34 research outputs found
Fantastic alterities and The Sandman
No full textThis article explores the ways in which the comics medium enhances our understanding of literary models of the Fantastic. It examines the presence and depiction of multiple worlds in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, with specific reference to the role of the comics medium and its denial of mimesis when creating such alterities.
It initially uses literature review to establish a contemporary working model of the Fantastic, taking as its basis the framework devised by Tzvetan Todorov, and incorporating the later work of Rosemary Jackson, A B Chanady, and Christine Brooke-Rose. It establishes the position of the Fantastic as a literary mode lying between the marvellous (supernatural accepted) and the uncanny (supernatural explained), and clarifies the distinction between the mode of the Fantastic (which encompasses various genres) and the genre itself.
The article then considers the ways in which both the form and content of the comics medium sustain the mode of the fantastic. It broadly discusses the ways in which the following factors contribute to this process:
• subject matter: fantastic events, super powers, alternate worlds
• non-realistic aesthetic: pop art, stylised visuals, fiction of fonts (invoking the tension between hand-drawn and computerised artwork or lettering)
• authorial reticence: the possibilities for surpassing or discarding narrative voice
• the role of the reader: as both interpreter and co-creator.
It then focuses more closely upon the genre of the Fantastic, establishing the ways in which this genre is opposed to both magical realism (outright fantasy) and realism (where such events are explained). It summarises the role of various qualities of the Fantastic in this regard, which include an antinomy between the natural and supernatural, author reticence, over- or under-determined language, and a defiance of absolute meaning in favour of interpretation or hesitation .
The article then proceeds to two case studies, taken from Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman: A Game of You and The Kindly Ones. The first analyses the construction of two contrasting alterities (‘The Land’ and ‘New York’) and examines the ways in which, despite initial appearances, these two worlds are both equally removed from the referent of ‘reality’. It proceeds to discuss the use made of over- and under-determined signifiers, the transformation motif, intertextuality, and the redefinition of static notions (home, gender) as fluid and undefined. It deconstructs The Kindly Ones in similar terms, considering the ways in which its triple alterities are all simultaneously validated by the text and the role of motifs such as multiple names and duplicated characters.
It concludes that, like the Fantastic, the comics medium exposes the notion of ‘reality’ as a constructed referent, which the text’s alterities comment on. The nature of the medium allows for the construction and sustenance of multiple worlds without recourse to a stable notion of reality. As the reader’s hesitation destabilises interpretation of reality versus fantasy, absolute meaning is denied. It therefore seems that comics offer what might be best described as a postmodern vision of the Fantastic
Improving dialogue with communities
No full textThis manual gives clear-cut guidelines for planning and undertaking effective environmental health risk communication. Intended for use by state agencies, this manual summarizes practical lessons learned from successful as well as unsuccessful efforts to generate two-way communication with affected publics
Using Community-Based Participatory Evaluation (CBPE) Methods as a Tool to Sustain a Community Health Coalition
No full text· Participatory evaluation has set the standard for cooperation between program evaluators and stakeholders. Coalition evaluation, however, calls for more extensive collaboration with the community at large.
· Integrating principles of community based participatory research and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Strategic Prevention Framework, which guides much coalition work, into coalition evaluation has proved useful to foster community affiliations and support reciprocal relationship building. The resulting evaluation method, named community based participatory evaluation (CBPE), takes time, money, and skilled personnel but can lead to more accurate results and coalition sustainability.
· The CBPE method has proved essential in sustaining two substance abuse coalitions in and around Boston: Revere Cares (RC) and The Charlestown Substance Abuse Coalition (CSAC).
· CBPE can help sustain coalitions by providing a degree of formality, assuring appropriate leadership and membership satisfaction, supporting conflict resolution, and strengthening relationships with external organizations. Broad-based participation allows coalition members greater access to create organizational and community change. Furthermore, it increases the capacity to collaborate because if one person quits the coalition, the affiliation with the organization may still be robust.
· Challenges to implementing CBPE include the cost, the amount of time required, and the need for a skilled evaluator who is organized, engaged, and knowledgeable about all aspects of coalition work
Strategic communication through all stages of a major emergency life cycle, with particular reference to the needs of Ireland
No full textThis study asks if a strategic approach to the management of communication can assist and support the overall operational commander in effectively managing a major
emergency situation. Communication in this regard includes important strategictactical functions that need consideration when the community faces significant loss
of life or damage, and incorporates tasks such as media management, public information, the raising of public awareness, internal communication, public affairs,
community relations, and survivor and victim relations. Encompassing these functions are a number of overarching principles that, when adopted, allow the entire
process to be approached from a strategic rather than a tactical viewpoint. The study demonstrates how an efficient, strategically focused communication team can assist the operational commander in managing a major emergency situation.
