Zeitschriftenartikel zum Thema „Diderm transition“

The very nature of the last bacterial common ancestor (LBCA), in particular the characteristics of its cell wall, is a critical issue to understand the evolution of life on earth. Although knowledge of the relationships between bacterial phyla has made progress with the advent of phylogenomics, many questions remain, including on the appearance or disappearance of the outer membrane of diderm bacteria (also called Gram-negative bacteria). The phylogenetic transition between monoderm (Gram-positive bacteria) and diderm bacteria, and the associated peptidoglycan expansion or reduction, requires clarification. Herein, using a phylogenomic tree of cultivated and characterized bacteria as an evolutionary framework and a literature review of their cell-wall characteristics, we used Bayesian ancestral state reconstruction to infer the cell-wall architecture of the LBCA. With the same phylogenomic tree, we further revisited the evolution of the division and cell-wall synthesis (dcw) gene cluster using homology- and model-based methods. Finally, extensive similarity searches were carried out to determine the phylogenetic distribution of the genes involved with the biosynthesis of the outer membrane in diderm bacteria. Quite unexpectedly, our analyses suggest that all cultivated and characterized bacteria might have evolved from a common ancestor with a monoderm cell-wall architecture. If true, this would indicate that the appearance of the outer membrane was not a unique event and that selective forces have led to the repeated adoption of such an architecture. Due to the lack of phenotypic information, our methodology cannot be applied to all extant bacteria. Consequently, our conclusion might change once enough information is made available to allow the use of an even more diverse organism selection.

The article considers L.N. Tolstoy not only as a thinker who represents but also accomplishes Enlightenment. Through a comparison of his ideas with philosophy of Spinoza and Diderot, the author clarifies the aspects of the transition from Enlightenment to the unique Tolstoy’s religious and philosophical doctrine. A special attention is paid to the way of thinking, the relation to science and the specifics of the worldview of Tolstoy and Diderot. The contradiction between the way of thinking and the way of life of the three philosophers is revealed. The author also researches their philosophical interpretations of the nature of creative thought. Diderot describes the nature through the concept of paradoxism, Spinoza describes it with the concept of integrity, and Tolstoy uses the method of cohesion that he founds in literary works. If for the philosophers of European Enlightenment, the way of thinking is directly related to human nature, which is presented as a unity of natura naturans and natura naturata, then Tolstoy considers that the most important is a certain a priori sense of life, which is imbued with faith in God and with an instinct of self-giving that is love for the Supreme and other people. The method of cohesion leads Tolstoy away from the direct continuation of educational ideas, stressing the significance of appealing not only to reason but also to creative intuition. Tolstoy gradually moves away from rational perception of Life to its religious and existential foundations. Tolstoy’s worldview undergoes transition from the idea of a natural man to the idea of a human being who lives by commandments of Christ. Starting from the worldview of Enlightenment, Tolstoy comes to the creation of religious and philosophical doctrine, which is relevant to early 20th century.

Researchers from multiple disciplines have tried to understand the mechanism of stock market crashes. Precursory patterns before crashes agree with various empirical studies published by econophysicists, namely the prolific work of Didier Sornette. We intend to add more empirical evidence of synchronization of trading and demonstrate the prospect of predicting stock market crashes by analyzing clusters’ dynamics in the period of bubble build-up leading to a crash. We apply the Potential-based Hierarchical Agglomerative (PHA) Method, the Backbone Extraction Method, and the Dot Matrix Plot on S&P500 companies daily returns. Our innovative approach is proposed in this paper, empirical results and discussion presented in another publication.

Researchers from multiple disciplines have tried to understand the mechanism of stock market crashes. Precursory patterns before crashes agree with various empirical studies published by econophysicists, namely the prolific work of Didier Sornette. We intend to add more empirical evidence of synchronization of trading and demonstrate the prospect of predicting stock market crashes by analyzing clusters’ dynamics in the period of bubble build-up leading to a crash. We apply the Potential-based Hierarchical Agglomerative (PHA) Method, the Backbone Extraction Method, and the Dot Matrix Plot on S&P500 companies daily returns. Our innovative approach is proposed in this paper, empirical results and discussion presented in another publication.

Paper aims to explore the progress in eco-efficiency and the course of decoupling of environmental impact from economy growth in Lithuania during 1990–2008. For better interpretation of ongoing changes in eco-efficiency the concept of double decoupling was applied. Decoupling of resource consumption from economy growth is considered as primary decoupling, and decoupling of environmental pollution from resource consumption is considered as secondary decoupling. Energy intensity is treated as indicator of primary decoupling and pollution intensity as indicator of secondary decoupling. Over investigated period an essential primary decoupling took place and final energy intensity was reduced approximately 2.5 times in Lithuania and has converged to the level of EU-15 on average. Transition to the market economy, shift to the modern technologies, increased energy prices and structural changes of Lithuanian economy are considered as the main drivers for this achievement. Progress in secondary decoupling was not so pronounced and pollution intensity is still 2 times higher than in EU-15. Though energy and transport sectors are identified as the main “hot spots” to tackle relatively high pollution intensity, focus on tools and measures benefiting reduction of both energy and pollution intensity are discussed. Santrauka Straipsnyje analizuojama Lietuvos pažanga ekologinio veiksmingumo srityje ir poveikio aplinkai atsiejimas nuo ekonomikos 1990–2008 m. Įvykusiems ekologinio veiksmingumo pokyčiams įvertinti pritaikyta dvigubo atsiejimo koncepcija. Energijos intensyvumas traktuojamas kaip pirminio atsiejimo, t. y. ekonomikos augimo atsiejimo nuo energijos išteklių naudojimo, rodiklis, teršimo intensyvumas – kaip antrinio atsiejimo, t. y. aplinkos teršimo atsiejimo nuo energijos vartojimo, rodiklis. Per analizuojamą laikotarpį pavyko atsieti ekonomikos augimą nuo energijos vartojimo, galutinės energijos intensyvumą Lietuvoje sumažinti maždaug 2,5 karto ir beveik pasiekti ES-15 vidurkį. Perėjimas prie rinkos ekonomikos, modernių technologijų, išaugusios energijos kainos ir struktūriniai Lietuvos ekonomikos pokyčiai laikomi pagrindiniais šią ekonomikos ir aplinkos požiūriu svarbią pažangą lėmusiais veiksniais. Pažanga antrinio atsiejimo srityje buvo ne tokia didelė ir taršos intensyvumas, t. y. į aplinką patenkančių teršalų kiekis suvartotos energijos vienetui, Lietuvoje yra vis dar apie du kartus didesnis nei ES-15. Energetika ir transportas įvardijami kaip pagrindiniai sektoriai, kuriuose reikia skirti daugiau dėmesio atitinkamoms priemonėms, siekiant mažinti didelį taršos intensyvumą.

