759 research outputs found
Francesco Rosi: an auteur? the cinema of Francesco Rosi
Auteurist approaches developed in the 1950s studied films as
a means of personal expression, valuing those directors who
could bring an individual quality to their films as 'auteurs'
.
More recent theories of subjectivity and textuality have
displaced the centrality of the director as author of meanings
in the film texts, but have had difficulty in explaining the
continued importance accorded to directors in interviews and
writing about their films. The interaction of directorial
intention, film industry, and the use of other media to
communicate the director's ideas to audiences is an area of
continued theoretical concern.
It is the aim of this work firstly to examine how Francesco
Rosi has managed to constitute himself as an 'auteur' within
the institutional structures of the Italian film industry, and
the constraints which these impose.
Between 1958 and today Rosi has made fifteen films, the
majority of which to a greater or lesser extent engage with
the reality of contemporary Italy. He works within the
mainstream of the Italian film industry. His work can,
however, be located within that narrow band of 1- 2% of films
produced each season which can be designated 'art' or
'quality' cinema, as opposed to more or less formulaic genre
products. This study aims to show that the institutional
structures of the Italian film - and latterly media -
industries have a primary influence both on the particular
narrative patterns Rosi has at his disposal, and on the
particular types of films which Rosi as director is financed
to make.
Secondly, I examine elements of Rosi's films which mark him
out as an 'auteur'. Through close textual analysis, I
identify recurring visual, rhetorical and narrative choices
which can be shown to signal the presence of the 'auteur',
Rosi, in the film texts, and to constitute his style
Has the phasing out of stavudine in accordance with changes in WHO guidelines led to a decrease in single-drug substitutions in first-line antiretroviral therapy for HIV in sub-Saharan Africa?
This version is the Accepted Manuscript and is published in final edited form as:
AIDS. 2017 January 02; 31(1): 147–157. doi:10.1097/QAD.0000000000001307OBJECTIVE: We assessed the relationship between phasing out stavudine in first-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) in accordance with WHO 2010 policy and single-drug substitutions (SDS) (substituting the nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor in first-line ART) in sub-Saharan Africa.
DESIGN: Prospective cohort analysis (International epidemiological Databases to Evaluate AIDS-Multiregional) including ART-naive, HIV-infected patients aged at least 16 years, initiating ART between January 2005 and December 2012. Before April 2010 (July 2007 in Zambia) national guidelines called for patients to initiate stavudine-based or zidovudine-based regimen, whereas thereafter tenofovir or zidovudine replaced stavudine in first-line ART.
METHODS: We evaluated the frequency of stavudine use and SDS by calendar year 2004-2014. Competing risk regression was used to assess the association between nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor use and SDS in the first 24 months on ART.
RESULTS: In all, 33 441 (8.9%; 95% confience interval 8.7-8.9%) SDS occurred among 377 656 patients in the first 24 months on ART, close to 40% of which were amongst patients on stavudine. The decrease in SDS corresponded with the phasing out of stavudine. Competing risks regression models showed that patients on tenofovir were 20-95% less likely to require a SDS than patients on stavudine, whereas patients on zidovudine had a 75-85% decrease in the hazards of SDS when compared to stavudine.
