Southern historiography in modern history : Figural and philosophical aspects of historical discourse in Virginia and South Carolina, 1800-1844

This thesis examines the nature–origin, character, and temporal change–of the difference that educated and mostly male white southerners had about history at the level of historiography and other texts among themselves and in relation to “modern history” mostly in the states of Virginia and South Carolina in the early–1800s. The study compares and contrasts the postulate with two other areas of cultural discussion: New England, with some support from the Mid–Atlantic States New York and Pennsylvania, and Europe with its dominant change about culture roughly after the 1750s the thesis refers to as “modern history.” History was transformed into a major area of interest and cultural component. The method is mainly a scanning of digitalized online contemporary printed sources–leading books about history, leading contemporary journals, letter collections, and historical novels mostly produced in the U.S.–for word “history” and a variant “histor” that yields for example “historical” and “histories.” The findings have then been subjected to the study’s theoretical and methodological framework. Instead of a scientific undertaking, linguistically neutral, or grounded in material reality as usually treated in the U.S., written history overlaps with other text production and communication such as literary writing, poetics, and cultural discourse. The philosophy of modernity and scientific truth history became associated with in its modern guise can be read as a metaphysical problem and crisis of especial severity in the southern areas: modern history entailed an experiential and communicative renovation that extended to individuals and their relationship to society. Through partly deductive, partly poetic readings, the study charts the course of this change that spans from syntax to discourse, philosophy, semiotics and poetics. The concerns help reveal the tensions in modern association of reality with history that has obscured competing claims and experiences. The New England–led “bloc” departed from European skepticism. Virginia and South Carolina seldom rejected it. Modern history increased only in the 1840s, comparatively more in South Carolina. Previously, it was rare to see history as romantic, evangelical or scientific like in New England. Especially until the late–1830s, history was met with skeptical and ironic views about the history–reality relationship. Unlike often portrayed, these learned white southerners were rarely sentimentalists. Equally rare was to conflate reality and science with history for nationalist and utilitarian ends. Forgotten perspectives and agencies can be re–examined by taking into account more recent theories about history and language.Yhdysvalloissa historia käsitetään hyvin usein tieteelliseksi, kielellisesti neutraaliksi, materiaaliseen todellisuuteen pohjautuvaksi ilmiöksi. Tutkimus on eri mieltä: historialla on yhtymäkohtia muun kielen tuottamisen ja kommunikaation–kirjallisuuden, runouden, kulttuurikeskustelun–kanssa. Tutkimus on myös ensimmäinen, joka soveltaa tätä näkemystä USA:n etelävaltioiden historiankirjoitukseen. Unohdettuja näkökulmia ja kulttuuritoimijoita voidaan tutkia sisällyttämällä uudempaa teoriaa historian ja kielen suhteesta. Uusi Englanti hylkäsi eurooppalaisen epäilyn historiasta. Virginiassa ja Etelä-Carolinassa perintö harvoin hylättiin. Vasta 1840-luvulta alkaen lähinnä Etelä-Carolinassa ilmeni enemmän modernia historiaa. Romanttiset, evankeliset ja tieteelliset ainekset historiasta olivat aiemmin harvinaisia, toisin kuin Uudessa Englannissa. Historian ja todellisuuden suhde oli vähintään 1830-luvun jälkipuoliskolle hyvin epäilevä ja ironinen. Perinteinen Etelän historiatietoisuuden ”Tuulen viemää” -luonnehdinta sentimentaalisena nostalgiana oli lähes tuntematon, samoin historian näkeminen tieteenä, jonka tehtävä on nationalistinen tai hyötyyn perustuva. Moderniin historiaan sisältyi kommunikatiivinen ja kokemuksellinen muutos, joka ulottui yksilöön ja hänen suhteeseensa yhteiskuntaan. Tutkimus yrittää kartoittaa tätä lukemalla tekstejä osin yleisiä suuntauksia heijastellen, osin runollisesti. Tutkimus selvittää, miten enimmäkseen miespuoliset koulutetut tai oppineet henkilöt lähinnä Yhdysvaltain Virginian ja Etelä-Carolinan osavaltioissa erosivat historiakäsityksiltään sekä ”modernista historiasta” että keskinäisesti historiankirjoituksen ja muiden tekstien tasolla 1800-luvun alun USA:ssa. Tutkimus vertailee oletusta kahteen vaikutusvaltaisempaan kulttuurikeskustelualueeseen. Näitä ovat Yhdysvalloissa Uuden Englannin alue ja sitä kulttuurisesti myötäilleet New Yorkin ja Pennsylvanian osavaltiot sekä Euroopan 1750-luvun jälkeinen kulttuurikeskustelun muutos. ”Moderni historia” ymmärretään tutkimuksessa monitahoisena muutoksena, jossa kiinnostus historiaan virisi toden teolla länsimaissa tärkeänä osana yhteiskuntaa ja kulttuuria. Aineisto koostuu internetiin digitoiduista aineistoista: tunnetuimmat historiantutkimukset ja akateemiset lehdet, jotkut tunnetuimmat kirjekokoelmat ja historiaromaanit. Tutkimus tutkii aineistoja lähinnä hakusanoilla ”history” ja ”histor”

