Low-cost, large-scale production of the baculovirus Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) using continuous insect cell culture is seriously hindered by the accumulation of AcMNPV mutants. Specifically, few-polyhedra (FP) mutants, with a reduced yield of occluded virus (polyhedra) and decreased infectivity, usually accumulate upon passaging in cell culture. FP mutations result from transposon insertions in the baculovirus fp25k gene, leading to significantly reduced levels of FP25K protein synthesis. This study evaluated the effects of removing the transposon insertion sites from the wild-type baculovirus fp25k gene; the mutated virus was denoted Ac-FPm. Specifically, this study involved a detailed comparison of wild-type (WT) AcMNPV and Ac-FPm with regard to the proportion of cells having polyhedra, number of polyhedra per cell, the fraction of empty polyhedra, number of occlusion-derived viruses per polyhedron, number of nucleocapsids in the nuclei, FP25K protein synthesis and genetic analysis of the fp25k gene. Removal of TTAA transposon insertion sites from the fp25k gene stabilized FP25K protein synthesis and delayed the appearance of the FP phenotype from passage 5 to passage 10. Electron micrographs revealed that more virus particles were found inside the nuclei of cells infected with Ac-FPm than in the nuclei of cells infected with WT AcMNPV (at passage 10). Abnormalities, however, were observed in envelopment of nucleocapsids and virus particle occlusion within Ac-FPm polyhedra. Thus, the FP phenotype appeared in spite of continued FP25K protein synthesis, suggesting that mechanisms other than fp25k gene disruption can lead to the FP phenotype.

This paper explicates the causal linkages between short-term study abroad experiences of college faculty and the global content of their classroom teaching. Information for the study comes from self-report and extensive interviews with faculty who traveled to locations in Central America, South America, Southern Africa and India. Earlier research by the authors shows that these study abroad experiences have a positive impact on `globalizing' "the participants' teaching. However, the process leading to this effect needs clarification. After describing the context for the present research and the methods used for the qualitative analysis, connections evident in the experiences of the travel seminar participants are used to construct a causal process theory. This theory explicates the linkage between travel and teaching by stating that experience abroad enhances social and self awareness of participants which in turn leads to changes in their teaching (i. e., increased global content). Key examples found in the statements of the participants are used to elucidate this theory. The paper concludes with a discussion of the results and their implications for people who design and participate in faculty study abroad programs.

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Scholarship until recently has focused on the reaction to colonialism among African elites, often urban elites. Little attention has been given to the perceptions that rural people had of colonial rule and its many manifestations, including missionary activity. As a result, rural dwellers have often been viewed merely as carry-overs from earlier times, living in static societies. They have rarely been seen as adaptive and innovative peoples, coping with or, indeed, thwarting the colonial/mission intrusion. This article on the Kikuyu of Kenya seeks to describe what happened among one group of rural people as they confronted changing conditions and new opportunities created by British colonialism and American mission activity. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that a great many ordinary people were involved in grass roots activity, activity that calls into question our common notions of rural, early twentieth century Africa. When the African Inland Mission (AIM) arrived in 1903, they became part of the flux and motion that had been taking place in Kikuyu society for some time. The close control of leadership positions in the primary descent and territorial group, the mbari, and the age organization, the riika, sent ambitious Kikuyu looking elsewhere for challenge and achievement. Within their society a few were able to find this in the areas of magic and divination, but greater numbers were attracted to the frontier as settlers, where they established a new mbari with themselves as leaders. Others found sources of challenge outside their society, particularly in warfare and trade. This combination provided a lively relationship for some Kikuyu with other Mt. Kenya peoples and the neighboring Maasai.

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