68 research outputs found
MEDEA adapted: the Subaltern Barbarian speaks
No full textThis thesis examines three contemporary adaptations of Euripides’ Medea which reveal her as the ultimate subaltern heroine who comes face to face with imperial colonialism and through direct confrontation both regains her cultural identity and acquires a voice. In each adaptation Medea becomes Spivak’s barbarian subaltern Other and speaks. The plays examined are Heiner Müller’s Despoiled Shore Medeamaterial Landscapes with Argonauts (1983), Guy Butler’s Demea (1990) and Olga Taxidou’s Medea: A World Apart (1995). These plays were utilized as political texts in various postcolonial situations, and employed anti-imperialist discourses to adapt and appropriate the classical Medea as a postmodern, postcolonial protest narrative. A close reading demonstrates that Medea is Euripides’ quintessential tragedy of alterity and each adaptation raises issues of cultural and sexual difference, hegemony, as well as the colonial encounter within their own cultural and historical context. The key purpose of these adaptations is to shed an alternative light on Medea’s act of infanticide, and turn it into an act not against her children, or Jason as the individual who did her injustice, but against the hegemonic structure which allowed that injustice to happen and which she seeks to subvert
Noninvasive determination of body segment parameters of the hind limb in Labrador Retrievers with and without cranial cruciate ligament disease
No full textObjective—To determine mass, center of mass (COM), and moment of inertia (ie, body segment parameters [BSPs]) of hind limb segments by use of a noninvasive method based on computerized tomography (CT) in Labrador Retrievers with and without cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) disease and to provide regression equations to estimate BSPs of normal, CCL-deficient, and contralateral hind limbs.
Animals—14 clinically normal and 10 CCL-deficient Labrador Retrievers.
Procedures—Bone, muscle, and fat areas were identified via CT. Mass, COM, and moment of inertia were determined on the basis of tissue densities in the thigh, crus, and foot segments. Regression models were developed to determine predictive equations to estimate BSP on the basis of simple morphometric measurements.
Results—The thigh and crus of CCL-deficient limbs weighed less than in contralateral segments. Thighs weighed less in CCL-deficient than in normal limbs. The thigh moment of inertia was less in CCL-deficient than in contralateral limbs. The crural COM was located more distally in normal limbs, compared with other limbs. Predictive equations to estimate BSP varied by parameter, body segment, and limb status.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—BSPs of the thigh and crus varied with segment and status of the hind limb in Labrador Retrievers with or without CCL disease. Equations to estimate BSP on the basis of simple morphometric measurements were proposed, providing a basis for nonterminal studies of inverse dynamics of the hind limbs in Labrador Retrievers. This approach may offer new strategies to investigate the pathogenesis of nontraumatic joint diseases
From Earth and Sky: Human-Plant Relationships in the Ancient Mopan River Valley Socioecological System
No full textThe author has granted permission for their work to be available to the general public.This project examines the role of plant diversity in the resilience and vulnerability of socioecological systems using an archaeological case study of the ancient Maya of the Mopan River valley, Belize. Archaeologists have documented major sociopolitical transformations in this region, including the development of complexity, political cycling, and a valley-wide sociopolitical collapse. In addition, climate reconstructions have revealed several periods of drought during the region's history. Understanding how these histories relate to one another requires a diachronic examination of the intersection of human action with the biophysical world, or human-environment relationships. This project focuses on human-plant relationships to test the hypothesis that: the maintenance of high diversity is critical to the resilience of socioecological systems in the face of perturbations. This hypothesis is supported if this project finds that: 1) plant diversity is high before and during early perturbations that did not cause a collapse of the system and 2) plant diversity decreases leading up to the collapse of the system in the Terminal Classic period. To examine the nuances of this hypothesis, this project studies plant diversity dynamics and the human behaviors or ecological processes driving those dynamics using diachronic, multi-proxy data at both landscape and localized scales. Palynological data from sediment cores are a proxy for shifts in diversity of regional vegetation, which were driven in part by agricultural, forestry, and horticultural practices of the ancient Maya, and by climatic and geomorphological fluctuations. These related dynamics are assessed using diachronic data in the form of charcoal counts and morphotype identifications as well as smear slide characterizations from sediment cores along with macrobotanical data from archaeological contexts. Generally, these data aid in understanding the shifts in practices and preferences or natural phenomena that drive broader changes in system diversity. Together, these paleoecological and archaeobotanical data allow for understanding the nuances of human-plant relationships and their role in the resilience and vulnerabilities of a socioecological system.Anthropolog
The workshop as the work: white anti-racism organising in 1960s, 70s, and 80s US social movements
No full textThis thesis explores the rise of anti-racism workshops developed by white activists in various United States social movements from the late 1960s through the mid-1980s. The shifting ideology of the black freedom movement in the late 1960s, from integration to Black Power, transformed white activists‘ place within racial justice struggles. While recent scholarship has begun to turn its attention towards whites‘ ongoing racial justice activities, one of the most radical and widespread of these efforts is consistently overlooked: anti-racism workshops. Increasingly prevalent from the late 1960s through to the diversity-trainings explosion of the 1990s, this thesis demonstrates that these workshops had their roots in the black freedom, women‘s liberation and gay liberation movements. White activists from these movements led these workshops in order to examine white racial domination and privilege within both leftist social movements and larger US society.
