20 research outputs found
Spazi urbani, prassi sociali e istituti giuridici nella città “elettrica” di Albert Robida
No full textThe book of Albert Robida Le Vingtième Siècle, under the guise of a coming-of-age novel set within a tale of scientific anticipation, actually conceals an accurate and interesting description of the transformations induced on the city of Paris by the new electronic technologies and, above all, the impact of these on social behaviour (and formations) in the urban context. The framework traced by the author thus reveals a technological progress aimed in part at improving living conditions and the progress of the person, but within a general context in which the economic powers seem to be the real directors, profiting widely from the
transformations induced by technology
Modification of Loop 1 Affects the Nucleotide Binding Properties of Myo1c, the Adaptation Motor in the Inner Ear
No full textMyo1c is one of eight members of the mammalian myosin I family of actin-associated molecular motors. In stereocilia of the hair cells in the inner ear, Myo1c presumably serves as the adaptation motor, which regulates the opening and closing of transduction channels. Although there is conservation of sequence and structure among all myosins in the N-terminal motor domain, which contains the nucleotide- and actin-binding sites, some differences include the length and composition of surface loops, including loop 1, which lies near the nucleotide-binding domain. To investigate the role of loop 1, we expressed in insect cells mutants of a truncated form of Myo1c, Myo1c1IQ, as well as chimeras of Myo1c1IQ with the analogous loop from other myosins. We found that replacement of the charged residues in loop 1 with alanines or the whole loop with a series of alanines did not alter the ATPase activity, transient kinetics properties, or Ca2+ sensitivity of Myo1c1IQ. Substitution of loop 1 with that of the corresponding region from tonic smooth muscle myosin II (Myo1c1IQ-tonic) or replacement with a single glycine (Myo1c1IQ-G) accelerated the release of ADP from A.M 2?3-fold in Ca2+, whereas substitution with loop 1 from phasic muscle myosin II (Myo1c1IQ-phasic) accelerated the release of ADP 35-fold. Motility assays with chimeras containing a single ?-helix, or SAH, domain showed that Myo1cSAH-tonic translocated actin in vitro twice as fast as Myo1cSAH-WT and 3-fold faster than Myo1cSAH-G. The studies show that changes induced in Myo1c via modification of loop 1 showed no resemblance to the behavior of the loop donor myosins or to the changes previously observed with similar Myo1b chimeras
Sinteza govora in Govorec 3
No full textGovorec 3 je sintetizator govora podjetja Amebis, d. o. o., in je primer jezikovnih tehnologij, ki so v Sloveniji trenutno v razvoju in izpopolnjevanju. Pri nastanjanju sintetizatorja sem sodeloval dve leti, moje delo je obsegalo urejanje slovarja izgovarjav (trenutno obsega 6.900.000 oblik besed), urejanje transkripcij govorne zbirke in urejanje izgovornih pravil oziroma pravil grafemsko-fonemske pretvorbe. V članku smo se posvetili načinu delovanja Govorca 3 in procesom njegovega razvoja. Predstavili smo govorno zbirko, različne vrste sintez govora, transkripcije in transkribiranje govorne zbirke, grafemsko-fonemsko pretvorbo in slovnično analizo. V članku predstavljena anketa in ugotovitve kažejo na potrebo po novem sintetizatorju govora.Govorec 3 is a speech synthesiser produced by the company Amebis, d. o. o. and is an example of the language technology currently under development and improvement in Slovenia. The author was involved in the development of the synthesiser for two years, dealing with the dictionary of pronunciations (currently 6,900,000 word forms), the transcriptions of the spoken database and the pronunciation rules or graphemic-phonemic conversions. The paper looks at how Govorec 3 works and how it was developed. The spoken database and its transcription is presented, as well as different kinds of voice synthesis, graphemic-phonemic conversions and grammatical analysis. A survey is also presented, which points to the need for a new speech synthesiser
La représentation de la machine dans la trilogie d’anticipation scientifique d’Albert Robida : du texte à l’image et de l’image au texte
No full textCette thèse étudie la représentation de la machine chez Robida. La partie centrale de notre recherche s’intéresse à révéler ses significations et interroge sa mise en scène littéraire et visuelle dans chacun des romans de la trilogie d’anticipation scientifique la plus connue de l’auteur-illustrateur. La quête se transforme en un voyage continu entre le lisible et le visible, le dit et le non-dit, la description littéraire et l’imagination, la réalité et la fiction. Nous nous intéressons à l’évolution de la vision de Robida : dans Le Vingtième siècle, l’image de la machine bienfaisante, facilitant la vie de l’homme, économisant du temps et de l’argent, et contribuant largement à son bonheur et à son divertissement, à part quelques accidents très limités, se traduit par une complémentarité avantageuse entre le texte d’une part et les vignettes, les tableaux et les hors-textes se trouvant dans le récit, d’autre part. Celle-ci se transforme, dans La Guerre au vingtième siècle, en une inquiétude vis-à-vis de l’instrumentalisation de la machine pour la guerre, qui s’exprime par une projection de la narration vers l’illustration in-texte, et sensibilise le lecteur en montrant le caractère violent et offensif d’appareils uniquement nommés. Celle-ci devient finalement, dans La Vie électrique, synonyme d’un pessimisme total quant à l’implication de la machine dans la société et à la puissance du savoir scientifique dans l’avenir, qui s’affiche dans des hors-textes sombres et maussades.