The dissertation explores principles and practices for strategic communication management for major emergencies. It recommends a particular framework that is underpinned by six strategic communication principles. The framework was
developed taking into account relevant theories and models of strategic communication and management, augmented by detailed primary and secondary qualitative deductive research. Research in this regard included reading not only the academic literature but also a broad range of official Irish and other documentation, including reports, manuals, guidance materials and legislation. Original primary
research was undertaken to ascertain how a number of countries, regarded as leaders in this field, approach this subject and detailed interviews were conducted with
responsible officials in Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. As relatively little data exists on the subject of major emergency strategic communication in the Irish context, in-depth interviews were also conducted with key individuals involved in major emergency management in Ireland.
The study demonstrates that the strategic communication function is increasingly a critical success factor in major emergency management internationally. It also shows
that, while major emergency communication initiatives have been undertaken in Ireland, the Irish approach is somewhat fragmented and tactical in nature
Placental DEPTOR as a stress sensor during pregnancy
No full textThe author(s) has paid for this article to be freely available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Copyright @ 2012 Portland Press. The article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.DEPTOR [DEP-domain-containing and mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin)-interacting protein] is a modulator of mTOR signalling that binds to mTORC (mTOR complex) 1 and mTORC2. However, to date, the precise functions of DEPTOR are not fully elucidated, particularly in reproductive tissues where mTOR acts as a placental nutrient sensor. Pregnancy is associated with major physiological and psychosocial changes and adaptation to these changes is crucial for normal fetal development. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that maternal stress can affect mTOR signalling at term, and, as a result, influence placental growth. We first investigated the expression of DEPTOR, mTOR, rictor (rapamycin-insensitive companion of mTOR) and raptor (regulatory associated protein of mTOR) from human placentas (n=23) using Q-PCR (quantitative PCR), and correlated these data to days of pregnancy and maternal stress, as well as placental and fetal weight. Maternal and fetal cortisol levels were also measured. JEG-3 and BeWo cells, used as placental in vitro models, were treated with cortisol and DEPTOR expression was assessed using Q-PCR. DEPTOR appears to be the predominant transcript in the human placenta compared with mTOR, rictor and raptor in both term (n=13) and preterm (n=10) placentas as assessed by Q-PCR. There was a significantly lower level only of log-DEPTOR gene expression in the high stress group (-1.34) than in the low stress group (0.07; t₂₀=2.41, P=0.026). Interestingly, mothers with high stress had significantly elevated levels of cortisol (8555 pg/ml) compared with those with low stress (4900 pg/ml). We then tested the hypothesis that cortisol can directly affect DEPTOR expression. When BeWo cells were treated with cortisol 10, 100 and 1000 nM, the expression of DEPTOR was significantly down-regulated by 50, 41 and 39% (all P<0.05) respectively when compared with basal levels. Treatment of JEG-3 cells with cortisol, led to a significant decrease of DEPTOR expression at 100 nM (39%, P<0.05) and at 1000 nM (73%, P<0.01). These novel findings are indicative of a higher order of complexity of DEPTOR signalling in the human placenta that is affected by maternal stress, which could affect pregnancy outcome
Dimer-dimer stacking interactions are important for nucleic acid binding by the archaeal chromatin protein Alba
No full textArchaea use a variety of small basic proteins to package their DNA. One of the most widespread and highly conserved is the Alba (Sso10b) protein. Alba interacts with both DNA and RNA in vitro, and we show in the present study that it binds more tightly to dsDNA (double-stranded DNA) than to either ssDNA (single-stranded DNA) or RNA. The Alba protein is dimeric in solution, and forms distinct ordered complexes with DNA that have been visualized by electron microscopy studies; these studies suggest that, on binding dsDNA, the protein forms extended helical protein fibres. An end-to-end association of consecutive Alba dimers is suggested by the presence of a dimer-dimer interface in crystal structures of Alba from several species, and by the strong conservation of the interface residues, centred on Are and Phe(60). In the present study we map perturbation of the polypeptide backbone of Alba upon binding to DNA and RNA by NMR, and demonstrate the central role of Phe(60) in forming the dimer dimer interface. Site-directed spin labelling and pulsed ESR are used to confirm that an end-to-end, dimer dimer interaction forms in the presence of dsDNA.Peer reviewe
The uses of madness in nineteenth- and twentieth-century fiction : the relation between narrative strategy and disturbed states of consciousness
No full textThe thesis operates upon the premise that there has been, in the
course of the last two centuries, a radical transformation in narrative
presentations of exceptional states of consciousness. It sets out to
identify the main characteristics of the fictional transformation, and to
situate them in the context of wider cultural shifts. I decided to rest
my approach upon the relatively conservative sense that, roughly speaking,
the structural and linguistic analysis of a narrative topos - that is to
say the protagonist's madness - can elicit a clearer understanding of the
changing, underlying dynamics and thematics of fictional works as they
emerge over a given historical period.
The thesis is set out in two parts; Part I explores nineteenth
century uses of madness, and Part II compares and contrasts more recent
treatments. The study of the different presentations of madness in
fiction is organized diachronically for heuristic purposes, although the
typological emphasis of the thesis must eventually take precedence over
the imposition of a rigid historical framework.
