Blockbusters for the youtube generation : a new product of convergence culture

While scholars have paid much attention to YouTube in a Web 2.0 environment, the YouTube blockbuster is yet to be discussed as part of this convergence culture. It differs from transmedia storytelling in that no single company owns or controls the characters or concepts. Once users have elevated videos with rich narrative qualities to the heights of fame within YouTube and other virtual social networks, they are taken from the YouTube archive by global commercial media and given new exchange values in traditional media forms such as books, films, television shows and ancillary products, using fragmented classical narrative techniques to do so. This paper traces the history of the blockbuster as a way of large commercial media adapting to social and technological change after World War II, to its refinements in the 1970s to cater for younger audiences and changes in the media landscape, to its most recent incarnation in YouTube. We argue that the economic and cultural values of the blockbuster are being transformed and refigured by the new form it has begun to take within convergence culture.

Enrichment of a continuous culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with the yeast Issatchenkia orientalis in the production of ethanol at increasing temperatures

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Application of a serum/protein-free medium for the growth of mammalian cell lines and high level production of classical, variant and very virulent strain of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Smashing the Mirror of Yamato: Sakaguchi Ango, Decadence & a Postmetaphysical Buddhist Critique of Culture

This article focuses on several key philosophical themes in the criticism of Sakaguchi Ango (1906–1955), one of postwar Japan’s most influential and controversial writers. Associated with the underground Kasutori culture as well as the Burai-ha of Tamura Taijirō (1911–1983), Oda Sakunosuke (1913–1947) and Dazai Osamu (1909–1948), Ango gained fame for two provocative essays on the theme of daraku or “decadence”—Darakuron and Zoku darakuron—pubished in 1946, in the wake of Japan’s traumatic defeat and the beginnings of the Allied Occupation. Less well-known is the fact that Ango spent his student years studying classical Buddhist texts in Sanskrit, Pali and Tibetan, and that he at at one time aspired to the priesthood. The article analyses the concept of daraku in the two essays noted above, particularly as it relates to Ango’s vision of a refashioned morality based on an interpretation of human subjectivity vis-à-vis the themes of illusion and disillusion. It argues that, despite the radical and modernist flavor of Ango’s essays, his “decadence” is best understood in terms of Mahāyāna and Zen Buddhist concepts. Moreover, when the two essays on decadence are read in tandem with Ango’s wartime essay on Japanese culture (Nihon bunka shikan, 1942), they form the foundation for a “postmetaphysical Buddhist critique of culture,” one that is pragmatic, humanistic, and non-reductively physicalist.

Gothic Taste and Russian Culture of the 18th Century

This project was an experiment in widening the traditional borders of study in the field and looking at the phenomenon of Gothic taste in many genres and kinds of art. The Gothic taste was a major element in the cultural image of the Enlightenment both in western Europe and in Russia. It was an essential component in the world outlook of an educated person and without studying this phenomenon it is impossible to fully understand the thinking of artistic professionals, amateurs and users in Russian society in the 18th century. Mr. Khatchatourov first analysed the reasons for the importance of Gothic taste in the culture of the European Enlightenment and then studied its linguistic and lexicographic evolution in 18th century Russian culture. He sought to determine the semantic context which actively formed the human mind set in the Enlightenment, including potential users and producers of articles in the Gothic taste. He then looked at the process of absorption of this concept by those forms of art which express it most strongly, in particular architecture and the theatre. His study was based on a comprehensive historical and culturological study using a wide range of sources, a formal stylistic method approach considering the interaction of non-classical styles of the Enlightenment with the dominant classicism, and an iconographic approach which revealed the essential aspects in a new image synthesis of the culture of the Enlightenment.

Phenotypic and functional analysis of human fetal liver hematopoietic stem cells in culture

Steady-state hematopoiesis and hematopoietic transplantation rely on the unique potential of stem cells to undergo both self-renewal and multilineage differentiation. Fetal liver (FL) represents a promising alternative source of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), but limited by the total cell number obtained in a typical harvest. We reported that human FL nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) repopulating cells (SRCs) could be expanded under simple stroma-free culture conditions. Here, we sought to further characterize FL HSC/SRCs phenotypically and functionally before and following culture. Unexpanded or cultured FL cell suspensions were separated into various subpopulations. These were tested for long-term culture potential and for in vivo repopulating function following transplantation into NOD/SCID mice. We found that upon culture of human FL cells, a tight association between classical stem cell phenotypes, such as CD34(+) /CD38(-) and/or side population, and NOD/SCID repopulating function was lost, as observed with other sources. Although SRC activity before and following culture consistently correlated with the presence of a CD34(+) cell population, we provide evidence that, contrary to umbilical cord blood and adult sources, stem cells present in both CD34(+) and CD34(-) FL populations can sustain long-term hematopoietic cultures. Furthermore, upon additional culture, CD34-depleted cell suspensions, devoid of SRCs, regenerated a population of CD34(+) cells possessing SRC function. Our studies suggest that compared to neonatal and adult sources, the phenotypical characteristics of putative human FL HSCs may be less strictly defined, and reinforce the accumulated evidence that human FL represents a unique, valuable alternative and highly proliferative source of HSCs for clinical applications.

