The Turning Wheel of Hostility: The E.T.A. in Literature and Film in Spain Since the 1970s.

Through an analysis of the terrorist subject, focused on the Basque separatist organization known as the E.T.A (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, 1959-2011), this dissertation demonstrates that a paradigm of war continues to structure Spanish politics. Scholars in Spanish cultural studies often avoid the contentious core of separatist violence, focusing instead on questions of identity, on the victims, or on the E.T.A's value as a historical reference. Faced with these positions, it is more important than ever to redirect critical attention to the intertwined realties of Spain's democratic present and its conflictive past. This study begins by considering the goals of the E.T.A and the paradigm of war that shapes the group, based on Carl Schmitt's understanding of politics as enmity. In this light, the E.T.A.'s assassination in 1973 of Spanish Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco, as retold in Eva Forest's Operación Ogro (1974), is analyzed as an act of war rather than a symbol for political transformation. This is developed through Rancière's critique of consensus in Dis-agreement and Derrida's work on hospitality. Then, the film La fuga de Segovia (Imanol Uribe, 1981) is read as emphasizing a practice of freedom, presented in Jean-Luc Nancy's terms, with unique implications for the functioning of democracy. Next, the split nature of subjectivity is examined in Ramón Saizarbitoria's novel Hamaika pauso/Los pasos incontables (1995). With the help of Derrida's discussion of a passive decision in The Politics of Friendship, it is argued that true decision is conditioned by the unconscious and, thus, cannot guarantee a specific political outcome. Finally, in a discussion of the consequences of symbolic and structural violence via Zizek and Derrida, it is shown that Spain's fixation on the victim's of terrorism results in the nullification of the political subject, risking the suppression of historical memory. This emptying of the political subject is problematized through a reading of Jaime Rosales's film, Tiro en la cabeza (2008), which proposes that reflections on memory and the victim must relate differently to death since it is human finitude (rather than the duration of memory) that makes a thinking of the past significant.PhDRomance Languages and Literatures: SpanishUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113544/1/collinge_1.pd

Using Narrow Band Photometry to Detect Young Brown Dwarfs in IC348

We report the discovery of a population of young brown dwarf candidates in the open star cluster IC348 and the development of a new spectroscopic classification technique using narrow band photometry. Observations were made using FLITECAM, the First Light Camera for SOFIA, at the 3-m Shane Telescope at Lick Observatory. FLITECAM is a new 1-5 micron camera with an 8 arcmin field of view. Custom narrow band filters were developed to detect absorption features of water vapor (at 1.495 microns) and methane (at 1.66 microns) characteristic of brown dwarfs. These filters enable spectral classification of stars and brown dwarfs without spectroscopy. FLITECAM's narrow and broadband photometry was verified by examining the color-color and color-magnitude characteristics of stars whose spectral type and reddening was known from previous surveys. Using our narrow band filter photometry method, it was possible to identify an object measured with a signal-to-noise ratio of 20 or better to within +/-3 spectral class subtypes for late-type stars. With this technique, very deep images of the central region of IC348 (H ~ 20.0) have identified 18 sources as possible L or T dwarf candidates. Out of these 18, we expect that between 3 - 6 of these objects are statistically likely to be background stars, with the remainder being true low-mass members of the cluster. If confirmed as cluster members then these are very low-mass objects (~5 Mjupiter). We also describe how two additional narrow band filters can improve the contrast between M, L, and T dwarfs as well as provide a means to determine the reddening of an individual object.Comment: 43 pages, 17 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal 27 June 200

Patterns of Resource Use by a Drosophilid (Diptera) Leaf Miner on a Native Crucifer

Distribution and damage of Scaptomyza nigrita Wheeler on its host (bittercress, Cardamine cordifolia A. Gray), a native perennial crucifer, were examined over two growing seasons in relation to leaf position. Concentrations of defensive compounds (glucosinolates) and of nutritive compounds (total nitrogen, free amino acids, soluble carbohydrates) were also examined. The fly-host plant relationship was studied in sun and shade habitats at two sites. Oviposition and leaf-mining damage were concentrated on the lower central leaves of a stem in both habitats. These mature leaves have lower glucosinolate concentrations than new leaves. Adult densities and larval feeding damage were consistently and significantly greater on plants in the sun than on those in the shade. Higher S. nigrita densities in the sun habitat and slightly higher soluble carbohydrate concentrations in sun leaves at the beginning of the growing season, rather than variation in defensive glucosinolate levels, are the most likely mechanisms determining higher levels of leaf mining on host plants in the sun habitat

\u3ci\u3eScaptomyza nigrita\u3c/i\u3e Wheeler (Diptera: Drosophilidae), a Leaf Miner of the Native Crucifer, \u3ci\u3eCardamine cordifolia\u3c/i\u3e A. Gray (Bittercress)

The biology of Scaptomyza nigrita on its host plant, a native crucifer (Bittercress) in the Rocky Mountains, is described. Development of each stage in the life history was studied both in the field and in the laboratory. This is the first documentation of a host for S. nigrita. We examined the activity of adult flies in two adjacent habitats, sun and adjacent willow shade. Adult flies were more abundant on bittercress plants in sun-exposed versus in shaded areas, and were most active from mid-day to late afternoon. Female flies were significantly larger than male flies, but there were no differences in size of adults between the two habitats. Larval damage to bittercress is generally much greater on plants in sunny areas than on those in the shade, possibly due to the increased activity of ovipositing flies in sun-exposed areas

