Rethinking Self-Reflexivity and Genre in Medieval French Romance

This dissertation argues that gestures of literary self-consciousness, especially those articulated through rhetorical play and ironic voicing on the part of the first-person narrator, become a conventional feature of medieval French romance tradition in the wake of Chrétien de Troyes. The highly developed self-reflexivity of a number of canonical twelfth-century French romances has been the focus of much scholarly attention over the last few decades, but critics have tended to treat them as the unique hallmarks of a handful of exceptional canonical texts, ascribing the innovation of literary self-consciousness to the individual master authors. Thus, much criticism of French romance beyond a few canonical masterworks has taken as its primary goal to prove that a romance text exhibits literary self-consciousness of its own forms and conventions; self-reflexivity is taken as the end of analysis, and its presence indicates that a text is unique and worthy of critical interest. The dissertation looks at explicitly intertextual French romances of the late twelfth century (Renaut de Beaujeu’s Le Bel Inconnu, chapter 1) and the thirteenth century (Heldris de Cornuailles’s Le Roman de Silence and the anonymous Amadas et Ydoine, chapter 2), as well as a thirteenth-century German adaptation (Hartmann von Aue’s Iwein, chapter 3), in order to show how readers, adaptors, and translators of a canonical generation of twelfth-century romance recognized and responded to the techniques of self-reflexive literary play that pervade Chrétien and the French Tristan tradition. The romancers that followed in Chrétien’s footsteps did not fail to recognize the irony, ambiguity, and play within his oeuvre; nor did they simply offer derivative or lesser imitations of his famous scenes and passages. Rather, they relied on readers’ previous knowledge and expectations formed by an earlier generation of romance in order not only to reproduce but to build and comment upon by-now familiar gestures of self-reflexivity, often pushing romance to its formal and logical limits. Or, in the case of Iwein, written for German readers largely without access to or detailed knowledge of the French source corpus or subsequent tradition, Hartmann manages to adapt and translate the poetic concerns of his French source and his French contemporaries for a different audience. Attentiveness to gestures of self-reflexivity not as the indicator of individual authorial ability (something that distinguishes good and interesting authors from derivative and uninteresting ones) but as forms that can and do become familiar and conventional, and that can be and are innovated upon, satirized, and subverted help us to understand the later romance tradition and its relation to its predecessors in a new, more productive way

Robustness of Utilizing Feedback in Embodied Visual Navigation

This paper presents a framework for training an agent to actively request help in object-goal navigation tasks, with feedback indicating the location of the target object in its field of view. To make the agent more robust in scenarios where a teacher may not always be available, the proposed training curriculum includes a mix of episodes with and without feedback. The results show that this approach improves the agent's performance, even in the absence of feedback.Comment: Accepted at the ICRA Workshop for Communicating Robot Learning across Human-Robot Interactio

Functionalized erythrocyte-derived optical nanoparticles to target ephrin-B2 ligands.

Over- or under-expression of erythropoietin-production human hepatocellular receptors (Eph) and their ligands are associated with various diseases. Therefore, these molecular biomarkers can potentially be used as binding targets for the delivery of therapeutic and/or imaging agents to cells characterized by such irregular expressions. We have engineered nanoparticles derived from erythrocytes and doped with the near-infrared (NIR) FDA-approved dye, indocyanine green. We refer to these nanoparticles as NIR erythrocyte-derived transducers (NETs). We functionalized the NETs with the ligand-binding domain of a particular Eph receptor, EphB1, to target the genetically modified human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (hDMVECs) with coexpression of EphB1 receptor and its ligand ephrin-B2. This cell model mimics the pathological phenotypes of lesional endothelial cells (ECs) in port wine stains (PWSs). Our quantitative fluorescence imaging results demonstrate that such functionalized NETs bind to the ephrin-B2 ligands on these hDMVECs in a dose-dependent manner that varies sigmoidally with the number density of the particles. These nanoparticles may potentially serve as agents to target PWS lesional ECs and other diseases characterized with over-expression of Eph receptors or their associated ligands to mediate phototherapy

Rapid and flexible scale-down media development and optimization for perfusion culture