Classical swine fever virus replicon particles lacking the Erns gene: a potential marker vaccine for intradermal application.

Classical swine fever virus replicon particles (CSF-VRP) deficient for E(rns) were evaluated as a non-transmissible marker vaccine. A cDNA clone of CSFV strain Alfort/187 was used to obtain a replication-competent mutant genome (replicon) lacking the sequence encoding the 227 amino acids of the glycoprotein E(rns) (A187delE(rns)). For packaging of A187delE(rns) into virus particles, porcine kidney cell lines constitutively expressing E(rns) of CSFV were established. The rescued VRP were infectious in cell culture but did not yield infectious progeny virus. Single intradermal vaccination of two pigs with 10(7) TCID(50) of VRP A187delE(rns) elicited neutralizing antibodies, anti-E2 antibodies, and cellular immune responses determined by an increase of IFN-gamma producing cells. No anti-E(rns) antibodies were detected in the vaccinees confirming that this vaccine represents a negative marker vaccine allowing differentiation between infected and vaccinated animals. The two pigs were protected against lethal challenge with the highly virulent CSFV strain Eystrup. In contrast, oral immunization resulted in only partial protection, and neither CSFV-specific antibodies nor stimulated T-cells were found before challenge. These data represent a good basis for more extended vaccination/challenge trials including larger numbers of animals as well as more thorough analysis of virus shedding using sentinel animals to monitor horizontal spread of the challenge virus.

Postnatal persistent infection with classical Swine Fever virus and its immunological implications.

It is well established that trans-placental transmission of classical swine fever virus (CSFV) during mid-gestation can lead to persistently infected offspring. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the ability of CSFV to induce viral persistence upon early postnatal infection. Two litters of 10 piglets each were infected intranasally on the day of birth with low and moderate virulence CSFV isolates, respectively. During six weeks after postnatal infection, most of the piglets remained clinically healthy, despite persistent high virus titres in the serum. Importantly, these animals were unable to mount any detectable humoral and cellular immune response. At necropsy, the most prominent gross pathological lesion was a severe thymus atrophy. Four weeks after infection, PBMCs from the persistently infected seronegative piglets were unresponsive to both, specific CSFV and non-specific PHA stimulation in terms of IFN-γ-producing cells. These results suggested the development of a state of immunosuppression in these postnatally persistently infected pigs. However, IL-10 was undetectable in the sera of the persistently infected animals. Interestingly, CSFV-stimulated PBMCs from the persistently infected piglets produced IL-10. Nevertheless, despite the addition of the anti-IL-10 antibody in the PBMC culture from persistently infected piglets, the response of the IFN-γ producing cells was not restored. Therefore, other factors than IL-10 may be involved in the general suppression of the T-cell responses upon CSFV and mitogen activation. Interestingly, bone marrow immature granulocytes were increased and targeted by the virus in persistently infected piglets. Taken together, we provided the first data demonstrating the feasibility of CSFV in generating a postnatal persistent disease, which has not been shown for other members of the Pestivirus genus yet. Since serological methods are routinely used in CSFV surveillance, persistently infected pigs might go unnoticed. In addition to the epidemiological and economic significance of persistent CSFV infection, this model could be useful for understanding the mechanisms of viral persistence.

Intracellular membrane association of the N-terminal domain of classical swine fever virus NS4B determines viral genome replication and virulence.

Classical swine fever virus (CSFV) causes a highly contagious disease in pigs that can range from a severe haemorrhagic fever to a nearly unapparent disease, depending on the virulence of the virus strain. Little is known about the viral molecular determinants of CSFV virulence. The nonstructural protein NS4B is essential for viral replication. However, the roles of CSFV NS4B in viral genome replication and pathogenesis have not yet been elucidated. NS4B of the GPE-  vaccine strain and of the highly virulent Eystrup strain differ by a total of seven amino acid residues, two of which are located in the predicted trans-membrane domains of NS4B and were described previously to relate to virulence, and five residues clustering in the N-terminal part. In the present study, we examined the potential role of these five amino acids in modulating genome replication and determining pathogenicity in pigs. A chimeric low virulent GPE- -derived virus carrying the complete Eystrup NS4B showed enhanced pathogenicity in pigs. The in vitro replication efficiency of the NS4B chimeric GPE-  replicon was significantly higher than that of the replicon carrying only the two Eystrup-specific amino acids in NS4B. In silico and in vitro data suggest that the N-terminal part of NS4B forms an amphipathic α-helix structure. The N-terminal NS4B with these five amino acid residues is associated with the intracellular membranes. Taken together, this is the first gain-of-function study showing that the N-terminal domain of NS4B can determine CSFV genome replication in cell culture and viral pathogenicity in pigs.

