13 research outputs found
Hawaii, 1937
No full textTitle from first page of PDF file (viewed September 9, 2010)Hawaii, 1937 explores America's imperial relationship with two of its territories, the Philippines and Hawaii, through the novel's protagonist, Marcelo Medina. Readers first encounter Marcelo during a cane cutter strike on a sugar plantation in Puunene, Maui in April 1937. Through Marcelo readers meet the sakadas, contract laborers from the Philippine provinces who were largely young, single, and illiterate. As the strike leaves him homeless, readers follow Marcelo to Honolulu, the capital of the Territory of Hawaii, where he reluctantly gets involved with the burgeoning labor movement and, to complicate matters, a sugar heiress. The labor leaders face a monumental task: to seek justice among the same American corporations that ousted the Queen of Hawaii in 1891 and overthrew the monarchy that existed since King Kamehemeha I. Throughout his journey in Hawaii, Marcelo remains mysterious. Though the color of his skin limits him to certain types of work, his verbal acumen in English far exceeds his countrymen and other laborers in the islands. Although the sugar heiress, Eliza Baldwin, fishes around for his memories of the old country, Marcelo remains silent about his past. It is not until the narrative flashes back five years in the novel's second section that readers begin to understand why a man like Marcelo would become a sakada. The Commonwealth of the Philippines, in this depiction based in the early 1930s, is marked by a colonial ambivalence. Marcelo's parents had come of age when the country announced its freedom from Spain before it was quickly snatched up by America, along with former Spanish colonies Cuba and Puerto Rico in 1898. Marcelo was among the first generation of Filipinos to be educated in the American school system, which, according to the Filipino National Artist in Literature Nick Joaquin, was the sole reason that Filipinos began to look at their occupiers as liberators. In Marcelo's Manila, tensions are ripe: Filipinos are fashioning themselves as Americans, talk of revolution still lingers and provincianos dream of Hawaii, where they are promised they can "pick up money" and return to their families as rich men. In these exciting times, each living generation has no precedent. Marcelo finds contradictions in each facet of his life, where there is love, and, of course, tragedy. The relationship of these two territories has not been explored in any major work of fiction known to the author. The closest would be Carlos Bulosan's 1946 memoir, America is in the Heart, which focuses on the Filipino farm laborers in the mainland U.S. Thus, this work -- in addition to its artistic goals -- aims to elucidate, in human terms, the toll of the tens of thousands of Filipino men and their families who came to work in Hawaii's sugar and pineapple plantations. It also hopes to illustrate, in a small way, the complexity of being Filipino -- both in the Philippines and in the United States
Gender, magic, and moral authority in Latin American and Russian magical realism
No full textIncludes bibliographical references (p. 89-91)This study investigates the intersection of gender, magic, and moral authority in three magical realist novels, namely Soviet author Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, Columbian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, and Chilean novelist Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits. It appraises the literary criticism that has been produced about each novel, and assumptions inherent in the criticism. This study thus investigates not only the intersection of gender, magic, and moral authority in each novel, but also critiques the arguments produced by literary critics. The analysis contained in this study differs fundamentally from much criticism produced in the past in that it seeks to examine these magical realist novels from the perspective of an ethic of care, traditionally coded as feminine, and with the assumption that the feminine realm is not inherently inferior to the masculine. This thesis accordingly attempts to reinvestigate appraisals of the moral worth of characters within each novel by arguing that it is impossible to do so correctly unless it is via the feminine ethic of care, rather than the more commonly used masculine ethic of justice. Ultimately, it concludes that Bulgakov, Garcia Marquez, and Allende are not advocating that women reject the feminine realm entirely, that such a sacrifice is necessary, but that they are instead advocating that women bring the values and morality of the feminine realm with them into the public, thereby transforming and improving it. They are advocating, thus, that the feminine realm be united with the masculine. The first novel examined in depth is The Master and Margarita. Criticism of the text typically identifies Yeshua, the character who is based on Jesus Christ and is thus closely associated with the masculine realm and the masculine ethic of justice, as the moral center of the novel. The present thesis asserts, in contrast, that the moral center is Margarita Nikolaevna, who is closely associated with the feminine realm and who operates via the ethic of care. Next, this study holds that criticism of Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude has been erroneous in its affirmations that the novel is misogynistic to its core. Garcia Marquez, this thesis maintains, judges the moral worth of his characters via the ethic of care, via the importance they place on relationships, care, and connection, and greatly values the feminine realm. Thus, his novel is a fundamentally feminist one. Last to be examined is Allende's The House of the Spirits. Clara Trueba has generally been marginalized, like Margarita and Ursula, because she embraces the feminine realm and operates via the ethic of justice, while her granddaughter Alba Trueba, who critics erroneously maintain rejects the feminine realm and takes her place within the masculine, has received a great deal of critical attention and approbation. This thesis rereads The House of the Spirits by placing Clara once more at the heart of the novel, and by pointing out that Alba does not at all reject the feminine realm. This thesis thus strives to arrive at a fairer appraisal of the female and male characters in each novel and to question criticism of magical realist texts that have led to misunderstandings of these texts on the most fundamental level
Travelers
