2,768 research outputs found
Alan Moore Comics as Performance, Fiction as Scalpel
No full textEclectic British author Alan Moore (b. 1953) is one of the most acclaimed and controversial comics writers to emerge since the late 1970s. He has produced a large number of well-regarded comic books and graphic novels while also making occasional forays into music, poetry, performance, and prose. In Alan Moore: Comics as Performance, Fiction as Scalpel , Annalisa Di Liddo argues that Moore employs the comics form to dissect the literary canon, the tradition of comics, contemporary society, and our understanding of history. The book considers Moore's narrative strategies and pinpoints the main thematic threads in his works: the subversion of genre and pulp fiction, the interrogation of superhero tropes, the manipulation of space and time, the uses of magic and mythology, the instability of gender and ethnic identity, and the accumulation of imagery to create satire that comments on politics and art history. Examining Moore's use of comics to scrutinize contemporary culture, Di Liddo analyzes his best-known works-- Swamp Thing, V for Vendetta, Watchmen, From Hell, Promethea , and Lost Girls . The study also highlights Moore?s lesser-known output, such as Halo Jones, Skizz , and Big Numbers , and his prose novel Voice of the Fire. Alan Moore: Comics as Performance, Fiction as Scalpel reveals Moore to be one of the most significant and distinctly postmodern comics creators of the last quarter-century.Intro -- Contents -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- CHAPTER 1. Formal Considerations on Alan Moore's Writing -- CHAPTER 2. Chronotopes: Outer Space, the Cityscape, and the Space of Comics -- CHAPTER 3. Moore and the Crisis of English Identity -- CHAPTER 4. Finding a Way into Lost Girls -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- ZEclectic British author Alan Moore (b. 1953) is one of the most acclaimed and controversial comics writers to emerge since the late 1970s. He has produced a large number of well-regarded comic books and graphic novels while also making occasional forays into music, poetry, performance, and prose. In Alan Moore: Comics as Performance, Fiction as Scalpel , Annalisa Di Liddo argues that Moore employs the comics form to dissect the literary canon, the tradition of comics, contemporary society, and our understanding of history. The book considers Moore's narrative strategies and pinpoints the main thematic threads in his works: the subversion of genre and pulp fiction, the interrogation of superhero tropes, the manipulation of space and time, the uses of magic and mythology, the instability of gender and ethnic identity, and the accumulation of imagery to create satire that comments on politics and art history. Examining Moore's use of comics to scrutinize contemporary culture, Di Liddo analyzes his best-known works-- Swamp Thing, V for Vendetta, Watchmen, From Hell, Promethea , and Lost Girls . The study also highlights Moore?s lesser-known output, such as Halo Jones, Skizz , and Big Numbers , and his prose novel Voice of the Fire. Alan Moore: Comics as Performance, Fiction as Scalpel reveals Moore to be one of the most significant and distinctly postmodern comics creators of the last quarter-century.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
Modelling dopaminergic and other processes involved in learning from reward prediction error: Contributions from an individual differences perspective
No full textPhasic firing changes of midbrain dopamine neurons have been widely characterised as reflecting a reward prediction error (RPE). Major personality traits (e.g. extraversion) have been linked to inter-individual variations in dopaminergic neurotransmission. Consistent with these two claims, recent research (Smillie, Cooper, & Pickering, 2011; Cooper, Duke, Pickering, & Smillie, 2014) found that extraverts exhibited larger RPEs than introverts, as reflected in feedback related negativity (FRN) effects in EEG recordings. Using an established, biologically-localised RPE computational model, we successfully simulated dopaminergic cell firing changes which are thought to modulate the FRN. We introduced simulated individual differences into the model: parameters were systematically varied, with stable values for each simulated individual. We explored whether a model parameter might be responsible for the observed covariance between extraversion and the FRN changes in real data, and argued that a parameter is a plausible source of such covariance if parameter variance, across simulated individuals, correlated almost perfectly with the size of the simulated dopaminergic FRN modulation, and created as much variance as possible in this simulated output. Several model parameters met these criteria, while others did not. In particular, variations in the strength of connections carrying excitatory reward drive inputs to midbrain dopaminergic cells were considered plausible candidates, along with variations in a parameter which scales the effects of dopamine cell firing bursts on synaptic modification in ventral striatum. We suggest possible neurotransmitter mechanisms underpinning these model parameters. Finally, the limitations and possible extensions of our approach are discussed
Individual differences in reward-prediction-error: extraversion and feedback-related negativity
