A liberal history of a radical movement

The Making of Black Lives Matters reaches across a number of Black intellectuals and activists to identify common ground that could birth a Black Lives Matter (BLM movement), but its choice of thinkers and Lebron’s interpretation fail to produce a radical enough historiography to help readers fully engage with the emergence of the BLM movement. In response to Lebron’s text, I take up three central concerns: (1) the audience for the book, (2) which/who’s BLM movement?, and (3) the historical antecedents to BLM. The thinkers and concepts in the volume provide insight into the Black Freedom Struggle in general but do not elucidate the particular paths to or the contours of the BLM movement. The complex intersecting and interlocking agendas of BLM deserve a more radical undergirding to help readers understand the significance of the current movement relative to the past.     

Black Catholicism and Black Lives Matter: the process towards joining a movement

This ethnographic study examines how Black Catholics identify with and respond to the Black Lives Matter movement. The study follows several national Black Catholic gatherings since the death of Mike Brown. Using an adaptation of Scott Hunt, Robert D. Benford, and David Snow's social movement frame analysis, I explore how Black Catholics define and construct the ongoing political issues within the Black Lives Matter movement. I discuss the conditions which contribute to Black Catholic’s participation, or lack thereof, in this social movement through the processes of diagnostic framing, prognostic framing, and motivational framing. I position the larger Black Catholic belief system within frame analysis, examine the relevance of the frames with the Black Catholic community, and analyse the frames’ timing with the Black Lives Matter cycle of protest. This research has implications for intragroup meaning making as Black Catholics start the process towards identifying with the Black Lives Matter social movement.     

The social media response to Black Lives Matter: how Twitter users interact with Black Lives Matter through hashtag use

This paper focuses on the social media presence of Black Lives Matter (BLM). Specifically, we examine how social media users interact with BLM by using hashtags and thus modify the framing of the movement. We call this decentralized interaction with the movement “distributed framing”. Empirically, we illustrate this idea with an analysis of 66,159 tweets that mention #BlackLivesMatter in 2014, when #BlackLivesMatter becomes prominent on social media. We also tally the other hashtags that appear with #BlackLivesMatter in order to measure how online communities influence the framing of the movement. We find that #BlackLivesMatter is associated with five types of hashtags. These hashtags mention solidarity or approval of the movement, refer to police violence, mention movement tactics, mention Ferguson, or express counter-movement sentiments. The paper concludes with hypotheses about the development of movement framings that can be addressed in future research.     

Engaging with the past: how #BlackLivesMatter points us to our predecessors and calls us to hope

This paper focuses on the contributions of Chris Lebron's book The Making of Black Lives Matter: The History of an Idea. Specifically, I examine his discussion of James Baldwin, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Audre Lorde and their opinions about love for their community, black self-actualization, and black liberation. I consider whether or not rage should play a role in our opinions about the #BlackLivesMatter movement and discuss whether or not it hurts the pursuit of freedom. I agree with the importance to look to the past in order to inform our political behaviour moving forward. Nonetheless, if we are to align with the #BlackLivesMatter movement, we must be willing to challenge what is often considered to be “proper” dissent. The review concludes with hypotheses about what black Americans should do as we work to reimagine a society where oppression is not integral to the maintenance of the American project.     

Black Lipid Membranes at Bifaces : Formation characteristics,optical and some thermodynamic properties

Black lipid membranes (BLM) less than 90 A thick have been shown to be the most realistic approach to biological membrane models. This paper describes the formation characteristics, optical properties, and thermodynamics of BLM at water/oil/water bifaces. In particular, the nature of the Plateau-Gibbs border which supports the black membrane is analyzed in some detail. The formation of BLM at the biface involves a spontaneous reduction of the free energy of the system. As long as the integrity of the membrane is maintained, the limiting structure of the BLM represents the lowest free energy configuration.     