Perfusion culture is steadily gaining interest due to advantages such as higher cell densities, increased flexibility, higher volumetric output, decreased product retention times, and more consistent product. Perfusion culture systems are drastically different than fed-batch cultures as they allow bioreactors to continuously run for prolonged periods of time by constantly feeding fresh media while removing spent media. This drastic process difference means that typical fed-batch medium is not optimal for perfusion culture. Instead, perfusion culture media is most optimal when it fits within culture process constraints such as vessel volume exchanges per day. Irvine Scientific has rapidly developed custom media for a specific perfusion culture process that resulted in a significant increase in viable cell density and antibody titer. The custom media was developed in the following steps: (1) identification of initial base media, (2) development and verification of a scale-down perfusion model, (3) optimization of media components, and (4) parsing down extraneous components while maintaining growth and titer. First, a media survey was conducted in batch cultures to determine an initial basal media composition to further refine. From a panel of over 20 different media, top candidate media were selected based on improved viable cell density, viability, titer, and glycan profile over the control medium. Next, a scale-down perfusion model was developed and validated using the control medium. Mini bioreactor tubes were used as culture vessels and daily perfusion was conducted by centrifugation, aspiration, and replenishment with fresh medium. Antibody glycan profiles from the scale-down perfusion model matched profiles from large-scale bioreactor perfusion cultures, thus validating the use of this scale-down model. Although this system is not controlled, the pH was monitored offline and stayed within range. The candidate media were evaluated in the scale-down perfusion model and the top prospects in terms of titer and viable cell density were chosen for further development by changing the composition of amino acids, metals, and other components. Lastly, amino acid concentrations were further optimized while parsing down extraneous components according to spent media analysis from the previous experiment. The top medium resulted in a significant increase in viable cell density and titer compared to the original control medium. This process created a custom medium for perfusion culture that significantly increased viable cell density and antibody titer while maintaining a desired glycan profile. The media development process in scale-down perfusion cultures was rapid and took about 10 weeks. Development in controlled, scale-down bioreactor systems may be more costly and take longer as procedures, protocols, and methods first need to be transferred and verified. This scale-down perfusion model, while manual, is an easy and flexible way to develop perfusion medium with efficient throughput. Currently, the medium is being verified in perfusion bioreactors and can be further improved. In the future, we will investigate increasing the productivity by concentrating the culture medium while decreasing the volume vessel exchanges

Increasing employability in Science graduates through longitudinal course design

Employability for our graduates, especially in science disciplines, is typically lower that of other, more vocational areas such as computing or engineering. One of the reasons is a lack of opportunities for work experience during the program of study, but also a lack of employability skills and preparedness for work. In Science degrees, these aspects are often neglected in curriculum design in favour for more discipline-specific content. We have recently designed a degree-spanning curriculum, that embeds employability skills into every year of all our three-year undergraduate Bachelors degrees in Science. Students are encouraged to think and prepare for future employment from day one onwards and build throughout their degree a competitive employability portfolio. In year 1, students start to think about employability skills, start building a resume and are exposed to some professional skills. In year 2, these skills are further refined, with a focus on communication and professionalism. Finally, in year 3, the skills are applied in either a simulated work environment or a placement in industry. Initial analysis of the design had shown a significant increase in preparedness for work in third-year students

Studi Farmakokinetika Teofilina Setelah Pemberian Oral Dosis Tunggal Tablet Teofilina dan Aminofilina Lepas Kendali pada Subyek Normal

Telah dilakukan penelitian untuk mempelajari farmakokinetika dari teofilina setelahpemberian oral dosis tunggal tablet teofilina dan aminofilina lepas kendali pada subyek normal. Ta–blet teofilina (dosis 300 mg) dan aminofilina (dosis 350 mg) lepas kendali diberikan dalam bentukoral dosis tunggal, pada pria normal (20-30 tahun, 50-75 kg), tidak merokok, dengan fungsi paruparu,hati, ginjal dan jantung normal. Kadar teofilina serum ditentukan dengan metode FlourescencePolarization Immunoassay (FPIA). Parameter farmakokinetika yang diamati meliputi: t maks, Cpmaks, AUC, tetapan laju absorpsi (Ka) dan eliminasi (K) serta t ½ eliminasi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkanbahwa profil kurva kadar teofilina serum terhadap waktu untuk tablet teofilina (AUC=97,56μg/ml jam, Cp maks=5,83 μg/ml, Ka=0,209 jam-1, t maks=4 jam, K=0,080 jam-1, dan t½=8,87 jam)dan aminofilina (AUC=121,93 μg/ml jam, Cp maks=6,70 μg/ml, Ka=0,239 jam-1, t maks=6,8 jam,K=0,061 jam-1, dan t½=11,51 jam) lepas kendali sesuai dengan profil farmakokinetika sediaan lepaskendali pada umumnya

