Social Ethics in the Novels of Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harriet Beecher Stowe has engendered a good deal of critical contradiction, both in her own time and since. Most of more extreme controversy centers on her popular and influential anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom\u27s Cabin. Although the New England novels are generally considered to have some merit as examples of local color fiction, Stowe earned her place in the canon of American literature primarily on the basis her authorship of UTC. But the place is an uneasy one. UTC\u27s popularity and impact make it too big an event in American literary history for it, or its author, to be disregarded, but disputes about its intellectual, moral, and artistic legitimacy are rife. It has been variously described by critics as disastrous and miraculous, awkward and artful, dishonest and sincere, keenly intelligent and irrationally emotionalistic, racist and anti-racist, feminist and all-too-oppressively feminine. But whatever else may be said about UTe, few would dispute that Stowe wrote it openly, self-consciously, and unapologetical in a woman\u27s voice, which, for a novel addressing social and political issues of national importance, was at the time something unusual (and controversial) in itself. It is perhaps seems less unusual today, but I would suggest that in some respects the controvery has remained constistent, and that much of the critical argument about UTe may be attributed to the problems of interpreting a woman\u27s voice fairly in a man\u27s world

Social Ethics in the Novels of Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harriet Beecher Stowe has engendered a good deal of critical contradiction, both in her own time and since. Most of more extreme controversy centers on her popular and influential anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom\u27s Cabin. Although the New England novels are generally considered to have some merit as examples of local color fiction, Stowe earned her place in the canon of American literature primarily on the basis her authorship of UTC. But the place is an uneasy one. UTC\u27s popularity and impact make it too big an event in American literary history for it, or its author, to be disregarded, but disputes about its intellectual, moral, and artistic legitimacy are rife. It has been variously described by critics as disastrous and miraculous, awkward and artful, dishonest and sincere, keenly intelligent and irrationally emotionalistic, racist and anti-racist, feminist and all-too-oppressively feminine. But whatever else may be said about UTe, few would dispute that Stowe wrote it openly, self-consciously, and unapologetical in a woman\u27s voice, which, for a novel addressing social and political issues of national importance, was at the time something unusual (and controversial) in itself. It is perhaps seems less unusual today, but I would suggest that in some respects the controvery has remained constistent, and that much of the critical argument about UTe may be attributed to the problems of interpreting a woman\u27s voice fairly in a man\u27s world

Evolving possibilities: postembryonic axial elongation in salamanders with biphasic (Eurcyea cirrigera, Eurycea longicauda, Eurycea quadridigitata) and paedomorphic life cycles (Eurycea nana and Ambystoma mexicanum)

Typically, the number of vertebrae an organism will have postembryonically is determined during embryogenesis via the development of paired somites. Our research investigates the phenomenon of postembryonic vertebral addition in salamander tails. We describe body and tail growth and patterns of postsacral vertebral addition and elongation in context with caudal morphology for four plethodontids ( Eurycea) and one ambystomatid. Eurycea nana and Ambystoma mexicanum have paedomorphic life cycles; Eurcyea cirrigera, Eurycea longicauda and Eurycea quadridigitata are biphasic. Specimens were collected, borrowed and/or purchased, and cleared and stained for bone and cartilage. Data collected include snout-vent length (SVL), tail length (TL), vertebral counts and centrum lengths. Eurycea species with biphasic life cycles had TLs that surpassed SVL following metamorphosis. Tails in paedomorphic species elongated but rarely exceeded body length. Larger TLs were associated with more vertebrae and longer vertebrae in all species. We observed that rates of postsacral vertebral addition varied little amongst species. Regional variation along the tail becomes prominent following metamorphosis in biphasic developers. In all species, vertebrae in the posterior one-half of the tail taper towards the tip. We suggest that a developmental link might exist between the ability to continually add vertebrae and regeneration in salamanders

Differential susceptibility to obesity between male, female and ovariectomized female mice

All authors are with the Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USABackground: The prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically. A direct comparison in the predisposition to obesity between males, premenopausal females, and postmenopausal females with various caloric intakes has not been made. To determine the effects of sex and ovarian hormones on the susceptibility to obesity, we conducted laboratory studies with mice. To eliminate confounders that can alter body weight gain, such as age and food consumption; we used mice with the same age and controlled the amount of calories they consumed. -- Methods: We determined sex-specific susceptibility to obesity between male, non-ovariectomized female, and ovariectomized female mice. To compare susceptibility to gaining body weight between males and females, animals from each sex were exposed to either a 30% calorie-restricted, low-fat (5% fat), or high-fat (35% fat) diet regimen. To establish the role of ovarian hormones in weight gain, the ovaries were surgically removed from additional female mice, and then were exposed to the diets described above. Percent body fat and percent lean mass in the mice were determined by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). -- Results: In all three diet categories, male mice had a greater propensity of gaining body weight than female mice. However, ovariectomy eliminated the protection of female mice to gaining weight; in fact, ovariectomized female mice mimicked male mice in their susceptibility to weight gain. In summary, results show that male mice are more likely to become obese than female mice and that the protection against obesity in female mice is eliminated by ovariectomy. -- Conclusion: Understanding metabolic differences between males and females may allow the discovery of better preventive and treatment strategies for diseases associated with body weight such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.Nutritional [email protected]

Newsletter Networks in the Feminist History and Archives Movement

This article examines how networks have been critical to the construction of feminist histories. The author examines the publication Matrices: A Lesbian/Feminist Research Newsletter (1977–1996), to argue that a feminist network mode can be traced through the examination of small-scale print newsletters that draw on the language and function of networks. Publications such as Matrices emerge into wide production and circulation in the 1970s alongside feminist community archives, and newsletters and archives work together as interconnected social movement technologies. Newsletters enabled activist-researchers writing feminist histories to share difficult-to-access information, resources, and primary sources via photocopying and other modes of print reproduction.  Looking from the present, the author examines how network thinking has been a feature of feminist activism and knowledge production since before the Internet, suggesting that publications such as Matrices are part of a longer history of networked communications media in feminist contexts

Synthesis, structural studies and photochemistry of cobalt(III) complexes of anthracenylcyclam macrocycles

This work reports the syntheses, structures and some photochemistry in DMF of the cobalt complexes trans-[CoIII( 2)Cl2]Cl·0.5CH3OH and trans-[CoIII( 3)Cl2]Cl·4H2O, where 2 is 6-(anthracen-9-ylmethyl)-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane-5,7-dione and 3 is 6-(anthracen-9-ylmethyl)-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane. In the preparation of the macrocyclic ligand, 3, the formation of a polycyclic bis(aminal) intermediate and its subsequent acid hydrolysis to 3 is a cleaner route than the traditional procedure in which the analogous dioxocyclam 2 is reduced with borane reagents. The crystal structure of trans-[CoIII( 3)Cl2]Cl·4H2O shows that the macrocycle adopts the trans-III conformation, in which the anthracene moiety is extended away from the cobalt ion and the anthracene to Co separation is 7.22 . For the related complex trans-[CoIII( 2)Cl2]Cl·0.5CH3OH, however, the anthracene is bent over the highly conjugated tetracycle and significant interactions between the anthracene and the complex occur. A novel new complex, trans-[Co( 12)Cl2](where 12 is 5,7-hydroxy-6-oxo-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane-4,7-diene) which is a degradation product of the complex trans-[CoIII( 2)Cl2]Cl is also reported