The Masculine Sea and the Impossibility of Awakening in Chopin's the Awakening

Kate Chopin has a firm place in American women's writing. A persistent theme in her works is said to be women's emotional liberation. The Awakening (1899) as a feminist novel is no exception. In the novel, Edna's inner voice and desire for escape from a male-dominated society awaken in her. Edna's suicide has been interpreted as her victory over the society however, this study argues that the idea of female defeat has been ignored to a great extent the main reason for which is the ignorance or a misreading of sea imagery. The sea of the novel that dissolves Edna is a signifier of male society and language signifying Edna's failure to find a place within the male dialogue of the society. Extra-marital relationships with Alcee or Robert are not promising, for the climax of such relationships is no more than the old requirement of becoming the good wife and mother that the society prescribes to women. By her ultimate suicidal choice, Edna determines to find a voice and be seen but is totally perished instead to prove that women cannot speak. This study intends to argue and conclude that Chopin had this Kristevaesque belief that the male socio-cultural formation does not let women experience freedom. A new interpretation of the sea as a patriarchal element is offered which makes Edna's drowning a total defeat rather than victory as suggested by many critics

The Ideological Questions of Marriage in Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure

As one of the prominent ideologies of the nineteenth-century— in a complex interrelation with other contemporary ideological discourses particularly femininity and marriage—religion adopts a critical stance in Hardy's presentation of characters. Breaching the religio-conventional image of femininity as “Angel in the House” and “Cow Woman,” Hardy's Jude the Obscure (1895) is indeed deemed to be his milestone in presenting his anti-Christian attitudes towards the contemporary religion. This study aims to present Hardy's outright hostility towards the nineteenth-century Christianity through his creation of non-conformist characters, necessitating a parallel study with other contemporary discourses regarding marriage and femininity, and conflict with the religion of the time. Hardy's magnum opus, the work on which he was to stake his final reputation as a novelist, was clearly Jude the Obscure which as a noticeable socio-religious experimentation of the late nineteenth-century, reveals Hardy's perception of new ideas about femininity and marriage by presenting the hot contemporary issues of “New Woman” and “Free Union” through the development and presentation of Sue Bridehead and her free union with Jude, respectively. Hardy's presentation of Sue Bridehead as a “New Woman,” and employing the “Free Union” in marked contrast with the nineteenth-century convention of marriage as a “Bonded Pair” is Hardy's closing upshot of his final novelistic attempt. The non-conformist Jude and Sue are presented as figures touching the Victorian Christian standards of morality, while, the final tragic destiny of Jude and Sue's helplessness attest to the writer's substantial contribution as a Victorian male novelist to the ideologies circulating at the time

Vibrational spectroscopic force field studies of dimethyl sulfoxide and hexakis(dimethyl sulfoxide)scandium(III) iodide, and crystal and solution structure of the hexakis(dimethyl sulfoxide)scandium(III) ion

Hexakis(dimethyl sulfoxide) scandium(III) iodide, [Sc(OS(CH3)(2))(6)]I-3 contains centrosymmetric hexasolvated scandium(III) ions with an Sc-O bond distance of 2.069(3) Angstrom. EXAFS spectra yield a mean Sc-O bond distance of 2.09(1) Angstrom for solvated scandium(III) ions in dimethyl sulfoxide solution, consistent with six-coordination. Raman and infrared absorption spectra have been recorded, also of the deuterated compound, and analysed by means of normal coordinate methods, together with spectra of dimethyl sulfoxide. The effects on the vibrational spectra of the weak intermolecular C-H...O interactions and of the dipole dipole interactions in liquid dimethyl sulfoxide have been evaluated, in particular for the S O stretching mode. The strong Raman band at 1043.6 cm(-1) and the intense IR absorption at 1062.6 cm(-1) have been assigned as the S-O stretching frequencies of the dominating species in liquid dimethyl sulfoxide, evaluated as centrosymmetric dimers with antiparallel polar S-O groups. The shifts of vibrational frequencies and force constants for coordinated dimethyl sulfoxide ligands in hexasolvated trivalent metal ion complexes are discussed. Hexasolvated scandium( III) ions are found in dimethyl sulfoxide solution and in [Sc(OSMe2)(6)]I-3. The iodide ion dipole attraction shifts the methyl group C H stretching frequency for (S-)C-H...I- more than for the intermolecular (S-)C-H...O interactions in liquid dimethyl sulfoxide

Constraints on Extragalactic Point Source Flux from Diffuse Neutrino Limits

We constrain the maximum flux from extragalactic neutrino point sources by using diffuse neutrino flux limits. We show that the maximum flux from extragalactic point sources is E^2(dN/dE) < 1.4 x 10^-9 (L_nu/2x10^43 erg/s)^1/3 GeV cm-^2 s^-1 from individual point sources with average neutrino luminosity per decade, L_nu. It depends only slightly on factors such as the inhomogeneous matter density distribution in the local universe, the luminosity distribution, and the assumed spectral index. The derived constraints are at least one order of magnitude below the current experimental limits from direct searches. Significant constraints are also derived on the number density of neutrino sources and on the total neutrino power density.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, and 2 table

