The Beloved: A documentary film on the history and aftermath of Fremantle’s Rajneesh sannyasin community – and – Hidden Realities: Transcendental Structures in Documentary Film: An exegesis

This creative work and its associated exegesis examines the concept of what I have termed a ‘transcendental structure’ in relation to a documentary film form, and what outcomes, specific to a non-fiction mode of representation, result from the application of this structure. A transcendental structure in film has a long history of investigation and interpretation in narrative fiction film theory and practice, but is substantially absent from documentary scholarship. The topic appears, in different forms, in the critical writings of Zavattini (1940), Bazin (1946), Pasolini (1965), Schrader (1972), Deleuze (1985), and more recently, Perez (1998) and Minghelli (2016). All of these theorists have identified a cinema of a double nature: on one level, explicit in its narrative programme and engagement, while on another level, simultaneously registering a spatial and temporal ‘beyond’ that invites an alternative experience based on a formal engagement. This aesthetic or non-narrative dimension is made perceivable through cinematic strategies that aim to interrupt or suspend the narrative flow and foreground elements external to the narrative programme. It is for this reason that landscape holds particular importance to a transcendental structure; in its physical interaction with and set-apartness from the human narrative, and through this, in its contrasting temporality to the narrative and less tangible level of registration. This research will proceed by testing this structure through my own creative practice: a documentary feature on Fremantle’s Rajneesh sannyasin community, titled The Beloved. This is an ongoing community in Fremantle, which in the eighties, experienced a dramatic and public rise and fall as a movement. It is also a community with which I have an enduring personal relationship. This has allowed me to address not only their public history, but also the troubled memory that survives within the community. This documentary will be accompanied by the exegesis which will identify the concept of a transcendental structure within fiction film scholarship and, in the absence of critical writings that relate to this concept in documentary, will examine documentaries that are able to be discussed in these terms. The key films that I examine in the exegesis include Shoah (Lanzmann, 1985), which brings the incomprehensibility of the Holocaust into the realm of present experience by rejecting archival imagery in favour of landscapes from the concentration camps in their contemporary state; and sleep furiously (Koppel, 2008), in which the unprocessed trauma of community disintegration is registered through affect-based experience rather than the narrative or representational programme. From the sum of this research, I argue that the interview based historical documentary is particularly suitable as a platform for a transcendental structure, and useful to historical subjects of a sensitive, troubled, and unresolved nature. The double nature of the structure, exhibited in the dissociation of the voice recounting the historical narrative from imagery of present-day settings, opens up new communicative possibilities and spaces for the contemplation and processing of incomprehensible, repressed, or traumatic experience

N-Acetyl and Glutamatergic Neurometabolites in Perisylvian Brain Regions of Methamphetamine Users.

Background:Methamphetamine induces neuronal N-acetyl-aspartate synthesis in preclinical studies. In a preliminary human proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging investigation, we also observed that N-acetyl-aspartate+N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate in right inferior frontal cortex correlated with years of heavy methamphetamine abuse. In the same brain region, glutamate+glutamine is lower in methamphetamine users than in controls and is negatively correlated with depression. N-acetyl and glutamatergic neurochemistries therefore merit further investigation in methamphetamine abuse and the associated mood symptoms. Methods:Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging was used to measure N-acetyl-aspartate+N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate and glutamate+glutamine in bilateral inferior frontal cortex and insula, a neighboring perisylvian region affected by methamphetamine, of 45 abstinent methamphetamine-dependent and 45 healthy control participants. Regional neurometabolite levels were tested for group differences and associations with duration of heavy methamphetamine use, depressive symptoms, and state anxiety. Results:In right inferior frontal cortex, N-acetyl-aspartate+N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate correlated with years of heavy methamphetamine use (r = +0.45); glutamate+glutamine was lower in methamphetamine users than in controls (9.3%) and correlated negatively with depressive symptoms (r = -0.44). In left insula, N-acetyl-aspartate+N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate was 9.1% higher in methamphetamine users than controls. In right insula, glutamate+glutamine was 12.3% lower in methamphetamine users than controls and correlated negatively with depressive symptoms (r = -0.51) and state anxiety (r = -0.47). Conclusions:The inferior frontal cortex and insula show methamphetamine-related abnormalities, consistent with prior observations of increased cortical N-acetyl-aspartate in methamphetamine-exposed animal models and associations between cortical glutamate and mood in human methamphetamine users

