Curating a fan history of vampires: ‘What We Vid in the Shadows’ at VidUKon 2016

At the 2016 fan convention VidUKon, I curated and screened a vidshow themed around vampires. A vidshow is a curated programme of fanvids, fan-made video art pieces that adapt television and film sources into short videos, which is shown at media fan conventions. To plan this, I first selected vampire-related examples from my research collection, and then drafted a list of screen vampires to guide my search for other vids to address gaps. From there, my curation was guided by a series of questions about how these pocket-sized adaptations would contribute to the vidshow’s representation of screen vampires. How do these act as a history of media fandom’s relationship with screen vampires? Vids are works of textual analysis that offer critical and creative responses to their source texts. What would my selection argue about how we watch vampires? I propose that vidshows are a site of negotiating fan-favourite and cult canons of vampire shows and characters

“Researching Starsky and Hutch is exquisite torture”: Female Television Audiences and 1980s Letterzines

This piece reflects on work-in-progress on archived media fans’ letterzines of the 1970s and 1980s. Growing out of the science fiction APA fanzine scene, letterzines collect letters of comment (LOCs) between female fans, and capture conversations about their television viewing. Zines from this period go beyond science fiction and includes fandoms for cop shows such as Starsky & Hutch (ABC, 1975-1979) and Simon & Simon (CBS, 1981-1989). Letterzines, which have not typically been used as a source for exploring women’s television history, contain a range of information of interest to historians: interpretations of character and narrative, reports on fan conventions and meet-ups, and discussions of how women related to contemporary television at a time when VCRs started to saturate the domestic market. These primary source documents can potentially nuance assumptions about what women watched, their views on the programmes, and the contexts in which they watched

The Fan-Historian

In this article, we propose the compound term fan-historian to describe fans who undertake historical fanwork of a variety of types. In doing so, we seek to define fan-historians in a way which is inclusive, and which recognises the common practices that exist between the work of fans and of historians, who both take what we might understand as curatorial and transformative approaches to knowledge. Our formulation also serves to emphasize that fans are not merely the subjects of historical work, but are participants in it. Fan-historians, then, work both as fans and as historians in producing fan-historical work. We argue that we must value this labor, as it is centrally important in fan communities, and that fan-historians help to make sense of the past, and make it usable, for those communities, acting as public historians as they do so. We close by reflecting on the importance of recognising the huge range of memory, archival and other past-focused fanwork as historical work, given the longstanding links between history and power

History, Fandom, and Online Game Communities

Historical activity around persistent online game environments such as EVE Online and EverQuest is significant and ongoing, particularly as these games age. A wide range of attempts have been made to capture and concentrate tales of those experiences which players have considered significant. Yet as with all historical work, attempts to curate and represent the history of a community are political and often contested. Projects can be compromised by competing interests and by differing perceptions of what does or does not ‘count’ as history. The distinctions made in this online historical work evoke the debates of contemporary public history: issues of ownership, power and acceptability are central, and the outputs of this historical activity are varied, constituting a short forum thread collecting player reminiscences in one instance, for example, compared with a book-length piece of self-consciously historical writing in another. Yet they also parallel debates within the space of fan studies. This chapter discusses the tension between fandom and history that exists in player communities by examining fanworks as forms of historical work

The effect of cognitive load on faking interrogative suggestibility on the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale

In the light of recent studies into the impact of cognitive load on detecting deception, the impact of cognitive load on faking on the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS) was investigated. Eighty undergraduate students participated in the study, and were randomly assigned to one of four conditions resulting from a combination of the factors: instruction type (genuine or instructed faking, see Hansen, Smeets, & Jelicic, 2009) and concurrent task (yes or no). Findings show that instructed fakers, not performing a concurrent task, score significantly higher on yield 1 in comparison to genuine interviewees. This is in line with previous studies into faking on the GSS. However, instructed fakers, performing a concurrent task, achieved significantly lower yield 1 scores than instructed fakers not performing a concurrent task. Genuine (non fakers) showed a different response to increased cognitive load during the dual-task paradigm. This study suggests that increasing cognitive load may potentially indicate (and preclude) faking attempts on the yield dimension of the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale

