Introducing rigor to the teaching of interpretive methods

I offer several remarks on the way I introduce interpretive methods within a course on research design and intend to approach a new course devoted to a more systematic exposition of interpretivism and its methods. Due to space limitations, I signal the key issues that must be addressed and offer two examples of specific analyses, as the devil tends to be in detail

Interview with Prof. Jan Kubik: The FATIGUE Project

SCIENTIST-IN-CHARGE AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE FATIGUE PROJECT, PROFESSOR JAN KUBIK, IN CONVERSATION WITH SLOVO’S EXECUTIVE EDITOR BORIMIR TOTEV. Prof. Jan Kubik was the Director of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies between January 2015 and August 2017, as well as Pro-Vice Provost for Europe at University College London. Kubik works on the interplay between power (politics) and culture, protest politics and social movements, and post-communist transformations. He also writes about qualitative methods in the social sciences. His first and one of the most recent books, ‘The Power of Symbols against the Symbols of Power’ (Penn State Press) and ‘Anthropology and Political Science’ (Berghahn, with Myron Aronoff) are the best exemplifications of his approach. Kubik studies politics and culture comparatively, but the principal source of his observations and data are Poland and East Central Europe. Since 1991 he has taught in the Department of Political Science at Rutgers University, where he once served as the Chair. He has lectured around the world and has held several prestigious teaching posts and fellowships, including the Graduate School of Social Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences

Beyond “Making Poland Great Again.” Nostalgia in Polish Populist and Non-populist Discourses

Nostalgia can be triggered not only by personal recollections but also by exposure to narratives or images evoking desirable pasts, more or less fictional, and inducing feelings of longing for them. We analyze the institutional and semiotic machinery involved in the cultural construction of nostalgia in Poland and its role in generating sentiments that predispose people to support populist—particularly right-wing populist—ideology. While various political options use semiotic vehicles of nostalgia designed to engender nostalgic sentiments, we argue that there are systematic differences of content and form between politically useful invocations of nostalgia, related to the ideology of their proponents. We further posit that right-wing populist nostalgia invokes not only national greatness but also national innocence. We also identify specific features of such nostalgic discourses. The empirical material for our four cases ranges from textual and film narratives, through images and performances, to large-scale exhibitions and museal projects. To analyze their content and determine the form of politicization we build upon the conceptual apparatus developed by Svetlana Boym (reflective versus restorative nostalgia), Jan Assmann (communicative versus cultural memory), and Northrop Frye (low mimetic versus high mimetic narrative forms). The analysis relies on Geertzian “thick description” and the extended case study method

Anti-Authoritarian Learning: Prospects for Democratization in Belarus Based on a Study of Polish Solidarity

This article examines the anti-Lukashenka protest movement in Belarus by comparing it to the Solidarity movement in Poland. We organize our analysis around the concept of four stages identifiable in the de-velopment of social movements: emergence, coalescence, bureaucratization, and decline. We argue that protests in Belarus reached the bureaucratization stage, but their transformation into a more durable movement was slowed down by the brutal repressions unleashed by the Lukashenka regime propped up by Putin’s Russia. However, the spectacular changes in people’s conceptions of national identity built around symbols different from those associated with the officialdom may sustain emotional mobilization necessary for formation of higher levels of organizations in the oppressive context of today’s Belarus. The contours of this process are brought into sharp relief when compared with the long, cumulative tra-jectory of the 1956-89 anti-authoritarian Polish revolts. This opens the way for cautious prognostication

Odsalanie powierzchni zabytkowych wypraw

In the paper the preliminary laboratory tests of desalination with the use of lignin poultices were made, often utilized in the maintenance of monumental buildings. In addition, the method of determining of the desalination efficiency was also proposed.W referacie wykonano wstępne badania odsalania z wykorzystaniem okładów z ligniny, często stosowanych w konserwacji obiektów zabytkowych. Zaproponowano metodykę szacowania efektywności tych zabiegów z wykorzystaniem modelu przepływów przypowierzchniowych

Myopia disease mouse models: a missense point mutation (S673G) and a protein-truncating mutation of the Zfp644 mimic human disease phenotype.

