Women Directors on the Edge of Hollywood: Agnès Varda/Shirley Clarke in and beyond Lions Love (1969)

This chapter explores the cultural history around Agnès Varda’s English-language film Lions Love (… and Lies) (1969). Partially an auto-fiction inspired by Varda’s own troubled experience with the Hollywood film industry, the film follows New York filmmaker Shirley Clarke as she stays in Los Angeles to negotiate a studio contract. I propose a reading of Lions Love that centers how Varda’s and Clarke’s individual experiences meet and unfold amidst the social, political, and industrial movements in the late 1960s. In part through casting, the film uses self-reflexivity as social critique to expose the structural exclusion facing women directors in the 1960s, even as the women’s liberation movement and other countercultural forces were underway. This study integrates production cultures, film history, and women’s studies, examining Lions Love alongside published interviews and autobiographies to re/construct Varda’s and Clarke’s experiences in-between Hollywood, the French New Wave, and the New American Cinema movement

7 Things You Should Know About Miquela @lilmiquela

Miquela (@lilmiquela) is an avatar Instagrammer programmed as a 19-year-old Brown Brazilian-American female influencer and musician. She has garnered a significant amount of popularity, controversies, and hatred as an “it” influencer. A popular transmedia storytelling project like Miquela can provide additional insights toward how social media images deliver technocultural imaginaries. Popular social media narrative and image constructions of Miquela point to certain underlying issues around race and gender in the digital culture, including habits and performativity, forgotten histories, and the digital updates of oppression

CFD-DEM modeling of fluidized beds with heat production: Influence of the particle size distribution and heat source

Gas-phase polyolefin polymerization processes are executed in fluidized beds. The particles often have a broad particle size distribution (PSD) due to a variety of factors (e.g. residence time distribution, initial catalyst size distribution, different rate of catalyst activity decay, etc.). The heat transfer phenomena of particles in poly-disperse beds with different particle size distributions have been numerically analyzed using an in-house developed 3-D computational fluid dynamics and discrete element model (CFD-DEM) (1). Simulations have been carried out for beds with Gaussian PSD’s using three different distribution widths, viz. a narrow, medium and broad distribution (see figure 1), but with the same Sauter mean diameter (d3,2=1.2 mm). The thermal energy equation of the particles contain a heat source related to the heat of reaction. Two cases were considered: a constant volumetric heat production (qv, [W/m3]) and a constant heat source per particle (Q, [W]) to represent different systems, respectively the heat production in normal catalytic reactions and polymerization reactions. The results from the probability distribution function (PDF) of the particle temperature show that the temperature distribution in the fluidized bed is strongly affected by the width of the particle size distribution, the magnitude of the heat source and the superficial gas velocity. The results from the temperature contour show the relation between the temperature distribution and the particle size (see figure 2). It was found that small particles (fines) with high heat production cause hot spots formation in the bed, which has been frequently observed in polymerization reactors. It was also found that operating the bed with a relatively high superficial velocity cannot limit the number of particles in the high temperature region. Furthermore, snapshots of the fluidized beds demonstrate that these small particles have higher chance to be found on the top of the bed and in the vicinity of the side walls of the reactor. The former is due to minor size segregation in the vertical direction, the latter is caused by preferential particle motion. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Experimental and simulation study on heat transfer in fluidized beds with heat production: An integrated DIA/PIV/IR technique and CFD-DEM

As a result of highly exothermic reactions taking place in gas-phase olefin polymerization fluidized bed reactors, difficulties concerning the heat management play an important role in the optimization of these reactors. To get a better understanding of the particle temperature distribution in fluidized beds, a high speed infrared (IR) camera and a visual camera have been coupled to obtain the hydrodynamics and thermal aspects of a pseudo-2D fluidized bed (1), as shown in figure 1. The hydrodynamics are characterized by digital image analysis and particle image velocimetry (DIA/PIV) and the heat properties by IR. The experimental data is used to validate an in-house developed computational fluid dynamics and discrete element model (CFD-DEM). In order to mimic the heat effect due to the exothermic polymerization reaction in the pseudo-2D fluidized bed reactor, a model system was used. In this model system, heat is released in zeolite 13X particles (1.8~2.0 mm) due the adsorption of CO­2. Characteristics of the adsorption kinetics, isotherm and reaction enthalpy have been achieved by performing Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Simultaneous Thermal Analysis (STA). By feeding gas mixtures of CO­2 and N2 uniformly to the reactor, the rate of adsorption can be controlled in order to obtain a pseudo-steady state of heat production in the bed. The combined technique provides insightful information on the particle temperature distribution for different CO2 concentrations, bed aspect ratios and background superficial velocities. Furthermore, the comparison of the spatial and temporal distribution of the particle temperature distribution in fluidized beds with the simulation results of CFD-DEM provides qualitative and quantitative validation of the CFD-DEM, in particular concerning the thermal aspects. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Primary adenomyoepithelioma of tonsil

We present a case of adenomyoepithlioma (AME) arising from the tonsil. AME is an uncommon tumor that typically arises in breast, but rarely found in salivary glands, lung, and skin. Its biological features have not been thoroughly characterized. Here we describe a primary AME originating from the tonsil. The pathologic changes were characterized by hypercellularity, the dominance of both epithelial and myoepithelial cells. Malignancy was evidenced by the presence of a high mitotic rate and invasive growth. The epithelial cells express high levels of cytokeratin and epithelial membrane antigen (EMA). The myoepithelial cells show positive staining for calponin, p63, vimentin, and S-100. A thorough review of the literature indicates that this is likely the first reported case of AME from the tonsil. Following descriptions of the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of this specific case, pathologic and clinical characteristics of AME from other tissues are also compiled and discussed

Single-dose administration and the influence of the timing of the booster dose on immunogenicity and efficacy of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine: a pooled analysis of four randomised trials.

