National identity in crisis :post-1990 Holocaust cinema in Israel, Germany and Hollywood

PhD ThesisTaking a comparative approach, my PhD thesis investigates the relationship between recent cinematic representations of the Holocaust in Israel, Germany, and Hollywood, and formations of national identity. Focusing on the ways in which specific political and cultural factors shape dominant discourses surrounding the Nazis’ attempt to destroy the European Jewry, I argue that the Holocaust is central to a crisis in national identity in all three countries. Whereas Holocaust films have traditionally reinforced the socio-political ideals informing the context of their production, however, the analysis of my central corpus demonstrates that this cinema can also be seen to challenge dominant discourses expressing the values that maintain established notions of national identity. Central to this challenge is the positioning of the nation as either a victim or perpetrator with regards to the Holocaust. The presentation of opposing narratives in my central corpus of films suggests a heterogeneity that undermines the tendency in dominant discourses to present victim and perpetrator positions as mutually exclusive. The trajectory from one position to its opposite is itself informed by generational shifts. As a consequence, I also discuss the perspectives offered by members of the second and third generations whose focus on particular aspects of the Holocaust challenge the discourses established by the previous one. By way of conclusion, I focus on the transnational aspect of Holocaust film. In highlighting a number of commonalities across the three cinemas discussed in my thesis, I argue that in addition to expressing themes that relate to the issue of national identity, these films also suggest the construction of ‘identity communities’ that exist beyond state borders

Finding bridges in packings of colloidal spheres

We identify putative load-bearing structures (bridges) in experimental colloidal systems studied by confocal microscopy. Bridges are co-operative structures that have been used to explain stability and inhomogeneous force transmission in simulated granular packings with a range of densities. We show that bridges similar to those found in granular simulations are present in real experimental colloidal packings. We describe critically the bridge-finding procedure for real experimental data and propose a new criterion-Lowest Mean Squared Separation (LSQS)-for selecting optimum stabilisations

CHANGING POLICE PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES

In the last decade, there has been an effort to reform police practices, defund police agencies, and decriminalize certain offenses. In addition, in an effort to reduce police-citizen encounters, agencies nationwide have changed some primary offenses to secondary, meaning law enforcement could not create an encounter solely for that offense, such as one non-functional headlight. This recent legislation changes police functions and requires agencies to modify how they evaluate officer effectiveness. This thesis looks at different police evaluation methods to determine what measures can be used for success. Two agencies were used as case studies; their methods, which included qualitative and quantitative metrics, were examined, as were the research and opinions of other police scholars. Ultimately, the present study found there is no single method of conducting police evaluations, and that more than one model may be successful. This thesis found that training for first line supervisors is essential as they have the most predominant role in the mentoring and evaluating the routine patrol officer. Another key finding is that effectiveness does not necessarily mean enforcement; effectiveness can include presence and community engagement. To measure effectiveness, agencies and supervisors must dedicate time to documenting how often and the manner in which evaluations were conducted. Finally, agencies must constantly evolve their evaluation systems to match their communities’ needs.Civilian, Virginia State PoliceApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Polymorphic Type Inference in Scheme

This paper presents a type-inference system for Scheme that is designed to be used by students in an introductory programming course. The major goal of the work is to present a simple type inference system that can be used by beginning students, yet is powerful enough to express the ideas of types, polymorphism, abstract data types, and higher-order procedures. The system also performs some rudimentary syntax checking. The system uses subtyping, but only in a primitive fashion. It has a type datum which is a supertype of all types, and a type poof which is a subtype of all types. It uses and-types (intersection types) to control the use of datum and to generate accurate but simple types