Analysing case studies from the black freedom, women‘s liberation and gay liberation/rights movements, this thesis explores the foundational assumptions of anti-racism workshops. It seeks to explain how and why these efforts sought to frame race and racism as issues of knowledge and consciousness and why such efforts constituted radical praxis. It is argued that early anti-racism workshops were pedagogical projects that sought to confront the racial ignorance that structured the lives of whites in the US, including progressives and their liberation movements. This thesis draws attention to the efficacy and power of these workshops in terms of their epistemological effects, in the transformations they brought about in whites‘ understanding, or awareness, of racial realities
Characterization of mTOR Pathway and Reduced Neuronal Size Phenotype in Rett Syndrome Model
No full textabstract: Rett syndrome is a genetically based, X-linked neurodevelopmental disorder that affects 1 in 10,000 live female births. Approximately 95-97% of Rett syndrome cases are attributed to a mutation in the MECP2 gene. In the laboratory setting, key neuropathological phenotypes of Rett syndrome include small neuronal soma and nuclear size, increased cell packing density, and abnormal dendritic branching. Our lab previously created and characterized the A140V mouse model of atypical Rett syndrome in which the males are viable. Hippocampal and cerebellar granule neurons in A140V male mice have reduced soma and nuclear size compared to wild type. We also found that components of the mTOR pathway including rictor, 4E-BP-1, and mTOR, were reduced in A140V mutant mice. Quantitative PCR analysis also showed reduced IGFPB2 expression in A140V mice along with an upward trend in AKT levels that did not meet statistical significance. The objective of this study is i) to characterize the down regulation of AKT-mTOR pathway, and ii) to examine the effect of a genetic strategy to rescue mTOR pathway deficiencies in Mecp2 mutant mouse model. Genetic rescue of the mTOR pathway downregulation was done by crossing heterozygous female A140V mice with heterozygous male Tsc2 mice. Quantitative PCR analysis of A140V_Tsc2 RNA expression supported genetic rescue of mTOR pathway components, however, more testing is needed to fully characterize the rescue effect. Western blot analysis also showed reduction in phosphorylated AKT in Mecp2 A140V and T158A mutant mice, however, more testing is still needed to characterize the mTOR pathway in A140V_Tsc2 mice. Finally, other methods, such as a pharmacological approach, or transfection to increase mTOR pathway activity in cell lines, will be tested to determine if rescue of mTOR pathway activity ameliorate the Rett syndrome phenotype
Implementasi Algoritma Evolusi FHO, MVPA, dan HHO pada TSP di Tempat Pariwisata Pulau Bali
No full textKegiatan berlibur merupakan kegiatan yang diperlukan baik perseorangan maupun bersama keluarga. Pembuatan rute perjalanan yang optimal dari banyak wisata liburan terkadang menjadi permasalahan rumit dan perlu dipikirkan rute optimalnya secara keseluruhan. Dalam ilmu komputer, permasalahan mencari rute optimal pada sebuah jaringan ini dikenal dengan Traveling Salesman Problem. Untuk mendapatkan rute yang baik, diperlukan algoritma khusus yang mampu mengevaluasi rute perjalanan dan memberikan hasil perjalanan yang cukup optimal. Di dalam penelitian ini, 4 algoritma Evolutionary Computation yaitu HHO (Harris Hawk Optimization), FHO (Fire Hawk Optimization), MVPA (Most Valuable Player Algorithm) dan modifikasi dari algoritma MVPA dibandingkan untuk menyelesaikan permasalahan TSP pada 55 lokasi wisata di Pulau Bali. Setelah dilakukan beberapa percobaan, HHO merupakan algoritma dengan nilai fitness terbaik dan konsisten tetapi dengan waktu eksekusi yang lebih lama. Sementara algoritma FHO memiliki waktu eksekusi yang lebih cepat tetapi nilai fitness yang lebih buruk dibandingkan dengan HHO dan MVPA. Algoritma MVPA yang telah dimodifikasi dapat memberikan hasil yang lebih baik meskipun masih belum bisa sebaik HHO. Secara kualitatif, algoritma HHO memberikan hasil perjalanan yang lebih baik dengan jarak tempuh tidak terlalu bervariasi setiap harinya. Hal ini membantu pelaku wisata agar dapat memanfaatkan waktu lebih banyak dalam menikmati lokasi wisata dibandingkan waktu perjalanan yang terbuang
Implementasi Algoritma Evolusi FHO, MVPA, dan HHO pada TSP di Tempat Pariwisata Pulau Bali