Résumé BLANCHET Didier. - Croissance de la population et du produit par tête au cours de la transition démographique : un modèle malthusien peut-il rendre compte de leurs relations ? Cet article examine comment doit évoluer au cours du temps la liaison entre croissance démographique et économique dans un modèle de transition démographique où les deux croissances sont tirées simultanément par le progrès technique, c'est-à-dire un modèle dérivé du modèle malthusien standard, par comparaison aux modèles à progrès technique endogène, auxquels est généralement associé le nom d'E. Boserup. On montre qu'un tel modèle peut bien rendre compte de corrélations successivement positives et négatives entre les deux variables. Un examen des données de la Banque Mondiale indique que ce schéma est effectivement celui observé dans la réalité, avec l'apparition récente de corrélations fortement négatives entre les deux variables, alors que celles-ci ont longtemps été non-significatives et parfois positives. En revanche, le modèle à progrès technique endogène impliquerait que c'est plutôt au début du processus d'expansion démographique et économique que devraient apparaître ces corrélations négatives.

In the middle of the seventeenth century, scholarship on ancient Stoicism generally understood it to be a form of theism. By the middle of the eighteenth century, Stoicism was widely (though not universally) reckoned a variety of atheism, both by its critics and by those more favourably disposed to its claims. This article describes this transition, the catalyst for which was the controversy surrounding Spinoza's philosophy, and which was shaped above all by contemporary transformations in the historiography of philosophy. Particular attention is paid to the roles in this story played by Thomas Gataker, Ralph Cudworth, J. F. Buddeus, Jean Barbeyrac, and J. L. Mosheim, whose contributions collectively helped to shape the way in which Stoicism was presented in two of the leading reference works of the Enlightenment, J. J. Brucker's Critical History of Philosophy and the Encyclopédie of Diderot and d'Alembert.

Résumé Blanchet Didier. — Croissances économique et démographique dans les pays en développement : indépendance ou interdépendance ? Cet article discute l'interprétation qu'on peut donner des corrélations non-significatives qui sont généralement trouvées entre croissance économique et croissance démographique dans les pays en développement. Nous rappelons comment cette absence de corrélation est compatible avec un effet négatif de la croissance démographique sur la croissance économique si on suppose qu'il existe en sens inverse un effet positif de la croissance économique sur la croissance démographique. Il est possible que cet effet en sens inverse existe effectivement pour les pays en début de transition démographique. Si on considère par contre les pays qui sont à un stade plus avancé de leur transition la réponse de la croissance démographique à celle du niveau de vie est négative et renforce l'effet malthusien. De fait on met en évidence pour ces pays une corrélation nettement négative entre croissance du PNB par habitant et croissance de la population pour 1960-1980. Sans prouver totalement l'existence de l'effet malthusien ces résultats indiquent qu'il ne faut pas exclure que son observation soit gênée par les liaisons en sens inverse allant de l'économie vers la démographie. Une modélisation plus riche que celle des calculs de corrélation simple devrait donc être mise en œuvre pour la mesurer correctement.

The article discusses the concept of digital transformation of pharmaceutical industries, which is based on a generalization of existing theoretical models of digital transformation, such as the Digital Maturity Assured Framework (DMF), as well as the Model of structuring elements of digital business transformation by George Westerman, Didier Bonnet and Andrew McAfee. Digital transformation is currently a necessary condition for the development of production systems and increasing the competitiveness of products. Global competition and the influence of external economic factors lead to a transition from mass production to flexible production systems operating on the basis of the concept of personalized medicine, only Industry 4.0 digital technologies capable of supporting the production of a drug at all stages of the life cycle can be the answer to this challenge. Based on the theoretical analysis, a three-phase model of digital transformation was formed, which was further substantiated by practical analytical data from pharmaceutical enterprises in the Russian Federation. This model includes three phases: engineering design (Phase I), associated with the development and implementation of engineering projects, technical and technological transformation (phase II), which involves the accumulation of technological potential through investment in intellectual production factors, after which the final stage begins digital transformation (phase III), associated with the active development of digital tools and the increasing role of information technology in production.

Abstract Ovarian cancer accounts for the fifth most common cause of cancer death among women, despite being relatively rare. This is in large because majority of cases are diagnosed at advanced stage and frequently recur after primary treatment. Despite numerous efforts to develop effective targeted therapies and immunotherapies for ovarian cancer the standard of care remains chemotherapies. We postulate that part of the problem is the paucity of preclinical research and clinical trials focused on dormant persister ovarian cancer cells that remain after chemotherapy treatments. Emerging evidence supports the idea that persister cancer cells undergo a period of dormancy following chemotherapy which enables their survival and drive late recurrence. Thus, there is dire need to understand the pathways that empower the establishment of dormancy following chemotherapies in ovarian cancer. Epigenetic reprogramming is notoriously known to enable cell fate transitions and the establishment of drug resistance. An important layer of epigenetic regulation frequently overlooked in cancer is the regulation of nucleosome composition via histone variants. Importantly, analysis of data from the human protein atlas revealed that histone H3.3 chaperone, Histone Regulator Protein A (HIRA) expression inversely correlated with poor prognosis, suggesting that HIRA suppression might play a role in the development of chemotherapy resistance. Here, we demonstrate that HIRA is a major regulator of cell fate transitions in ovarian cancer cells in response to chemotherapies. Our data indicates that HIRA levels are suppressed in response chemotherapies in cancer cells. Genetic suppression of HIRA in ovarian cancer cells triggered a non-poliferative state characterized by the induction of canonical dormancy markers (p27, an increase in p38 phosphorylation) and cell cycle arrest. Accordingly, HIRA suppression in these cancer cells renders them less sensitive to the standard of care chemotherapy agent paclitaxel. Together, our data demonstrates that HIRA levels play an important role in controlling cell fate decisions in ovarian cancer and regulate chemotherapy sensitivity. Citation Format: Maya Yasukawa, Stanislav Drapela, Didem Ilter, Mian M. Shahzad, Ana P. Gomes. HIRA suppression is a mechanism of chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 2 (Clinical Trials and Late-Breaking Research); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(8_Suppl):Abstract nr LB281.

Abstract Most cancer-related deaths are caused by recurrent metastatic disease with latency periods that range from years to even decades. This halt in disease progression is driven by cancer dormancy, a stage in which residual disease is present but remains asymptomatic before reawakening and often causes lethal forms of the disease. Cell fate decisions, such as the ones that underlie dormancy and reawakening of cancer cells, often require extensive epigenetic remodeling, which in turn allows for the expression of specific genetic programs that trigger cell fate decisions. Therefore, epigenetic remodeling is likely essential for the switch between dormant and proliferative states throughout the metastatic process. Here we focus on epigenetic regulator, histone H3.3 chaperone HIRA and its role in the proliferation-to-dormancy switch in breast cancer cells. In this study, we demonstrate that HIRA suppression leads to cell cycle arrest and induces canonical dormancy pathways via phosphorylation of p38 and induction of p27 expression. In addition, HIRA suppression triggers induction of stress-inducible transcription factors NRF2, MITF and ATF3 to enable the activation of genetic programs that maintain homeostasis and promote survival in dormant cells. Our data also portray that HIRA is suppressed in the well-established isogenic models of dormancy when compared to their metastatic counterparts. Altogether we present for the first-time histone chaperone HIRA as a major regulatory point of cell fate for disseminated cancer cells by controlling their transition between dormant and proliferative states, and therefore suggest HIRA as a novel and tremendously needed therapeutic target for metastatic breast cancer. Citation Format: Stanislav Drapela, Devesh Raizada, Ananya Mukherjee, Joanne Tejero, Didem Ilter, Jose Javier Bravo-Cordero, Ana P Gomes. HIRA is a master regulator of the proliferation-to-dormancy switch in breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 65.