No full textABSTRACT Set in the years before and after the great flood of 1927, the novel chapters focus on the lives of the Moss family, residents of the fictional Delta plantation town of Storey, Arkansas. Abandoned during the flood by their mysterious father, Lee, the Moss children are left to attend to their often distracted and negligent mother, Florie, and to find their own way in a time when financial resources are dwindling. Willman, the youngest son of the family, has found a new way to make money: diving in the dangerous St. Francis River to collect mussels. Willman hunts for pearls and shells with the help of his closest brother, Samuel, and an unlikely friend named Pleasant, a young African-American boy who lives alone with his father, Yancy Robinett. The Robinetts are new to Arkansas, and Mr. Robinett has his own demons to face, including the memory of a crime he committed in Mississippi during the time of the flood. His life and the life of his only son will become entangled with that of the members of the Moss family, which include the treacherous oldest sons, John and Mackey, who have resorted to a questionable means of making their living and preserving their family. The six chapters included serve to present the beginnings of character, landscape, and multiple plot lines that will be built upon as the novel continues.
Note: This thesis is under a author requested embargo until 2212, after which it will become available in accordance with end of expected copyright protection. This embargo year is intentional and not an error
A Supplement to ASU's MAT 370: Examples and Applications
No full textabstract: This thesis is a supplement textbook designed with ASU’s MAT 370, or more generally, a course in introductory real analysis (IRA). With research in the realms of mathematics textbook creation and IRA pedagogy, this supplement aims to provide students or interested readers an additional presentation of the materials. Topics discussed include the real number system, some topology of the real line, sequences of real numbers, continuity, differentiation, integration, and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. Special emphasis was placed on worked examples of proven results and exercises with hints at the end of every chapter. In this respect, this supplement aims to be both versatile and self-contained for the different mathematics skill levels of readers. (abstract
Oviposition but not sex allocation is associated with transcriptomic changes in females of the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis
No full textThis work was supported by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grant (NE/J024481/1). DMS was previously funded by a NERC Advanced Research Fellowship.Linking the evolution of the phenotype to the underlying genotype is a key aim of evolutionary genetics and is crucial to our understanding of how natural selection shapes a trait. Here we consider the genetic basis of sex allocation behaviour in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis using a transcriptomics approach. Females allocate offspring sex in line with Local Mate Competition (LMC) theory. Female-biased sex ratios are produced when one or few females lay eggs on a patch. As the number of females contributing offspring to a patch increases, less female-biased sex ratios are favoured. We contrasted the transcriptomic responses of females as they oviposit under conditions known to influence sex allocation: foundress number (a social cue) and the state of the host (parasitised or not). We found, that when females encounter other females on a patch, or assess host quality with their ovipositors, the resulting changes in sex allocation is not associated with significant changes in whole-body gene expression. We also found that the gene expression changes produced by females, as they facultatively allocate sex in response to a host cue and a social cue, are very closely correlated. We expanded the list of candidate genes associated with oviposition behaviour in Nasonia, some of which may be involved in fundamental processes underlying the ability to facultatively allocate sex, including sperm storage and utilisation.Peer reviewe
Regulation of Myofilament Contractile Function in Human Donor and Failing Hearts
No full textHeart failure (HF) often includes changes in myocardial contractile function. This study addressed the myofibrillar basis for contractile dysfunction in failing human myocardium. Regulation of contractile properties was measured in cardiac myocyte preparations isolated from frozen, left ventricular mid-wall biopsies of donor (n = 7) and failing human hearts (n = 8). Permeabilized cardiac myocyte preparations were attached between a force transducer and a position motor, and both the Ca2+ dependence and sarcomere length (SL) dependence of force, rate of force, loaded shortening, and power output were measured at 15 ± 1°C. The myocyte preparation size was similar between groups (donor: length 148 ± 10 μm, width 21 ± 2 μm, n = 13; HF: length 131 ± 9 μm, width 23 ± 1 μm, n = 16). The maximal Ca2+-activated isometric force was also similar between groups (donor: 47 ± 4 kN⋅m–2; HF: 44 ± 5 kN⋅m–2), which implicates that previously reported force declines in multi-cellular preparations reflect, at least in part, tissue remodeling. Maximal force development rates were also similar between groups (donor: ktr = 0.60 ± 0.05 s–1; HF: ktr = 0.55 ± 0.04 s–1), and both groups exhibited similar Ca2+ activation dependence of ktr values. Human cardiac myocyte preparations exhibited a Ca2+ activation dependence of loaded shortening and power output. The peak power output normalized to isometric force (PNPO) decreased by ∼12% from maximal Ca2+ to half-maximal Ca2+ activations in both groups. Interestingly, the SL dependence of PNPO was diminished in failing myocyte preparations. During sub-maximal Ca2+ activation, a reduction in SL from ∼2.25 to ∼1.95 μm caused a ∼26% decline in PNPO in donor myocytes but only an ∼11% change in failing myocytes. These results suggest that altered length-dependent regulation of myofilament function impairs ventricular performance in failing human hearts
An investigation into the relationship between the educational context and the written product of university EFL students with implications for the teaching of writing
No full textThis study investigates the sources of difficulties that Damascus University learners face in their composition writing courses at the Department of English Language and
Literature. The research is carried out through a longitudinal study of both the context and the product of writing across a four year EFL writing course. Findings suggest that the writing problems that students face are inherent in the writing pedagogy in current practice at the University.
