Reading the Superhuman, Embodiments of Multiplicity in Marvel Comics

The goal of this project is to identify, analyze and historicize the operation of embodied multiplicities within superhero comics from the postwar era using the example of comics produced by the Marvel group between 1961 and 2005. This project argues that the superheroes created during this era reflect major social and cultural upheavals that continue to reshape the postwar era; this includes the dawn of the Atomic Age as well as the rise of the Civil Rights movement, second-wave feminism, the sexual revolution, and liberal multiculturalism. This project furthermore argues that superhero comics are especially useful vehicles for exploring both the practice of polysemy in popular texts as well as the ongoing evolution of popular bodily desires and fantasies within postwar American society and culture. Reading superhero comics as a body genre, this project offers a formally and visually driven analysis focusing on evolving representations of gender, race, sexuality, and disability, and the fantasies and anxieties those representations reflect, resist, and negotiate. Ultimately, this project argues that superhero comics embodied multiplicities offer especially rich opportunities for subverting hegemonic narratives that would devalue the meaning of bodily expression and the diversity of bodily experience. It also argues, however, that superhero comics possess especially sophisticated tools for negating such subversion, routinely mobilizing seeming resistances to hegemonic narratives in ways that in fact reassert those narratives in new, bright costumes and fantastical metaphors

Procedure for improving wildfire simulations using observations

This report suggests a variational update method for improving wildfire simulations using observations as feedback to update information. We first assume a onedimensional fire model for simplicity and present numerical simulations obtained in this case. As possible alternative approaches, we also discuss two other update methods: a particle filter method and an optimal control method

Molecular Signature of Polyoxometalates in Electron Transport of Silicon-based Molecular Junctions

Polyoxometalates (POMs) are unconventional electro-active molecules with a great potential for applications in molecular memories, providing efficient processing steps onto electrodes are available. The synthesis of the organic-inorganic polyoxometalate hybrids [PM$_{11}$O$_{39}$(Sn(C$_6$H$_4$)C$\equiv$C(C$_6$H$_4$)N$_2$)]$^{3-}$ (M = Mo, W) endowed with a remote diazonium function is reported together with their covalent immobilization onto hydrogenated n-Si(100) substrates. Electron transport measurements through the resulting densely-packed monolayers contacted with a mercury drop as a top electrode confirms their homogeneity. Adjustment of the current-voltage curves with the Simmons equation gives a mean tunnel energy barrier of 1.8 eV and 1.6 eV, for the Silicon-Molecules-Metal (SMM) junctions based on the polyoxotungstates (M = W) and polyoxomolybdates (M = Mo), respectively. This follows the trend observed in the electrochemical properties of POMs in solution, the polyoxomolybdates being easier to reduce than the polyoxotungstates, in agreement with lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMOs) of lower energy. The molecular signature of the POMs is thus clearly identifiable in the solid-state electrical properties and the unmatched diversity of POM molecular and electronic structures should offer a great modularity

Analysis of auditory functions in grades one, two, and three.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

A Lacanian perspective on bias in language: How women can(not) ever make it in academia

In this paper, we contribute to the study of gender bias in organizations by showing how adopting a Lacanian psychoanalytic perspective helps us study bias in language while not separating language from the speaker. We use career narratives from female professors to exemplify our argument. We argue that coming into being as a performing subject means satisfying the desire of an organizational, academic other, and argue that this other’s desire rests upon a masculine ideal. To support our arguments, we present and analyze narrative excerpts and show how making it for women in academia is constrained by the continued experience of bias—manifested in language—leading to an unresolvable split between striving to be a successful  woman in academia and meeting the masculine-centered standards for the ideal worker. The Lacanian approach thus allows us to show how gender bias is simultaneously contested and reproduced in the career narratives of women with successful careers in neoliberal academia. We conclude the paper by addressing the broader implications and limits of a Lacanian perspective for studying and tackling (gender) bias in organizations.In this paper, we contribute to the study of gender bias in organizations by showing how adopting a Lacanian psychoanalytic perspective helps us study bias in language while not separating language from the speaker. We use career narratives from female professors to exemplify our argument. We argue that coming into being as a performing subject means satisfying the desire of an organizational, academic other, and argue that this other’s desire rests upon a masculine ideal. To support our arguments, we present and analyze narrative excerpts and show how making it for women in academia is constrained by the continued experience of bias—manifested in language—leading to an unresolvable split between striving to be a successful  woman in academia and meeting the masculine-centered standards for the ideal worker. The Lacanian approach thus allows us to show how gender bias is simultaneously contested and reproduced in the career narratives of women with successful careers in neoliberal academia. We conclude the paper by addressing the broader implications and limits of a Lacanian perspective for studying and tackling (gender) bias in organizations

