The Struggle is Real: Advocacy, Activism, and Agency in Young Adult Protagonists with Autism

While there is much research behind adolescent protagonists developing advocacy, activism, and agency in young adult literature in order to change the trajectory of their lives, fewer studies have examined adolescent protagonists with autism under similar circumstances. The image of the semi-comic, socially tragic autistic teenager is portrayed in the media more often than one who advocates for himself, takes action to be independent, and develops as an agent of change. This paper examines six award-winning young adult novels whose protagonists emerge as young people developing independence despite dealing with the challenges living with autism brings. How they exert this autonomy helps illustrate the multitude of ways in which teens handle frustration, challenges, and helplessness while managing a disability. Readers not only engage with teenagers facing obstacles, but also have the opportunity to develop a better understanding of their peers, a deeper sense of empathy, and empowerment to make changes in their own lives

Mimicking the ice recrystallization activity of biological antifreezes. When is a new polymer “active”?

Antifreeze proteins and ice‐binding proteins have been discovered in a diverse range of extremophiles and have the ability to modulate the growth and formation of ice crystals. Considering the importance of cryoscience across transport, biomedicine, and climate science, there is significant interest in developing synthetic macromolecular mimics of antifreeze proteins, in particular to reproduce their property of ice recrystallization inhibition (IRI). This activity is a continuum rather than an “on/off” property and there may be multiple molecular mechanisms which give rise to differences in this observable property; the limiting concentrations for ice growth vary by more than a thousand between an antifreeze glycoprotein and poly(vinyl alcohol), for example. The aim of this article is to provide a concise comparison of a range of natural and synthetic materials that are known to have IRI, thus providing a guide to see if a new synthetic mimic is active or not, including emerging materials which are comparatively weak compared to antifreeze proteins, but may have technological importance. The link between activity and the mechanisms involving either ice binding or amphiphilicity is discussed and known materials assigned into classes based on this