bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Rho-guanine nucleotide exchange factors involved in cyclic stretch-induced reorientation of vascular endothelial cells
Authors: Abiko Hiyori , Fujiwara Sachiko , Ohashi Kazumasa , Hiatari Ryuichi , Mashiko Toshiya , Sakamoto Naoya , Sato Masaaki , Mizuno Kensaku
Published: March 2015

Cyclic stretch is an artificial model of mechanical force loading, which induces the reorientation of vascular endothelial cells (ECs) and their stress fibers in a direction perpendicular to the stretch axis. Rho family GTPases are crucial for cyclic stretch-induced EC reorientation; however, the mechanism underlying stretch-induced activation of Rho family GTPases is unknown. A screen of short-hairpin RNAs targeting 63 Rho-guanine nucleotide exchange factors (Rho-GEFs) revealed that at least 11 Rho-GEFs (Abr, Alsin, ARHGEF10, Bcr, GEF-H1, LARG, p190RhoGEF, PLEKHG1, P-REX2, Solo/ARHGEF40, and α-PIX), which specifically or broadly target RhoA, Rac1 and/or Cdc42, are involved in cyclic stretch-induced perpendicular reorientation of ECs. Overexpression of Solo induced RhoA activation and F-actin accumulation at cell-cell and cell-substrate adhesion sites. Knockdown of Solo suppressed cyclic stretch- or tensile force-induced RhoA activation. Moreover, knockdown of Solo significantly reduced cyclic stretch-induced perpendicular reorientation of ECs when cells were cultured at high density, but not when they were cultured at low density or pretreated with EGTA or VE-cadherin-targeting siRNAs. These results suggest that Solo is involved in cell-cell adhesion-mediated mechanical signal transduction during cyclic stretch-induced EC reorientation.
CRL4RBBP7 is required for efficient CENP-A deposition at centromeres
Authors: Mouysset Julien , Gilberto Samuel , Meier Michelle G. , Lampert Fabienne , Belwal Mukta , Meraldi Patrick , Peter Matthias
Published: March 2015

The mitotic spindle drives chromosome movement during mitosis and attaches to chromosomes at dedicated genomic loci named centromeres. Centromeres are epigenetically specified by their histone composition with the presence of the histone H3 variant CENP-A, which is regulated during the cell cycle by its dynamic expression and localization. Here, we combined biochemical methods and quantitative imaging approaches to investigate a novel function of CUL4-RING E3 ubiquitin ligases (CRL4) in regulating CENP-A dynamics. We found that the core components CUL4 and DDB1 are required for centromeric loading of CENP-A, but do not influence CENP-A maintenance or pre-nucleosomal CENP-A levels. Interestingly, we identified RBBP7 as a substrate-specific CRL4 adaptor required for this process, in addition to its role in binding and stabilizing soluble CENP-A. Our data thus suggest that CRL4RBBP7 may regulate mitosis by promoting ubiquitin-dependent loading of newly synthesized CENP-A during the G1 phase of the cell cycle.
Cadherin-6B undergoes macropinocytosis and clathrin-mediated endocytosis during cranial neural crest cell EMT
Authors: Padmanabhan Rangarajan , Taneyhill Lisa A.
Published: March 2015

The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is critical for the formation of migratory neural crest cells during development and is co-opted in human diseases such as cancer metastasis. Chick premigratory cranial neural crest cells lose intercellular contacts, mediated in part by Cadherin-6B (Cad6B), migrate extensively, and later form a variety of adult derivatives. Importantly, modulation of Cad6B is critical for proper neural crest cell EMT. Although Cad6B possesses a long half-life, it is rapidly lost from premigratory neural crest cell membranes, suggesting the existence of post-translational mechanisms during EMT. We have identified a motif in the Cad6B cytoplasmic tail that enhances Cad6B internalization and reduces the stability of Cad6B upon its mutation. Furthermore, we demonstrate for the first time that Cad6B is removed from premigratory neural crest cells through cell surface internalization events that include clathrin-mediated endocytosis and macropinocytosis. Both of these processes are dependent upon the function of dynamin, and inhibition of Cad6B internalization abrogates neural crest cell EMT and migration. Collectively, our findings reveal the significance of post-translational events in controlling cadherins during neural crest cell EMT and migration.
MEI4: a central player in the regulation of meiotic DNA double strand break formation in the mouse
Authors: Kumar Rajeev , Ghyselinck Norbert , Ishiguro Kei-ichiro , Watanabe Yoshinori , Kouznetsova Anna , Höög Christer , Strong Edward , Schimenti John , Daniel Katrin , Toth Attila , de Massy Bernard
Published: March 2015