BACKGROUND: The ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine has been approved for emergency use by the UK regulatory authority, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, with a regimen of two standard doses given with an interval of 4-12 weeks. The planned roll-out in the UK will involve vaccinating people in high-risk categories with their first dose immediately, and delivering the second dose 12 weeks later. Here, we provide both a further prespecified pooled analysis of trials of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and exploratory analyses of the impact on immunogenicity and efficacy of extending the interval between priming and booster doses. In addition, we show the immunogenicity and protection afforded by the first dose, before a booster dose has been offered. METHODS: We present data from three single-blind randomised controlled trials-one phase 1/2 study in the UK (COV001), one phase 2/3 study in the UK (COV002), and a phase 3 study in Brazil (COV003)-and one double-blind phase 1/2 study in South Africa (COV005). As previously described, individuals 18 years and older were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive two standard doses of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (5 × 1010 viral particles) or a control vaccine or saline placebo. In the UK trial, a subset of participants received a lower dose (2·2 × 1010 viral particles) of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 for the first dose. The primary outcome was virologically confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 disease, defined as a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT)-positive swab combined with at least one qualifying symptom (fever ≥37·8°C, cough, shortness of breath, or anosmia or ageusia) more than 14 days after the second dose. Secondary efficacy analyses included cases occuring at least 22 days after the first dose. Antibody responses measured by immunoassay and by pseudovirus neutralisation were exploratory outcomes. All cases of COVID-19 with a NAAT-positive swab were adjudicated for inclusion in the analysis by a masked independent endpoint review committee. The primary analysis included all participants who were SARS-CoV-2 N protein seronegative at baseline, had had at least 14 days of follow-up after the second dose, and had no evidence of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection from NAAT swabs. Safety was assessed in all participants who received at least one dose. The four trials are registered at ISRCTN89951424 (COV003) and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04324606 (COV001), NCT04400838 (COV002), and NCT04444674 (COV005). FINDINGS: Between April 23 and Dec 6, 2020, 24 422 participants were recruited and vaccinated across the four studies, of whom 17 178 were included in the primary analysis (8597 receiving ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and 8581 receiving control vaccine). The data cutoff for these analyses was Dec 7, 2020. 332 NAAT-positive infections met the primary endpoint of symptomatic infection more than 14 days after the second dose. Overall vaccine efficacy more than 14 days after the second dose was 66·7% (95% CI 57·4-74·0), with 84 (1·0%) cases in the 8597 participants in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group and 248 (2·9%) in the 8581 participants in the control group. There were no hospital admissions for COVID-19 in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group after the initial 21-day exclusion period, and 15 in the control group. 108 (0·9%) of 12 282 participants in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group and 127 (1·1%) of 11 962 participants in the control group had serious adverse events. There were seven deaths considered unrelated to vaccination (two in the ChAdOx1 nCov-19 group and five in the control group), including one COVID-19-related death in one participant in the control group. Exploratory analyses showed that vaccine efficacy after a single standard dose of vaccine from day 22 to day 90 after vaccination was 76·0% (59·3-85·9). Our modelling analysis indicated that protection did not wane during this initial 3-month period. Similarly, antibody levels were maintained during this period with minimal waning by day 90 (geometric mean ratio [GMR] 0·66 [95% CI 0·59-0·74]). In the participants who received two standard doses, after the second dose, efficacy was higher in those with a longer prime-boost interval (vaccine efficacy 81·3% [95% CI 60·3-91·2] at ≥12 weeks) than in those with a short interval (vaccine efficacy 55·1% [33·0-69·9] at <6 weeks). These observations are supported by immunogenicity data that showed binding antibody responses more than two-fold higher after an interval of 12 or more weeks compared with an interval of less than 6 weeks in those who were aged 18-55 years (GMR 2·32 [2·01-2·68]). INTERPRETATION: The results of this primary analysis of two doses of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 were consistent with those seen in the interim analysis of the trials and confirm that the vaccine is efficacious, with results varying by dose interval in exploratory analyses. A 3-month dose interval might have advantages over a programme with a short dose interval for roll-out of a pandemic vaccine to protect the largest number of individuals in the population as early as possible when supplies are scarce, while also improving protection after receiving a second dose. FUNDING: UK Research and Innovation, National Institutes of Health Research (NIHR), The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lemann Foundation, Rede D'Or, the Brava and Telles Foundation, NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Thames Valley and South Midland's NIHR Clinical Research Network, and AstraZeneca