Most studies in ESL/EFL writing have looked at the final product in isolation from the context in which it has been produced. This work has attempted a study of the process of
teaching and evaluating writing at Damascus University across four years and analysed longitudinally, in the light of the contextual findings, the final products (written under the influence of the context described) of the same group of learners. Research on ESL writing too has focused mainly on the teaching of writing in smaller classes. This work is unique too in having to deal with a large class situation.
In addition to the introduction and conclusion, the thesis comprises six main chapters. The first chapter looks at the theoretical developments in the teaching of Li writing and
their impact on ESL,/EFL perceptions and writing pedagogies. Based on the insights gained from the above survey, chapters two and three attempt to evaluate the Damascus University context of teaching writing across the four year program. Chapters four and five analyse longitudinally the syntactic and the discourse level features of an authentic sample of students' written exam products, produced under the effect of the context of
writing described in chapters two and three. The aim of this is twofold, to investigate the influence of the context on the product of writing and to trace the development that learners make across the four year program. Chapter six incorporates the relevant
theoretical beliefs outlined in the work with an understanding of the Damascus University context to present suggestions for instructional practices that are to make of the writing course a more effective, purposeful and useful one.
The approach to writing pedagogy upheld in this work focuses on the 'process' and 'context' of writing without ignoring the 'product'. Its ultimate aim is not only the
improvement of the writing abilities of learners but also their growth and development through the composing experience
Collider phenomenology of the 4D composite Higgs model
No full textThis thesis is devoted to the phenomenological analysis at the large hadron collider (LHC), as well at a future electron positron collider, of the 4 dimensional (4D) composite Higgs model (4DCHM), a compelling beyond the standard model scenario where the Higgs state arises as a pseudo Nambu Goldstone boson. The motivations and the main characteristics of the model are summarised and then an analysis of the gauge and Higgs sectors of the 4DCHM is performed. Finally we propose a general framework for the analysis of models with an extended quark sector that we have applied to a simplified composite Higgs scenario
Precocious activation of APC/C-Cdh1 at pre-anaphase causes genome instability
No full textFaithful chromosome segregation and thereby accurate gene transmission are crucial for all organisms. Until proper attachment of the mitotic spindle to the kinetochore is established, the ubiquitin ligase (E3) Cdc20-activated APC/C (anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome) is repressed by the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) and sister chromatin cohesion is protected. Mutants defective in SAC fail to arrest at metaphase even in the presence of damaged microtubules. Interestingly, a similar phenomenon occurs in yeast cells defective in Bub2, a negative factor of the mitotic exit network (MEN), which is required for telophase onset, although its precise molecular mechanism is unknown. Here, we show that chromosome missegregation occurs frequently in bub2∆ cells in the presence of damaged microtubules. The loss of Bub2 caused precocious activation of APC/C-Cdh1/Hct1 at pre-anaphase, leading to securin degradation and then separase-mediated cohesin cleavage. Overexpression of CDH1 and CDC14, encoding Cdc14 phosphatase, at pre-anaphase similarly caused chromosome missegregation. Thus, sequential activation of APC/C-Cdc20 and then APC/C-Cdh1 is critical for precise chromosome segregation and precocious activation of APC/C-Cdh1 at pre-anaphase causes genomic instability. Since degradation of human securin is also mediated by APC/C-Cdc20 and APC/C-Cdh1, this study predicts that precocious activation APC/C-Cdh1 in human cells similarly causes genomic instability, and thereby cell death or tumorigenesis