Dans ce cadre, la machine illustrée exige une lecture iconotextuelle, une importance accordée au détail, aux éléments présents ou absents, aux modalités de passage d’un mode de présentation à l’autre, à la place anticipée ou tardive de l’illustration, au rapport entre le texte, le dessin et sa légende, aux mots qui migrent vers le dessin et surtout au reste du décor incomplet.
Chez Robida, les louanges qui passent à la critique et l’humour qui se fait cynisme, sont assez représentatifs des espoirs et des craintes suscités par la découverte et la mise en application de l’électricité, par ses vertus, mais aussi par son aspect incontrôlable.This thesis focuses on the presentation of the machine by Robida. The major part of our research aims to reveal its meanings and examines its literary and visual settlement in each novel in the most popular trilogy of scientific anticipation made by the author. The search has the aspect of a continuous travel between what is read and what is seen, the said and the unsaid, the literary description and the imagination, the reality and the fiction. We will be mainly interested by the evolution of Albert Robida’s vision: in Le Vingtième siècle, the image of a beneficial machine, simplifying every day’s life, saving time and money and largely contributing to the happiness and the entertainment of every man’s kind, except some occasional accidents, is reflected by a close and helpful connection between the text, the vignette and the inserts. This image is modified, in La Guerre au vingtième siècle, into an anxiety felt towards the use of the machine as a war weapon, and expressed in the transfer of the narration to the illustration in-texte, aiming to touch the reader and make him aware of the violent and brutal aspect of the machines that are only named. This image causes, in La Vie électrique, a serious pessimistic vision of the use of the machine in the society and the power of the scientific knowledge in the future which is displayed in dark and gloomy hors-texte.
In this context, the illustrated machine requires a double reading, details oriented and interested in the presence and the absence of elements, in the transfer between the text and the illustration, in the anticipated or the belated picture, in the relationship between the text, the image and the caption, in the words that have been transferred to the image and mostly the rest of the incomplete picture.
In Robida’s work, the praises that become a criticism and the satire being cynicism, are very representatives of the hopes and the fears created by the discovery and the application of the electricity, by its virtues, but also its uncontrollable aspect
La représentation de la machine dans la trilogie d’anticipation scientifique d’Albert Robida : du texte à l’image et de l’image au texte
No full textCette thèse étudie la représentation de la machine chez Robida. La partie centrale de notre recherche s’intéresse à révéler ses significations et interroge sa mise en scène littéraire et visuelle dans chacun des romans de la trilogie d’anticipation scientifique la plus connue de l’auteur-illustrateur. La quête se transforme en un voyage continu entre le lisible et le visible, le dit et le non-dit, la description littéraire et l’imagination, la réalité et la fiction. Nous nous intéressons à l’évolution de la vision de Robida : dans Le Vingtième siècle, l’image de la machine bienfaisante, facilitant la vie de l’homme, économisant du temps et de l’argent, et contribuant largement à son bonheur et à son divertissement, à part quelques accidents très limités, se traduit par une complémentarité avantageuse entre le texte d’une part et les vignettes, les tableaux et les hors-textes se trouvant dans le récit, d’autre part. Celle-ci se transforme, dans La Guerre au vingtième siècle, en une inquiétude vis-à-vis de l’instrumentalisation de la machine pour la guerre, qui s’exprime par une projection de la narration vers l’illustration in-texte, et sensibilise le lecteur en montrant le caractère violent et offensif d’appareils uniquement nommés. Celle-ci devient finalement, dans La Vie électrique, synonyme d’un pessimisme total quant à l’implication de la machine dans la société et à la puissance du savoir scientifique dans l’avenir, qui s’affiche dans des hors-textes sombres et maussades.
