FUS (FUsed in Sarcoma) is a protein involved in gene expression. When a mutation occurs, FUS can build up in the cytoplasm and form droplets and fibers because of its prion-like domain. FUS protein...Show moreFUS (FUsed in Sarcoma) is a protein involved in gene expression. When a mutation occurs, FUS can build up in the cytoplasm and form droplets and fibers because of its prion-like domain. FUS protein droplets and fibers are thought to be involved in the development with brain diseases ALS and FTD, so uncovering of the kinetics of these fibers and droplets would aid in medicine development for these diseases. In this thesis, the fiber growth rate as a function of the FUS concentration in the dilute phase surrounding the fiber is measured, using confocal microscopy, by growing the fibers from FUS coated glass beads. This showed that the fiber growth rate in linearly dependent on the FUS concentrations. Secondly, the FUS droplets have been shown to age and harden over time. Here, a tentative attempt is made to quantify this hardening over time using micro rheology. This shows that this hardening indeed happens, but it is not quantifiable yet. These findings are particularly exciting as they suggest that fibril growth rate occurs through a mechanism that is contrary to that predicted from the current paradigm. Thus, this study set the foundation for a more complete physical picture of fibril growth and its alteration by condensates.Show less
Perishables is a photographic series that features the portraits of nineteen white women between the ages of fifty and seventy. Through its engagement with abject materials, namely its use of...Show morePerishables is a photographic series that features the portraits of nineteen white women between the ages of fifty and seventy. Through its engagement with abject materials, namely its use of animal skins and organ linings as garments for the photographed women, the series aims to enter into a generative relationship with its spectators, where the female ageing body is explored and re-negotiated through its abject exploration. Departing from a sociological, philosophical and feminist perspective, I frame Perishables as a powerful and poignant commentary on the social abjection of female ageing bodies that engages with the feminist tradition of body reclamation. The aim of this paper is to deconstruct and unveil the ageist and patriarchal notions inscribed in the female ageing body, and to showcase (theoretical and socially engaged) practices to refute them.Show less
Japan is het meest vergrijsde land ter wereld met 28,2% bevolking boven de 65 jaar in 2020. Ten gevolge van het vruchtbaarheidscijfer dat sinds 2013 reeds onder het vervangingsniveau ligt, en de...Show moreJapan is het meest vergrijsde land ter wereld met 28,2% bevolking boven de 65 jaar in 2020. Ten gevolge van het vruchtbaarheidscijfer dat sinds 2013 reeds onder het vervangingsniveau ligt, en de Japanse bevolking de hoogste levensverwachting ter wereld heeft, dreigt de vergrijzing verder toe te nemen. Hetzelfde geldt voor de Japanse gevangenispopulatie. In 1989 was slecht 2,4% van alle tot detentie berechte personen 65 jaar of ouder. In 2018 was dit percentage 12,2%, oftewel een toename van ruim 900 procent in bijna 30 jaar. In de White Paper of Crime 2008 gaf het Japanse Ministerie van Justitie reeds aan dat de ontwikkelingen omtrent de criminele betrokkenheid van ouderen redenen zijn voor verontrusting. Zo wordt er vermeld dat onderzoek naar oudere delinquenten noodzakelijk is en de werkelijke oorzaak van de toename in kaart moet worden gebracht, aangezien de toename namelijk niet aangeschreven kan worden door de verouderende maatschappij. In deze studie wordt dan ook getracht de factoren te identificeren die bijdragen tot de vergrijzing van de Japanse gevangenispopulatie.Show less
Ten years have passed since Japan’s triple disaster on March 11, 2011. The earthquake that occurred off the coast of eastern Japan triggered a powerful tsunami that in turn caused a nuclear...Show moreTen years have passed since Japan’s triple disaster on March 11, 2011. The earthquake that occurred off the coast of eastern Japan triggered a powerful tsunami that in turn caused a nuclear meltdown. As with the Great Hanshin earthquake in Kobe in 1995, most of the victims were elderly people. This paper articulates the causes of Japan’s elderly population’s vulnerability to (natural) hazards by examining to what extent neoliberalism aggravates the Japanese elderly’s disaster vulnerability by using the Disaster as a Social Vulnerability framework. The prevailing consensus in studies that utilize this approach is that neoliberalism and the most common developments associated with the neoliberal ideology, privatization, and decentralization4, harm people’s vulnerability. This paper shows that while processes associated with neoliberalism can exacerbate the Japanese elderly’s disaster vulnerability, as will be demonstrated by discussing the pension system, there is no evidence for the accuracy of this consensus regarding the healthcare system. Based on these insights, this paper concludes that the “neoliberalism aggravates disaster vulnerability”-consensus is too simplistic to consider the elderly population in Japan.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
open access