CONCLUSION: The decline in SDS in the first 24 months on treatment appears to be associated with phasing out stavudine for zidovudine or tenofovir in first-line ART in our study. Further efforts to decrease the cost of tenofovir and zidovudine for use in this setting is warranted to substitute all patients still receiving stavudine
Dynamic thylakoid stacking is regulated by LHCII phosphorylation but not its interaction with PSI
Grana stacking in plant chloroplast thylakoid membranes dynamically responds to the light environment. These dynamics have been linked to regulation of the relative antenna sizes of PSI and PSII (state transitions), the PSII repair cycle, and the regulation of photosynthetic electron transfer. Here, we used 3D structured illumination microscopy, a subdiffraction-resolution fluorescence imaging technique, to investigate the light-intensity dependence, kinetics, reversibility, and regulation of dynamic thylakoid stacking in spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Low-intensity white light (150 μmol photons m−2 s−1) behaved similarly to light preferentially exciting PSII (660 nm), causing a reduction in grana diameter and an increased number of grana per chloroplast. By contrast, high-intensity white light (1000 μmol photons m−2 s−1), darkness, and light preferentially exciting PSI (730 nm) reversed these changes. These dynamics occurred with a half-time of 7 to 8 min and were accompanied by state transitions. Consistent with this, the dynamics were dependent on STN7 (light-harvesting complex II [LHCII] kinase) and TAP38 (LHCII phosphatase), which are required for state transitions but were unaffected by the absence of STN8 (PSII kinase) or PSII core phosphatase (PSII phosphatase). Unlike state transitions, however, thylakoid stacking dynamics did not rely on the presence of the LHCI and PSI subunit L phospho-LHCII binding sites on PSI. Since oligomerization of thylakoid curvature protein (CURT1A) was unaffected by the absence of STN7 or TAP38, we conclude that the primary determinant of dynamic thylakoid stacking is LHCII phosphorylation
‘The oxygen of shared experience’: exploring social support processes within peer support groups for carers of people with non-memory-led and inherited dementias
Objectives: To explore support processes and behaviours taking place during online peer support groups for family carers of people living with rare, non-memory-led and inherited dementias (PLWRD).
Methods: Twenty-five family carers of PLWRD participated in a series of ongoing online peer supportgroups on the theme of ‘Independence and Identity’. Transcripts from 16 sessions were analysed using qualitative directed content analysis with a coding framework informed by Cutrona & Suhr’s (2004) Social Support Behaviour Code (SSBC).
Results: Most of the social support behaviours outlined in the SSBC were identified within the sessions, along with two novel social support categories – ‘Experiential Support’ and ‘Community Support’ – and novel support behaviours including ‘Advocacy and Collective Action’ and ‘Uses Humour’. The SSBC code ‘Relationship’ appeared to be of central importance.
Conclusions: This study sheds light on the unique challenges of the caring context for those affected by non-memory-led and inherited dementias and the significant contributions carers can offer to, and receive from, peers in similar situations. It highlights the importance of services which recognise the value of the informational and emotional expertise of carers of PLWRD and encourages the continued development and delivery of tailored support for these populations
Acceleration Schemes for Ab-Initio Molecular Dynamics and Electronic Structure Calculations
We study the convergence and the stability of fictitious dynamical methods
for electrons. First, we show that a particular damped second-order dynamics
has a much faster rate of convergence to the ground-state than first-order
steepest descent algorithms while retaining their numerical cost per time step.
Our damped dynamics has efficiency comparable to that of conjugate gradient
methods in typical electronic minimization problems. Then, we analyse the
factors that limit the size of the integration time step in approaches based on
plane-wave expansions. The maximum allowed time step is dictated by the highest
frequency components of the fictitious electronic dynamics. These can result
either from the large wavevector components of the kinetic energy or from the
small wavevector components of the Coulomb potential giving rise to the so
called {\it charge sloshing} problem. We show how to eliminate large wavevector
instabilities by adopting a preconditioning scheme that is implemented here for
the first-time in the context of Car-Parrinello ab-initio molecular dynamics
simulations of the ionic motion. We also show how to solve the charge-sloshing
problem when this is present. We substantiate our theoretical analysis with
numerical tests on a number of different silicon and carbon systems having both
insulating and metallic character.Comment: RevTex, 9 figures available upon request, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Evidence for Shape Co-existence at medium spin in 76Rb
Four previously known rotational bands in 76Rb have been extended to moderate
spins using the Gammasphere and Microball gamma ray and charged particle
detector arrays and the 40Ca(40Ca,3pn) reaction at a beam energy of 165 MeV.
