Lars Hætta’s miniature world: Sámi prison op-art autoethnography

This article examines a collection of miniature objects, now held in museum collections, which were originally made by a Sámi political prisoner in Norway during the mid-19th century as part of an educational programme. The author draws on recent developments in the theory of miniaturization to consider these miniatures as examples of prison op-art autoethnography: communicative devices which seek to address broad and complex social issues through the process of the creation and distribution of semiophorically functionless mimetic objects of reduced scale and complexity, and which reflect the restrictions of incarcerated artistic expression and the questions this raises regarding authenticity and hybridity

The solvation and dissociation of 4-benzylaniline hydrochloride in chlorobenzene

A reaction scheme is proposed to account for the liberation of 4-benzylaniline from 4-benzylaniline hydrochloride, using chlorobenzene as a solvent at a temperature of 373 K. Two operational regimes are explored: “closed” reaction conditions correspond to the retention of evolved hydrogen chloride gas within the reaction medium, whereas an “open” system permits gaseous hydrogen chloride to be released from the reaction medium. The solution phase chemistry is analyzed by 1H NMR spectroscopy. Complete liberation of solvated 4-benzylaniline from solid 4-benzylaniline hydrochloride is possible under “open” conditions, with the entropically favored conversion of solvated hydrogen chloride to the gaseous phase thought to be the thermodynamic driver that effectively controls a series of interconnecting equilibria. A kinetic model is proposed to account for the observations of the open system

Dimerization of FIR upon FUSE DNA binding suggests a mechanism of c-myc inhibition

c-myc is essential for cell homeostasis and growth but lethal if improperly regulated. Transcription of this oncogene is governed by the counterbalancing forces of two proteins on TFIIH—the FUSE binding protein (FBP) and the FBP-interacting repressor (FIR). FBP and FIR recognize single-stranded DNA upstream of the P1 promoter, known as FUSE, and influence transcription by oppositely regulating TFIIH at the promoter site. Size exclusion chromatography coupled with light scattering reveals that an FIR dimer binds one molecule of single-stranded DNA. The crystal structure confirms that FIR binds FUSE as a dimer, and only the N-terminal RRM domain participates in nucleic acid recognition. Site-directed mutations of conserved residues in the first RRM domain reduce FIR's affinity for FUSE, while analogous mutations in the second RRM domain either destabilize the protein or have no effect on DNA binding. Oppositely oriented DNA on parallel binding sites of the FIR dimer results in spooling of a single strand of bound DNA, and suggests a mechanism for c-myc transcriptional control

Hydrothermal Stability of High-Surface-Area α-Al₂O₃ and Its Use as a Support for Hydrothermally Stable Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis Catalysts

Nanocrystalline corundum synthesized by ball milling of boehmite is found to be exceptionally robust toward chemical weathering, a common problem of transition aluminas in different applications, most notably in the case of supported catalysts, which are exposed to hydrothermal reaction environments. Detailed characterization and surface cation coordination analysis indicate that the absence of tetrahedral Al species on corundum makes it stable toward chemical weathering. A cobalt catalyst developed using nano-α-Al2O3 as the support showed Fischer–Tropsch synthesis activity and selectivity comparable to the benchmark Co/γ-Al2O3 and remained stable over 250 h on-stream

Non-phosgene route for the synthesis of methyl phenyl carbamate using ordered AISBA-15 catalyst

Methyl phenyl carbamate (MPC) has been synthesized under liquid phase conditions from dimethyl carbonate and aniline by using mesoporous AlSBA-15 catalyst. The catalyst with different Si/Al ratio was synthesized by isomorphous substitution of aluminium into the framework of siliceous SBA-15. The structural integrity of the catalyst system was diagnosed with the help of various characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction, surface analysis, and the acidity measurement has been done by TPD using ammonia as probe molecule. AlSBA-15 (Si/Al = 10) exhibited highest catalytic activity in the synthesis of MPC under the reaction conditions studied. The effect of parameters such as molar ratio of reactants, catalyst concentration, reaction temperature and time on the conversion of aniline was investigated. The results demonstrated that an aniline conversion of 99% and MPC selectivity of 71% were achieved when the reaction was carried out at 100 °C, DMC to aniline mole ratio of 10 with 5% of catalyst (wt% of total reaction mixture) for 3 h