Dans ce cadre, la machine illustrée exige une lecture iconotextuelle, une importance accordée au détail, aux éléments présents ou absents, aux modalités de passage d’un mode de présentation à l’autre, à la place anticipée ou tardive de l’illustration, au rapport entre le texte, le dessin et sa légende, aux mots qui migrent vers le dessin et surtout au reste du décor incomplet.
Chez Robida, les louanges qui passent à la critique et l’humour qui se fait cynisme, sont assez représentatifs des espoirs et des craintes suscités par la découverte et la mise en application de l’électricité, par ses vertus, mais aussi par son aspect incontrôlable.This thesis focuses on the presentation of the machine by Robida. The major part of our research aims to reveal its meanings and examines its literary and visual settlement in each novel in the most popular trilogy of scientific anticipation made by the author. The search has the aspect of a continuous travel between what is read and what is seen, the said and the unsaid, the literary description and the imagination, the reality and the fiction. We will be mainly interested by the evolution of Albert Robida’s vision: in Le Vingtième siècle, the image of a beneficial machine, simplifying every day’s life, saving time and money and largely contributing to the happiness and the entertainment of every man’s kind, except some occasional accidents, is reflected by a close and helpful connection between the text, the vignette and the inserts. This image is modified, in La Guerre au vingtième siècle, into an anxiety felt towards the use of the machine as a war weapon, and expressed in the transfer of the narration to the illustration in-texte, aiming to touch the reader and make him aware of the violent and brutal aspect of the machines that are only named. This image causes, in La Vie électrique, a serious pessimistic vision of the use of the machine in the society and the power of the scientific knowledge in the future which is displayed in dark and gloomy hors-texte.
In this context, the illustrated machine requires a double reading, details oriented and interested in the presence and the absence of elements, in the transfer between the text and the illustration, in the anticipated or the belated picture, in the relationship between the text, the image and the caption, in the words that have been transferred to the image and mostly the rest of the incomplete picture.
In Robida’s work, the praises that become a criticism and the satire being cynicism, are very representatives of the hopes and the fears created by the discovery and the application of the electricity, by its virtues, but also its uncontrollable aspect
Le vingtième siècle /
No full textTitle vignette.Title printed in red and black.Mode of access: Internet.Binding: marbled paper over boards; leather spine and corners
Francois I er achetant la Joconde à Leonard de Vinci au clos Lucé, près du chateau royal d'Amboise, entre 1516 et 1519
No full text
Polyclonal Antibody Production for Membrane Proteins via Genetic Immunization
No full textabstract: Antibodies are essential for structural determinations and functional studies of membrane proteins, but antibody generation is limited by the availability of properly-folded and purified antigen. We describe the first application of genetic immunization to a structurally diverse set of membrane proteins to show that immunization of mice with DNA alone produced antibodies against 71% (n = 17) of the bacterial and viral targets. Antibody production correlated with prior reports of target immunogenicity in host organisms, underscoring the efficiency of this DNA-gold micronanoplex approach. To generate each antigen for antibody characterization, we also developed a simple in vitro membrane protein expression and capture method. Antibody specificity was demonstrated upon identifying, for the first time, membrane-directed heterologous expression of the native sequences of the FopA and FTT1525 virulence determinants from the select agent Francisella tularensis SCHU S4. These approaches will accelerate future structural and functional investigations of therapeutically-relevant membrane proteins.The final version of this article, as published in Scientific Reports, can be viewed online at: https://www.nature.com/articles/srep2192
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The Fate of Invention in Late 19th Century French Literature
No full textThis dissertation reads the novels of Jules Verne, Albert Robida, Villiers de l'Isle-Adam and Emile Zola, investigating the representation of inventors who specialize in electricity. The figure appears as the intersection of divergent literary movements: Zola, the father of Naturalism and leading proponent of a `scientific' approach to literature, Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, decadent playwright and novelist, Robida, leading caricaturist and amateur historian, and Verne, prominent figure in the emerging genre of anticipation, all develop the inventor character as one who succeeds in realizing key technological aspirations of the 19th century. The authors, however, take a dim view of his activity.
