Popular Member Research Articles

The Gentrification of "Black" in Black Popular Communication in the New Millennium

This issue of Popular Communication features two particularly interesting pieces of scholarship whose salience should be noted in that the authors work expressly to extend our ideational boundaries regarding racial identity-in these two instances, the categories of Blackness and Whiteness. The authors share a common goal, though one taken with great care: to disrupt plebeian notions of what is thought to be essentialized Black cultural forms (e.g., hip-hop culture) by studying what they consider out-of-the-common practices of Blackness. Adopting the "different contexts" modality, one author locates the Black popular within Whiteness to reveal the elasticity of performative Blackness as well as evidence an accessibility to, and even mastery of, Black cultural participation by those outside of the African American race. The other author locates Blackness within "high culture" Black communicative practices and celebrates the fact that the presumed prole core of the Black popular can be elevated to a higher and, therefore, more worthy cultural plane. More, the author characterizes this ascent of Blackness as being especially noteworthy because it is facilitated by a figure believed to be marginalized within Black popular discourses-a member of the Black bourgeoisie.

Molecular dynamics simulations of salicylate effects on the micro- and mesoscopic properties of a dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine bilayer.

Salicylate, an amphiphilic molecule and a popular member of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug family, is known to affect hearing through reduction of the electromechanical coupling in the outer hair cells of the ear. This reduction of electromotility by salicylate has been widely studied, but the molecular mechanism of the phenomenon is still unknown. In this study, we investigated one aspect of salicylate's action, namely the perturbation of electrical and mechanical membrane properties by salicylate in the absence of cytoskeletal or membrane-bound motor proteins such as prestin. In particular, we simulated the interaction of salicylate with a dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayer via atomically detailed molecular dynamics simulations to observe the effect of salicylate on the microscopic and mesoscopic properties of the bilayer. The results demonstrate that salicylate interacts with the bilayer by associating at the water-DPPC interface in a nearly perpendicular orientation and penetrating more deeply into the bilayer than either sodium or chloride. This association has several affects on the membrane properties. First, binding of salicylate to the membrane displaces chloride from the bilayer-water interface. Second, salicylate influences the electrostatic potential and dielectric properties of the bilayer, with significant changes at the water-lipid bilayer interface. Third, salicylate association results in structural changes, including decreased headgroup area per lipid and increased lipid tail order. However, salicylate does not significantly alter the mechanical properties of the DPPC bilayer; bulk compressibility, area compressibility, and bending modulus were only perturbed by small, statistically insignificant amounts by the presence of salicylate. The observations from these simulations are in qualitative agreement with experimental data and support the conclusion that salicylate influences the electrical but not the mechanical properties of DPPC membranes.

Pulse Regulation Control Technique for Integrated High-Quality Rectifier-Regulators

The pulse regulation control scheme is presented and applied to the boost integrated flyback rectifier/energy storage dc/dc (BIFRED) converter as the most popular member of the integrated high-quality rectifier-regulators (IHQRR). In contrast to the conventional control techniques, the principal idea of pulse regulation is to regulate the output voltage using a series of high- and low-power pulses generated by the current of the input inductor, which is operating in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM). Analysis of the BIFRED converter operating in DCM is presented. Fundamentals of pulse regulation as well as its stability analysis and the estimation of the output voltage ripple are introduced. Experimental results on a prototype converter are also presented to validate the analytical and simulation results.

Temperature dependence of tribological properties of MoS 2 and MoSe 2 coatings

Transition metal dichalcogenides are well known for their lubricating properties. MoS 2 is the most popular member of this family and it is widely used as a solid lubricant in vacuum and inert gases. However, the lubricating properties of MoS 2 are deteriorated in humid air. It is known that molybdenum diselenide (MoSe 2) has the same crystal structure and also exhibits suitable lubricating properties, but their dependence on air humidity has not been studied yet in details. This paper is aimed to the comparison of tribological properties of MoS 2 and MoSe 2 coatings measured in air of different humidity and at elevated temperatures. Both coatings were prepared by non-reactive DC magnetron sputtering and tested with ball-on-disc high temperature tribometer. The results of measurements of friction coefficient and wear rate vs. tribometer revolutions and the resulting dependencies of friction coefficient and wear rate on ambient air relative humidity are presented. These results show that the friction coefficient of MoSe 2 was not influenced by air humidity. Wear rate of MoSe 2 in dry air was substantially higher than that of MoS 2; in humid air, the MoS 2 wear rate increased rapidly while wear rate of MoSe 2 remained unchanged. The operating temperature of both coatings was limited to 350 °C.

