Secrets of Sex and Innocence in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure: A Profile of Purity Using Three Common Philosophies

John Cleland’s 1749 text Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure has squeezed its way into popular culture by bringing to life the risqué sexual adventures of its female protagonist, Fanny Hill. To the narrator, sexuality is a tool of survival and influence. Deeper readings into Memoirs reveal underlying threads of purity and virginity, which, despite her sexual encounters, Fanny constantly strives to retain. By analyzing common works of human and social philosophy – specifically those of John Locke, Sigmund Freud, and Jeremy Bentham – the paper scrutinizes Fanny as a paragon of innocence regardless of her actions. While taking into consideration the historical context of Fanny’s profession – specifically its social implications – empirical, psychoanalytic, and utilitarian theories are used to reappraise the common indictment of Fanny as a mere sex symbol. The works of Locke, Freud, and Bentham are employed to label her as an empowered female figure whose origins are causal of her sexual activity, and who gradually rehabilitates herself through sex to retain purity in the context of eighteenth-century social ideologies

The social ecosystem for revitalizing two- to four-unit buildings in Woodlawn : a case study and strategic plan

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 132-138).The social ecosystem approach explores the individuals and organizations that help effect a particular social outcome and the factors within their environment that contribute to or hinder their success. Applied to the particular housing and community development challenge facing 2-4 unit properties in the Chicago neighborhood of Woodlawn, the standard social ecosystem model is augmented with an explicit incorporation of a development process to emphasize the importance of the entrepreneurial, financial, technical and undeniably social aspects of real estate in revitalizing urban communities. The research sets out to explore the historical causes and processes that led to vacancy and market decline; the current condition of the market and neighborhood; lessons learned from previous efforts; and the parameters of action imposed by important stakeholder interests. This analysis reveals how population loss, speculation fueled by unrealized hopes of gentrification and accumulated property-level deliquencies combine to sustain high vacancies in Woodlawn. Recent declines in homeownership, depressed property values, a shortage of local amenities and structural barriers lowering investor margins also inhibit sustainable building uses in favor of landlords who "milk" properties and target Housing Choice Voucher Recipients. Due to the lack of social capital, the neighborhood struggles to control violence and maintain the public realm. The consequence is a diminished ability to attract prospective residents despite considerable local assets. The proposed response advances five strategic outcomes: stabilization of the market; advocacy for both better policy and internal structure; expansion of loans and financial assistance for homeowners; expansion of technical assistance and counseling for homeowners; and the prioritization of local development approaches that spread benefits more equitaby than is typical of gentrification. The associated recommendations, which broadly consider policy, planning and community development, seek to create a synergy capable of addressing the challenges surfaced by the social ecosystem framework and building on existing strengths and opportunities.by Rance G.D. Graham-Bailey.M.C.P

Admission Decision-Making in Hospital Emergency Departments: the Role of the Accompanying Person

In resource-stretched emergency departments, people accompanying patients play key roles in patients' care. This article presents analysis of the ways health professionals and accompanying persons talked about admission decisions and caring roles. The authors used ethnographic case study design involving participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 13 patients, 17 accompanying persons and 26 healthcare professionals in four National Health Service hospitals in south-west England. Focused analysis of interactional data revealed that professionals’ standardization of the patient-carer relationship contrasted with accompanying persons' varied connections with patients. Accompanying persons could directly or obliquely express willingness, ambivalence and resistance to supporting patients’ care. The drive to avoid admissions can lead health professionals to deploy conversational skills to enlist accompanying persons for discharge care without exploring the meanings of their particular relations with patients. Taking a relationship-centered approach could improve attention to accompanying persons as co-producers of healthcare and participants in decision-making

Studies on Polytetrafluoroethylene Latices. Part 2. Coagulation by Hydrolysable Electrolytes