"Lyötäis hynttyyt yhteen" : Maahanmuuttajien mielenterveyspalveluiden saatavuus ja vastaavuus Espoossa

Maahanmuuttajien määrä on Espoossa kasvussa. Tutkimusten mukaan maahanmuuttajilla ilmenee ‎valtaväestöä enemmän mielenterveyden ongelmia. Terveydenhuollon on vastattava uudenlaisiin ‎haasteisiin suunnitelmallisesti ja tehokkaasti. Espoossa ei ole erikseen maahanmuuttajille ‎suunnattuja mielenterveyspalveluita, vaan maahanmuuttajat käyttävät samoja palveluita kuin ‎valtaväestökin. Mielenterveyspalveluiden piiriin pääsy on kuitenkin hankalaa koko Espoon väestölle ‎terveydenhuollon resurssipulasta vuoksi.‎ Opinnäytetyön tarkoitus on kartoittaa, minkälaisia mielenterveyspalveluita maahanmuuttajille on ‎tarjolla Espoossa, palvelujen piiriin pääsyä ja sitä, vastaavatko palvelut tarpeeseen. ‎Lähdemateriaalin avulla tutkimme lisäksi, miten yleisiä ja millaisia mielenterveyden ongelmia ‎maahanmuuttajilla ilmenee. Esittelemme myös mielenterveystyön taustaa, historiaa ja nyky-‎tilannetta Suomessa ja Espoossa. ‎ Käytimme opinnäytetyössä empiiristä tutkimusotetta ja tutkimusmenetelmänä laadullista ‎tutkimusmenetelmää. Keräsimme aineiston yksilöhaastatteluina, joihin sovelsimme ohjatun ‎teemahaastattelun periaatteita. Saadun aineiston analysointiin käytimme induktiivista sisäl-‎lönanalyysia. ‎ Maahanmuuttajien mielenterveyspalveluiden piiriin pääsyä vaikeuttavat sekä henkilökunnan että ‎potilaiden kieli- ja vuorovaikutustaitojen heikkous, yhteistyön puute, palveluiden hajanaisuus, sekä ‎molemminpuoliset ennakkoasenteet ja tiedon puute. Espoon mielenterveyspalvelut vastaisivat ‎paremmin maahanmuuttajien tarpeita, mikäli moniammatillista yhteistyötä hyödynnettäisiin ‎enemmän. Koulutusta, tulkin käyttöä, ennaltaehkäisevää mielenterveystyötä, kotikäyntejä ja ‎työtoimintaa tulisi lisätä.‎The number of immigrants is increasing in Espoo. According to research immigrants suffer more ‎from mental disorders than the majority of the population. Health services have to meet new kinds ‎of challenges systematically and effectively. There are not specific mental health services for ‎immigrants in Espoo, and they use the same services as the majority. Because of the lack of re-‎sources access to mental health services is difficult for the entire Espoo population.‎ The accessability of mental health services for immigrants is complicated because of the poor ‎language and interaction skills both of the patients and the professionals, the lack of cooperation, ‎the disconnectedness of the services, prejudices on both sides and the lack of information. To ‎respond better to immigrants needs, Espoo mental health services need to improve ‎multiprofessional cooperation. Education, the use of interpreters, preventive mental health work, ‎house calls and supportive work activity should be increased.‎ We used an empirical approach and qualitative research method in our thesis. As a method of ‎collecting material we used individual thematic interviews. We analyzed the material using ‎inductive content analysis.‎ The purpose of our thesis is to find out what mental health services for immigrants are available in ‎Espoo, what is their accessability like and how these services correspond to the needs. In addition, ‎through source material we examined what kind of mental health problems immigrants may ‎suffer from. We also discuss the background, the history and the present state of mental health ‎work in Finland and in Espoo.

In-situ micromechanical testing of Su-8 polymer at high strain rates using indentation and micropillar compression

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Transportable system enabling multiple irradiation studies under simultaneous hypoxia in vitro

BackgroundCells in solid tumours are variably hypoxic and hence resistant to radiotherapy - the essential role of oxygen in the efficiency of irradiation has been acknowledged for decades. However, the currently available methods for performing hypoxic experiments in vitro have several limitations, such as a limited amount of parallel experiments, incapability of keeping stable growth conditions and dependence on CO2 incubator or a hypoxia workstation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usability of a novel portable system (Minihypoxy) in performing in vitro irradiation studies under hypoxia, and present supporting biological data.Materials and methodsThis study was conducted on cancer cell cultures in vitro. The cells were cultured in normoxic (similar to 21% O-2) or in hypoxic (1% O-2) conditions either in conventional hypoxia workstation or in the Minihypoxy system and irradiated at dose rate 1.28Gy/min2.9%. The control samples were sham irradiated. To study the effects of hypoxia and irradiation on cell viability and DNA damage, western blotting, immunostainings and clonogenic assay were used. The oxygen level, pH, evaporation rate and osmolarity of the culturing media on cell cultures in different conditions were followed.ResultsThe oxygen concentration in interest (5, 1 or 0% O-2) was maintained inside the individual culturing chambers of the Minihypoxy system also during the irradiation. The radiosensitivity of the cells cultured in Minihypoxy chambers was declined measured as lower phosphorylation rate of H2A.X and increased clonogenic capacity compared to controls (OER similar to 3).Conclusions The Minihypoxy system allows continuous control of hypoxic environment in multiple wells and is transportable. Furthermore, the system maintains the low oxygen environment inside the individual culturing chambers during the transportation and irradiation in experiments which are typically conducted in separate facilities.Peer reviewe

