compaction tests were performed by heating RAP materials at various temperatures. It was found that 100% RAP mixes cannot be feasible for field use if additional virgin binder is added to reach the optimum asphalt content. Based on limited test results, the low temperature grade was not within proper limits but the beam fatigue testing results were acceptable. Based on compaction test results, additional heating is needed to increase the effectiveness of asphalt binder from RAP materials.

This Statement of Purpose does not give a history of hip-hop or hip-hop poetry but rather how this particular poet fits into the current phase of hip-hop and performance poetry. In it, I discuss and explain the new pro-working class hip-hop performance poetic. This includes extensive discussion of how rap poetry conveys meaning through sound. Also discussed is the socioeconomic context for the suburban southwestern topics found in the manuscript. This statement is a parallel piece to the manuscript itself in that it explains a brown kid from San Bernardino’s journey of connecting words and music for purposes of personal expression and potentially the betterment of his community. This statement also discusses my aesthetic beliefs and preferences as a sound poet with a background in performance and music.

U.S. fisheries legislation requires National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to attend to the critical social and economic issues surrounding the definition and identification of fishing communities, and to the effects that changes to the physical environment and regulatory decisions can have on such communities. To fulfil their mandate, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) sponsored the research entitled "Identifying Fishing Communities in the Gulf of Mexico" to study the economic, social and cultural status of potential fishing communities along the Gulf of Mexico. NMFS contracted the research project to Impact Assessment, Inc. to study 80 plus potential fishing communities in the Florida Gulf Coast. I worked as an intern in the research and visited the communities with other team members. The task of our project was to provide NMFS with basic profiles of fishing communities for NMFS to develop a culturally appropriated intervention. Research methods include Rapid Assessment Procedures (RAP), semi-structured key informant interviews, participant observation, and archival and secondary research mainly for community histories. Apart from my internship research, I also conducted some additional interviews and observations for my thesis. My findings indicate that fishing communities along the Florida Gulf Coast encounter with challenge from increased regulation, "dumping" seafood imports and virtually uncontrolled waterfront development. By a comparison of three groups of fishing communities, i.e., "diminished communities," "residual communities," and "resilient communities," the thesis explores how communities respond to the challenges and encourages fishermen to take action to preserve their generation-long fishing tradition. In conclusion, the thesis suggests that a solution to ease the decline of fishing communities requires cooperation of all parties concerned, including the fishery regulatory agency, commercial fishermen, and the federal and local government.

<p>During the last year Tieto has been interested in evaluating the potential of a newly developed technology called Rich Ajax Platform (RAP). The RAP technology allows the developer to write Java code and deploy it on the web as a Rich Internet Application (RIA)with similar look and feel as a regular application ran in for example Microsoft Windows. The biggest benefit with a RIA is that it offers similar features to stand-alone applications but these features are deployed via a web server i.e. no installation at the client side is needed.</p><p>To evaluate this technique a Scrum handler prototype was developed using the RAP. Secondly, a comparison with another similar technique called Google Web Toolkit had been made. The Scrum process is an agile development method which is based on small iterations.The purpose of this study was to create a functional prototype in order to evaluate and demonstrate the RAP technology.</p><p>The result of the evaluation is that RAP is a strong competitor for developing Web 2.0 applications. Most of the concerns regarding RAP depend on the fact that it is a new technology and is still under development. Since Tieto in Karlstad currently develops RCPapplications, the RAP technology is a logical successor since the developers do not have to learn a new technology.</p>

Historically, social scientists have not only marginalized rap music as a viable unit of scholarly analysis, but failed at attempts to understand the thoughts and actions of rap music consumers. This study analyzes the connection between rap music’s (and the artists’) authenticity and how those perceptions of authenticity affect music consumers’ decision making process, thus providing a possible explanation as to why music fans purchase rap music. The goal of this research was to see if the reasons rap music fans provide explaining the rationale behind their purchases match the images and perceptions presumably held by the general public about rap music. A snowball sample was used to survey a total of 30 rap music “experts.” The findings from this study indicate the concept of authenticity is very important in validating not only rap music, but rap artist, rap music fans, and hip hop culture as a whole. The findings from this study provide empirical evidence supporting the importance of authenticity as a construct and the use of rap music as a unit of scholarly research analysis. By justifying the importance of authenticity to rap music and hip hop culture, this research proposes that authenticity may well be used as a means to maintain existing relationships with a fan-base and as a marketing tool used by record companies to attract new fans and generate album sales.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request