The colloidal stability of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) latices has been examined as a function of pH at different concentrations of aluminium nitrate. The basic behaviour observed can be subdivided into three pH domains, lower than· pH 3.3, pH 3.3 to 5.2 and pH 5.2 to 7.5. In the lowest pH region, coagulation of the latex appeared to occur as a consequence of compression of the electrical double layer by a 3 : 1 electrolyte. In the pH region 3.3 to 5.2 cationic polynuclear aluminium ions were formed which adsorbed on the particles and neutralised the charge on the negative latex particles. Charge reversal and restabilization of the latices as cationic particles, however, was not observed. The appeared to be a consequence of the relatively high charge reversal concentration and the possible weak adsorption of polynuclear species on the PTFE surface. Coagulation in the pH region 5.2 to 7.5 appeared to be the consequence of several mechanisms operating together

Formation of hollow carbon nanoshells from thiol stabilised silver nanoparticles via heat treatment

Uniform, less 10 nm sized, hollow carbon nano-shells (HCNS) have been prepared via a single-step, thermal treatment of alkanethiol stabilised Ag nanoparticles (TS-AgNP). Direct evidence for the formation of spherical HCNS from TS-AgNP is provided by in situ MEMS heating on Si3N4 supports within a TEM, and ex situ thermal processing of TS-AgNP on carbon nanotube supports. A mechanism is proposed for the thermally driven, templated formation of HCNS from the TS-AgNP stabilising layer, with Ag catalysing the graphitisation of carbon in advance of thermally induced AgNP template removal. This facile processing route provides for excellent size control of the HCNS product via appropriate AgNP template selection. However, a rapid rate of heating was found to be crucial for the formation of well-defined HCNS, whilst a slow heating rate gave a much more disrupted product, comprising predominantly lacy carbon with decreased levels of graphitic ordering, reflecting a competition between the thermal transformation of the TS-layer and the rate of removal of the AgNP template

Molybdenum dioxide in carbon nanoreactors as a catalytic nanosponge for the efficient desulfurization of liquid fuels

The principle of a “catalytic nanosponge” that combines the catalysis of organosulfur oxidation and sequestration of the products from reaction mixtures is demonstrated. Group VI metal oxide nanoparticles (CrOx, MoOx, WOx) are embedded within hollow graphitized carbon nanofibers (GNFs), which act as nanoscale reaction vessels for oxidation reactions used in the decontamination of fuel. When immersed in a model liquid alkane fuel contaminated with organosulfur compounds (benzothiophene, dibenzothiophene, dimethyldibenzothiophene), it is found that MoO2@GNF nanoreactors, comprising 30 nm molybdenum dioxide nanoparticles grown within the channel of GNFs, show superior abilities toward oxidative desulfurization (ODS), affording over 98% sulfur removal at only 5.9 mol% catalyst loading. The role of the carbon nanoreactor in MoO2@GNF is to enhance the activity and stability of catalytic centers over at least 5 cycles. Surprisingly, the nanotube cavity can selectively absorb and remove the ODS products (sulfoxides and sulfones) from several model fuel systems. This effect is related to an adsorptive desulfurization (ADS) mechanism, which in combination with ODS within the same material, yields a “catalytic nanosponge” MoO2@GNF. This innovative ODS and ADS synergistic functionality negates the need for a solvent extraction step in fuel desulfurization and produces ultralow sulfur fuel

Water-Based 3D Inkjet Printing of an Oral Pharmaceutical Dosage Form

Inkjet printing is a form of additive manufacturing where liquid droplets are selectively deposited onto a substrate followed by solidification. The process provides significant potential advantages for producing solid oral dosage forms or tablets, including a reduction in the number of manufacturing steps as well as the ability to tailor a unique dosage regime to an individual patient. This study utilises solvent inkjet printing to print tablets through the use of a Fujifilm Dimatix printer. Using polyvinylpyrrolidone and thiamine hydrochloride (a model excipient and drug, respectively), a water-based ink formulation was developed to exhibit reliable and effective jetting properties. Tablets were printed on polyethylene terephthalate films where solvent evaporation in the ambient environment was the solidification mechanism. The tablets were shown to contain a drug loading commensurate with the composition of the ink, in its preferred polymorphic phase of a non-stoichiometric hydrate distributed homogenously. The printed tablets displayed rapid drug release. This paper illustrates solvent inkjet printing’s ability to print entire free-standing tablets without an edible substrate being part of the tablet and the use of additional printing methods. Common problems with solvent-based inkjet printing, such as the use toxic solvents, are avoided. The strategy developed here for tablet manufacturing from a suitable ink is general and provides a framework for the formulation for any drug that is soluble in water