The formation of programmed DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) at the beginning of meiotic prophase marks the initiation of meiotic recombination. Meiotic DSBs are catalyzed by SPO11 and their repair takes place on meiotic chromosome axes. The evolutionarily conserved MEI4 protein is required for meiotic DSB formation and is localized on chromosome axes. Here we show that HORMAD1, one of the meiotic chromosome axis components, is required for MEI4 localization. Importantly, the quantitative correlation between the level of axis-associated MEI4 and DSB formation suggests that axis-associated MEI4 could be a limiting factor for DSB formation. We also show that MEI1, REC8 and RAD21L are important for proper MEI4 localization. These findings on MEI4 dynamics during meiotic prophase suggest that the association of MEI4 to chromosome axes is required for DSB formation, and that the loss of this association upon DSB repair could contribute to turning off meiotic DSB formation.
The E3 ubiquitin ligase Mib1 regulates Plk4 and centriole biogenesis
Authors: Cajanek Lukas , Glatter Timo , Nigg Erich A.
Published: March 2015

Centrioles function as core components of centrosomes and as basal bodies for the formation of cilia and flagella. Thus, effective control of centriole numbers is essential for embryogenesis, tissue homeostasis, and genome stability. In mammalian cells, the centriole duplication cycle is governed by Polo-like kinase 4 (Plk4). Here we identify the E3 ubiquitin ligase Mind bomb (Mib1) as a novel interaction partner of Plk4. We show that Mib1 localizes to centriolar satellites but redistributes to centrioles in response to conditions that induce centriole amplification. The E3 ligase activity of Mib1 triggers ubiquitination of Plk4 on multiple sites, causing the formation of Lys11-, Lys29- and Lys48-ubiquitin linkages. These modifications control the abundance of Plk4 and its ability to interact with centrosomal proteins, thus counteracting centriole amplification induced by excess Plk4. Collectively, these results identify the interaction between Mib1 and Plk4 as a novel important element in the control of centriole homeostasis.
SNX14 is a bifunctional negative regulator for neuronal 5-HT6 receptor signaling
Authors: Ha Chang Man , Park Daehun , Kim Yoonju , Na Myeongsu , Panda Surabhi , Won Sehoon , Kim Hyun , Ryu Hoon , Park Zee Yong , Rasenick Mark M. , Chang Sunghoe
Published: March 2015

The 5-HT6 receptor (5-HT6R) plays roles in cognition, anxiety and learning and memory disorders, yet new details concerning its regulation remain poorly understood. In this study, we found that 5-HT6R directly interacts with SNX14 and this interaction dramatically increases internalization and degradation of 5-HT6R. Knockdown of endogenous SNX14 has the opposite effect. SNX14 is highly expressed in the brain and contains a putative regulator of G-protein signaling (RGS) domain. Although its RGS domain is found to be non-functional as a GTPase activator for Gαs, we found that it specifically binds and sequesters Gαs, thus inhibiting downstream cAMP production. We further found that PKA-mediated phosphorylation of SNX14 inhibited its binding to Gαs and diverted SNX14 from Gαs binding to 5-HT6R binding, thus facilitating the endocytic degradation of the receptor. Therefore, our results suggest that SNX14 is a dual endogenous negative regulator in 5-HT6R-mediated signaling pathway, modulating both signaling and trafficking of 5-HT6R.
Optimized Wavelength Selection for Molecular Absorption Thermometry
Authors: An Xinliang , Caswell Andrew W. , Lipor John J. , Sanders Scott T.
Published: March 2015

A differential evolution (DE) algorithm is applied to a recently developed spectroscopic objective function to select wavelengths that optimize the temperature precision of water absorption thermometry. DE reliably finds optima even when many-wavelength sets are chosen from large populations of wavelengths (here 120 000 wavelengths from a spectrum with 0.002 cm−1 resolution calculated by 16 856 transitions). Here, we study sets of fixed wavelengths in the 7280–7520 cm−1 range. When optimizing the thermometer for performance within a narrow temperature range, the results confirm that the best temperature precision is obtained if all the available measurement time is split judiciously between the two most temperature-sensitive wavelengths. In the wide temperature range case (thermometer must perform throughout 280–2800 K), we find (1) the best four-wavelength set outperforms the best two-wavelength set by an average factor of 2, and (2) a complete spectrum (all 120 000 wavelengths from 16 856 transitions) is 4.3 times worse than the best two-wavelength set. Key implications for sensor designers include: (1) from the perspective of spectroscopic temperature sensitivity, it is usually sufficient to monitor two or three wavelengths, depending on the sensor's anticipated operating temperature range; and (2) although there is a temperature precision penalty to monitoring a complete spectrum, that penalty may be small enough, particularly at elevated pressure, to justify the complete-spectrum approach in many applications.
Implementation of a Neural Network for Multispectral Luminescence Imaging of Lake Pigment Paints
Authors: Chane Camille Simon , Thoury Mathieu , Tournié Aurélie , Echard Jean-Philippe
Published: March 2015