Molecularly designed water soluble, intelligent, nanosize polymeric carriers

Intelligent polymers, also referred as “stimuli-responsive polymers” undergo strong property changes (in shape, surface characteristics, solubility, etc.) when only small changes in their environment (changes in temperature, pH, ionic strength light, electrical and magnetic field, etc.). They have been used in several novel applications, drug delivery systems, tissue engineering scaffolds, bioseparation, biomimetic actuators, etc. The most popular member of these type of polymers is poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (poly(NIPA)) which exhibits temperature-sensitive character, in which the polymer chains change from water-soluble coils to water-insoluble globules in aqueous solution as temperature increases above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the polymer. Copolymerization of NIPA with acrylic acid (AAc) allows the synthesis of both pH and temperature-responsive copolymers. This paper summarizes some of our related studies in which NIPA and its copolymers were synthesized and used as intelligent carriers in diverse applications.

Molecularly designed water soluble, intelligent, nanosize polymeric carriers

Intelligent polymers, also referred as “stimuli-responsive polymers” undergo strong property changes (in shape, surface characteristics, solubility, etc.) when only small changes in their environment (changes in temperature, pH, ionic strength light, electrical and magnetic field, etc.). They have been used in several novel applications, drug delivery systems, tissue engineering scaffolds, bioseparation, biomimetic actuators, etc. The most popular member of these type of polymers is poly( N-isopropylacrylamide) (poly(NIPA)) which exhibits temperature-sensitive character, in which the polymer chains change from water-soluble coils to water-insoluble globules in aqueous solution as temperature increases above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the polymer. Copolymerization of NIPA with acrylic acid (AAc) allows the synthesis of both pH and temperature-responsive copolymers. This paper summarizes some of our related studies in which NIPA and its copolymers were synthesized and used as intelligent carriers in diverse applications.

Jonathan Martin Whitfield, MB CHB, FRCP(C): A Conversation with the Editor

Jonathan Whitfield (Figure ​(Figure11) was born in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, on September 26, 1946. After attending the Waldorf School in Edinburgh, he entered the University of Glasgow in 1964, graduating in medicine with commendation in 1970. His internship was in Glasgow with 6 months of internal medicine and 6 months of general surgery, and then he went to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto for a year of general pediatrics. He returned to Glasgow as a senior houseofficer in pediatric surgery in July 1971. He then went to Auckland, New Zealand, and the National Women's Hospital as a registrar in neonatology for 6 months. Before his return to Canada, he spent 8 months in general medical practice in Papua New Guinea on the island of Bougainville. He completed his pediatric residency at Children's Hospital of East Ontario in Ottawa, Canada, from July 1974 to June 1976. He then went to Denver and the University of Colorado/The Children's Hospital as a fellow in neonatology/perinatology from July 1976 to June 1977. He did another year of neonatology in Toronto at the Hospital for Sick Children and then returned to Denver in 1978, where he joined the faculty of the University of Colorado. He spent a year on sabbatical (July 1987–June 1988) at the Children's Hospital National Medical Center in Washington, DC. In 1991, he and his family moved to Dallas, Texas, where he became medical director of neonatal and pediatric critical care services at Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) and, 4 years later, chief of pediatrics at BUMC. Dr. Whitfield has produced here at BUMC one of the finest neonatology departments anywhere. He has received national prominence through his lecturing and publications, virtually all of which are in peer-reviewed medical journals. Additionally, he is a great guy and a very popular member of the BUMC faculty.

Characterization of biological materials on the nano/mesa-scale by force microscopy

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is now the most popular member of a family of techniques known as Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM). Over the years, the AFM in its various operational modes has become a rich source of information about attributes of surfaces and interfaces that cannot readily be obtained with conventional microscopy techniques. The functionality of the AFM is substantially unaffected by operation in air or a fluid environment. Hence, the living biosystems can be probed non-destructively in vitro.

Examination of line crossings by atomic force microscopy

Until now, the most widely used methods for the forensic examination of line crossings in documents were optical and electron microscopy. The combination of both techniques allows one in most cases to establish the sequence of lines. The recent development of scanning probe microscopy [1] gives an opportunity to complement or even replace the classical instruments used in this field. Scanning probe microscopes have been designed to study surfaces at high magnification. The aim of this study was to verify if their most popular member, the atomic force microscope (AFM) [2], can be applied to line crossing problems. The results show for the first time that AFM images present the same qualitative information obtained by scanning electron microscope (SEM) images and, consequently, allow the determination of the line crossing sequence under ambient conditions without vacuum and conductive coating of specimens.