Zinc finger 644 (Zfp644 in mouse, ZNF644 in human) gene is a transcription factor whose mutation S672G is considered a potential genetic factor of inherited high myopia. ZNF644 interacts with G9a/GLP complex, which functions as a H3K9 methyltransferase to silence transcription. In this study, we generated mouse models to unravel the mechanisms leading to symptoms associated with high myopia. Employing TALEN technology, two mice mutants were generated, either with the disease-carrying mutation (Zfp644 S673G ) or with a truncated form of Zfp644 (Zfp644 Δ8 ). Eye morphology and visual functions were analysed in both mutants, revealing a significant difference in a vitreous chamber depth and lens diameter, however the physiological function of retina was preserved as found under the high-myopia conditions. Our findings prove that ZNF644/Zfp644 is involved in the development of high-myopia, indicating that mutations such as, Zfp644 S673G and Zfp644 Δ8 are causative for changes connected with the disease. The developed models represent a valuable tool to investigate the molecular basis of myopia pathogenesis and its potential treatment

Differential contributions of specimen types, culturing, and 16S rRNA sequencing in diagnosis of prosthetic joint infections

ABSTRACT Prosthetic joint failure is mainly caused by infection, aseptic failure (AF), and mechanical problems. Infection detection has been improved with modified culture methods and molecular diagnostics. However, comparisons between modified and conventional microbiology methods are difficult due to variations in specimen sampling. In this prospective, multidisciplinary study of hip or knee prosthetic failures, we assessed the contributions of different specimen types, extended culture incubations, and 16S rRNA sequencing for diagnosing prosthetic joint infections (PJI). Project specimens included joint fluid (JF), bone biopsy specimens (BB), soft-tissue biopsy specimens (STB), and swabs (SW) from the prosthesis, collected in situ , and sonication fluid collected from prosthetic components (PC). Specimens were cultured for 6 (conventional) or 14 days, and 16S rRNA sequencing was performed at study completion. Of the 156 patients enrolled, 111 underwent 114 surgical revisions (cases) due to indications of either PJI ( n = 43) or AF ( n = 71). Conventional tissue biopsy cultures confirmed PJI in 28/43 (65%) cases and refuted AF in 3/71 (4%) cases; one case was not evaluable. Based on these results, minor diagnostic adjustments were made. Fourteen-day cultures of JF, STB, and PC specimens confirmed PJI in 39/42 (93%) cases, and 16S rRNA sequencing confirmed PJI in 33/42 (83%) cases. One PJI case was confirmed with 16S rRNA sequencing alone and five with cultures of project specimens alone. These findings indicated that JF, STB, and PC specimen cultures qualified as an optimal diagnostic set. The contribution of sequencing to diagnosis of PJI may depend on patient selection; this hypothesis requires further investigation. </jats:p

Beryllium isotopes in central Arctic Ocean sediments over the past 12.3 million years: Stratigraphic and paleoclimatic implications

The upper 200 m of the sediments recovered during IODP Leg 302, the Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX), to the Lomonosov Ridge in the central Arctic Ocean consist almost exclusively of detrital material. The scarcity of biostratigraphic markers severely complicates the establishment of a reliable chronostratigraphic framework for these sediments, which contain the first continuous record of the Neogene environmental and climatic evolution of the Arctic region. Here we present profiles of cosmogenic 10Be together with the seawater-derived fraction of stable 9Be obtained from the ACEX cores. The down-core decrease of 10Be/9Be provides an average sedimentation rate of 14.5 ± 1 m/Ma for the uppermost 151 m of the ACEX record and allows the establishment of a chronostratigraphy for the past 12.3 Ma. The age-corrected 10Be concentrations and 10Be/9Be ratios suggest the existence of an essentially continuous sea ice cover over the past 12.3 Ma