No full textMedial frontal scalp-recorded negativity occurring ∼200–300 ms post-stimulus [known as feedback-related negativity (FRN)] is attenuated following unpredicted reward and potentiated following unpredicted non-reward. This encourages the view that FRN may partly reflect dopaminergic ‘reward–prediction–error’ signalling. We examined the influence of a putatively dopamine-based personality trait, extraversion (N = 30), and a dopamine-related gene polymorphism, DRD2/ANKK1 (N = 24), on FRN during an associative reward-learning paradigm. FRN was most negative following unpredicted non-reward and least-negative following unpredicted reward. A difference wave contrasting these conditions was significantly more pronounced for extraverted participants than for introverts, with a similar but non-significant trend for participants carrying at least one copy of the A1 allele of the DRD2/ANKK1 gene compared with those without the allele. Extraversion was also significantly higher in A1 allele carriers. Results have broad relevance to neuroscience and personality research concerning reward processing and dopamine function
Post-war British working-class fiction with special reference to the novels of John Braine, Alan Sillitoe, Stan Barstow, David Storey and Barry Hines
No full textThis study is about British working-class fiction in the post-war period.
It covers various authors such as Robert Tressell, George Orwell, Walter Greenwood, Lewis Grassic Gibbon and DH Lawrence from the early twentieth century; writers traditionally classified as 'Angry Young Men' like John Osborne, Arnold Wesker, Shelagh Delaney, John Wain and
Kingsley Amis; and working-class novelists like John Braine, Stan Barstow, David Storey, Alan Sillitoe and Barry Hines from the 1950s and 1960s.
Some of the main issues dealt with in the course of this study are language, form, community, self/identity/autobiography, sexuality and relationship with bourgeois art. The major argument centres on two questions: representation of working-class life, and the
relationship between working-class literary tradition and dominant ideologies.
We will be arguing that while working-class fiction succeeded in challenging and rupturing bourgeois literary tradition, on the level of language and linguistic medium of expression for example, it utterly failed to break away from dominant, bourgeois modes of literary production in relation to form, for instance.
Our argument is situated within Marxist approaches to literature, a political and aesthetic position from which we attempt an analysis and an evaluation of this working-class literary tradition. These critical approaches provide us also with the theoretical tool to define the political perspective of this tradition, and to judge whether it was confined to a descriptive mode of representation or
located in a radical, political outlook
The construction of Karen Karnak: The multi-author-function
No full textThis thesis is situated within the comparatively recent developments of Web 2.0 and the emergence of interactive WikiMedia, and explores the mode of authorship within a Read/Write culture compared to that of a Read/Only tradition. The hypothesis of this study is that the role of the audience has become merged with the author, and as such, represents new functions and attributes, distinct from a more conventional concept of authorship, in which the roles of audience and author are more separate. Read/Write and participatory culture, as defined by this study, is focused on collaboration, and includes the influences of D.I.Y. culture, Open-Source practices and the production of text by multiple authors. Multi-authorship presents a re-thinking of several concepts which support the notion of the individual author, since the focus of multi-authorship is not on attribution and ownership of a finished text, but on the continued malleability of a text. Modes of multi-authorship, demonstrated in the use of the pseudonyms Alan Smithee and Karen Eliot, represent declarative authors whose names signify multiple origins, whilst concurrently indicating a distinct body of work. The function of these names form an important context to this study, since primary research involves the construction of an experimental mode of multi-authorship utilising WikiMedia technology and the interaction of thirty nine participants, who are invited to create a body of work under the collective pseudonym Karen Karnak. The data generated by this experiment is analysed using aspects of Michel Foucault's author-function to identify and determine power structures inherent in the WikiMedia context. The interplay of power structures, including concepts such as identity, ownership and the body of work, affect the resulting mode of authorship and contribute to the construction of Karen Karnak, suggesting further areas of research into the emerging multi-author
alanfox/spg_1000m_boundary_fluxes: Code and data used in model analysis for Jones et al. 2023. "Observation-based estimates of volume, heat and freshwater exchanges between the subpolar North Atlantic interior, its boundary currents and the atmosphere"
No full textCode and data used to calculate model fluxes across the subpolar gyre boundary for use in Jones et al. 2023. "Observation-based estimates of volume, heat and freshwater exchanges between the subpolar North Atlantic interior, its boundary currents and the atmosphere".