Transparent Microelectrode Arrays Fabricated by Ion Beam Assisted Deposition for Neuronal Cell In Vitro Recordings

Microelectrode array (MEA) is a tool used for recording bioelectric signals from electrically active cells in vitro. In this paper, ion beam assisted electron beam deposition (IBAD) has been used for depositing indium tin oxide (ITO) and titanium nitride (TiN) thin films which are applied as transparent track and electrode materials in MEAs. In the first version, both tracks and electrodes were made of ITO to guarantee full transparency and thus optimal imaging capability. In the second version, very thin (20 nm) ITO electrodes were coated with a thin (40 nm) TiN layer to decrease the impedance of Ø30 µm electrodes to one third (1200 kΩ → 320 kΩ) while maintaining (partial) transparency. The third version was also composed of transparent ITO tracks, but the measurement properties were optimized by using thick (200 nm) opaque TiN electrodes. In addition to the impedance, the optical transmission and electric noise levels of all three versions were characterized and the functionality of the MEAs was successfully demonstrated using human pluripotent stem cell-derived neuronal cells. To understand more thoroughly the factors contributing to the impedance, MEAs with higher IBAD ITO thickness as well as commercial sputter-deposited and highly conductive ITO were fabricated for comparison. Even if the sheet-resistance of our IBAD ITO thin films is very high compared to the sputtered one, the impedances of the MEAs of each ITO grade were found to be practically equal (e.g., 300–370 kΩ for Ø30 µm electrodes with 40 nm TiN coating). This implies that the increased resistance of the tracks, either caused by lower thickness or lower conductivity, has hardly any contribution to the impedance of the MEA electrodes. The impedance is almost completely defined by the double-layer interface between the electrode top layer and the medium including cells

CytoSpectre: a tool for spectral analysis of oriented structures on cellular and subcellular levels

CytoSpectre user guide. This file contains the user guide of the software. (PDF 464 kb

A Plasmid-Based Fluorescence Reporter System for Monitoring Oxidative Damage in E. coli

Quantitating intracellular oxidative damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) is of interest in many fields of biological research. The current systems primarily rely on supplemented oxygen-sensitive substrates that penetrate the target cells, and react with ROS to produce signals that can be monitored with spectroscopic or imaging techniques. The objective here was to design a new non-invasive analytical strategy for measuring ROS-induced damage inside living cells by taking advantage of the native redox sensor system of E. coli. The developed plasmid-based sensor relies on an oxygen-sensitive transcriptional repressor IscR that controls the expression of a fluorescent marker in vivo. The system was shown to quantitatively respond to oxidative stress induced by supplemented H2O2 and lowered cultivation temperatures. Comparative analysis with fluorescence microscopy further demonstrated that the specificity of the reporter system was equivalent to the commercial chemical probe (CellROX). The strategy introduced here is not dependent on chemical probes, but instead uses a fluorescent expression system to detect enzyme-level oxidative damage in microbial cells. This provides a cheap and simple means for analysing enzyme-level oxidative damage in a biological context in E. coli

Simulation-Based Study of Control Strategies for Beating of Human Cardiomyocyte Cultures

Peer reviewe

Oxygen gradient generator to improve in vitro modeling of ischemic stroke

Introduction: In the core of a brain infarct, perfusion is severely impeded, and neuronal death occurs within minutes. In the penumbra, an area near the core with more remaining perfusion, cells initially remain viable, but activity is significantly reduced. In principle, the penumbra can be saved if reperfusion is established on time, making it a promising target for treatment. In vitro models with cultured neurons on microelectrode arrays (MEAs) provide a useful tool to investigate how ischemic stroke affects neuronal functioning. These models tend to be uniform, focusing on the isolated penumbra, and typically lack adjacent regions such as a core and unaffected regions (normal perfusion). However, processes in these regions may affect neuronal functioning and survival in the penumbra. Materials and methods: Here, we designed, fabricated, and characterized a cytocompatible device that generates an oxygen gradient across in vitro neuronal cultures to expose cells to hypoxia of various depths from near anoxia to near normoxia. This marks a step in the path to mimic core, penumbra, and healthy tissue, and will facilitate better in vitro modeling of ischemic stroke. Results: The generator forms a stable and reproducible gradient within 30 min. Oxygen concentrations at the extremes are adjustable in a physiologically relevant range. Application of the generator did not negatively affect electrophysiological recordings or the viability of cultures, thus confirming the cytocompatibility of the device. Discussion: The developed device is able to impose an oxygen gradient on neuronal cultures and may enrich in vitro stroke models.publishedVersionPeer reviewe