Studying the figure of the inventor allows us to gain insight into fundamental 19th century French anxieties over the nation's progress in science and technology, its national identity, and international standing. The corpus casts science as a pillar of French culture and a modern expression of human creativity, but suggests that social control over how progress is achieved is more important than pure advancement, no matter the price of attaining control. There is a great desire for progress in this period, but as society's dependence on scientific advancement is becoming apparent, so is its being ignorant of the means through which to achieve it. In fiction exploring this subject, the inventor appears as an intercessor, standing at the articulation of cultural aspirations in science and cultural fear over their timely, socially-constructive realization.
Chapter 1 focuses on the works of Jules Verne, elaborating a portrait of the inventor as he appears in the series of the Voyages Extraordinaires. The character returns with remarkable preponderance in subsequent installments of the series, with Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (1870), L'Ile mystérieuse (1874-1875), Les Cinq cents millions de la Bégum (1879), Robur-le-conquérant (1886), Le Château des Carpathes (1892), Face au drapeau (1896) and Maitre du monde (1904) all showing him as best poised to advance French science. Emphasis is placed on his private, reclusive pursuit of the discipline, which is contrasted by the author through the development of characters representing official science, such as professors and engineers. This distinction is read in the context of Verne's educational mission, which supports the official scientists and emphasizes service to the community and the growth of their respective disciplines.
Chapter 2 analyzes Albert Robida's key satirical futuristic novel La Vie électrique (1892). Unlike Verne, Robida illustrates perversions of progress, offering a world in which the rhythm of life is sped up to an untenable pace by inventors. Set in the 20th century, in this version of France technology is fully integrated in everyday life, the inventor is a popular idol and successful businessman. Despite this great departure from the model proposed in Chapter 1, the figure of the inventor is defined through the same seclusion and dedication to research, disdain for education and oversight of his activities. The author thereby succeeds in simultaneously illustrating the realization of France's hopes and fears about its technological development at the turn of the century. Whereas Verne gives voice to the dominant ideological perspective on science, Robida's position as satirist enables him to critique it while retaining a degree of hope, not only through aspects of the plot but also his copious illustrations.
Chapter 3 focuses on the figure of Thomas Edison as the protagonist of Villiers de l'Isle-Adam's L'Eve future. Borrowing the electrical inventor from anticipation, the novel finds its other main source in the topoi of the decadent movement. The inventor's real-life persona is offered as guarantee of the extraordinary achievement of his fictional counterpart, in contrast to Verne's conveying realism through scientific detail. The inventor cynically markets his work to a decadent audience, but Villiers also relies on the repertoire of this tradition to condemn him. The author merely plays at integrating Edison into the line one would imagine for him. Prometheus and Frankenstein are the mythological and literary standards against which the new figure is compared, but are quickly dismissed. Villiers then suggests Goethe's Faust as the most reliable model, only to reveal in a final, negative assessment of the Edison that he is, in fact, Mephistopheles. The novel thus constructs a modern legend of the inventor as a fusion of contemporary journalism and older literary archetypes.
Chapter 4 reads Zola's Travail (1901) as a utopian re-writing of Germinal (1885). It argues that Travail realizes Germinal's closing warning that `new men' would eventually emerge, though it is not to avenge tragedy. These `new men' are the same 19th century workers of Germinal, whose violence and lack of education Zola had described as infantilizing, but this time, they are the children of better fathers, who prepare them to adapt and evolve. The transformation of the working-class community depicted in the Evangile is possible through the work of a Vernian inventor, Jordan. Zola repeats many of the topoi of the character's representation in our other authors, which are again associated with singular success in the domain of electricity. Through Jordan, Zola moves away from his Naturalist of heredity, where the efforts or ambitions of the individual were thwarted by the manifestation of an ancestral tare. Travail uses the inventor figure to propose a new model, one which allows for the transmission of acquired characteristics, and in which positive change is possible
