Feminist strategies for changing the story: re-imagining Arctic exploration narratives through (the staging of) photographs, travel writing and found objects

This article shows how contemporary artistic practice seeks to re-evaluate, re-interpret and re-imagine (historical) Arctic exploration narratives that have generally been considered gendered and dominated by men. It particularly examines the work of contemporary Norwegian artist Tonje Bøe Birkeland, whose entire practice emerges from embodying and staging imagined turn of the century woman explorers. One of Birkeland’s explorers travels to the Arctic and the circumpolar North and explicitly references persisting narratives deriving from the so-called heroic era of polar exploration. In order to change these narratives, I argue, Birkeland employs two feminist strategies: firstly, by storytelling and speculative fabulation (Haraway); secondly, by simultaneously complying with and disrupting re-occurring Arctic motifs and representations. Photography, travel writing and found objects are hereby her primary artistic mediums and “accomplices” in fulfilling these strategies, carefully orchestrated in a photobook in order to establish her story and view on the Arctic world. As a result, Birkeland not only reveals which stories about the Arctic are missing and could have been told. She also asks us to imagine how our relationship to the Arctic could have been shaped differently and how, through this process, it is possible to influence a future narrative of a (still) gendered Arctic

The Education of Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in Today\u27s Schools

One of the most controversial issues in Special Education today is the placement of students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (FJBD). Many professionals support inclusion of students with EJBD into the general education environment, while others take a more conservative approach. In order to evaluate educational placement of students with EJBD, research from journal articles and text was conducted to determine if there was any consensus among professionals in the field. The researcher interviewed a number of school professionals, representative of those who might make up a Committee for Special Education (CSE). It was deemed important to hear from real educators from different points of view and perspective. They were all asked about their experience in working with students with EIBD and their viewpoints regarding placement of these students. After investigating this problem, there is no clear cut answer regarding optimal placement of students with EIBD , as each student has his or her own unique needs

Analoge und digitale Medien als Lerngelegenheiten im Schul- und Unterrichtsalltag der Primarstufe

Im Mittelpunkt des Forschungs- und Entwicklungsprojekts steht die Frage, wie es gelingen kann, digitale und analoge Medien gezielt als bereichernde Lerngelegenheiten in den Schul und Unterrichtsalltag der laborschuleigenen Primarstufe zu integrieren – ohne dabei zugleich die schwierige Balance von individuellem und gemeinsamem Lernen aus dem Blick zu verlieren. Das Projekt zielt vor diesem Hintergrund darauf ab, ein grundlegendes Konzept zum Umgang mit digitalen Medien in der laborschuleigenen Primarstufe (Vorschuljahr bis Jahrgang 5) zu entwickeln, zu evaluieren und zu implementieren – und dies unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Herausforderungen eines inklusiven Unterrichts im schulischen Großraum

A conserved domain in type III secretion links the cytoplasmic domain of InvA to elements of the basal body

The cytoplasmic domain of Salmonella InvA shares homology to a recurring scaffold in the membrane-spanning components of the type II and type III secretion systems

Structural modeling of the flagellum MS ring protein FliF reveals similarities to the type III secretion system and sporulation complex

The flagellum is a large proteinaceous organelle found at the surface of many bacteria, whose primary role is to allow motility through the rotation of a long extracellular filament. It is an essential virulence factor in many pathogenic species, and is also a priming component in the formation of antibiotic-resistant biofilms. The flagellum consists of the export apparatus on the cytosolic side; the basal body and rotor, spanning the bacterial membrane(s) and periplasm; and the hook-filament, that protrudes away from the bacterial surface. Formation of the basal body MS ring region, constituted of multiple copies of the protein FliF, is one of the initial steps of flagellum assembly. However, the precise architecture of FliF is poorly understood. Here, I report a bioinformatics analysis of the FliF sequence from various bacterial species, suggesting that its periplasmic region is composed of three globular domains. The first two are homologous to that of the type III secretion system injectisome proteins SctJ, and the third possesses a similar fold to that of the sporulation complex component SpoIIIAG. I also describe that Chlamydia possesses an unusual FliF protein, lacking part of the SctJ homology domain and the SpoIIIAG-like domain, and fused to the rotor component FliG at its C-terminus. Finally, I have combined the sequence analysis of FliF with the EM map of the MS ring, to propose the first atomic model for the FliF oligomer, suggesting that FliF is structurally akin to a fusion of the two injectisome components SctJ and SctD. These results further define the relationship between the flagellum, injectisome and sporulation complex, and will facilitate future structural characterization of the flagellum basal body

Structure of a bacterial type III secretion system in contact with a host membrane in situ