Luminescence multispectral imaging is a developing and promising technique in the fields of conservation science and cultural heritage studies. In this article, we present a new methodology for recording the spatially resolved luminescence properties of objects. This methodology relies on the development of a lab-made multispectral camera setup optimized to collect low-yield luminescence images. In addition to a classic data preprocessing procedure to reduce noise on the data, we present an innovative method, based on a neural network algorithm, that allows us to obtain radiometrically calibrated luminescence spectra with increased spectral resolution from the low-spectral resolution acquisitions. After preliminary corrections, a neural network is trained using the 15-band multispectral luminescence acquisitions and corresponding spot spectroscopy luminescence data. This neural network is then used to retrieve a megapixel multispectral cube between 460 and 710 nm with a 5 nm resolution from a low-spectral-resolution multispectral acquisition. The resulting data are independent from the detection chain of the imaging system (filter transmittance, spectral sensitivity of the lens and optics, etc.). As a result, the image cube provides radiometrically calibrated emission spectra with increased spectral resolution. For each pixel, we can thus retrieve a spectrum comparable to those obtained with conventional luminescence spectroscopy. We apply this method to a panel of lake pigment paints and discuss the pertinence and perspectives of this new approach.
Visualization of Water Distribution in the Facial Epidermal Layers of Skin Using High-Sensitivity Near-Infrared (NIR) Imaging
Authors: Egawa Mariko , Yanai Motohiro , Maruyama Nao , Fukaya Yukitaka , Hirao Tetsuji
Published: March 2015

Skin moisturization is an important function of cosmetics in dermatology, and acquisition of two-dimensional information about the water content of facial skin is of great interest. Near-infrared (NIR) imaging using the water OH band centered near 1460 nm has been applied to the evaluation of water in skin. However, detection of small changes in the water content of skin water is difficult using this band because of the low absorption coefficient of water at that wavelength and inadequate optical units. We developed a high-sensitivity water imaging system using strong water bands centered near 1920 nm. This system can be used for the entire face. With the water imaging system, time-dependent changes in the water content of moisturizer-treated skin and hair were visualized with high sensitivity. In this study, we performed a water distribution analysis, with the aim of understanding the water distribution in facial skin under different environmental conditions. The water imaging system combines a diffuse illumination unit and an extended-range indium–gallium arsenide NIR camera with a detection range of 1100–2200 nm. The skin water distributions for multiple subjects with different facial shapes and sizes were compared using averaged NIR image data and a mesh partition analysis using a developed algorithm. Changes in the facial skin water content with season and humidity were visualized by the algorithm. The water content decreased in autumn, especially near the eyes and upper-cheek. Compared to other areas on the face, the water content around the eyes decreased more during an 85 min stay in a room at 10% relative humidity. The proposed method for water distribution analysis provides a powerful tool for facial skin hydration research in dermatological and cosmetics fields.
Optical Emission Studies of Copper Plasma Induced Using Infrared Transversely Excited Atmospheric (IR TEA) Carbon Dioxide Laser Pulses
Authors: Momcilovic Milos , Kuzmanovic Miroslav , Rankovic Dragan , Ciganovic Jovan , Stoiljkovic Milovan , Savovic Jelena , Trtica Milan
Published: March 2015

Spatially resolved, time-integrated optical emission spectroscopy was applied for investigation of copper plasma produced by a nanosecond infrared (IR) transversely excited atmospheric (TEA) CO2 laser, operating at 10.6 μm. The effect of surrounding air pressure, in the pressure range 0.1 to 1013 mbar, on plasma formation and its characteristics was investigated. A linear dependence of intensity threshold for plasma formation on logarithm of air pressure was found. Lowering of the air pressure reduces the extent of gas breakdown, enabling better laser-target coupling and thus increases ablation. Optimum air pressure for target plasma formation was 0.1 mbar. Under that pressure, the induced plasma consisted of two clearly distinguished and spatially separated regions. The maximum intensity of emission, with sharp and well-resolved spectral lines and negligibly low background emission, was obtained from a plasma zone 8 mm from the target surface. The estimated excitation temperature in this zone was around 7000 K. The favorable signal to background ratio obtained in this plasma region indicates possible analytical application of TEA CO2 laser produced copper plasma. Detection limits of trace elements present in the Cu sample were on the order of 10 ppm (parts per million). Time-resolved measurements of spatially selected plasma zones were used to find a correlation between the observed spatial position and time delay. Index Headings: Laser induced Cu-plasma emission; Shock wave plasma; Copper target; Transversely excited atmospheric CO2 laser; TEA CO2 laser.
Determination of the Recovered-Fiber Content in Paperboard Samples by Applying Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy
Authors: Riba Jordi-Roger , Canals Trini , Cantero Rosa
Published: March 2015

Paperboard is widely used in different applications, such as packaging and graphic printing, among others. Consumption of recycled paper is growing, which has led the paper-mill packaging industry to apply strict quality controls. This means that it is very important to develop methods to test the quality of recycled products. In this article, we focus on determining the recovered-fiber content of paperboard samples by applying Fourier transform mid-infrared (FT-MIR) spectroscopy in combination with multivariate statistical methods. To this end, two very fast, nondestructive approaches were applied: classification and quantification. The first approach is based on classifying unknown paperboard samples into two groups: high and low recovered-fiber content. Conversely, under the quantification approach, the content of recovered fiber in the incoming paperboard samples is determined. The experimental results presented in this article show that the classification approach, which classifies unknown incoming paperboard samples, is highly accurate and that the quantification approach has a root mean square error of prediction of about 4.1.
Optical Absorption Microspectroscopy (μ-OAS) Based on Schwarzschild-Type Cassegrain Optics
Authors: Chassé Mathieu , Lelong Gérald , van Nijnatten Peter , Schoofs Ivo , de Wolf Jürgen , Galoisy Laurence , Calas Georges
Published: March 2015

