An experimental investigation of the magnetization of superconductors

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Performance insights: Site-specific theatre and performance with special reference to Deborah Warner, Peter Brook and Ariane Mnouchkine

This thesis aims to develop a critical vocabulary for dealing with site-specific performances. It focuses on their association with dereliction and decay and assesses the implications of this. A central claim is that these performance modes are best understood in terms of their critical reception. I argue that site-specific performances redefine the language of criticism while profoundly questioning theatre's cultural location. Even in the cases of site-specific performances that flagrantly negate traditional theatre forms, the theatre text and critical frameworks, these return in said performances as fragmented, spectral or unconscious. The thesis divides into two parts. Part 1 deals with the emergence of site-specific performance at the intersection of trends in art and theatre in the 1960s. It outlines the role of decay and the 'found' object/space in creating a genealogy for site-specific performances, while showing how critical writing changed to map this new terrain (Chapter 1). Furthermore, it argues that site-specific performances are characterized by distinctive modes of critical writing, in which the critic is self-reflexive and creative (Chapter 2). Arguing that critics are deeply implicated in the production of site-specific performances, Part 1 ends with a critical and creative reconstruction of Deborah Warner's use of abandoned sites for performances in London in the 1990s (Chapter 3). Part 2 of the thesis re-reads the creation of Peter Brook's Bouffes du Nord and Ariane Mnouchkine's Cartoucherie de Vincennes as site-specific events which were subsequently reinscribed as the defining moment in each theatre's history. I show how site-specificity changed from being a counter-cultural gesture into a constantly redeployed marker of cultural identification. Chapter 4 examines narratives of the discovery of the two theatre venues by their directors and critics, showing how site-specificity is produced at the intersection of individual, cultural and aesthetic discourses. Analysis of the Bouffes du Nord in Chapter 5 charts the critical uses of the theatre's decay, while Chapter 6 views the Cartoucherie as the culmination of the Théâtre du Soleil's quest for group identity through identification with workers

Development of a specialty crop harvesting system

With the field of agriculture constantly growing and evolving, new crops are constantly being developed in order to meet world consumer demands. As technology progresses, more and more specialty crops are being grown not only for food, but also for other properties such as chemical extracts for use in many applications. Because of the rising cost of labor, many people involved in the specialty crop industry are turning to mechanization in order to reduce their production costs. A problem with mechanization is that there is a lack of harvesting technology for every specialty crop. This technology needs to be developed, and a crucial part of this development is the hydraulic and electrical system that is used to reliably control the actions of any specialty crop harvesting system. A self-propelled crop harvesting system was developed to mechanically harvest a desired flower from a plant, separate the flower from foreign material, and store approximately 1,200 pounds of product onboard while leaving the plant intact for future harvests. The machine developed utilizes a four row head with a set of rotating picking fingers that harvest the desired mature flowers from the plant. Structural, hydraulic, electrical, and control systems were included in development and fabrication of a working prototype harvesting system. An initial prototype was developed to determine the harvesting efficiency of the mechanical harvester in comparison to hand harvesting. The initial prototype was found to harvest 45% of the desired mature flower crop. This outcome led to the development of a full scale prototype harvesting system

Associations between purine metabolites and clinical symptoms in schizophrenia

Background: The antioxidant defense system, which is known to be dysregulated in schizophrenia, is closely linked to the dynamics of purine pathway. Thus, alterations in the homeostatic balance in the purine pathway may be involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Methodology/Principal Findings: Breakdown products in purine pathway were measured using high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled with a coulometric multi-electrode array system for 25 first-episode neuroleptic-naïve patients with schizophrenia at baseline and at 4-weeks following initiation of treatment with antipsychotic medication. Associations between these metabolites and clinical and neurological symptoms were examined at both time points. The ratio of uric acid and guanine measured at baseline predicted clinical improvement following four weeks of treatment with antipsychotic medication. Baseline levels of purine metabolites also predicted clinical and neurological symtpoms recorded at baseline; level of guanosine was associated with degree of clinical thought disturbance, and the ratio of xanthosine to guanosine at baseline predicted degree of impairment in the repetition and sequencing of actions. Conclusions/Significance: Findings suggest an association between optimal levels of purine byproducts and dynamics in clinical symptoms and adjustment, as well as in the integrity of sensory and motor processing. Taken together, alterations in purine catabolism may have clinical relevance in schizophrenia pathology

Molecular diagnosis in recessive pediatric neurogenetic disease can help reduce disease recurrence in families.

