Rise of the Eco-Comics: The State, Environmental Education and Canadian Comic Books, 1971-1975

In the 1960s and 1970s, North American governments used comic books with explicitly modern environmental themes or, as I have termed them, “eco-comics” as part of state-sponsored environmental education programs designed to mitigate the possible effects of the bourgeoning environmental movement on economic growth. This article contextualizes the eco-comic Captain Enviro (1972) within the post–Second World War anglophone Canadian comic book industry, discusses the emergence of environmental education in the 1960s and 1970s and uses a visual cultural analysis of Captain Enviro to unravel some of the nuances of the type of environmentalism advocated by the state—in this particular case, the Committee of Environment Ministers of the Council of Maritime Premiers—during this period.Dans les années 1960 et 1970, les gouvernements nord-américains ont utilisé des bandes dessinées aux thèmes explicitement environnementalistes, ou, comme je les ai appelés, des eco-comics (« éco-BD ») en tant que parties intégrantes de programmes de sensibilisation à l’environnement afin d’atténuer les effets possibles de l’émergence du mouvement environnementaliste sur la croissance économique. Cet article replace dans son contexte « l’éco-BD » Captain Enviro (1972) au sein de l’industrie canadienne de la bande dessinée dans les années suivant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, discute de la naissance de l’éducation à l’environnement dans les années 1960 et 1970 et procède à l’analyse visuelle de Captain Enviro sur le plan culturel pour dévoiler certaines des nuances du type de sensibilisation à l’environnement prônée par l’État—dans ce cas particulier, le Comité des ministres de l’Environnement du Conseil des ministres des Provinces maritimes—au cours de cette période

Inter-Industry Mobility and the Cyclical Upgrading of Labor

We investigate whether a market-clearing model of the labor market is consistent with the cyclical upgrading of labor: workers tend to move to higher paying industries in expansions and to lower paying industries in contractions. By applying Roy's (1951) model of self-selection to industry fluctuations, we show that cyclical upgrading can be consistent with market clearing. Applying the model to inter-industry mobility patterns in panel data, we find data of substantial selection by comparative advantage. However, the panel data reveal a selection process that is consistent with cyclical upgrading. Thus the model does not simultaneously account for interindustry mobility in panel data and cyclical upgrading.

Hatching the behavioral addiction egg: Reward Deficiency Solution System (RDSS)™ as a function of dopaminergic neurogenetics and brain functional connectivity linking all addictions under a common rubric

Abstract Background Following the first association between the dopamine D2 receptor gene polymorphism and severe alcoholism, there has been an explosion of research reports in the psychiatric and behavioral addiction literature and neurogenetics. With this increased knowledge, the field has been rife with controversy. Moreover, with the advent of Whole Genome-Wide Studies (GWAS) and Whole Exome Sequencing (WES), along with Functional Genome Convergence, the multiple-candidate gene approach still has merit and is considered by many as the most prudent approach. However, it is the combination of these two approaches that will ultimately define real, genetic allelic relationships, in terms of both risk and etiology. Since 1996, our laboratory has coined the umbrella term Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS) to explain the common neurochemical and genetic mechanisms involved with both substance and non-substance, addictive behaviors. Methods This is a selective review of peer-reviewed papers primary listed in Pubmed and Medline. Results A review of the available evidence indicates the importance of dopaminergic pathways and resting-state, functional connectivity of brain reward circuits. Discussion Importantly, the proposal is that the real phenotype is RDS and impairments in the brain's reward cascade, either genetically or environmentally (epigenetically) induced, influence both substance and non-substance, addictive behaviors. Understanding shared common mechanisms will ultimately lead to better diagnosis, treatment and prevention of relapse. While, at this juncture, we cannot as yet state that we have “hatched the behavioral addiction egg”, we are beginning to ask the correct questions and through an intense global effort will hopefully find a way of “redeeming joy” and permitting homo sapiens live a life, free of addiction and pain

Postmortomics:The potential of untargeted metabolomics to highlight markers for time since death

The success of forensic investigations involving fatalities very often depends on the establishment of the correct timeline of events. Currently used methods for estimating the postmortem interval (PMI) are mostly dependent on the professional and tacit experience of the investigator, and often with poor reliability in the absence of robust biological markers. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of metabolomic approaches to highlight molecular markers for PMI. Rat and human muscle tissues, collected at various times postmortem, were analyzed using an untargeted metabolomics approach. Levels of certain metabolites (skatole, xanthine, n-acetylneuraminate, 1-methylnicotinamide, choline phosphate, and uracil) as well as most proteinogenic amino acids increased steadily postmortem. Threonine, tyrosine, and lysine show the most predictable evolution over the postmortem period, and may thus have potential for possible PMI markers in the future. This study demonstrates how a biomarker discovery approach can be extended to forensic investigations using untargeted metabolomics

