Narcissus in Queer Time

Queer temporality has been studied in relation to the Middle Ages as a means of questioning the prevailing historiography for other modes of connection to the past, such as embodied or affective. Conversely, the other branch of queer temporality has been primarily interested in how queer lifestyles today disrupt the heteronormative plan laid out by society. Joining these modes, Gower’s revision of Narcissus questions our notions of historiography through showing us an example of a queer, transgender character and his struggles with heteronormative expectations—demonstrating that the medieval is not so disconnected from the modern

Pointwise convergence of vector-valued Fourier series

We prove a vector-valued version of Carleson's theorem: Let Y=[X,H]_t be a complex interpolation space between a UMD space X and a Hilbert space H. For p\in(1,\infty) and f\in L^p(T;Y), the partial sums of the Fourier series of f converge to f pointwise almost everywhere. Apparently, all known examples of UMD spaces are of this intermediate form Y=[X,H]_t. In particular, we answer affirmatively a question of Rubio de Francia on the pointwise convergence of Fourier series of Schatten class valued functions.Comment: 26 page

A lower bound in Nehari's theorem on the polydisc

By theorems of Ferguson and Lacey (d=2) and Lacey and Terwilleger (d>2), Nehari's theorem is known to hold on the polydisc D^d for d>1, i.e., if H_\psi is a bounded Hankel form on H^2(D^d) with analytic symbol \psi, then there is a function \phi in L^\infty(\T^d) such that \psi is the Riesz projection of \phi. A method proposed in Helson's last paper is used to show that the constant C_d in the estimate \|\phi\|_\infty\le C_d \|H_\psi\| grows at least exponentially with d; it follows that there is no analogue of Nehari's theorem on the infinite-dimensional polydisc

Influence of finite volume and magnetic field effects on the QCD phase diagram

The Polyakov linear sigma model (PLSM) is used to investigate the respective influence of a finite volume and a magnetic field on the quark-hadron phase boundary in the plane of baryon chemical potential ($\mu_{B}$) vs. temperature ($T$) of the QCD phase diagram. The calculated results indicate sizable shifts of the quark-hadron phase boundary to lower values of $(\mu_{B}~\text{and}~T)$ for increasing magnetic field strength, and an opposite shift to higher values of $(\mu_{B}~\text{and}~T)$ for decreasing system volume. Such shifts could have important implications for extraction of the thermodynamic properties of the QCD phase diagram from heavy ion data

Initial temperature and EoS of quark matter from direct photons

The time evolution of the quark gluon plasma created in gold-gold collisions of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) can be described by hydrodynamical models. Distribution of hadrons reflects the freeze-out state of the matter. To investigate the time evolution one needs to analyze penetrating probes, such as direct photon spectra. Distributions of low energy photons was published in 2010 by PHENIX. In this paper we analyze a 3+1 dimensional solution of relativistic hydrodynamics and calculate momentum distribution of direct photons. Using earlier fits of this model to hadronic spectra, we compare photon calculations to measurements and find that the initial temperature of the center of the fireball is at least 519+-12 MeV, while for the equation of state we get c_s= 0.36+-0.02.Comment: Talk at the VI Workshop on Particle Correlations and Femtoscopy, Kiev, September 14-18, 2010. 6 pages, 1 figure. This work was supported by the OTKA grant NK73143 and M. Csanad's Bolyai scholarshi

Transparency in mineral extraction: the commodity story, the Dodd-Frank, and the emergence of \u27conflict-free\u27

The U.S. Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 includes two sections impacting the nonfuel minerals industries: the first targets \u27conflict minerals,\u27 and the second is centered on extractive industry transparency. Seeking to explain the importance of extractive industries in the creation of the modern context, my thesis begins with the commodity story of digital technology. In an era characterized by an increased curiosity into the origin of things, my work focuses on the resource geographies of minerals under neoliberalism to explain the reasons bringing extractive industry transparency onto the global agenda. After situating the issue within the global historical context and exploring the environmental and social injustices associated with mineral extraction, the importance of transparency initiatives is clear. The conflict minerals law is designed to sever the link between armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the trade of minerals necessary in digital technology. In doing so, measures included in the law will help inform consumers whether or not producers of digital technology are sourcing minerals from belligerents in central Africa. The very process this U.S. legislation seeks to disentangle is the global commodity chain created by the expansion of neoliberal capitalism. My research illuminates the challenges in the first attempt to systematically certify metallic minerals as well as the political mechanisms currently underway to increase transparency in nonfuel mineral extraction and production

Identification of the YfgF MASE1 domain as a modulator of bacterial responses to aspartate

Complex 3'-5'-cyclic diguanylic acid (c-di-GMP) responsive regulatory networks that are modulated by the action of multiple diguanylate cyclases (DGC; GGDEF domain proteins) and phosphodiesterases (PDE; EAL domain proteins) have evolved in many bacteria. YfgF proteins possess a membrane-anchoring domain (MASE1), a catalytically inactive GGDEF domain and a catalytically active EAL domain. Here, sustained expression of the Salmonella enterica spp. Enterica ser. Enteritidis YfgF protein is shown to mediate inhibition of the formation of the aspartate chemotactic ring on motility agar under aerobic conditions. This phenomenon was c-di-GMP-independent because it occurred in a Salmonella strain that lacked the ability to synthesize c-di-GMP and also when PDE activity was abolished by site-directed mutagenesis of the EAL domain. YfgF-mediated inhibition of aspartate chemotactic ring formation was impaired in the altered redox environment generated by exogenous p-benzoquinone. This ability of YfgF to inhibit the response to aspartate required a motif, (213)Lys-Lys-Glu(215), in the predicted cytoplasmic loop between trans-membrane regions 5 and 6 of the MASE1 domain. Thus, for the first time the function of a MASE1 domain as a redox-responsive regulator of bacterial responses to aspartate has been shown