Journal articles on the topic 'Appointed organist'

The prevailing image of Messiaen in the 1930s is of an organist-composer. One of the first things learnt about him is that he was organist at the church of the Trinité in Paris, having been appointed at the spectacularly young age of 22. As the earliest (though not the first) of Messiaen's works to have been published, the short organ piece Le Banquet céleste (1928) is, quite rightly, the focus of close examination for its precocious assurance. The 1930s were punctuated by the substantial organ cycles La Nativité du Seigneur (1935) and Les Corps glorieux (1939), so it is no surprise to find Felix Aprahamian's article for the fifth edition of Grove describing Messiaen as being a ‘French organist and composer”, and later observing that ‘although it was as a composer of organ music that in pre-war years Messiaen's name first attracted attention, he had already composed a quantity of vocal music’. Fifty years later, Paul Griffiths similarly observed that ‘Organ works featured prominently in his output of the next decade [1930s], but so did music about his family’. According to Harry Halbreich, ‘one can say that before 1940, Messiaen was essentially an organist-composer’, while, Malcolm Hayes concludes his chapter on the early orchestral music in The Messiaen Companion by stating that ‘to judge from the idiom of his works written in the 1930s, he had once seemed destined to spend his creative life within the narrow confines of the organ loft’.

It has been often observed that Georgian Britain was alive with musical activity, and that London was one of the most important musical hubs in Europe. Most of Britain's important provincial centres were well connected to the capital by road or sea, and this helped facilitate the spread of the latest musical ideas around the country. The west Cumberland town of Whitehaven is situated over three hundred miles from London by road and, at the time, was isolated from the rest mainland Britain by the surrounding fells of the Lake District. Nevertheless, by the end of the eighteenth century Whitehaven had grown into one of Britain's most important ports and had a musical life that rivalled that at any other major town in the country.Musical life in Whitehaven was dominated by the Howgill family. William Howgill senior was appointed organist of St Nicholas’ Church in 1756 and set himself up there as music teacher and concert promoter. Here he raised a family and was succeeded in his musical duties by his son, William Howgill junior. This article examines the Howgill family's musical activities in depth and explores their London connections. This research is based on the detailed study of primary sources including newspapers, but there has also been an effort to examine all of William Howgill junior's compositions. This study reveals that, despite Whitehaven's remote location, Howgill junior was well aware of the latest musical developments in the capital.

The aim of this study was to identify the toxicity, determine and verify safe concentration of effluents containing phenol to the aquatic ecosystems on the basis of single- and multispecies ecotoxicological bioassays. Synthetic wastewater imitating municipal sewage showed acute toxicity in relation to all bioindicators and belonged to the third toxicity class. The most sensible organism was Danio rerio, the most resistance organism was Desmodesmus quadricauda. Chronic safe concentration of wastewater containing phenol was 0.63% which corresponded to 0.63 mg/l of phenol. Appointed safe concentration and the one ten times higher than safe were verified in microcosm study, which confirmed that safe concentration did not cause toxic effects. Maximum permissible concentration of phenol in water bodies does not exceed determined concentration in different countries. Proposed research model can be used to determine and verify safe concentrations for aquatic ecosystems of many types of sewage from various industries.

Aim. To determine effectiveness of combination therapy with lisinopril and fosinopril in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LV EF), considering its impact on the regulatory and adaptive capabilities organism. Materials and methods. 80 patients were examined with CHF II functional class with preserved systolic function of the left ventricle (left ventricular ejection fraction ≥50%) (classification of the New York Heart Association) in the presence of hypertension disease (HD) III stage and/or ischemic heart disease (IHD). Randomly divided into two equal groups. In the first group was appointed for treatment with lisinopril (the average dose was 14.0±3.8 mg/day), in the second group - fosinopril (the average dose - 14.7±4.2 mg/day). All patients were prescribed nebivolol (7.1±2.2 mg/day and 6.8±2.1 mg/day). Depending on the concomitant pathology were appointed acetylsalicylic acid in the intestinal shell (100 mg/day, n=9 and 100 mg/day, n=10) and atorvastatin (15.3±4.9 mg/day, n=15 and 16.5±4.8 mg/day, n=17). Initially and after six months later of combined pharmacotherapy studied: a quantitative assessment of regulatory and adaptive capabilities of the organism, echocardiography, treadmill test, six-minute walk test, determination in blood plasma of the N-terminal precursor of the natriuretic brain peptide level, all-day monitoring of blood electrocardiograms and pressure. The quality of life was also assessed using a questionnaire. Results. Both treatment regimens of patients equally improved the structural and functional parameters of the heart, reduced neurohumoral activity, optimized heart rate and pulse. In this case, treatment with fosinopril is more pronounced positively regulatory-adaptive capacity and tolerance to physical load, and also there was an improvement in the quality of life. Conclusion. In patients with CHF with preserved LV EF, in the presence of HD and/or IHD combined pharmacotherapy with fosinopril in comparison with lisinopril probably is preferable due to the more pronounced increase in regulatory and adaptive capabilities.

obtained his B.Sc. (joint honors in chemistry & biology, 1988) from NUI-Maynooth and his Ph.D. from University College Dublin, Ireland (1993, supervisor: W. Ivo. O’Sullivan). After postdoctoral studies with Steve Davies (Oxford, 1993–1996) and Chris Maycock (ITQB Portugal, 1996–1999) and working for a year as a lecturer in analytical chemistry at Instituto Piaget: Instituto Superior de Estudos Interculturais e Transdisciplinares, Almada, Portugal, he accepted a position as assistant professor in organic chemistry, at the University Évora. He obtained the title of aggregation (‘habilitation’) in organic chemistry from the University of Évora in 2012 and was recently appointed to the position of associate professor at the same department. He was chairman for of 1st, 2nd and 3rd editions of the International Symposium on Synthesis and Catalysis (ISySyCat), and is actively planning the 4th edition for 31 Aug to 3 September, 2021. He was appointed a Fellow of ChemPubSoc Europe in Feb 2020.

Jovan Apostolovic was born between 1730 and 1735, in Buda and died in 1770 in Novi Sad. He was the first Serbian physician who acquired the title of a medical doctor with his doctoral thesis. After his graduation from the Halle Medical School in 1757, he defended his doctoral thesis there, titled ?How Emotions Affect the Human Body?. This thesis, considering the time of its publication, was the first in the history of medicine that studied psychosomatics taking into consideration the influence of emotions on human organism. Upon his arrival to Novi Sad, in 1759, Apostolovic had founded his medical practice as an only graduate physician in the town. When, after its outbreak in Belgrade, Srem and Banat, the plague threatened to spread to the Novi Sad area, he was appointed the town?s doctor in 1763, but was resolved from this position in 1765, since the Magistrate was not able to handle the pressure from the barbers, catholic priests and German population of the town. After losing this position, he continued with his medical practice in Novi Sad, till 1770 when he died of tuberculosis.

<p>Charalambos Gasparis</p><p>Metropolitan Authority and Colonial Officials. The <em>Capitaneus Crete.</em> XIV-XV c.</p><p>A new official, the <em>Capitaneus Crete</em>, has been appointed for the first time after the revolt of St. Titus (1363-1366) to protect the venetian dominion in Crete against any internal or foreign enemy. </p><p><em>Capitaneu</em>s is the chief of the Cretan feudal and mercenary army, responsible for the island defence. He participates to the local government (<em>regimen</em>), as an equal with the Duke of Candia and his two Counsellors. Before leaving Venice, the <em>capitaneus</em>, as every venetian official, swears to the main principle of the venetian colonial policy, that is to fight «for the honour and the profit of the Venetian state» and also «for the good and the security of the colony». </p><p>The <em>commissio</em> of <em>capitaneus</em> <em>Crete</em> Nicolaus Mudatio (1411) offers a panorama of the <em>capitaneus</em>' restrictions and jurisdictions as a high official of the venetian colony of Crete. He is appointed by the metropolitan authorities for a two-year period of time with an annual payment of 1.000 venetian <em>ducati</em>. Among his other duties, the <em>capitaneus</em> has to organise and keep the army ready to defend the island whenever is needed; he also administers justice among the mercenaries and he is responsible for keeping the order in the city and the <em>burgo</em> of Candia. As far as his participation to the <em>regimen</em> is concerned, his contribution to decisions related to internal or foreign affairs is quite significant.</p><p> </p>

Jay S. Siegel received his Ph.D. from Princeton (1985), was a Swiss Universities Fellow at ETH Zurich (1983-4), and NSF–CNRS postdoctoral fellow at the University of Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg (1985-6). He began as Assistant Professor of Chemistry (1986) at UCSD, was promoted to Associate Professor (1992) and Full Professor (1996). In 2003, he was appointed as Professor and co-director of the Organic chemistry institute of the University of Zurich (UZH) and Director of its laboratory for process chemistry research (LPF). He served as Dean of Studies and Head of the Research Council for the Faculty of Sciences at UZH. He moved to Tianjin University in 2013 as dean, and joined the Schools of Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences into a new Health Science Platform. His research is in the area of Stereochemistry and Physical Organic Chemistry.

