Chuck Palahniuckas Fight Club Apropos of Sartreas Bad Faith and Camusas Calculated

This essay explores the existential philosophy that exists in Chuck Palahniuck s first novel Fight Club 1996 Surprisingly there has been little discussion of this novel s connection to Jean-Paul Sartre s notion of the look and the three patterns of bad faith in Being and Nothingness nor of Camus s discussion of calculated culpability in The Just Assassins this has largely been overlooked and presents a creative opportunity to better interpret Fight Club its concomitant existential analysis and the continuing fight between Camus and Sartre s political stances not to mention the interpretive territory of existentialist humo

Deep optical imaging of the field of PC1643+4631A&B, II: Estimating the colours and redshifts of faint galaxies

In an investigation of the cause of the cosmic microwave background decrement in the field of the z = 3.8 quasar pair PC1643+4631, we have carried out a study to photometrically estimate the redshifts of galaxies in deep multi-colour optical images of the field taken with the WHT. To examine the possibility that a massive cluster of galaxies lies in the field, we have attempted to recover simulated galaxies with intrinsic colours matching those of the model galaxies used in the photometric redshift estimation. We find that when such model galaxies are added to our images, there is considerable scatter of the recovered galaxy redshifts away from the model value; this scatter is larger than that expected from photometric errors and is the result of confusion, simply due to ground-based seeing, between objects in the field. We have also compared the likely efficiency of the photometric redshift technique against the colour criteria used to select z>3 galaxies via the strong colour signature of the Lyman-limit break. We find that these techniques may significantly underestimate the true surface density of z>3, due to confusion between the high-redshift galaxies and other objects near the line of sight. We argue that the actual surface density of z=3 galaxies may be as much as 6 times greater than that estimated by previous ground-based studies, and note that this conclusion is consistent with the surface density of high-redshift objects found in the HDF. Finally, we conclude that all ground-based deep field surveys are inevitably affected by confusion, and note that reducing the effective seeing in ground-based images will be of paramount importance in observing the distant universe.Comment: 18 pages, 60 figures, submitted to MNRAS, 2 large figure avaliable at ftp://ftp.mrao.cam.ac.uk:/pub/PC1643/paper2.figure50.eps and ftp://ftp.mrao.cam.ac.uk:/pub/PC1643/paper2.figure51.ep

Deep optical imaging of the field of PC1643+4631A&B, I: Spatial distributions and the counts of faint galaxies

We present deep optical images of the PC1643+4631 field obtained at the WHT. This field contains two quasars at redshifts z=3.79 & 3.83 and a cosmic microwave background (CMB) decrement detected with the Ryle Telescope. The images are in U,G,V,R and I filters, and are complete to 25th magnitude in R and G and to 25.5 in U. The isophotal galaxy counts are consistent with the results of Metcalde et al. (1996), Hogg et al. (1997), and others. We find an excess of robust high-redshift Ly-break galaxy candidates with 25.0<R<25.5 compared with the mean number found in the fields studied by Steidel et al. -we expect 7 but find 16 - but we do not find that the galaxies are concentrated in the direction of the CMB decrement. However, we are still not sure of the distance to the system causing the CMB decrement. We have also used our images to compare the commonly used object-finding algorithms of FOCAS and SExtractor: we find FOCAS the more efficient at detecting faint objects and the better at dealing with composite objects, whereas SExtractor's morphological classification is more reliable, especially for faint objects near the resolution limit. More generally, we have also compared the flux lost using isophotal apertures on a real image with that on a noise-only image: recovery of artificial galaxies from the noise-only image significantly overestimates the flux lost from the galaxies, and we find that the corrections made using this technique suffer a systematic error of some 0.4 magnitudes.Comment: 17 pages, 40 figures, submitted to MNRAS, 1 large figure avaliable at ftp://ftp.mrao.cam.ac.uk:/pub/PC1643/paper1.figure18.p

Skp, Cullin, F-box (SCF)-Met30 and SCF-Cdc4-Mediated Proteolysis of CENP-A Prevents Mislocalization of CENP-A for Chromosomal Stability in Budding Yeast