Christ’s Hospital and the poor of London, 1552-1666

This thesis examines a central element of the City of London’s response to the problem of poverty in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the foundation in 1552 of Christ’s Hospital for poor and orphaned children. The hospital admitted children from infancy and maintained them both in London and with nurses in the country. Analysis of the admission and discharge records of almost 9,000 children admitted between 1552 and 1666 reveals the background – age, origin, means of admission – of the children. Their day to day lives are investigated, looking at their general wellbeing and health, diet, daily routine, and education, in order to establish whether the institution simply warehoused children until they were old enough to be discharged back into the city, or whether it aimed at and achieved more. An examination of discharges and the way in which the hospital prepared children for life outside the hospital completes this part of the study. Fulfilling the hospital’s mission required considerable logistical and administrative capabilities, which are scrutinised through an analysis of the activities of the court of governors who were ultimately responsible for the running of the hospital. The work of the paid officials and staff responsible for the day to day care of the children is also discussed and commented on. Analysis of the treasurers’ account books shows that the hospital struggled to remain solvent throughout much of the period covered, a problem exacerbated by an increasing demand for places and subsequent increase in the hospital population, to a peak of 1,002 in 1658. The ways in which the hospital dealt with this are investigated, noting a shift away from parish and City support to reliance on income from legacies and donations, and an increasingly large property portfolio, as well as the use of borrowed money

Ubiquitination and Degradation of Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase.

Guanabenz, a clinically used anti-hypertensive agent, inhibits the P450-like enzyme neuronal NO-synthase (nNOS) and enhances its ubiquitination and degradation. To better understand the molecular trigger for nNOS ubiquitination and degradation, we characterized the mechanism of guanabenz inhibition of nNOS and identified the site of ubiquitin attachment to the enzyme. Using purified nNOS and an in vitro system, we found that guanabenz treatment leads to the oxidation of tetrahydrobiopterin by nNOS-derived superoxide. Tetrahydrobiopterin is a known cofactor for NO synthesis by nNOS, binding near the heme and stabilizing the active dimeric structure of the enzyme. Tetrahydrobiopterin was found to reverse the guanabenz-mediated inhibition of nNOS in vitro. Similarly, administration of tetrahydrobiopterin to rats prevented both nNOS inhibition and loss of enzyme after guanabenz treatment, indicating that the loss of tetrahydrobiopterin plays a major role in the effects of guanabenz in vivo. To investigate if the loss of tetrahydrobiopterin was sufficient for eliciting the enhanced turnover of nNOS, we depleted tetrahydrobiopterin in cells by inhibiting GTP cyclohydrolase I with 2,4-diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine. A 75% decrease in tetrahydrobiopterin levels led to a 2-fold increase in the amount of nNOS-ubiquitin conjugates detected. Consistent with our cellular observations, in vitro ubiquitination and degradation of nNOS by reticulocyte lysate proteins was decreased when tetrahydrobiopterin was added. Thus, tetrahydrobiopterin may serve as an endogenous regulator of nNOS protein levels. Through mutagenesis studies, we were able to localize the ubiquitination site to the calmodulin binding region of nNOS (residues 720-756). Peptide mapping studies using capillary flow liquid chromatography interfaced with a linear ion trap mass spectrometer identified residue 754 as a site for ubiquitin attachment. Furthermore, using methylated ubiquitin and purified nNOS, we determined that mono-ubiquitination of nNOS is sufficient for proteasomal degradation in vitro. Thus, it is possible that alterations of the heme active site structure, in this case through oxidation of tetrahydrobiopterin, are recognized by cellular factors that direct the ubiquitination of a lysine residue in the calmodulin binding region, resulting in the selective proteasomal degradation of nNOS.Ph.D.PharmacologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/58432/1/jenkinsg_1.pd

Bimodal Phase Diagram of the Superfluid Density in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 Revealed by an Interfacial Waveguide Resonator

We explore the superconducting phase diagram of the two-dimensional electron system at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface by monitoring the frequencies of the cavity modes of a coplanar waveguide resonator fabricated in the interface itself. We determine the phase diagram of the superconducting transition as a function of temperature and electrostatic gating, finding that both the superfluid density and the transition temperature follow a dome shape, but that the two are not monotonically related. The ground state of this 2DES is interpreted as a Josephson junction array, where a transition from long- to short-range order occurs as a function of the electronic doping. The synergy between correlated oxides and superconducting circuits is revealed to be a promising route to investigate these exotic compounds, complementary to standard magneto-transport measurements.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures and 10 pages of supplementary materia