On the politics of discordant, estranging and bonding reliability: Contextualist narratology at work

AbstractAs proposed by Olson and Copland (2016), “the politics of form” should help us examine both the ways in which politics condition narrative form and the ways in which narrative forms, in turn, participate in their political contexts. Contextualist approaches in narratology have gained attention since the beginning of the 21st century, but theorists still struggle to determine how political discourses are relevant to narrative form. This article proposes that the modulations of narrative reliability known as “estranging narration” (Phelan 2007) and “discordant narration” (Cohn 2002) are especially dependent on the political discourses that make them possible. Both categories describe forms of narrative reliability based on biased judgment rather than misreported facts, but the use of political ideology in these approaches has not been sufficiently examined. This is evident in Albert Camus’ L’étranger (1942) [The Stranger], which actively uses the École d’Alger colonial discourse of the Méditerranée from contemporaneous French Algeria, to produce an ambivalent version of estranging and discordant narration. The politics of form, therefore, provides an opportunity to delve into and revise the concepts of estranging and discordant narration, which constitute a good starting point for narratologists’ efforts to elucidate both the uses of historical discourse in narrative poetics and the uses of narrative poetics for shaping political ideology.

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Radioactive Forms: Radium, the State, and the End of Victorian Narrative

Genre ◽

10.1215/00166928-7965779 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 52 (3) ◽

pp. 151-177

Author(s):

Michael Martel

Keyword(s):

Turn Of The Century ◽

Narrative Form ◽

Political Discourses ◽

Narrative Structures ◽

Political Implications ◽

Political Form ◽

Narrative Forms ◽

English Politics ◽

Secret Agent ◽

Energy Physics

This article examines Edwardian “radioactive fiction”—narratives about radium’s transformative political implications—to demonstrate how radioactivity shaped narrative form and English politics between 1898 and 1914. Recent scholarship on this period’s literary engagements with energy physics and politics shows that thermodynamics’ second law provided the narrative structures that shaped turn-of-the-century scientific, cultural, and political discourses. At this moment, however, radioactivity upended these “entropolitical” narrative forms through its seemingly endless self-regeneration. Attending to this narratological and scientific upheaval, the article argues that formal experiments as varied as Joseph Conrad’s Secret Agent ([1907] 2007) and H. G. Wells’s World Set Free (1914) exemplify a widespread regrounding of narrative and political form in a universe where the fundamental laws of energy no longer apply. The article first examines how espionage, detective, and invasion fiction, exemplified by The Secret Agent, incorporated the Edwardian press’s figuration of radium to suggest that the entropic nation-state’s raison d’être, degenerate populations, was not so entropic after all. It then examines utopian treatments of radioactivity to argue that nonentropic narrative forms modeled political orders beyond the nation-state. Through narrative chiasmus, The World Set Free figures an atomic state capable of organizing its constituent parts into a new collectivity, the global atomic commons.

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Discovery and Optimization of Selective Inhibitors of Meprin α (Part I)

Pharmaceuticals ◽

10.3390/ph14030203 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 203 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Shurong Hou ◽

Juan Diez ◽

Chao Wang ◽

Christoph Becker-Pauly ◽

Gregg B. Fields ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Inhibitory Activity ◽

De Novo ◽

Selective Inhibitors ◽

Preclinical Development ◽

Starting Point ◽

Good Starting Point ◽

Parallel Screening ◽

Low Cytotoxicity

Meprin α and β are zinc-dependent proteinases implicated in multiple diseases including cancers, fibrosis, and Alzheimer’s. However, until recently, only a few inhibitors of either meprin were reported and no inhibitors are in preclinical development. Moreover, inhibitors of other metzincins developed in previous years are not effective in inhibiting meprins suggesting the need for de novo discovery effort. To address the paucity of tractable meprin inhibitors we developed ultrahigh-throughput assays and conducted parallel screening of >650,000 compounds against each meprin. As a result of this effort, we identified five selective meprin α hits belonging to three different chemotypes (triazole-hydroxyacetamides, sulfonamide-hydroxypropanamides, and phenoxy-hydroxyacetamides). These hits demonstrated a nanomolar to micromolar inhibitory activity against meprin α with low cytotoxicity and >30-fold selectivity against meprin β and other related metzincincs. These selective inhibitors of meprin α provide a good starting point for further optimization.