Use of creative tools, technologies, processes and practices in the sectors of Art, Media, and Architecture: State-of the-Art and desired future scenarios

The aim of the paper is to analyse and present the preliminary findings of the EU FP7 funded CRe-AM project for the Art, Media, and Architecture sectors. This project bridges communities of technology providers and innovators with the creative industries, with the aim to build sector-specific dynamic roadmaps for the future of the European creative industries by examining the current state-of-the-art tools, technologies, processes, and practices supporting the creative process against the future scenarios envisioned by stakeholders in these sectors.This work was carried out as part of CRe-AM project, which is supported by European Commission (grant agreement n°612451)

On UHECR energy estimation algorithms based on the measurement of electromagnetic component parameters in EAS

Model calculations are performed of extensive air shower (EAS) component energies using a variety of hadronic interaction parameters. A conversion factor from electromagnetic component energy to the energy of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and its model and primary mass dependence is studied. It is shown that model dependence of the factor minimizes under the necessary condition of the same maximum position and muon content of simulated showers.Comment: contracted version is accepted for publication in Doklady Physic

Isolation of keratinophilic fungi and aerobic actinomycetes from park soils in Gorgan, North of Iran

Background: Keratinophilic fungi are a group of fungi that colonize in various keratinous substrates and degrade them to the components with low molecular weight. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of keratinophilic fungi and aerobic Actinomycetes in soil of city parks in Gorgan. Objectives: In this study, we surveyed the city park soils of Gorgan (a northern province of Iran) to determine the identities and diversity of soil aerobic Actinomycetes, keratinophilic and non-keratinophilic fungi. Materials and Methods: A total of 244 soil samples were collected from 22 diferent parks of Gorgan, North of Iran. The samples were collected from the superfcial layer with depth not exceeding than 0-10 cm in sterile polyethylene bags. We used hair bait technique for isolation keratinophilic fungi. The colonies identifed by macroscopic and microscopic characterization after slide culturing. Actinomycetes were isolated by antibiotic dilution methods and detected by using physiological tests such as Lysozyme, Casein, Xanthine, Hypoxanthine, Gelatin, Urea Broth, and modifed acid-fast stain. Results: Totally, 75 isolates of aerobic Actinomycetes were detected that Actinomadura madurae and Nocardia asteroides were the most prevalent strains, with 14.66 and 28% prevalence respectively. Microsporum gypseum was more frequent than other keratinophilic fungi (22.96%) and Aspergillus spp. was the most species of saprophyte fungi (15.92%). Conclusions: This study showed that the collected soil from studied areas was rich of keratinophilic fungi and Actinomycetes, therefore hygiene protocol should be taken to prevent the spread of pathogenic and saprophytes fungi in the environment of susceptible person. © 2013, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences

Cigarette smoking and its relationship with perceived familial support and religiosity of university students in Tabriz

Objective: The goal of the present study was to assess the prevalence of cigarette smoking and its relationship to other risk taking behaviors, perceived familial support and religiosity among college students in Tabriz, Iran . Method: In this study, 1837 randomly selected students participated and completed a self-administered questionnaire inquiring demographic characteristics, risk taking behaviors, Aneshensel and Sucoff's 13-items one-dimensional perceived Parental support scale and 28 - items Kendler's general religiosity scale. Results: In general, 15.8 of the students were cigarette smokers. The results indicated that being male (OR = 3.21), living alone or with friends (OR = 2.00), having a part-time job (OR = 1.98), alcohol consumption during the past 30 days (OR = 3.67), hookah use (OR = 5.23), substance abuse (OR = 1.69), familial support (OR = 0.97) and religiosity (OR = 0.98) have statistically significant relationships with cigarette smoking . Conclusion: Our study represents the co-occurrence of risky behaviors. Cultural context in the traditional communities seems to show the crucial role of familial support and religiosity traits with the female gender as predictive factors to not smoke cigarette and perform other risky behaviors

Multi-objective decision analytics for short-notice bushfire evacuation: An Australian case study

This paper develops a multi-objective optimisation model to compute resource allocation,shelter assignment and routing options to evacuate late evacuees from affected areas to shelters.Three bushfire scenarios are analysed to incorporate constraints of restricted time-window and potential road disruptions.Capacity and number of rescue vehicles and shelters are other constraints that are identical in all scenarios.The proposed mathematical model is solved by ?-constraint approach.Objective functions are simultaneously optimised to maximise the total number of evacuees and assigned rescue vehicles and shelters.We argue that this model provides a scenario-based decision-making platform to aid minimise resource utilisation and maximise coverage of late evacuees

A doublet of cosmic-ray events with primary energies >10^20 eV

The Telescope Array Collaboration has observed a cosmic-ray event with estimated primary energy of 1.38*10^20 eV whose arrival direction coincides (see arxiv:1205.5984), given the angular resolution of 1.5 deg, with that of an event with estimated primary energy of 1.23*10^20 eV observed by the Pierre Auger Observatory. The total number of events with energies >10^20 eV published by both experiments is six. I estimate the statistical significance of the doublet, which is rather weak, and point out that the arrival directions of events in the doublet coincide with the Galactic X-ray source Aql X-1.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to JETP Letters; v.2: a misprint correcte