Author Alan D. Fox @alanfox.
Model analyses use the Viking20x-jra-short run. See Biastoch et al 2021 (https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-1177-2021)
Vitamin D and juvenile idiopathic arthritis
No full textBackground: Vitamin D has been implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. While the roles of vitamin D in
other autoimmune diseases have been investigated, less is known about the role of vitamin D in chronic childhood arthritis.
Main body: This review summarizes and evaluates evidence relating to 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and chronic
childhood arthritis. A scoping literature review was conducted using Ovid Medline, Ovid Embase, Cumulative Index to
Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Web of Science and Scopus. Further, we geo-mapped the results of the studies to
identify the patterns of the association between vitamin D and chronic childhood arthritis across the globe. Of 38 studies
reporting 25(OH)D concentrations in childhood chronic arthritis, 32 (84.2%) reported that a significant number of children
had suboptimal (< 75 nmol/L) status.
Conclusion: The data indicate suboptimal vitamin D status in children with chronic arthritis. Further
Higher education in Egypt
No full textEgypt's policy on higher education, the author argues, must take account of the realities of declining government budgets and employment and increasing reliance on the private sector, which must become more competitive internationally. Education in Egypt must increase Egyptians'ability to cope with economic disequilibria: to respond quickly and effectively to changing technological and market opportunities. The Government of Egypt's strategy for achieving this goal is to stabilize the number of university students and raise the quality of instruction. This fundamentally sound strategy, pursued since the mid-1980s, has required considerable courage of policymakers, who are struggling to correct a longtime, inequitable misallocation of educational resources. The Nasser regime greatly expanded higher education and guaranteed jobs to university graduates. As a result of rapidly growing enrollment in the 1970s and 1980s, the quality of education seriously deteriorated. Classes are too big and resources too scarce for anything but professorial salaries, so learning amounts to little more than memorization and repetition. The system does not foster the development of synthesizing, problem-solving, or creative thinking abilities. And with tertiary institutions over-enrolled, academic success requires the use of tutors, whose fees are beyond the reach of students of modest means.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Teaching and Learning,Gender and Education,Tertiary Education
Kafirin protein and its applications in nanoencapsulation, pickering emulsion and electrospun fiber
No full textProlamines from grains have attracted intensive attention due to their potential to satisfy the demand for environmental friendly, abundantly available and cost effective biomaterials. Kafirin, the major prolamine protein from sorghum grain, attracts our research interests due to its unique properties: solubility in aqueous alcohol, highly hydrophobic and non-allergenic nature and reduced susceptibility to proteolytic degradation. Therefore, kafirin has the potential to serve as a novel building block for food grade delivery vehicles. However, research efforts to clarify its functionality related physicochemical properties as well as fulfilling its application potentials are scarce. My Ph.D thesis exploits these research objectives by first investigating the structure, morphology and self-assembly behavior of kafirin, which are highly relevant in guiding its applications thereafter. Results suggested that the α-helix content of kafirin decreased with the increase of solvent polarity. Kafirin took stretched and extended conformations in aqueous alcohol solutions. Under the solvent evaporation procedure, kafirin self-assembled into particles with defined shapes, both protein concentration and solvent polarity affecting the self-assembly behavior. Secondly, kafirin protein was assembled into nanoparticles for encapsulation and to enhance cellular uptake of hydrophobic nutraceutics. The formation mechanism as well as its cellular uptake fate during oral consumption was elucidated. Curcumin loaded kafirin nanoparticles (cc-kaf) as well as cc-kaf with