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Advances on the Implementation of Circular Economy Techniques in Rural Areas in Colombia under a Sustainable Development Framework

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13073816 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (7) ◽

pp. 3816

Author(s):

Javier Rodrigo-Ilarri ◽

Camilo-A. Vargas-Terranova ◽

María-Elena Rodrigo-Clavero ◽

Paula-A. Bustos-Castro

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Waste Management ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Development Framework ◽

Starting Point ◽

Management Plans ◽

Good Starting Point ◽

Depressed Regions ◽

First Time

For the first time in the scientific literature, this research shows an analysis of the implementation of circular economy techniques under sustainable development framework in six municipalities with a depressed economy in Colombia. The analysis is based on solid waste data production at a local scale, the valuation of the waste for subsequent recycling, and the identification and quantification of the variables associated with the treatment and final disposal of waste, in accordance with the Colombian regulatory framework. Waste generation data are obtained considering three different scenarios, in which a comparison between the simulated values and those established in the management plans are compared. Important differences have been identified between the waste management programs of each municipality, specifically regarding the components of waste collection, transportation and disposal, participation of environmental reclaimers, and potential use of materials. These differences are fundamentally associated with the different administrative processes considered for each individual municipality. This research is a good starting point for the development of waste management models based on circular economy techniques, through the subsequent implementation of an office tool in depressed regions such as those studied.

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Industry-Sponsored Medical Education — In the Quest for Professional Integrity and Legal Certainty

European Journal of Health Law ◽

10.1163/092902707x260312 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 14 (4) ◽

pp. 313-319

Author(s):

Benedikt Buchner

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Self Regulation ◽

State Regulation ◽

General Question ◽

Legal Certainty ◽

European Directive ◽

Starting Point ◽

Good Starting Point ◽

Advertising Law ◽

The Right

AbstractIndustry-sponsored medical education is a much disputed issue. So far, there has been no regulatory framework which provides clear and definite rules as to whether and under what circumstances the sponsorship of medical education is acceptable. State regulation does not exist, or confines itself to a very general principle. Professional regulation, even though applied frequently, is rather vague and indefinite, raising the general question as to whether self-regulation is the right approach at all. Certainly, self-regulation by industry cannot and should not replace other regulatory approaches. Ultimately, advertising law in general and the European Directive 2001/83/EC specifically, might be a good starting point in providing legal certainty and ensuring the independence of medical education. Swiss advertising law illustrates how the principles of the European Directive could be implemented clearly and unambiguously.

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Multiple Myeloma Inhibitory Activity of Plant Natural Products

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers13112678 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (11) ◽

pp. 2678

Author(s):

Karin Jöhrer ◽

Serhat Sezai Ҫiҫek

Keyword(s):

Multiple Myeloma ◽

Natural Products ◽

Myeloma Cell ◽

Myeloma Cell Line ◽

Antiproliferative Effects ◽

Plant Natural Products ◽

Starting Point ◽

Human Myeloma Cell Line ◽

Group A ◽

Good Starting Point

A literature search on plant natural products with antimyeloma activity until the end of 2020 resulted in 92 compounds with effects on at least one human myeloma cell line. Compounds were divided in different compound classes and both their structure–activity-relationships as well as eventual correlations with the pathways described for Multiple Myeloma were discussed. Each of the major compound classes in this review (alkaloids, phenolics, terpenes) revealed interesting candidates, such as dioncophyllines, a group of naphtylisoquinoline alkaloids, which showed pronounced and selective induction of apoptosis when substituted in position 7 of the isoquinoline moiety. Interestingly, out of the phenolic compound class, two of the most noteworthy constituents belong to the relatively small subclass of xanthones, rendering this group a good starting point for possible further drug development. The class of terpenoids also provides noteworthy constituents, such as the highly oxygenated diterpenoid oridonin, which exhibited antiproliferative effects equal to those of bortezomib on RPMI8226 cells. Moreover, triterpenoids containing a lactone ring and/or quinone-like substructures, e.g., bruceantin, whitaferin A, withanolide F, celastrol, and pristimerin, displayed remarkable activity, with the latter two compounds acting as inhibitors of both NF-κB and proteasome chymotrypsin-like activity.

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From Novels to Video Games: Romantic Love and Narrative Form in Japanese Visual Novels and Romance Adventure Games

Arts ◽

10.3390/arts10030042 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 42

Author(s):

Kumiko Saito

Keyword(s):

Video Games ◽

Identity Politics ◽

Romantic Love ◽

Narrative Form ◽

Narrative Strategies ◽

Male Characters ◽

Adventure Games ◽

Narrative Forms ◽

Female Audience ◽

Modern Identity

Video games are powerful narrative media that continue to evolve. Romance games in Japan, which began as text-based adventure games and are today known as bishōjo games and otome games, form a powerful textual corpus for literary and media studies. They adopt conventional literary narrative strategies and explore new narrative forms formulated by an interface with computer-generated texts and audiovisual fetishism, thereby challenging the assumptions about the modern textual values of storytelling. The article first examines differences between visual novels that feature female characters for a male audience and romance adventure games that feature male characters for a female audience. Through the comparison, the article investigates how notions of romantic love and relationship have transformed from the modern identity politics based on freedom and the autonomous self to the decentered model of mediation and interaction in the contemporary era.

