Living Myths in a Living World

This chapter considers fan studies in a mythological studies context and examines how green studies might use a similar approach to tap into the cultural and mythic power of modern fandoms. The first part defines the components of myth, considers existing fandom studies theories related to those components, and discusses on how fandom studies could impact the larger mythological studies debate. The second part describes the mythological roots of today's environmental crises and discusses the influence of specific fandoms on environmental activism. The chapter closes with some thoughts on how a mythological and green approach to fandom could provide further cultural impetus to positive environmental values much as feminist, ethnic, and queer perspectives on fandom have highlighted and supported a value shift in society as a whole.

Concern, Conception, and Consequence: Re-thinking the Paradigm of Higher Education in Dangerous Times

Discussion of the role of universities in relation to broad issues of sustainability has been current for some decades, although predominantly at the margins of debate and policy. Yet a recent rapid rise of concern—catalyzed by mounting evidence of climate crisis, biodiversity loss, pandemic disease and further systemic issues -is focusing renewed attention on the adequacy of the response of higher education to unprecedented times of urgency, uncertainty and threat. Whilst it is now widely acknowledged that the fate of the planet and of humanity hangs in the balance, there still remains an astonishing disconnect between pressing signs of global change, and the relatively closed world of higher education. A trend toward greening universities' operations is positive, but fails to engage or galvanize the cultural and value shift toward a holistic and ecological zeitgeist that is now necessary to generate widespread institutional systemic change. This paper delves into deep causal factors that have historically impeded the ability of universities to respond fully and effectively to present and probable future realities, pointing to the foundations of Western thought such as reductionism, objectivism, dualism, individualism, anthropocentrism, rationalism, instrumentalism and technocentrism that shape mainstream education policy and practice, overlain and reinforced in more recent times by neo-liberal conceptions of the purpose of universities in a modern economy. It is argued that these elements of our culturally shared worldview constrain our ability to perceive and respond deeply, fully and wisely to the global predicament, but also maintain destructive patterns of development. Whilst there is increasing acceptance that education must “transform” in order to—in turn—be transformative in effect, there is less clarity about the guiding assumptions and ideas that inform mainstream policy and practice, and about the philosophic value bases that can facilitate transformative educational thinking, policy and practice. A framework of three broad and complementary components of paradigm—Concern, Conception, and Consequence—is employed to outline the shape of the systemic paradigmatic shift that universities need to urgently navigate in order to maximize their ability to respond fully to contemporary socio-economic and ecological conditions and trajectories.

SARS-CoV-2 detection in multi-sample pools in a real pandemic scenario: a screening strategy of choice for active surveillance

Background The current COVID-19 pandemic has overloaded the diagnostic capacity of laboratories by the gold standard method rRT-PCR. This disease has a high spread rate and almost a quarter of infected individuals never develop symptoms. In this scenario, active surveillance is crucial to stop the virus propagation. Methods Between July 2020 and April 2021, 11580 oropharyngeal swab samples collected in closed and semi-closed institutions were processed for SARS-CoV-2 detection in pools, implementing this strategy for the first time in Cordoba, Argentina. Five-sample pools were constituted before nucleic acid extraction and amplification by rRT-PCR. Comparative analysis of cycle threshold (Ct) values from positive pools and individual samples along with a cost-benefit report of the whole performance of the results was performed. Results From 2314 5-sample pools tested, 158 were classified as positive (6.8%), 2024 as negative (87.5%), and 132 were categorized as indeterminate (5.7%). The Ct value shift due to sample dilution showed an increase in Ct of 2.6 ±1.53 cycles for N gene and 2.6 ±1.78 for ORF1ab gene. Overall, 290 pools were disassembled and 1450 swabs were analyzed individually. This strategy allowed correctly identifying 99.8% of the samples as positive (7.6%) or negative (92.2%), avoiding the execution of 7,806 rRT-PCR reactions which represents a cost saving of 67.5%. Conclusion This study demonstrates the feasibility of pooling samples to increase the number of tests performed, helping to maximize molecular diagnostic resources and reducing the work overload of specialized personnel during active surveillance of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Phenomenon of the Freedom Party: the Effect of Newness or the Beginning of a New Value Cleavage?

The article analyzes the reasons of success of the Freedom Party in the 2020 Seimas elections. The case of Freedom Party is particularly interesting as it did not appeal to the median voter like previous new parties, but took a clearly liberal stance on such vulnerable issues (in rather conservative Lithuanian society) as LGBT rights. The article examines several probable accounts of the success story of the party: the newness of the party, the value shift in the society and the realignment of the voters. The article employs the data of the 2020 post-election survey and other relevant data sets. The analysis revealed that the effect of novelty contributed somewhat to the success of the Freedom Party, but the main reason for its good performance was the ability to mobilize liberal-minded voters, the number of which increased significantly compared to the 2016 Seimas elections. The party was able not only to take advantage of the changing values of the new generation, but also to consolidate liberal-minded voters who were previously dispersed. The results of the analysis suggest that attitudes on the conservatism–liberalism dimension have become an important factor determining party preferences in Lithuania, while so far, the only significant cleavage in Lithuania was based on different attitudes towards Russia and the Soviet past.

