Hard To Stop: Image and Authorship in the Films of Steven Seagal

Little serious scholarly work has been done on the career of Steven Seagal which is surprising given his immense popularity in the early 1990s. In addition to suggesting more work be done on less traditional stars, this thesis asks what factors lead to an understanding of Steven Seagal as a working class action hero. It makes the case for understanding Seagal as a star because of the impressive box office success of his films along with his immense popularity during that time frame. The thesis focuses mainly on Seagal's films from 1988 until 1995, with only occasional references to his later, less commercially successful work which nonetheless helps explicate the essence of the Seagal persona. The main theoretical texts utilized in this thesis are Richard Dyer's Stars, which examines both the sociological and semiotic implications of stardom, and Rick Altman's Film/Genre, which explores the evolution of the working class action film. The way in which Seagal's working class action hero persona was constructed and sustained lies in the dynamic interactions of three competing forces: the studios, Seagal himself, and his audience. In addition to how his persona was created, the thesis looks at those aspects of Seagal's star persona essential to Seagal's status as a working class action hero. Seagal's principal characters are associated with the Vietnam or a Vietnam-like War; they are men enforce their own codes of conduct and justice; and, they connect in multiple ways with numerous ethnicities and cultures. This thesis performs its analysis of Seagal's star persona through historical and sociological approaches, drawing heavily from industry and popular publications to help gauge public interest in the actor

Positionally dependent ^(15)N fraction factors in the UV photolysis of N_2O determined by high resolution FTIR spectroscopy

Positionally dependent fractionation factors for the photolysis of isotopomers of N_2O in natural abundance have been determined by high resolution FTIR spectroscopy at three photolysis wavelengths. Fractionation factors show clear 15N position and photolysis wavelength dependence and are in qualitative agreement with theoretical models but are twice as large. The fractionation factors increase with photolysis wavelength from 193 to 211 nm, with the fractionation factors at 207.6 nm for ^(14)N^(15)N^916)O, ^(15)N^(14)N^(16)O and ^(14)N^(14)N^(18)O equal to −66.5±5‰,−27.1±6‰ and −49±10‰, respectively

More Than Movies: Social Formations in Informal Networks of Media Sharing

This project examines the social structures, formations, and practices of informal networks of media sharing (INMSs) through both historical and sociological lenses. INMSs are comprised of individuals who distribute and circulate media to one another through noncommercial, unauthorized networks. The networks can be centered around texts, such as the early videophile publication The Videophile’s Newsletter, or they can be constituted by disparate groups of people who come together as a community using digital platforms like BitTorrent. While nominally concerned with circulating media, INMSs are also sources of social sustenance for their members and are sites of struggle for social and symbolic capital and power. They illuminate the complex ways in which community members utilize media as a starting point to satisfy a variety of needs, including developing bodies of cultural and technical knowledge, thinking through legal and ethical concerns, creating social bonds, and engaging in a variety of pedagogical practices. In short, INMSs are loci of social and cultural meaning-making for their members. This dissertation catalogs and analyzes the social practices and formations of three INMSs, the aforementioned Videophile’s Newsletter and two private, BitTorrent networks focused on cinema, Great Cinema and FilmDestruction, showing there to be diachronic and transplatform similarities between different networks. Rather than instances of rupture and divergence, this project argues that these networks are best understood through an evolutionary lens. It contends that INMSs and other similar formations should be increasingly studied because of their prevalence throughout the 20th and 21st centuries and their importance to consumers as unauthorized media distribution spaces whereby network members have greater latitude to experiment with media and create unique, diverse social structures and practices that are not contingent upon restrictions imposed by the media and copyright industries

A major subtropical fruit pest accumulates in crop fields and spills over to a wild host