Jay S. Siegel received his Ph.D. from Princeton (1985), was a Swiss Universities Fellow at ETH Zurich (1983-4), and NSF–CNRS postdoctoral fellow at the University of Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg (1985-6). He began as Assistant Professor of Chemistry (1986) at UCSD, was promoted to Associate Professor (1992) and Full Professor (1996). In 2003, he was appointed as Professor and co-director of the Organic chemistry institute of the University of Zurich (UZH) and Director of its laboratory for process chemistry research (LPF). He served as Dean of Studies and Head of the Research Council for the Faculty of Sciences at UZH. He moved to Tianjin University in 2013 as dean and joined the Schools of Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences into a new Health Science Platform. His research is in the area of Stereochemistry and Physical Organic Chemistry.

Shinichiro Fuse was born in 1977 in Japan. He earned his B.S. degree in 2000 and his Ph.D. in 2005 from Tokyo Institute of Technology under the supervision of Prof. Takashi Takahashi. He was a researcher at ChemGenesis Incorporated between 2005 and 2006, and a postdoctoral fellow from 2006 to 2008 at Harvard University in the group of Prof. Daniel E. Kahne. In 2008, he joined the faculty at the Tokyo Institute of Technology as an assistant professor. He then moved to the Chemical Resources Laboratory at the same university as an associate professor in 2015. He was appointed as a professor at Nagoya University in 2019. His research is aimed toward the development of efficient synthetic processes based on a deep understanding of organic chemistry using flow synthesis, automated synthesis, theoretical calculations, and machine-learning technologies.

The report focuses on some specific dimensions of leadership in project management. Consideration is given to a set of factors that influence effective leadership in the project team. It is pointed out that in an environment of uncertainty and complexity, more and more organizations are moving towards a team approach for implementing project activities, thus striving to overcome the challenges of the environment in which they operate. In project management, leadership must take into account the current situation of the organization implementing the project. The most important task of the leaders in the field of project management is to achieve results. Leadership in project management can also be seen as a function of circumstance and the result of the interaction between members of the team who appoint a representative to organise a project and achieve its objectives.

Unmet needs in the treatment of psoriasis call for novel therapeutic strategies. Pustular psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis often represent a therapeutic challenge. Focus on IL-36 cytokines offers an interesting approach, as the IL-36 axis has been appointed a critical driver of the autoinflammatory responses involved in pustular psoriasis. Two IL-36R blocking antibodies, imsidolimab and spesolimab, are currently undergoing phase II and III clinical trials, with promising results.

Among the activities appointed by the EC research-project “Integrated water recycling and emission abatement in the textile industry” (Contract: ENV4-CT95-0064), the effectiveness of ozone for improving the biotreatability of recalcitrant effluents as well as for removing from them toxic and/or inhibitory pollutants has been evaluated at lab-scale. Real membrane concentrates (pH=7.9; TOC=190 ppm; CDO=595 ppm; BOD5=0 ppm; Conductivity=5,000 μS/cm; Microtox-EC20=34%) produced at Bulgarograsso (Italy) Wastewater Treatment Plant by nanofiltering biologically treated secondary textile effluents, have been treated with ozonated air (O3conc.=12 ppm) over 120 min. The results have indicated that during ozonation, BOD5 increases from 0 to 75 ppm, whereas COD and TOC both decrease by about 50% and 30 % respectively. As for potentially toxic and/or inhibitory pollutants such as dyes, nonionic surfactants and halogenated organics, all measured as sum parameters, removals higher than 90% were achieved as confirmed by the complete disappearance of acute toxicity in the treated streams. The only ozonation byproducts searched for and found were aldehydes whose total amount continuously increased in the first hour from 1.2 up to 11.8 ppm. Among them, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, glyoxal, propionaldehyde, and butyraldehyde were identified by HPLC.

Martin Oestreich is Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Technische Universität Berlin. His appointment was supported by the Einstein Foundation Berlin. He received his diploma degree with Paul Knochel (Marburg, 1996) and his doctoral degree with Dieter Hoppe (Münster, 1999). After a two-year postdoctoral stint with Larry E. Overman ­(Irvine, 1999–2001), he completed his habilitation with Reinhard ­Brückner (Freiburg, 2001–2005) and was appointed as Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (2006–2011). He also held visiting positions at Cardiff University in Wales (2005) and at The Australian National University in Canberra (2010). Martin Oestreich’s research focuses on silicon in synthesis and catalysis, the theme of the present SYNLETT Cluster. His early work centered on the use of silicon-stereogenic silicon reagents in asymmetric catalysis, and his laboratory continues to employ them as stereochemical probes in mechanistic investigations. His research group made fundamental contributions to catalytic carbon–silicon bond formation with nucleo­philic and, likewise, electrophilic silicon reagents, and Martin Oestreich is probably best known for his work in silylium-ion chemistry. Recent accomplishments of his laboratory include Friedel–Crafts-type C–H silylation, transfer hydrosilylation, and kinetic resolution of alcohols by enantioselective silylation.

On 9 April 1514 Tamás Bakócz, archbishop of Esztergom and cardinal-legate of Pope Leo X, initiated the preaching of a crusade against the Turks in Hungary. On 24 April György Dózsa Székely, a minor nobleman serving with the garrison of Belgrade who had experience of fighting the Turks, was appointed as commander of the crusading army. Dózsa marched southwards from Pest on 10 May with the main body of crusaders, some 15,000 strong, for the most part peasants. Five days later Archbishop Bakócz and the Hungarian royal council called a halt to the preaching. Their cancellation was provoked by the fact that the crusade preaching had generated alarming social unrest, and on 22 May an encounter occurred at Várad in which an army of crusaders defeated a force of nobles. The crusade was now showing all the features of an uprising, and two days after the battle of Várad, coincidentally on the same day that György Dózsa inflicted another defeat on the nobles at Nagylak, the king called off the crusade and ordered the peasant crusaders to return home. His command was ignored and attempts to organise local resistance against the various crusade armies met with only partial success. It proved necessary to recall János Zápolyai and the troops who were engaged against the Turks in the east. At the end of June Zápolyai marched in relief of Temesvár (Timisoara), the fortress which Dózsa was besieging, evidently with the plan to establish a strategic base between the Maros and the Danube. Here, on 15 July, the vojvoda smashed the crusading army and turned the tide of the revolt, which lasted for just a few more weeks.

The aim of the study: assessment of influence of complex treatment of chronic recurrent chlamydial cervical infection with probiotics of various forms of the use on the immune status and the vaginal microbiocenosis in women of reproductive age. Materials and methods. The study surveyed 87 women of age from 18 to 35 years, from which 67 patients of recurrent chlamydial cervicitis, which (according to the protocol) were eligible for inclusion. The control group included 20 gynecologicaly healthy women. All surveyed women were representative by age and data of the obstetric-gynecologic and somatic anamnesis. In accordance with the objectives of the study, all patients with chlamydia infection (CHI) before the appointment of therapy were randomized into two groups matched for age, symptoms and duration of the inflammatory process. The I (main) group included 35 patients who underwent complex therapy. Part of therapy included drugs Sumamed 250 mg (1 capsule) 1 time a day for 5-7 days according to the scheme: 1st day – 1 g (4 capsules) with the 2nd -3rd day – 500 mg per day (2 capsules) and 4th – 7th day – 250 mg per day (1 capsule). Topically applied combination of reparative, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial drug Depantol in the form of suppositories – appointed standard one vaginal suppository twice a day for 10 days. Later was appointed eubiotic Lacto® 2 capsules 3 times a day during 3 weeks. The II group included 32 patients (comparison group) who underwent treatment involving Sumamed and Depantol, but with the subsequent appointment of local eubiotiks (1 vaginal suppository at night) – 10 days. Results. The results of the survey of women of reproductive age with chronic recurrent chlamydial cervicitis during colposcopic study found a high frequency of cervical pathologies, namely, inflammatory changes – 100%, ectopia prismatic epithelium – 32.8%, the true erosion – 19.4%, that in 5.9% cases was combined with leukoplakia, and dysplasia – 16.4%, which correlated with cytological examination (ASCUS – 68.6%, LSIL – 25.5%, HSIL and 2.9%). Most women with CHI noted deep violations of microbiocenosis of the vagina with a predominance of opportunistic pathogenic bacteria: Peptostreptococcus – in 43.3%, Corynebacterium – in 56.7%, epidermal staph in 65.7% and gardnerellas – in 74.6%, candida – in 46.3% of cases. Patients with CHI were stated a lack of interferon Genesis – reduction of IFN-a 1.4-fold and IFN-g – 1.8 times. Conclusion. The complex therapy of chronic recurrent chlamydial cervicitis in women of reproductive age was conducted by the developed algorithm with the inclusion of oral probiotic Lacto® contributed to the increase of parameters of nonspecific resistance of the organism in 88% of cases, which was reflected in the reduction of titers of specific IgM 1.4-fold, IgG – 1.8 times, raising the level of lysozyme in cervical mucus – 1.5 times and sIgA – 1.2 times, the restoration of cytokine profile and normalization of microbiocenosis of the vagina in 76.4% of women. Key words: probiotics, immunity, cytokines, T-lymphocytes, microbiocenosis, Saccharomyces, Bifidobacterium, antibiotic-associated diarrhea, chlamydial infection, efficiency.