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COVID-19, Business, and Human Rights

International Community Law Review ◽

10.1163/18719732-23050002 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 23 (5) ◽

pp. 433-449

Author(s):

Surya Deva

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Full Range ◽

International Human Rights Law ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

International Human Rights ◽

Economic Problems ◽

Business And Human Rights ◽

Starting Point ◽

Good Starting Point ◽

International Human

Abstract COVID-19 has affected the full range of human rights, though some rights holders have experienced a disproportionate impact. This has triggered debate about the respective obligations and responsibilities of states and business enterprises under international human rights law. Against this backdrop, this article examines critically whether the “protect, respect and remedy” framework operationalised by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights is “fit for the purpose” to deal with the COVID-19 crisis. I argue that while the UNGPs’ framework provides a good starting point, it is inadequate to bring transformative changes to overcome deep-rooted socio-economic problems exposed by this pandemic. Realising human rights fully would not only require harnessing the potential of states’ tripartite obligations, but also move beyond limiting the responsibility of businesses to respect human rights.

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Water Depollution Control : A Gateway to Reaction Monitoring and Analytical Chemistry

10.26434/chemrxiv.14265104 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Martin Tiano ◽

Max Roose

Keyword(s):

Analytical Chemistry ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Environmental Chemistry ◽

Organic Pollutant ◽

Internal Standard ◽

Experimental Session ◽

Reaction Monitoring ◽

Starting Point ◽

Good Starting Point ◽

Magnetite Particles

<div>We present here an experimental session for undergraduate students, based on the reaction monitoring of the degradation of an organic pollutant (para-nitrophenol) by a Fenton-like reaction, catalysed by magnetite particles. <br></div><div>During the session, students realized a follow-up of the reaction by Gas Chromatography with an internal standard, and by UV-Visible spectrophotometry. <br></div>This session was a good starting point to numerous discussions about analytical chemistry, environmental chemistry.

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What Neuroscience Can Tell about Intuitive Processes in the Context of Perceptual Discovery

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2006.18.12.2077 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 18 (12) ◽

pp. 2077-2087 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

Kirsten G. Volz ◽

D. Yves von Cramon

Keyword(s):

Initial Guess ◽

Future Research ◽

Starting Point ◽

Sensory Modalities ◽

Direct Contrast ◽

Good Starting Point ◽

Lateral Portion ◽

Definition Of ◽

Conscious Attention ◽

Potential Content

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, intuition is “the ability to understand or know something immediately, without conscious reasoning.” Most people would agree that intuitive responses appear as ideas or feelings that subsequently guide our thoughts and behaviors. It is proposed that people continuously, without conscious attention, recognize patterns in the stream of sensations that impinge upon them. What exactly is being recognized is not clear yet, but we assume that people detect potential content based on only a few aspects of the input (i.e., the gist). The result is a vague perception of coherence which is not explicitly describable but instead embodied in a “gut feeling” or an initial guess, which subsequently biases thought and inquiry. To approach the nature of intuitive processes, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging when participants were working at a modified version of the Waterloo Gestalt Closure Task. Starting from our conceptualization that intuition involves an informed judgment in the context of discovery, we expected activation within the median orbito-frontal cortex (OFC), as this area receives input from all sensory modalities and has been shown to be crucially involved in emotionally driven decisions. Results from a direct contrast between intuitive and nonintuitive judgments, as well as from a parametric analysis, revealed the median OFC, the lateral portion of the amygdala, anterior insula, and ventral occipito-temporal regions to be activated. Based on these findings, we suggest our definition of intuition to be promising and a good starting point for future research on intuitive processes.

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Using crocodilian tails as models for dinosaur tails

10.7287/peerj.preprints.1339 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Heinrich Mallison ◽

Michael Pittman ◽

Daniela Schwarz

Keyword(s):

Sensitivity Analysis ◽

Morphological Data ◽

Muscle Forces ◽

Limited Knowledge ◽

Starting Point ◽

Good Starting Point ◽

Methodological Problems ◽

Parameter Ranges

The tails of extant crocodilians are anatomically the closest approximation of the tails of non-avian dinosaurs, and therefore a good starting point for any reconstruction of non-avian dinosaur tail muscles. However, we here demonstrate some methodological problems using crocodile tails, firstly regarding the general reconstruction of tail mobility from osteology, secondly for the reconstruction of tail musculature for the quantification of muscle forces, especially the m. caudofemoralis longus, and thirdly with respect to the anatomical differences between crocodilians and non-avian dinosaurs, especially in relation to the reconstruction of m. caudofemoralis brevis. Our results show that, given the current limited knowledge of crocodilian tails, volumetric reconstructions should be created on the basis of more gross morphological data than is usually used, and that biomechanical studies should include sensitivity analysis with greater parameter ranges than often applied.

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