644 research outputs found
Cult: A Composite Novel
No full textCult (redacted)
The first component of the thesis is a composite novel called Cult which falls into two parts with seven narratives in each. Part 1 tracks the protagonist, Ellen, from her first involvement with the cult through to her eventually leaving it. Although fiction, the first half of the book answers the kinds of questions the author is asked when people discover that she was once a sannyasin (a follower of the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh). While the experiences of meditation, group therapy and communal living are all faithfully rendered within the stories, the need for strong characters, narrative drive and a lightness of touch takes precedence.
Part 2 picks up Ellen’s story some twenty or so years later and explores what becomes of her in middle age. It also looks at other groups in society, such as academia, the law and the internet dating community which each have their own jargon, hierarchies, rituals and rules but are not considered to be cults.
The book examines the question raised in the Epigraph, ‘how do we be together when we feel so alone’ with a focus on relationships other than the familial and the romantic.
Collisions, Chasms and Connections: a Performative Exploration of the Composite Novel Form
The second part of the thesis is both a critical and creative response to three contemporary American books: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout; A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan; and Legend of a Suicide by David Vann. The critical element comprises a close reading of the three books; a chronological reconstruction of their overarching storylines; and a consideration of what their authors have said about writing the books. It concludes that, in the composite novel, the simultaneous presentation of multiple views and storylines operate much like a 3D image to give the impression of depth to the characters and situations rendered. The creative element of the essay is a playful and personal response to the texts
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The manuscripts of the works of Gerald of Wales
No full textMy dissertation is a palaeographical study of the manuscripts of the works of Gerald of Wales (c. 1146-1223). Gerald was a churchman, a member of the court of King Henry II and a prolific author. His extensive works include historical and topographical descriptions of Ireland and Wales, theological and hagiographical studies, and several autobiographical works. Throughout his career he constantly revised these works. A hundred manuscripts containing works of Gerald survive today, and the progress of his revision of his works may be observed from the manuscript-record. I therefore devote some space to the textual history of Gerald's works in the manuscripts; however, the emphasis is on the manuscripts and therefore on what the textual history can show about them, not on the texts themselves. There is an unusually large number of manuscripts (about 20%) surviving from Gerald's lifetime, including some which are decorated and illustrated and at least one which has been described as a 'working copy'. I have studied these manuscripts closely, concentrating on finding similarities between them - particularly the appearance of the same hand in different manuscripts - which may point to a common place of production, possibly 'Gerald's scriptorium'. I have also considered the manuscript evidence for Gerald's publishing processes and the possibility of finding Gerald's autograph. I have then considered the manuscripts surviving from after Gerald's death and what they can show about the continuing tradition of his works, for example: who read them, and which were most popular; the geographical spread of the manuscript-evidence; whether different works were popular at different times, and why; the treatment of the works by later scholars, for example translation, abbreviation and excerpting. This includes evidence which I have discovered for the existence of now lost manuscripts. Finally, I have compared the manuscript-tradition of Gerald's works with that of some other twelfth-century Insular writers whose works survive in various authorial editions and/or in autograph or quasi-autograph copies.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
Melanotaenia nigrans Richardson
No full textMelanotaenia nigrans Richardson Blackbanded Rainbowfish Extremely rare within the Kimberley region, Melanotaenia nigrans is only known from one small tributary in Dominic Creek near the mouth of the King Edward River (Fig. 21), and although WAM records suggest it is present in Yampi Sound, recent examination of these specimens by the senior author revealed them to be M. australis. The species is also found in coastal drainages of the Northern Territory, including Groote Eylandt and the northern tip of Cape York (Allen et al. 2002).Published as part of Morgan, David L., Allen, Gerald R., Pusey, Bradley J. & Burrows, Damien W., 2011, 2816, pp. 1-64 in Zootaxa 2816 on page 1
President Gerald Ford\u27s impact on United States foreign policy from 1974 to 1991