Restricting the localization of the histone H3 variant CENP-A (Cse4 in yeast, CID in flies) to centromeres is essential for faithful chromosome segregation. Mislocalization of CENP-A leads to chromosomal instability (CIN) in yeast, fly and human cells. Overexpression and mislocalization of CENP-A has been observed in many cancers and this correlates with increased invasiveness and poor prognosis. Yet genes that regulate CENP-A levels and localization under physiological conditions have not been defined. In this study we used a genome-wide genetic screen to identify essential genes required for Cse4 homeostasis to prevent its mislocalization for chromosomal stability. We show that two Skp, Cullin, F-box (SCF) ubiquitin ligases with the evolutionarily conserved F-box proteins Met30 and Cdc4 interact and cooperatively regulate proteolysis of endogenous Cse4 and prevent its mislocalization for faithful chromosome segregation under physiological conditions. The interaction of Met30 with Cdc4 is independent of the D domain, which is essential for their homodimerization and ubiquitination of other substrates. The requirement for both Cdc4 and Met30 for ubiquitination is specifc for Cse4; and a common substrate for Cdc4 and Met30 has not previously been described. Met30 is necessary for the interaction between Cdc4 and Cse4, and defects in this interaction lead to stabilization and mislocalization of Cse4, which in turn contributes to CIN. We provide the first direct link between Cse4 mislocalization to defects in kinetochore structure and show that SCF-mediated proteolysis of Cse4 is a major mechanism that prevents stable maintenance of Cse4 at non-centromeric regions, thus ensuring faithful chromosome segregation. In summary, we have identified essential pathways that regulate cellular levels of endogenous Cse4 and shown that proteolysis of Cse4 by SCF-Met30/Cdc4 prevents mislocalization and CIN in unperturbed cells

High-resolution profiling of NMD targets in yeast reveals translational fidelity as a basis for substrate selection

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) plays an important role in eukaryotic gene expression, yet the scope and the defining features of NMD-targeted transcripts remain elusive. To address these issues, we reevaluated the genome-wide expression of annotated transcripts in yeast cells harboring deletions of the UPF1, UPF2, or UPF3 genes. Our new RNA-seq analyses confirm previous results of microarray studies, but also uncover hundreds of new NMD-regulated transcripts that had escaped previous detection, including many intron-containing pre-mRNAs and several noncoding RNAs. The vast majority of NMD-regulated transcripts are normal-looking protein-coding mRNAs. Our bioinformatics analyses reveal that this set of NMD-regulated transcripts generally have lower translational efficiency and higher ratios of out-of-frame translation. NMD-regulated transcripts also have lower average codon optimality scores and higher transition probability to nonoptimal codons. Collectively, our results generate a comprehensive catalog of yeast NMD substrates and yield new insights into the mechanisms by which these transcripts are targeted by NMD

Radiation content of Conformally flat initial data

We study the radiation of energy and linear momentum emitted to infinity by the headon collision of binary black holes, starting from rest at a finite initial separation, in the extreme mass ratio limit. For these configurations we identify the radiation produced by the initially conformally flat choice of the three geometry. This identification suggests that the radiated energy and momentum of headon collisions will not be dominated by the details of the initial data for evolution of holes from initial proper separations $L_0\geq7M$. For non-headon orbits, where the amount of radiation is orders of magnitude larger, the conformally flat initial data may provide a relative even better approximation.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

A Quantitative Method for Estimating Probable Public Costs of Hurricanes

A method is presented for estimating probable public costs resulting from damage caused by hurricanes, measured as local government expenditures approved for reimbursement under the Stafford Act Section 406 Public Assistance Program. The method employs a multivariate model developed through multiple regression analysis of an array of independent variables that measure meteorological, socioeconomic, and physical conditions related to the landfall of hurricanes within a local government jurisdiction. From the regression analysis we chose a log–log (base 10) model that explains 74% of the variance in the expenditure data using population and wind speed as predictors. We illustrate application of the method for a local jurisdiction—Lee County, Florida, USA. The results show that potential public costs range from $4.7 million for a category 1 hurricane with winds of 137 kilometers per hour (85 miles per hour) to$130 million for a category 5 hurricane with winds of 265 kilometers per hour (165 miles per hour). Based on these figures, we estimate expected annual public costs of $2.3 million. These cost estimates: (1) provide useful guidance for anticipating the magnitude of the federal, state, and local expenditures that would be required for the array of possible hurricanes that could affect that jurisdiction; (2) allow policy makers to assess the implications of alternative federal and state policies for providing public assistance to jurisdictions that experience hurricane damage; and (3) provide information needed to develop a contingency fund or other financial mechanism for assuring that the community has sufficient funds available to meet its obligations