A Click Chemistry Strategy for the Synthesis of Efficient Photoinitiators for Two‐Photon Polymerization

It is reported that efficient photoinitiators, suitable for two‐photon polymerization, can be obtained using the copper catalyzed azide/alkyne cycloaddition reaction. This click chemistry strategy provides a modular approach to the assembly of photoinitiators that enables the rapid variation of key fragments to produce photoinitiators with desirable properties. To assess the performance of the first‐in‐class photoinitiators generated by this approach, a screening method is developed to enable the rapid determination of polymerization and damage thresholds in numerous photoresists during two‐photon polymerization. The degree of consumption of vinyl groups (DC) and homogeneity of the polymerization are further assessed by micro‐Raman spectroscopy. Finally, more complex structures are fabricated to demonstrate that the efficient two‐photon polymerization of stable 3D microarchitectures can be achieved using triazole‐based photoinitiators

Auditory perception in individuals with Friedreich’s Ataxia

INTRODUCTION: Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is an inherited ataxia with a range of progressive features including axonal degeneration of sensory nerves. The aim of this study was to investigate auditory perception in affected individuals. METHODS: Fourteen subjects with genetically defined FRDA participated. Two control groups, one consisting of healthy, normally hearing individuals and another comprised of subjects with sensorineural hearing loss, were also assessed. Auditory processing was evaluated using structured tasks designed to reveal the listeners' ability to perceive temporal and spectral cues. Findings were then correlated with open-set speech understanding. RESULTS: Nine of 14 individuals with FRDA showed evidence of auditory processing disorder. Gap and amplitude modulation detection levels in these subjects were significantly elevated, indicating impaired encoding of rapid signal changes. Electrophysiologic findings (auditory brainstem response, ABR) also reflected disrupted neural activity. Speech understanding was significantly affected in these listeners and the degree of disruption was related to temporal processing ability. Speech analyses indicated that timing cues (notably consonant voice onset time and vowel duration) were most affected. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that auditory pathway abnormality is a relatively common consequence of FRDA. Regular auditory evaluation should therefore be part of the management regime for all affected individuals. This assessment should include both ABR testing, which can provide insights into the degree to which auditory neural activity is disrupted, and some functional measure of hearing capacity such as speech perception assessment, which can quantify the disorder and provide a basis for interventio

Metabolic characterisation of Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense MSR-1 using LC-MS-based metabolite profiling

Magnetosomes are nano-sized magnetic nanoparticles with exquisite properties that can be used in a wide range of healthcare and biotechnological applications. They are biosynthesised by magnetotactic bacteria (MTB), such as Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense MSR-1 (Mgryph). However, magnetosome bioprocessing yields low quantities compared to chemical synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles. Therefore, an understanding of the intracellular metabolites and metabolic networks related to Mgryph growth and magnetosome formation are vital to unlock the potential of this organism to develop improved bioprocesses. In this work, we investigated the metabolism of Mgryph using untargeted metabolomics. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was performed to profile spent medium samples of Mgryph cells grown under O2-limited (n ¼ 6) and O2-rich conditions (n = 6) corresponding to magnetosome- and non-magnetosome producing cells, respectively. Multivariate, univariate and pathway enrichment analyses were conducted to identify significantly altered metabolites and pathways. Rigorous metabolite identification was carried out using authentic standards, the Mgryph-specific metabolite database and MS/MS mzCloud database. PCA and OPLS-DA showed clear separation and clustering of sample groups with cross-validation values of R2X ¼ 0.76, R2Y ¼ 0.99 and Q2 ¼ 0.98 in OPLS-DA. As a result, 50 metabolites linked to 45 metabolic pathways were found to be significantly altered in the tested conditions, including: glycine, serine and threonine; butanoate; alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism; aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis and; pyruvate and citric acid cycle (TCA) metabolisms. Our findings demonstrate the potential of LC-MS to characterise key metabolites in Mgryph and will contribute to further understanding the metabolic mechanisms that affect Mgryph growth and magnetosome formation