Extraction, Isolation, and Characterization of Fullerene C60: A Safe and Reliable Separation Experiment

The recent discovery (1) and characterization (2, 3) of the pure-carbon, soccer ball-shaped molecule buckminsterfullerene-C60 has spawned intensive research (4). Now a favorite study topic of physical and organic chemists, fullerene chemistry has instilled in scientists a variety of application hopes. Although development is slow, many envision a future of fullerene superconductors, large-scale industrial catalysts, and perhaps even antiviral agents (5). This academic interest and enthusiasm in fullerene science has prompted us to develop a safe, inexpensive, and practical undergraduate activity for the study of C60, the most popular member of the fullerene family.Appropriate for an advanced high school or introductory college chemistry laboratory, the experiment described here allows students to safely perform organic chemistry techniques in the absence of a fume hood. The methods we employ are modifications of those described by Ajie (3), Scrivens (6) and Marecek (7). Owing to the nonpolar nature of ful...

A Workers' Museum in Copenhagen

Denmark's Arbejdermuseet was founded on an idea – to make workers' history visible. Initially short on collections, but long on determination and imagination, it has become a popular member of the country's museum community. Its strengths lie in the eloquent stories it tells about everyday life and in the active support of the Danish trade‐union movement.

The effects of the social context on performance evaluations

The study is designed to test the impact of group composition variables on the supervisor's ratings of subordinates. In a laboratory study subjects play the role of supervisors evaluating the performance of their subordinates. The information about subordinate performance is constructed such that one subordinate performs poorly while two others perform well. The poor performer is represented as being high or low in group social skills and high or low in group leadership skills as rated by the other group members, creating a 2 × 2 design (the two good performers are portrayed as being average in social and leadership skills). The supervisor rates the poor performer more positively and the good performers more negatively when the poor performer is high in social and/or leadership skills than when he or she is low on these factors. A field study using critical incidents demonstrates that less severe responses are directed toward a popular group member. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.

Secessionist Politics in Papua New Guinea

N SEPTEMBER i6, 1975 New Guinea (PNG) obtained its independence from Australia. Previously had been Australian territory, acquired in i906, whereas New Guinea had been a U.N. Trust Territory (and formerly a Mandate of the League of Nations) under the control of Australia. During World War II, and New Guinea were jointly administered by Australia and in I949 this arrangement was continued until 1975 when the two legally separate entities were granted simultaneous independence as a single country. What was for Australia and the U.N. Trusteeship Council an act of administrative convenience was regarded by many Papuans as an unfair decision that callously overlooked their desire to determine, through a referendum, whether to be a separate state or to amalgamate with New Guinea. Papuans were in fact promised at various times before 1975 that they would be given this choice. Hence, when it became clear that Australia was preparing and New Guinea for a permanent union after independence, many Papuan leaders felt impelled to protest. By the early I970s, several Papuans organized to form the Papua movement under the leadership of Josephine Abaijah, a popular Papuan member of the national House of Assembly. On March i6, 1975, several months before the integrated New Guinea was scheduled for independence, Besena unilaterally declared Papua's independence from Australia and in the view of its supporters became a separate state. This was not the only secessionist problem confronting PNG. Bougainville, the copper-rich eastern island on which some $500 million had been invested to build one of the most lucrative mines in the world, also wanted its independence, asserting that it had been a pawn in a game of colonial territorial exchanges that resulted in its being severed from the (British-ruled) Solomon Islands. On September i, 1975, less than three weeks before PNG obtained its independence, certain popular Bougainville leaders, mainly Leo Hannett and

Mr. E. G. Boulenger

THE sudden death of Edward George Boulenger at the early age of fifty-seven came as a shock to his many friends and especially to his old colleagues at the London Zoo, and at the Savile Club where he was a well-known and popular member. A week before his death, on April 30, he had been working in the library at the Zoo, taking notes for a book on popular zoology on which he was engaged He then seemed in the best of spirits and was obviously enjoying his well-earned retirement at Polperro in Cornwall, devoting himself to writing, the contemplation of wild life, and the entertainment of his friends, among whom his hospitality was a byword. His fund of stories and anecdotes was inexhaustible, and his knowledge of food and wine and his ready wit made him a most agreeable host.