Many bacterial pathogens of animals and plants use a conserved type III secretion system (T3SS) to inject virulence effector proteins directly into eukaryotic cells to subvert host functions. Contact with host membranes is critical for T3SS activation, yet little is known about T3SS architecture in this state or the conformational changes that drive effector translocation. Here we use cryo-electron tomography and sub-tomogram averaging to derive the intact structure of the primordial Chlamydia trachomatis T3SS in the presence and absence of host membrane contact. Comparison of the averaged structures demonstrates a marked compaction of the basal body (4 nm) occurs when the needle tip contacts the host cell membrane. This compaction is coupled to a stabilization of the cytosolic sorting platform– ATPase. Our findings reveal the first structure of a bacterial T3SS from a major human pathogen engaged with a eukaryotic host, and reveal striking ‘pump-action’ conformational changes that underpin effector injection

Crystal Structure of Legionella DotD: Insights into the Relationship between Type IVB and Type II/III Secretion Systems

The Dot/Icm type IVB secretion system (T4BSS) is a pivotal determinant of Legionella pneumophila pathogenesis. L. pneumophila translocate more than 100 effector proteins into host cytoplasm using Dot/Icm T4BSS, modulating host cellular functions to establish a replicative niche within host cells. The T4BSS core complex spanning the inner and outer membranes is thought to be made up of at least five proteins: DotC, DotD, DotF, DotG and DotH. DotH is the outer membrane protein; its targeting depends on lipoproteins DotC and DotD. However, the core complex structure and assembly mechanism are still unknown. Here, we report the crystal structure of DotD at 2.0 Å resolution. The structure of DotD is distinct from that of VirB7, the outer membrane lipoprotein of the type IVA secretion system. In contrast, the C-terminal domain of DotD is remarkably similar to the N-terminal subdomain of secretins, the integral outer membrane proteins that form substrate conduits for the type II and the type III secretion systems (T2SS and T3SS). A short β-segment in the otherwise disordered N-terminal region, located on the hydrophobic cleft of the C-terminal domain, is essential for outer membrane targeting of DotH and Dot/Icm T4BSS core complex formation. These findings uncover an intriguing link between T4BSS and T2SS/T3SS

Defining the Specificity of Cotranslationally Acting Chaperones by Systematic Analysis of mRNAs Associated with Ribosome-Nascent Chain Complexes

Polypeptides exiting the ribosome must fold and assemble in the crowded environment of the cell. Chaperones and other protein homeostasis factors interact with newly translated polypeptides to facilitate their folding and correct localization. Despite the extensive efforts, little is known about the specificity of the chaperones and other factors that bind nascent polypeptides. To address this question we present an approach that systematically identifies cotranslational chaperone substrates through the mRNAs associated with ribosome-nascent chain-chaperone complexes. We here focused on two Saccharomyces cerevisiae chaperones: the Signal Recognition Particle (SRP), which acts cotranslationally to target proteins to the ER, and the Nascent chain Associated Complex (NAC), whose function has been elusive. Our results provide new insights into SRP selectivity and reveal that NAC is a general cotranslational chaperone. We found surprising differential substrate specificity for the three subunits of NAC, which appear to recognize distinct features within nascent chains. Our results also revealed a partial overlap between the sets of nascent polypeptides that interact with NAC and SRP, respectively, and showed that NAC modulates SRP specificity and fidelity in vivo. These findings give us new insight into the dynamic interplay of chaperones acting on nascent chains. The strategy we used should be generally applicable to mapping the specificity, interplay, and dynamics of the cotranslational protein homeostasis network

Analysis of the interplay of protein biogenesis factors at the ribosome exit site reveals new role for NAC

YesThe ribosome exit site is a focal point for the interaction of protein-biogenesis factors that guide the fate of nascent polypeptides. These factors include chaperones such as NAC, N-terminal-modifying enzymes like Methionine aminopeptidase (MetAP), and the signal recognition particle (SRP), which targets secretory and membrane proteins to the ER. These factors potentially compete with one another in the short time-window when the nascent chain first emerges at the exit site, suggesting a need for regulation. Here, we show that MetAP contacts the ribosome at the universal adaptor site where it is adjacent to the α subunit of NAC. SRP is also known to contact the ribosome at this site. In the absence of NAC, MetAP and SRP antagonize each other, indicating a novel role for NAC in regulating the access of MetAP and SRP to the ribosome. NAC also functions in SRP-dependent targeting and helps to protect substrates from aggregation before translocation.This work was supported by grants from the BBSRC [H007202/1] and Wellcome Trust [097820/Z/11/A]

Pia Arke and ‘Arctic Hysteria’: Visual Repatriation and the Problematics of a ‘Lost’ Artwork

his article examines Pia Arke’s artistic practice that engages with the phenomenon of ‘Arctic hysteria’, which apparently gripped large parts of the female indigenous population in the Arctic during the early contact era. By focusing on the ‘lost’ photomontage Arctic Hysteria IV (1997), I aim to show how Arke’s method of re-appropriating photographic material from colonial archives can be seen as an act of visual repatriation, of “working through” and reclaiming the repressed histories of indigenous Kalaallit women