The main objectives of this study were to evaluate the chemical constitution and allergenic potential of red propolis extract (RPE). They were evaluated, using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the release of β-hexosaminidase, respectively. A plethora of biologically active polyphenols and the absence of allergic responses were evinced. RPE inhibited the release of β-hexosaminidase, suggesting that the extract does not stimulate allergic responses. Additionally, the physicochemical properties and antibacterial activity of hydrogel membranes loaded with RPE were analyzed. Bio-polymeric hydrogel membranes (M) were obtained using 5% carboxymethylcellulose (M1 and M2), 1.0% of citric acid (M3) and 10% RPE (for all). Their characterization was performed using thermal analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), total phenolic content, phenol release test and, antioxidant activity through 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) and Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP). The latter appointed to the similar antioxidant capacity of the M1, M2 and M3. The degradation profiles showed higher thermostability to M3, followed by M2 and M1. The incorporation of RPE into the matrices and the crosslinking of M3 were evinced by FTIR. There were differences in the release of phenolic compounds, with a higher release related to M1 and lower in the strongly crosslinked M3. The degradation profiles showed higher thermostability to M3, followed by M2 and M1. The antibacterial activity of the membranes was determined using the disc diffusion assay, in comparison with controls, obtained in the same way, without RPE. The membranes elicited antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis, with superior performance over M3. The hydrogel membranes loaded with RPE promote a physical barrier against bacterial skin infections and may be applied in the wound healing process.

(left) received his B.S. degree from Xiamen University in 2003 under the supervision of Prof. Pei-Qiang Huang, and his Ph.D. degree from the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry in 2008 under the supervision of Prof. Guo-Qiang Lin. After postdoctoral research at ­Gakushuin University, Japan with Prof. Takahiko Akiyama, he moved to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, working as a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. John R. Falck and Prof. Chuo Chen. He was appointed as a professor at Soochow University, China in December 2013. He is currently the Head of the Organic Chemistry Department at Soochow University. His current research interests include radical-mediated transformations, in particular radical ­rearrangements, and their applications in the construction of natural products and biologically active compounds. Xin-Yuan Liu (right) obtained his B.S. degree from Anhui Normal University (AHNU) in 2001. He continued his research studies at both the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC), CAS and AHNU under the joint supervision of Prof. Dr. Shizheng Zhu and Prof. Dr. Shaowu Wang, obtaining his master’s degree in 2004. After a one-year stint in Prof. Gang Zhao’s laboratory at SIOC, he joined Prof. Dr. Chi-Ming Che’s group at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and earned his Ph.D. degree in 2010. He subsequently undertook postdoctoral studies in Prof. Che’s group at HKU and in Prof. Carlos F. Barbas III’s group at The Scripps Research Institute. At the end of 2012, he began his independent academic career at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) and was promoted to a tenured Full Professor of SUSTech in 2018. His research interests are directed towards the design of novel chiral anionic ligands to solve radical-involved asymmetric reactions.

Le nom de Gilles Corbeil (1920-1986) est surtout connu par la galerie qu’il a dirigée pendant plus de quinze ans (1969-1985) ainsi que par la Fondation Émile-Nelligan, mise sur pied en 1979. Ces activités qui datent de la dernière période de sa vie occultent cependant une personnalité active dans le milieu du théâtre et de la musique, avant son implication dans le milieu des arts plastiques. Fils de l’homme d’affaires Émile Corbeil, Gilles Corbeil a grandi dans un milieu bourgeois. Sa mère, Gertrude Nelligan, sœur du poète Émile Nelligan, décède alors qu’il n’a que cinq ans. il est initié au piano par sa sœur Juliette et il démontre un intérêt pour la littérature pendant ses études classiques au collège de Saint-Laurent. en 1937, il joint les Compagnons de Saint-Laurent, la troupe de théâtre spécialisée dans le répertoire chrétien avant de se consacrer aux auteurs classiques. entre 1947 et 1949, il se rend à Paris où il étudie avec Nadia Boulanger. De retour à Montréal, il s’implique activement dans le milieu de la peinture. Paul-Émile Borduas devient son mentor. il organise des expositions au Lycée Pierre Corneille où il enseigne, devient éditeur de la revue Arts et pensée et prépare l’exposition Espace 55 au Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, en plus de développer sa propre pratique. il affirme ses convictions souverainistes et joint le Rassemblement pour l’indépendance nationale en 1961. Gilles Corbeil se définit comme un amateur et un dilettante, davantage intéressé par la diffusion que par la collection des œuvres d’art. en plus des rentes qu’il touche de son héritage, il gagne un appoint en mettant à profit ses connaissances pour s’adonner au commerce de l’art dès le début des années 1950. L’ouverture de la galerie Gilles Corbeil lui permet d’afficher son intérêt pour la peinture telle qu’elle s’est développée dans la foulée du post-automatisme. il défend l’abstraction lyrique en présentant des artistes d’origine étrangère aussi bien que québécois. Par son implication dans plusieurs secteurs de l’art contemporain au Québec, pendant près de cinquante ans, Gilles Corbeil accompagne le changement des mentalités qui favorise la réalisation de la Révolution tranquille.

