“What Cultural Policies?” Explicit and Implicit Cultural Policies in Lebanon

Cultural policies define a vision for culture, and provide frameworks for institutional practice to translate this vision on the ground. A 1981 study on Lebanese cultural policy reached the conclusion that one cannot speak of cultural policies in Lebanon if one refers to state laws, regulations and plans. However, if cultural policy was understood as the method of a state to give its citizens the space to develop themselves in a way that they could create culture, one could certainly speak of cultural policies in Lebanon (Abou Rizk). In cultural policy research, there is a distinction between explicit and implicit cultural policy (Ahearne). In this article, the concept of explicit and implicit cultural policy is applied to the case of Lebanon. The two terms are extended so that the former does not only include cultural policies designatedas such by the state, but also those created by civil society actors, and that the latter does not only include political strategies, but also practices that in the end determine cultural policies. Drawing on empirical research conducted in the context of a larger study on the role of cultural institutions in the public sphere, the power struggles between different actors involved in cultural policy making cultural policy defined in the Lebanese context, which in turn will be positioned within the regional context

The Museum as an Egalitarian Space? Women artists in Beirut’s Sursock Museum in the 1960s and 1970s

This article discusses the role of the Sursock Museum as a platform for the emancipation of women, and to what extent the Museum’s Salon d’Automne constituted an egalitarian space. Etel Adnan took part in two Salons, in 1964 and 1974. This paper will provide some context for the Beirut art scene in which she worked. The general institutional framework for women artists is highlighted before discussing the situation of women artists in Beirut’s Sursock Museum exhibitions of the 1960s and 1970s, the years Etel Adnan participated in the Salon. Brief portraits of four women artists show us that women artists were neither considered alike nor singled out for their gender. They treated very diverse subjects and styles, came from different social backgrounds and generations, and were often pioneers in their fields

An exploration of the multidimensional nature of poverty pictures across five Southern African development community countries.

Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.This thesis explores the multidimensional nature of poverty as well as the impact of units of analysis on the creation of poverty pictures. The multidimensional nature of poverty is explored through the comparison of income and an asset-based measure (Living Standard Measure) and is conducted across five South African Development Community countries. This is done via six main avenues of investigation: income and its predictors; the asset-based Living Standard Measure; the consistency of the Living Standard Measure; a comparison of income and the Living Standard Measure; a comparison at different units of analysis of poverty across the five countries; the multidimensional nature of poverty. Socio-economic and political secondary data obtained from the Human Sciences Research Council was used for the comparisons. In total, 5927 respondents were drawn from the five countries. Findings from this study indicate that there is a large degree of agreement and overlap as to the poverty pictures created by income and the Living Standard Measure. There also appears to be a convergence in poverty picture created at different levels of analysis as well as with different measures. Despite these similarities, and the fact that different dimensions and units of analysis do not alter the general poverty picture drastically, an argument is made that these two elements do have important roles in poverty measurement as they provide details to the general picture. These details have an impact on the success of the interventions chosen. In conclusion this thesis suggests that there is a possibility that the multidimensionality of poverty has been over-emphasised in recent literature

