Reality Stranger than Fiction. Living the American Dream in Socialist Yugoslavia

Durch seine Betrachtung der Entwicklungen innerhalb der jugoslawischen Kultur der 1960er Jahre mithilfe des Konzepts der ‚Amerikanisierung‘ zeigt dieses Buch wie, trotz ihrer sozialistischen Ausrichtung, die damalige jugoslawische Gesellschaft eine dezidiert amerikanisierte sozialistische Jugend erzeugt hat. Relativ uneingeschränkte Einfuhr von amerikanischen Kulturgütern nach Jugoslawien erwies sich als eine Win-Win-Situation für beide Regime. Während Washington Tito in sicherer Entfernung von Moskau hielt, förderten jugoslawische Kommunisten gleichzeitig das Freiheitsgefühl sowie die angebliche Überlegenheit im Vergleich mit anderen sozialistischen Ländern. Dazu konnte die jugoslawische Regierung auch ihr erwünschtes ‚liberales Image‘ vor dem internationalen Publikum weiterpflegen. Die methodologische Symbiose von Kultur- und diplomatischer Geschichte macht diese Monographie zu einem wichtigen Beitrag zur cultural-diplomacy-Forschung, sowie eine Weiterführung des immer populäreren Ansatzes des ‚thirding‘ der Dichotomien des kalten Krieges.By looking at the developments in Yugoslav culture during the 1960s through the conceptual lens of ‘Americanization’, this book shows that, despite its socialist socio-political setup, Yugoslav society underwent a profound transformation that had a distinctly American prefix, eventually producing a decidedly Americanized socialist youth. The relatively unrestrained import of American cultural products to Yugoslavia proved to be a win-win situation for both American and Yugoslav regimes. While Washington kept Tito a safe distance from the USSR, Yugoslav communists fostered their population’s sense of freedom and superiority over other socialist societies, as well as the desired external image of ‘socialism with human face’. Through its methodological symbiosis of cultural, diplomatic and history of everyday life analysis, the book offers a welcome enrichment for the research on cultural diplomacy and Cold War Studies, further advancing the scholarly ’thirding’ of Cold War dichotomies

Not an Odd-Bird, But an Augury. Yugoslav Youth Press in the Turmoil of 1960s and 1970s

In der Monographie wird die jugoslawische Jugendpresse der 1960er und 1970er Jahre durch das aus der westlichen Medienforschung stammende Konzept alternative media analysiert. Drei jugoslawische Besonderheiten prägten die Entwicklung dieser Mediengattung: die Selbstverwaltungsdoktrin, Einführung der Semi-Marktwirtschaft und Dezentralisierung des Föderalstaates. Durch einen Vergleich der Jugendmedien in den drei größten urbanen Zentren (Belgrad, Zagreb und Ljubljana) weist der Autor auf ihre entscheidende Rolle in der 1968er Bewegung hin, sowie auf die kontext-abhängigen ideologischen Unterschiede zwischen den drei analysierten Republiken. Des Weiteren werden auch die gesellschaftliche Funktion der einheimischen Punk-Szenen in den 1970ern und die designbezogenen Neuerungen der Jugendpresse ausgewertet. Durch ihren innovativen methodologischen Ansatz und sorgfältig recherchiertes Quellenmaterial stellt Marko Zubaks Monographie einen wichtigen Beitrag zum boomenden Feld der Medienforschung des Kalten Krieges dar.The book analyzes Yugoslav youth press in the 1960s and 1970s through the conceptual lens of alternative media, originating in Western media studies. Three Yugoslav peculiarities informed the development of this media genre: self-management doctrine, introduction of market elements into economy, and decentralization of the federation. By comparing the youth media outlets in the republican centers of Belgrade, Zagreb and Ljubljana, the author points out the crucial role of youth press in 1968 revolts, as well as the contextually induced ideological differences between the three mediascapes. The book also analyzes the blossoming of the punk scene and its social function during the 1970s, and important design-oriented innovations that this type of media introduced to the Yugoslav public. With its innovative methodology and diligently researched sources, this monograph represents a welcome addition to the burgeoning field of media studies dealing with the Cold War era

Cumulative constraint interaction and the equalizer of OT and HG

We show that, in general, Optimality Theory (OT) grammars containing a restricted family of locally-conjoined constraints (Smolensky 2006) make the same typological predictions as corresponding Harmonic Grammar (HG) grammars. We provide an intuition for the generalization using a simple constrast and neutralization typology, as well as a formal proof. This demonstration adds structure to claims about the (non)equivalence of HG and OT with local conjunction (Legendre et al. 2006, Pater 2016) and provides a tool for understanding how different sets of constraints lead to the same typological predictions in HG and OT

