The fig tree

The Fig Tree was originally conceived and written as a long short story. After May of 195U, both theme and characterization were gradually expanded until the short story had become a novelette. The action of the novelette takes place in the south of France, in a small village just north of Nice. The place is called La Colle sur Loup, but it is always referred to as La Colle by all the inhabitants. My own familiarity with the place is based on the experiences of a single summer in 1949. I have been back only briefly since then, in 1953. In 1952 I wrote a very short story which had as its main theme the rivalry of two families living in that village; it was a completely unsuccessful story, but it was obvious to me that the place had captured my imagination. In the early months of 1954 I wrote the story which was to provide me with the basic framework for the novelette. The idea for the story was reborn after my second visit to the village, and I thought about it all through the fall but was afraid to tackle it, since I had a feeling that it would grow into a "big" thing. My knowledge of La Colle would probably be purely fragmentary were it not for the fact that I have two aunts and their husbands, a grandmother, and now my mother, all living in the village. My aunts' husbands are both fruit farmers, and for some years they would not even speak to each other

Parental marital conflict and youth maladjustment

Linkages between parental reports of marital conflict and youth maladjustment have been established, but less is known about the role of youth's own perceptions of and their involvement in parental marital conflict. Drawing on family systems and social learning perspectives, a primary goal of this study was to examine the association among three indicators of parental marital conflict and both youth maladjustment and sibling conflict. The three measures of marital conflict examined here included: 1) parental and 2) youth reports of the frequency of parental marital conflict and 3) youth reports of their involvement in parental marital conflict. A secondary goal of this study was to test whether linkages between parental marital conflict and outcomes differed by age and sex. Data came from 165 youth, ages 9 to 18 years old (M = 11.6, SD = 2.0). Hierarchical regression analyses in STATA were used to test all study hypotheses. Results indicated that none of the marital conflict variables were associated with maternal reports of maladjustment when common covariates of both marital conflict and youth adjustment (i.e., maternal depressive symptoms and parent-child relationship) had been taken into account. Youth-report of parental marital conflict was associated with youth reports of maladjustment. Furthermore, both maternal and youth reports of marital conflict explained significant variance in sibling conflict. Assessing youth reports of marital conflict over and above parental reports of marital conflict may further help understand associations between parental marital conflict and both youth adjustment and relationship qualities

Art as idolatry or sacred possibility : a hermeneutic study of art education

This investigation focuses on the problems of viewing education in the visual arts through a technological curricular framework that limits human potential and on the possibilities presented by expanding the art educator 1 s view of curricular decision-making through appropriating a moral aesthetic. Particular emphasis is given to the way a wholistic rationale honors both the dialectic between self and society and that between the self and one's sense of what it means to be fully human. A hermeneutic methodology (Ricoeur, 1978a) based upon this dual dialectic (Macdonald, 1978b) is used for this study because it allows the author to develop greater understanding of how a teacher's personal and professional realities are socially constructed (Berger & Luckmann, 1967) and how a critical and imaginative consciousness (Macdonald & Purpel, 1987) of this process might develop the necessary sense of agency for meeting her social responsibilities as an art educator

Rapid and improved assay of surfactins from Bacillus subtilis, 203R via UPLC-ESI-MS

To better bridge research with commercialization, this project sought to develop an improved analytical method for the assay of biosurfactants known as surfactins from Bacillus subtilis. We sought to compare levels of production from various strains of B. subtilis, including strain 203R, which was isolated from areas prone to oil degraders. The use of Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with High Resolution Mass Spectrometry proved beneficial for the selective identification and quantification of surfactin lipopeptides. Surfactins were eluted in under 10 minutes and quantified using the total area of generated ions. Near baseline separation across the envelope gave an added layer of identification to the ions responsible for surfactins. These lipopeptides, having similar molecular masses to the iturins, nearly coelute complicating the analysis. By coupling retention time with fragmentation pattern, some isoforms could be distinguished. Validation of the method was achieved by obtaining 4 calibration curves on different days and applying linear regression analysis. Strain 203R was shown to be a superior producer of surfactins than the previously reported model strain ATCC 21332

Cytotoxicity Screening Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Mass Spectrometery for nanoparticle biomarker detection

Toxicology is a broad topic that aims to assess the risk of chemicals on living organisms. It has been acknowledged that everything is toxic to a living organism. What distinguishes a toxin from a remedy depends on the dose 1. Presently, there are toxicity assays that are implemented for human risk assessment studies such as, 3-(4, 5-Dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2, 5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay; however, it has been shown that some toxins interfere with these assays. Carbon nanodots, an unknown toxicant has shown to interfere with the LDH assay. Therefore proper methods and techniques must be devised for the analysis of these unknown toxicants to enable the reliable risk assessment for humans. In this study a new method was devised using, hydrogen peroxide and aflatoxin b1 as the known toxicants. The Cytotoxicity Screening Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (cs-MALDI-TOF-MS) technique was implemented as a viable approach to studying nanoparticle toxicity. Previously, Human liver (HepG2) cells were dosed with varying concentrations of these known toxicants and analyzed using cs-MALDI. In this study, Human monocyte (THP-1) cells were dosed with the same concentrations of these known toxicants as the HepG2 and analyzed. This study demonstrates that the two toxicants can be distinguished through the presence and absence of certain peaks using the cs-MALDI method. This method has been developed as a high throughput screening method that can lead to the future identification of biomarkers associated to each toxicant independently