Kombucha Bacteria Growth Rate At Different Temperatures

Many commercially available kombucha products instruct to keep the bottle refrigerated. Kombucha contains probiotic bacteria. Bacteria are known to proliferate at different temperatures. Thus, we hypothesized that the warmer the temperature of kombucha storage the more bacteria growth there would be. Kombucha was stored at different temperatures and bacteria growth was recorded. Three bottles of kombucha were used in the experiment and each was put into their respective temperature zones. The first bottle, the control, was stored in a refrigerated area at 4°C, since kombucha is recommended to be stored in cold temperatures for safe consumption. The second bottle was placed at room temperature, approximately 21°C, a slightly warmer temperature. The last bottle was placed in an incubator at 37°C. After leaving the bottles in their respective temperatures for 24 hours, a series of serial dilutions was performed on the kombucha. The reason for dilutions was to be able to count the bacteria. The results for the refrigerated plate had an average (colony forming unites) CFU/mL of 9,153,333, the room temperature plate had 8,273,333 CFU/mL and the incubated plate had a CFU/mL average of 48,113,333. These numbers reflect that if kombucha is kept refrigerated or at room temperature then the bacteria amount will be at around the same, but if the kombucha is kept at a warm temperature then the bacteria amount will be greatly increased. With this in mind it is recommended that kombucha be stored refrigerated or room temperature to ensure the bacteria levels stay low

ISWP Wheelchair Double Drum Test Version 1.3

This document outlines the required materials and proper assembly instructions for the International Society of Wheelchair Professionals Standard Testing -- Wheelchair Double Drum Testing Machine in compliance with RESNA WC-1 ISO 7176 standards that require performing 200,000 revolutions at a speed of 1 m/s +/- 0.1 m/s. Following the detailed assembly instructions are a bill of materials and 2-dimensional drawings for all of the sub-assemblies and their individual parts. This document outlines the electrical requirements and recommendations to successfully build this equipment, however specific electrical components and electrical assembly instructions are to be determined by the user

ISWP Wheelchair Curb Drop Test Version 1.3

This document outlines the required materials and proper assembly instructions for the International Society of Wheelchair Professionals Standard Testing --Wheelchair Curb Drop Testing Machine in compliance with RESNA WC-1/ ISO 7176 standards that require dropping the wheelchair from a height of 50 mm for 6,666 cycles. Following the detailed assembly instructions are a bill of materials and 2-dimensional drawings for all of the sub-assemblies and their individual parts. This document outlines the electrical requirements and recommendations

White-matter abnormalities in brain during early abstinence from methamphetamine abuse

Previous studies revealed microstructural abnormalities in prefrontal white matter and corpus callosum of long-term abstinent chronic methamphetamine abusers. In view of the importance of the early abstinence period in treatment retention, we compared 23 methamphetamine-dependent subjects abstinent from methamphetamine for 7–13 days with 18 healthy comparison subjects. As certain metabolic changes in the brain first manifest after early abstinence from methamphetamine, it is also possible that microstructural white-matter abnormalities are not yet present during early abstinence. Using diffusion tensor imaging at 1.5 T, fractional anisotropy (FA) was measured in prefrontal white matter at four inferior–superior levels parallel to the anterior commissure–posterior commissure (AC–PC) plane. We also sampled FA in the corpus callosum at the midline and at eight bilateral, fiber-tract sites in other regions implicated in effects of methamphetamine. The methamphetamine group exhibited lower FA in right prefrontal white matter above the AC–PC plane (11.9% lower; p = 0.007), in midline genu corpus callosum (3.9%; p = 0.019), in left and right midcaudal superior corona radiata (11.0% in both hemispheres, p’s = 0.020 and 0.016, respectively), and in right perforant fibers (7.3%; p = 0.025). FA in left midcaudal superior corona radiata was correlated with depressive and generalized psychiatric symptoms within the methamphetamine group. The findings support the idea that methamphetamine abuse produces microstructural abnormalities in white matter underlying and interconnecting prefrontal cortices and hippocampal formation. These effects are already present during the first weeks of abstinence from methamphetamine and are linked to psychiatric symptoms assessed during this period

Occupational health: a world of false promises

The response of the World Health Organization (WHO) to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2015 demonstrated that the global health system is unprepared to address what should be its primary mission, control of disease epidemics while protecting health workers. Critics blamed WHO politics and its rigid culture for the poor response to the epidemic. We find that United Nations agencies, WHO and the International Labor Organization (ILO), are faced with the global problem of inadequate worker protections and a growing crisis in occupational health. The WHO and ILO are given monumental tasks but only trivial budgets, and funding trends show UN agency dependence on private donations which are far larger than funds contributed by member states. The WHO and ILO have limited capacity to make the necessary changes occupational health and safety demand. The UN could strengthen the national and global civil society voice in WHO and ILO structures, and by keeping conflict of interest out of policy decisions, ensure greater freedom to operate without interference

Neutrality of Molecules by the Pulsed Gas Flow Method

Contains an introduction and a description on one research project.F.L. Friedman Chai

Key Topics on End-of-Life Care for African Americans

Racial classifications of human populations are politically and socially determined. There is no biological or genetic basis for these racial classifications. Health behaviors may be influenced by culture and poverty. Disparities in health outcomes, sometimes resulting in higher mortality rates for African-Americans appear to influence end of life decision-making attitudes and behaviors. To improve the quality of end of life care in African-American communities, health care professionals must better understand and work to eliminate disparities in health care, increase their own skills, knowledge and confidence in palliative and hospice care, and improve awareness of the benefits and values of hospice and palliative care in their patients and families