No full textTo illustrate President Ford\u27s impact on United States\u27 foreign policy, this thesis looks at his early life, his Congressional career and his brief tenure as Vice President. From there, it focuses on the differences between Ford and President Nixon. The paper looks at their personalities, decision-making styles, and their styles of leadership. Next, it analyzes the major international events that took place during Ford\u27s years in the White House. These events include the fall of South Vietnam and Cambodia, communist intervention in Angola and Ford\u27s dealings with the Soviet Union and The Peoples\u27 Republic of China. Finally, the paper examines three post-Ford Administrations and the impact that Gerald Ford had on them. The evidence supports the author\u27s contention that Gerald Ford had a substantial impact on the foreign policy of the United States during and after his Presidency
Analyzing the effects of U.S. agricultural policy on Mexican agricultural markets using the MEXAGMKTS model
No full textThis paper uses results from simulations of the FAIRMODEL, USAGMKTS, and MEXAGMKTS models to analyze the effects of changes in U.S. agricultural policy on Mexican agricultural markets. The author concludes that under a scenario of trade liberalization for Mexico, Mexican agricultural production, prices, and trade are quite sensitive to agricultural policy changes in the U.S. The genesis of the research project was the perception that agricultural policies in Mexico (and many other countries) are often second best responses to the negative side effects of broad economic policies aimed primarily at macroeconomic and international trade objectives. The paper also discusses the role of agriculture in Mexican economic policy, and MEXAGMKTS, FAIR and USAGMKTS models. The paper includes an analysis of the sensitivity of Mexican agricultural markets to U.S. agricultural policy and a brief summary of the implications of the results.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Agricultural Research,Access to Markets,Markets and Market Access
Rooting into the Earth, Branching into the Sky: Willa Cather’s Vision for Life Among the Trees
No full textIn her introduction to Willa Cather’s Ecological Imagination, a volume of Cather Studies devoted solely to ecocritical essays about Willa Cather’s writing, Susan Rosowski asserts that the fundamental question driving debate in and around today’s environmental movement—“What is the right relation between human beings and nature?”—is a question that interested Cather deeply, a question that Cather’s stories frequently ask and occasionally, if incompletely, answer. This thesis aims to add to the ecocritical conversation surrounding Cather’s work by drawing attention to the important, albeit largely overlooked, ways that Cather’s beliefs about the relation between human beings and nature are encapsulated in the relationships between her human characters and the trees around them.
To illustrate the consistently-important, if not entirely consistent, role that trees play in Cather’s writing, this paper offers an illustrative pairing of two of Cather’s best-known novels: My Ántonia (1918) and Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927). This pairing is uniquely instructive because the two novels are at once very similar and very different from one another. Because both novels tell stories about characters who, when forced to adapt to new, unnervingly-bare environments, forge intimate connections with their new homes primarily through their attention to, and care for, trees, we come to understand that Cather sees trees as the primary mediators of humans’ relationships with the places they inhabit. On the other hand, because of the essential differences between the Midwestern plains of My Ántonia and the Southwestern deserts of Death Comes for the Archbishop, and, even more importantly, the essential differences between the personalities of the two novels’ titular characters (Ántonia of My Ántonia and Archbishop Latour of Death Comes for the Archbishop), we come to understand that exactly how trees mediate the relationship between humans and nature can vary.
This thesis’s central argument posits that the trees of My Ántonia draw Ántonia’s spirit downwards into the Nebraska earth, rooting her more deeply in the immediate community, while the trees of Death Comes for the Archbishop draw Latour’s spirit upwards, making the Southwest a place where Latour feels a unique, transcendent connection to all of creation. Thus, although trees in both stories play a vital role in helping characters find meaning, and a sense of belonging, in a new place, the meanings that Ántonia and Latour find in their new homes, and the types of belonging they feel, are very different from one another.
The paper concludes by examining Cather’s own relationship with the landscapes of Mid- and Southwest America. The thesis ultimately contends that although Cather’s own relationship with the natural world is likely to have been more similar to Latour’s than to Ántonia’s, the illustrative pairing of My Ántonia and Death Comes for the Archbishop reveals that Cather rejected the idea of a single “right” relation between human beings and nature. Instead, Cather’s stories suggest that each individual must discover their own “right” relationship with the natural world around them—a seemingly long and difficult task, but a task that may be made a bit easier if one knows where to begin: beneath a tree
The Customs Union issue: Why do we observe so few of them?
