The SBIC program: a critical survey of performance

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston Universit

Articles of Agreement between William Duer and William Bingham

Articles of Agreement between William Duer and William Bingham for the purchase of two million acreshttps://digitalmaine.com/bingham_purchase/1000/thumbnail.jp

Queer fan practices online: digital fan production as a negotiation of LGBT representation in Pretty Little Liars

Fan Studies aims to de-pathologise fans, their communities and their fannish practices (Jenkins 1992). In doing so, Fan Studies privileges fan voices by interrogating their quotidian on- and offline fan practices (Brooker 2002; Hills 2002), demonstrating the emotional connection these fans have to texts. Much of this fannish engagement revolves around the creation and consumption of slash fiction (Bacon-Smith 1992; Hellekson & Busse 2006), a fan practice occurring in fan fiction communities that has been identified as a ‘queer female space’ (Lothian et al 2007, 103). This work predominantly explores why women create these fan texts with little consideration given to the fan’s source text. In spite of this, little attention has been given to LGBT+ fandom and how self-identifying LGBT+ fans negotiate mediated representations of LGBT+ identity, especially when considering the increasing level of LGBT+ media representations on television and particularly on Teen TV programmes. Therefore, this thesis addresses the ways in which fans negotiate non-normative identities represented in the teen mystery TV series Pretty Little Liars (2010-) by investigating ‘queer’ modes of fan production, namely ‘fan talk’, (fem)slash fiction, digital (fem)slash and fan theory-making created by PLL fans. PLL hosts a range of diverse LGBT+ representations and includes a large number of LGB producers and creative talent. This investigation occurs by employing a reader-guided textual analysis (Ytre-Arne 2011), a method that centralises fan meaning-making by analysing the fan’s source text through these fan interpretations. I argue that reader-guided textual analysis (Ytre-Arne 2011) allows us to better understand how fans negotiate LGBT+ representation, how fans accept or reject these LGBT+ representations and the characters’ relationships. The implications lie not just in Fan Studies methodologies and fan production, but also for Queer Theory’s ‘evaluative paradigm’ (Davis and Needham 2009) or how Queer Theorist assess representations as either positive or negative

Variability in broods of the seastar \u3ci\u3eLeptasterias aequalis\u3c/i\u3e

Enormous variation exists in the reproductive output of marine invertebrates (e.g., in the numbers of em¬bryos produced, the volumes of embryos, and the energy that they contain). It is not clear why there is such great variability or what the population-level consequences are. We sampled a population of the brooding seastar Leptasterias aequalis (Stimpson, 1862) to collect basic information on brood sizes, embryo volume, and embryo energy content with a goal to better understand the reproductive ecology of this species. We collected brooding females in February and again in April. We measured the size of their broods and sampled the broods to estimate volume and energy con¬tent of the embryos. There was great variability in the volume and energy content of embryos produced by individual females and among the embryos in a single female\u27s brood. Larger adults produced larger embryos, which generally had greater energy content and may be of a higher quality. The average energy content of embryos appeared to in¬crease during the brooding period. Larger females produced larger broods but lost a greater proportion of the embryos. The net result is that larger individuals may not produce any more juveniles than smaller individuals, but those that they do produce may be of a higher quality. Originally published in Canadian Journal of Zoologyand used with permission

Digital natives: imagining the millennial in contemporary fiction

Generational labels, e.g. ‘millennial’, provide a shorthand for conceptualising social change over time. The notion that a particular generation are ‘digital natives’ offers representable solidity for writers seeking to depict how today’s digital media technologies shape individuals and societies in increasingly complex, obscured, and unpredictable ways. Synthesising literary and media theory, this thesis examines how recent novels construct, complicate and subvert techno-generational frameworks for representing social change. Chapters offer analyses of Jonathan Franzen and Nathan Hill’s fixations on digital natives from self-consciously ‘elder’ perspectives; Tao Lin and Olivia Sudjic’s use of ‘flat’ aesthetics to represent the affective perspectives of the ‘digital native’; Natasha Stagg and Tony Tulathimutte’s efforts to apprehend emergent material relations in digital platform capitalism; and Tommy Orange’s enunciation of an indigenous digitality. Acknowledging limitations in popular use of the term, this thesis approaches the ‘digital native’ as a performative identity. Literary engagements with techno-generational frameworks do not only reflect pre-existing realities but play an active role in producing new social identities. They demonstrate that debates over generational labels in contemporary cultural discourse—particularly among those who might otherwise be described as ‘middle class’—produce models of social identification that frame a fast-changing and increasingly digital socioeconomic milieu