BackgroundThe causes for thousands of individually rare recessive diseases have been discovered since the adoption of next generation sequencing (NGS). Following the molecular diagnosis in older children in a family, parents could use this information to opt for fetal genotyping in subsequent pregnancies, which could inform decisions about elective termination of pregnancy. The use of NGS diagnostic sequencing in families has not been demonstrated to yield benefit in subsequent pregnancies to reduce recurrence. Here we evaluated whether genetic diagnosis in older children in families supports reduction in recurrence of recessive neurogenetic disease.MethodsRetrospective study involving families with a child with a recessive pediatric brain disease (rPBD) that underwent NGS-based molecular diagnosis. Prenatal molecular testing was offered to couples in which a molecular diagnosis was made, to help couples seeking to prevent recurrence. With this information, families made decisions about elective termination. Pregnancies that were carried to term were assessed for the health of child and mother, and compared with historic recurrence risk of recessive disease.ResultsBetween 2010 and 2016, 1172 families presented with a child a likely rPBD, 526 families received a molecular diagnosis, 91 families returned to the clinic with 101 subsequent pregnancies, and 84 opted for fetal genotyping. Sixty tested negative for recurrence for the biallelic mutation in the fetus, and all, except for one spontaneous abortion, carried to term, and were unaffected at follow-up. Of 24 that genotyped positive for the biallelic mutation, 16 were electively terminated, and 8 were carried to term and showed features of disease similar to that of the older affected sibling(s). Among the 101 pregnancies, disease recurrence in living offspring deviated from the expected 25% to the observed 12% ([95% CI 0·04 to 0·20], p = 0·011).ConclusionsMolecular diagnosis in an older child, coupled with prenatal fetal genotyping in subsequent pregnancies and genetic counselling, allows families to make informed decisions to reduce recessive neurogenetic disease recurrence

Results of phase 3 of the CATIE schizophrenia trial

Objective—The Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) study examined the comparative effectiveness of antipsychotic treatments for individuals with chronic schizophrenia. Patients who had discontinued antipsychotic treatment in phases 1 and 2 were eligible for phase 3, in which they selected one of nine antipsychotic regimens with the help of their study doctor. We describe the characteristics of the patients who selected each treatment option and their outcomes. Method—Two hundred and seventy patients entered phase 3. The open-label treatment options were monotherapy with oral aripiprazole, clozapine, olanzapine, perphenazine, quetiapine, risperidone, ziprasidone, long-acting injectable fluphenazine decanoate, or a combination of any two of these treatments. Results—Few patients selected fluphenazine decanoate (n=9) or perphenazine (n=4). Similar numbers selected each of the other options (range 33–41). Of the seven common choices, those who selected clozapine and combination antipsychotic treatment were the most symptomatic, and those who selected aripiprazole and ziprasidone had the highest body mass index. Symptoms improved for all groups, although the improvements were modest for the groups starting with relatively mild levels of symptoms. Side effect profiles of the medications varied considerably but medication discontinuations due to intolerability were rare (7% overall). Conclusions—Patients and their doctors made treatment selections based on clinical factors, including severity of symptoms, response to prior treatments, and physical health status. Fluphenazine decanoate was rarely used among those with evidence of treatment non-adherence and clozapine was underutilized for those with poor previous response. Combination antipsychotic treatment warrants further study