A new experimental setup, combining a custom-designed Schwarzschild-type Cassegrain-based microscope and an ultraviolet-visible-near infrared (UV-Vis-NIR) spectrophotometer, has been developed, focusing the light beam down to 20 μm diameter. Optical absorption spectra (in the 300–2500 nm range) have been measured on micrometer-sized natural glass inclusions providing information on iron speciation in magmatic melts. The absence of contribution from the host crystal matrix provides a test of the efficiency of micro-focusing. A microthermometric stage has been adapted on the microscope for measuring optical absorption spectra up to 900 K with application to the thermochromism of minute natural spinel crystals (MgAl2O4:Fe2+,Cr3+). This experimental setup provides an easy and fast way to follow the evolution of spectral properties and color of glasses or crystals with temperature as well as the possibility of measuring spatially resolved optical absorption spectra.
Wavelet Transform Based on the Optimal Wavelet Pairs for Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy Signal Processing
Authors: Li Jingsong , Yu Benli , Fischer Horst
Published: March 2015

This paper presents a novel methodology-based discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and the choice of the optimal wavelet pairs to adaptively process tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) spectra for quantitative analysis, such as molecular spectroscopy and trace gas detection. The proposed methodology aims to construct an optimal calibration model for a TDLAS spectrum, regardless of its background structural characteristics, thus facilitating the application of TDLAS as a powerful tool for analytical chemistry. The performance of the proposed method is verified using analysis of both synthetic and observed signals, characterized with different noise levels and baseline drift. In terms of fitting precision and signal-to-noise ratio, both have been improved significantly using the proposed method.
A Comparison of Near- and Mid-Infrared Spectroscopic Methods for the Analysis of Several Nutritionally Important Chemical Substances in the Chinese Yam (Dioscorea opposita): Total Sugar, Polysaccharides, and Flavonoids
Authors: Zhuang Hua , Ni Yongnian , Kokot Serge
Published: March 2015

The Chinese yam ( Dioscorea opposita) is a basic food in Asia and especially China. Consequently, an uncomplicated, reliable method should be available for the analysis of the quality and origin of the yams. Thus, near-infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectroscopic methods were developed to discriminate among Chinese yam samples collected from four geographical regions. The yam samples were analyzed also for total sugar, polysaccharides, and flavonoids. These three analytes were used to compare the performance of the analytical methods. Overlapping spectra were resolved using chemometrics methods. Such spectra were compared qualitatively using principal component analysis (PCA) and quantitatively using partial least squares (PLS) and least squares-support vector machine (LS-SVM) models. We discriminated among the four sets of yam data using PCA, and the NIR data performed somewhat better than the mid-IR data. We constructed the PLS and LS-SVM calibration models for the prediction of the three key variables, and the LS-SVM model produced better results. Also, the NIR prediction model produced better outcomes than the mid-IR prediction model. Thus, both infrared (IR) techniques performed well for the analysis of the three key analytes, and the samples were qualitatively discriminated according to their provinces of origin. Both techniques may be recommended for the analysis of Chinese yams, although the NIR technique would be preferred.
Spatial Filtering of a Diode Laser Beam for Confocal Raman Microscopy
Authors: Kitt Jay P. , Bryce David A. , Harris Joel M.
Published: March 2015

With the development of single-longitudinal mode diode lasers, there has been an increase in using these sources for Raman spectroscopy. This is largely due to the cost-effectiveness of diode lasers, which offer savings not only in initial capital cost, but also electrical, cooling, and replacement costs over time, when compared with ion lasers. The use of diode-lasers in confocal Raman microscopy has remained a challenge, however, due to poor transverse beam quality. In this work, we present the design and implementation of a simple spatial filter capable of adapting a single-mode diode laser source to confocal Raman microscopy, yielding comparable spatial resolution as a gas-ion laser beam for profiling and optical-trapping applications. For profiling applications, spatial filtering improved x,y resolution of the beam by a factor 10, which in turn increased optical-trapping forces by ∼90 times and yielded sevenfold greater Raman scattering signal intensity from an optically trapped phospholipid vesicle.
Importance of Spatial and Spectral Data Reduction in the Detection of Internal Defects in Food Products
Authors: Zhang Xuechen , Nansen Christian , Aryamanesh Nader , Yan Guijun , Boussaid Farid
Published: March 2015

