The Documentary Real: Thinking Documentary Aesthetics

In this article we consider the growing interest in recent years in the use of documentary strategies in the wold of contemporary art, film and performing arts and explore some of the central epistemological assumptions underpinning the persistent idea that the documentary should be equated with ‘non-fiction’. Following Stella Bruzzi we argue that if documentary theory maintains objectivity as the primary measure of value, it will inevitably and continuously arrive at the conclusion that the documentary genre is fundamentally flawed. Instead, we propose to move beyond the ‘realist epistemology’ of documentary theory and focus on the ‘documentary real’, i.e. the specific performativity of the reality constructed in and by the documentary genre. In the last paragraphs, we introduce the various articles that address the “documentary real” in this special issue.     

页岩气低伤害超临界CO2凝胶压裂液研究

针对常规水压裂液会对页岩造成伤害，容易产生水锁，不易返排，还造成水资源消耗和污染环境等问题，制备了低伤害二氧化碳凝胶压裂液。将自备的F2EU和F4EU增稠剂加入到超临界CO₂基液中，探究两种增稠剂的加入量对CO₂凝胶压裂液黏度的影响，综合考虑成本与效果，优选了2%的F4EU增稠剂，可将CO₂的黏度增至15.4 mPa·s。研究了温度、压力以及剪切速率对凝胶压裂液黏度的影响。实验结果表明，随着温度升高黏度总体降低，但中间出现一个短暂升高阶段；随着压力上升压裂液黏度增加；随着剪切速率的增加压裂液黏度下降，属于一种典型的剪切变稀的假塑性流体。F4EU超临界CO₂凝胶压裂液的平均伤害率为1.39%，远远小于常规压裂液对岩芯的伤害率。实验表明，F4EU超临界CO₂凝胶压裂液在页岩气压裂开采中具有良好的应用前景。     

Early SIV and HIV infection promotes the LILRB2/MHC-I inhibitory axis in cDCs

Classical dendritic cells (cDCs) play a pivotal role in the early events that tip the immune response toward persistence or viral control. In vitro studies indicate that HIV infection induces the dysregulation of cDCs through binding of the LILRB2 inhibitory receptor to its MHC-I ligands and the strength of this interaction was proposed to drive disease progression. However, the dynamics of the LILRB2/MHC-I inhibitory axis in cDCs during early immune responses against HIV are yet unknown. Here, we show that early HIV-1 infection induces a strong and simultaneous increase of LILRB2 and MHC-I expression on the surface of blood cDCs. We further characterized the early dynamics of LILRB2 and MHC-I expression by showing that SIVmac251 infection of macaques promotes coordinated up-regulation of LILRB2 and MHC-I on cDCs and monocytes/macrophages, from blood and lymph nodes. Orientation towards the LILRB2/MHC-I inhibitory axis starts from the first days of infection and is transiently induced in the entire cDC population in acute phase. Analysis of the factors involved indicates that HIV-1 replication, TLR7/8 triggering, and treatment by IL-10 or type I IFNs increase LILRB2 expression. Finally, enhancement of the LILRB2/MHC-I inhibitory axis is specific to HIV-1 and SIVmac251 infections, as expression of LILRB2 on cDCs decreased in naturally controlled chikungunya virus infection of macaques. Altogether, our data reveal a unique up-regulation of LILRB2 and its MHC-I ligands on cDCs in the early phase of SIV/HIV infection, which may account for immune dysregulation at a critical stage of the anti-viral response.     

EVOKE: A Value-Driven Concept Selection Method for Early System Design

The development of new technologically advanced products requires the contribution from a range of skills and disciplines, which are often difficult to find within a single company or organization. Requirements establishment practices in Systems Engineering (SE), while ensuring coordination of activities and tasks across the supply network, fall short when it comes to facilitate knowledge sharing and negotiation during early system design. Empirical observations show that when system-level requirements are not available or not mature enough, engineers dealing with the development of long lead-time sub-systems tend to target local optima, rather than opening up the design space. This phenomenon causes design teams to generate solutions that do not embody the best possible configuration for the overall system. The aim of this paper is to show how methodologies for value-driven design may address this issue, facilitating early stage design iterations and the resolution of early stage design trade-offs. The paper describes how such methodologies may help gathering and dispatching relevant knowledge about the ‘design intent’ of a system to the cross-functional engineering teams, so to facilitate a more concurrent process for requirement elicitation in SE. The paper also describes EVOKE (Early Value Oriented design exploration with KnowledgE maturity), a concept selection method that allows benchmarking design options at sub-system level on the base of value-related information communicated by the system integrators. The use of EVOKE is exemplified in an industrial case study related to the design of an aero-engine component. EVOKE’s ability to raise awareness on the value contribution of early stage design concepts in the SE process has been further verified with industrial practitioners in ad-hoc design episodes.     

