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The Columns from “the Tomb of Charlemagne” between Aachen and the Louvre: A Modern Spoliation Saga
Full text linkIn September 1794, the French army, after conquering much of Belgium and the Netherlands, marched into Aachen. This early campaign of military conquest turned into the first laboratory for the systematic plunder of cultural assets enacted by various post-revolutionary and Napoleonic regimes from 1794 to 1815. Works of art “liberated” from the tyranny of aristocratic and religious ownership were earmarked for the newly opened Musée Central des Arts (now the Louvre) to showcase the enlightened cultural supremacy of Paris. From Aachen, the conquerors took more than the usual loot of movable assets: they “extracted” some forty columns from Charlemagne’s famed palatine chapel. Thirty-two of these monoliths, set in the eight gallery-level arches, were already Carolingian-era spolia, having been removed from Rome and Ravenna with as much effort and cost as would be the case a thousand years later. Of particular interest to medievalists is the fact that ten of the Aachen columns were integrated into the architectural fabric of the Galerie des Antiques, the Musée Central des Arts’ spectacular collection of Greco-Roman statuary that opened to the public in November 1800. Contemporary documents do not associate these columns with a medieval building, but they consistently underscore their provenance from “the tomb of Charlemagne.” After reviewing the resonance that association held for Napoleon, the protracted restitution process that followed his downfall is examined against the emergence of a national patrimonial rhetoric, in part galvanized by the failed return of the ten Aachen columns, which remain in the Louvre to this day. As a study of the contested afterlife of seemingly mute and immovable architectural elements, this article also attends to the way these columns legitimized the modern museum as a radically new type of institution.
—Carol Heitz in memoria
Avrom Sutzkever „Nuo Vilniaus geto iki Niurnbergo“
No full texthttps://scholarworks.smith.edu/jud_books/1010/thumbnail.jp
Postcolonial Servitude: Domestic Servants in Global South Asian English Literature
No full textDomestic servitude is a widespread phenomenon in countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, where even lower-middle class homes rely on domestic workers (mostly women and children). While social scientists have begun to study this unregulated and exploitative \u27informal sector,\u27 literary critics have not paid attention to servants in South Asian literatures or examined their political or literary significance. \u27Postcolonial Servitude\u27 argues that a new generation of writers has begun to rethink this culture of servitude and to devise new forms of writing designed to prompt change in normalized ways of seeing and being.https://scholarworks.smith.edu/eng_books/1022/thumbnail.jp
X-Ray Detection of the Most Extreme Star-Forming Galaxies at the Cosmic Noon via Strong Lensing
Full text linkHyperluminous infrared galaxies (HyLIRGs)ãre the most extreme star-forming systems observed in the early Universe,ãnd their properties still elude comprehensive understanding. We have undertakenã large XMM -Newton observing programme to probe the totalãccreting black hole population in three HyLIRGsãt z = 2.12, 3.25,ãnd 3.55, gravitationally lensed by foreground galaxies. Selected from the Planck All-Sky Survey to Analyse Gravitationally lensed Extreme Starbursts (PASSAGES), these HyLIRGs haveãpparent infrared luminosities \u3e 10 14 L⊙. Our observãtions re vealed X-ray emission in each of them. PJ1336 + 49ãppears to be dominated by high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs). Remarkably, the luminosity of this non-AGN X-ray emission exceeds byã factor ofãbout 3 the value obtained by calibration with local galaxies with much lower star formation rates. This enhanced X-ray emission most likely highlights the efficacy of dynamical HMXB production within compact clusters, which isãn important mode of star formation in HyLIRGs. The remaining two (PJ0116 -24ãnd PJ1053 + 60) morphologicallyãnd spectrally exhibitã compact X-ray component inãddition to the extended non-AGN X-ray emission, indicating the presence of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). The AGNãppears to be centrally located in the reconstructed source plane images of PJ0116 -24, which manifests its star-formingãctivity predominantly withinãn extended galactic disc. In contrast, the AGN in the field of PJ1053 + 60 is projected 60 kpcãway from the extreme star-forming galaxyãnd could be ejected from it. These results underline the synergistic potential of deep X-ray observations with strong lensing for the study of high-energyãstrophysical phenomena in HyLIRGs