The pursuit of chemical diversity in fungi

Fungi are ever changing their secondary metabolites profile in order to adapt to their environment. Previously characterized fungal cultures were re-analyzed with the intention of re-isolating scaled up quantities of metabolites of interest. However, in doing so there were several instances where fungal secondary metabolites were isolated that were not previously observed. The biological activities of the isolated secondary metabolites were evaluated using a variety of bioassays. Three compounds that were not previously isolated were characterized and added to our compound library. Re-isolation and re-analysis of fungal secondary metabolites can lead to the discovery of unsought yet interesting changes in secondary metabolite profile and biological activity. To take advantage of fungi’s ability to adapt to their environment, our lab has grown fungi in co-culturing experiments in hopes of activating silent biosynthetic gene clusters thus diversifying secondary metabolite production. The most common fungus utilized in these experiments has been Xylaria flabelliformis (formerly known as Xylaria cubensis) due to its production of the fungistatic compound and FDA approved drug, griseofulvin. In this study, two other Xylaria spp. are analyzed in comparison to Xylaria flabelliformis to determine variation in griseofulvin production among the strains and over time. Characterizing griseofulvin production by various Xylaria spp. leads to intentionality in future co-culturing experimental design, in that the optimal Xylaria sp. can be selected

A study of George Gissing's New grub street as a transitional novel

The purpose of my thesis is to prove in what ways George Gissing is a representative novelist of the transitional period between the Victorian and modern eras, and to examine and evaluate critically New Grub Street, his best work. The conditions and characteristics of the late nineteenth century are surveyed especially as they relate to Gissing's novelistic methods in New Grub Street. A sketch of Gissing's life shows both how his experiences molded his artistic vision and practice, and how he incorporated many of his attitudes and experiences into this novel, without allowing it to become merely fictionalized autobiography. A criticism of New Grub Street as a work of art places emphasis on the novel's transitional characteristics and the manner in which they affect its aesthetic merit. Of moment in the consideration of New Grub Street as a transitional novel is the way in which Gissing, who was to a degree influenced by traditional and contemporary novelists, shaped these influences to suit his own purposes

A genetic and behavioral analysis of intraspecific variation in mating behavior of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus)

"Several studies have examined individual mating behaviors of wild peromyscine rodents. Many of these studies were short term and were limited to a single population in a single breeding season, so it is not clear to what extent mating behaviors vary within these populations over time. Therefore, I assessed mating behavior over four years (2003-2006) in short season populations of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) from the Kananaskis Valley in Alberta Canada. In addition, I examined variation in home range size, home range overlap, and frequency of multiple mating within populations over time with respect to population density. I found that spatial behaviors varied over time but patterns of genetic mates did not. Behavioral changes did not correlate with changes in population density. My results suggest that male and female spatial behaviors and patterns of genetic mates may be more influenced by resource availability and mate choice than mate availability."--Abstract from author supplied metadata

Effects of undergoing arbitrary discrimination on subsequent attitudes toward a minority group

The present study undertook to explore the hypothesis that having been the object of prejudice and discrimination, a person will be less likely to hold prejudiced beliefs and exhibit discriminatory tendencies toward a minority group. The setting for the experiment was a rural suburban elementary school. Two third grade classes with 31 children in each class constituted the subjects. The bulk of the experiment took place on two days. On the first day, after discussing prejudice and discrimination with the class, the teacher of the experimental class told the children that they were going to see what it feels like to be the object of such forces. The children were randomly assigned to be 'Orange' (0) or 'Green' (G) people. The class was told that 0 children possessed certain superior traits and these children were granted privileges G's were denied. Throughout the day the teacher seized every opportunity to praise O's and criticize G's. On the second day, conditions were reversed and the G children became the superior group. As a check on the effect of the manipulations, the children were asked to indicate with whom they would like to work at the board; record was kept of whether 'superior' children were predominately chosen. The children were also administered a questionnaire, likewise to determine if 'superior' children would be predominately chosen as answers for such questions as 'who I would like to be my best friend"

Effectiveness of a self-instructional sewing program when used with disadvantaged adults

It was believed that Sewing Step-by-Step could be used by adults in a group situation in which the person in charge was not a home economist. The present study was a trial of the program in such a situation. The purposes were (1) to examine the problems and successes experienced by five disadvantaged women as they used a self-instructional program to construct a blouse, and (2) to study the problems a non-home economics person would encounter in administering the program. The self-instructional program Sewing Step-by-Step used in this study was developed by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as a part of United States Office of Education Project No. 5-1042. This program was developed for first-year home economics students and tested in a field experiment in which students worked under the supervision of a home economics teacher