The classifying topos of a topological bicategory

For any topological bicategory B, the Duskin nerve NB of B is a simplicial space. We introduce the classifying topos BB of B as the Deligne topos of sheaves Sh(NB) on the simplicial space NB. It is shown that the category of geometric morphisms Hom(Sh(X),BB) from the topos of sheaves Sh(X) on a topological space X to the Deligne classifying topos is naturally equivalent to the category of principal B-bundles. As a simple consequence, the geometric realization |NB| of the nerve NB of a locally contractible topological bicategory B is the classifying space of principal B-bundles, giving a variant of the result of Baas, Bokstedt and Kro derived in the context of bicategorical K-theory. We also define classifying topoi of a topological bicategory B using sheaves on other types of nerves of a bicategory given by Lack and Paoli, Simpson and Tamsamani by means of bisimplicial spaces, and we examine their properties.Comment: accepted for a publication in "Homology, Homotopy and Applications

Liver X Receptor Agonists Inhibit the Phospholipid Regulatory Gene CTP: Phosphoethanolamine Cytidylyltransferase-Pcyt2

Metabolic pulse-chase experiments demonstrated that 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-OH), the endogenous activator of the liver X receptor (LXR), significantly reduced the biosynthesis of phosphatidylethanolamine via CDP-ethanolamine (Kennedy) pathway at the step catalyzed by CTP: phosphoethanolamine cytidylyltransferase (Pcyt2). In the mouse embryonic fibroblasts C3H10T1/2, the LXR synthetic agonist TO901317 lowered Pcyt2 promoter-luciferase activity in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, 25-OH and TO901317 reduced mouse Pcyt2 mRNA and protein levels by 35–60%. The inhibitory effects of oxysterols and TO901317 on the Pcyt2 promoter function, mRNA and protein expression were conserved in the human breast cancer cells MCF-7. These studies identify the Pcyt2 gene as a novel target whereby LXR agonists may indirectly modulate inflammatory responses and atherosclerosis

Peptoid-Based Microsphere Coatings for use as Tunable Biocompatible Interfaces

The pursuit of sensitive, non-invasive, and cost efficient diagnostic tools for early stage disease detection have led to the development of sophisticated biosensor technologies for proteomic studies. As these markers increase in complexity, the role of support substrates grows increasingly important. Limitations in existing support substrates include the potential for increased sensitivity, binding specificity, and bio-stability. Ideal support substrates need to provide biocompatible and bioresistant surfaces, that offer high surface areas for binding, and enables the incorporation of diverse chemistries. The use of peptoids as the basis for the deposition of uniform microsphere coatings offers a mean to the attainment of such characteristics. Specifically, it enables for the utilization of its unique characteristics, namely, ease of synthesis and highly customizable side chain chemistries, in order to create a robust, biocompatible surface

Phonological opacity as local optimization in Gradient Symbolic Computation

We present a novel approach to counterbleeding rule interactions in Yokuts (Californian) using Gradient Symbolic Computation (GSC). GSC, a dynamical systems model, optimizes two constraint sets: a set specifying a Harmonic Grammar (HG) and a set of quantization constraints preferring discrete symbolic states. During optimization, quantization strength gradually increases, increasing the relative harmony of discrete symbolic vs. intermediate blend states. The output of the system therefore reflects the dynamics of optimization, not simply grammatical harmony. With appropriate dynamics, relatively high harmony intermediate states can trap optimization near less globally harmonic but locally optimal symbolic candidates; this can model Yokuts counterbleeding

Forms, Crosstalks, and the Role of Phospholipid Biosynthesis in Autophagy

Autophagy is a highly conserved cellular process occurring during periods of stress to ensure a cell's survival by recycling cytosolic constituents and making products that can be used in energy generation and other essential processes. Three major forms of autophagy exist according to the specific mechanism through which cytoplasmic material is transported to a lysosome. Chaperone-mediated autophagy is a highly selective form of autophagy that delivers specific proteins for lysosomal degradation. Microautophagy is a less selective form of autophagy that occurs through lysosomal membrane invaginations, forming tubes and directly engulfing cytoplasm. Finally, macroautophagy involves formation of new membrane bilayers (autophagosomes) that engulf cytosolic material and deliver it to lysosomes. This review provides new insights on the crosstalks between different forms of autophagy and the significance of bilayer-forming phospholipid synthesis in autophagosomal membrane formation