Abstract Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death worldwide, with a five-year survival rate of only 18.6%. Aging is a well-established risk factor for lung cancer development. However, our understanding of how the aging process affects lung cancer remains cripplingly small. In this study, we aim to bridge this gap by evaluating the effects of glucocorticoid hormones (e.g. cortisol), which become chronically upregulated during the aging process, in lung cancer cells. Phenotypically, our studies revealed that chronic exposure to age-related levels of cortisol trigger a mesenchymal-like senescent state in lung cancer cells that favors motility and invasiveness. Acquisition of pro-aggressive features are generally recognized to be driven by epigenetic regulation. Epigenetic regulation occurs at several levels, but perhaps one of the most fundamental levels is nucleosome remodeling via histone variants and their cognate chaperones. Histone H3 variants are critical regulators of nucleosome stability and have a highly specialized histone chaperone network when compared to other histones. Strikingly, we observed that chronic exposure of lung cancer cells to cortisol leads to a pronounced decline in canonical histone levels, which was accompanied by a 40% increase in chromatin accessibility genome-wide. Chromatin accessibility by transcriptional machinery is heavily influenced by histone variants, thus, we hypothesized that cortisol also regulates deposition of histone H3 variants into chromatin. The CAF-1 complex deposits the canonical H3 variants (H3.1/H3.2) onto DNA in a cell-cycle-dependent manner while other histone chaperones, HIRA at genic and DAXX at telomeric regions, deposit the H3.3 variant independently of cell cycle. In accordance with the decline in canonical histone levels, treatment with cortisol suppressed the expression of the CAF-1 complex. Reduced canonical histone abundance is known to trigger “gap filling” of naked DNA with the H3.3 variant to maintain integrity. In support of the idea that H3.3 becomes enriched in chromatin upon chronic exposure of lung cancer cells to cortisol, our results showed that the proportion of H3.3 increases upon cortisol exposure, and concomitantly H3.3 chaperone HIRA is induced upon treatment with cortisol. These data support a model in which chronic exposure to glucocorticoids, as it occurs with aging or through treatment with synthetic glucocorticoids (e.g. dexamethasone), regulates nucleosome abundance and composition in lung cancer cells through dynamic regulation of histone H3 chaperone systems. Together, we propose that this glucocorticoid-induced nucleosome remodeling establishes a chromatin environment that enables the transition to a mesenchymal-like senescent state in lung cancer cells that favors aggressiveness and poor prognosis. Citation Format: Benito M. Traversa, Devesh Raizada, Eva Kragelj, Julia Spegel, Didem Ilter, Ana P. Gomes. Chronic upregulation of glucocorticoid hormones triggers chromatin remodeling in NSCLC through dynamic regulation of histone H3 chaperones. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 4722.

Abstract This article examines the institution of dramaturgy in theatre as an agency of mediation. The term »dramaturgy« still has a double meaning in most European languages. In many situations, it continues to designate the art of writing plays, and a dramaturge in French or Spanish is also a playwright. However, a few years ago, the originally German notion of the dramaturge also started spreading into other European languages and into theatre in Europe and around the world. This article traces the evolution of dramaturgy from its first appearance in the works of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing to its use in contemporary independent theatre – especially in the sector that is referred to as the Freie Szene in German. Dramaturgy came into existence during the transition from the episteme of »representation« to the episteme of »man« diagnosed by Michel Foucault (2003). Once the sovereign had exited the stages of theatre and politics, Lessing, the first dramaturge in history, searched for another affective bond between the isolated »subjects of interest« (Foucault 2004b) in civil society. Lessing translated Denis Diderot’s treatise on a theatre of intimate scenes into German; these scenes, hidden behind an invisible fourth wall, were to be watched by a public consisting of mere »witnesses one does not know about« (Diderot 1996, 336). It is especially remarkable how Lessing’s interpretation of Diderot as well as his own work as a dramaturge was shaped by Protestantism. His theatre was supposed to mediate a clear message that concerned each of the individuals assembling in the theatre directly. A comparison between Lessing’s reading of Aristotle’s Poetics and Luther’s brief notes on Protestant liturgy shows that both understood the proceedings – the performance of a play or service – not as a ritual that is temporally structured by poetics or liturgy but as an event that conveys a certain message. For Luther, the clear reading of the translated bible and the sermon were central to the service; Lessing, who fiercely fought Johann Christoph Gottsched’s attempts to write a new poetics of the theatre, translated and reinterpreted Aristotle’s concept of kátharsis into a concept centered on feeling pity for human beings »of the same stamp and grain« (Lessing 1988, 422). Theatre, like the service, became an event that concerns each visitor directly. Dramaturges exercise what Foucault calls »pastoral power« (cf. Foucault 2004a, 173–200, and passim) and become the herdsmen of the spectators assembled to cry for their own kind. Their regulative position is thus related to that of the police (Schiller 1982; Vogl 2006; 2008; Müller-Schöll 2020). But the post-sovereign and – not just in Lessing’s case – eminently Protestant governance of affects is again and again confronted by the persistence of the representation of sovereignty despite the epistemic transformation to »man« analyzed by Foucault, not only in the colonies of European states (Spivak 2008) but also in a playful, but not always harmless way in state and city theatres, where it takes the form of (artistic) directors acting as eccentric and intrusive »berserks«. The dramaturge is assigned to those sovereigns as a consultant and mediator who has the rehearsal schedule at hand and communicates with the media und the public. Due to his or her knowledge of post-sovereign techniques of government, the dramaturge can escape the tyrannic rule of the berserk directors. In his analysis of the German baroque Trauerspiel, Walter Benjamin finds that the Janus-headed, double figure of the sovereign and martyr is always assigned an intriguer, who he analyzes as the »forerunner of the ballet master« – and thus also of the dramaturge, who does not decide himself, but mediates and plays the »human affects as creature’s calculable mechanism« (Benjamin 1997, 274). After discussing the historical definition of dramaturgy as a means to mediate civil society to itself, this text addresses the textual infrastructures of contemporary independent theatre in Germany, where the scene, due to sizeable public funding, is somewhat different to similar scenes in most other countries. The notion of infrastructure is put forth to designate the persistent dispositions that furnish environments (Peters 2015) and constitute what can and cannot be perceived. Hence, as long as infrastructure functions, it tends to escape perceptibility. Theatre depends on electricity, a water supply, streets, and the like, but as Jean-Jacques Rousseau already remarks in his long letter to Jean Le Rond d’Alembert, it does not just require infrastructure but also generates it (Rousseau 1978). However, in this text, the notion of infrastructure will not only be limited to technological facilities but will also be used to describe the modes of subjectivation, the basic assumptions, and the silent convictions that keep the theatre business going. As one example of textual infrastructure, the text will examine tender offers for independent theatre projects. This money handed out by cities, regions, or the state is essential for their funding. The proposals and applications generally written by dramaturges are required to be essentially new and innovative, but should also run to schedule (cf. Klug 2021). Textual practices of reading, revising, copyediting, and translating inscribe artistic work into the discourses of the funding institutions and the underlying models of artistic subjectivity. Again, dramaturgy serves to mediate civil society to itself. All these practices address the isolated individuum with its competences of communication, innovation, and commiseration. The outlook given at the end tries to sketch other dramaturgical practices that acknowledge the fragility of all mediation. On the one hand, aesthetic experience can never be fully mediated. On the other hand – and maybe more importantly – not all Earth inhabitants are members of civil society or can be approached by means of the regulating arts of governance that pastoral dramaturgy practices: the question of who can be a member of Western civil societies and appear on their not only theatrical but also political and juridical stages is determined by the harsh and brutal politics of exclusion that neither enable nor require mediation.