Phenotypic heterogeneity and genetic modification of P102L inherited prion disease in an international series

The largest kindred with inherited prion disease P102L, historically Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome, originates from central England, with émigrés now resident in various parts of the English-speaking world. We have collected data from 84 patients in the large UK kindred and numerous small unrelated pedigrees to investigate phenotypic heterogeneity and modifying factors. This collection represents by far the largest series of P102L patients so far reported. Microsatellite and genealogical analyses of eight separate European kindreds support multiple distinct mutational events at a cytosine-phosphate diester-guanidine dinucleotide mutation hot spot. All of the smaller P102L kindreds were linked to polymorphic human prion protein gene codon 129M and were not connected by genealogy or microsatellite haplotype background to the large kindred or each other. While many present with classical Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome, a slowly progressive cerebellar ataxia with later onset cognitive impairment, there is remarkable heterogeneity. A subset of patients present with prominent cognitive and psychiatric features and some have met diagnostic criteria for sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. We show that polymorphic human prion protein gene codon 129 modifies age at onset: the earliest eight clinical onsets were all MM homozygotes and overall age at onset was 7 years earlier for MM compared with MV heterozygotes (P = 0.02). Unexpectedly, apolipoprotein E4 carriers have a delayed age of onset by 10 years (P = 0.02). We found a preponderance of female patients compared with males (54 females versus 30 males, P = 0.01), which probably relates to ascertainment bias. However, these modifiers had no impact on a semi-quantitative pathological phenotype in 10 autopsied patients. These data allow an appreciation of the range of clinical phenotype, modern imaging and molecular investigation and should inform genetic counselling of at-risk individuals, with the identification of two genetic modifiers

Chronic wasting disease prions are not transmissible to transgenic mice overexpressing human prion protein

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease that affects free-ranging and captive cervids, including mule deer, white-tailed deer, Rocky Mountain elk and moose. CWD-infected cervids have been reported in 14 USA states, two Canadian provinces and in South Korea. The possibility of a zoonotic transmission of CWD prions via diet is of particular concern in North America where hunting of cervids is a popular sport. To investigate the potential public health risks posed by CWD prions, we have investigated whether intracerebral inoculation of brain and spinal cord from CWD-infected mule deer transmits prion infection to transgenic mice overexpressing human prion protein with methionine or valine at polymorphic residue 129. These transgenic mice have been utilized in extensive transmission studies of human and animal prion disease and are susceptible to BSE and vCJD prions, allowing comparison with CWD. Here, we show that these mice proved entirely resistant to infection with mule deer CWD prions arguing that the transmission barrier associated with this prion strain/host combination is greater than that observed with classical BSE prions. However, it is possible that CWD may be caused by multiple prion strains. Further studies will be required to evaluate the transmission properties of distinct cervid prion strains as they are characterized

Structural differences in amyloid-β fibrils from brains of non-demented elderly individuals and Alzheimer's disease patients

Although amyloid plaques composed of fibrillar amyloid-β (Aβ) assemblies are a diagnostic hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), quantities of amyloid similar to those in AD patients are observed in brain tissue of some nondemented elderly individuals. The relationship between amyloid deposition and neurodegeneration in AD has, therefore, been unclear. Here, we use solid-state NMR to investigate whether molecular structures of Aβ fibrils from brain tissue of nondemented elderly individuals with high amyloid loads differ from structures of Aβ fibrils from AD tissue. Two-dimensional solid-state NMR spectra of isotopically labeled Aβ fibrils, prepared by seeded growth from frontal lobe tissue extracts, are similar in the two cases but with statistically significant differences in intensity distributions of cross-peak signals. Differences in solid-state NMR data are greater for 42-residue amyloid-β (Aβ42) fibrils than for 40-residue amyloid-β (Aβ40) fibrils. These data suggest that similar sets of fibril polymorphs develop in nondemented elderly individuals and AD patients but with different relative populations on average

Absence of spontaneous disease and comparative prion susceptibility of transgenic mice expressing mutant human prion proteins

Approximately 15 % of human prion disease is associated with autosomal-dominant pathogenic mutations in the prion protein (PrP) gene. Previous attempts to model these diseases in mice have expressed human PrP mutations in murine PrP, but this may have different structural consequences. Here, we describe transgenic mice expressing human PrP with P102L or E200K mutations and methionine (M) at the polymorphic residue 129. Although no spontaneous disease developed in aged animals, these mice were readily susceptible to prion infection from patients with the homotypic pathogenic mutation. However, while variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) prions transmitted infection efficiently to both lines of mice, markedly different susceptibilities to classical (sporadic and iatrogenic) CJD prions were observed. Prions from E200K and classical CJD M129 homozygous patients, transmitted disease with equivalent efficiencies and short incubation periods in human PrP 200K, 129M transgenic mice. However, mismatch at residue 129 between inoculum and host dramatically increased the incubation period. In human PrP 102L, 129M transgenic mice, short disease incubation periods were only observed with transmissions of prions from P102L patients, whereas classical CJD prions showed prolonged and variable incubation periods irrespective of the codon 129 genotype. Analysis of disease-related PrP (PrPSc) showed marked alteration in the PrPSc glycoform ratio propagated after transmission of classical CJD prions, consistent with the PrP point mutations directly influencing PrPSc assembly. These data indicate that P102L or E200K mutations of human PrP have differing effects on prion propagation that depend upon prion strain type and can be significantly influenced by mismatch at the polymorphic residue 129