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Wild plant species are often considered a source of crop pests in mixed landscapes but this view rarely considers pest spillover in the opposite direction (from crop fields to natural vegetation), or spatiotemporal variability in resources between crop and wild habitats. We investigate how infestation of mango crop (Mangifera indica, Anacardiaceae) and a related wild host (marula, Sclerocarya birrea, Anacardiaceae) by a major subtropical fruit crop pest (Ceratitis cosyra, Diptera: Tephritidae) varies with distance from the boundary between crop and natural vegetation. We determined how infestation of marula is associated with proximity to mango crops at field and landscape scales over two fruiting seasons on three farms in north-eastern South Africa. This is one of few studies to date to consider pest spillover from crop fields to natural vegetation and the only one performed in a biodiverse region with relatively little habitat transformation. Over three sampling periods, C. cosyra infestation of marula always decreased with distance from mango fields. At the landscape scale, marula alongside crop fields were 30 times more likely to be infested than in distant vegetation (1.3–6 km from mango), suggesting that spillover occurs from crop fields to natural vegetation. During late mango and marula fruiting, twice as many flies infested marula than mango. However, over the two months post-mango fruiting, up to 25 times more C. cosyra were trapped in mango fields than in bordering natural vegetation. Although pests spillover from crop fields into natural vegetation to use marula as an alternate host, biological control in the natural vegetation may eliminate this habitat as a pest reservoir outside the crop season. Other nearby crops may be more important than wild hosts for maintaining C. cosyra out of mango season. Landscape planning should consider proximity and arrangement of fields containing crops that host shared pests at different times of the year.This research was supported by the Mare Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme [Contract number 318929]; the National Research Foundation of South Africa [Grant number 90139]; and the South African Department of Science and Technology [Contract number 0054/2013]

Effects of Renal Denervation on Sympathetic Activation, Blood Pressure, and Glucose Metabolism in Patients with Resistant Hypertension

Increased central sympathetic drive is a hallmark of several important clinical conditions including essential hypertension, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, and insulin resistance. Afferent signaling from the kidneys has been identified as an important contributor to elevated central sympathetic drive and increased sympathetic outflow to the kidney and other organs is crucially involved in cardiovascular control. While the resultant effects on renal hemodynamic parameters, sodium and water retention, and renin release are particularly relevant for both acute and long term regulation of blood pressure, increased sympathetic outflow to other vascular beds may facilitate further adverse consequences of sustained sympathetic activation such as insulin resistance, which is commonly associated with hypertension. Recent clinical studies using catheter-based radiofrequency ablation technology to achieve functional renal denervation in patients with resistant hypertension have identified the renal nerves as therapeutic target and have helped to further expose the sympathetic link between hypertension and insulin resistance. Initial data from two clinical trials and several smaller mechanistic clinical studies indicate that this novel approach may indeed provide a safe and effective treatment alternative for resistant hypertension and some of its adverse consequences

Change in Sympathetic Nerve Firing Pattern Associated with Dietary Weight Loss in the Metabolic Syndrome

Sympathetic activation in subjects with the metabolic syndrome (MS) plays a role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease development. Diet-induced weight loss decreases sympathetic outflow. However the mechanisms that account for sympathetic inhibition are not known. We sought to provide a detailed description of the sympathetic response to diet by analyzing the firing behavior of single-unit sympathetic nerve fibers. Fourteen subjects (57 ± 2 years, nine men, five females) fulfilling ATP III criteria for the MS underwent a 3-month low calorie diet. Metabolic profile, hemodynamic parameters, and multi-unit and single-unit muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA, microneurography) were assessed prior to and at the end of the diet. Patients’ weight dropped from 96 ± 4 to 88 ± 3 kg (P < 0.001). This was associated with a decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure (−12 ± 3 and −5 ± 2 mmHg, P < 0.05), and in heart rate (−7 ± 2 bpm, P < 0.01) and an improvement in all metabolic parameters (fasting glucose: −0.302.1 ± 0.118 mmol/l, total cholesterol: −0.564 ± 0.164 mmol/l, triglycerides: −0.414 ± 0.137 mmol/l, P < 0.05). Multi-unit MSNA decreased from 68 ± 4 to 59 ± 5 bursts/100 heartbeats (P < 0.05). Single-unit MSNA indicated that the firing rate of individual vasoconstrictor fibers decreased from 59 ± 10 to 32 ± 4 spikes/100 heart beats (P < 0.05). The probability of firing decreased from 34 ± 5 to 23 ± 3% of heartbeats (P < 0.05), and the incidence of multiple firing decreased from 14 ± 4 to 6 ± 1% of heartbeats (P < 0.05). Cardiac and sympathetic baroreflex function were significantly improved (cardiac slope: 6.57 ± 0.69 to 9.57 ± 1.20 ms·mmHg−1; sympathetic slope: −3.86 ± 0.34 to −5.05 ± 0.47 bursts/100 heartbeats·mmHg−1, P < 0.05 for both). Hypocaloric diet decreased sympathetic activity and improved hemodynamic and metabolic parameters. The sympathoinhibition associated with weight loss involves marked changes, not only in the rate but also in the firing pattern of active vasoconstrictive fibers

