Linden Hills

Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor marks psychological fragmentation which results into immense pain and suffering. Naylor, in this novel, addresses the physical and mental hierarchies which act as blockades in the higher purpose of human integration. This paper aims to investigate the saga of undiluted suffering in the lives of women in Linden Hills. The novelist shows in true colors how the black women become sacrificial lambs and receive the brunt of the frustration of the black males of their society. This paper is also a close study of black males mentality when they get unbridled power and exert it on all those who are subversive to them. Women become the easy victim of their ruthless power play. The tragedy is more intense because the women have been suffering for many generations. In every generation, Nedeed male marries a light-complexioned woman just to reduce her to a child-bearing tool. Failing that, the woman has to lead a life full of hardships and depravity. This paper analyses how her loud desires to stand against the institutionalized trauma herald a new era of freedom from pain and suffering.

Tyrannous Minds and Tamed Bodies: The Curious Case of Irene Adler from Canon to Screen

Appearing in the singular short story “A Scandal in Bohemia” in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series, the character of Irene Adler has been adapted and reconstructed in subsequent literary and visual media. Twenty-first century screen adaptations have swivelled upon postfeminist re-appropriations of the character and overt sexualisation of the ‘body’, thereby engaging in reassessment of the Irene-Sherlock relationship and problematizing gendered presentations of the character. Locating Irene in a heteronormative space, such narratives have attempted to revise the image of the cross-dressing ‘adventuress’ through varied portrayals which seemingly broaden her scope by means of her deliberate transgressions of fixed gender tropes. This article, by taking into account the gendered power-play embedded in three popular twenty first century screen adaptations of the text, namely, the films Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), CBS’s Elementary (2012-2019) and BBC’s Sherlock (2010-2017), scrutinizes the dilemma of presentation of Irene Adler through the lenses of sexual dynamics and gendered performances.

Power Play: Visualising Electricity Use as Emoji

<p>With the prevalence of emoji, digital pictographs in computer mediated communication, this thesis investigates the suitability of using emoji to represent energy use. With research participants and in partnership with a New Zealand electricity retailer and a meter equipment provider, a selection of emoji was identified to represent low or high daily electricity usage. A chatbot was developed to replace an In-Home Display (IHD) usage monitor. The chatbot is used as an agent for presenting interpreted consumption both as text and emoji. The resulting interactions and observations were documented, along with changes in consumption.</p>

Power Play: Visualising Electricity Use as Emoji

<p>With the prevalence of emoji, digital pictographs in computer mediated communication, this thesis investigates the suitability of using emoji to represent energy use. With research participants and in partnership with a New Zealand electricity retailer and a meter equipment provider, a selection of emoji was identified to represent low or high daily electricity usage. A chatbot was developed to replace an In-Home Display (IHD) usage monitor. The chatbot is used as an agent for presenting interpreted consumption both as text and emoji. The resulting interactions and observations were documented, along with changes in consumption.</p>

“The Infurnal Thing”: Autonomy and Ability in Narratives of Disabling, Self-acting, and Weaponized Prostheses

Focusing on the themes of agency and ability, this chapter examines the power play at work between person and prosthetic part in various nineteenth-century imaginaries. The chapter draws from mechanical and materialist understandings of the human body and attitudes to automatic machines to place literary and cultural representations within wider historical contexts pertaining to ability, autonomy, and wholeness. Exploring the extent to which artificial body parts were seen to enhance or assume the agency of the user, the chapter argues that a range of prosthesis narratives produce transgressive prosthesis users or false body parts that threaten the dominance of the physically whole. It investigates three key tropes: narratives of disabling, self-acting, and weaponized prostheses.

Power Play of Commensal Bacteria in the Buccal Cavity of Female Nile Tilapia

Fish are widely exposed to higher microbial loads compared to land and air animals. It is known that the microbiome plays an essential role in the health and development of the host. The oral microbiome is vital in females of different organisms, including the maternal mouthbrooding species such as Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). The present study reports for the first time the microbial composition in the buccal cavity of female and male Nile tilapia reared in a recirculating aquaculture system. Mucus samples were collected from the buccal cavity of 58 adult fish (∼1 kg), and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was used to profile the microbial communities in females and males. The analysis revealed that opportunistic pathogens such as Streptococcus sp. were less abundant in the female buccal cavity. The power play of certain bacteria such as Acinetobacter, Acidobacteria (GP4 and GP6), and Saccharibacteria that have known metabolic advantages was evident in females compared to males. Association networks inferred from relative abundances showed few microbe–microbe interactions of opportunistic pathogens in female fish. The findings of opportunistic bacteria and their interactions with other microbes will be valuable for improving Nile tilapia rearing practices. The presence of bacteria with specific functions in the buccal cavity of female fish points to their ability to create a protective microbial ecosystem for the offspring.

The Feasibility of ’BEYB’ Attacking Tactic Training in Futsal Game

The game of futsal is a game that prioritizes speed so that the futsal is known as a sport that has high intensity. This study aims to develop a training model of BEYB attack tactics in futsal games. The research method uses the development method from Borg and Gall. The research was conducted at the Futsal Sports Hall, State University of Makassar. The subjects in this study were Futsal Athletes. Based on the data obtained, from the results of field trials and discussion of research results, it can be concluded that: through the validity test carried out using the expert justification test, the product is a training model to attack BEYB in futsal games as many as 40 training models. The attack tactics training model with patterns such as 2-2, 1-2-1, 3-1, and power play has been developed to be more varied and can be used in the attacking systems and formations that will be used. BEYB attacking training model can be applied in this futsal game, extracurricular teachers, especially futsal, should be reviewed so that athletes can do it according to their abilities and motor development.