The development of energy storage technologies, such as rechargeable batteries, is crucial for the transition to a sustainable energy supply. Lithium-ion batteries are an effective means of energy storage, which is demonstrated by their wide application ranging from mobile phones to laptops and electric vehicles. Unfortunately, Li-ion batteries suffer from safety issues arising from their combustible organic electrolytes. All-solid-state batteries, in which the common liquid organic electrolyte is replaced by a solid-state electrolyte, could potentially lead to safer batteries with increased energy density.[1] Recently, metal hydrides (e.g. LiBH4 and LiCB11H12) have gained attention as promising solid electrolytes due to their electrochemical and thermal stability, low density and high ionic conductivity albeit at elevated temperatures. However, for successful incorporation of metal hydride electrolytes in all-solid-state batteries, sufficient ionic conductivity at room temperature is a prerequisite. Therefore, the development of strategies that enhance the room temperature conductivity in complex hydrides (10-8 S cm-1 for LiBH4) is of major importance. In this contribution, we combined two promising strategies to enhance ion mobility in metal hydrides, namely, partial ionic substitution[2] and nanoconfinement[3], which led to highly conductive metal hydride-based nanocomposites (Figure 1). Specifically, via partial ion substitution with LiNH2, followed by nanoconfinement in a mesoporous oxide scaffold, LiBH4-LiNH2/metal oxide nanocomposites with conductivities reaching 5x10-4 S cm-1 at 30 °C were obtained[4], compared to 2x10-8 S cm-1 for pure LiBH4. Interestingly, the conductivity of the LiBH4-LiNH2/metal oxide nanocomposites is strongly influenced by the chemical and physical nature of the mesoporous metal oxide. We systematically studied the influence of the scaffold properties on the conductivity of nanoconfined LiNH2-substituted LiBH4 using mesoporous silica scaffolds (SBA-15) with varying surface chemistry and pore structure. The conductivity varied over three orders of magnitude when tuning both the porosity and surface chemistry of the metal oxide scaffold.[5] Our study reveals that the LiBH4-LiNH2/metal oxide conductivity is affected by the chemical nature of the scaffold, similar to LiBH4/metal oxide nanocomposites. A conductivity improvement of a factor of two is achieved by changing the SiO2 (SBA-15) surface chemistry through alumination (Figure 2a). On the other hand, different from nanoconfined LiBH4, the conductivity of LiBH4-LiNH2/metal oxide nanocomposites is largely dictated by the pore structure of the scaffold, especially the pore volume (Figure 2b). Notably, the conductivity can be varied from 4x10-7 S cm-1 to 5x10-4 S cm-1 by increasing the scaffold pore volume from 0.51 to 1.00 cm3 g-1. Our work demonstrates that the origin of the conductivity enhancement in anion-substituted complex hydride-based nanocomposite electrolytes is different from other nanoconfined complex hydrides, e.g. LiBH4. In particular, for nanoconfined LiBH4-LiNH2, the conductivity improvement is attributed to stabilization of a highly conductive phase inside the scaffold pores, rather than the formation of a conductive interfacial layer at the hydride/oxide interface as observed for nanoconfined LiBH4. Thus, it is clear that the conductivity of metal hydride-based nanocomposite ion conductors is closely linked to the properties of scaffold material. The fundamental insights on the influence of scaffold properties on ion mobility in nanocomposite materials could be applicable to other cation- and anion substituted ion conductors as well. Thereby, this work provides useful insights for the design novel solid-state electrolytes with excellent ionic conductivity, crucial for the development of next generation batteries. References [1] Janek, Jürgen, and Zeier, Wolfgang G. "A solid future for battery development." Nature Energy 1.9 (2016): 1-4. [2] Maekawa, Hideki, et al. "Halide-stabilized LiBH4, a room-temperature lithium fast-ion conductor." Journal of the American Chemical Society 131.3 (2009): 894-895. [3] Blanchard, Didier, et al. "Nanoconfined LiBH4 as a fast lithium ion conductor." Advanced Functional Materials 25.2 (2015): 184-192 [4] Zettl, Roman, et al. "Combined Effects of Anion Substitution and Nanoconfinement on the Ionic Conductivity of Li-Based Complex Hydrides." The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 124.5 (2020): 2806-2816. [5] de Kort, Laura M., et al. "The effect of nanoscaffold porosity and surface chemistry on the Li-ion conductivity of LiBH4–LiNH2/metal oxide nanocomposites." Journal of Materials Chemistry A 8.39 (2020): 20687-20697. Figure 1

One of the major unanswered questions in evolutionary biology is when and how the transition between diderm (two membranes) and monoderm (one membrane) cell envelopes occurred in Bacteria. The Negativicutes and the Halanaerobiales belong to the classically monoderm Firmicutes, but possess outer membranes with lipopolysaccharide (LPS-OM). Here, we show that they form two phylogenetically distinct lineages, each close to different monoderm relatives. In contrast, their core LPS biosynthesis enzymes were inherited vertically, as in the majority of bacterial phyla. Finally, annotation of key OM systems in the Halanaerobiales and the Negativicutes shows a puzzling combination of monoderm and diderm features. Together, these results support the hypothesis that the LPS-OMs of Negativicutes and Halanaerobiales are remnants of an ancient diderm cell envelope that was present in the ancestor of the Firmicutes, and that the monoderm phenotype in this phylum is a derived character that arose multiple times independently through OM loss.