<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal" / mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0 / mso-tstyle-colband-size:0 / mso-style-noshow:yes / mso-style-parent:"" / mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt / mso-para-margin:0in / mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt / mso-pagination:widow-orphan / font-size:10.0pt / font-family:"Times New Roman" / mso-ansi-language:#0400 / mso-fareast-language:#0400 / mso-bidi-language:#0400 / } </style> <![endif]-->This thesis explores the ways in which Cape Town rap group Prophets of da City articulate their resistance to apartheid and, in particular, the ways in which they attempted to intervene in politicians' attempts to pacify the black electorate during the build- up to South Africa's first democratic elections. Initially, I attempt to clear a space from which one could discuss POC's work as postmodern and postcolonial. I then theorise POC's use of sampling as a postmodern strategy whilst, at the same time, pointing out that rap has its origins in the African- American tradition of Signifyin(g). Through my discussion sampling, I suggest that rap, as postmodern cultural practice, challenges concepts of originality as well as uniqueness. I also discuss POC's work as part of subculture and analyse Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing in order to explore the black artist's struggle for space* within the public sphere. Finally, I contend that both Lee and POC's texts are flawed because they marginalise gender politics. I briefly discuss Queen Latifa's rap music to suggest that the discourses of race and gender are inseparable.</p>

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that is a serious problem for immuno-compromised patients. Toxins such as exoenzyme (Exo) S, ExoT, ExoY and ExoU are secreted and translocated from the bacteria into the eukaryotic cell via the bacterial encoded type III secretion system. Our research focuses on ExoS, a bifunctional toxin comprising a Rho-GTPase-activating protein domain (RhoGAP) and a 14-3-3 dependent ADP-ribosyltransferase domain. In addition, ExoS contains a membrane localization domain termed MLD. In this study, cell lines expressing activated forms of various components of the Ras signaling pathway have been used to understand the functional and mechanical activation of ExoS-ADP-ribosyltransferase activity and to reveal its cellular targets in the cell. Our observations suggested that Ras GTPase is the dominant target by which ExoS mediates cell death and activated Ras is able to protect cells against cell death, regardless of whether it has been ADP-ribosylated by ExoS. It has been reported that the 14-3-3 cofactor protein is required for ADP-ribosyltransferase activity of ExoS and a phosphorylation-independent interaction occurs between 14-3-3 and the C-terminal part of ExoS. We have undertaken a deeper analysis including structural and biological investigation of this interaction. Our results suggested that leucine-428 of ExoS is the most critical residue for ExoS enzymatic activity. Structural analysis showed that ExoS binds to 14-3-3 in a novel binding mode mostly relying on hydrophobic contacts. Our structure was supported by biochemical and cytotoxicity analyses, which revealed that the substitution of important residues of ExoS significantly weakens the ability of ExoS to modify endogenous targets such as RAS/RAP1 and to induce cell death. Further, mutation of key residues within the ExoS binding site for 14-3-3 impairs virulence in a mouse pneumonia model. Leucine residues-422, 423, 426, and 428 of ExoS are important for the interaction with the ″roof″ of the amphiphatic groove of 14-3-3. In conclusion, we show the mechanism of cell signal transduction pathways affected upon ExoS infection and also demonstrate that the hydrophobic residues of ExoS in 14-3-3 interaction motif have a significant role for ExoS enzymatic activity.

