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Optofluidic single-cell genome amplification was used to obtain genome sequences from sub-micron cells collected from the euphotic and mesopelagic zones of the northwestern Sargasso Sea. Plankton cells were visually selected and manually sorted with an optical trap, yielding 20 partial genome sequences representing seven bacterial phyla. Two organisms, E01-9C-26 (Gammaproteobacteria), represented by four single cell genomes, and Opi.OSU.00C, an uncharacterized Verrucomicrobia, were the first of their types retrieved by single cell genome sequencing and were studied in detail. Metagenomic data showed that E01-9C-26 is found throughout the dark ocean, while Opi.OSU.00C was observed to bloom transiently in the nutrient-depleted euphotic zone of the late spring and early summer. The E01-9C-26 genomes had an estimated size of 4.76-5.05 Mbps, and contained O and W-type monooxygenase genes related to methane and ammonium monooxygenases that were previously reported from ocean metagenomes. Metabolic reconstruction indicated E01-9C-26 are likely versatile methylotrophs capable of scavenging C1 compounds, methylated compounds, reduced sulfur compounds, and a wide range of amines, including D-amino acids. The genome sequences identified E01-9C-26 as a source of O and W-type monooxygenase genes related to methane and ammonium monooxygenases that were previously reported from ocean metagenomes, but are of unknown function. In contrast, Opi.OSU.00C genomes encode genes for catabolizing carbohydrate compounds normally associated with eukaryotic phytoplankton. This exploration of optofluidics showed that it was effective for retrieving diverse single-cell bacterioplankton genomes and has potential advantages in microbiology applications that require working with small sample volumes or targeting cells by their morphology.

The VSEPR model has well-established limitations in its ability to represent accurate molecular and electronic geometries of simple molecules, which can create a significant need for students to relearn structure and bonding concepts in organic chemistry. We present an alternate method for describing molecular geometries and electronic structures to students that is far more consistent with experimental observations than VSEPR. Our alternate method of teaching structures extends VSEPR to account for conjugation to adjacent p-systems and the experimentally observed nature of lone pairs, which is supported by computational chemistry via WebMO's HTML-export feature. If implemented, it allows students to reconcile hybridization, valence bond theory, molecular orbital theory, and resonance structures into a single coherent picture of electronic structure and bonding for organic molecules.

This study compared levels of parent involvement in early intervention services for children under three which were delivered in community settings (children's homes and child care programs) and specialized settings (early intervention centers and provider offices) in the USA. Respondents reported the highest levels of parental involvement in the home. However, level of involvement in the home was not significantly higher than the provider's office for parent attendance, quality and content of parent-provider communication, and effective instruction; level of provider communication and instruction to parents was not significantly higher in the home than in the early intervention center. Early intervention services in the child care setting were associated with the lowest levels of parent involvement. With the exception of child care, these results suggest that specialized and natural settings are associated with similar levels of parent involvement.

Compares programs of the Southwark Consortium in London and Denver Options, Inc. in Colorado in the delivery of services to individuals with developmental disabilities. Identifies cross-cultural implications. (SK)

The use of vouchers has great potential as a management tool for improving human service delivery options for individuals with complex service needs. The administration of voucher systems can radically change both the processes by which children are assigned to programs and the mechanism for funding and managing those programs. An evaluative survey compared a voucher payment system to the traditional contracting approach for early childhood intervention services. Parents, who have children with developmental delays or developmental disabilities from birth to three years, reported high satisfaction with the services their children received. Costs of services were lower using vouchers than under the traditional funding system, thus, providing the ability to serve more children without increasing the funding base. Children served through vouchers received substantially more individual therapy and other supportive services than their center-based peers. KEYWORDS. Vouchers, early intervention, parent choice, Part C

In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle provides the most famous account of moral virtue ever offered by a philosopher, but one that proves perplexing, not least because this account culminates in a depreciation of human virtue in Book VI. In light of this background, this essay provides a new interpretation of Aristotle's analysis in Book VII of the Ethics of the Socratic claim that no one "knowingly acts contrary to what is best." The authors contend that Aristotle shows that Socrates's thesis affirming the mastery of knowledge originates in a quest, rooted in spiritedness, to divinize the soul and transcend the limitations of mere human virtue. Accordingly, the essay links Aristotle's analysis of continence and incontinence to the problem of the relation between the human and the divine with which Aristotle introduces and concludes Book VII, as well as Aristotle's largely ignored account of spiritedness (thumos) in Book VII. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]