Pure and mixed lipid black foam films as models of membrane fusion

Black foam films (BFF) from water solutions of the phospholipid dilauroyl lecithin (DLL) with admixtures of palmitoyl lysolecithin (Lyso) were formed. Microscopic BFF were studied by the method of Scheludko and Exerowa. The formation probability for BFF and the BFF lifetime in a black state before film rupture were measured as functions of the film composition. At a fixed overal lipid concentration it was shown that an increased percentage of Lyso exponentially increased the lifetime of the film up to the CMC of Lyso. This stabilizing Lyso effect nicely corresponds with its stabilizing action on the waiting time for fusion of two contacting black lipid membranes (BLM), as found by Chernomordik et al. In contrast, Lyso is known to destabilize a single BLM. In this way we have found experimental proof of our earlier prediction that Lyso should have opposite effects on the lifetimes of BLM and BFF. In addition, we have shown for the first time that foam films made of lipids are a convenient model for monlayer membrane fusion studies. This model is characterized by its simplicity and experimental reliability and provides a means for quick screening of the fusogenic capacity of various amphiphilic and hydrophilic admixtures.     

The vitality of social media for establishing a research agenda on black lives and the movement

Social media provides scholars with important portals into the lives of marginalized communities and the movements organized to combat issues of race and racism in society. However, how to incorporate the seemingly unwieldy amount of social media data for research in our fields can pose challenges to further clarify how people navigate our social world and the issues with in it, but also how they organize to push for social change and equality. In what follows, the authors discuss how social media data can be used to enhance our studies of black lives in reflection of the burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement on issues such as gun violence, public health, and higher education.     

Visual fields, eye movements, and scanning behavior of a sit-and-wait predator, the black phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)

Foraging mode influences the dominant sensory modality used by a forager and likely the strategies of information gathering used in foraging and anti-predator contexts. We assessed three components of visual information gathering in a sit-and-wait avian predator, the black phoebe (Sayornis nigricans): configuration of the visual field, degree of eye movement, and scanning behavior through head-movement rates. We found that black phoebes have larger lateral visual fields than similarly sized ground-foraging passerines, as well as relatively narrower binocular and blind areas. Black phoebes moved their eyes, but eye movement amplitude was relatively smaller than in other passerines. Black phoebes may compensate for eye movement constraints with head movements. The rate of head movements increased before attacking prey in comparison to non-foraging contexts and before movements between perches. These findings suggest that black phoebes use their lateral visual fields, likely subtended by areas of high acuity in the retina, to track prey items in a three-dimensional space through active head movements. These head movements may increase depth perception, motion detection and tracking. Studying information gathering through head movement changes, rather than body posture changes (head-up, head-down) as generally presented in the literature, may allow us to better understand the mechanisms of information gathering from a comparative perspective.     

Power,knowledge and Black Feminist Thought’s enduring contribution towards social justice

In this review, I focus on three themes approached in Patricia Hill Collins’s Black Feminist Thought – difference and inequality, knowledge and power, and black feminist thought and black women intellectuals – in order to argue that what makes it a unique work is the fact that it features an original framework that grapples with epistemological and conceptual issues in order to grasp black women’s intellectual legacy.     

SPATIAL HETEROGENEITY AND SIMILARITY OF ADULT PLANTS AND SEEDLINGS IN 'BLACK SOIL LAND' SECONDARY WEED COMMUNITY, QINGHAI-TIBETAN PLATEAU

 在样线调查基础上, 用半方差函数、分形维数、空间自相关等方法对青藏高原“黑土滩”次生毒杂草群落地上成体植株、幼苗空间的异质性, 二者物种构成的相似性及其尺度特征进行分析。结果表明, “黑土滩”次生毒杂草群落在较大尺度上地上成体植株物种数的空间依赖性强, 异质性高, 而个体密度则较均匀; 幼苗物种数在小尺度上空间异质性高, 幼苗密度在大尺度上空间异质性较高, 幼苗密度独立于其物种分布, 高密度的幼苗分布在微地形下和群落间隙中, “黑土滩”毒杂草植物幼苗充分利用空余生态位进行群落补充; “黑土滩”群落在不同尺度上地上成体植株与幼苗物种构成相似性变化的规律性不大; “黑土滩”群落幼苗靠其高密度特征完成群落更新, 植物群落幼苗更新力强, 导致“黑土滩”毒杂草群落趋于稳定。因此, 建议加强干扰以减弱“黑土滩”次生毒杂草群落稳定趋势, 这对恢复“黑土滩”具有重要指导意义。     