Abstract Almost all major classes of bacteria are surrounded by a peptidoglycan cell wall, which is a crucial target for antibiotics. It is now understood that many bacteria can tolerate loss of the cell wall provided that they are in an isotonic environment. Furthermore, in some cases the cells can continue to proliferate in a state known as the L-form. L-form proliferation occurs by an unusual blebbing or tubulation mechanism that is completely independent of the normally essential division machine or cell wall synthetic enzymes, and is resistant to cell wall active antibiotics. However, the growth is limited by reactive oxygen species generated by the respiratory chain pathway. In this work, we examined the walled to L-form transition in a pathogenic Gram-negative bacterium, Streptobacillus moniliformis, which naturally lacks the respiratory chain pathway, under aerobic conditions. L-form-like cells often emerged spontaneously but proliferation was not observed unless the cells were treated with cell-wall active antibiotics. Time-lapse imaging revealed that cell division of S. moniliformis L-forms involves unusual membrane dynamics with an apparent imbalance between outer membrane and cytoplasmic volume growth. The results suggest that outer membrane expansion may be an important general factor for L-form proliferation of diderm bacteria.

The presence of a cell membrane is one of the major structural components defining life. Recent phylogenomic analyses have supported the hypothesis that the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) was likely a diderm. Yet, the mechanisms that guided outer membrane (OM) biogenesis remain unknown. Thermotogae is an early-branching phylum with a unique OM, the toga. Here, we use cryo-electron tomography to characterize the in situ cell envelope architecture of Thermotoga maritima and show that the toga is made of extended sheaths of β-barrel trimers supporting small (~200 nm) membrane patches. Lipidomic analyses identified the same major lipid species in the inner membrane (IM) and toga, including the rare to bacteria membrane-spanning ether-bound diabolic acids (DAs). Proteomic analyses revealed that the toga was composed of multiple SLH-domain containing Ompα and novel β-barrel proteins, and homology searches detected variable conservations of these proteins across the phylum. These results highlight that, in contrast to the SlpA/OmpM superfamily of proteins, Thermotoga possess a highly diverse bipartite OM-tethering system. We discuss the implications of our findings with respect to other early-branching phyla and propose that a toga-like intermediate may have facilitated monoderm-to-diderm cell envelope transitions.

The main difference between classical (both ancient and medieval) and modern concepts of natural law lies in the assumption of its supernatural (divine) foundation. Early modern philosophical concepts tend to undermine and gradually to deny God or some other metaphysical entity as the source of natural law. Some contemporary scholars (e.g. Habermas, Bobbio) define this process as transition (modernization, rationalization, Positivisierung) of traditional natural law towards the idea of natural rights and human rights. We can distinguish at least three main schools of natural law during the 17th and 18th centuries, each one more radical than the others: de Groot dares to consider the natural law “as if there were no God”. The philosophers of early Enlightenment (e.g. Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire) were perhaps more daring, nevertheless they were all deists and the “Supreme Being” still validates natural law in their writings. The article aims to examine the most radical view on natural law, i.e. partly forgotten and underestimated ideas of French materialists: La Mettrie, Diderot, Holbach, Mably, and Condorcet. For they were all thinkers of the radical Enlightenment (J. Israel), all of them were materialists and atheists, and they perceived the nature and natural law as completely separated from God or other supernatural being. Unlike their older colleagues, these radical philosophers demanded equality (for women and ethnical minorities as well), emancipation, and social justice for all classes. This papers describes the idea of natural law within the radical Enlightenment movement,and investigates some political consequences of this interpretation during the French Revolution. While strongly materialistic, progressive, and atheist, the ideas of Diderot, Holbach, Mably, and Condorcet were also perceived as politically dangerous. All revolutionary attempts to put these ideas into political and social practice have failed. Finally, these ideas were refuted, but they returned during the 19th- and 20th-century debates on human rights.

"Michael Snows »talking picture« »Rameau’s Nephew […]« (1974) entwickelt eine – laufend aus den Fugen geratende – Taxonomie audiovisueller Verhältnisse des Tonfilms. Der Beitrag durchstreift diesen Experimentalfilm, indem er drei Motive – Übersetzung, Fläche, Wasser – nachverfolgt, an denen Tonfilm erprobt, reflektiert und erfahrbar wird. Dabei kristallisiert sich in Umschlagsmomenten zwischen technischer Bild-Ton-Synchronisation und »Synchresis« (Michel Chion) – irreduzibel audiovisuelle Synthese der Wahrnehmung – ein kritischer Punkt des Mediums Tonfilm heraus. Synchronisation ist von solchen Momenten aus als Prozess zu verstehen, in dem Potenziale von Homogenisierung und Heterogenisierung verteilt und aufeinander bezogen werden. </br></br> Micheal Snow’s talking picture »Rameau’s Nephew […]« (1974) develops an ever unstable taxonomy of audio-visual relations in the talking movie. The contribution investigates this experimental film by following three motives – translation, surface, water – with which the talking movie reflects itself. Thus, moments of transition between mere technical lip-sync and »synchresis« (irreducible audio-visual synthesis of perception, a term coined by Michel Chion) – prove to be a critical point of the talking movie. In this perspective, synchronization is to be understood as a process which distributes and correlates potentials of homogenization and heterogenization. "