Despite the importance of data reduction as part of the processing of reflection-based classifications, this study represents one of the first in which the effects of both spatial and spectral data reductions on classification accuracies are quantified. Furthermore, the effects of approaches to data reduction were quantified for two separate classification methods, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and support vector machine (SVM). As the model dataset, reflection data were acquired using a hyperspectral camera in 230 spectral channels from 401 to 879 nm (spectral resolution of 2.1 nm) from field pea ( Pisum sativum) samples with and without internal pea weevil ( Bruchus pisorum) infestation. We deployed five levels of spatial data reduction (binning) and eight levels of spectral data reduction (40 datasets). Forward stepwise LDA was used to select and include only spectral channels contributing the most to the separation of pixels from non-infested and infested field peas. Classification accuracies obtained with LDA and SVM were based on the classification of independent validation datasets. Overall, SVMs had significantly higher classification accuracies than LDAs ( P < 0.01). There was a negative association between pixel resolution and classification accuracy, while spectral binning equivalent to up to 98% data reduction had negligible effect on classification accuracies. This study supports the potential use of reflection-based technologies in the quality control of food products with internal defects, and it highlights that spatial and spectral data reductions can (1) improve classification accuracies, (2) vastly decrease computer constraints, and (3) reduce analytical concerns associated with classifications of large and high-dimensional datasets.
Determination of Strong Absorption Band Profiles of Low-Temperature Liquids from Reflection Spectra: The ν3 Band of Liquefied Tetrafluoromethane (CF4)
Authors: Sergeev Pavel K. , Shchepkin Dmitriy N. , Kolomiitsova Tatiana D. , Bertsev Vladimir V. , Asfin Ruslan E.
Published: March 2015

An experimental unit for recording the combined reflection-absorption spectra of low-temperature liquids was designed and manufactured and an algorithm for obtaining the extinction coefficient was developed. The manufactured experimental unit and the algorithm were tested by recording, for the first time, the absorption spectrum of liquefied CF4. The band parameters derived from the experimental data are compared with estimates available in the literature.
Beyond counting
Authors: Jelesijević Nenad , Zdravković Lana
Published: March 2015

The pauperised 'field of art' reminds one of the desert of impotent creativity, which spreads from galleries/museums/ biennials into the common space and gentrifies it under the brand name of public art. In light of these circumstances, this article points to the need to reject the dictate of legitimacy in art, which is established through evaluation of artists and their works. The distinctly hierarchical mechanisms of the art system, founded upon the logic of counting, reproduce inequality, which is aestheticised, masked and packaged as seemingly emancipatory, participatory and collaborative. In all this, the economics of art/culture is merely a method for a systematic modification of strategically disobedient creativity. Therefore, the rejection of the logic of counting at the cost of rejecting art as such is one of the greatest fears of capitalism and the power of the politics of resistance.
A tribute to the Other
Authors: Strack Laura
Published: March 2015

Ninety-nine years after its scandalous premiere, Igor Stravinsky's 'Le Sacre du Printemps' has become a cultural monument with an important position in the collective memory. A new interpretation of the work by French choreographer Laurent Chétouane aims at putting the great myth into question. 'Sacrificing' the sacrifice itself, his choreography tries to rehabilitate the original strangeness of the piece. The dance is conceived as a tribute to the figure of the Other, which undermines the traditional regime of logos, reason and representation. By calling on affective techniques and a thinking of pathos and response, Chétouane continues his research of a theatre beyond images and concepts.
Judging choreography
Authors: Apostolou-Hölscher Stefan
Published: March 2015

If we translate the questions beauty poses into the field of choreography and performance, we have to start from zero again and again. A truly judging choreography would be one that constructs its own scope step by step and brings forth its own rules and the always difficult probings of unforeseeable processes. To consider choreography along the lines of aesthetical judgments would mean to make a generic concept out of it. Choreography would then no longer be a poetics prescribing what belongs to it and what does not. It would no longer determine which activities are dance and which are not, and would enter the genesis of its own self-grounding.
Dance house as the art of (co)existence: Interview with Gisela Mu?ller and Barbara Friedrich
Authors: Srhoj Dejan
Published: March 2015

Uferstudios is a monumental space for contemporary dance in Berlin consisting of 14 bright studios that range from 85m2 to 415m2. An old electrical trolley depot built in 1920s was rebuilt in 2010 and now hosts the Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin HZT, Tanzfabrik Berlin, ada Studio, Tanzbu?ro Berlin and the freelance dance community. Uferstudios is run without an artistic director or an artistic board, and coexistence is based on a constant dialogue and sharing the vision and the paying of the rent. The nonhierarchical way of governing the space offers a new model for a dance house - which is both intriguing and very different from other dance houses in Europe that I had a chance to experience. I invited Barbara Friedrich, the managing director of Uferstudios, and Gisela Mu?ller, a board member and artistic director of the Tanzfabrik school, to speak about the protocols of coexistence, the con_icts, the vision and the costs of running the space. Both of them are founding members and driving forces of Uferstudios.
Dance today: Between biopower and biopolitics
Authors: Apostolou-Hölscher Stefan
Published: March 2015