A systems approach to engineering cancer nanotechnologies

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, February 2010.Vita. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-210).therapy. Over the past three decades, advances in nanomaterial synthesis have produced impressive nanostructures with unique electromagnetic and therapeutic properties. These represent a powerful toolkit of building blocks through which multi-component nanosystems could be constructed. Yet, while biological systems produce higher-order functions through coordinated interactions between multiple nanoscale components, biomedical nanotechnologies to date have largely lacked systems-scale complexity. Considering that typical in vivo doses of diagnostic or therapeutic nanoparticles exceed I trillion nanoparticles, there is considerable opportunity to construct multi-component, interactive nanoparticle systems that perform sophisticated new functions in vivo. This thesis takes a systems approach to engineering cancer nanotechnologies, where interactions between multiple nanoparticle populations are designed to generate emergent system properties for enhancing the sensing and targeting of cancer cells. In the first section of this thesis, direct nanoparticle interactions are engineered to produce emergent properties for cancer sensing. Three classes of magnetic particles are developed that respectively enable: MRI detection of single cancer-associated proteases, performance of logical AND/OR operations using two cancer-associated proteases, and reversible sensing of antagonistic kinase/phosphatase enzyme pairs.(cont.) In the second section of this thesis, indirect mechanisms of nanoparticle interaction-where nanoparticles communicate at a distance via intermediates-are engineered to amplify nanoparticle targeting to regions of tumor invasion in vivo. Two nanosystems are synthesized wherein intravenously administered nanoparticles that have successfully targeted tumors broadcast the tumor's location to other nanoparticles in circulation to recruit their amplified local accumulation. In mice, one of these systems intravenously delivers >40-fold higher drug doses to tumors than non-communicating controls, leading to durable repression of tumor growth and significantly improved host survival. Together, these systems highlight the potential for interactive nanoparticle systems to perform highly complex functions in vivo. In contrast to the current strategy of injecting large populations of nanoparticles that carry out identical, often competitive functions in vivo, this work promotes a paradigm of 'systems nanotechnology,' directed toward the construction of nanoparticle systems that produce emergent behaviors for enhancing in vivo diagnostics, regenerative medicines, and therapeutics.by Geoffrey von Maltzahn.Ph.D

An investigation of how three private schools in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal position and market themselves within the private school market.

Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.Exploratory research was conducted in an attempt to understand how three schools in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal market themselves. The marketing of schools is a relatively new concept both in South Africa and internationally. Not only is the marketing of schools vital, in that it allows schools to use their resources in the most efficient and effective way in satisfying the needs of the customer, but associated with this, is that it allows for a meaningful and relevant education. The schools chosen for this research were Cowan House, Epworth and Hilton College. These schools represent a wide cross-section of schools including a primary school, two senior schools, a monastic boys' boarding school and a monastic girls' school with day scholars and boarders. All of the schools had a marketing function within the school. All three schools applied the basic marketing concept. They were customer focused, were orientated towards achieving long term goals, tried to integrate activities within the school and strongly believed in societal aspects of marketing. Of particular interest was the strong focus on the customer by some of the schools. None of the schools had been exposed to the seven Ps of service marketing, and so did not structure their marketing mix based on the service marketing model. All the schools felt that their staff were a differentiating factor (people) and had impressive grounds and facilities (physical evidence). The major problem that all three schools experienced was developing a differentiated service that separated themselves from competitors within the market. They were not aware of the unique position that they occupied in the mind of the customer, although all the schools felt that they were unique. The result of this was that their marketing mix was not able to support and enhance the differentiated service and proposed market position. A possible reason for the schools not developing a unique position in the market is that they may not analyse the external environment in enough detail. This meant they were not able to capitalise on, or develop,unique internal strengths to satisfy needs that their customers considered important, valuable and were willing to pay for. It is recommended that a more structured approach to strategic marketing be used. This should allow the schools to implement each of the steps required in strategy formulation. If this is done effectively they will be able to match internal strengths with opportunities in the external environment and so develop a differentiated product that is required by the target market. The schools should also adopt a service marketing strategy as education is a service. Adopting the seven Ps of service marketing would allow the schools to implement a marketing mix that is suitable for a service institution. It is hoped that this dissertation will contribute to a better understanding of marketing of schools, allow them to be more focused in their strategy and ultimately result in a better education for their learners

Marshall University Music Department Presents a Music Alive Chamber Series, Guest Artists Concert, featuring, Degas String Quartet, Emily Popham, violin, Beverly Shin, violin, Simon Ertz, viola, Philip von Maltzahn, cello

https://mds.marshall.edu/music_perf/1541/thumbnail.jp

Erzeugung und Untersuchung neuer transgener Mausmutanten zur Expression und Funktion der Connexine während der Myogenese

Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde die Expression und Funktion der Connexine während der Myogenese untersucht. Die Myoblasten sind durch die Expression des Connexin43 (Cx43) gekennzeichnet, während in Myotuben nur das Connexin39 (Cx39) Protein nachgewiesen werden konnte. Durch die Verwendung spezifischer siRNS gegen Cx43 sowie verschiedener Gap Junction Blocker wurde gezeigt, dass die Gap Junction vermittelte Kopplung für die Fusion der Myoblasten entscheidend ist. Ferner wurde der Verlauf der Muskelregeneration in Cx43Cx26/Cx26 und Cx43Cx32/Cx32 Tieren untersucht. Bei beiden transgenen Linien wurde ein beschleunigter Regenerationsverlauf im Vergleich zu Wildtyp Tieren beobachtet. Zur weiteren Charakterisierung der Funktion des Cx39 während der Myogenese wurde durch homologe Rekombination eine Cx39 defiziente Mauslinie erzeugt, die anstelle der kodierenden Region des Gjd4 Gens (Cx39) das eGFP Reportergen exprimiert. Die Cx39 Defizienz nach Deletion des Gjd4 Gens wurde durch Immunfluoreszenz-Analysen nachgewiesen. Die Cx39 defizienten Tiere wurden im erwarteten Mendel’schen Verhältnis geboren, d.h. es ergaben sich keine Hinweise auf embryonale Letalität. Eine Möglichkeit der Behandlung der Folgen einer Ischämie des Herzens besteht in der Transplantation von Myoblasten. Hierbei kommt es allerdings infolge fehlender interzellulärer Kopplung zu ventrikulären Tachykardien. Durch Transplantation transgener Myoblasten (Cx43tetOeGFP:MCKtTA), die auch nach ihrer Differenzierung zu Myotuben und Muskelfasern Cx43 exprimieren, wurde das Auftreten ventrikulärer Tachykardien vermieden. Zur Charakterisierung der Expression des Cx45 wurde mit Hilfe der BAC-Technik eine transgene Mauslinie erzeugt, die ein Cx45eGFP Fusionsprotein unter der Kontrolle des Gjc1 (Cx45) Promotors exprimiert. Durch Analysen der Expression des Cx45eGFP im adulten Herzen konnte die Expression im Reizleitungssystem bestätigt und die bis dahin strittige Expression im Atrium und Arbeitsmyokard nachgewiesen werden. In der Subventrikularzone des adulten Gehirns sowie in der glatten Muskulatur wurde Cx45eGFP ebenfalls nachgewiesen. Obwohl das Cx45eGFP Protein Cx45 in vivo funktionell nicht ersetzen kann, ist mit dieser Mauslinie die Untersuchung der Lokalisation des Cx45 Proteins in adulten wie auch embryonalen Geweben möglich.</p

Nanoparticle amplification via photothermal unveiling of cryptic collagen binding sites

The success of nanoparticle-based cancer therapies ultimately depends on their ability to selectively and efficiently accumulate in regions of disease. Outfitting nanoparticles to actively target tumor-specific markers has improved specificity, yet it remains a challenge to amass adequate therapy in a selective manner. To help address this challenge, we have developed a mechanism of nanoparticle amplification based on stigmergic (environment-modifying) signalling, in which a “Signalling” population of gold nanorods induces localized unveiling of cryptic collagen epitopes, which are in turn targeted by “Responding” nanoparticles bearing gelatin-binding fibronectin fragments. We demonstrate that this two-particle system results in significantly increased, selective recruitment of responding particles. Such amplification strategies have the potential to overcome limitations associated with single-particle targeting by leveraging the capacity of nanoparticles to interact with their environment to create abundant new binding motifs.National Institutes of Health (U.S.). Bioengineering Research Partnership (R01CA124427-01)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (National Cancer Institute (U.S.) U54CA119349)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (National Cancer Institute (U.S.) U54CA119335)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (National Cancer Institute (U.S.) Alliance Challenge Project/MIT-Harvard Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence U54CA151884)David & Lucile Packard Foundation (Fellowship 1999-1453)Marie D. and Pierre Casimir-Lambert FundNational Institute of General Medical Sciences (U.S.) (Medical Scientist Training Program T32GM007753)Whitaker FoundationNational Science Foundation (U.S.