Managing the "Boss" : Epistemic violence, resistence, and negotiations in Milman Parry's and Nikola Vujnovic's pricanja with Salih Ugljanin

Without a doubt, Albert B. Lord's seminal work The Singer of Tales owes much of its success to the series of pricanja ("conversations")1 conducted with the South Slavic singers in 1933-35 by his mentor, Milman Parry, and his native assistant, Nikola Vujnovic. This was an endeavor that Lord initially assisted in and benefited from as a student, and a practice he adopted during his own subsequent research trips to Yugoslavia in the 1950s. Along with the hands-on experience of listening to and recording performances of epic songs and other lore, these interviews proved crucial to the forming of the so-called "Oral-Formulaic Theory" inasmuch as they provided vital contextual information, as well as some basic interpretative tools for approaching the sizeable body of recorded epics.Issue title: In Memoriam John Miles Foley January 22, 1947-May 3, 2012

The role of oskar mRNA in P-body formation during Drosophila oogenesis

To maintain homeostasis, organisms have developed different mechanisms to cope with stress. One of the quickest responses to stress is the global attenuation of protein synthesis. This can be achieved by controlling the availability of transcripts by packaging them into higher order cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein (RNP) granules. Among the best studied examples are processing bodies (P-bodies), which are known to harbour silenced mRNAs, and are implied to have a role in protecting maternal mRNAs during animal development. During Drosophila oogenesis, P-bodies form upon nutritional stress. It has been shown that RNP granule assembly is dependent on protein-protein interactions. In addition, it has been suggested that RNAs could play an important role in this process, providing a scaffold for RNA binding proteins (RBPs), thus promoting RNP granule formation. How RNA contributes to RNP granule assembly in vivo is not well explored. In Drosophila, oskar mRNA is one example of an mRNA with distinct coding and noncoding functions during animal development. Besides coding for Oskar protein, oskar mRNA is necessary for proper oogenesis progression and completion, karyosome formation and distribution of germline specific proteins. Furthermore, the 3’UTR of oskar has been shown to be important for oskar recruitment into transport particles during Drosophila oogenesis. The ability of oskar mRNA to oligomerize, thus concentrate P-body components, raised the question whether this molecule could play a role in the formation of P-bodies. In this work I showed that oskar mRNA is an integral part of Drosophila P-bodies and that the 3’UTR of oskar is sufficient to drive P-body formation. In addition, in oskar mRNA non-dimerizing mutants P-body assembly was impaired. Furthermore, I observed that introducing mutations in the oskar 3’UTR affected recruitment of oskar interactors such as the translational repressor, Bruno, also shown to be involved in the oligomerization of oskar mRNPs. The exact mechanism how oskar contributes to P-body formation is at the moment still an open question. However, here I propose a hypothetical model of how this mRNA could drive P-body assembly. This process would be driven by oskar mRNA dimer formation followed by the recruitment of specific RBPs in order to stabilize the dimer and further promote granule maturation. Coordinated and stepwise interactions between RNA molecules and RBPs could be crucial for proper P-body formation. To summarize, in this work I showed that in the in vivo setting of the Drosophila oocyte, RNA molecules have an important function in driving RNP granule biogenesis

Bioactivity of Edible Mushrooms

Here we evaluated antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of the acetone and methanol extracts of the mushrooms Amanita rubescens and Russula cyanoxantha. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by free radical scavenging, reducing power activity and determination of phenolic content. As a result of the study acetone extracts from Russula cyanoxantha was more powerful antioxidant activities (IC50 = 86.279 µg/ml). Moreover, the tested extracts had effective reducing power. Total content of phenol in extracts was determined spectrophotometrically. The antimicrobial activity was estimated by determination of the minimal inhibitory concentration by using microdilution plate method. Generally, the tested mushroom extracts had relatively strong antimicrobial activity against the tested microorganisms

Positive allosteric modulators of the a-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptor

L-glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS) and plays a fundamental role in the control of motor function, cognition and mood. The physiological effects of glutamate are mediated through two functionally distinct receptor families. While activation of metabotropic (G-protein coupled) glutamate receptors results in modulation of neuronal excitability and transmission, the ionotropic glutamate receptors (ligand-gated ion channels) are responsible for mediating the fast synaptic response to extracellular glutamate

Bioactivity of Edible Mushroom Agaricus Campestris

Here we determined antioxidant, antimicrobial and anticancer properties of edible mushroom Agaricus campestris. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by free radical scavenging, superoxide anion scavenging and reducing power. A. campestris extract had moderate free radical scavenging activity (IC50=179.65 µg/mL) and potent superoxide anion scavenging potential (IC50=35.204 µg/mL). Measured values of absorbance for reducing power varied from 0.3701 to 0.141. Further, the antimicrobial potential was determined by a microdilution method on 12 microorganisms. Extract of A. campestris showed relatively strong antimicrobial activity with minimum inhibitory concentration values ranging from 0.08 to 7.5 mg/mL. Finally, the cytotoxic activity was tested using MTT method on the human epithelial carcinoma Hela cells, human lung carcinoma A549 cells and human colon carcinoma LS174 cells. A. campestris extract expressed cytotoxic activity with IC50 values ranging from 9.54 to 16.87 μg/mL

Mean univariate- GARCH VaR portfolio optimization: actual portfolio approach

In accordance with Basel Capital Accords, the Capital Requirements (CR) for market risk exposure of banks is a nonlinear function of Value-at-Risk (VaR). Importantly, the CR is calculated based on a bank’s actual portfolio, i.e. the portfolio represented by its current holdings. To tackle mean-VaR portfolio optimization within the actual portfolio framework (APF), we propose a novel mean-VaR optimization method where VaR is estimated using a univariate Generalized AutoRegressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) volatility model. The optimization was performed by employing a Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II). On a sample of 40 large US stocks, our procedure provided superior mean-VaR trade-offs compared to those obtained from applying more customary mean-multivariate GARCH and historical VaR models. The results hold true in both low and high volatility samples

Aurelia S. Plath’s Shorthand Annotations in Sylvia Plath’s Personal Library at the Lilly Library, Indiana University

Sylvia Plath’s personal library of approximately 150 books is housed at the Lilly Library, Indiana University at Bloomington, U.S.A., under the library catalog listing “Sylvia Plath Papers, Material in the Printed Collection.” Among these books once owned by poet Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) are six books annotated in Gregg shorthand by her mother, Mrs. Aurelia Schober Plath (1906-1994). Scattered throughout these six books are a total of 30 Gregg shorthand annotations. These annotations are cataloged and transcribed in the accompanying Transcription Table