Exclusionary and self-serving, the purpose of gender constructs are fundamentally more concerned with the longevity and social-standing of the hegemonic participants – for they perpetuate the...Show moreExclusionary and self-serving, the purpose of gender constructs are fundamentally more concerned with the longevity and social-standing of the hegemonic participants – for they perpetuate the construct itself – than those who fall short of its criteria. Because constructs of masculinity are inherently hierarchal, we would expect the aged to become a “subclass” against which younger participants validate their own masculinity and increase their standing. Thus, in the introduction of her ground-breaking book Being a Man: Negotiating Ancient Constructs of Masculinity, published in 2017, I would have to agree with I. Zsolany’s statement: “to enact a version of masculinity considered less than a societal ideal cannot only be undesirable, but humiliating.” However, against my own presumptions, Mesopotamian art and literature reveals a gerontocratic society which favoured the aged over the young, one where the dominant social construct was monopolised by a group who were unable to adhere to its values and norms, and thus struggled meet its expectations. In this thesis we will investigate this paradox, using the Standard Babylonian (abbreviated as “SB” throughout the essay) Gilgamesh epic to explore the ways in which older men navigated the obstacles of ageing whilst paying particular attention to how they validated their own masculinity based on that of younger men.Show less
The most accurate ageing methods for non-adult individuals are based on dental development and eruption. However, archaeological skeletal remains are often fragmented or incomplete, as a result of...Show moreThe most accurate ageing methods for non-adult individuals are based on dental development and eruption. However, archaeological skeletal remains are often fragmented or incomplete, as a result of which teeth may be lost or severely damaged. Recently, Primeau et al. (2016) developed a method to estimate age-at-death of non-adults with the use of the diaphyseal length for all major long bones. This study aims to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of the quadratic regression formulae on a post-medieval Dutch population. Long bone lengths were measured for a total of 61 individuals from the Middenbeemster skeletal collection, ranging from birth to 21 years of age. Regression ages were assigned, and subsequently compared to the known ages of 38 individuals, and estimated dental ages of 23 individuals. The results show an overall high accuracy of the method in when all age groups are combined, but inaccurate regression ages were produced for the long bones of the infants, and some of the bones of the children in the sample. This discrepancy might be partly explained by a difference in size and varying growth rates between the Middenbeemster and Danish individuals. For the juvenile and adolescent age categories, almost no significant differences were found, which suggests that the regression formulae can be used to estimate age-at-death accurately for non-adults above the age of 6 years.Show less
The problem of the elderly in post-3.11 Japan is not solvable at any single level. One cannot reduce all phenomena to results of a single factor, be it governmental practice, change in social...Show moreThe problem of the elderly in post-3.11 Japan is not solvable at any single level. One cannot reduce all phenomena to results of a single factor, be it governmental practice, change in social capital, or arbitrary wills of a group of people. After all, the levels that are investigated in this paper only represent some perspectives of inquiry. It is the variety and specificity of older people’s situations that a proper research on them has to respect. Correspondingly, the foremost implication of this research is the importance of being patient to and leaving space for, the multiplicity of the voices of the elderly.Show less
The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between osteoarthritis (OA) and age. Archaeological studies with a similar aim had been conducted before. However, none of these studied the...Show moreThe aim of this study is to assess the relationship between osteoarthritis (OA) and age. Archaeological studies with a similar aim had been conducted before. However, none of these studied the progression of osteoarthritis in relation to advancing age. Understanding the relationship between OA progression and age apart from OA prevalence and age, might show the differences in strength of age as a factor predisposing individuals to develop OA compared to other factors stimulating the degeneration of the joint. Knowledge of the strength of the correlation between osteoarthritis and age is especially useful for it enables discrimination between joints that are under great influence of age and those that show a less clear or no correlation. Those joints exhibiting a strong correlation should therefore preferably be avoided in archaeological studies where osteoarthritis is used as a marker of occupational activity. In order to test the strength of age related osteoarthritis and OA progression, a 18th-19th known age skeletal population from Middenbeemster, Netherlands, was studied an analyzed. All peripheral synovial joints were studied for osteoarthritis and the progression of OA was assessed with help of existing grading methods and a combination of OA identification criteria primarily based on Waldron (2009). The prevalence and progression of OA in relation with advancing age was studied per joint and per sex. Patterns observed were compared with clinical and archaeological studies in order to see if the patterns and results observed in the