Concerning »About Grundtvig's Vidskab«By Bent ChristensenBent Christensen’s contribution presents three texts, viz .firstly his introductory speech at the public defence of the dissertation »About Grundtvi’s Vidskab« An Inquiry into N.F.S. Grundtvig’s »View of the Knowledge Aspect of the Commitment to Life that is a Necessary Part of Christianity« - and, secondly, replies to the two officially appointed critics, as they appear in Grundtvig Studier 1999.In his introductory speech Bent Christensen describes the disciple relationship to Kaj Thaning which has, admittedly, developed into an increasingly critical direction as far as the evaluation of .1832. and the circumstances attached to that year are concerned, but which remains unchanged with respect to the recognition of Kaj Thaning's pioneer work as regards the understanding of the radicalism in Grundtvig’s view of the »intrinsic value«, given in creation, of human life. The divergence is due, more than anything else, to a generational difference in church views. Bent Christensen’s main concern, however, is the question what importance the commitment to life here and now has for the Christian's relation with God and the Christian expectation of the Kingdom of God.The keyword is precisely »importance«. The famous stanza from »The Seven Star of Christendom« really says it all:If our people and our fathers' landTo us are empty words and sounds,If we know not what they signify,Beyond a crowd and soil and strand,Then vain is every word we speakAbout God's Kingdom's mount and vale,About God’s people and His flock.For what is said here, of course, applies to the total involvement in life, of which the scientific activity of understanding is only one particular part. In the most elementary experience of life as well as in science and scholarship on the highest level, we have to do with a consciousness of God - if an indirect one - without which all the words of the history of salvation become »empty«.In his reply to Anders Pontoppidan Thyssen Bent Christensen defends his - in a certain sense - looseness of method, and he denies the implication that his thesis could be seen as a »thesis of vidskab on tottering feet« .I have not from the outset had so much method nor so much thesis that I have been prevented from seeing the hitherto unnoticed, indeed hitherto neglected, aspects of Grundtvig which have been uncovered and interpreted in my dissertation..Bent Christensen refers to the introduction to the thesis, where he has given a detailed account of how it became clear during his work with Grundtvig’s life and writings that .Grundtvig’s view of the knowledge aspect of the commitment to life that is a necessary part of Christianity. must needs be seen precisely as a side or partof an all-embracing totality of life and culture. In the technical terms of a dissertation, the thesis corresponds to what is written on the back of the book’s cover: On one hand it is pointed out that absolutely supreme scholarship (of a humanistic and life-interpreting character) is the upper layer in the all-embracing cultural totality that Grundtvig dreamt about and worked for.But on the other hand it is described in detail how both inner, crucial, factual and positive factors and external, partly highly negative factors cause Grundtvig from around 1835 to concentrate more and more on the preservation, awakening, activities and enlightenment of Danish cultural and national life - with Grundtvig himself in the centre as the great »total poet« of church and people.Responding to Anders Pontoppidan Thyssen’s criticism of the way in which the aspects of church policy and church view are dealt with, Bent Christensen insists that Grundtvig’s 1832-solution assumed its particular form very much as a consequence of the clerical jam that he had to wriggle out of.In the reply to Theodor J.rgensen Bent Christensen denies that his own culturaltheological vision should have put a slant on his work. He is not disappointed that Grundtvig did not attempt to a still larger extent to maintain a Christian unified culture, but on the contrary criticizes Grundtvig, on the one hand, for taking a very exclusive view of the .free congregation of Jesus Christ., but on the other hand for seeking nevertheless, through rather diffuse constructions in church view and »secondary theology«, to preserve an at least kriste-lig (i.e. Christ-like) unity in the Danish society.Bent Christensen goes on to state his reasons why his work has not been more systematically problem-oriented or contextually based on the history of ideas. The decisive fact is that all the influences that Grundtvig obviously received are melted into his Christian universe to such an extent that it would not have been profitable if the reading of Herder and Schelling for example, which was of course a fact, should have entered explicitly into the presentation.Finally, Bent Christensen declares himself in agreement with Theodor J.rgensen’s concluding observations as far as the relation between the universal and the particular in Grundtvig is concerned. Grundtvig’s concept of a national and cultural organism is only part of his view of the whole human race as an organism, so that he cannot be cited in support of a nationalistic self-sufficiency. This is true also of the »superuniversity« in Gothenburg, which, for one thing, was to be a shared Scandinavian project, and which, for another thing, was expressly intended to be the specifically Nordic contribution to the universal-historical scholarship and development of clarification of the collective human race. The same thing applies concerning Grundtvig’s understanding of the relationship between the small Danish congregation and »the horizon of understanding to the catholicity of the Christian church«. In his ecumenical activity Bent Christensen himself has experienced »how good it feels to have the ecumenically universal Grundtvig with him when travelling the world«.

ABSTRACT The frequent exposure of agricultural soils to pesticides can lead to microbial adaptation, including the development of dedicated microbial populations that utilize the pesticide compound as a carbon and energy source. Soil from an agricultural field in Halen (Belgium) with a history of linuron exposure has been studied for its linuron-degrading bacterial populations at two time points over the past decade and Variovorax was appointed as a key linuron degrader. Like most studies on pesticide degradation, these studies relied on isolates that were retrieved through bias-prone enrichment procedures and therefore might not represent the in situ active pesticide-degrading populations. In this study, we revisited the Halen field and applied, in addition to enrichment-based isolation, DNA stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP), to identify in situ linuron-degrading bacteria in linuron-exposed soil microcosms. Linuron dissipation was unambiguously linked to Variovorax and its linuron catabolic genes and might involve the synergistic cooperation between two species. Additionally, two novel linuron-mineralizing Variovorax isolates were obtained with high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to strains isolated from the same field a decade earlier. The results confirm Variovorax as a prime in situ degrader of linuron in the studied agricultural field soil and corroborate the genus as key for maintaining the genetic memory of linuron degradation functionality in that field.

Abstract The increasing number of older people in many countries is often seen as a burden. Alternatively, these numbers can be seen as a longevity dividend, providing a resource for our communities. We sought to find a way to use the resource by working with schools in a range of socio- economic neighbourhoods & explore the benefit for all stakeholders & the sustainability of such an approach. The issues we addressed are of relevance in most of Europe, despite the variations in the school systems. Intergen is the name of the model developed over 20 years in England. 3 schools in a neighbourhood work in partnership.An older person is appointed by the school to recruit older people in the neighbourhood with the skills and knowledge the schools require to enhance the learning opportunities of their pupils.Coordinators in each school meet once a term to review progress, problems & organise a social gathering for volunteers. All stakeholders' views of the value of the programme were collected. Key questions to be answered are: Can older people be a resource for pupils to improve performance & wellbeing in both the younger & older populations?Is the model sustainable and affordable?How can it be mainstreamed? Results 26 schools, primary and secondary in 7 municipalities engaged in the project after 10 years development phase with 10 schools in one municipality. Schools in London and Greater Manchester areas. 15 schools remained in the programme paying for the service for 5 years. A review of the impact of the programme showed all head teachers thought it innovative, & made a difference in their pupils' wellbeing. Older people were seen as a positive resource by both teachers & pupils. Older people felt valued & part of community. Reduction of negative stereotypes occurred. Interactions went beyond the operational tasks set for the older people. Only a public health approach can promote sustainability of the model & its benefits for communities. Key messages A tried and tested model sharing place and space to promote wellbeing in neighbourhoods for old and young citizens. The important role of Public Health in promoting innovative practice in silo ridden health and social care systems building the evidence base and building bridges.