On the advent of the Reformation: COVID-19 pandemic as a predictor of social and value transformations

This article is dedicated to the problems and prospects of the expected/commenced social and value shift, which was stimulated and legitimized by the COVID-19 pandemic. For a long time and on different levels (universalism/particularism), the modern world has been seeking the new system of “individual – society – state”, as well as the corresponding value basis. Being simultaneously a global and individual challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic allows launching and testing the available “projects of the Reformation”, as well as laying the foundation for the future projects. This is the sort of “shimmering in the near distance”, version of the “disciplinary revolution”, which allows officially speaking of the “new world”. However, in order the “motivation” for the new social reality is “for conscience, rather than fear”, it requires the value revolution (“revolution in theology”), which would formulate and offer the new normative attitudes. In this regard, the use of the conceptual framework of the “Reformation” and its patterns leads towards the comprehension of importance of the value foundation of the expected / commenced social transformation. Even of greater importance is the understanding who forms this value foundation. The article does not provide specific answers to the questions which new system of “individual – society – state”, new ethos or “new religion” entails the COVID-19 pandemic. The consequences of such “revolutions” manifest later on and are rarely predictable. This article aims to be the “optics” that allows seeing the inner and the outer the context of the COVID-2019.

Development and Citizenship in the Chinese “Mayor’s Mailbox” System

This article applies Distelhorst and Fu’s (2019) typology of citizenship performances to an original sample of 200 online Mayor’s Mailbox letters to examine how scripts of citizenship differ between richer and poorer areas of China. Using a mixed-methods approach, I find that letters in more developed areas are significantly less likely to present the writer as a submissive subject, but no more likely to frame complaints in terms of rights and legality. I also find that many letter writers behave as “constructive citizens” by stressing their interest in helping the authorities improve local governance. These findings challenge linear understandings of the value shift that follows development, and suggest that the focus on contention in the literature on citizenship under authoritarianism overlooks other, more cooperative forms of political participation in consolidated autocracies.

SARS-CoV-2 N gene dropout and N gene Ct value shift as indicator for the presence of B.1.1.7 lineage in a widely used commercial multiplex PCR assay

Objectives. Increased importance in detection and surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 has been demonstrated due to the emergence of variants of concern (VOCs). In this study we evaluated if a commercially available real-time SARS-CoV-2 PCR assay can identify B.1.1.7 lineage samples by a specific N gene dropout or Ct value shift compared to the S or RdRP gene. Methods. Patients samples with confirmed B.1.1.7 variant by whole-genome sequencing and variant-specific PCR (n=48) and non-B.1.1.7 samples (n=53) were tested by the Allplex SARS-CoV-2/FluA/FluB/RSV PCR assay for presence of S, RdRP and N gene of SARS CoV-2. The N gene coding sequence of SARS-CoV-2 with and without D3L mutation (specific for B.1.1.7) were cloned into pCR-TOPO vectors and Allplex SARS-CoV-2/FluA/FluB/RSV PCR assay was performed. Results. All studied B.1.1.7 patient samples showed significantly higher Ct values (delta 6-10, N-gene dropout on Ct values >29) in the N gene compared to the respective values of S and RdRP gene. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis resulted in 100% sensitivity and specificity for delta Ct N/RdRP and delta Ct N/S. As a result of the reversed genetic experiments we found also the shift in Ct values for the 3L variant N-gene. Conclusions. N gene dropout or Ct value shift is specific for B.1.1.7 positive samples using the Allplex SARS-CoV-2/FluA/FluB/RSV PCR assay. This approach can be used as a rapid tool for B.1.1.7 detection in single assay high throughput diagnostics.

Changing Scenario of Family System in India: An Analysis Against the Backdrop of Changing Social Values

The predominant type of living arrangement in pre-independence India was joint family system. It was based on the notion of collectivism and charity. It was a serving place for not only nurturing and preserving social values, but also passing them down through generations. After the advent of industrialization and subsequent emergence of urbanization and modernization, the joint families started disintegrating into nuclear families. The modern nuclear family is perpetually promoting the principle of individualism or independence in contrast to the value of collectivism deep-rooted in joint family. It is, therefore, a value shift in family from collectivism to individualism. It is followed by a loyalty shift in family from lineal ties to conjugal ties. Consequently, nuclear family has become an indispensible social unit in contemporary Indian society. However, its sustainability may perhaps be uncertain in a distant future because of the inclination of present younger generation to complete independence in life. Probably this may result in the emergent of a new type of living arrangement to satisfy the needs of generations of people in a remote future.

Removal of Post Etch Residue on BEOL Low-K with Nanolift

Particle removal from BEOL low-k structures is studied using a novel particle removal technique, called Nanolift which removes particles from the substrate by forming a thin polymer film on the surface and removing the polymer film together with the particles. It was confirmed that Nanolift is capable to remove TiFx particles successfully which are generated during the low-k dry etch process for dual damascene structure formation for BEOL interconnect fabrication. Pattern collapse of the fragile low-k structure was confirmed to be prevented by Nanolift in comparison with conventional dual fluid spray cleaning method. FTIR results show that Nanolift leaves no residual polymer remain in low-k films and K-value shift by the Nanolift process was negligible and comparable with the conventional formulated chemistry cleaning process. From these results, Nanolift can be concluded as a suitable cleaning process for advanced BEOL fabrication process.