In the nineteenth century it is predominantly an intellectually
marginalized kind of fiction (often termed 'gothic') which deals with
exceptional psychic experience. It does so in a way which engages with
the treacherous 'otherness' of mad experience, which is often aligned with
the supernatural. In these texts the position of the narrator in relation
to such phenomenon is of paramount importance. More recent treatments of
'madness' display a tendency to undermine its 'otherness' and to move
towards narrative identification with such states.
The method of investigation functions upon several levels. In order
to provide a constructive counter-perspective upon fictional treatments of
madness and to forge the link with contemporary methodologies, the study
commences with the narratological analysis of a work written by a
(clinically diagnosed) psychotic author which has achieved the status of a
classic within psychiatric, psychoanalytical and even recent cultural
theory. The narrative structure of D. P. Schreber's Memoirs finds its
equivalent in a kind of fiction identified in this thesis as 'paranoid'.
Twentieth century clinical discourse increasingly has recourse to the
very broad term 'schizophrenia' as a synonym for the outmoded term
'madness'. The current emphasis upon linguistic concerns in the definition
and location of psychosis allows the critical grouping of certain kinds of
texts under the heading of 'schizoid', due to the discovery of analogous
characteristics at work within their (anti)narrative strategy. Again, these
terms are heuristically intended and cannot be scientifically precise. The
thesis concludes with a discussion of the current centrality of a
terminology of psychopathology to the ways in which fictionists, critics
and theorists describe, prescribe and understand the 'postmodern' self and
world.
This project offers an overview of attitudes to madness as they are
transformed in fiction in the course of a historical period. The way in
which madness functions in these texts is, first of all, not only as the
instrument of literary exploration but also as a means of transgressing
boundaries between sanity and insanity. The period is crucial, further, in
its radical transitional nature with regard to concepts of fundamental
import for the novel form: most particularly, ideas of the 'self' and ideas
of 'reality', as objectively stable or as sub. iective and illusory. For the
fictional articulation of these, the topos of 'madness' serves as the
ultimate measure
Communicative Kissing With Alien Poetry: New Muses in Neil Gaiman’s “How to Talk to Girls at Parties”
No full textThe representation of women in the fiction of Neil Gaiman is a topic that seems to obsess scholars, critics, fans, and (likely) the author himself. It is imperative that closer scholarly attention be paid to the figure of the muse, a figure defined in contemporary culture by her representability, as she appears across Gaiman’s works. This thesis traces the evolution of m/Muses or muse-like figures in the fiction of Neil Gaiman, arguing that the short story “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” imagines an empowering evolution for those who are objectified or silenced by the assumption that they are muses. Through close reading that yields an atypical interpretation of the 2006 short story “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” collected in Fragile Things, this thesis demonstrates a crucial evolution in Gaiman’s depiction of women or girls as muses or muse-like figures. This thesis explores the “Calliope” issue of The Sandman and its Netflix adaptation, The Graveyard Book, and the short story “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” which complicates and evolves the figure of the muse as presented in previous fiction by Gaiman. Additionally, these works critique or dismiss the figure of the masculinist Poet. “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” is invaluable in any discussion of the feminist nature of Gaiman’s works. The futuristic and fantastic depiction of girls as viral alien poetry who might infect those who communicate with them (re)empowers those typically depicted in art and reendows supposed muses with active voices
Re-situating the body : history, myth, and the contemporary women's writings in English and Japanese
No full textThis thesis analyses contemporary literary attempts by Western and Japanese writers to defy patriarchal control over the female body. Situating the female body through myth, religion, and various forms of art as "grotesque" is Western culture's means of control over nature. Contrary to this, Japanese culture originally had more harmonious concepts of the mind and body, but was transformed into a similar pattern to that of the West. During the period of cultural transformation, one example of literary resistance by woman writers appeared as the Tale of Genji, arguably the first novel in the world, which uses an ambiguous narrative method and the concept of the grotesque body. Contemporary women's writings still employ similar strategies, though more direct and effective. From the beginning of the twentieth century and through the development of consumer society, more bodies are regarded as "grotesque" but there are also cultural exchanges in the world which seek to subvert such tendencies. Despite unmistakable cultural differences between western and Japanese representations, they often influence each other and draw on similar strategies. Both use the motif of the grotesque body to create a reverse discourse, and to re-situate the body, as the symbol of the retrieval of a "natural" and sexual body which is found in Japanese Myth. English and Japanese women writers also manoeuvre to strike a balance between fantastic and more conventional narrative modes. Though the majority of Japanese writers are still working within a broadly realistic mode, those writers analysed here use fantastic mode as a weapon of formal and ideological subversion. The writers analysed include Angela Carter (who lived in Japan), Margaret Atwood, Fay Weldon, Muriel Spark, Yuko Matsumoto, Rieko Matsuura, Yoriko Shono, Yumiko Kurahashi. Their work is situated in relation to earlier imaginative writing, myth, legend and examples of the Gothic mode
