Action in culture : act I of the presidential primary campaign in the U.S., April to December, 2015

This article offers a thick description of the United States during the first nine months of the 2016 presidential election competition. It argues that this competition is organized in a theatrical way, and that this period, from April to December 2015, represents act one of the drama. It argues that performances in act one contribute to setting the cultural and interpretive conditions in which citizens will enter and act back on the drama in its subsequent acts, in state primaries and caucuses, and in the general election in November 2016. Building on the works of Roland Barthes and Clifford Geertz, the article gives a structural, or semiotic, interpretation of the dominant symbols and discourses operating in the dramatic field, and using Alexander’s cultural pragmatics, it identifies and analyzes key performances given by candidates Clinton and Trump, which crystalized particular meaning formations and lent the proceedings a sense of dynamism and flow. The article demonstrates how analyzing performances in a manner consistent with cultural pragmatic theory contributes to research on electoral politics, political authority, and legitimation processes

Effect of spatial confinement on magnetic hyperthermia via dipolar interactions in Fe3O4 nanoparticles for biomedical applications

In this work, the effect of nanoparticle confinement on the magnetic relaxation of iron oxide (Fe 3 O 4 ) nanoparticles (NP) was investigated by measuring the hyperthermia heating behavior in high frequency alternating magnetic field. Three different Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticle systems having distinct nanoparticle configurations were studied in terms of magnetic hyperthermia heating rate and DC magnetization. All magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) systems were constructed using equivalent~10 nm diameter NP that were structured differently in terms of configuration, physical confinement, and interparticle spacing. The spatial confinement was achieved by embedding the Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles in the matrices of the polystyrene spheres of 100 nm, while the unconfined was the free Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles well-dispersed in the liquid via PAA surface coating. Assuming the identical core MNPs in each system, the heating behavior was analyzed in terms of particle freedom (or confinement), interparticle spacing, and magnetic coupling (or dipole-dipole interaction). DC magnetization data were correlated to the heating behavior with different material properties. Analysis of DC magnetization measurements showed deviation from classical Langevin behavior near saturation due to dipole interaction modification of the MNPs resulting in a high magnetic anisotropy. It was found that the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) of the unconfined nanoparticle systems were significantly higher than those of confined (the MNPs embedded in the polystyrene matrix). This increase of SAR was found to be attributable to high Néel relaxation rate and hysteresis loss of the unconfined MNPs. It was also found that the dipole-dipole interactions can significantly reduce the global magnetic response of the MNPs and thereby decrease the SAR of the nanoparticle systems

Visualizing Tree Structures in Genetic Programming

This paper presents methods to visualize the structure of trees that occur in genetic programming. These methods allow for the inspection of structure of entire trees even though several thousands of nodes may be involved. The methods also scale to allow for the inspection of structure for entire populations and for complete trials even though millions of nodes may be involved. Examples are given that demonstrate how this new way of “seeing” can afford a potentially rich way of understanding dynamics that underpin genetic programming. The examples indicate further studies that might be enabled by visualizing structure at these scales.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45620/1/10710_2005_Article_7621.pd

Minimum Information about a Biosynthetic Gene cluster

A wide variety of enzymatic pathways that produce specialized metabolites in bacteria, fungi and plants are known to be encoded in biosynthetic gene clusters. Information about these clusters, pathways and metabolites is currently dispersed throughout the literature, making it difficult to exploit. To facilitate consistent and systematic deposition and retrieval of data on biosynthetic gene clusters, we propose the Minimum Information about a Biosynthetic Gene cluster (MIBiG) data standard.Chemistry and Chemical Biolog

De l’essor de la performativité dans la politique-spectacle des démocraties de masse