No full textThe number of preferential trade agreements has greatly increased over the past two decades, yet most existing bilateral arrangements take the form of free trade areas, and less than ten percent can be considered to be fully fledged customs unions. This paper develops a political economy model of trade policy under imperfect competition to provide a positive explanation for the prevalence of free trade areas. In a three country setting, a representative from each prospective member is elected to determine the tariffs to be applied on imported goods. Under a customs union, the necessity to coordinate tariff leads voters to strategically delegate power to more protectionist representatives. Contrary to most of the existing literature, we show that strategic delegation may imply that free trade areas increase welfare compared to customs unions. Moreover, the model also indicates that free trade areas are more likely to be politically viable than customs unions.Strategic delegation, Preferential Trade Agreements.
Dearomative hydroboration-enabled synthesis of idarubicinone and synthesis of minor cannabinoids and their metabolites
No full textAnthracyclines are archetypal representatives of tetracyclic type II polyketide natural products that are widely used in cancer chemotherapy. Although syntheses of this class of compounds have been extensively explored, all known approaches are based on annulations, relying on the union of properly pre-functionalized building blocks. To complement these studies, here we showcase an alternative, non-annulative entry to anthracyclines, starting from a polynuclear arene. Specifically, tetracene was converted to idarubicinone, an aglycone of the FDA approved anthracycline idarubicin, by a judicious orchestration of Co- and Ru-catalyzed arene oxidation and a novel dearomative hydroboration. This global functionalization strategy, a combination of site-selective arene- and dearomative-functionalizations, provided the key anthracycline framework in five operations and enabled rapid and controlled access to idarubicinone.
Another class of compound deriving from polyketide synthases are the cannabinoids. Having a long history of use, yet controversial nature Cannabis offers the possibility for the treatment of many diseases. Reports are varied, however, possibly due to the affect of numerous and under-studied minor cannabinoids. A small library of minor cannabinoids were prepared and tested for their anti-inflammatory pain with the goal of discovering a novel lead compound. Specifically, cannabimovone was prepared in biomimetic fashion and displayed a remarkable ability to stimulate the production of cytokines in a BV-2 mouse microglial cell line under inflammatory response.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2023-08-01The student, David Dennis, accepted the attached license on 2021-06-11 at 09:03.The student, David Dennis, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2021-06-11 at 09:10.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2021-06-21 at 09:46.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #16682 on 2022-01-12 at 12:52:13Made available in DSpace on 2022-01-12T22:34:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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Toxotes chatareus
No full textToxotes chatareus (Hamilton) Sevenspot Archerfish Within Western Australia, the species appears to be typically restricted to the northern and eastern Kimberley (Fig. 38) and collections suggest that they are in the Fitzroy, Calder, Prince Regent (brackish water below King Cascade), Lawley, Carson (and lower King Edward), Durack, Pentecost and Ord River. The only known specimens reported from the Fitzroy River (WAM P.2620-001, and P.25434-004), which were examined by the senior author, correspond to T. kimberleyensis. Thus, the distribution should only include the rivers north and east of the Calder River.Published as part of Morgan, David L., Allen, Gerald R., Pusey, Bradley J. & Burrows, Damien W., 2011, 2816, pp. 1-64 in Zootaxa 2816 on page 1
Exophiala angulospora causes systemic mycosis in Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus): A case report
No full textFilamentous black yeasts from the genus Exophiala are ubiquitous, opportunistic pathogens causing both superficial and systemic mycoses in warm- and cold-blooded animals. Infections by black yeasts have been reported relatively frequently in a variety of captive and farmed freshwater and marine fish. In November 2012, moribund and recently dead farm raised Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus ) were necropsied to determine the cause of death. Histopathology revealed that three of five fish were affected by a combination of an ascending trans-ureter granulomatous mycotic nephritis, necrotizing histiocytic encephalitis, and in one fish the addition of a fibrogranulomatous submucosal branchitis. Microbial cultures of kidney using selective mycotic media revealed pure growth of a black pigmenting septated agent. Application of molecular and phenotypic taxonomy methodologies determined that all three isolates were genetically consistent with Exophiala angulospora. This is the first report of Exophiala angulospora as the causal agent of systemic mycosis in Atlantic halibut
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