La ségrégation urbaine et l'exclusion sociale en France, tout comme aux États-Unis, sont des problématiques qui, le plus fréquemment, sont approchées d'un point de vue sociologique, sous les angles et thématiques usuels de son entendement, à savoir délinquance juvénile, chômage et précarité socioéconomique des ménages, intégration, déqualification scolaire, etc. Or, la réalité géographique et la condition habitante particulières, si ce n'est unique, en cité HLM, pour structurantes qu'elles soient, sont usuellement ignorées dans la compréhension de la nature et la genèse de cette situation, ce qui n'est pas sans causer des problèmes. Afin de les pallier et pour illustrer l'importance de ce point de vue géographique, ce mémoire s'attache à dévoiler, par le truchement d'une analyse de contenu du rap français, postulé tout spécialement révélateur, l'expérience intime des modalités de l'habiter qui prévaut dans ces grands ensembles. En somme, il se demande quelle est la part du lieu dans l'attisement du mal-être qui y prévaut, comme en ont récemment témoigné les émeutes françaises. Au final, c'est toute la question d'une éthique du bâtir HLM qui sera interrogée et débattue. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Logements sociaux (HLM), Banlieue, France, Sens du lieu, Habiter, Métaphore spatiale, Rap, Identité.

Loco Locass est d'abord considéré comme un groupe de chansonniers engagé, et pour décrire son art, ce groupe invente un genre appelé la rapoésie. Le qualificatif engagé évoque surtout la teneur politique des discours qui meublent ses chansons, mais on fait ici le pari que l'intitulé générique indique que son engagement ne procède pas uniquement de cette conception sartrienne qui consiste à diffuser une œuvre qui se préoccupe des exigences du social et de la métaphysique : en fondant une nouvelle catégorie littéraire, un nouveau pacte de lecture, les rapoètes semblent s'engager, selon les termes de R. Barthes, à prendre les responsabilités formelles qui sont le propre de l'écrivain. Partant du legs de ces deux penseurs, le présent mémoire entend montrer que le qualificatif engagé est effectivement approprié pour décrire l'œuvre de ce trio puisque celle-ci réfléchit au fait littéraire en même temps qu'elle donne à l'homme un miroir de lui-même et de son monde. L'objectif de la première partie est de dévoiler trois portraits rapoétiques. D'une part, elle présente ce qui, dans l'environnement familial et scolaire où ils évoluent, paraît disposer les trois individus à devenir des artistes. D'autre part, elle s'attarde à voir ce qui, dans le parcours professionnel que chacun réalise en dehors du trio, permet d'actualiser certains acquis artistiques et d'en acquérir d'autres, qui tous mènent à la rapoésie. Enfin, la mise en place de ces trajectoires individuelles permet de présenter la démarche que chacun entreprend en formant Loco Locass, de même que la démarche du groupe lui-même : une démarche polémique et esthétique qui s'en prend aux lieux communs de la pensée et de la culture. La seconde partie cherche quant à elle à comprendre l'identité générique et culturelle de cette œuvre qui se réclame d'au moins trois genres établis (rap, poésie, manifeste) et qui recourt notamment à un modèle américain (le rap) pour exprimer sa québécitude. En analysant les pochettes d'albums, cette partie du mémoire informe d'abord des genres et références culturelles que l'œuvre convoque afin de se présenter à son public éventuel. Et l'image qu'elle donne d'elle, soit celle d'une chanson authentiquement rap, poétique et québécoise, est ensuite confirmée par l'analyse de la figure textuelle du rapoète qui, en plus de se réclamer à la fois du rappeur et du poète, convoque un certain nombre de figures mythologiques et/ou sacrées pour donner une représentation de lui-même. Enfin, la troisième partie s'efforce de vérifier si l'être de l'œuvre s'accorde au paraître présenté dans la partie précédente. Elle s'intéresse d'abord à la manière dont les rapoèmes organisent et transmettent le sens, constatant d'une part que le rapoète argumente comme un signataire de manifeste et que d'autre part son style allie son et sens, fond et forme, créant ainsi un au-delà de la langue qui se greffe au travail rhétorique. Cette dernière partie se termine par un examen des méthodes de composition musicale : conciliant instruments et technologie numérique, la musique parvient à brouiller les frontières génériques, culturelles, géographiques et temporelles. En somme, ce mémoire fait voir en quoi la rapoésie témoigne d'un engagement qui part de l'origine du geste créatif et se rend jusqu'à la diffusion d'une œuvre, d'un engagement qui entend jouer un rôle dans la société civile et artistique. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Littérature québécoise, chanson, engagement, politique, manifeste, rap, poésie, Loco Locass.