Jordan Raff

Jordan Raff is a Cancer Research UK funded group leader at the Wellcome/CR-UK Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, England. He obtained his PhD from the Department of Biochemistry at Imperial College, London, and he worked as a Post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry, University of California, San Francisco. He is currently a Director of the Company of Biologists, and on the committee of the British Society of Cell Biology. He has studied centrosomes and cell division in fruit flies throughout his scientific career.     

Horseflies of Jordan

The horsefly (Diptera: Tabanidae) fauna of Jordan consists of 21 species belonging to seven genera. The present study adds 17 new records to this little-known group of haematophagous insects. Most of the new records were collected from several localities within the Jordan Valley. These new records are Chrysops flavipes Meigen, Atylotus farinosus (Szilády), Dasyrhamphis umbrinus (Meigen), Haematopota coronata Austen, Hybomitra decora (Loew), Hybomitra mendica (Villeneuve), Tabanus accensus Austen, T. albifacies Loew, T. bifarius Loew, T. darimonti Leclercq, T. laetetinctus Becker, T. leleani Austen, T. pallidipes Austen, T. regularis Jaennicke, T. rupinae Austen, T. sufis Jaennicke and Therioplectes tunicatus (Szilády). Tabanus albifacies and T. sufis were the most common species collected by hand nets (19.85% and 17.73%, respectively) and D. umbrinus, Haematopota minuscula Austen, and Haematopota coronata were the least common species (0.12% for each). Zoogeographical analysis of the recorded species showed that 12 species are of Mediterranean origin, four are of Afrotropical origin, two of European origin and at least three species can be considered as endemic to the Middle East.     

Spectres of Jordan

Abstract

Despite retiring from the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 2003, the iconic basketball player Michael Jordan continues to inform popular understandings of race and racial difference. Jordan could thus be considered a raced spectre (Derrida 1994): a fantastically racialized figure derived from, and cast in the mould of, the contingencies of an earlier moment in American history, who nonetheless informs the racial politics and experience of the present. In examining Jordan's enduring influence on contemporary America's implicitly raced neoliberal formation, this discussion involves: a re-envisioning of the raced neoliberal politics implicit within, and mobilized by, Jordan's commodified identity; an illustration of how the institutionalization of racial logics derived from Jordan's idealized raced subjectivity have come to inform the racially regressive management and governance of the NBA; an exhumation of how the very form of Jordan's enduring phantasm has been accommodated to shifting, and increasingly interwoven, commercial and racial forces; and an examination of the contemporaneous manifestations and influences of the Jordan spectre.     

Microfacies of Cambrian Limestones in Jordan

Summary The limestones of the Wadi Nasb Formation of the uppermost Lower Cambrian of Jordan are under- and overlain by massive sandstones of a near-shore facies. Facies analysis is based on samples from an outcrop at the northeastern shore of the Dead Sea and two oil test wells in the Wadi Sirhan Depression in eastern Jordan. Limestones were deposited in the shallow sea and within the coastal tidal area. Cyanobacteria, algae, echinoderms, trilobites and hyoliths have contributed the bulk of the carbonate and phosphatic material composing the Wadi Nasb limestone. Fine-grained facies types are composed of peloidal carbonate muds with laminar and nodular algal and cyanobacterial mats. They formed within a quiet tidallagoonal environment. The coarse grained facies types consist of carbonate sands with layers of sheell debris deposited in crossbeds in an environment with a rich endobenthic fauna. Here most particles were coated by cyanobacterial crusts. Ooids, oncoids and various coated grains are present. Consolidated sediments were commonly eroded within or near to this environment and their remains were integrated within the sands. Diagenesis is reconstructed step by step with deposition, first cementation, aragonite dissolution, compaction, pore filling, formation of pressure solution, growth of dolomite and anhydrite within the calcitic limestone and final fissure formation and filling.     

Lithostratigraphy of the Triassic in Jordan

The Triassic sequence of Jordan east of the Rift-valley consists of an over 1000 m thick sequence of sedimentary rocks. These sediments were deposited near the shore, either under terrestrial conditions within the intertidal range just offshore, or under saline conditions in a sabkha lagoonal environment. Nine formations are described: Um Irna (80 m), Ma'in (40 m), Dardun (60 m), Ain Musa (80 m), Hisban (35 m), Mukheiris (90 m), Iraq al Amir (170 m), Um Tina (260 m), Abu Ruweis (200 m). With the exception of large parts of the Um Tina and the Abu Ruweis Formations all other formations are exposed along the NE coast of the Dead Sea and the deep wadis just E and NE of it. Each formation is defined by a type section. The sedimentary rocks are intruded by dykes and sills composed of diabase and gabbro of uniform composition and older than Upper Jurassic in age. Comparison of Triassic rocks from the west side of the Rift (DRUCKMAN 1974, 1977) indicates that the facies and thickness of Jordanian Triassic rocks as well as the northernmost limit of intrusive rocks can only be fitted with those of the central Negev. A relative movement of the Abrabian block against Palestine-Sinai of at least 100 km along the Rift is probable (BANDEL 1981).     

Intestinal cestodes of stray dogs in Jordan

Five species of cestodes namely Echinococcus granulosus, Taenia hydatigena, Taenia pisiformis, Taenia ovis and Dipylidium caninum were recovered post mortem from 120 out of 173 stray dogs collected from the 5 governorates of Jordan during the period June 1979 to November 1980. Twenty-five of the examined dogs (14%) were found to be infected with E. granulosus, 79 (46%) with T. hydatigena, 14 (8%) with T. pisiformis and 5 (3%) with T. ovis. Dipylidium caninum was encountered in 33 (19%) of the examined dogs and infection with this parasite was significantly higher in males than in females. The parasites, except for D. caninum which was encountered in the ileum, were almost exclusively recovered from the duodenum and the jejunum. Single, double and triple infections with those cestodes were recorded.     

Occurrence of Eggplant Mottled Dwarf Virus in Jordan

Abstract A virus isolated from stunted eggplant (Solanum melanogena L.) with severe vein yellowing, was identified as a strain of eggplant mottled dwarf rhabdovirus (EMDV-J) on the basis of host range, transmissibility and serology.
The isolate is seemingly a unique strain of eggplant mottled dwarf virus that differs from the reported strains in the host range.
The virus was recovered from Withania somnifera , a perennial plant, which suggests the availability of a virus reservoir at times when the Jordan valley is practically free from cultivated eggplants.     

Ethnobotany of folk medicinal aquatic plants in Jordan

Eighty-seven species belonging to 59 genera and 33 plant families identified in the study area are presented. The three families with the most species represented were Labiatae (nine aquatic species), Compositae (seven species), and Salicaceae (seven species). The genera most represented wereMentha (six species),Polygonum (five species), andSalix (five species). Sixty-three folk-medicinal aquatic species (73.3%) had similar therapeutic uses in neighboring countries, while the 24 remaining species (26.7%) did not show therapeutic similarity with their use in other countries. Emerged species (plants rooted in soil under water but which emerge partially above the water’s surface) were the most recorded, while amphibious, submerged, and floating species were the least recorded. The folk-medicinal importance of the recorded aquatic species were classified by rank-order priority (ROP). Twenty-one species (24%) had ROP values higher than 50, indicating the highest popularity level in folk-medicinal potentiality; 26 species (29.9%) had therapeutic effects informed by fewer than three informants and were therefore excluded from further consideration; 40 species (46.1%) had ROP values of less than 50, and were thus classified as nonpopular medicinal plants.