HOBERG, GEORGE, sous la direction de. La capacité de choisir : Le Canada dans une nouvelle Amérique du Nord. Par Denis Michaud 441LACOMBE, SYLVIE. La rencontre de deux peuples élus : comparaison des ambitions nationale et impériale au Canada entre 1896 et 1920. Par François Charbonneau 442MCBRIDE, STEPHEN. Paradigm Shift: Globalization and the Canadian State. By Dennis Pilon 445MCANDREW, MARIE. L'immigration et diversité à l'école. Le débat québécois dans une perspective comparative. Par Phyllis Dalley 447HOWLETT, MICHAEL, ed. Canadian Forest Policy: Adapting to Change. By Wyn Grant 448ADAMS, DUANE, ed. Federalism, Democracy and Health Policy in Canada. By Daniel Cohn 449LEESON, HOWARD A., ed. Saskatchewan Politics: Into the Twenty-First Century. By Paul G. Thomas 451CAMERON, DAVID R. AND GRAHAM WHITE. Cycling into Saigon: The Conservative Transition in Ontario. By Steve Patten 452FEREJOHN, JOHN, JOHN N. RAKOVE AND JONATHAN RILEY, eds. Constitutional Culture and Democratic Rule. By Michael Lusztig 453HIBBING, JOHN R. AND ELIZABETH THIESS-MORSE, eds. What Is It about Government That Americans Dislike? By Gus diZerega 454WINOCK, MICHEL. La Belle Époque. La France de 1900 à 1914. Par Pierre Simonneau 456MENDELSOHN, MATTHEW AND ANDREW PARKIN, eds. Referendum Democracy: Citizens, Elites, and Deliberation in Referendum Campaigns. By David Stewart 458IGNATIEFF, MICHAEL. Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry. By Brian Orend 459RIOUX, JEAN-FRANÇOIS, sous la direction de. La sécurité humaine : une nouvelle conception des relations internationales. Par Miguel de Larrinaga 460BALME, RICHARD, DIDIER CHABANET ET VINCENT WRIGHT, sous la direction de. L'action collective en Europe. Par Bernard Jouve 463COHEN, LENARD J. Serpent in the Bosom. The Rise and Fall of Slobodan Miloševic«. By Stanislav Kirschbaum 466DUSSOUY, GÉRARD. Quelle géopolitique au XXIe siècle? Par Juan-Luis Klein 467RASHID, AHMED. L'ombre des taliban. Par Sami Aoun 468LÉGARÉ, FRANÇOIS. Terrorisme. Peurs et réalité. Par Dany Deschênes 470TAYLOR, CHARLES. Varieties of Religion Today: William James Revisited. By Robert Meynell 472BALIBAR, ETIENNE ET GÉRARD RAULET, sous la direction de. Marx démocrate: Le manuscrit de 1843. Par Étienne Cantin 473PANITCH, LEO. Renewing Socialism: Democracy, Strategy, and Imagination. By Claudio Katz 475BAUM, BRUCE. Rereading Power and Freedom in J. S. Mill. By Wendy Donner 476CARTER, APRIL AND GEOFFREY STOKES, eds. Democratic Theory Today. By Boris DeWiel 478BARNARD, FREDERICK M. Democratic Legitimacy: Plural Values and Political Power. By Greg Pyrcz 479ZUCKER, ROSS. Democratic Distributive Justice. By Colin M. Macleod 480TSEBELIS, GEORGE. Veto Players: How Political Institutions Work. By Csaba Nikolenyi 482MAY, CHRISTOPHER. The Information Society: A Sceptical View; and WEBSTER, FRANK, ed. Culture and Politics in the Information Age: A New Politics. By Darin Barney 483HAMPSON, FEN OLIVER, NORMAN HILLMER AND MAUREEN APPEL MOLOT, eds. Canada among Nations 2001: The Axworthy Legacy; and HILMER, NORMAN AND MAUREEN APPEL MOLOT, eds. Canada among Nations 2002: A Fading Power. By Tom Keating 485

Straipsnyje išskleidžiamas postmodernybės, kaip kapitalizmo raidos stadijos, supratimas. Modernybės ir postmodernybės skirtis aiškinama naujos suprekinimo ir suišteklinimo srities – gyvybės ir kūno – atžvilgiu. Kapitalizmo raidos analizė grindžiama K. Marxo ir M. Heideggerio įžvalgomis, kurios laikomos didelę „dabarties ontologijų“ aiškinamąją galią išlaikiusiais koncepciniais rėmais. Nesiekiant apčiuopti jokių K. Marxo poveikio M. Heideggeriui „linijų“, stengiamasi paryškinti, kaip vieno mąstytojo ekonominis kapitalo galios radimosi ir įsivyravimo aiškinimas atliepia kito mąstytojo samprotavimus apie naujuosius laikus, arba modernybę, grindžiančią metafiziką, koks žmogaus būvio susikurtame pasaulyje vaizdinys juos abu susieja. K. Marxo iškelta suprekinanti žmogaus gyvenamąjį pasaulį kapitalo galia, nustatanti žmogaus veiklos ir jo savikūros sąlygas, susiejama su M. Heideggerio aptartu mokslo, technikos ir gamybos susivienijimu apskaičiuojančio projektavimo vyksme, kuris žmogaus gyvenamą pasaulį ir jį patį paverčia žaliava ir ištekliais. Straipsnyje tvirtinama, kad žmogaus suprekinimas ir suišteklinimas – tai du vienas kitą palaikantys ir skatinantys procesai, kurie visuotiniu (globaliu) būdu apsireiškia postmodernybėje, aptikus gyvybėje, žmogaus kūne ir dvasinėje veikloje neišsenkamų išteklių atsargas. Tų atsargų nusavinimą ir eksploatavimą rodo genų, proteinų ir biotechnologijų patentavimas, taip pat genetinio diskurso, tampančio naujuoju pasaulėvaizdžiu, iškilimas.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: genai, ištekliai, kapitalizmas, kūnas, modernybė, patentavimas, postmodernybė, suišteklinimas, suprekinimas. POSTMODERN COMMODIFICATION: THE CONCEPTUAL FRAME OF MARX AND HEIDEGGERVytautas Rubavièius SummaryThe author of this article considers postmodernity as a stage of the development of capitalism. The difference between modernity and postmodernity is explained in relation to the new sphere of commodification and resourcification, namely that of human body and life with all natural living processes. The analysis of the transition from modernity to postmodernity is based on some Marxian an Heideggerian insights. It is supposed that these insights form a powerful conceptual frame for the analysis of the so called “onthologies of presence” and related phenomena. Wihout any attemp to grasp any lines of a possible Marxian influence on Heidegger, the stress is laid on the corespondence between the commodifying power of capital and the metaphysics supporting the modern times, or modernity. The main question is – in what image of human condition both lines of thinking converge. The human condition is characterised by the processes of commodification and resoursification. The authors’ main point is that the power of capital which commodifies the human Lebenswelt establishing guidelines for human activity and human self-creation corrsponds with the unity of sciece, technology, and production established by the process of calculative projection which transforms the Lebenswelt and man himself into various materials and resources. The article claims that the commodification and resoursification of the human being are the two processes supporting and promoting each other and that these processes attain the global and universal form in postmodernity, when in the life itself, in the human body and also in spiritual activity inexhaustible resourses are discovered. The author comes to the conclusion that the patenting of genes, proteins, and biotechnologies are forms of expropriation and exploitation of these resourses and that the genetic discourse becomes a new worldview.Keywords: body, capitalism, commodification, genes, modernity, patenting, postmodernity, resources, resourcification.