The Bloom Syndrome Helicase is a Substrate of the Mitotic Cdc2 Kinase

ABSTRACTBloom syndrome (BS) is a rare human autosomal recessive disorder characterized by marked genetic instability associated with greatly increased predisposition to a wide range of cancers affecting the general population. BS arises through mutations in both copies of the BLM gene which encodes a 3’-5’ DNA helicase identified as a member of the RecQ family. Several studies support a major role for BLM in the cellular response to DNA damage and stalled replication forks. However, the specific function(s) of BLM remain(s) unclear. The BLM protein is strongly expressed and phosphorylated during mitosis, but very little information is available about the origin and the significance of this phosphorylation. We show here that ATM kinase provides only a limited contribution to the mitotic phosphorylation of BLM. We also demonstrate that BLM is directly phosphorylated at multiple sites in vitro by the mitotic cdc2 kinase, and identify two new sites of mitotic BLM phosphorylation: Ser-714 and Thr-766. Our results identify BLM helicase as a new substrate for cdc2, which may have potential physiological implications for the role of BLM in mitosis.     

Introduction: On irreconciliation

Most post-conflict reconciliatory exercises make it incumbent upon survivors to forgive, and seek closure as a demonstration of ‘moving on’. Various anthropologists have criticized reconciliation and related forms of ‘alternative justice’ extensively but within the framework of maintaining social bonds and the rule of law. In this introduction, I reflect critically on the interdisciplinary scholarship on reconciliation, apology, and forgiveness, and theorize irreconciliation as a less examined lens of analysis. Rather than being in opposition to ‘peace’, irreconciliation allows us to interrogate the status quo by refusing to forgive endemic impunities, particularly in the aftermath of staged processes of justice and the absence-presence of the rule of law. In this special issue of the JRAI, I ethnographically explore irreconciliation's links with law, aesthetics, temporality, resistance, and control to locate its multiple analytical manifestations. Irreconciliation allows an important examination of the rule of law within processes of unresolved genocidal injustices and debates relating to slavery, Black Lives Matter, and institutional responses.     

Population policy,family size and child malnutrition in Vietnam – Testing the trade-off between child quantity and quality from a child nutrition perspective

This paper estimates the quantity-quality (QQ) trade-off of children from a child nutrition perspective, using data on 2000 children born in 2001–2002 from the Young Lives project in Vietnam. Using the sex of the first-born in the family as an instrumental variable for family size, we found that having an additional sibling lowers a 5-year-old Vietnamese child’s height-for-age and weight-for-age Z scores by 0.3 and 0.26 standard deviations (SDs), respectively. This finding is robust to a series of checks, providing strong evidence of the quantity-quality trade-off of children. In more policy-relevant terms, our estimates suggest that the violation of Vietnam’s Two-Child policy (i.e., having more than two children) may have caused reductions in 5-year-old Vietnamese children’s height-for-age and weight-for-age by, respectively, 0.49 and 0.57 SDs.     

The source of a movement: making the case for social media as an informational source using Black Lives Matter

Social media is growing as a technological and social phenomenon, with billions of people using it every day around the world. Given its increasing ubiquity, researchers continue to seek to understand social media and its implications for the social world. Part of the growing body of scholarship on social media includes uncovering the most effective methodologies for exploration that appropriately consider differences between the technology of social media and the ways in which people use them. New directions for social media research include the use of big data and analysing the socio-technical nature of social media. Using data from an ongoing study on college Millennials that includes questions about their thoughts on the Black Lives Matter movement, the author suggests another direction for future research: studying the implications of social media as an informational source.     

Cleavage of BLM and Sensitivity of Bloom’s Syndrome Cells to Hydroxurea

Patients with Bloom’s syndrome (BS) show a strong genetic instability and a predisposition to all types of cancer. Here, we report that the Bloom’s syndrome protein (BLM) is cleaved in response to hydroxyurea (HU)- or UVC-induced apoptosis. The appearance and solubility of BLM proteolytic products differed according to whether proteolysis occurred in response to HU or UVC. One BS cell line homozygous for a null mutation in BLM was resistant to both UVC- and HU-induced apoptosis, while another one expressing a mutated BLM protein was resistant to HU-induced apoptosis but displayed normal sensitivity to UVC. Thus, UVC and HU appear to induce apoptosis through distinct pathways.

