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\"Wilshire Boulevard is the unofficial Main Street of dreams flowing through Los Angeles history. Like Los Angeles itself, Wilshire is an accidental phenomenon created out of civic pride and the yearning of the masses to drive. Its 15-mile route to the sea has been called the Fifth Avenue of the West and the Champs Elysees of the Pacific\"--Provided by publisher.

Miscanthus, a C4 perennial rhizomatous grass, is capable of growing in varied climates and soil types in Europe, including on marginal lands. It can produce high yields with low nutrient inputs when harvested after complete senescence. Senescence induction and rate depend on complex genetic, environmental, and management interactions. To explore these interactions, we analysed four miscanthus hybrids (two novel seed‐based hybrids, GRC 3 [Miscanthus sinensis × sinensis] and GRC 14 [M. sacchariflorus × sinensis]; GRC 15, a novel M. sacchariflorus × sinensis clone; and GRC 9, a standard Miscanthus × giganteus clone) in Italy, Croatia, Germany and the UK. Over all trial locations and hybrids, the average aboveground biomass of the 3‐year‐old stands in August 2020 was 15 t DM ha−1 with nutrient contents of 7.6 mg N g−1 and 14.6 mg K g−1. As expected, delaying the harvest until spring reduced overall yield and nutrient contents (12 t DM ha−1, 3.3 mg N g−1, and 5.5 mg K g−1). At lower latitudes, the late‐ripening M. sacchariflorus × sinensis GRC 14 and GRC 15 combined high yields with low nutrient contents. At the most elevated latitude location (UK), the early‐ripening M. sinensis × sinensis combined high biomass yields with low nutrient offtakes. The clonal Miscanthus × giganteus with intermediate flowering and senescence attained similar low nutrient contents by spring harvest at all four locations. Seasonal changes in yield and nutrient levels analysed in this study provide: (1) a first step towards recommending hybrids for specific locations and end uses in Europe; (2) crucial data for determination of harvest time and practical steps in the valorization of biomass; and (3) key sustainability data for life cycle assessments. Identification of trade‐offs resulting from genetic × environment × management interactions is critical for increasing sustainable biomass supply from miscanthus grown on marginal lands. Senescence induction and rate in miscanthus depend on complex genetic, environmental, and management interactions. To explore these interactions, this study compares seasonal aboveground yield, nutrient contents, and nutrient stocks of three novel miscanthus hybrids with a standard Miscanthus × giganteus clone at four European locations. The results provide a first step towards recommending hybrids for specific locations in Europe, crucial data for determination of harvest time, and key sustainability data for life cycle assessments. Identification of trade‐offs resulting from genetic × environment × management interactions is critical for increasing sustainable biomass supply from miscanthus grown on marginal lands.

Extremophiles are optimal models in experimentally addressing questions about the effects of cosmic radiation on biological systems. The resistance to high charge energy (HZE) particles, and helium (He) ions and iron (Fe) ions (LET at 2.2 and 200 keV/µm, respectively, until 1000 Gy), of spores from two thermophiles, Bacillushorneckiae SBP3 and Bacilluslicheniformis T14, and two psychrotolerants, Bacillus sp. A34 and A43, was investigated. Spores survived He irradiation better, whereas they were more sensitive to Fe irradiation (until 500 Gy), with spores from thermophiles being more resistant to irradiations than psychrotolerants. The survived spores showed different germination kinetics, depending on the type/dose of irradiation and the germinant used. After exposure to He 1000 Gy, D-glucose increased the lag time of thermophilic spores and induced germination of psychrotolerants, whereas L-alanine and L-valine increased the germination efficiency, except alanine for A43. FTIR spectra showed important modifications to the structural components of spores after Fe irradiation at 250 Gy, which could explain the block in spore germination, whereas minor changes were observed after He radiation that could be related to the increased permeability of the inner membranes and alterations of receptor complex structures. Our results give new insights on HZE resistance of extremophiles that are useful in different contexts, including astrobiology.

Potato dextrose agar (PDA) is one of the most commonly used media for the isolation and cultivation of fungi, with morphological features and pigmentation in culture often being important for identification of cultures. Cultivation of various fungi on different brands and batches of powdered (commercial) potato dextrose media revealed deficient pigmentation in five of 10 media tested. Reduced pigmentation on these media was correlated with low levels of copper and colony colour was restored by the addition of copper. Deficient pigmentation was most pronounced when copper levels in the medium were below 50 ng mL⁻¹ (50 p.p.b.; 0.8 μM). Differences in pigmentation and laccase activity of spore and mycelial preparations were quantified for representative species belonging to the genera Aspergillus, Fusarium, Trichoderma, Cladosporium and Penicillium grown on PDA containing different amounts of copper. A strong positive correlation between laccase activity and copper levels was observed. Differences were also found between batches of raw potatoes, with organically cultivated tubers having higher copper levels than those grown by conventional methods, possibly because of the use of copper-based fungicides in the former case. Routine addition of 1000 ng mL⁻¹ copper (or standard trace element solutions) to PDA and other undefined media is advised to avoid atypical culture pigmentation and possibly other consequences of reduced activity of copper-requiring enzymes.