Fluorescent nanosensors for intracellular measurements: synthesis, characterization, calibration, and measurement

Measurement of intracellular acidification is important for understanding fundamental biological pathways as well as developing effective therapeutic strategies. Fluorescent pH nanosensors are an enabling technology for real-time monitoring of intracellular acidification. The physicochemical characteristics of nanosensors can be engineered to target specific cellular compartments and respond to external stimuli. Therefore, nanosensors represent a versatile approach for probing biological pathways inside cells. The fundamental components of nanosensors comprise a pH-sensitive fluorophore (signal transducer) and a pH-insensitive reference fluorophore (internal standard) immobilized in an inert non-toxic matrix. The inert matrix prevents interference of cellular components with the sensing elements as well as minimizing potentially harmful effects of some fluorophores on cell function. Fluorescent nanosensors are synthesized using standard laboratory equipment and are detectable by non-invasive widely accessible imaging techniques. The outcomes of studies employing this technology are dependent on reliable methodology for performing measurements. In particular, special consideration must be given to conditions for sensor calibration, uptake conditions and parameters for image analysis. We describe procedures for: (1) synthesis and characterization of polyacrylamide and silica based nanosensors, (2) nanosensor calibration and (3) performing measurements using fluorescence microscopy

11.1: Invited Paper : Advances in Blue Phosphorescent Organic Light‐Emitting Devices

This paper discusses the latest developments towards a commercial blue phosphorescent organic light emitting device (PHOLED™) technology. Progress towards achieving a high efficiency, long‐lived saturated blue PHOLED is discussed. First, a high efficiency (20% EQE, 45 cd/A), light blue (0.17, 0.39) PHOLED is presented. Next, long‐lived blue PHOLEDs having chromaticity co‐ordinates (0.17, 0.38) and (0.16, 0.29) are estimated to degrade to half their initial luminance of 200cd/m 2 after >100,000 hrs and 17,500 hrs, respectively. Finally, results from PHOLEDs designed to increase blue color saturation and lifetime are presented.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92011/1/1.2433213.pd

Cytochrome P4501A biomarker indication of the timeline of chronic exposure of Barrow’s goldeneyes to residual Exxon Valdez oil

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2010. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Marine Pollution Bulletin 62 (2011): 609-614, doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2010.11.015.We examined hepatic EROD activity, as an indicator of CYP1A induction, in Barrow's goldeneyes captured in areas oiled during the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill and those from nearby unoiled areas. We found that average EROD activity differed between areas during 2005, although the magnitude of the difference was reduced relative to a previous study from 1996/97, and we found that areas did not differ by 2009. Similarly, we found that the proportion of individuals captured from oiled areas with elevated EROD activity ( 2 times unoiled average) declined from 41% in winter 1996/97 to 10% in 2005 and 15% in 2009. This work adds to a body of literature describing the timelines over which vertebrates were exposed to residual Exxon Valdez oil and indicates that, for Barrow's goldeneyes in Prince William Sound, exposure persisted for many years with evidence of substantially reduced exposure by 2 decades after the spill.This research was supported primarily by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council