In The Devil behind the Mirror, Steven Gregory provides a compelling and intimate account of the impact that transnational processes associated with globalization are having on the lives and ...livelihoods of people in the Dominican Republic. Grounded in ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the adjacent towns of Boca Chica and Andrés, Gregory's study deftly demonstrates how transnational flows of capital, culture, and people are mediated by contextually specific power relations, politics, and history. He explores such topics as the informal economy, the making of a telenova, sex tourism, and racism and discrimination against Haitians, who occupy the lowest rung on the Dominican economic ladder. Innovative and beautifully written, The Devil behind the Mirror masterfully situates the analysis of global economic change in everyday lives.
Sierra Leone came to world attention in the 1990s when a catastrophic civil war linked to the diamond trade was reported globally. This fleeting and particular interest, however, obscured two crucial ...processes in this small West African state. On the one hand, while the civil war was momentous, brutal and affected all Sierra Leoneans, it was also just one element in the long and faltering attempt to build a nation and state given the country's immensely problematic pre-colonial and British colonial legacies. On the other, the aftermath of the war precipitated a huge international effort to construct a 'liberal peace', with mixed results, and thus made Sierra Leone a laboratory for post-Cold War interventions. Sierra Leone examines 225 years of its history and fifty years of independence, placing state- society relations at the centre of an original and revealing investigation of those who have tried to rule or change Sierra Leone and its inhabitants and the responses engendered. It interweaves the historical narrative with sketches of politicians, anecdotes, the landscape and environment and key turning-points, alongside theoretical and other comparisons with the rest of Africa. It is a new contribution to the debate for those who already know Sierra Leone and a solid point of entry for those who wish to know.
Greg Egan (1961- ) publishes works that challenge readers with rigorous, deeply-informed scientific speculation. He unapologetically delves into mathematics, physics, and other disciplines in his ...prose, putting him in the vanguard of the hard science fiction renaissance of the 1990s. A working physicist and engineer, Karen Burnham is uniquely positioned to provide the first in-depth study of Egan's science-heavy oeuvre. She traces the author's career from his early short stories through novels like Permutation City and Schild's Ladder and the Hugo Award-winning novella "Oceanic," analyzing how Egan used cutting-edge scientific theories as a way to explore ethical questions and the nature of humanity. As Burnham shows, Egan's collected works constitute a bold artistic statement: that narratives of science are equal to those of poetry and drama, and that science holds a place in the human condition as exalted as religion or art. The volume includes a rare interview with the famously press-shy Egan covering his works, themes, intellectual interests, and thought processes.
Introduction : listening to the archives : Black lesbian literature and queer memory -- Desirous mistresses and unruly slaves : neo-slave narratives, property, power, and desire -- Small movements : ...queer blues epistemologies in Cherry Muhanji's Her -- "Mens womens some that is both some that is neither" : spiritual epistemology and queering the Black rural South in the work of Sharon Bridgforth -- "Make it up and trace it back" : remembering Black trans subjectivity in Jackie Kay's Trumpet -- What grace was : erotic epistemologies and diasporic belonging in Dionne Brand's In another place, not here -- Epilogue : grieving the queer : anti-Black violence and black collective memory
Exploring the existential implications of the Covid-19 crisis through meditationsPart personal memoir, part philosophical reflection and written in the midst of the pandemic in 2021, The World Is ...Gone employs the Robinson Crusoe fable to launch an existential investigation of the effects of extreme isolation, profound boredom, nightly insomnia, and the fear of madness associated with the loss of a world populated by others.Forerunners: Ideas First is a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital publications. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature publishing: where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship.
Abstract
The midcycle surge of LH sets in motion interconnected networks of signaling cascades to bring about rupture of the follicle and release of the oocyte during ovulation. Many mediators of ...these LH-induced signaling cascades are associated with inflammation, leading to the postulate that ovulation is similar to an inflammatory response. First responders to the LH surge are granulosa and theca cells, which produce steroids, prostaglandins, chemokines, and cytokines, which are also mediators of inflammatory processes. These mediators, in turn, activate both nonimmune ovarian cells as well as resident immune cells within the ovary; additional immune cells are also attracted to the ovary. Collectively, these cells regulate proteolytic pathways to reorganize the follicular stroma, disrupt the granulosa cell basal lamina, and facilitate invasion of vascular endothelial cells. LH-induced mediators initiate cumulus expansion and cumulus oocyte complex detachment, whereas the follicular apex undergoes extensive extracellular matrix remodeling and a loss of the surface epithelium. The remainder of the follicle undergoes rapid angiogenesis and functional differentiation of granulosa and theca cells. Ultimately, these functional and structural changes culminate in follicular rupture and oocyte release. Throughout the ovulatory process, the importance of inflammatory responses is highlighted by the commonalities and similarities between many of these events associated with ovulation and inflammation. However, ovulation includes processes that are distinct from inflammation, such as regulation of steroid action, oocyte maturation, and the eventual release of the oocyte. This review focuses on the commonalities between inflammatory responses and the process of ovulation.
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