Cornel West made the prophetic criticism that “nihilism,” as loss of hope, “threatens our very existence as a nation.” Manifestations of nihilism are visible in the rising numbers of individuals coming into contact with the criminal justice system. Populations in U.S. jails and prisons have more than doubled within the last decade. We must face the inevitable return of these individuals into mainstream society and, in relation to present legal policy, consider the consequences of their reintegration. The “New Penology's” shift from rehabilitation to an increased use of incarceration as a form of rehabilitation tends to conceal the “impact” the criminal justice system has had on the lived-experience of individuals that have come into contact with it. The social drama of the prison experience in the United States, by analogy, can be interpreted as a type of “definitional ceremony.” This occurs when groups of people create their own determinate identity by telling themselves stories about themselves. The description of the definitional ceremony creates a kind of collective autobiography for the group. An interpretation of case histories collected from participants within the criminal justice system in Multnomah County, Oregon is presented as a means to further our understanding about the lived-experience of individuals that have come into contact with the criminal justice system. The case histories are also examined in an effort to address the problem of the participant's reintegration into mainstream society. The anxieties and fears associated with “crime” affect all sectors of society. A possibility of hope for participants in our democratic experiment requires that we face the nihilistic threat. The dissertation is, in effect, an attempt to shed light on the social drama of the nihilistic threat.

On immigration, for instance, \"now that the state's future depends in large measure on the children of Mexicans, Salvadorans, Filipinos, Indians, Koreans and Pakistanis,\" [Peter Schrag] asks, are \"the voters, who remain disproportionately Anglo white, willing to provide the schools, universities and other services that they provided when the beneficiaries were the children of Iowans, Kansans and Nebraskans?\" (Short answer: Not so far.) Was the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger \"the end of the old order in California's politics and perhaps in the nation's?\" (Probably not, but stay tuned.) And finally, since California has become so culturally fractured, \"is it governable at all?\" (We shall see.) Demographically, California has uneasily absorbed the richest, wildest mix imaginable. Culturally, the state nurtures Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, artists of startling range and such first- generation literary voices as Maxine Hong Kingston, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Khaled Hosseini. California, Schrag offers, has become the \"great political and social laboratory, the site of the ultimate test of whether a society so large and diverse could successfully integrate the diversity into an effective modern democracy in a postindustrial age. No nation had ever tried anything like it.\" It's a schism, Schrag says, that is \"as much cultural as anything else -- on issues of faith, family and values; on guns and gays, affirmative action and abortion; on NASCAR dads and soccer moms.\" Gated suburban enclaves further shred the we're-all-in-this- together social fabric, already frayed because \"many of the Indians and Taiwanese in the Silicon Valley have closer connections with Mumbai or Taipei than they do with the Mexican immigrants working in the kitchens down the street.\"

There are reasons to be skeptical of secession as well as some intriguing arguments for it, but the Valley's dearth of civic accouterments isn't one of them. Sure, the Valley city would lack an obvious downtown, at least at first. There's no opera or major art museums, though there are scads of acting companies and a community symphony. But so what? No one's offended by Santa Clarita or Calabasas or Diamond Bar, yet none of those relatively recent cities have a classic downtown or a preeminent institution. That leaves voters--in the Valley and citywide--a choice based on emotion and details. Myself, I'll wait on the latter. The more I absorb about local history, the less I accept the argument that secession would violate the soul of Los Angeles, a city that was compiled rather than nurtured, its growth often at the behest of the powerful and against the wishes of the inhabitants.