Key Words:

Bloom’s syndrome, Apoptosis, Hydroxyurea, Ultraviolet C radiation, RecQ helicase     

From colonial liberation to Cold War liberalism: Walter White,the NAACP,and Foreign Affairs, 1941–1955

With the USA's entry into World War II, international politics again commanded significant attention from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP]. Walter White, the NAACP's secretary, actively promoted an international solidarity movement to pressure the USA and European powers to commit to a world without colonies. The NAACP's participation in this movement lasted through to 1948. By 1951 White and his association had abandoned that solidarity, cut its ties with the African-American left, and embraced liberal anti-Communism. In exchange for this support, the NAACP received an unkept promise of influence in the formulation of domestic race relations policy. This article examines the foreign policy choices that the NAACP made between 1941 and 1955; the leadership styles that facilitated these choices; and the Cold War pressures on black America that helped push White and the NAACP into the liberal anti-communists’ camp.     

168 NMR study of RQC domain of BLM protein

BLM, a member of the RecQ helicase associated with the Bloom’s syndrome human genetic disorder, has been found to bind to noncanonical DNA with high affinity via its RecQ C-terminal domain (RQC). Using multi-dimensional NMR spectroscopy, we have determined the solution structure of BLM RQC, and found that BLM RQC retains the overall winged-helix motif previously observed for other RQC proteins. Comparison between BLM RQC and the RQC domain of its homologue, Werner syndrome protein (WRN RQC), revealed two major structural differences. Firstly, BLM RQC contains an extended 14-residue insertion forming a flexible loop between two first α-helices, only found in BLM RQC and not other RQC proteins. Secondly, in contrast to the third α-helix of WRN RQC, an unstructured loop was observed for this region of BLM RQC.     

Studies on the interaction of C1q, a subcomponent of the first component of complement, with porins from Salmonella minnesota incorporated into artificial membranes.

Purified outer membrane proteins (OMP) of Salmonella minnesota, Re-form, were incorporated into liposomes. These induced in macrophages a chemiluminescence signal identical to that of the intact Re-form. This signal was abolished by preincubation of porin-containing liposomes with purified C1q. Incorporation of isolated OMP into black lipid membranes (BLM) resulted in channel-formation which could not be inhibited by isolated C1q. Additionally, incubation of OMP-containing liposomes with BLM resulted in pore-formation within the BLM. This was amplified when lipid A was present within the liposomes. Preincubation of OMP-containing liposomes with purified C1q abolished pore-formation within the BLM.     

Putting (Big) Black Dog Syndrome to the Test: Evidence from a Large Metropolitan Shelter

Most support for Black Dog Syndrome or Big Black Dog Syndrome is anecdotal or theoretical. Yet some animal shelters/organizations have implemented strategies to address what they believe are lower rates of adoption and/or higher rates of euthanasia for “Big Black Dogs.” This study examines the persistent anecdotes and theories on humans’ preferences and aversions to dogs of various shades, using hierarchical multinomial logistic regression to predict outcomes for an analytic sample of 7,440 dogs from 2010–2011 in an urban, public animal shelter serving Louisville, Kentucky, USA. The relationship between coat shade and dog outcomes was not straightforward; while no relationship existed at the bivariate level, after controls were added, entirely black dogs showed somewhat lower odds of adoption—and higher euthanasia risk—than those characterized as secondarily black or sans black. Breed category, breed size, and purebred status were stronger predictors of dog outcomes than coat shade. Big Black Dog Syndrome was not supported by these data; smaller dogs were more likely to be euthanized if they were partly or wholly black. These findings may offer nuances to adoption strategies employed by shelters/organizations, help make better use of resources, and, perhaps, improve the likelihood of homing or rehoming shelter animals.     

The practice of capoeira: diasporic black culture in Canada

Abstract

This article draws on ethnographic research with Canadians who practise the Afro-Brazilian martial art, capoeira, to discuss, renew and perform African heritage, black circulating cultures and Canadian nationalism. I make several incursions into Paul Gilroy's theory of the Black Atlantic. First I draw attention farther north to Canada to show that diaspora cultures reference an ‘elsewhere’ as they also come to represent ‘here’; capoeira is used to engage with local Aboriginal and multiculturalism politics. I overcome the little attention that has been paid in Gilroy-influenced black cultural studies to embodiment, corporeality and the particular movements of the sporting body, which are deployed to preserve and share diaspora cultures. This examination of the micropolitics of sport reveals the past, ‘tradition’ and ‘African’ symbols and heritage (roots), along with antiphony, innovation and transnational circulation (routes) as essential elements of black expressive cultures.