Film adaptation is an ambiguous term, both semantically and conceptually. Among its multiple connotations, the word “adaptation” may signify an artistic composition that has been recast in a new form, an alteration in the structure or function of an organism to make it better fitted for survival, or a modification in individual or social activity in adjustment to social surroundings. What all these definitions have in common is a tacitly implied hierarchy and valorisation: they presume the existence of an origin to which the recast work of art is indebted, or of biological or societal constraints to which the individual should conform in order to survive. The bias implied in the very connotations of the word has affected the theory and study of film adaptation. This bias is most noticeably reflected in the criterion of fidelity, which has been the major standard for evaluating film adaptations ever since George Bluestone’s 1957 pivotal Novels into Films. “Fidelity criticism,” observes McFarlane, “depends on a notion of the text as having and rendering up to the (intelligent) reader a single, correct ‘meaning’ which the film-maker has either adhered to or in some sense violated or tampered with” (7). But such an approach, Leitch argues, is rooted in several unacknowledged but entrenched misconceptions. It privileges literature over film, casts a false aura of originality on the precursor text, and ignores the fact that all texts, whether literary or cinematic, are essentially intertexts. As Kristeva, along with other poststructuralist theorists, has taught us, any text is an amalgam of others, a part of a larger fabric of cultural discourse (64-91). “A text is a multidimensional space in which a variety of writings, none of them original, blend and clash”, writes Barthes in 1977 (146), and 15 years later film theoretician Robert Stam elaborates: “The text feeds on and is fed into an infinitely permutating intertext, which is seen through evershifting grids of interpretation” (57). The poststructuralists’ view of texts draws on the structuralists’ view of language, which is conceived as a system that pre-exists the individual speaker and determines subjectivity. These assumptions counter the Romantic ideology of individualism, with its associated concepts of authorial originality and a text’s single, unified meaning, based on the author’s intention. “It is language which speaks, not the author,” declares Barthes, “to write is to reach the point where only language acts, ‘performs’, and not me” (143). In consequence, the fidelity criterion of film adaptation may be regarded as an outdated vestige of the Romantic world-view. If all texts quote or embed fragments of earlier texts, the notion of an authoritative literary source, which the cinematic version should faithfully reproduce, is no longer valid. Film adaptation should rather be perceived as an intertextual practice, contributing to a dynamic interpretive exchange between the literary and cinematic texts, an exchange in which each text can be enriched, modified or subverted. The relationship between Jonathan Nolan’s short story “Memento Mori” and Christopher Nolan’s film Memento (2001) is a case in point. Here there was no source text, as the writing of the story did not precede the making of the film. The two processes were concurrent, and were triggered by the same basic idea, which Jonathan discussed with his brother during a road trip from Chicago to LA. Christopher developed the idea into a film and Jonathan turned it into a short story; he also collaborated in the film script. Moreover, Jonathan designed otnemem> (memento in reverse), the official Website, which contextualises the film’s fictional world, while increasing its ambiguity. What was adapted here was an idea, and each text explores in different ways the narrative, ontological and epistemological implications of that idea. The story, the film and the Website produce a multi-layered intertextual fabric, in which each thread potentially unravels the narrative possibilities suggested by the other threads. Intertextuality functions to increase ambiguity, and is therefore thematically relevant, for “Memento Mori”, Memento and otnemem> are three fragmented texts in search of a coherent narrative. The concept of narrative may arguably be one of the most overused and under-defined terms in academic discourse. In the context of the present paper, the most productive approach is that of Wilkens, Hughes, Wildemuth and Marchionini, who define narrative as a chain of events related by cause and effect, occurring in time and space, and involving agency and intention. In fiction or in film, intention is usually associated with human agents, who can be either the characters or the narrator. It is these agents who move along the chain of causes and effects, so that cause-effect and agency work together to make the narrative. This narrative paradigm underpins mainstream Hollywood cinema in the years 1917-1960. In Narration in the Fiction Film, David Bordwell writes: The classical Hollywood film presents psychologically defined individuals who struggle to solve a clear-cut problem or to attain specific goals. … The story ends with a decisive victory or defeat, a resolution of the problem, and a clear achievement, or non achievement, of the goals. The principal causal agency is thus the character … . In classical fabula construction, causality is the prime unifying principle. (157) The large body of films flourishing in America between the years 1941 and 1958 collectively dubbed film noir subvert this narrative formula, but only partially. As accurately observed by Telotte, the devices of flashback and voice-over associated with the genre implicitly challenge conventionally linear narratives, while the use of the subjective camera shatters the illusion of objective truth and foregrounds the rift between reality and perception (3, 20). Yet in spite of the narrative experimentation that characterises the genre, the viewer of a classical film noir film can still figure out what happened in the fictional world and why, and can still reconstruct the story line according to sequential and causal schemata. This does not hold true for the intertextual composite consisting of Memento, “Memento Mori” and otnemem>. The basic idea that generated the project was that of a self-appointed detective who obsessively investigates and seeks to revenge his wife’s rape and murder, while suffering from a total loss of short term memory. The loss of memory precludes learning and the acquisition of knowledge, so the protagonist uses scribbled notes, Polaroid photos and information tattooed onto his skin, in an effort to reconstruct his fragmented reality into a coherent and meaningful narrative. Narrativity is visually foregrounded: the protagonist reads his body to make sense of his predicament. To recap, the narrative paradigm relies on a triad of terms: connectedness (a chain of events), causality, and intentionality. The basic situation in Memento and “Memento Mori”, which involves a rupture in the protagonist’s/narrator’s psychological time, entails a breakdown of all three pre-requisites of narrativity. Since the protagonists of both story and film are condemned, by their memory deficiency, to living in an eternal present, they are unable to experience the continuity of time and the connectedness of events. The disruption of temporality inevitably entails the breakdown of causality: the central character’s inability to determine the proper sequence of events prevents him from being able to distinguish between cause and effect. Finally, the notion of agency is also problematised, because agency implies the existence of a stable, identifiable subject, and identity is contingent on the subject’s uninterrupted continuity across time and change. The subversive potential of the basic narrative situation is heightened by the fact that both Memento and “Memento Mori” are focalised through the consciousness and perception of the main character. This means that the story, as well as the film, is conveyed from the point of view of a narrator who is constitutionally unable to experience his life as a narrative. This conundrum is addressed differently in the story and in the film, both thematically and formally. “Memento Mori” presents, in a way, the backdrop to Memento. It focuses on the figure of Earl, a brain damaged protagonist suffering from anterograde amnesia, who is staying in a blank, anonymous room, that we assume to be a part of a mental institution. We also assume that Earl’s brain damage results from a blow to the head that he received while witnessing the rape and murder of his wife. Earl is bent on avenging his wife’s death. To remind himself to do so, he writes messages to himself, which he affixes on the walls of his room. Leonard Shelby is Memento’s cinematic version of Earl. By Leonard’s own account, he has an inability to form memories. This, he claims, is the result of neurological damage sustained during an attack on him and his wife, an attack in which his wife was raped and killed. To be able to pursue his wife’s killers, he has recourse to various complex and bizarre devices—Polaroid photos, a quasi-police file, a wall chart, and inscriptions tattooed onto his skin—in order to replace his memory. Hampered by his affliction, Leonard trawls the motels and bars of Southern California in an effort to gather evidence against the killer he believes to be named “John G.” Leonard’s faulty memory is deviously manipulated by various people he encounters, of whom the most crucial are a bartender called Natalie and an undercover cop named Teddy, both involved in a lucrative drug deal. So far for a straightforward account of the short story and the film. But there is nothing straightforward about either Memento or “Memento Mori”. The basic narrative premise, consisting of a protagonist/narrator suffering from a severe memory deficit, is a condition entailing far-reaching psychological and philosophical implications. In the following discussion, I would like to focus on these two implications and to tie them in to the notions of narrativity, intertextuality, and eventually, adaptation. The first implication of memory loss is the dissolution of identity. Our sense of identity is contingent on our ability to construct an uninterrupted personal narrative, a narrative in which the present self is continuous with the past self. In Oneself as Another, his philosophical treatise on the concept of selfhood, Paul Ricoeur queries: “do we not consider human lives to be more readable when they have been interpreted in terms of the stories that people tell about them?” He concludes by observing that “interpretation of the self … finds in narrative, among others signs and symbols, a privileged form of mediation” (ft. 114). Ricoeur further suggests that the sense of selfhood is contingent on four attributes: numerical identity, qualitative identity, uninterrupted continuity across time and change, and finally, permanence in time that defines sameness. The loss of memory subverts the last two attributes of personal identity, the sense of continuity and permanence over time, and thereby also ruptures the first two. In “Memento Mori” and Memento, the disintegration of identity is formally rendered through the fragmentation of the literary and cinematic narratives, respectively. In Jonathan Nolan’s short story, traditional linear narrative is disrupted by shifts in point of view and by graphic differences in the shape of the print on the page. “Memento Mori” is alternately narrated in the first and in the third person. The first person segments, which constitute the present of the story, are written by Earl to himself. As his memory span is ten-minute long, his existence consists of “just the same ten minutes, over and over again” (Nolan, 187). Fully aware of the impending fading away of memory, Earl’s present-version self leaves notes to his future-version