Around 1800, parallel to heavy changes on the political stage in general and the replacement of taxonomical thought by the idea of life as living within life sciences - an observation by Michel Foucault, which he, after The Order of Things, deepens in his lectures on The History of Governmentality between 1977 and 1979 - choreography also changes fundamentally. This change manifests very obviously in the Letters on Dancing and Ballets by Jean Georges Noverre from 1760, published as a manifesto in their first edition approximately 20 years before the closing of the Académie Royale de Danse in Paris. In Noverre, there can be found a lot of hints pointing toward the complex problem of biopolitics, although nowadays many scholars mainly refer to him solely as the inventor of ballet d'action and in this context as an early precursor of romantic ballet in the nineteenth-century.
Digitalisation of movement: A hidden potential or chasing time?
Authors: Kopač Andreja
Published: March 2015

A (dance) performance is always associated with the experience of passing. Although caught in the moment, there are attempts to eternalise it by way of different postproduction responses and records and turn it into a 'sellable good'. In his performance Fest, Ivo Dimchev metaphorically and literally depicts phallic-vaginal relations between the artist, programme head, technician and critic, thus revealing the vulgarity of the process of buying performances. Selling and researching performances is based on our memories. In Frankfurt, a symposium was organised to the theme of digitalisation of the dancing body, entitled Motion Bank. An accurate record of movement leads to democratisation, which supports a relaxed dialogue between different artistic practices, but at the same time uniforms the dancer's body and obscures his individual dimension, though it also contributes to direct learning of known repertoires.
Theatre as an entry and an exit point: Interview with Andraš Urban
Authors: Gvozdenovic Nataša
Published: March 2015

The Desiré Central Station festival is created by director Andraš Urban in Subotica, a small secession town on the border of Vojvodina and Hungary. The interview (up)on the occasion of the festival's fifth edition under the motto 'I am desiré' was focused on the future of the festival and contemporary theatre. The objective of this festival, which ignores ceremonies, is the education of an already very educated audience, the addressing of boundaries - both personal and social - the questioning of what the purpose of performing arts is, and questioning especially the relationship between an audience and a performer, as well as the relationship between theatre and the community in which it is created - to address these connections as organic while being constantly aware of the inevitability of change.
The great ten and the interrogation of new theatre forms
Authors: Brodar Urška
Published: March 2015

The Berlin festival Theatertreffen - the German-speaking equivalent of the Maribor Theatre Festival (Borštnikovo srecanje) featuring ten 'most noteworthy' performances selected by jury - takes place every year at the beginning of May. 'Courage to Audaciousness' was the motto of the latest edition of the festival, which presented several long performances with very diverse but distinct authorial signatures: from the archaic Gotscheff and the hysterical Castorf to the emptied Borgmann, the poignant Final Witnesses of the Holocaust, the apparently cold petit- bourgeois horror by Susanne Kennedy, the global implication in the arms trade by Rimini Protokoll, the entertaining Fritsch, Karin Henkel's play with identities, Hermanis' integration of an uncivilized foundling, and Platel's choreography on the theme of social exclusion.
Pleasure and apocalypse: The relation of pleasure and horror in images of a catastrophic history
Authors: Ruhsam Martina
Published: March 2015

This article discusses the piece Salves, a performance choreographed by Maguy Marin in collaboration with Denis Mariotte that premiered at the Biennale de la Danse de Lyon in 2010. With regard to the choreographer's statement that Salves - an attempt to stage a catastrophic past and apocalyptic visions - would be an invitation for resistance, the text questions whether the performance raises any urge for resistance. With reference to Jacques Rancière's thoughts in The Future of the Image, the review scrutinizes efforts of representing catastrophic events with theatrical means and reflects on the pleasurable experience of watching Marin's visual poetry, which stands in vast contradiction to the proclaimed horror of the performance.
Performing arts and virtual bodies
Authors: Murnik Maja
Published: March 2015

The compendium of texts Performance and Technology: Practices of Virtual Embodiment and Interactivity takes as its starting point the fact that today's mixed and augmented reality, essentially defined by smart technologies, offers new challenges for both artistic practices and theoretical reflection. The central questions posed by the authors in the book are: what is the position and role of the body in these mixed, technology-supported worlds and which new possibilities for the performing arts have been opened up in consequence? The texts concentrate mainly on the simultaneous presence of physical and virtual bodies (or avatars) in the process of performing and their mutual relations, interaction, cooperation and synthesis.
From alternative culture to contemporary Indian theatre
Authors: Milohnić Aldo
Published: March 2015

In the first part of his contribution, the author speaks about the publication of the second (revised) edition of Art and Alternative, published for the first time in 1992 - during a time of fierce repression of the cultural and artistic alternative, or to be more precise, of the remains of the once strong and respected Serbian (especially Belgrade) alternative scene, by the then ultranationalist state authorities in Serbia. This very alternative culture, discussed by Milena D. Šešic in the mentioned book, was one of the most intractable 'pockets of resistance' against the aggressive nationalist politics of the time. The second part of the text presents the new book by Milena D. Šešic, Indian Theatre: Tradition and Activism, which is framed as a 'journal' of a field research carried out on contemporary Indian theatre. In the course of her 'action research', Milena D. Šešic visited several important centres of contemporary Indian theatre and met with many charismatic makers on this diverse scene of which we know so little about in Slovenia.
Art and life: Productions of temporality in art
Authors: Kreft Lev
Published: March 2015