Characterizing the Trafficking of Fibronectin Type III Proteins Bound to v3 Integrin Receptors Across the Blood Brain Barrier in vitro
No full textNeurological illnesses such as brain cancer remain difficult to treat, despite varied efforts by researchers. The biggest challenge to treating these illnesses is the presence of the blood brain barrier, a physical and chemical barrier made primarily of endothelial and astrocytic cell types which prevent larger molecules, such as chemotherapeutic drugs, from entering the brain. In glioblastoma, or primary brain cancer, the blood brain barrier can be infiltrated by cancerous cell types, becoming the blood tumor barrier. The blood tumor barrier is less predictable than the blood brain barrier, posing an even greater challenge to the treatment of glioblastoma. One strategy currently being explored to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs to cancer cells is through the use of protein-drug conjugates, which selectively bind to receptors that are overexpressed on cancerous cells. The proteins have drug payloads bound to them which can then be delivered directly to cancerous cells, reducing side effects from chemotherapy drugs. However, crossing the blood tumor barrier remains a challenge with these proteins. Receptor-mediated transcytosis is one method for proteins to cross the blood tumor barrier. v3 integrin receptors are extracellular proteins overexpressed in cancer cells that are implicated in tumor angiogenesis, and in particular in glioblastoma. There is increasing evidence that v3 integrin receptors can perform receptor-mediated transcytosis with proteins bound to them. An Fn3 protein has been previously engineered to bind with high affinity to the v3 integrin receptor. The goal of this thesis is to verify whether the engineered Fn3 protein can undergo receptor-mediated transcytosis when bound to v3 integrin receptors. To do this, I first focused on developing an in vitro model of the blood tumor barrier. I used transwell plates to develop several co-culture models. Primarily, I worked with U87MG cells, which are derived from astrocyte cells. I also worked with the primary brain endothelial cell line, HBEC-5i, in order to better mimic the conditions of the blood tumor barrier. I was able to identify the experimental conditions necessary for the co-culture of U87MG-U87MG co-cultures as well as HBEC 5i-U87MG co-cultures on transwell plates. I identified the most appropriate imaging techniques for these transwell inserts. I developed an experimental protocol to test the tight junctions of the transwell inserts. Although I had planned further experiments with these co-cultures, I was not able to complete them due to persistent contamination issues. I verified that the U87MG cells express v3 integrin receptors. I was also able to identify that Fn3 proteins that bind v3 integrins are internalized within U87MG cells
Design of a Small-Scale Mechanical Recycling Shredder for a Textile Circular Economy
No full textAlthough petroleum-derived polyester is the most common textile material in the world, items made from this material typically sit in landfills or are incinerated given its low value on the market. Furthermore, despite recent legislation banning the landfill disposal of textiles in Massachusetts, local solutions fail to address staggering textile waste. A lack of awareness and accountability regarding consumption habits must be addressed by increasing the waste management self-sufficiency of local, collaborative, and educational partnerships through recycling. Using local makerspaces as a use-case for circular waste streams, here the open-sourced design and development of a textile mechanical recycling shredder is discussed as a small-scale solution for these systems. With a recovering efficiency of 88% and throughput of 2.7 kg/hour, this adapted shredder proves the feasibility of small-scale mechanical textile recycling model as a concept for piloting. Makerspaces could easily manage their own textile waste streams through the addition of textile recycling capabilities to their existing suites. With further testing and development to optimize performance, mechanical shredders can enable the inception of closed-loop, self-sufficient, textile circular economies, conducted by makerspace stakeholders and supported by community partners in Western Massachusetts