self, in an effort to situate him in time and space and to motivate him to the final action of revenge. The literary device of alternating points of view formally subverts the notion of identity as a stable unity. Paradoxically, rather than setting him apart from the rest of us, Earl’s brain damage foregrounds his similarity. “Every man is broken into twenty-four-hour fractions,” observes Earl, comforting his future self by affirming his basic humanity, “Your problem is a little more acute, maybe, but fundamentally the same thing” (Nolan, 189). His observation echoes Beckett’s description of the individual as “the seat of a constant process of decantation … to the vessel containing the fluid of past time” (Beckett, 4-5). Identity, suggests Jonathan Nolan, following Beckett, among other things, is a theoretical construct. Human beings are works in progress, existing in a state of constant flux. We are all fragmented beings—the ten-minute man is only more so. A second strategy employed by Jonathan to convey the discontinuity of the self is the creation of visual graphic disunity. As noted by Yellowlees Douglas, among others, the static, fixed nature of the printed page and its austere linearity make it ideal for the representation of our mental construct of narrative. The text of “Memento Mori” appears on the page in three different font types: the first person segments, Earl’s admonitions to himself, appear in italics; the third person segments are written in regular type; and the notes and signs are capitalised. Christopher Nolan obviously has recourse to different strategies to reach the same ends. His principal technique, and the film’s most striking aspect, is its reversed time sequence. The film begins with a crude Polaroid flash photograph of a man’s body lying on a decaying wooden floor. The image in the photo gradually fades, until the camera sucks the picture up. The photograph presents the last chronological event; the film then skips backwards in ten-minute increments, mirroring the protagonist’s memory span. But the film’s time sequence is not simply a reversed linear structure. It is a triple-decker narrative, mirroring the three-part organisation of the story. In the opening scene, one comes to realise that the film-spool is running backwards. After several minutes the film suddenly reverses and runs forward for a few seconds. Then there is a sudden cut to a different scene, in black and white, where the protagonist (who we have just learned is called Leonard) begins to talk, out of the blue, about his confusion. Soon the film switches to a color scene, again unconnected, in which the “action” of the film begins. In the black and white scenes, which from then on are interspersed with the main action, Leonard attempts to understand what is happening to him and to explain (to an unseen listener) the nature of his condition. The “main action” of the film follows a double temporal structure: while each scene, as a unit of action, runs normally forward, each scene is triggered by the following, rather than by the preceding scene, so that we are witnessing a story whose main action goes back in time as the film progresses (Hutchinson and Read, 79). A third narrative thread, interspersed with the other two, is a story that functions as a foil to the film’s main action. It is the story of Sammy Jankis: one of the cases that Leonard worked on in his past career as an insurance investigator. Sammy was apparently suffering from anterograde amnesia, the same condition that Leonard is suffering from now. Sammy’s wife filed an insurance claim on his behalf, a claim that Leonard rejected on the grounds that Sammy’s condition was merely psychosomatic. Hoping to confirm Leonard’s diagnosis, Sammy’s diabetic wife puts her husband to the test. He fails the test as he tenderly administers multiple insulin injections to her, thereby causing her death. As Leonard’s beloved wife also suffered from diabetes, and as Teddy (the undercover cop) eventually tells Leonard that Sammy never had a wife, the Sammy Jankis parable functions as a mise en abyme, which can either corroborate or subvert the narrative that Leonard is attempting to construct of his own life. Sammy may be seen as Leonard’s symbolic double in that his form of amnesia foreshadows the condition with which Leonard will eventually be afflicted. This interpretation corroborates Leonard’s personal narrative of his memory loss, while tainting him with the blame for the death of Sammy’s wife. But the camera also suggests a more unsettling possibility—Leonard may ultimately be responsible for the death of his own wife. The scene in which Sammy, condemned by his amnesia, administers to his wife a repeated and fatal shot of insulin, is briefly followed by a scene of Leonard pinching his own wife’s thigh before her insulin shot, a scene recurring in the film like a leitmotif. The juxtaposition of the two scenes suggests that it is Leonard who, mistakenly or deliberately, has killed his wife, and that ever since he has been projecting his guilt onto others: the innocent victims of his trail of revenge. In this ironic interpretive twist, it is Leonard, rather than Sammy, who has been faking his amnesia. The parable of Sammy Jankis highlights another central concern of Memento and “Memento Mori”: the precarious nature of truth. This is the second psychological and philosophical implication of what Leonard persistently calls his “condition”, namely his loss of memory. The question explicitly raised in the film is whether memory records or creates, if it retains the lived life or reshapes it into a narrative that will confer on it unity and meaning. The answer is metaphorically suggested by the recurring shots of a mirror, which Leonard must use to read his body inscriptions. The mirror, as Lacan describes it, offers the infant his first recognition as a coherent, unique self. But this recognition is a mis-recognition, for the reflection has a coherence and unity that the subject both lacks and desires. The body inscriptions that Leonard can read only in the mirror do not necessarily testify to the truth. But they do enable him to create a narrative that makes his life worth living. A Lacanian reading of the mirror image has two profoundly unsettling implications. It establishes Leonard as a morally deficient, rather than neurologically deficient, human being, and it suggests that we are not fundamentally different from him. Leonard’s intricate system of notes and body inscriptions builds up an inventory of set representations to which he can refer in all his future experiences. Thus when he wakes up naked in bed with a woman lying beside him, he looks among his Polaroid photographs for a picture which he can match with her, which will tell him what the woman’s name is and what he can expect from her on the basis of past experience. But this, suggest Hutchinson and Read, is an external representation of operations that all of us perform mentally (89). We all respond to sensory input by constructing internal representations that form the foundations of our psyche. This view underpins current theories of language and of the mind. Semioticians tell us that the word, the signifier, refers to a mental representation of an object rather than to the object itself. Cognitivists assume that cognition consists in the operation of mental items which are symbols for real entities. Leonard’s apparently bizarre method of apprehending reality is thus essentially an externalisation of memory. But if, cognitively and epistemologically speaking, Lennie is less different from us than we would like to think, this implication may also extend to our moral nature. Our complicity with Leonard is mainly established through the film’s complex temporal structure, which makes us viscerally share the protagonist’s/narrator’s confusion and disorientation. We become as unable as he is to construct a single, coherent and meaningful narrative: the film’s obscurity is built in. Memento’s ambiguity is enhanced by the film’s Website, which presents a newspaper clipping about the attack on Leonard and his wife, torn pages from police and psychiatric reports, and a number of notes from Leonard to himself. While blurring the boundaries between story and film by suggesting that Leonard, like Earl, may have escaped from a mental institution, otnemem> also provides evidence that can either confirm or confound our interpretive efforts, such as a doctor’s report suggesting that “John G.” may be a figment of Leonard’s imagination. The precarious nature of truth is foregrounded by the fact that the narrative Leonard is trying to construct, as well as the narrative in which Christopher Nolan has embedded him, is a detective story. The traditional detective story proceeds from a two-fold assumption: truth exists, and it can be known. But Memento and “Memento Mori” undermine this epistemological confidence. They suggest that truth, like identity, is a fictional construct, derived from the tales we tell ourselves and recount to others. These tales do not coincide with objective reality; they are the prisms we create in order to understand reality, to make our lives bearable and worth living. Narratives are cognitive patterns that we construct to make sense of the world. They convey our yearning for coherence, closure, and a single unified meaning. The overlapping and conflicting threads interweaving Memento, “Memento Mori” and the Website otnemem> simultaneously expose and resist our nostalgia for unity, by evoking a multiplicity of meanings and creating an intertextual web that is the essence of all adaptation. References Barthes, Roland. Image-Music-Text. London: Fontana, 1977. Beckett, Samuel. Proust. London: Chatto and Windus, 1931. Bluestone, George. Novels into Film. Berkley and Los Angeles: California UP, 1957. Bordwell, David. Narration in the Fiction Film. Madison: Wisconsin UP, 1985. Hutchinson, Phil, and Rupert Read. “Memento: A Philosophical Investigation.” Film as Philosophy: Essays in Cinema after Wittgenstein and Cavell. Ed. Rupert Read and Jerry Goodenough. Hampshire: Palgrave, 2005. 72-93. Kristeva, Julia. “World, Dialogue and Novel.” Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art. Ed. Leon S. Rudiez. Trans. Thomas Gora. New York: Columbia UP, 1980. 64-91. Lacan, Jacques. “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience.” Ēcrits: A Selection. New York: Norton 1977. 1-7. Leitch, Thomas. “Twelve Fallacies in Contemporary Adaptation Theory.” Criticism 45.2 (2003): 149-71. McFarlane, Brian. Novel to Film: An Introduction to the Theory of Adaptation. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. Nolan, Jonathan. “Memento Mori.” The Making of Memento. Ed. James Mottram. London: Faber and Faber, 2002. 183-95. Nolan, Jonathan. otnemem. 24 April 2007 http://otnemem.com>. Ricoeur, Paul. Oneself as Another. Chicago: Chicago UP, 1992. Stam, Robert. “Beyond Fidelity: The Dialogics of Adaptation.” Film Adaptation. Ed. James Naremore. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 2000. 54-76. Telotte, J.P. Voices in the Dark: The Narrative Patterns of Film Noir. Urbana and Chicago: Illinois UP, 1989. Wilkens, T., A. Hughes, B.M. Wildemuth, and G. Marchionini. “The Role of Narrative in Understanding Digital Video.” 24 April 2007 http://www.open-video.org/papers/Wilkens_Asist_2003.pdf>. Yellowlees Douglass, J. “Gaps, Maps and Perception: What Hypertext Readers (Don’t) Do.” 24 April 2007 http://www.pd.org/topos/perforations/perf3/douglas_p3.html>. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Shiloh, Ilana. "Adaptation, Intertextuality, and the Endless Deferral of Meaning: Memento." M/C Journal 10.2 (2007). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0705/08-shiloh.php>. APA Style Shiloh, I. (May 2007) "Adaptation, Intertextuality, and the Endless Deferral of Meaning: Memento," M/C Journal, 10(2). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0705/08-shiloh.php>.