The Maker\u27s CubeSat: Increasing Student-lab Capabilities in the Design, Integration & Test of the Alpha CubeSat

Alpha is a 1U CubeSat developed at Cornell University that deploys a ChipSat-equipped free-flying light sail into LEO. While the payload is rather unique, the spacecraft that deploys it is designed to be adaptable and scalable to future student-led missions. Technology demonstrations include a 3D-printed chassis, entirely commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) electronics, an Iridium modem that bypasses the need for ground-station hardware, and magnetorquer-only spin-stabilization and pointing. This paper details the driving factors behind Alpha’s novel architecture with a focus on the affordable methods developed for design verification and optimization. Drawing inspiration from the maker community, the lab acquired a suite of tools that dramatically increased in-house integration and test capabilities. Lessons are shared from training multiple generations of students on these tools, along with the best-practices developed for student assembly of flight hardware

Hyaluronan-Phosphatidylethanolamine Polymers Form Pericellular Coats on Keratinocytes and Promote Basal Keratinocyte Proliferation

Aged keratinocytes have diminished proliferative capacity and hyaluronan (HA) cell coats, which are losses that contribute to atrophic skin characterized by reduced barrier and repair functions. We formulated HA-phospholipid (phosphatidylethanolamine, HA-PE) polymers that form pericellular coats around cultured dermal fibroblasts independently of CD44 or RHAMM display. We investigated the ability of these HA-PE polymers to penetrate into aged mouse skin and restore epidermal function in vivo. Topically applied Alexa647-HA-PE penetrated into the epidermis and dermis, where it associated with both keratinocytes and fibroblasts. In contrast, Alexa647-HA was largely retained in the outer cornified layer of the epidermis and quantification of fluorescence confirmed that significantly more Alexa647-HA-PE penetrated into and was retained within the epidermis than Alexa647-HA. Multiple topical applications of HA-PE to shaved mouse skin significantly stimulated basal keratinocyte proliferation and epidermal thickness compared to HA or vehicle cream alone. HA-PE had no detectable effect on keratinocyte differentiation and did not promote local or systemic inflammation. These effects of HA-PE polymers are similar to those reported for endogenous epidermal HA in youthful skin and show that topical application of HA-PE polymers can restore some of the impaired functions of aged epidermis

Hyaluronan-Phosphatidylethanolamine Polymers Form Pericellular Coats on Keratinocytes and Promote Basal Keratinocyte Proliferation

Aged keratinocytes have diminished proliferative capacity and hyaluronan (HA) cell coats, which are losses that contribute to atrophic skin characterized by reduced barrier and repair functions. We formulated HA-phospholipid (phosphatidylethanolamine, HA-PE) polymers that form pericellular coats around cultured dermal fibroblasts independently of CD44 or RHAMM display. We investigated the ability of these HA-PE polymers to penetrate into aged mouse skin and restore epidermal function in vivo. Topically applied Alexa647-HA-PE penetrated into the epidermis and dermis, where it associated with both keratinocytes and fibroblasts. In contrast, Alexa647-HA was largely retained in the outer cornified layer of the epidermis and quantification of fluorescence confirmed that significantly more Alexa647-HA-PE penetrated into and was retained within the epidermis than Alexa647-HA. Multiple topical applications of HA-PE to shaved mouse skin significantly stimulated basal keratinocyte proliferation and epidermal thickness compared to HA or vehicle cream alone. HA-PE had no detectable effect on keratinocyte differentiation and did not promote local or systemic inflammation. These effects of HA-PE polymers are similar to those reported for endogenous epidermal HA in youthful skin and show that topical application of HA-PE polymers can restore some of the impaired functions of aged epidermis