Biography of a scientific instrument

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 36-37).Over the past century, the mass spectrometer has become commonplace in scientific fields ranging from chemistry to geology to environmental science. Its ability to identify compounds and determine concentrations of those compounds leads to a wide variety of applications, from environmental monitoring to disease diagnosis. This thesis is meant to familiarize the non-scientist with the mass spectrometer. It illustrates the instrument's basic physical principles and the wide range of research that utilize mass spectrometry. The story discusses the development of the mass spectrometer from the early experiments of JJ Thomson to modern uses in proteomics and attempts to miniaturize the instrument.by Jordan Calmes.S.M.in Science Writin

Trends in the Canadian Financial System

Over the 1990s, Canadian businesses became more heavily dependent on financial markets as their primary source of external funding. Data display a trend towards a more market-oriented financial system. Our econometric tests suggest that this new trend started after the 1980 banking legislation amendments. The trend was considerably accentuated after the 1992 amendments. We provide a new series for the off-balance- sheet activities of Canadian banks that measures the non-interest income of banks as a credit equivalent. Despite the market-oriented trend, this series combined with our data reveal a healthy trend in banks activities: thanks to the amendments, financial institutions are simply closer to the markets. However, our data indicate that Canadian firms issue a substantial share of their bonds in the U.S. bon market. They also issue an increasing share of their stocks in the U.S. bond market. we conjecture that there is some form of incompleteness in the Canadian markets. A noticeable fraction of Canadian issuances in the U.S. involves riskier firms for which U.S. markets seem more mature.Financial Regulation, financial deepening

Alienación cultural y dislocación de la subjetividad en El amante bilingüe de Juan Marsé

Teniendo como punto de referencia la novela El amante bilingüe de Juan Marsé, en este estudio analizo las diferencias culturales, sociales y linguísticas entre la comunidad catalana con su afán de centralización de una cultura común, y los elementos culturales y sociales periféricos a este centralismo catalán. El personaje central de la novela sufre una alienación social y cultural debido a las barreras infranqueables entre la burguesía catalana y las clases más bajas de inmigrantes llegados de otras regiones españolas. La imposibilidad de integración social conlleva una dislocación doble de la subjetividad del personaje central: por una parte un centramiento de sí mismo, y por otra, de su lugar en el mundo social y cultural. El estudio muestra la hibridez entre la cultura alta y baja, y la posibilidad de una afirmación de la tangencialidad. Taking as a reference Juan Marsé’s novel El amante bilingüe, in this study I analyze the cultural, social and linguistic differences between the Catalonian community with its desire of centralism of a common culture, and the cultural and social elements that are peripheral to that Catalonian centralism. The main character in the novel suffers a social and cultural alienation due to the impassable borders between the Catalonian middle/ high class and the lower classes of inmigrants from another Spanish regions. The impossibility of social integration implies a double dislocation of the main character’s subjectivity: a self-decentralization and of his place in his social and cultural world. This study shows the hybridism between high and low culture and the possibility of an affirmation of the tangentiality

Role of mannitol in pathogenic determinism in Alternaria brassicicola

International audienc

La ausencia de la madre y la asersión de la subjetividad en "Nada" de Carmen laforet

In Carmen Laforet’s Nada the search for the assertion of the subjectivity is originated by a emptiness. The theme of the absence of the mother figure is a central idea in this novel. The pinning for the maternal in the social and economic circumstances of the Spanish postwar period has a repercussion on the image of the main character. Following different theories about maternity, my essay studies the essential importance of the mother figure from the earliest stages of the individual’s development and in the formation of his/her subjectivity.En Nada de Carmen Laforet la búsqueda de la asersión de la subjetividad viene originada por una carencia. El tema de la ausencia del personaje de la madre es una idea central en esta novela. La añoranza de lo materno en las circunstancias históricas y sociales de la época de la posguerra española repercute en la caracterización del personaje central. Siguiendo las diferentes teorías que se han desarrollado en torno a la maternidad, mi ensayo estudia la importancia esencial de la figura de la madre desde las etapas más tempranas de crecimiento del individuo y en la formación de su subjetividad