The notion of life has shaped various relations of art to politics for decades; with its convergence with life, art used to subvert and shift its institutional boundaries and question its own autonomy, while, at the same time, the belief in its emancipatory power was closely related to possible new ways of life. However, the ability to neutralise each and every artistic protest is infinitely greater in contemporary systems than it was in the totalitarian systems of the past, which dealt with their critics and opponents with repression. Nowadays, it seems that to call a spade a spade is a waste of breath. Precisely for this reason, it is necessary to rethink the relations between art and life, particularly the question of how this relationship is defined nowadays through a special form of production of temporality that transpires in contemporary modes of work, in the disappearance of the dividing line between private time and working hours, in the investment of subjectivity, the role of debt in imagining the future, in the disappearance of the commons, in the duration of an artwork and/or experience, etc. Art must rethink its temporal constitution, which was so important at the beginning of the resistance to industrialisation and the exploitation of work, for the autonomous creative and aesthetic experience now represents an important source of production value.
Life for art, art for life
Authors: Kraigher Amelia
Published: March 2015

This issue of the journal is, exceptionally, quadruple and, as a consequence, heftier and more comprehensive. This editorial gesture, which, in itself, is not particularly unusual, is (unfortunately) also an announcement that, in the transition from 2014 to 2015, the international journal Maska is changing from a quarterly into a triannual publication. In 2015, (only) three double issues of Maska will be published. The theme of the central section is, in fact, in tune with these topical circumstances. It is titled "Art and Life: Productions of temporality in art" and has been conceived and prepared by a guest editor, Dr Lev Kreft.
Troubles with the economy, geography and history
Authors: Šuvaković Miško
Published: March 2015

Contemporary global corporations control abstracts networks of management and executive boards; the majority of present-day workers' protests is doomed to fail, for there is no concrete person that they could address. In postmodernity, politics as a formalised technique of governance is carried over into cultural and artistic action. Thus, politics and the political are created with the regimes of aestheticisation in art and culture; as a result, politics is becoming depoliticised, while art is increasingly politicised. Contemporary art thus represent a ladder that leads from a depoliticised abstract space into the space of politicized social reality. The article considers a series of critical artistic practices from the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first centuries.
Waiting for the event
Authors: Štrajn Darko
Published: March 2015

By paraphrasing the title of Samuel Beckett's key dramatic text in the title of this article, we indicate the capacity of art to define time. To what extent its influence extends to reality is a question inscribed in the very foundations of its social meanings, which, at the same time, also stimulates the emergence of artistic events. Starting from the introductory layout of concepts in the relationship between art and politics in Miško Šuvakovi?'s book Art and Politics [Umetnost i politika], we are interested in the concept of event developed (non)definitively by Alain Badiou. The politics of art is an epistemological problem rather than an aesthetic one. At numerous intersections of social, power- and production-related practices, art and politics serve one another as the medium of waiting for the event. Speaking of various definitions of the relationship between art and life, the Dadaist movement proves relevant for subsequent times in a paradigmatic sense.
Artist at work - 160 years ago
Authors: Kreft Lev
Published: March 2015

Courbet's 'The Painter's Studio' opens the whole field of modernist art's mission. After an introductory explanation of the painting, we enter its immediate context: the year 1855, when it was exhibited on the opposite side of the entrance to the Universal Exposition. There is another context, that of the atelier as such: the atelier was a common name for artisans' workshops and studios. But during this period, it became more than that. It was Louis Blanc's proposal for a solution to society's disorders: without ateliers as free associations of workers, the free market deteriorates into crisis. He had strong opponents. Their ideologue was Michel Chevalier, who claimed that only a free market without associationism could save modern society from its instabilities. Courbet's painting is an allegory of capitalist society and an image of the artist's atelier as a place from which a critical political economy of the world is revealed.
The culture wars that never existed
Authors: Keil Marta
Published: March 2015

The year 2013 in Poland was marked by a series of unrest-inspiring events that curtailed the liberty of artists and frequently verged on censorship. It may seem as though we are witnessing culture wars between the so-called right-wing, conservative, catholic representatives and the so-called left-wing, more liberal, progressive segment of Polish society. In fact, what creates the real division in contemporary Poland is not a series of ideological issues but the direct consensus-defying consequences of the post-1989 transition and the yawning gap between the haves and the have-nots in Poland. Ideological squabble is thus actually more of a smoke screen, a type of pressure valve in these times of accelerating socioeconomic and symbolic inequality.
Artist at work against work?
Authors: Milohnić Aldo
Published: March 2015

