Avant-garde: The Convulsions of a Concept

The current status of the «avant-garde» provokes many questions, which include both inner-artistic matters and matters of history and society commonly associated with Marxist or reception-oriented thinkers. The convolution of questions cannot be disentangled; efforts to confront the dilemmas of the avant-garde cannot abstract from matters of commodification, recent reception, or the complex dialectic of «classical» and «modern.» The essay deals with the most recent manifestations of avant-garde aesthetic impulses. It emphasizes the historical and social aspects of German theorizing in contrast to purely formalist or ahistorical conceptions commonly found elsewhere. It insists that such «materialist» theory does greater justice than formalist conceptualizations to the proverbial connections of «art» and «life.» It tries to integrate the present phenomenon of proliferating theory into the theoretical exposition, as a characteristic trait of the current situation. It warns against abandoning the subversive content of classical modernism in the course of developing a theory of post-modernism

Where to Point the Finger: \u3cem\u3eOmnicare\u3c/em\u3e’s Attempt to Rectify the Collective Scienter Debate

The crucial element in pleading a securities fraud case under the 1934 Exchange Act is proving that the defendant had the requisite intent, or scienter. Circuit courts are divided over the issue of pleading scienter against a corporation for section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 securities fraud cases. Since a corporation can only act through its agents, courts have struggled to determine which agents’ mental states can be imputed against a corporation. In 2014, in In re Omnicare, Inc. Securities Litigation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit created a new rule to address pleading scienter against a corporation in securities fraud cases. This rule incorporates positions from both sides of the scienter debate, and is likely an appealing approach for those circuits that have not fully ruled against either side of the split. This Note discusses the corporate scienter debate, and argues that the Sixth Circuit’s Omnicare ruling must be further refined in order to establish a conclusive and widely applicable pleading standard

IS IT TRAUMA? REIMAGINING JUSTICE FOR YOUTH

In urban communities, Black youth’s behaviors are often subjected to over-criminalization and punitive disciplinary processes at the hands of aggressive policing strategies and policies. Educating law enforcement on the impact of traumatic events and stressors on the behaviors of Black youth can offer new insight into understanding the effects of the phenomenon. This thesis uses qualitative methodology, including storytelling techniques, to develop a story of a young Black girl suffering from the ill effects of trauma as she interacts with police officers and the juvenile justice system. The fictional narrative along with historical background of policing in urban communities highlight the daily struggles of Black youth due to policing, economic conditions, and community violence, amongst other issues. The account of a traumatized youth searching for normalcy and security from her own community and finding safety with an empathetic police officer provides context for police officers seeking to understand the role they play in urban communities. Aggressive policing strategies can perpetuate the effects of traumatic events and stressors, but the actions of individual officers can be essential in limiting the impact trauma can have on Black youth.Civilian, Metropolitan Police Department D.C.Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Bath's law Derived from the Gutenberg-Richter law and from Aftershock Properties

The empirical Bath's law states that the average difference in magnitude between a mainshock and its largest aftershock is 1.2, regardless of the mainshock magnitude. Following Vere-Jones [1969] and Console et al. [2003], we show that the origin of Bath's law is to be found in the selection procedure used to define mainshocks and aftershocks rather than in any difference in the mechanisms controlling the magnitude of the mainshock and of the aftershocks. We use the ETAS model of seismicity, which provides a more realistic model of aftershocks, based on (i) a universal Gutenberg-Richter (GR) law for all earthquakes, and on (ii) the increase of the number of aftershocks with the mainshock magnitude. Using numerical simulations of the ETAS model, we show that this model is in good agreement with Bath's law in a certain range of the model parameters.Comment: major revisions, in press in Geophys. Res. Let

DNA double strand breaks but not interstrand crosslinks prevent progress through meiosis in fully grown mouse oocytes

There is some interest in how mammalian oocytes respond to different types of DNA damage because of the increasing expectation of fertility preservation in women undergoing chemotherapy. Double strand breaks (DSBs) induced by ionizing radiation and agents such as neocarzinostatin (NCS), and interstrand crosslinks (ICLs) induced by alkylating agents such as mitomycin C (MMC), are toxic DNA lesions that need to be repaired for cell survival. Here we examined the effects of NCS and MMC treatment on oocytes collected from antral follicles in mice, because potentially such oocytes are readily collected from ovaries and do not need to be in vitro grown to achieve meiotic competency. We found that oocytes were sensitive to NCS, such that this ionizing radiation mimetic blocked meiosis I and caused fragmented DNA. In contrast, MMC had no impact on the completion of either meiosis I or II, even at extremely high doses. However, oocytes treated with MMC did show ?-H2AX foci and following their in vitro maturation and parthenogenetic activation the development of the subsequent embryos was severely compromised. Addition of MMC to 1-cell embryos caused a similarly poor level of development, demonstrating oocytes have eventual sensitivity to this ICL-inducing agent but this does not occur during their meiotic division. In oocytes, the association of Fanconi Anemia protein, FANCD2, with sites of ICL lesions was not apparent until entry into the embryonic cell cycle. In conclusion, meiotic maturation of oocytes is sensitive to DSBs but not ICLs. The ability of oocytes to tolerate severe ICL damage and yet complete meiosis, means that this type of DNA lesion goes unrepaired in oocytes but impacts on subsequent embryo quality

An Updated Assessment of NASA Ultra-Efficient Engine Technologies

NASA's Ultra Efficient Engine Technology (UEET) project features advanced aeropropulsion technologies that include highly loaded turbomachinery, an advanced low-NOx combustor, high-temperature materials, and advanced fan containment technology. A probabilistic system assessment is performed to evaluate the impact of these technologies on aircraft CO2 (or equivalent fuel burn) and NOx reductions. A 300-passenger aircraft, with two 396-kN thrust (85,000-lb) engines is chosen for the study. The results show that a large subsonic aircraft equipped with the current UEET technology portfolio has very high probabilities of meeting the UEET minimum success criteria for CO2 reduction (-12% from the baseline) and LTO (landing and takeoff) NOx reductions (-65% relative to the 1996 International Civil Aviation Organization rule)

Tree Islands in the Shark Slough Landscape: Interactions of Vegetation, Hydrology, and Soils

Executive Summary: This report presents what we have learned about tree islands of Shark Slough and adjacent marshes of Everglades National Park (ENP), based on ecological studies carried out in these wetlands during the period 2000-2003. The tree islands of Shark Slough share many features with tree islands elsewhere in the Everglades. Their current composition and community structure is determined to a large extent by recent hydrology, as well as by disturbances (fire, freezes, hurricanes, man). Tree islands have historical, cultural, and biological values that are recognized by nearly all parties to the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). Maintaining and/or restoring the health of tree islands are major objectives of CERP. Consequently, there is a need within CERP for tools to assess the health of tree islands, and to relate these measures to the hydrologic regime to which they are exposed