Stories that Change Our World? Narratives of the Sustainable Economy

Narratives are shaping our understanding of the world. They convey values and norms and point to desirable future developments. In this way, they justify and legitimize political actions and social practices. Once a narrative has emerged and this world view is supported by broad societal groups, narratives can provide powerful momentum to trigger innovation and changes in the course of action. Narratives, however, are not necessarily based on evidence and precise categories, but can instead be vague and ambiguous in order to be acceptable and attractive to different actors. However, the more open and inclusive a narrative is, the less impact can be expected. We investigate whether there is a shared narrative in research for the sustainable economy and how this can be evaluated in terms of its potential societal impact. The paper carves out the visions for the future that have been underlying the research projects conducted within the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) funding programme “The Sustainable Economy”. It then analyzes whether these visions are compatible with narratives dominating societal discourse on the sustainable economy, and concludes how the use of visions and narratives in research can contribute to fostering societal transformations

Relationship between teacher checklist, parent rating scale, and California Test of Personality in grades I, II, and III

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Insight into the cellular involvement of the two reverse gyrases from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus

International audienceBACKGROUND: Reverse gyrases are DNA topoisomerases characterized by their unique DNA positive-supercoiling activity. Sulfolobus solfataricus, like most Crenarchaeota, contains two genes each encoding a reverse gyrase. We showed previously that the two genes are differently regulated according to temperature and that the corresponding purified recombinant reverse gyrases have different enzymatic characteristics. These observations suggest a specialization of functions of the two reverse gyrases. As no mutants of the TopR genes could be obtained in Sulfolobales, we used immunodetection techniques to study the function(s) of these proteins in S. solfataricus in vivo. In particular, we investigated whether one or both reverse gyrases are required for the hyperthermophilic lifestyle. RESULTS: For the first time the two reverse gyrases of S. solfataricus have been discriminated at the protein level and their respective amounts have been determined in vivo. Actively dividing S. solfataricus cells contain only small amounts of both reverse gyrases, approximately 50 TopR1 and 125 TopR2 molecules per cell at 80[degree sign]C. S. solfataricus cells are resistant at 45[degree sign]C for several weeks, but there is neither cell division nor replication initiation; these processes are fully restored upon a return to 80[degree sign]C. TopR1 is not found after three weeks at 45[degree sign]C whereas the amount of TopR2 remains constant. Enzymatic assays in vitro indicate that TopR1 is not active at 45[degree sign]C but that TopR2 exhibits highly positive DNA supercoiling activity at 45[degree sign]C. CONCLUSIONS: The two reverse gyrases of S. solfataricus are differently regulated, in terms of protein abundance, in vivo at 80[degree sign]C and 45[degree sign]C. TopR2 is present both at high and low temperatures and is therefore presumably required whether cells are dividing or not. By contrast, TopR1 is present only at high temperature where the cell division occurs, suggesting that TopR1 is required for controlling DNA topology associated with cell division activity and/or life at high temperature. Our findings in vitro that TopR1 is able to positively supercoil DNA only at high temperature, and TopR2 is active at both temperatures are consistent with them having different functions within the cells

Bone morphogenetic protein signaling promotes morphogenesis of blood vessels, wound epidermis, and actinotrichia during fin regeneration in zebrafish

Zebrafish fin regeneration involves initial formation of the wound epidermis and the blastema, followed by tissue morphogenesis. The mechanisms coordinating differentiation of distinct tissues of the regenerate are poorly understood. Here, we applied pharmacologic and transgenic approaches to address the role of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling during fin restoration. To map the BMP transcriptional activity, we analyzed the expression of the evolutionarily conserved direct phospho-Smad1 target gene, id1, and its homologs id2a and id3. This analysis revealed the BMP activity in the distal blastema, wound epidermis, osteoblasts, and blood vessels of the regenerate. Blocking the BMP function with a selective chemical inhibitor of BMP type I receptors, DMH1, suppressed id1 and id3 expression and arrested regeneration after blastema formation. We identified several previously uncharacterized functions of BMP during fin regeneration. Specifically, BMP signaling is required for remodeling of plexus into structured blood vessels in the rapidly growing regenerate. It organizes the wound epithelium by triggering wnt5b expression and promoting Collagen XIV-A deposition into the basement membrane. BMP represents the first known signaling that induces actinotrichia formation in the regenerate. Our data reveal a multifaceted role of BMP for coordinated morphogenesis of distinct tissues during regeneration of a complex vertebrate appendage.—Thorimbert, V., König, D., Marro, J., Ruggiero, F., Jaźwińska, A. Bone morphogenetic protein signaling promotes morphogenesis of blood vessels, wound epidermis, and actinotrichia during fin regeneration in zebrafish