Biological and chemical assessment of zinc ageing in field soils

As zinc (Zn) is both an essential trace element and potential toxicant, the effects of Zn fixation in soil are of practical significance. Soil samples from four field sites amended with ZnSO4 were used to investigate ageing of soluble Zn under field conditions over a 2-year period. Lability of Zn measured using 65Zn radioisotope dilution showed a significant decrease over time and hence evidence of Zn fixation in three of the four soils. However, 0.01 M CaCl2 extractions and toxicity measurements using a genetically modified lux-marked bacterial biosensor did not indicate a decrease in soluble/bioavailable Zn over time. This was attributed to the strong regulatory effect of abiotic properties such as pH on these latter measurements. These results also showed that Zn ageing occurred immediately after Zn spiking, emphasising the need to incubate freshly spiked soils before ecotoxicity assessments. Ageing effects were detected in Zn-amended field soils using 65Zn isotopic dilution as a measure of lability, but not with either CaCl2 extractions or a lux-marked bacterial biosensor

In vitro evidence consistent with an interaction between wild‐type and mutant SOD1 protein associated with canine degenerative myelopathy

Canine degenerative myelopathy (DM) is a progressive neurological disorder that may be considered to be a large animal model for specific forms of the fatal human disease, familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (fALS). DM is associated with a c118G>A mutation of the superoxide dismutase 1 (Sod1) gene, and a significant proportion of cases are inherited in an autosomal recessive manner in contrast to the largely, but not exclusively, dominant mode of inheritance in fALS. The consensus view is that these Sod1/SOD1 mutations result in a toxic gain of function but the mechanisms remain unclear. Here we used an in vitro neuroblastoma cell line transfection system to monitor wild-type and mutant forms of SOD1 fusion proteins containing either a Cherry or an enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) tag. These fusion proteins retained SOD1 enzymatic activity on a native gel assay system. We demonstrate that SOD1 aggregate density is significantly higher in DM transfectants compared to wild-type. In addition, we show by co-immunoprecipitation and confocal microscopy, evidence for a potential interaction between wild-type and mutant forms of SOD1 in co-transfected cells. While in vitro studies have shown SOD1 heterodimer formation in fALS models, this is the first report for DM SOD1. Therefore, despite for the majority of cases there is a difference in the mode of inheritance between fALS and DM, a similar interaction between wild-type and mutant SOD1 forms can occur. Clarifying the role of SOD1 in DM may also be of benefit to understanding the role of SOD1 in fALS

Canonical Transformations and Path Integral Measures

This paper is a generalization of previous work on the use of classical canonical transformations to evaluate Hamiltonian path integrals for quantum mechanical systems. Relevant aspects of the Hamiltonian path integral and its measure are discussed and used to show that the quantum mechanical version of the classical transformation does not leave the measure of the path integral invariant, instead inducing an anomaly. The relation to operator techniques and ordering problems is discussed, and special attention is paid to incorporation of the initial and final states of the transition element into the boundary conditions of the problem. Classical canonical transformations are developed to render an arbitrary power potential cyclic. The resulting Hamiltonian is analyzed as a quantum system to show its relation to known quantum mechanical results. A perturbative argument is used to suppress ordering related terms in the transformed Hamiltonian in the event that the classical canonical transformation leads to a nonquadratic cyclic Hamiltonian. The associated anomalies are analyzed to yield general methods to evaluate the path integral's prefactor for such systems. The methods are applied to several systems, including linear and quadratic potentials, the velocity-dependent potential, and the time-dependent harmonic oscillator.Comment: 28 pages, LaTe

On the mass-radius relation of hot stellar systems

Most globular clusters have half-mass radii of a few pc with no apparent correlation with their masses. This is different from elliptical galaxies, for which the Faber-Jackson relation suggests a strong positive correlation between mass and radius. Objects that are somewhat in between globular clusters and low-mass galaxies, such as ultra-compact dwarf galaxies, have a mass-radius relation consistent with the extension of the relation for bright ellipticals. Here we show that at an age of 10 Gyr a break in the mass-radius relation at ~10^6 Msun is established because objects below this mass, i.e. globular clusters, have undergone expansion driven by stellar evolution and hard binaries. From numerical simulations we find that the combined energy production of these two effects in the core comes into balance with the flux of energy that is conducted across the half-mass radius by relaxation. An important property of this `balanced' evolution is that the cluster half-mass radius is independent of its initial value and is a function of the number of bound stars and the age only. It is therefore not possible to infer the initial mass-radius relation of globular clusters and we can only conclude that the present day properties are consistent with the hypothesis that all hot stellar systems formed with the same mass-radius relation and that globular clusters have moved away from this relation because of a Hubble time of stellar and dynamical evolution.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, MNRAS Letters (accepted

Total synthesis 2-epi-alpha-cedren-3-one via a cobalt-catalysed Pauson-Khand reaction

Herein we target the total synthesis of 2-epi-alpha-cedren-3-one, a natural compound isolated from the essential oil of Juniperus thurifera. Overall, our synthetic sequence presents an optimised and robust series of chemical transformations, with prominent features including a low temperature and highly (Z)-selective Wittig olefination reaction, which is vital for the establishment of the relative stereochemistry within the final natural product, and a microwave-assisted, catalytic, intramolecular Pauson-Khand cyclisation reaction, which is used to construct the intriguing tricyclic core of the target molecule. Our optimum cyclisation protocol utilises only 20 mol% of transition metal, and delivers the complex tricyclic structure in just 10 minutes. Further manipulations of the annulation product culminate in the first total synthesis of the described natural target