No full textKegiatan berlibur merupakan kegiatan yang diperlukan baik perseorangan maupun bersama keluarga. Pembuatan rute perjalanan yang optimal dari banyak wisata liburan terkadang menjadi permasalahan rumit dan perlu dipikirkan rute optimalnya secara keseluruhan. Dalam ilmu komputer, permasalahan mencari rute optimal pada sebuah jaringan ini dikenal dengan Traveling Salesman Problem. Untuk mendapatkan rute yang baik, diperlukan algoritma khusus yang mampu mengevaluasi rute perjalanan dan memberikan hasil perjalanan yang cukup optimal. Di dalam penelitian ini, 4 algoritma Evolutionary Computation yaitu HHO (Harris Hawk Optimization), FHO (Fire Hawk Optimization), MVPA (Most Valuable Player Algorithm) dan modifikasi dari algoritma MVPA dibandingkan untuk menyelesaikan permasalahan TSP pada 55 lokasi wisata di Pulau Bali. Setelah dilakukan beberapa percobaan, HHO merupakan algoritma dengan nilai fitness terbaik dan konsisten tetapi dengan waktu eksekusi yang lebih lama. Sementara algoritma FHO memiliki waktu eksekusi yang lebih cepat tetapi nilai fitness yang lebih buruk dibandingkan dengan HHO dan MVPA. Algoritma MVPA yang telah dimodifikasi dapat memberikan hasil yang lebih baik meskipun masih belum bisa sebaik HHO. Secara kualitatif, algoritma HHO memberikan hasil perjalanan yang lebih baik dengan jarak tempuh tidak terlalu bervariasi setiap harinya. Hal ini membantu pelaku wisata agar dapat memanfaatkan waktu lebih banyak dalam menikmati lokasi wisata dibandingkan waktu perjalanan yang terbuang
Autobiography, ethnography: The writing of Native and American lives in the twentieth century
No full textAutobiographical texts represent an author, narrator, and subject with the same proper name, and audiences expect them to be sincere attempts to understand history. The Introduction below shows how the genre adapted to post-structural and post-colonial shifts in the late twentieth century through reflexive critique and the practice of strategically essential politics. Ethnographers made similar adaptations at this time. For North American indigenous people, this shift meant critiquing monumental stories about Western “heroes,” bearing witness to injustice, and developing good ways to interpret traditional mythologies in postmodern terms. Ethnography changed radically in response to global de-colonial movements of the late twentieth century. Chapter One shows how theories of nomination, performativity, and cultural hybridity took precedence over notions of authenticity. In this situation, Native American autobiography moved accordingly, from collaborative endeavors like Black Elk Speaks and Papago Woman to critical auto-ethnographic projects. Gerald Vizenor’s and Leslie Marmon Silko’s nonfiction writings about mixed ancestry show how literary reflexivity and singular interpretations of folk mythologies responded to these late twentieth-century changes in literary discourse. Chapter Two focuses on their adaptations of trickster characters, and examines how they both make satire of and generative play with modern Euro-American conventions of autobiography, ethnography, and realism. Collaborative autobiography, despite its critiques elaborated in the first chapter, is still a relevant genre for prisoners because the U.S. criminal justice system effectively censors their voices. Chapter Three shows how co-authors have made compromises in order to attempt building solidarity through publication. An equally important aspect of prison memoirs beside their influence on outside readers involves the writing process. Workshops that organize systems of feedback and revision are equally important because they support literacy efforts and help prisoners understand paths toward recovery. Chapter Four interprets postmodern theories of neo-Marxist resistance to capitalism and post-colonial strategies in the context of Native American cultural representation. It attempts to elucidate strategies like playful deconstruction and productive reflexivity that stop reifying zero-sum publishing games in which one author’s success means another’s loss. Following these late twentieth-century insights, insider and outsider authors can produce valuable knowledge about North American history and literature
Transnational Communities and the Evolution of Global Production Networks: The Cases of Taiwan, China, and India
No full textThe Effect of Randomized School Admissions on Voter Participation
No full textThere is little causal evidence on the effect of economic and policy outcomes on voting behavior. This paper uses randomized outcomes from a school choice lottery to examine if lottery outcomes affect voting behavior in a school board election. We show that losing the lottery has no significant impact on overall voting behavior; however, among white families, those with above median income and prior voting history, lottery losers were significantly more likely to vote than lottery winners. Using propensity score methods, we compare the voting of lottery participants to similar families who did not participate in the lottery. We find that losing the school choice lottery caused an increase in voter turnout among whites, while winning the lottery had no effect relative to non-participants. Overall, our empirical results lend support to models of expressive and retrospective voting, where likely voters are motivated to vote by past negative policy outcomes.
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