Multilevel Interventions Targeting Obesity: Research Recommendations for Vulnerable Populations

The origins of obesity are complex and multifaceted. To be successful, an intervention aiming to prevent or treat obesity may need to address multiple layers of biological, social, and environmental influences

Identification and functional analysis of SKA2 interaction with the glucocorticoid receptor

Glucocorticoid (GC) receptors (GRs) have profound anti-survival effects on human small cell lung cancer (SCLC). To explore the basis of these effects, protein partners for GRs were sought using a yeast two-hybrid screen. We discovered a novel gene, FAM33A, subsequently identified as a SKA1 partner and involved in mitosis, and so renamed Ska2. We produced an anti-peptide antibody that specifically recognized full-length human SKA2 to measure expression in human cell lines and tissues. There was a wide variation in expression across multiple cell lines, but none was detected in the liver cell line HepG2. A xenograft model of human SCLC had intense staining and archival tissue revealed SKA2 in several human lung and breast tumours. SKA2 was found in the cytoplasm, where it co-localized with GR, but nuclear expression of SKA2 was seen in breast tumours. SKA2 overexpression increased GC transactivation in HepG2 cells while SKA2 knockdown in A549 human lung epithelial cells decreased transactivation and prevented dexamethasone inhibition of proliferation. GC treatment decreased SKA2 protein levels in A549 cells, as did Staurosporine, phorbol ester and trichostatin A; all agents that inhibit cell proliferation. Overexpression of SKA2 potentiated the proliferative response to IGF-I exposure, and knockdown with shRNA caused cells to arrest in mitosis. SKA2 has recently been identified in HeLa S3 cells as part of a complex, which is critical for spindle checkpoint silencing and exit from mitosis. Our new data show involvement in cell proliferation and GC signalling, with implications for understanding how GCs impact on cell fate

Accuracy and usefulness of BMI measures based on self-reported weight and height: findings from the NHANES & NHIS 2001-2006

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Body Mass Index (BMI) based on self-reported height and weight ("self-reported BMI") in epidemiologic studies is subject to measurement error. However, because of the ease and efficiency in gathering height and weight information through interviews, it remains important to assess the extent of error present in self-reported BMI measures and to explore possible adjustment factors as well as valid uses of such self-reported measures.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using the combined 2001-2006 data from the continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, discrepancies between BMI measures based on self-reported and physical height and weight measures are estimated and socio-demographic predictors of such discrepancies are identified. Employing adjustments derived from the socio-demographic predictors, the self-reported measures of height and weight in the 2001-2006 National Health Interview Survey are used for population estimates of overweight & obesity as well as the prediction of health risks associated with large BMI values. The analysis relies on two-way frequency tables as well as linear and logistic regression models. All point and variance estimates take into account the complex survey design of the studies involved.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Self-reported BMI values tend to overestimate measured BMI values at the low end of the BMI scale (< 22) and underestimate BMI values at the high end, particularly at values > 28. The discrepancies also vary systematically with age (younger and older respondents underestimate their BMI more than respondents aged 42-55), gender and the ethnic/racial background of the respondents. BMI scores, adjusted for socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents, tend to narrow, but do not eliminate misclassification of obese people as merely overweight, but health risk estimates associated with variations in BMI values are virtually the same, whether based on self-report or measured BMI values.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>BMI values based on self-reported height and weight, if corrected for biases associated with socio-demographic characteristics of the survey respondents, can be used to estimate health risks associated with variations in BMI, particularly when using parametric prediction models.</p

Approaches and challenges to the study of loess—Introduction to the LoessFest Special Issue

In September 2016, the annual meeting of the International Union for Quaternary Research's Loess and Pedostratigraphy Focus Group, traditionally referred to as a LoessFest, met in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA. The 2016 LoessFest focused on thin loess deposits and loess transportation surfaces. This LoessFest included 75 registered participants from 10 countries. Almost half of the participants were from outside the United States, and 18 of the participants were students. This review is the introduction to the special issue for Quaternary Research that originated from presentations and discussions at the 2016 LoessFest. This introduction highlights current understanding and ongoing work on loess in various regions of the world and provides brief summaries of some of the current approaches/strategies used to study loess deposits