Tort Claimant May Seek to Set Aside Fraudulent Conveyance Prior to Reducing His Claim to Judgment.

Abstract Forthcoming

Mobility of Phosphine-Susceptible and -Resistant \u3ci\u3eRhyzopertha dominica\u3c/i\u3e (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae) and \u3ci\u3eTribolium castaneum\u3c/i\u3e (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) After Exposure to Controlled Release Materials With Existing and Novel Active Ingredients

There is interest in developing controlled release materials (CRMs) with novel modes of action to improve resistance management. Long-lasting insecticide-incorporated netting (LLIN) with deltamethrin has been effectively used against stored-product pests. Here, we evaluated the efficacy of different CRMs (LLIN or packaging) with each of four active ingredients (AI) (deltamethrin, permethrin, indoxacarb, and dinotefuran) and compared them to control CRMs in reducing movement and increasing mortality of phosphine-susceptible and -resistant Rhyzopertha dominica and Tribolium castaneum. Adults were exposed for 0.5, 2, or 60 min, and movement was assessed immediately or after 24, or 168 h using video-tracking and Ethovision software. We recorded total distance and velocity traveled by adults. Finally, we tested higher rates of each AI on surrogate netting material (e.g., standardized-sized cheesecloth) and varied exposure time to obtain median lethal time (LT50) for each compound and susceptibility. Exposure to LLIN with deltamethrin significantly reduced the movement of both species compared to the other CRMs regardless of their susceptibility to phosphine. Deltamethrin was the most effective AI for both species, while dinotefuran and indoxacarb were the least effective for R. dominica and T. castaneum adults, respectively. Most AIs resulted in appreciable and approximately equivalent mortality at higher concentrations among phosphine-susceptible and -resistant strains. Our results demonstrate that CRMs can be an additional approach to combat phosphine-resistant populations of stored product insects around food facilities. Other compounds such as permethrin, dinotefuran, and indoxacarb are also effective against phosphine-resistant populations of these key stored product insects except indoxacarb for T. castaneum

Flexibility and intrinsic disorder are conserved features of hepatitis C virus E2 glycoprotein

The glycoproteins of hepatitis C virus, E1E2, are unlike any other viral fusion machinery yet described, and are the current focus of immunogen design in HCV vaccine development; thus, making E1E2 both scientifically and medically important. We used pre-existing, but fragmentary, structures to model a complete ectodomain of the major glycoprotein E2 from three strains of HCV. We then performed molecular dynamic simulations to explore the conformational landscape of E2, revealing a number of important features. Despite high sequence divergence, and subtle differences in the models, E2 from different strains behave similarly, possessing a stable core flanked by highly flexible regions, some of which perform essential functions such as receptor binding. Comparison with sequence data suggest that this consistent behaviour is conferred by a network of conserved residues that act as hinge and anchor points throughout E2. The variable regions (HVR-1, HVR-2 and VR-3) exhibit particularly high flexibility, and bioinformatic analysis suggests that HVR-1 is a putative intrinsically disordered protein region. Dynamic cross-correlation analyses demonstrate intramolecular communication and suggest that specific regions, such as HVR-1, can exert influence throughout E2. To support our computational approach we performed small-angle X-ray scattering with purified E2 ectodomain; this data was consistent with our MD experiments, suggesting a compact globular core with peripheral flexible regions. This work captures the dynamic behaviour of E2 and has direct relevance to the interaction of HCV with cell-surface receptors and neutralising antibodies