Women We Loved: Paradoxes of public and private in the biographical television drama

Broadcast to critical acclaim and relatively large audiences for its niche channel, the Women We Loved season consisted of biographical dramatisations of three prominent female figures of 20th-century British culture. These dramas shared in common narratives that centre on the two aspects of ‘the public’ and ‘the private’: the tension between public career and personal life and the discrepancy between celebrity persona and private individual. Combining theoretical insights from feminist studies of biography with close textual analysis, this article analyses how performance, aesthetics and narrative express the ambivalent placement of their protagonists between public and private spheres

Investigating hyper-vigilance for social threat of lonely children

The hypothesis that lonely children show hypervigilance for social threat was examined in a series of three studies that employed different methods including advanced eye-tracking technology. Hypervigilance for social threat was operationalized as hostility to ambiguously motivated social exclusion in a variation of the hostile attribution paradigm (Study 1), scores on the Children’s Rejection-Sensitivity Questionnaire (Study 2), and visual attention to socially rejecting stimuli (Study 3). The participants were 185 children (11 years-7 months to 12 years-6 months), 248 children (9 years-4 months to 11 years-8 months) and 140 children (8 years-10 months to 12 years-10 months) in the three studies, respectively. Regression analyses showed that, with depressive symptoms covaried, there were quadratic relations between loneliness and these different measures of hypervigilance to social threat. As hypothesized, only children in the upper range of loneliness demonstrated elevated hostility to ambiguously motivated social exclusion, higher scores on the rejection sensitivity questionnaire, and disengagement difficulties when viewing socially rejecting stimuli. We found that very lonely children are hypersensitive to social threat

The Supercooling of a Nematic Liquid Crystal

We investigate the supercooling of a nematic liquid crystal using fluctuating non-linear hydrodynamic equations. The Martin-Siggia-Rose formalism is used to calculate renormalized transport coefficients to one-loop order. Similar theories for isotropic liquids have shown substantial increases of the viscosities as the liquid is supercooled or compressed due to feedback from the density fluctuations which are freezing. We find similar results here for the longitudinal and various shear viscosities of the nematic. However, the two viscosities associated with the nematic director motion do not grow in any dramatic way; i.e.\ there is no apparent freezing of the director modes within this hydrodynamic formalism. Instead a glassy state of the nematic may arise from a ``random anisotropy" coupling of the director to the frozen density.Comment: Late

Constructing Memories of Holmfirth through 'Last of the Summer Wine'

Last of the Summer Wine (BBC, 1973-2010) was filmed in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, UK for 37 years. Its presence in the town has affected collective memories of the space and place of the region. In examining Summer Wine’s continued presence in Holmfirth even after it has ceased production, we investigate how the series as a text, institution and brand serves to spatially inform Holmfirth and construct, embed and inform cultural memory

Modular assembly of proteins on nanoparticles

Generally, the high diversity of protein properties necessitates the development of unique nanoparticle bio-conjugation methods, optimized for each different protein. Here we describe a universal bio-conjugation approach which makes use of a new recombinant fusion protein combining two distinct domains. The N-terminal part is Glutathione S-Transferase (GST) from Schistosoma japonicum, for which we identify and characterize the remarkable ability to bind gold nanoparticles (GNPs) by forming gold–sulfur bonds (Au–S). The C-terminal part of this multi-domain construct is the SpyCatcher from Streptococcus pyogenes, which provides the ability to capture recombinant proteins encoding a SpyTag. Here we show that SpyCatcher can be immobilized covalently on GNPs through GST without the loss of its full functionality. We then show that GST-SpyCatcher activated particles are able to covalently bind a SpyTag modified protein by simple mixing, through the spontaneous formation of an unusual isopeptide bond

Does CSR Influence firm performance indicators? evidence from Chinese pharmaceutical enterprises

This research is carried out in the backdrop of increasing product quality and environmental degradation scandals associated with Chinese Pharmaceuticals in recent years. We examine the data of 125 Chinese Pharmaceuticals between 2010-2016 to investigate the impact of overall CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) performance as well as five unique aspects of CSR performance such as shareholders, employees, customers and suppliers, environmental practices, and the society to gauge the impact of these individual dimensions on firm’s financial performance. A mixed method approach is adopted where twenty experts from the Pharmaceutical industry firstly rate the importance of different stakeholder dimensions based on a five-point Lickert scale. Subsequently, the CSR scoring system is developed by incorporating the weighted average of experts’ scores and the performance of CSR indicators obtained from the Hexun CSR rating. The firm performance is measured by Tobin’s Q, ROA, ROE, and EPS ratios. The outcome of panel based regression models reveal that CSR has a positive and significant influence on firm’s financial performance. Moreover, although all the CSR dimensions relate positively to firm performance nonetheless environmental aspect of CSR has the most profound impact on firm performance followed by customer & suppliers, and employees. However, shareholders and society dimensions have relatively lesser influence on firm performance. These results imply that Chinese Pharmaceuticals shall further optimize their CSR performance as it can not only create a favorable brand image for various stakeholders but also results in superior financial performance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Defining marine bacterioplankton community assembly rules by contrasting the importance of environmental determinants and biotic interactions.

