Werewolves, mothers and femmes fatales: Girl power movies

This dissertation analyses a collection of contemporary girl power movies and places these texts within an historical generic context. In "Pleasures and Problems of the ‘Angry Girl,’" Kimberley Roberts defines the phenomenon of girl power as "a structure of beliefs and a set of consumer practices that centre on the individual teenage girl's power to effect change in her universe" (217-8). Roberts outlines that the "heroines of the girl power era of the 1990s are 'pissed off and ready to do something about it'" and that "they are fighters who combat the forces against them, unapologetically and often violently" (217). Since Roberts's analysis of girl power in Freeway, there has been little academic discussion on the phenomenon in Hollywood products. While the idea that "women's films" exhibit the potential for social criticism is not new, there is yet to be a substantial project that explores female characters and their "combat" with the "forces against them" in recently released film products. Roberts's definition of girl power can be applied to a series of films produced during the mid to late nineties and first few years of the new millennium. Many films produced during this timeframe depict strong female protagonists who fight the forces of patriarchal culture "unapologetically and often violently.

Environmental Health Research Recommendations from the Inter-Environmental Health Sciences Core Center Working Group on Unconventional Natural Gas Drilling Operations

Background: Unconventional natural gas drilling operations (UNGDO) (which include hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling) supply an energy source that is potentially cleaner than liquid or solid fossil fuels and may provide a route to energy independence. However, significant concerns have arisen due to the lack of research on the public health impact of UNGDO

BDNF mediates improvement in cognitive performance after computerized cognitive training in healthy older adults

Abstract Introduction The often‐cited mechanism linking brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) to cognitive health has received limited experimental study. There is evidence that cognitive training, physical exercise, and mindfulness meditation may improve cognition. Here, we investigated whether improvements in cognition after these three types of structured interventions are facilitated by increases in BDNF. Methods A total of 144 heathy older adults completed a 5‐week intervention involving working memory/cognitive training, physical exercise, mindfulness meditation, or an active control condition. Serum BDNF levels and Digit Symbol Test (DST) performance were measured pre‐ and post‐intervention. Results Linear mixed models suggested that only the cognitive training group demonstrated augmentation of BDNF and DST performance relative to the control condition. Path analysis revealed that changes in BDNF mediate intervention‐related improvement in task performance. Regression analyses showed that, across all intervention conditions, increased BDNF levels were associated with increased DST scores. Discussion This study appears to be the first to suggest that BDNF helps mediate improvements in cognition after working memory training in healthy older adults. Highlights Older adults were randomized to physical activity, mindfulness, cognitive training (computerized cognitive training (CCT), or control. CCT, but no other condition, led to increased serum brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels. CCT led to improvement on the untrained Digit Symbol Test (DST) of speed/working memory. Path analysis: increases in BDNF mediate intervention‐related improvement on DST. Increases in BDNF associated with improved DST across all experimental groups