Harry Potter and the Theory of Things

This thesis investigates the boundaries between body and object in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, seven children’s literature novels published between 1997 and 2007. Lord Voldemort, Rowling’s villain, creates Horcruxes—objects that contain fragments of his soul—in order to ensure his immortality. As vessels for human soul, these objects rupture the boundaries between body and object and become “things.” Using contemporary thing theorists including John Plotz and materialists Jean Baudrillard and Walter Benjamin, I look at Voldemort’s Horcruxes as transgressive, liminal, unclassifiable entities in the first chapter. If objects can occupy the juncture between body and object, then bodies can as well. Dementors and Inferi, dark creatures that Rowling introduces throughout the series, live devoid of soul. Voldemort, too, becomes a thing as he splits his soul and creates Horcruxes. These soulless bodies are uncanny entities, provoking fear, revulsion, nausea, and the loss of language. In the second chapter, I use Sigmund Freud’s theorization of the uncanny as well as literary critic Kelly Hurley to investigate how Dementors, Inferi, and Voldemort exist as body-turned-object things at the juncture between life and death. As Voldemort increasingly invests his immaterial soul into material objects, he physically and spiritually degenerates, transforming from the young, handsome Tom Marvolo Riddle into the snake-like villain that murdered Harry’s parents and countless others. During his quest to find and destroy Voldemort’s Horcruxes, Harry encounters a different type of object, the Deathly Hallows. Although similarly accessing boundaries between body/object, life/death, and materiality/immateriality, the three Deathly Hallows do not transgress these boundaries. Through the Deathly Hallows, Rowling provides an alternative to thingification: objects that enable boundaries to fluctuate, but not breakdown. In the third chapter, I return to thing theorists, Baudrillard, and Benjamin to study how the Deathly Hallows resist thingification by not transgressing the boundaries between body and object.

Kinetic assessment of persistent halogenated xenobiotics in cell culture models: comparison of mono- and poly-halogenated compounds

We evaluated the suitability of single and multiple cell type cultures as model systems to characterise cellular kinetics of highly lipophilic compounds with potential ecotoxicological impact. Confluent mono-layers of human skin fibroblasts, rat astrocytoma C6 cells, non-differentiated and differentiated mouse 3T3 cells were kept in culture medium supplemented with 10% foetal calf serum. For competitive uptake experiments up to four different cell types, grown on glass sectors, were exposed for 3h to (14)C-labelled model compounds, dissolved either in organic solvents or incorporated into unilamellar lecithin liposomes. Bromo-, or chloro-benzenes, decabromodiphenylether (DBP), and dichlorodiphenyl ethylene (DDE) were tested in rather high concentration of 20 microM. Cellular toxicity was low. Compound levels were related to protein, DNA, and triglyceride contents. Cellular uptake was fast and dependent on physico-chemical properties of the compounds (lipophilicity, molecular size), formulation, and cell type. Mono-halogenated benzenes showed low and similar uptake levels (=low accumulation compounds). DBP and DDE showed much higher cellular accumulations (=high accumulation compounds) except for DBP in 3T3 cells. Uptake from liposomal formulations was mostly higher than if compounds were dissolved in organic solvents. The extent of uptake correlated with the cellular content of triglycerides, except for DBP. Uptake competition between different cell types was studied in a sectorial multi-cell culture model. For low accumulation compounds negligible differences were found among C6 cells and fibroblasts. Uptake of DDE was slightly and that of DBP highly increased in fibroblasts. Well-defined cell culture systems, especially the sectorial model, are appropriate to screen for bioaccumulation and cytotoxicity of (unknown) chemical entities in vitro.

The Theory of Alloy Deposition and The Effect of a Rotating Cathode Upon Such Deposition, with Special Attention to the Possibility of Depositing Sterling Silver

In the past few years a great deal of atten­tion has been given to the electrodeposition of alloys. For the main part, this investigation has been of scien­tific interest only; but in a few instances, such work has attained commercial importance.

Substrate binding tunes conformational flexibility and kinetic stability of an amino acid antiporter

We used single molecule dynamic force spectroscopy to unfold individual serine/threonine antiporters SteT from Bacillus subtilis. The unfolding force patterns revealed interactions and energy barriers that stabilized structural segments of SteT. Substrate binding did not establish strong localized interactions but appeared to be facilitated by the formation of weak interactions with several structural segments. Upon substrate binding, all energy barriers of the antiporter changed thereby describing the transition from brittle mechanical properties of SteT in the unbound state to structurally flexible conformations in the substrate-bound state. The lifetime of the unbound state was much shorter than that of the substrate-bound state. This leads to the conclusion that the unbound state of SteT shows a reduced conformational flexibility to facilitate specific substrate binding and a reduced kinetic stability to enable rapid switching to the bound state. In contrast, the bound state of SteT showed an increased conformational flexibility and kinetic stability such as required to enable transport of substrate across the cell membrane. This result supports the working model of antiporters in which alternate substrate access from one to the other membrane surface occurs in the substrate-bound state.