Photograph by Gonzalo Echeverria (2010)We need to get some broad-based support, to capture the public’s imagination … so we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements and make little mention of any doubts … each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest (Hulme 347). Acclaimed climate scientist, the late Stephen Schneider, made this comment in 1988. Later he regretted it and said that there are ways of using metaphors that can “convey both urgency and uncertainty” (Hulme 347). What Schneider encapsulates here is the great conundrum for those attempting to communicate climate change to the everyday public. How do scientists capture the public’s imagination and convey the desperation they feel about climate change, but do it ethically? If scientific findings are presented carefully, in boring technical jargon that few can understand, then they are unlikely to attract audiences or provide an impetus for behavioural change. “What can move someone to act?” asks communication theorists Susan Moser and Lisa Dilling (37). “If a red light blinks on in a cockpit” asks Donella Meadows, “should the pilot ignore it until in speaks in an unexcited tone? … Is there any way to say [it] sweetly? Patiently? If one did, would anyone pay attention?” (Moser and Dilling 37). In 2010 Tim Flannery was appointed Panasonic Chair in Environmental Sustainability at Macquarie University. His main teaching role remains within the new science communication programme. One of the first things Flannery was emphatic about was acquainting students with Karl Popper and the origin of the scientific method. “There is no truth in science”, he proclaimed in his first lecture to students “only theories, hypotheses and falsifiabilities”. In other words, science’s epistemological limits are framed such that, as Michael Lemonick argues, “a statement that cannot be proven false is generally not considered to be scientific” (n.p., my emphasis). The impetus for the following paper emanates precisely from this issue of scientific uncertainty — more specifically from teaching a course with Tim Flannery called Communicating climate change to a highly motivated group of undergraduate science communication students. I attempt to illuminate how uncertainty is constructed differently by different groups and that the “public” does not necessarily interpret uncertainty in the same way the sciences do. This paper also analyses how doubt has been politicised and operates polemically in media coverage of climate change. As Andrew Gorman-Murray and Gordon Waitt highlight in an earlier issue of M/C Journal that focused on the climate-culture nexus, an understanding of the science alone is not adequate to deal with the cultural change necessary to address the challenges climate change brings (n.p). Far from being redundant in debates around climate change, the humanities have much to offer. Erosion of Trust in Science The objectives of Macquarie’s science communication program are far more ambitious than it can ever hope to achieve. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. The initiative is a response to declining student numbers in maths and science programmes around the country and is designed to address the perceived lack of communication skills in science graduates that the Australian Council of Deans of Science identified in their 2001 report. According to Macquarie Vice Chancellor Steven Schwartz’s blog, a broader, and much more ambitious aim of the program is to “restore public trust in science and scientists in the face of widespread cynicism” (n.p.). In recent times the erosion of public trust in science was exacerbated through the theft of e-mails from East Anglia University’s Climate Research Unit and the so-called “climategate scandal” which ensued. With the illegal publication of the e-mails came claims against the Research Unit that climate experts had been manipulating scientific data to suit a pro-global warming agenda. Three inquiries later, all the scientists involved were cleared of any wrongdoing, however the damage had already been done. To the public, what this scandal revealed was a certain level of scientific hubris around the uncertainties of the science and an unwillingness to explain the nature of these uncertainties. The prevailing notion remained that the experts were keeping information from public scrutiny and not being totally honest with them, which at least in the short term, damaged the scientists’s credibility. Many argued that this signalled a shift in public opinion and media portrayal on the issue of climate change in late 2009. University of Sydney academic, Rod Tiffen, claimed in the Sydney Morning Herald that the climategate scandal was “one of the pivotal moments in changing the politics of climate change” (n.p). In Australia this had profound implications and meant that the bipartisan agreement on an emissions trading scheme (ETS) that had almost been reached, subsequently collapsed with (climate sceptic) Tony Abbott's defeat of (ETS advocate) Malcolm Turnbull to become opposition leader (Tiffen). Not long after the reputation of science received this almighty blow, albeit unfairly, the federal government released a report in February 2010, Inspiring Australia – A national strategy for engagement with the sciences as part of the country’s innovation agenda. The report outlines a commitment from the Australian government and universities around the country to address the challenges of not only communicating science to the broader community but, in the process, renewing public trust and engagement in science. The report states that: in order to achieve a scientifically engaged Australia, it will be necessary to develop a culture where the sciences are recognized as relevant to everyday life … Our science institutions will be expected to share their knowledge and to help realize full social, economic, health and environmental benefits of scientific research and in return win ongoing public support. (xiv-xv) After launching the report, Innovation Minister Kim Carr went so far as to conflate “hope” with “science” and in the process elevate a discourse of technological determinism: “it’s time for all true friends of science to step up and defend its values and achievements” adding that, "when you denigrate science, you destroy hope” (n.p.). Forever gone is our naïve post-war world when scientists were held in such high esteem that they could virtually use humans as guinea pigs to test out new wonder chemicals; such as organochlorines, of which DDT is the most widely known (Carson). Thanks to government-sponsored nuclear testing programs, if you were born in the 1950s, 1960s or early 1970s, your brain carries a permanent nuclear legacy (Flannery, Here On Earth 158). So surely, for the most part, questioning the authority and hubristic tendencies of science is a good thing. And I might add, it’s not just scientists who bear this critical burden, the same scepticism is directed towards journalists, politicians and academics alike – something that many cultural theorists have noted is characteristic of our contemporary postmodern world (Lyotard). So far from destroying hope, as the former Innovation Minister Kim Carr (now Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) suggests, surely we need to use the criticisms of science as a vehicle upon which to initiate hope and humility. Different Ways of Knowing: Bayesian Beliefs and Matters of Concern At best, [science] produces a robust consensus based on a process of inquiry that allows for continued scrutiny, re-examination, and revision. (Oreskes 370) In an attempt to capitalise on the Macquarie Science Faculty’s expertise in climate science, I convened a course in second semester 2010 called SCOM201 Science, Media, Community: Communicating Climate Change, with invaluable assistance from Penny Wilson, Elaine Kelly and Liz Morgan. Mike Hulme’s provocative text, Why we disagree about climate change: Understanding controversy, inaction and opportunity provided an invaluable framework for the course. Hulme’s book brings other types of knowledge, beyond the scientific, to bear on our attitudes towards climate change. Climate change, he claims, has moved from being just a physical, scientific, and measurable phenomenon to becoming a social and cultural phenomenon. In order to understand the contested nature of climate change we need to acknowledge the dynamic and varied meanings climate has played in different cultures throughout history as well as the role that our own subjective attitudes and judgements play. Climate change has become a battleground between different ways of knowing, alternative visions of the future, competing ideas about what’s ethical and what’s not. Hulme makes the point that one of the reasons that we disagree about climate change is because we disagree about the role of science in today’s society. He encourages readers to use climate change as a tool to rigorously question the basis of our beliefs, assumptions and prejudices. Since uncertainty was the course’s raison d’etre, I was fortunate to have an extraordinary cohort of students who readily engaged with a course that forced them to confront their own epistemological limits — both personally and in a disciplinary sense. (See their blog: https://scom201.wordpress.com/). Science is often associated with objective realities. It thus tends to distinguish itself from the post-structuralist vein of critique that dominates much of the contemporary humanities. At the core of post-structuralism is scepticism about everyday, commonly accepted “truths” or what some call “meta-narratives” as well as an acknowledgement of the role that subjectivity plays in the pursuit of knowledge (Lyotard). However if we can’t rely on objective truths or impartial facts then where does this leave us when it comes to generating policy or encouraging behavioural change around the issue of climate change? Controversial philosophy of science scholar Bruno Latour sits squarely in the post-structuralist camp. In his 2004 article, “Why has critique run out of steam? From matters of fact to matters of concern”, he laments the way the right wing has managed to gain ground in the climate change debate through arguing that uncertainty and lack of proof is reason enough to deny demands for action. Or to use his turn-of-phrase, “dangerous extremists are using the very same argument of social construction to destroy hard-won evidence that could save our lives” (Latour n.p). Through co-opting (the Left’s dearly held notion of) scepticism and even calling themselves “climate sceptics”, they exploited doubt as a rationale for why we should do nothing about climate change. Uncertainty is not only an important part of science, but also of the human condition. However, as sociologist Sheila Jasanoff explains in her Nature article, “Technologies of Humility”, uncertainty has become like a disease: Uncertainty has become a threat to collective action, the disease that knowledge must cure. It is the condition that poses cruel dilemmas for decision makers; that must be reduced at all costs; that is tamed with scenarios and assessments; and that feeds the frenzy for new knowledge, much of it scientific. (Jasanoff 33) If we move from talking about climate change as “a matter of