Evaluation of Microbolometer-Based Thermography for Gossamer Space Structures

In August 2003, NASA's In-Space Propulsion Program contracted with our team to develop a prototype on-board Optical Diagnostics System (ODS) for solar sail flight tests. The ODS is intended to monitor sail deployment as well as structural and thermal behavior, and to validate computational models for use in designing future solar sail missions. This paper focuses on the thermography aspects of the ODS. A thermal model was developed to predict local sail temperature variations as a function of sail tilt to the sun, billow depth, and spectral optical properties of front and back sail surfaces. Temperature variations as small as 0.5 C can induce significant thermal strains that compare in magnitude to mechanical strains. These thermally induced strains may result in changes in shape and dynamics. The model also gave insight into the range and sensitivity required for in-flight thermal measurements and supported the development of an ABAQUS-coupled thermo-structural model. The paper also discusses three kinds of tests conducted to 1) determine the optical properties of candidate materials; 2) evaluate uncooled microbolometer-type infrared imagers; and 3) operate a prototype imager with the ODS baseline configuration. (Uncooled bolometers are less sensitive than cooled ones, but may be necessary because of restrictive ODS mass and power limits.) The team measured the spectral properties of several coated polymer samples at various angles of incidence. Two commercially available uncooled microbolometer imagers were compared, and it was found that reliable temperature measurements are feasible for both coated and uncoated sides of typical sail membrane materials

A pan-European valuation of the extent, causes and cost of escape events from sea cage fish farming

As part of an EU funded 7th Framework project, Prevent Escape, a programme of research was undertaken to document the extent, size and knowledge of the causes of escapes from marine fin fish farms in Europe over a three year period. Escape incidents were identified and assessed through questionnaires across the 6 countries (Ireland, UK, Norway, Spain, Greece, and Malta), and other data supplied by the Norwegian Fisheries Directorate and the Scottish Aquaculture Research Forum. A total of 8,922,863 fish were reported to have escaped from 242 incidents. Of these over 5 million occurred in two catastrophic escape incidents. Sea bream accounted for the highest number of escapes at 76.7% followed by Atlantic salmon at 9.2%. Of the 113 Atlantic salmon escape events, almost 75% were due to structure failure or operational error. Almost 50% of cod escape incidents were due to biological causes e.g. biting of nets. The nominal costs of escapes as calculated by value at point of first sale were very substantial, estimated at approximately €47.5 million per annum on average over the study period. Of this €42.8 million was for annual cost of losses of sea bass and sea bream in the Mediterranean and €4.7 million for losses of salmon in northern Europe.peer-reviewe

Lipidomics Reveals Early Metabolic Changes in Subjects with Schizophrenia: Effects of Atypical Antipsychotics

There is a critical need for mapping early metabolic changes in schizophrenia to capture failures in regulation of biochemical pathways and networks. This information could provide valuable insights about disease mechanisms, trajectory of disease progression, and diagnostic biomarkers. We used a lipidomics platform to measure individual lipid species in 20 drug-naïve patients with a first episode of schizophrenia (FE group), 20 patients with chronic schizophrenia that had not adhered to prescribed medications (RE group), and 29 race-matched control subjects without schizophrenia. Lipid metabolic profiles were evaluated and compared between study groups and within groups before and after treatment with atypical antipsychotics, risperidone and aripiprazole. Finally, we mapped lipid profiles to n3 and n6 fatty acid synthesis pathways to elucidate which enzymes might be affected by disease and treatment. Compared to controls, the FE group showed significant down-regulation of several n3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), including 20:5n3, 22:5n3, and 22:6n3 within the phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine lipid classes. Differences between FE and controls were only observed in the n3 class PUFAs; no differences where noted in n6 class PUFAs. The RE group was not significantly different from controls, although some compositional differences within PUFAs were noted. Drug treatment was able to correct the aberrant PUFA levels noted in FE patients, but changes in re patients were not corrective. Treatment caused increases in both n3 and n6 class lipids. These results supported the hypothesis that phospholipid n3 fatty acid deficits are present early in the course of schizophrenia and tend not to persist throughout its course. These changes in lipid metabolism could indicate a metabolic vulnerability in patients with schizophrenia that occurs early in development of the disease