Molecular function of the novel α7β2 nicotinic receptor

The α7 nicotinic receptor is a promising drug target for neurological and inflammatory disorders. Although it is the homomeric member of the family, a novel α7β2 heteromeric receptor has been discovered. To decipher the functional contribution of the β2 subunit, we generated heteromeric receptors with fixed stoichiometry by two different approaches comprising concatenated and unlinked subunits. Receptors containing up to three β2 subunits are functional. As the number of β2 subunits increases in the pentameric arrangement, the durations of channel openings and activation episodes increase progressively probably due to decreased desensitization. The prolonged activation episodes conform the kinetic signature of α7β2 and may have an impact on neuronal excitability. For activation of α7β2 receptors, an α7/α7 binding-site interface is required, thus indicating that the three β2 subunits are located consecutively in the pentameric arrangement. α7-positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) are emerging as novel therapeutic drugs. The presence of β2 in the pentamer affects neither type II PAM potentiation nor activation by an allosteric agonist whereas it impairs type I PAM potentiation. This first single-channel study provides fundamental basis required to decipher the role and function of the novel α7β2 receptor and opens doors to develop selective therapeutic drugs.     

Maternal eating behavior is a major synchronizer of fetal and postnatal peripheral clocks in mice

Most living organisms show circadian rhythms in physiology and behavior. These oscillations are generated by endogenous circadian clocks, present in virtually all cells where they control key biological processes. To study peripheral clocks in vivo, we developed an original model, the Rev-Luc mouse to follow noninvasively and longitudinally Rev-Luc oscillations in peripheral clocks using in vivo bioluminescence imaging. We found in vitro and in vivo a robust diurnal rhythm of Rev-Luc, mainly in liver, intestine, kidney and adipose tissues. We further confirmed in vivo that Rev-Luc peripheral tissues are food-entrainable oscillators, not affected by age or sex. These data strongly support the relevance of the Rev-Luc model for circadian studies, especially to investigate in vivo the establishment and the entrainment of the rhythm throughout ontogenesis. We then showed that Rev-Luc expression develops dynamically and gradually, both in amplitude and in phase, during fetal and postnatal development. We also demonstrate for the first time that the immature peripheral circadian system of offspring in utero is mainly entrained by maternal cues from feeding regimen. The prenatal entrainment will also differentially determine the Rev-Luc expression in pups before weaning underlining the importance of the maternal chrononutrition on the circadian system entrainment of the offspring.     

The expansion of GPCR transactivation-dependent signalling to include serine/threonine kinase receptors represents a new cell signalling frontier

G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signalling is mediated through transactivation-independent signalling pathways or the transactivation of protein tyrosine kinase receptors and the recently reported activation of the serine/threonine kinase receptors, most notably the transforming growth factor-β receptor family. Since the original observation of GPCR transactivation of protein tyrosine kinase receptors, there has been considerable work on the mechanism of transactivation and several pathways are prominent. These pathways include the “triple membrane bypass” pathway and the generation of reactive oxygen species. The recent recognition of GPCR transactivation of serine/threonine kinase receptors enormously broadens the GPCR signalling paradigm. It may be predicted that the transactivation of serine/threonine kinase receptors would have mechanistic similarities with transactivation of tyrosine kinase pathways; however, initial studies suggest that these two transactivation pathways are mechanistically distinct. Important questions are the relative importance of tyrosine and serine/threonine transactivation pathways, the contribution of transactivation to overall GPCR signalling, mechanisms of transactivation and the range of cell types in which this phenomenon occurs. The ultimate significance of transactivation-dependent signalling remains to be defined but it appears to be prominent and if so will represent a new cell signalling frontier.     

环境规制政策与公共健康——基于环境污染的中介效应检验

为了探究环境规制政策对于环境污染及公共健康的影响,本文基于我国1978至2013年颁布的976条环境规制政策,利用从政策属性力度、政策内容力度两个维度对我国环境规制政策进行量化的数据,构建了针对环境规制政策效果的计量模型,通过将中介效应检验方法引入环境健康经济学分析,检验了环境污染对环境规制政策与公共健康的中介效应.研究结果表明:环境规制政策对公共健康具有促进作用;我国总体的环境规制政策对于防治环境污染产生了一定程度的积极效果;环境规制政策通过对环境污染显著的部分中介效应进而对公共健康产生了促进作用.本研究基于总体环境规制政策文献量化角度考察的"政策-环境-健康"三维动态关系结果,阐明了环境规制政策、环境污染以及公共健康三者的影响传输路径,对于有效评估环境规制政策效果,保障环境质量以及公共健康的可持续提升具有理论借鉴价值.     

黄冈公铁两用长江大桥维修通道施工

维修通道专为桥梁竣工后接收管养单位而设。本文以黄冈桥维修通道为例,从下部基础到上部主体框架乃至附属,全面地叙述了各部位的施工情况及工序控制要点,为以后类似施工提供一定经验。     

Reconsideration on Homogeneous Quadratic Riemann Boundary Value Problem

The homogeneous quadratic Riemann boundary value problem (1) with Hoelder continuous coefficients for the normal case was considered by the author in 1997. But the solutions obtained there are incomplete. Here its general method of solution is obtained.