Bacterioplankton communities govern marine productivity and biogeochemical cycling, yet drivers of bacterioplankton assembly remain unclear. Here, we contrast the relative contribution of deterministic processes (environmental factors and biotic interactions) in driving temporal dynamics of bacterioplankton diversity at three different oceanographic time series locations, spanning 15° of latitude, which are each characterized by different environmental conditions and varying degrees of seasonality. Monthly surface samples (5.5 years) were analysed using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. The high- and mid-latitude sites of Maria Island and Port Hacking were characterized by high and intermediate levels of environmental heterogeneity, respectively, with both alpha diversity (72%; 24% of total variation) and beta diversity (32%; 30%) patterns within bacterioplankton assemblages explained by day length, ammonium, and mixed layer depth. In contrast, North Stradbroke Island, a sub-tropical location where environmental conditions are less variable, interspecific interactions were of increased importance in structuring bacterioplankton diversity (alpha: 33%; beta: 26%) with environment only contributing 11% and 13% to predicting diversity, respectively. Our results demonstrate that bacterioplankton diversity is the result of both deterministic environmental and biotic processes and that the importance of these different deterministic processes varies, potential in response to environmental heterogeneity

Diet-switching by gypsy moth: effects of diet nitrogen history vs. switching on growth, consumption, and food utilization

Gypsy moth ( Lymantria dispar (L.) (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae)) larvae were reared from hatch on 1.25% N or 3.5% N artificial diet (previous diet) and switched reciprocally to the other diet (current diet) after molting into the second, third, fourth, or fifth instar. The nitrogen concentration of food consumed during previous instars had a strong residual effect on the growth rate in subsequent instars when a diet switch was made during instars two through four, but did not affect growth rate of fifth-instar larvae despite effects on food consumption and utilization. In early instars, larvae reared on 1.25% N artificial diet and then switched to 3.75% N diet had lower mass-adjusted growth rates than larvae continuously reared on 3.75% N diet. Conversely, larvae reared on 3.75% N diet and switched to 1.25% N had higher mass-adjusted growth rates than larvae reared continuously on 1.25% N diet. Relative to larvae previously reared on 1.25% N diet, fifth-instar male larvae previously reared on 3.75% N diet had slightly lower consumption rates, higher net growth efficiency (ECD), and higher gross growth efficiency (ECI). Larvae previously reared on 3.75% N diet tended to have lower food assimilation efficiency (AD) and lower nitrogen assimilation efficiency (AD(N)). Although both previous and current diet nitrogen concentration strongly affected larval growth and food utilization, the interaction term between these was not significant for any response variables except ECD and ECI. Because the interaction term reflects the effect of switching per se , the results indicate that there was a metabolic cost associated with switching, but no inherent net cost or benefit of diet-switching to growth.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42715/1/10667_2004_Article_BF00341086.pd

Synergy between inhibitors of androgen receptor and MEK has therapeutic implications in estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer

Introduction: Estrogen receptor-negative (ER-) breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with limited therapeutic options. The molecular apocrine subtype constitutes 50% of ER-tumors and is characterized by overexpression of steroid response genes including androgen receptor (AR). We have recently identified a positive feedback loop between the AR and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathways in the molecular apocrine subtype. In this feedback loop, AR regulates ERK phosphorylation through the mediation of ErbB2 and, in turn, ERK-CREB1 signaling regulates the transcription of AR in molecular apocrine cells. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic implications of the AR-ERK feedback loop in molecular apocrine breast cancer.Methods: We examined a synergy between the AR inhibitor flutamide and the MEK inhibitor CI-1040 in the molecular apocrine cell lines MDA-MB-453, HCC-1954 and HCC-202 using MTT cell viability and annexin V apoptosis assays. Synergy was measured using the combination index (CI) method. Furthermore, we examined in vivo synergy between flutamide and the MEK inhibitor PD0325901 in a xenograft model of the molecular apocrine subtype. The effects of in vivo therapies on tumor growth, cell proliferation and angiogenesis were assessed.Results: We demonstrate synergistic CI values for combination therapy with flutamide and CI-1040 across three molecular apocrine cell lines at four dose combinations using both cell viability and apoptosis assays. Furthermore, we show in vivo that combination therapy with flutamide and MEK inhibitor PD0325901 has a significantly higher therapeutic efficacy in reducing tumor growth, cellular proliferation and angiogenesis than monotherapy with these agents. Moreover, our data suggested that flutamide and CI-1040 have synergy in trastuzumab resistance models of the molecular apocrine subtype. Notably, the therapeutic effect of combination therapy in trastuzumab-resistant cells was associated with the abrogation of an increased level of ERK phosphorylation that was developed in the process of trastuzumab resistance.Conclusions: In this study, we demonstrate in vitro and in vivo synergies between AR and MEK inhibitors in molecular apocrine breast cancer. Furthermore, we show that combination therapy with these inhibitors can overcome trastuzumab resistance in molecular apocrine cells. Therefore, a combination therapy strategy with AR and MEK inhibitors may provide an attractive therapeutic option for the ER-/AR+ subtype of breast cancer