The starting point for the article is a thesis by Bojana Kunst, saying that the work of a contemporary artist is, on the one hand, bound to the 'bizarre fantasies about creativity', on the other, it is 'becoming more and more labour and less and less creativity'. The relation between labour and creativity is examined in a historical perspective: through phenomena of autonomous artistic work, philosophical idealisation of creative 'genius' and emergence of copyright. The relation between productive and unproductive labour and growing tendencies toward 'productivisation' in culture and art are also considered. The article concludes that what is at work in (creative) work is a struggle against (creative) work.
Art and/is (non)work: Towards a rearticulation of concepts
Authors: Cicigoj Katja
Published: March 2015

In order to oppose (hyper)production of art in late capitalism, such an opposition within the art field has precisely to be - produced. This paradox at the heart of strategies of 'refusal of labour' in contemporary art can be viewed as the basis for a critical articulation of possible understandings of the relation between art and work - and as the starting point for an attempt at overcoming the existent understandings of these relations.
Not All Capitalist Stories Are Created Equal: Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital Narrative and the Deep Divide in American Economic Rhetoric
Authors: Levasseur David G. , Gring-Pemble Lisa M.
Published: March 2015

At the outset of the 2012 presidential race, Republican candidate Mitt Romney touted his private sector leadership of the private equity firm Bain Capital. As this election unfolded, Romney’s Bain Capital story became less of a narrative he could run on and more of a narrative he had to run from. Why did this Bain Capital story, a story about someone’s success in the free marketplace in a society that seemingly values such success, become so troubling for the Romney campaign? This question constitutes the centerpiece of the present essay. In addressing this question, we argue that the Bain Capital narrative’s role in the 2012 presidential race divulges a great deal about the fundamental nature of economic discourse in American democracy. Specifically, we contend that the economic narratives circulating in American democracy actually construct a tale of two economies—a tangible economy and a speculative economy. Unfortunately for Romney, his Bain Capital narrative situated him on the wrong side of this economic divide.
Recession Resonance: How Evangelical Megachurch Pastors Promoted Fiscal Conservatism in the Aftermath of the 2008 Financial Crash
Authors: Martin Stephanie A.
Published: March 2015

Jesus often spoke about the Christian obligation to provide for the poor. Yet, public opinion polls and scholarly studies consistently find that conservative Protestant voters favor economic policies of low taxes, limited state spending on welfare, and personal responsibility for financial success. This study uses evangelical sermons as a means for analyzing how conservative economic discourse, defined as a preference for limited government interference in market activities, proliferated inside American megachurches over four years following the 2008 recession. It also examines how pastors of large congregations rhetorically justified support for policies that scholars have shown work against the economic interests of middle-class and poor citizens alike. The study found that when megachurch pastors speak about economic issues, they deploy language and arguments that emphasize American economic providence and the need for individuals to take personal responsibility for financial outcomes, premises that afforded pastors the discursive space necessary for making claims about the superiority of private charity over public welfare. These findings suggest that, contrary to arguments that situate the public discourse of conservative Protestants as being mostly about social issues, there is inside evangelicalism a robust conversation about financial questions. This economic discourse is strikingly similar to that of nonreligious conservatives in the United States, a confluence that works to create a rhetorical resonance among the base constituencies inside the Republican Party and so fortify its ideological appeal and strength.
If This Statue Could Talk: Statuary Satire in the Pasquinade Tradition
Authors: Gilbert Christopher J.
Published: March 2015

In Renaissance Rome, Pasquino was the name of a curmudgeon who earned a reputation among the popolo for circulating satirical barbs about the colloquy and conduct of politico-religious officials. Commemorated and conserved in a statue that remains his namesake, Pasquino became a figure for the civic ritual of bodying forth unease with and distaste for corrupt Italian politics. Pasquinades, or anonymous squibs posted on and around the statue, represent a tradition of transgression in and on public statuary in Italy. This essay examines the age-old Roman practice of defacing so-called “talking statues” according to its communalization of oppositional politics that both defy and defile the symbols and mainstays of public space. Specifically, I approach Pasquino as a rhetorical body and the pasquinades as bodying forth tactile, visual, and verbal inscriptions of disgust. Pasquino is monumental because he evokes popular opinion and political activity by capturing satiric commentaries on Italian public culture. Ultimately, I argue that the statuary satire of Pasquino provides a traditional space of rhetorical performance through which the iterative contours of ridicule survive in “living” symbols of resistance.
Anticipated series average monthly price of gold in using the time series of software Minitab
Authors: Mohammadi Shaban , Khademi Mohammad
Published: March 2015

We can study the statistics, basic research to get the needs arising in different fields get considered.after knowing the statistics obtained from the trust issue is investigated, which is considered to be important. procedures because it is true that the correct result is achieved. and concluded with a detailed study on the mode of research is to identify the needs of current and non-current sources can be required by a suitable method found.the problem considered in this study in relation to the expected range of average monthly price of gold on the London market in terms of dollars.we are gathered here with the predicted theoretical and practical knowledge to study and time series methods described above.