Mediapolis: an introduction

The organisation of this workshop has been prompted by concerns with the way media so often seem to get left out of writing on cities and urban politics (rather than vice-versa). We agree with Iveson’s (2007) argument that urban and media studies have much more in the way of shared concerns when it comes to politics than is conventionally thought to be the case. As a result, we are hoping this workshop will create an occasion for urban scholars to meet those studying media, to explore what difference it makes to explicitly consider the place of media practices in making a politics of cities, and conversely, to consider what is left out when such practices are relegated to the background. In certain ways, we are suggesting a contemporary return to something like Robert Park’s inclination in relation to cities and media. In his seminal essay on the natural history of the newspaper, for example (Park, 1925), Park exhibits a style which does not generally seem to distinguish between or oppose the urban and the media when studying politics and democracy. This surely has something to do with Park’s own intellectual period, and the absence of established disciplines in media or urban studies. Yet this is also precisely the point of the workshop: an opportunity for engagement and discussion through a similar sort of pre-disciplinary spirit

The Controversy Surrounding Continuing Applications and Requests for Continued Examination, 7 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 545 (2008)

On August 21, 2007, the USPTO published new rules altering the manner in which continuing applications and requests for continued examination could be filed. These new rules represented a drastic departure from traditional practice, and consequently, generated a considerable reaction from the patent community. While some members of the patent community supported the new rules, many others felt that the rules would be insufficient in promoting the USPTO’s goals, and served mainly as an unnecessary roadblock to good-faith patent prosecution. Prior to the rules going into effect, they were challenged in the case Tafas v. Dudas. In Tafas, the district court judge voided the rules as being beyond the scope of the USPTO’s rulemaking authority. The USPTO, however, does not seem inclined to let the rules die so easily, and some form of the rules may still come into effect. Accordingly, this comment examines the possible effect that the rules may have on different parties and proposes a number of alternative, less-intrusive, means of achieving the USPTO’s goals

Intimations on the Pathophysiology of Human Preterm Labor: The Unique Actions of Nitric Oxide in the Myometrium and the Consequences of its Dysregulation

Approximately 12% of all infants are born prematurely in the United States, costing in excess of 26 billion dollars annually. About half of those preterm births are the result of spontaneous preterm labor (sPTL), which is idiopathic in nature. One of the reasons so many cases of sPTL result in preterm birth is because tocolytics, which are drugs that prevent or halt labor, are only effective at delaying birth by 48-hours. This failure of tocolytics is due in part to the unique nature of uterine smooth muscle. Specifically, we have found that global cGMP accumulation, or depletion, has little effect on nitric oxide-mediated myometrial relaxation. This observation has generally been overlooked during tocolytic development in favor of pursuing therapeutics that modulate canonical pathways; however, this peculiarity of the myometrium may reveal the importance of the direct action of nitric oxide to modify proteins via S-nitrosation, a labile posttranslational modification whose dysregulation is associated with many diseases. Unlike term human myometrium, nitric oxide’s effects are not only blunted in sPTL myometrium, but global protein S-nitrosations are also diminished, suggesting a dysfunctional response to nitric oxide-mediated protein S-nitrosation. Our study of S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR), an enzyme that degrades the common endogenous form of nitric oxide, S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO), reveals increased expression of the enzyme in sPTL myometrium, associated with decreased total protein S-nitrosation. Inhibition of GSNOR by N6022 relaxes myometrial tissue,iindicating the importance of nitric oxide donors and protein S-nitrosation in myometrial quiescence. GSNO, which can trans-S-nitrosate proteins, also alters acto-myosin ATP-ase activity, increases TREK-1 outwardly rectifying potassium currents, and increases myosin light chain kinase activity. Taken together, these findings offer novel explanations for nitric oxide-mediated relaxation in myometrium, and provide evidence for the effectiveness of a new class of tocolytics

A NEW AND FAMILIAR POWER: THE RISE OF PENTECOSTALISM AMONG THE BLACKFEET IN MONTANA, 1940-1975

This thesis charts the rise of Pentecostalism among the Blackfeet in and around Browning, Montana on the Blackfeet Reservation from 1940 through 1975. The Pentecostal message was first brought to the Blackfeet around 1940 by white ministers with the Assemblies of God from nearby Cut Bank, Montana. By 1965 the Blackfeet Pentecostal movement was led entirely by Blackfeet ministers, leading to the proliferation of the Pentecostal message among the tribe. The Pentecostal movement made tremendous inroads among the Blackfeet because of its emphasis on receiving dramatic power from a divine source. This experience of divine empowerment was both new, yet familiar to Blackfeet people. This essay describes how Pentecostalism took root among the Blackfeet in the mid-twentieth century, a time of increased poverty, significant population migration, and difficult political turmoil on the Blackfeet reservation. This thesis argues that Pentecostalism exploded among the Blackfeet because of its dual emphasis on practitioners regularly receiving supernatural power and the commissioning of new leaders through divine calling. The promulgation of Pentecostalism among the Blackfeet was aided by their participation in a robust pan-Indian Pentecostal network, a Native religious innovation, which helped link Native Pentecostals from across the northwestern United States in training and mentoring relationships. This thesis elevates the Native voices of both Pentecostal practitioners and non-Pentecostal Blackfeet in relating the narrative of the rise of Pentecostalism among the Blackfeet. In addition to an analysis of the economic and political factors that led to the promulgation of Pentecostalism among the Blackfeet, this essay also compares some of the similarities between Pentecostalism and traditional Blackfeet religion. It explains how two generations of Blackfeet Pentecostal converts dealt differently with the tensions that developed between Pentecostalism and traditional Native ways

Non-Destructive Acoustic Determination of Residual Stresses in Hydrostatically Extruded Aluminum Rods

Third order elasticity theory may be used to show that a longitudinal acoustic wave normally incident on a sample in a state of plane deformation experiences a relative velocity shift given by [equation] where B is the acoustoelastic constant, σ1 and σ2 are the principal stresses normal to the direction of wave propagation, and V0 is the wave velocity in undistorted material. Hence, wave transit time measurements may be used to ascertain the sum σ1 + σ2 in the deformed state. We use a double pulse-echo technique to provide an accurate measure of transit time through the thickness of aluminum discs produced by hydrostatic extrusion (25% area reduction). The residual stress state produced during extrusion is axi-symmetric and we are able to separately determine residual radial and hoop stresses by a single longitudinal wave measurement at points on the disc face. The technique is extremely rapid and accurate, and the acoustic results are cross-checked by both x-ray measurements and finite element simulation of the extrusion process

Re-engaging the intersections of media, politics and cities

Within contemporary social theory and social science, urban and media studies are seen as zones of speciality, with distinctive theoretical traditions and substantive concerns. This introduction situates the four short essays making up this Debates and Developments section in relation to a recent interdisciplinary workshop held in June 2008 at The Open University in Milton Keynes, UK, where participants were encouraged to experiment with and rework the longstanding conceptual differences and disciplinary policing that so often sets apart media and urban studies. The essays showcased here focus on the theoretical approaches urban scholars might bring to bear on studies of how cities and media come together around matters of politics