Middenbeemster sample were similar to or deviated from patterns observed in these clinical and archaeological studies. The outcome of the statistical analysis and the observed patterns showed that a strong correlation between the prevalence and progression of OA in relation to age was observable for the acromio-clavicular joint, sterno-clavicular joint, temporo-mandibular joint and the acetabulo-femoral joint. This trend persisted when studied separately for males and females. The strong correlations between osteoarthritis in these joints and age have been supported by clinical and archaeological studies. However, for the humero-ulnar joint (HUJ), distal radio-ulnar joint (DRUJ), gleno-humeral joint (GHJ), tibio-femoral joint (TFJ) and patello-femoral joint (PFJ) weak correlations for age related osteoarthritis were observed suggesting that other influences than age stimulated the development and progression of OA in these joints. For the remaining humero-radial joint, proximal radio-ulnar joint, radio-carpal joint, ulno-carpal joint and talo-crucal joint no correlations were found between OA and age. These joints can therefore be used to study occupational activity related osteoarthritis in archaeological populations. The HUJ, DRUJ, GHJ, TFJ and PFJ might be used to study occupational activity related OA, despite their weak correlation, for the patterns observed for these joints in the Middenbeemster sample in combination with clinical and archaeological studies suggest a stronger influence of other factors than age predisposing individuals to develop OA at these locations.Show less
Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
open access
The aim of this thesis is to critically analyse four Hindi short stories and to explain whether they can be considered examples of literature about ageing. The research questions that this thesis...Show moreThe aim of this thesis is to critically analyse four Hindi short stories and to explain whether they can be considered examples of literature about ageing. The research questions that this thesis tries to answer are the following: Can the selected short stories be considered literature about ageing? If so, why and how this process of ageing is depicted in Hindi Literature? In order to answer these questions, the research of Mike Hepworth (2000) on literature about ageing in British Literature is used as theoretical framework. Indeed, the parameters given by Hepworth for recognising examples of literature about ageing can be used as general criteria for the analysis of literary texts worldwide. Differences and similarities between Hepworth’s analysis and the description of ageing in selected Hindi short stories are taken into account for this critical analysis. According to the study of the four selected short stories, it is observed that one of the main focus of Hindi literature about ageing is the pursuit of denouncing elderly abuse, in all the form they are perpetrated. This work also suggests that literature about ageing is also present in Hindi Literature and it can be recognised as a literary theme on its own.Show less
Estimating the age of individuals becomes increasingly more difficult with advancing age due to the effects of life history, random individual variation and the genetic framework. This makes it...Show moreEstimating the age of individuals becomes increasingly more difficult with advancing age due to the effects of life history, random individual variation and the genetic framework. This makes it also increasingly more complicated to relate chronological and biological age, and thus to estimate age-at-death above approximately 45 years. In 2015 however, Dr. C.G. Falys and Dr. D. Prangle published a newly developed method to estimate age of older adults specifically, based on the sternal end of the clavicle. The method evaluates the degeneration of three distinct features: surface topography, porosity and osteophyte formation. These features are scored individually, after which these scores are added up to form a composite score, which is used to ascribe an age stage to an individual. This thesis has aimed to test this method on a post-medieval Dutch skeletal collection with individuals of known ages-at-death from the 18th-19th century. The collection originates from a cemetery in Middenbeemster, Noord-Holland, and is well-documented due to the availability of a cemetery ledger and military document describing names, ages, sexes, marriages, etc. of many individuals. Out of the 118 individuals listed in these archival records, 57 individuals were suitable for this analysis (98 clavicles). The overall levels of agreement between the three different observers were calculated using Cohen’s kappa (k), which revealed a relatively low agreement, varying from slight to moderate (k = 0.100 to 0.534). Fortunately, these results did not influence the accuracy of the method greatly, which varied between 87% and 94%, depending on the side chosen to estimate age. Unfortunately the age ranges that are used in the method are too large for the method to be deemed precise. Previously existing methods are however not at all capable of subdividing the 45+ category into smaller stages. Although the age stages are large, the method is thus capable of recognizing the older members within a society and place them into a more specific age class than other methods currently can. The method does need more testing and revising, but can currently be concluded to accurately estimate olders adults’ ages-at-death in Dutch post-medieval collections.Show less