CM-chitosan coating (cc-kaf/CMC) was prepared by an anti-solvent method. Both formulations exhibited solid spherical morphology with the nanoparticle dimension of 100-300 nm. The encapsulation efficiency and loading efficiency were 55.0 ± 1.1% and 5.0 ± 0.1% for cc-kaf and increased to 86.1±2.1% and 6.1±0.2% after introducing CM-chitosan. Hydrogen bonding, electrostatic attraction and hydrophobic interaction were found to be the major driving forces for particle formation and curcumin encapsulation. The particulate formulations improved the photo stability, dissolution profile in simulated gastrointestinal fluids and the cellular uptake efficiency of curcumin. In the following section, kafirin nanoparticles were utilized as a novel Pickering emulsion stabilizer to stabilize oil-in-water Pickering emulsions (KPEs). Effects of particle concentration, oil phase ratio and ionic strength on the microstructure and rheological properties of KPEs were elucidated. Observation of oil-water interfacial structure suggested that kafirin nanoparticles were capable of stabilizing emulsion system with long-term coalescence stability, and they anchored at the emulsion droplet interface as individual or aggregated ones with low surface coverage. In terms of the processing stability, KPEs were less stable under alkaline or body temperature conditions. Meanwhile, KPEs offered a protective effect to encapsulate and retard the lipid oxidation rate compared to Tween 80 stabilized emulsions (TE). However, due to hydrolysis by pepsin, KPE could not survive the gastric digestion process. After escaping the gastric digestion, the lipid digestion extent of KPE in intestinal fluid fell in between that of bulk oil and TE. In another research attempt, the kafirin nanoparticles were introduced into the double emulsion system by stabilizing the outer interfacial layer of the double emulsion. The osmotic pressure gradient-driven swelling was found to be the major challenge for long-term stability of the as prepared double emulsion (KDE) during storage and processing. Under simulated gastric digestion, KDE underwent structural collapse and its lipid digestion profile in simulated intestinal fluid followed a similar trend as the kafirin particles-stabilized single Pickering emulsion. To address the observed poor storage stability and premature release of the oil phase after oral intake, we immobilized KPE within an alginate based hydrogel matrix. Through combined effects of increase in bulk viscosity, deposition of alginate polymer onto the interface and the pepsin inhibition effect of alginate, the processing as well as gastric digestion stability of Pickering emulsions were improved. Lastly, electrospinning of kafirin protein was carried out and polycarprolactone was blended to obtain fiber mats with tunable mechanical, swelling and release properties. Compared to the hydrophobic surface of neat PCL fiber mat, KAF/PCL fiber mats showed hydrophilic surface characteristics, and the swelling property was composition dependent. The fiber mats evolved from brittle ones to flexible ones as the relative content of PCL increased. Drug encapsulated within KAF/PCL fiber mats were found to be diffusion controlled. While amorphous regions of kafirin dominated the release rate, PCL functioned as hydrophobic skeleton to maintain the 3D scaffold of the fiber matrix. The fabricated KAF/PCL fiber mats opened a new application field for the underutilized cereal protein and could serve as practical candidates for wound healing and tissue engineering scaffolds.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Jie Xia
Fluvial Geomorphology on a Glacial Till Plain
No full textTitle: Fluvial Geomorphology on a Glacial Till Plain, Author: Alan D. Jackson, Location: ThodeFluvial channel adjustment on a glaciated till plain in
Southern Ontario is investigated. Mallot River, a component
of the Grand River system is used as an example. Concepts of
equilibrium and underfitness are discussed. Field studies
include over thirty miles of longitudinal and transverse
valley profiles. Laboratory investigation produced a detailed
map from air photographs. It contains more than 15,000 First
Order segments. Morphometric analyses were conducted using
this base. A hierarchy of drainage density is suggested. A
comparison with drainage on non-glaciated material concludes
the study.ThesisMaster of Science (MS
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