This paper argues that artist Dope Saint Jude is transforming South African hip-hop by queering a genre that has predominantly been male and heteronormative. Specifically, I analyse the opening skit of her music video “Keep in Touch” in order to unpack the ways which she revives Gayle, a gay language that adopted double-coded forms of speech during the apartheid era—a context in which homosexuals were criminalised. The use of Gayle and spaces close to the city centre of Cape Town (such as Salt River and Woodstock) speaks to the city as it was before it was transformed by the decline of industries due to the country’s adoption of neoliberal economics and, more recently, by the gentrification of these spaces. Dope Saint Jude therefore reclaims these city spaces through her use of gay modes of speech that have a long history in Cape Town and by positioning her work as hip-hop, which has been popular in the city for well over two decades. Her inclusion of transgender MC and DJ Angel Ho pushes the boundaries of hegemonic and binary conceptions of gender identity even further. In essence, Dope Saint Jude is transforming local hip-hop in a context that is shaped significantly by US cultural imperialism. The artist is also transforming our perspective of spaces that have been altered by neoliberal economics.Setting the SceneDope Saint Jude (DSJ) is a queer MC from Elsies River, a working class township located on Cape Town's Cape Flats in South Africa. Elsies River was defined as a “coloured” neighbourhood under the apartheid state's Group Areas Act, which segregated South Africans racially. With the aid of the Population Registration Act, citizens were classified, not merely along the lines of white, Asian, or black—black subjects were also divided into further categories. The apartheid state also distinguished between black and “coloured” subjects. Michael MacDonald contends that segregation “ordained blacks to be inferior to whites; apartheid cast them to be indelibly different” (11). Apartheid declared “African claims in South Africa to be inferior to white claims” and effectively claimed that black subjects “belonged elsewhere, in societies of their own, because their race was different” (ibid). The term “coloured” defined people as “mixed race” to separate communities that might otherwise have identified as black in the broad and inclusive sense (Erasmus 16). Racial categorisation was used to create a racial hierarchy with white subjects at the top of that hierarchy and those classified as black receiving the least resources and benefits. This frustrated attempts to establish broad alliances of black struggles against apartheid. It is in this sense that race is socially and politically constructed and continues to have currency, despite the fact that biologically essentialist understandings of race have been discredited (Yudell 13–14). Thanks to apartheid town planning and resource allocation, many townships on the Cape Flats were poverty-stricken and plagued by gang violence (Salo 363). This continues to be the case because post-apartheid South Africa's embrace of neoliberal economics failed to address racialised class inequalities significantly (Haupt, Static 6–8). This is the '90s context in which socially conscious hip-hop crews, such as Prophets of da City or Black Noise, came together. They drew inspiration from Black Consciousness philosophy via their exposure to US hip-hop crews such as Public Enemy in order to challenge apartheid policies, including their racial interpellation as “coloured” as distinct from the more inclusive category, black (Haupt, “Black Thing” 178). Prophets of da City—whose co-founding member, Shaheen Ariefdien, also lived in Elsies River—was the first South African hip-hop outfit to record an album. Whilst much of their work was performed in English, they quickly transformed the genre by rapping in non-standard varieties of Afrikaans and by including MCs who rap in African languages (ibid). They therefore succeeded in addressing key issues related to race, language, and class disparities in relation to South Africa's transition to democracy (Haupt, “Black Thing”; Haupt, Stealing Empire). However, as is the case with mainstream US hip-hop, specifically gangsta rap (Clay 149), South African hip-hop has been largely dominated by heterosexual men. This includes the more commercial hip-hop scene, which is largely perceived to be located in Johannesburg, where male MCs like AKA and Cassper Nyovest became celebrities. However, certain female MCs have claimed the genre, notably EJ von Lyrik and Burni Aman who are formerly of Godessa, the first female hip-hop crew to record and perform locally and internationally (Haupt, Stealing Empire 166; Haupt, “Can a Woman in Hip-Hop”). DSJ therefore presents the exception to a largely heteronormative and male-dominated South African music industry and hip-hop scene as she transforms it with her queer politics. While queer hip-hop is not new in the US (Pabón and Smalls), this is new territory for South Africa. Writing about the US MC Jean Grae in the context of a “male-dominated music industry and genre,” Shanté Paradigm Smalls contends,Heteronormativity blocks the materiality of the experiences of Black people. Yet, many Black people strive for a heteronormative effect if not “reality”. In hip hop, there is a particular emphasis on maintaining the rigidity of categories, even if those categories fail [sic]. (87) DSJ challenges these rigid categories. Keep in TouchDSJ's most visible entry onto the media landscape to date has been her appearance in an H&M recycling campaign with British Sri Lankan artist MIA (H&M), some fashion shoots, her new EP—Reimagine (Dope Saint Jude)—and recent Finnish, US and French tours as well as her YouTube channel, which features her music videos. As the characters’ theatrical costumes suggest, “Keep in Touch” is possibly the most camp and playful music video she has produced. It commences somewhat comically with Dope Saint Jude walking down Salt River main road to a public telephone, where she and a young woman in pig tails exchange dirty looks. Salt River is located at the foot of Devil's Peak not far from Cape Town's CBD. Many factories were located there, but the area is also surrounded by low-income housing, which was designated a “coloured” area under apartheid. After apartheid, neighbourhoods such as Salt River, Woodstock, and the Bo-Kaap became increasingly gentrified and, instead of becoming more inclusive, many parts of Cape Town continued to be influenced by policies that enable racialised inequalities. Dope Saint Jude calls Angel Ho: DSJ: Awêh, Angie! Yoh, you must check this kak sturvy girl here by the pay phone. [Turns to the girl, who walks away as she bursts a chewing gum bubble.] Ja, you better keep in touch. Anyway, listen here, what are you wys?Angel Ho: Ah, just at the salon getting my hair did. What's good? DSJ: Wanna catch on kak today?Angel Ho: Yes, honey. But, first, let me Gayle you this. By the jol by the art gallery, this Wendy, nuh. This Wendy tapped me on the shoulder and wys me, “This is a place of decorum.”DSJ: What did she wys?Angel Ho: De-corum. She basically told me this is not your house. DSJ: I know you told that girl to keep in touch!Angel Ho: Yes, Mama! I'm Paula, I told that bitch, “Keep in touch!” [Points index finger in the air.](Saint Jude, Dope, “Keep in Touch”)Angel Ho's name is a play on the male name Angelo and refers to the trope of the ho (whore) in gangsta rap lyrics and in music videos that present objectified women as secondary to male, heterosexual narratives (Sharpley-Whiting 23; Collins 27). The queering of Angelo, along with Angel Ho’s non-binary styling in terms of hair, make-up, and attire, appropriates a heterosexist, sexualised stereotype of women in order to create room for a gender identity that operates beyond heteronormative male-female binaries. Angel Ho’s location in a hair salon also speaks to stereotypical associations of salons with women and gay subjects. In a discussion of gender stereotypes about hair salons, Kristen Barber argues that beauty work has traditionally been “associated with women and with gay men” and that “the body beautiful has been tightly linked to the concept of femininity” (455–56). During the telephonic exchange, Angel Ho and Dope Saint Jude code-switch between standard and non-standard varieties of English and Afrikaans, as the opening appellation, “Awêh,” suggests. In this context, the term is a friendly greeting, which intimates solidarity. “Sturvy” means pretentious, whilst “kak” means shit, but here it is used to qualify “sturvy” and means that the girl at the pay phone is very pretentious or “full of airs.” To be “wys” means to be wise, but it can also mean that you are showing someone something or educating them. The meanings of these terms shift, depending on the context. The language practices in this skit are in line with the work of earlier hip-hop crews, such as Prophets of da City and Brasse vannie Kaap, to validate black, multilingual forms of speech and expression that challenge the linguistic imperialism of standard English and Afrikaans in South Africa, which has eleven official languages (Haupt, “Black Thing”; Haupt, Stealing Empire; Williams). Henry Louis Gates’s research on African American speech varieties and literary practices emerging from the repressive context of slavery is essential to understanding hip-hop’s language politics. Hip-hop artists' multilingual wordplay creates parallel discursive universes that operate both on the syntagmatic axis of meaning-making and the paradigmatic axis (Gates 49; Haupt, “Stealing Empire” 76–77). Historically, these discursive universes were those of the slave masters and the slaves, respectively. While white hegemonic meanings are produced on the syntagmatic axis (which is ordered and linear), black modes of speech as seen in hip-hop word play operate on the paradigmatic axis, which is connotative and non-linear (ibid). Distinguishing between Signifyin(g) / Signification (upper case, meaning black expression) and signification (lower case, meaning white dominant expression), he argues that “the signifier ‘Signification’ has remained identical in spelling to its white counterpart to demonstrate [. . .] that a simultaneous, but negated, parallel discursive (ontological, political) universe exists within the larger white discursive universe” (Gates 49). The meanings of terms and expressions can change, depending on the context and manner in which they are used. It is therefore the shared experiences of speech communities (such as slavery or racist/sexist oppression) that determine the negotiated meanings of certain forms of expression. Gayle as a Parallel Discursive UniverseDSJ and Angel Ho's performance of Gayle takes these linguistic practices further. Viewers are offered points of entry into Gayle via the music video’s subtitles. We learn that Wendy is code for a white person and that to keep in touch means exactly the opposite. Saint Jude explains that Gayle is a very fun queer language that was used to kind of mask what people were saying [. . .] It hides meanings and it makes use of women's names [. . . .] But the thing about Gayle is it's constantly changing [. . .] So everywhere you go, you kind of have to pick it up according to the context that you're in. (Ovens, Saint Jude and Haupt)According to Kathryn Luyt, “Gayle originated as Moffietaal [gay language] in the coloured gay drag culture of the Western Cape as a form of slang amongst Afrikaans-speakers which over time, grew into a stylect used by gay English and Afrikaans-speakers across South Africa” (Luyt 8; Cage 4). Given that the apartheid state criminalised homosexuals, Gayle was coded to evade detection and to seek out other members of this speech community (Luyt 8). Luyt qualifies the term “language” by arguing, “The term ‘language’ here, is used not as a constructed language with its own grammar, syntax, morphology and phonology, but in the same way as linguists would discuss women’s language, as a way of speaking, a kind of sociolect” (Luyt 8; Cage 1). However, the double-coded nature of Gayle allows one to think of it as creating a parallel discursive universe as Gates describes it (49). Whereas African American and Cape Flats discursive practices function parallel to white, hegemonic discourses, gay modes of speech run parallel to heteronormative communication. Exclusion and MicroaggressionsThe skit brings both discursive practices into play by creating room for one to consider that DSJ queers a male-dominated genre that is shaped by US cultural imperialism (Haupt, Stealing Empire 166) as a way of speaking back to intersectional forms of marginalisation (Crenshaw 1244), which are created by “white supremacist capitalist patriarchy” (hooks 116). This is significant in South Africa where “curative rape” of lesbians and other forms of homophobic violence are prominent (cf. Gqola; Hames; Msibi). Angel Ho's anecdote conveys a sense of the extent to which black individuals are subject to scrutiny. Ho's interpretation of the claim that the gallery “is a place of decorum” is correct: it is not Ho's house. Black queer subjects are not meant to feel at home or feel a sense of ownership. This functions as a racial microaggression: “subtle insults (verbal, nonverbal, and/or visual) directed toward people of color, often automatically or unconsciously” (Solorzano, Ceja, and Yosso 60). This speaks to DSJ's use of Salt River, Woodstock, and Bo-Kaap for the music video, which features black queer bodies in performance—all of these spaces are being gentrified, effectively pushing working class people of colour out of the city (cf. Didier, Morange, and Peyroux; Lemanski). Gustav Visser explains that gentrification has come to mean a unit-by-unit acquisition of housing which replaces low-income residents with high-income residents, and which occurs independent of the structural condition, architecture, tenure or original cost level of the housing (although it is usually renovated for or by the new occupiers). (81–82) In South Africa this inequity plays out along racial lines because its neoliberal economic policies created a small black elite without improving the lives of the black working class. Instead, the “new African bourgeoisie, because it shares racial identities with the bulk of the poor and class interests with white economic elites, is in position to mediate the reinforcing cleavages between rich whites and poor blacks without having to make more radical changes” (MacDonald 158). In a news article about a working class Salt River family of colour’s battle against an eviction, Christine Hogg explains, “Gentrification often means the poor are displaced as the rich move in or buildings are upgraded by new businesses. In Woodstock and Salt River both are happening at a pace.” Angel Ho’s anecdote, as told from a Woodstock hair salon, conveys a sense of what Woodstock’s transformation from a coloured, working class Group Area to an upmarket, trendy, and arty space would mean for people of colour, including black, queer subjects. One could argue that this reading of the video is undermined by DSJ’s work with global brand H&M. Was she was snared by neoliberal economics? Perhaps, but one response is that the seeds of any subculture’s commercial co-option lie in the fact it speaks through commodities (for example clothing, make-up, CDs, vinyl, or iTunes / mp3 downloads (Hebdige 95; Haupt, Stealing Empire 144–45). Subcultures have a window period in which to challenge hegemonic ideologies before they are delegitimated or commercially co-opted. Hardt and Negri contend that the means that extend the reach of corporate globalisation could be used to challenge it from within it (44–46; Haupt, Stealing Empire 26). DSJ utilises her H&M work, social media, the hip-hop genre, and international networks to exploit that window period to help mainstream black queer identity politics.ConclusionDSJ speaks back to processes of exclusion from the city, which was transformed by apartheid and, more recently, gentrification, by claiming it as a creative and playful space for queer subjects of colour. She uses Gayle to lay claim to the city as it has a long history in Cape Town. In fact, she says that she is not reviving Gayle, but is simply “putting it on a bigger platform” (Ovens, Saint Jude, and Haupt). The use of subtitles in the video suggests that she wants to mainstream queer identity politics. Saint Jude also transforms hip-hop heteronormativity by queering the genre and by locating her work within the history of Cape hip-hop’s multilingual wordplay. ReferencesBarber, Kristin. “The Well-Coiffed Man: Class, Race, and Heterosexual Masculinity in the Hair Salon.” Gender and Society 22.4 (2008): 455–76.Cage, Ken. “An Investigation into the Form and Function of Language Used by Gay Men in South Africa.” Rand Afrikaans University: MA thesis, 1999.Clay, Andreana. “‘I Used to Be Scared of the Dick’: Queer Women of Color and Hip-Hop Masculinity.” Home Girls Make Some Noise: Hip Hop Feminism Anthology. Ed. Gwendolyn D. Pough, Elain Richardson, Aisha Durham, and Rachel Raimist. California: Sojourns, 2007.Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism. New York: Routledge, 2005. Crenshaw, Kimberle. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color”. 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