60 research outputs found
Using bacterial biomarkers to identify early indicators of cystic fibrosis pulmonary exacerbation onset
No full textAcute periods of pulmonary exacerbation are the single most important cause of morbidity in cystic fibrosis patients, and may be associated with a loss of lung function. Intervening prior to the onset of a substantially increased inflammatory response may limit the associated damage to the airways. While a number of biomarker assays based on inflammatory markers have been developed, providing useful and important measures of disease during these periods, such factors are typically only elevated once the process of exacerbation has been initiated. Identifying biomarkers that can predict the onset of pulmonary exacerbation at an early stage would provide an opportunity to intervene before the establishment of a substantial immune response, with major implications for the advancement of cystic fibrosis care. The precise triggers of pulmonary exacerbation remain to be determined; however, the majority of models relate to the activity of microbes present in the patient's lower airways of cystic fibrosis. Advances in diagnostic microbiology now allow for the examination of these complex systems at a level likely to identify factors on which biomarker assays can be based. In this article, we discuss key considerations in the design and testing of assays that could predict pulmonary exacerbations
Integration of technology education into elementary school: the usefulness of manipulatives on the level of understanding of a simple machines unit in the fourth grade elementary curriculum
No full textPlan
Barthes, Bakhtin, Structuralism: A Reassessment
No full textPhDThe thesis is a comparative analysis of the shared ideas and concerns in the works of
Mikhail Bakhtin and Roland Barthes from the point of view of differences between
French and Slavic literary structuralisms. Its background argument is that the
structuralism developed in the later works of the Russian Formalists and by Prague
Structuralists and Soviet Semioticians is more historically and socially oriented than its
French version, defining the structure of a literary work as a system of all of its
elements and effects (even those that take us outside of the text, like literary tradition
and historical and political circumstances). In this sense, Bakhtin can be seen as a part
of the Slavic structuralist tradition (and not opposed to it as is often claimed), and
Barthes (seen throughout his career) is on the whole perhaps closer to the Slavic
structuralism than he is to the French.
The particular problems discussed are those of the relationship between
literature and ideology, the notions of intertextuality, heteroglossia, dialogism and
polyphony and the differences between them, and the role of the author.
Barthes and Bakhtin shared a lifelong interest in the role of ideology in literature
and the influence of authoritarian language or myth on culture in general and the literary
text in particular. They looked for ways in which the deadening effect of the
mythological (epic, monological) thought and word can be counteracted through
literature, and different versions of what Kristeva termed 'intertextuality' played an
important part in their treatment of the subject. They also both discussed the role of the
author and their voice in the literary text, and the question of their power over the text,
its characters (Bakhtin) and the reader (Barthes).
The main thread of Barthes and Bakhtin's thought focuses on the problem of
counteracting authoritarian language through literature, and the solutions they proposed
can fruitfully be seen in the light of Slavic structuralism's notions of literary structure
Beauty for the Present: Mill, Arnold, Ruskin and Aesthetic Education
No full textThe present thesis examines the idea of aesthetic education of three eminent Victorians: John Stuart Mill, Matthew Arnold and John Ruskin. By focusing on the essence of what they meant with ‘the cultivation of the beautiful’ and, more importantly, the way their ideas of beauty informed their criticism of society, my study aims to contribute to our understanding of the idea of aesthetic education in the Victorian context and, further, to participate in a recent debate about the nature of beauty and aesthetic education.
Chapter One focuses on John Stuart Mill’s concept of ‘feeling’ in a series of essays. I will demonstrate how Mill’s idea of ‘aesthetic education’ was an ‘education of feelings,’ and moreover, how this idea was integrated into his literary criticism, his later critique of democratisation, his description of an ideal liberal society and even his own style of writing. Chapter Two contains a comparative study of Matthew Arnold and Friedrich Schiller. Through a rereading of Arnold, I will argue that his idea of aesthetic education is essentially Schillerian and that their resemblance consists primarily in their stress on the importance of aesthetic unity for modern life, which was becoming increasingly fragmentary and multitudinous. Chapter Three examines John Ruskin’s idea of aesthetic education and concentrates particularly on the cultivation of perception. Perception, as I shall show, was pivotal in Ruskin’s idea of aesthetic education. Just as what happened in Mill and Arnold, the emphasis on the education of seeing continued from his early writings well into his art and social criticisms. It not only differentiated him from his fellow art critics; the conviction that people should perceive with a pure heart also enabled him to link observation of artistic details with moral criticism of contemporary society and, thereby, to turn the cultivation of the beautiful into a moral-aesthetic experience
On The Comovement of REIT Prices
No full textThis study examines the comovement of equity real estate investment trust (REIT) prices in both the vintage (1980–1991) and the new (1992–2004) REIT eras. The results indicate that the comovement of equity REIT prices within the same property type has strengthened during the new REIT era. The results also indicate that, all else being equal, a high institutional participation, a low insider ownership, and a large market capitalization are associated with a high within-property-type price synchronicity. The evidence is consistent with two notions: (1) that increasing participation by institutional investors in the new REIT era facilitates the pricing of property-type common information on firm-level prices, and (2) that REITs’ information openness to institutional investing plays a role in this strengthened pricing relationship.