Closer to home, Robb Dalton, president of programming, production and development at Twentieth Television, a division of Fox Television, also received a treasured watch from his father. He's noticed that many of his fellow collectors caught the horological bug with such a family heirloom or a gift. He owns more than a dozen watches, mostly antique Americans such as Gruen and Elgin, and a rare Hamilton Illinois. On a recent Tuesday, Dalton sported a Gruen driver's watch, a sort manufactured in the 1920s and '30s to sit on the inside of a motorist's wrist and be visible when hands are on the steering wheel. \"I bought it because it's absolutely a work of art,\" Dalton says. That's the bottom line for many admirers of fine watches. It's not about price or resale value. \"It would never occur to me to sell one of my watches,\" he explains. \"It is about craft and about appearance. I like a watch with some personality.\" He doesn't keep them hidden in his closet either. \"There's not a watch in my collection that I don't wear,\" Dalton says. Putting on a watch is the most fun he has getting dressed. \"Let's face it, men in business don't have that many choices: you've got the blue suit, the black suit or the gray suit. When I go in the closet in the morning and pick out what I'm going to wear, I think about which watch will be right for that day.\" Showing off and admiring vintage watches seems to have become a Hollywood pastime. Now when executives and talent shake hands at the start of a meeting, they often check out each other's wrists. This sets off a round of compliments and swapping of tips on the best service technicians and where to shop. (Feldmar on Pico Boulevard and Westime in West L.A. are favorites of local collectors.) \"We're sort of like a club without any meetings,\" Dalton says. \"We talk about watches all the time.\" To some extent, he says, the rising interest is due to the fact that American men are finally discovering the classic attraction of a watch--part adornment and part practical device. And, he suggests, in this high-tech age, when so much is electronic and invisible, a vintage watch remains strictly mechanical, a formation of springs and jewels that can be tinkered with and observed. Many collectors can--and do--take their watches apart and explore the workings. Try that with a digital camera, a radio or an automobile engine. [Michael Friedberg] has been collecting mechanical watches for about a dozen years. His personal obsession now is pieces by IWC. He hosts busy discussions of IWC watches on Web sites, and lately has been wearing IWC's limited edition Portuguese Automatic 2000. As for IWC, \"they don't keep time better than another dozen brands. But I like their style, service, engineering and history. IWC has a highly engineered approach to watchmaking that has survived for over a century.\"

The [Carrie Bradshaw] bedroom is also an Upper East Side fashionista's salon, strewn with the latest magazines and her prized Manolo Blahnik shoes. Her bed also serves part time as the desk of a newspaper sex columnist on deadline, so there is a telephone and, sometimes, a PowerBook flipped open on the duvet. No tips for us there; we were going for something a little more dignified, and we definitely prefer to keep work out of the bedroom as much as possible. However, mixing eclectic uses into the sanctified space of the bedroom is not such a modern concept. Thomas Jefferson's private quarters at Monticello were a marvel of Revolutionary-era multi-tasking. From his French- inspired alcove bed he could stand up to the left into the bedroom or to the right into his cabinet, or study, where he performed experiments and tallied his daily weather observations. A loft closet tucked in the wall above the bed held his clothes. Like in today's extravagant master suites, Jefferson had his own privy at hand, though without the benefit of an electrically warmed seat or jet flush, or even hot running water. Large windows and skylights and an obelisk clock stationed at the bed's foot helped him stay true to his early-up principle: \"Whether I retire early or late, I rise with the sun.\" The Venice home of therapist S. Scott Mayers takes the open bedroom concept to an extreme. The bed, a bath and a walk-in closet take up an entire early 1900s cottage set in a secluded garden with a rambling deck, hanging lamps and fountains. French doors that swing onto the deck are seldom shut in good weather so that Mayer and his friends and party guests invariably drift from the adjacent cottage into the bedroom, furnished with designer chairs, a plump bed and surround-sound speakers for movie watching. A small refrigerator relieves Mayers and his visitors of the need to walk outside to the adjacent cottage containing the kitchen and living room. In this new bedroom, we've both resolved to keep down the clutter. That's because with just a bit over three feet of clearance on either side of our bed, the reading material and discarded clothes would quickly devour us. We could have gone bigger, but it would have cost us one of the most beguiling features of our newly completed home. It sits just high enough on a Mar Vista slope that, while lying in bed on a haze-free day, we can gaze 23 miles across the basin to Mt. Wilson. On those few mornings when snow shimmers on the San Gabriels, the trade-off looks pretty good. Opening the bedroom onto a deck to take advantage of the view and morning sun was a no-brainer for us. So was adding to the glass area, building in large aluminum casement windows that begin close to the floor. On other design points, it turns out we are a lot like most of you. We wanted a master bedroom suite where we can close the door on the family and be apart, or throw the door open and hang out.

[Wayne Gretzky], holder of most of the National Hockey League's important scoring records, gave the downtrodden Kings new street credibility. His charisma also led to Disney's Mighty Ducks landing in Anaheim. All of this served to inflame local interest in youth hockey, both on ice skates and on wheels. New ice rinks and pay-to-play roller hockey facilities opened from North Hills to Orange County. Even so, finding a safe and desirable place to play remained every puckster's dilemma, which makes the new rink at Mar Vista a major addition. It's all due to the vision of Tom Ponton, a Mar Vista father of three who saw the need for a community hockey rink and who had the time and persistence to move the city's bureaucracy. It's a story with lessons for the advocates of improvements at other parks. For now, no other municipal roller hockey facilities are planned. The Mar Vista rink is something of an experiment, and parks officials are happy to admit that it wouldn't have happened without Ponton and the parents at Mar Vista.