Positive selection of an MHC class-I restricted TCR in the absence of classical MHC class I molecules

The H-2Ld alloreactive 2C T cell receptor (TCR) is commonly considered as being positively selected on the H-2Kb molecule. Surprisingly, 2C TCR+ CD8+ single-positive T cells emerge in massive numbers in fetal thymic organ culture originating from 2C transgenic, H-2KbDb−/− (2C+KbDb−/−) but not in fetal thymic organ culture from β2-microglobulin−/− 2C transgenic animals. Mature CD8+ T cells are observed in newborn but not in adult 2C+KbDb−/− mice. These CD8+ T cells express the α4β7 integrin, which allows them to populate the intestine, a pattern of migration visualized by intrathymic injection of FITC and subsequent accrual of FITC-labeled lymphocytes in the gut. We conclude that the 2C TCR is reactive not only with H-2Ld and H-2Kb, but also with nonclassical MHC class I products to enable positive selection of 2C+ T cells in the fetal and newborn thymus and to support their maintenance in the intestine.

Ideals of culture; two addresses to students.

Culture and science.--Ancient Greek games.

The Impact of Chinese Culture on European Landscape Design

The English garden design style and the landscape garden movement became the most emblematic cultural achievement of England in the 18th-19th century. The natural garden style proved to be the symbol of the liberal philosophy and the enlightened way of thinking. But the English landscape garden, which can be seen as an idealized view of nature, is inspired by the classical landscape paintings and is also influenced by the classic Chinese gardens, which had recently been described by European travellers. The interest for Chinese culture, architecture and garden design spread around the British island and inspired the talented garden designers. The gardens of Chambers created a new section in the picturesque landscape gardens, the so called anglo-chinoiseric gardens where eastern, mainly Chinese architectural motives and garden elements have been used in most cases without integrating the Chinese nature philosophy. This first, more or less formal effects of Chinese garden design on European landscape architecture were overwritten by garden designers and horticulturalist during the gardenesque period of the early 19th century when great variety in plant design was taken into the focus of landscape architecture.

The (ab)use of politics and eroticism in the culture of the Spanish Transition to democracy (1975–1982)

This dissertation analyzes the (ab)use of politics and eroticism within the framework of the Transition to democracy in Spain, its social and cultural impact—on literature, film, music, and popular media—, and its consequences. After a period of nearly four decades, when the country was subjected to a totalitarian regime, Spanish society underwent a process of democratic restoration. As a result, the two topics considered taboo during almost forty years of repression—i.e., politics and sexuality/eroticism—, gushed out fiercely. Every aspect of culture was influenced by and intrinsically linked to them. However, while we have been offered a more or less global approach to the Transition—the Transition as a whole—, and some studies have focused on diverse areas, no research to date has covered in depth the significance of those issues during that historical moment. Considering the facts stated above, it was imperative to conduct a more detailed analysis of the influence of both eroticism and politics on the cultural production of the Transition from different perspectives. Although the academic intelligentsia has often rejected them as expressions of mass culture, we must consider Pierre Bourdieu’s theories—in line with the tradition of classical sociology, that includes science, law, and religion, together with artistic activities—, Michel Foucault’s ideas on sexuality, and New Historicism, examining texts and their contexts. This work concludes that the (ab)use of both subjects during the Spanish Transition was a reaction to a repressive condition. It led to extremes, to societal transgression and, in most cases, to the objectification of women because of the impositions of a patriarchal society. It was, however, part of a learning and, in a sense, cathartic process that led, eventually, to the reestablishment of the status quo, to a more equitable and multicultural society where men, women, and any political or sexual tendencies are respected—at least, in theory.

Narratives Around Iberian Culture at Valencia Museums and Archaeological Sites: From Official Discourses to Social Perceptions

Museums and archaeological sites are considered the most authoritative places for talking about the past and the heritage from a scientific perspective. In fact, visitors assume their discourses as reliable and indisputable. In spite of that, professionals of archaeology must critically analyse the production of narratives at heritage sites, since they often reflect social, political and identity issues related to the present-day realities. The aim of this paper is to study official and popular discourses about the Iberian culture (Iron Age) collected in museums and archaeological sites from Valencia region.