fact” to “a matter of concern”, argues Bruno Latour, then we can start talking about useful ways to combat it, rather than talking about whether the science is “in” or not. Facts certainly matter, claims Latour, but they can’t give us the whole story, rather “they assemble with other ingredients to produce a matter of concern” (Potter and Oster 123). Emily Potter and Candice Oster suggest that climate change can’t be understood through either natural or cultural frames alone and, “unlike a matter of fact, matters of concern cannot be explained through a single point of view or discursive frame” (123). This makes a lot of what Hulme argues far more useful because it enables the debate to be taken to another level. Those of us with non-scientific expertise can centre debates around the kinds of societies we want, rather than being caught up in the scientific (un)certainties. If we translate Latour’s concept of climate change being “a matter of concern” into the discourse of environmental management then what we come up with, I think, is the “precautionary principle”. In the YouTube clip, “Stephen Schneider vs Skeptics”, Schneider argues that when in doubt about the potential environmental impacts of climate change, we should always apply the precautionary principle. This principle emerged from the UN conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and concerns the management of scientific risk. However its origins are evident much earlier in documents such as the “Use of Pesticides” from US President’s Science Advisory Committee in 1962. Unlike in criminal and other types of law where the burden of proof is on the prosecutor to show that the person charged is guilty of a particular offence, in environmental law the onus of proof is on the manufacturers to demonstrate the safety of their product. For instance, a pesticide should be restricted or disproved for use if there is “reasonable doubt” about its safety (Oreskes 374). Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in 1992 has its foundations in the precautionary principle: “Where there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation” (n.p). According to Environmental Law Online, the Rio declaration suggests that, “The precautionary principle applies where there is a ‘lack of full scientific certainty’ – that is, when science cannot say what consequences to expect, how grave they are, or how likely they are to occur” (n.p.). In order to make predictions about the likelihood of an event occurring, scientists employ a level of subjectivity, or need to “reveal their degree of belief that a prediction will turn out to be correct … [S]omething has to substitute for this lack of certainty” otherwise “the only alternative is to admit that absolutely nothing is known” (Hulme 85). These statements of “subjective probabilities or beliefs” are called Bayesian, after eighteenth century English mathematician Sir Thomas Bayes who developed the theory of evidential probability. These “probabilities” are estimates, or in other words, subjective, informed judgements that draw upon evidence and experience about the likelihood of event occurring. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) uses Bayesian beliefs to determine the risk or likelihood of an event occurring. The IPCC provides the largest international scientific assessment of climate change and often adopts a consensus model where viewpoint reached by the majority of scientists is used to establish knowledge amongst an interdisciplinary community of scientists and then communicate it to the public (Hulme 88). According to the IPCC, this consensus is reached amongst more than more than 450 lead authors, more than 800 contributing authors, and 2500 scientific reviewers. While it is an advisory body and is not policy-prescriptive, the IPCC adopts particular linguistic conventions to indicate the probability of a statement being correct. Stephen Schneider convinced the IPCC to use this approach to systemise uncertainty (Lemonick). So for instance, in the IPCC reports, the term “likely” denotes a chance of 66%-90% of the statement being correct, while “very likely” denotes more than a 90% chance. Note the change from the Third Assessment Report (2001), indicating that “most of the observed warming in over the last fifty years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions” to the Fourth Assessment (February 2007) which more strongly states: “Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid twentieth century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations” (Hulme 51, my italics). A fiery attack on Tim Flannery by Andrew Bolt on Steve Price’s talkback radio show in June 2010 illustrates just how misunderstood scientific uncertainty is in the broader community. When Price introduces Flannery as former Australian of the Year, Bolt intercedes, claiming Flannery is “Alarmist of the Year”, then goes on to chastise Flannery for making various forecasts which didn’t eventuate, such as that Perth and Brisbane might run out of water by 2009. “How much are you to blame for the swing in sentiment, the retreat from global warming policy and rise of scepticism?” demands Bolt. In the context of the events of late 2009 and early 2010, the fact that these events didn’t materialise made Flannery, and others, seem unreliable. And what Bolt had to say on talkback radio, I suspect, resonated with a good proportion of its audience. What Bolt was trying to do was discredit Flannery’s scientific credentials and in the process erode trust in the expert. Flannery’s response was to claim that, what he said was that these events might eventuate. In much the same way that the climate sceptics have managed to co-opt scepticism and use it as a rationale for inaction on climate change, Andrew Bolt here either misunderstands basic scientific method or quite consciously misleads and manipulates the public. As Naomi Oreskes argues, “proof does not play the role in science that most people think it does (or should), and therefore it cannot play the role in policy that skeptics demand it should” (Oreskes 370). Doubt and ‘Situated’ Hope Uncertainty and ambiguity then emerge here as resources because they force us to confront those things we really want–not safety in some distant, contested future but justice and self-understanding now. (Sheila Jasanoff, cited in Hulme, back cover) In his last published book before his death in mid-2010, Science as a contact sport, Stephen Schneider’s advice to aspiring science communicators is that they should engage with the media “not at all, or a lot”. Climate scientist Ann Henderson-Sellers adds that there are very few scientists “who have the natural ability, and learn or cultivate the talents, of effective communication with and through the media” (430). In order to attract the public’s attention, it was once commonplace for scientists to write editorials and exploit fear-provoking measures by including a “useful catastrophe or two” (Moser and Dilling 37). But are these tactics effective? Susanne Moser thinks not. She argues that “numerous studies show that … fear may change attitudes … but not necessarily increase active engagement or behaviour change” (Moser 70). Furthermore, risk psychologists argue that danger is always context specific (Hulme 196). If the risk or danger is “situated” and “tangible” (such as lead toxicity levels in children in Mt Isa from the Xstrata mine) then the public will engage with it. However if it is “un-situated” (distant, intangible and diffuse) like climate change, the audience is less likely to. In my SCOM201 class we examined the impact of two climate change-related campaigns. The first one was a short film used to promote the 2010 Copenhagen Climate Change Summit (“Scary”) and the second was the State Government of Victoria’s “You have the power: Save Energy” public awareness campaign (“You”). Using Moser’s article to guide them, students evaluated each campaign’s effectiveness. Their conclusions were that the “You have the power” campaign had far more impact because it a) had very clear objectives (to cut domestic power consumption) b) provided a very clear visualisation of carbon dioxide through the metaphor of black balloons wafting up into the atmosphere, c) gave viewers a sense of empowerment and hope through describing simple measures to cut power consumption and, d) used simple but effective metaphors to convey a world progressed beyond human control, such as household appliances robotically operating themselves in the absence of humans. Despite its high production values, in comparison, the Copenhagen Summit promotion was more than ineffective and bordered on propaganda. It actually turned viewers off with its whining, righteous appeal of, “please help the world”. Its message and objectives were ambiguous, it conveyed environmental catastrophe through hackneyed images, exploited children through a narrative based on fear and gave no real sense of hope or empowerment. In contrast the Victorian Government’s campaign focused on just one aspect of climate change that was made both tangible and situated. Doubt and uncertainty are productive tools in the pursuit of knowledge. Whether it is scientific or otherwise, uncertainty will always be the motivation that “feeds the frenzy for new knowledge” (Jasanoff 33). Articulating the importance of Hulme’s book, Sheila Jasanoff indicates we should make doubt our friend, “Without downplaying its seriousness, Hulme demotes climate change from ultimate threat to constant companion, whose murmurs unlock in us the instinct for justice and equality” (Hulme back cover). The “murmurs” that Jasanoff gestures to here, I think, can also be articulated as hope. And it is in this discussion of climate change that doubt and hope sit side-by-side as bedfellows, mutually entangled. Since the “failed” Copenhagen Summit, there has been a distinct shift in climate change discourse from “experts”. We have moved away from doom and gloom discourses and into the realm of what I shall call “situated” hope. “Situated” hope is not based on blind faith alone, but rather hope grounded in evidence, informed judgements and experience. For instance, in distinct contrast to his cautionary tale The Weather Makers: The History & Future Impact of Climate Change, Tim Flannery’s latest book, Here on Earth is a biography of our Earth; a planet that throughout its history has oscillated between Gaian and Medean impulses. However Flannery’s wonder about the natural world and our potential to mitigate the impacts of climate change is not founded on empty rhetoric but rather tempered by evidence; he presents a series of case studies where humanity has managed to come together for a global good. Whether it’s the 1987 Montreal ban on CFCs (chlorinated fluorocarbons) or the lesser-known 2001 Stockholm Convention on POP (Persistent Organic Pollutants), what Flannery envisions is an emerging global civilisation, a giant, intelligent super-organism glued together through social bonds. He says: If that is ever achieved, the greatest transformation in the history of our planet would have occurred, for Earth would then be able to act as if it were as Francis Bacon put it all those centuries ago, ‘one entire, perfect living creature’. 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