Book review: A war of images. By Stephen M. Norris. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press 2006. ISBN 0-87580-363-6

282 Book reviewA war of images. By Stephen M. Norris. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press. 2006. 291 pp. $40.00. cloth. ISBN: 0—87580—363—6 SAGE Publications, Inc.2008DOI: 10.1177/14744740080150020803 MarkBassin University of Birmingham This interesting monograph explores what the author calls `Russian visual nationhood.' Specifically, it is a study of how lubok illustrations (cheap and colorful bastwood prints long popular among Russia's lower classes) depicted – and propagandized for – Russian military campaigns, from the Napoleonic invasion of 1812 down to the Second World War. Challenging arguments of Geoffrey Hosking and others that a sense of nationhood in Russia was traditionally only weakly developed, or indeed absent altogether, Norris insists that the articulation of identity was a constant and pervasive process. His point is well taken and cer- tainly well demonstrated, although given the intensely patriotic nature of the evidence he con- siders one could hardly have expected differently. He traces how the iconography of 283 Fatherland representation shifted over the 19th century, with the image of the tsar-batioshka or tsar-father becoming less important while the image of the sturdy and diligent peasant remained ever stable. The discussion of how lubok illustrations survived the revolution of 1917 to prosper as an effective means of political propaganda and popular mobilization in the USSR is particularly fascinating. As part of this, we gain a glimpse into the little-known aspects of the oeuvre of cultural giants such as Vladimir Mayakovsky and Kazimir Malevich, namely their careers as humble lubok illustrators. Overall, the book provides fascinating insight into how national identity was represented and perceived on the lowest levels of society, among a population that was for the most part illiterate. At the same time, however, the imagery it discusses is striking for the absence of a concern with landscape as a defining parameter for national identification. As Chris Ely's recent This meager nature demonstrates, landscape was a vital element in the elaboration of Russianness for the `high' culture of Russian art and poetry. Perhaps a follow-up study, examining lubki pictures that are not related to war themes, would reveal a similar engagement with the geography of nationhood

Effect of different salt adaptation strategies on the microbial diversity, activity, and settling of nitrifying sludge in sequencing batch reactors

The effect of salinity on the activity of nitrifying bacteria, floc characteristics, and microbial community structure accessed by fluorescent in situ hybridization and polymerase chain reaction–denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis techniques was investigated. Two sequencing batch reactors (SRB1 and SBR2) treating synthetic wastewater were subjected to increasing salt concentrations. In SBR1, four salt concentrations (5, 10, 15, and 20 g NaCl/L) were tested, while in SBR2, only two salt concentrations (10 and 20 g NaCl/L) were applied in a more shock-wise manner. The two different salt adaptation strategies caused different changes in microbial community structure, but did not change the nitrification performance, suggesting that regardless of the different nitrifying bacterial community present in the reactor, the nitrification process can be maintained stable within the salt range tested. Specific ammonium oxidation rates were more affected when salt increase was performed more rapidly and dropped 50% and 60% at 20 g NaCl/L for SBR1 and SBR2, respectively. A gradual increase in NaCl concentration had a positive effect on the settling properties (i.e., reduction of sludge volume index), although it caused a higher amount of suspended solids in the effluent. Higher organisms (e.g., protozoa, nematodes, and rotifers) as well as filamentous bacteria could not withstand the high salt concentrations

Synthesis and Antimicrobial Activity of 1,2-Benzothiazine Derivatives

© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).A number of 1,2-benzothiazines have been synthesized in a three-step process. Nine chalcones 1-9 bearing methyl, fluoro, chloro and bromo substituents were chlorosulfonated with chlorosulfonic acid to generate the chalcone sulfonyl chlorides 10-18. These were converted to the dibromo compounds 19-27 through reaction with bromine in glacial acetic acid. Compounds 19-27 were reacted with ammonia, methylamine, ethylamine, aniline and benzylamine to generate a library of forty-five 1,2-benzothiazines 28-72. Compounds 28-72 were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity using broth micro dilution techniques against two Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus), and two Gram-negative bacteria (Proteus vulgaris and Salmonella typhimurium). The results demonstrated that none of the compounds showed any activity against Gram-negative bacteria, P. vulgaris and S. typhimurium, however compounds 31, 33, 38, 43, 45, 50, 53, 55, 58, 60, 63 and 68 showed activity against Gram-positive bacteria, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcous aureus. The range of MIC and MBC was 25-600µg/ml; though some of the MIC and MBC concentrations were high indicating weak activity. Structure activity relationship studies revealed that the compounds with a hydrogen atom or an ethyl group on the nitrogen of the thiazine ring exerted antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria. The results also showed that the compounds where the benzene ring of the benzoyl moiety contained a methyl group or chlorine or bromine atom in the para position showed higher antimicrobial activity. Similar influences were identified where either a bromine or chlorine atom was in the meta position.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Unravelling the reasons for disproportion in the ratio of AOB and NOB in aerobic granular sludge

In this study, we analysed the nitrifying microbial community (ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB)) within three different aerobic granular sludge treatment systems as well as within one flocculent sludge system. Granular samples were taken from one pilot plant run on municipal wastewater as well as from two lab-scale reactors. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and quantitative PCR (qPCR) showed that Nitrobacter was the dominant NOB in acetate-fed aerobic granules. In the conventional system, both Nitrospira and Nitrobacter were present in similar amounts. Remarkably, the NOB/AOB ratio in aerobic granular sludge was elevated but not in the conventional treatment plant suggesting that the growth of Nitrobacter within aerobic granular sludge, in particular, was partly uncoupled from the lithotrophic nitrite supply from AOB. This was supported by activity measurements which showed an approximately threefold higher nitrite oxidizing capacity than ammonium oxidizing capacity. Based on these findings, two hypotheses were considered: either Nitrobacter grew mixotrophically by acetate-dependent dissimilatory nitrate reduction (ping-pong effect) or a nitrite oxidation/nitrate reduction loop (nitrite loop) occurred in which denitrifiers reduced nitrate to nitrite supplying additional nitrite for the NOB apart from the AOB

Transcription factors RUNX1 and RUNX3 in the induction and suppressive function of Foxp3+ inducible regulatory T cells

Forkhead box P3 (FOXP3)+CD4+CD25+ inducible regulatory T (iT reg) cells play an important role in immune tolerance and homeostasis. In this study, we show that the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) induces the expression of the Runt-related transcription factors RUNX1 and RUNX3 in CD4+ T cells. This induction seems to be a prerequisite for the binding of RUNX1 and RUNX3 to three putative RUNX binding sites in the FOXP3 promoter. Inactivation of the gene encoding RUNX cofactor core-binding factor-β (CBFβ) in mice and small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated suppression of RUNX1 and RUNX3 in human T cells resulted in reduced expression of Foxp3. The in vivo conversion of naive CD4+ T cells into Foxp3+ iT reg cells was significantly decreased in adoptively transferred CbfbF/F CD4-cre naive T cells into Rag2−/− mice. Both RUNX1 and RUNX3 siRNA silenced human T reg cells and CbfbF/F CD4-cre mouse T reg cells showed diminished suppressive function in vitro. Circulating human CD4+ CD25high CD127− T reg cells significantly expressed higher levels of RUNX3, FOXP3, and TGF-β mRNA compared with CD4+CD25− cells. Furthermore, FOXP3 and RUNX3 were colocalized in human tonsil T reg cells. These data demonstrate Runx transcription factors as a molecular link in TGF-β–induced Foxp3 expression in iT reg cell differentiation and function