"A Symbol of the New African": Drum magazine, popular culture and the formation of black urban subjectivity in 1950s South Africa.
No full textPhDThis thesis examines the emergence of black urban subjectivity in South Africa
during the 1950s, focussing on the ways in which popular American genres were
utilised in the construction of black urban identities that served as a means of
resistance to apartheid. At the centre of this process was Drum magazine:
founded in South Africa in 1951 , it became the largest selling magazine on the
African continent in 1956. Drum's success was due to the way in which it
enabled the relocation of black identity from the "traditional" towards the
"modern'. The 1940s gave rise to widespread migration of black South Africans
from rural to urban areas and this newly urbanised community was seeking
models of black urban identity. Yet the Nationalist government was attempting
to curtail the emergence of a black urban proletariat, which posed a threat to
white political supremacy. Through apartheid legislation black identity was
constructed as essentially tribal and rural. As a means of resisting this, urbanised
black South Africans turned to, and appropriated, readily available forms of
American culture. Drum published Americanised images and stories: gangsters,
black detectives, black comic heroes, and pulp romances. This popular material
appeared alongside some of the finest investigative journalism ever published.
While Drum magazine is widely acknowledged as having provided a platform
for the emergence of black South African writing in English, its popular content
has been dismissed by critics as apolitical escapism, imitation and capitulation to
American culture. This thesis challenges the dismissal of the popular that has
dominated analyses of Drum since the 1960s, arguing that such a position denies
the agency of local writers and audiences. My analysis reveals that American
forms were adopted in critically discerning ways and chosen for their ability to
convey local meaning and create positions from which to resist aparthei
Marton, north Lincolnshire: a Romano-British settlement in its context
No full textThis thesis seeks to reconstruct and interpret the form and extent of the Romano- British settlement at Marton, North Lincolnshire. The site at Marton has previously been the subject of no formal programme of archaeological research. However it offers a rich potential for applying non-intrusive archaeological survey, and this study is based on the results obtained from a combination of different survey techniques. Although the site has received very little formal archaeological attention in the past, uncontrolled metal-detection has been intensive over recent years. The unrecorded leaching of material, coupled with the diverse range of artefacts known to have been retrieved in detection has been one of the principal catalysts behind the adoption of this survey. The data was collected both from previous aerial photographic surveys and metal detectorists with whom a working relationship had been established, and in geophysical survey and field walking undertaken by the author. Survey methodology and the results of the different components of the survey are presented in chapters 2 to 6. Initial interpretations of the features identified from the aerial photographic and geophysical survey are proposed and the main chronological and spatial trends m the distribution of pottery, coins and other small finds are summarised. Chapter 7 compares the results obtained from the different classes of evidence and refines the interpretations offered for the development of the site through time and space. Specific issues considered are the origins of the settlement, its internal organisation and extent and its relationship with nearby Littleborough. The final chapter compares Marton with other sites in the region and sites of a similar type in Roman Britain. A series of hypotheses are then proposed concerning the nature of the site and its function and evolution in its local landscape
Landscape-painter as landscape-gardener : the case of Alfred Parsons R.A.
No full textIn 2 vols.Available from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN016830 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo
Infrastructure and social welfare in metropolitan America
No full textPublic infrastructure investment may indirectly affect firm productivity and household welfare through its impact on the location of economic activity. Existing infrastructure policies encourage firms and households to move from dense urban environments to the surrounding suburbs. Nevertheless, several recent studies have suggested that the concentration of producers and consumers within cities results in "agglomeration economies" that are socially beneficial. In light of these findings, the author recommends the creation of infrastructure investment authorities that would have the power to select and finance projects that promote the overall well-being of a given region. Such authorities would most likely direct a larger share of infrastructure investment to the central cities.Industrial location ; Infrastructure (Economics) ; Investments ; Public welfare
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