The properties of two of the negative-parity bands can only readily be
interpreted in terms of the highly successful Cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky model
calculations if they have the same configuration in terms of the number of g9/2
particles, but they result from different nuclear shapes (one near-oblate and
the other near-prolate). These data appear to constitute a unique example of
shape co-existing structures at medium spins.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physics Letters
Neutral weak currents in pion electroproduction on the nucleon
Parity violating asymmetry in inclusive scattering of longitudinally
polarized electrons by unpolarized protons with or meson
production, is calculated as a function of the momentum transfer squared
and the total energy of the -system. This asymmetry, which is
induced by the interference of the one-photon exchange amplitude with the
parity-odd part of the -exchange amplitude, is calculated for the
processes ( is a virtual photon and
a virtual Z-boson) considering the -contribution in the channel,
the standard Born contributions and vector meson ( and )
exchanges in the channel. Taking into account the known isotopic properties
of the hadron electromagnetic and neutral currents, we show that the P-odd term
is the sum of two contributions. The main term is model independent and it can
be calculated exactly in terms of fundamental constants. It is found to be
linear in . The second term is a relatively small correction which is
determined by the isoscalar component of the electromagnetic current. Near
threshold and in the -region, this isoscalar part is much smaller (in
absolute value) than the isovector one: its contribution to the asymmetry
depend on the polarization state (longitudinal or transverse) of the virtual
photon.Comment: 30 pages 9 figure
Comparative proteomics of thylakoids from Arabidopsis grown in laboratory and field conditions
Compared to controlled laboratory conditions, plant growth in the field is rarely optimal since it is frequently challenged by large fluctuations in light and temperature which lower the efficiency of photosynthesis and lead to photo-oxidative stress. Plants grown under natural conditions therefore place an increased onus on the regulatory mechanisms that protect and repair the delicate photosynthetic machinery. Yet, the exact changes in thylakoid proteome composition which allow plants to acclimate to the natural environment remain largely unexplored. Here, we use quantitative label-free proteomics to demonstrate that field-grown Arabidopsis plants incorporate aspects of both the low and high light acclimation strategies previously observed in laboratory-grown plants. Field plants showed increases in the relative abundance of ATP synthase, cytochrome b6f, ferredoxin-NADP+ reductases (FNR1 and FNR2) and their membrane tethers TIC62 and TROL, thylakoid architecture proteins CURT1A, CURT1B, RIQ1, and RIQ2, the minor monomeric antenna complex CP29.3, rapidly-relaxing non-photochemical quenching (qE)-related proteins PSBS and VDE, the photosystem II (PSII) repair machinery and the cyclic electron transfer complexes NDH, PGRL1B, and PGR5, in addition to decreases in the amounts of LHCII trimers composed of LHCB1.1, LHCB1.2, LHCB1.4, and LHCB2 proteins and CP29.2, all features typical of a laboratory high light acclimation response. Conversely, field plants also showed increases in the abundance of light harvesting proteins LHCB1.3 and CP29.1, zeaxanthin epoxidase (ZEP) and the slowly-relaxing non-photochemical quenching (qI)-related protein LCNP, changes previously associated with a laboratory low light acclimation response. Field plants also showed distinct changes to the proteome including the appearance of stress-related proteins ELIP1 and ELIP2 and changes to proteins that are largely invariant under laboratory conditions such as state transition related proteins STN7 and TAP38. We discuss the significance of these alterations in the thylakoid proteome considering the unique set of challenges faced by plants growing under natural conditions
Click beetle luciferase mutant and near infrared naphthyl-luciferins for improved bioluminescence imaging
The sensitivity of bioluminescence imaging in animals is primarily dependent on the amount of photons emitted by the luciferase enzyme at wavelengths greater than 620 nm where tissue penetration is high. This area of work has been dominated by firefly luciferase and its substrate, D-luciferin, due to the system's peak emission (~ 600 nm), high signal to noise ratio, and generally favorable biodistribution of D-luciferin in mice. Here we report on the development of a codon optimized mutant of click beetle red luciferase that produces substantially more light output than firefly luciferase when the two enzymes are compared in transplanted cells within the skin of black fur mice or in deep brain. The mutant enzyme utilizes two new naphthyl-luciferin substrates to produce near infrared emission (730 nm and 743 nm). The stable luminescence signal and near infrared emission enable unprecedented sensitivity and accuracy for performing deep tissue multispectral tomography in mice
- …