Cet article traite de la montée de la performativité au sein de la politique-spectacle contemporaine. Il soutient qu’à mesure que les conditions sociales sont devenues fragmentées, les acteurs politiques ont été amenés à travailler de façon plus consciemment symbolique dans leur manière de communiquer et de convaincre leur public. Le concept de fragmentation (defusion) sera ici proposé. Celui-ci suggère que les acteurs politiques doivent désormais travailler de façon plus théâtrale pour incarner l’autorité dévolue à leurs charges. En examinant à la fois les changements dans les stratégies américaines présidentielles, la compréhension populaire de la citoyenneté, la production de nouvelles ainsi que les technologies médiatiques tout au cours du vingtième siècle, l’article explique comment la sphère polymorphe que l’on appelle politique s’est organisée de manière de plus en plus théâtrale.This paper examines the rise of performative politics, and argues that as social conditions have become increasingly “defused,” political actors have had to work in a more consciously symbolic way to communicate with and persuade their audiences. Defusion is introduced to suggest that political actors must work more routinely and dramatically to inhabit the authority rooted in their offices. Examining changes in presidential leadership strategies, public understandings of citizenship, and news production and media technologies over the course of the twentieth century, this article details how the amorphous arena we call politics has become increasingly organized in a theatrical way.Éste artículo trata sobre el aumento de la actuación en el seno de la política-espectáculo contemporánea. El mismo sostiene que a medida que las condiciones sociales se vuelven más fragmentadas, los actores políticos son conducidos a trabajar de manera más conscientemente simbólica en su manera de comunicarse y convencer a su público. En éste trabajo se propondrá el concepto de fragmentación. El mismo sugiere que a partir de ahora, los actores políticos deben trabajar de manera más teatral para encarnar la autoridad que les han delegado. Examinando a la vez los cambios dentro de las estrategias presidenciales, la comprensión popular de la ciudadanía, la producción de noticias así como también las tecnologías mediáticas que han tenido lugar a lo largo del siglo veintiuno, el artículo explica como la espera polimórfica que llamamos política, se organiza de manera más teatral

Cultural theory and its spaces for invention and innovation

This article approaches the topics of invention and innovation by way of cultural theory. Building on the works of Ferdinand de Saussure and John Austin, the article offers definitions of invention and innovation in semiotic and performative terms. It conceptualizes invention as a process of resignification, and frames innovation as a felicitous performative. Structuralist theory appears to foreclose the potential for these two terms to exist in the empirical world. This article explores these barriers but also locates conceptual spaces for invention and innovation, and identifies these phenomena as they occur in contemporary empirical sites

The effects of iron deficiency on lymphocyte cytokine production and activation: preservation of hepatic iron but not at all cost

Worldwide, over 40% of children have iron deficiency anaemia, frequently associated with infections. Certain cytokines are involved in both immune activation/response to infection and iron transport/metabolism. We therefore assessed the relations among iron deficiency, cytokine production and lymphocyte activation markers in 142 hospitalized Malawian children. We examined peripheral blood lymphocyte antigens/cytokine production using four- colour flow cytometry and serum transferrin receptor (TfR) levels, an inverse measure of iron status unaffected by acute illness or infection, with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Wilcoxon rank sum tests and logistic regression analyses (LRA) were performed. Iron deficiency (TfR ≥10 μg/ml) versus TfR < 10 μg/ml, was associated with higher percentages of lymphocytes producing: (a) induced or spontaneous IL-6 (medians: induced, 15·9% for iron-deficient children versus 8·8% for iron-replete children, P = 0·002; spontaneous, 24·4% versus 13·0%, P <0·001) and (b) induced IFN-γ (medians:18·4% versus 12·4%, P = 0·006). The percentages of CD8+ T cells spontaneously producing IL-6 and of all lymphocytes producing induced TNF-α and IFN-γ in the same cell had the strongest relationships to iron deficiency (b = + 0·0211, P = 0·005 and b = +0·1158, P = 0·012, respectively, LRA) and were also positively related to the co-expression of the T cell activation markers HLA DR and CD38. Severe iron deficiency (TfR ≥30 μg/ml) was associated with the percentage of lymphocytes producing induced IL-4 (medians: 0·5% versus 1·6%, P <0·010). The cytokine patterns associated with iron deficiency in our study would preserve iron stores but also preferentially retain the activation capabilities of T cells, albeit not necessarily other immune cells, until a critical level of iron depletion is reached