Reading Saints’ Lives and Striving to Live as Saints : Reading and Rewriting Medieval Hagiography

Thesis advisor: Matilda Tomaryn BrucknerThis study demonstrates the essential connection between literature and history by examining the way selected saints’ lives were read and rewritten in Latin and Old French from the eleventh to thirteenth centuries. Building on the concept of the horizon of expectations developed by Hans Robert Jauss, it argues against both the model of literature as a series of timeless classics whose meaning is apparent to the intelligent reader of any age and the tendency to reduce literature to the more or less successful imitation of historical realities. Not only does the interpretation of a saint’s life change over time as the text is read in different religious and cultural contexts, but the narrative is in turn capable of influencing the way its readers understand themselves and the world in which they live. By comparing different versions of each saint’s life, I am able to isolate variations in form, tone, characterization, and action, and relate them to the experiences of specific historical figures whose lives illustrate the important religious and cultural issues of their time. In order to do this, I examine three saints’ lives in light of the sometimes troubled relationship between the clerical order of the church and the laity. Two Latin and two Old French versions of the Life of Saint Alexis are read along with the life of Christina of Markyate, an English woman who fled from her husband to become a recluse. Alexis’s and Christina’s refusal of marriage illustrates the tension between the monastic model of fleeing from the world to save one’s self and the pastoral ideal of working for the salvation of others. I compare the figure of the mother in two very similar Old French versions of the Life of Pope Saint Gregory, a story of incest, penance, and redemption, to Ermengarde of Anjou, a countess who could never commit herself to life in a convent. Like Ermengarde and countless other lay men and women, Gregory’s mother faces the question of whether she can live a sufficiently holy life as a lay person or needs to enter a convent to expiate her sins. Finally, I read Latin and Old French verse and prose versions of the Life of Saint Mary the Egyptian in light of the similar yet opposing experiences of Valdes of Lyon and Francis of Assisi in relation to the question of heresy and orthodoxy. My understanding of the medieval religious historical context, particularly the history of the laity in the Church, builds on the foundational work of Raoul Manselli, Etienne Delaruelle, and André Vauchez, as well as more recent work by Michel Grandjean, who compares the different visions of the laity held by Peter Damien, Anselm of Canterbury, and Yves of Chartres. My dissertation shows that the different versions of saints’ lives not only reflect the evolution of attitudes about human relationships, salvation, and orthodoxy that characterize the time and place in which they were written, but also question the practices of later readers and offer solutions to new problems in new contexts. As my study demonstrates, ideals like the monastic identification of holiness with asceticism shape the way people understand and direct their lives, and the source for these ideals can often be found in literary texts like saints’ lives. These texts do not communicate these ideals transparently. The juxtapositions, tensions, and conflicts they depict can lead the reader to come to a more nuanced understanding or even a total reconsideration of his or her beliefs. The study of rewriting and medieval saints’ lives can help us better understand this interplay between narrative, ideal, and lived experience.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2008.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Romance Languages and Literatures

Constructing Equal Distance Response Anchor

Summated rating scales are so ubiquitous in organizational research that they are used in most every context including agreement, similarity, frequency, amount, and judgment. Summated rating scales are defined by their usage of multiple questions or items in a "Likert-type" format. A long history of research on latent constructs has provided well-delineated guidelines for scale development (c.f., Hinkin, 1998), while there has been comparatively less research on the selection of the actual anchors used in the items. Constructing survey questions with equal distant properties is important if the researcher plans to analyze the data using common parametric statistics. As such, the primary objectives of my research are to a) determine the most common contexts for summated rating scale usage; b) determine the most commonly employed anchors selections within these contexts; c) empirically document the distance between the verbal anchors; d) suggest the optimal verbal anchors for each context based on the aforementioned research and commonly accepted number of anchors per item (5 or 7 choices). The resultant schemata will be a starting point for summated scale construction and will lead to better construction of equal distance anchors for summated rating scales in behavior science research.Business Administratio

Binding of Plasmodium falciparum to CD36 can be shielded by the glycocalyx

Abstract Background Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes sequester in the microcirculation due to interaction between surface-expressed parasite proteins and endothelial receptors. Endothelial cells are covered in a carbohydrate-rich glycocalyx that shields against undesired leukocyte adhesion. It was investigated if the cellular glycocalyx affects the binding of P. falciparum-infected erythrocytes to CD36 in vitro. Methods Glycocalyx growth was followed in vitro by using azido sugars and cationized ferritin detecting O-glycoproteins and negatively charged proteoglycans, respectively. P. falciparum (clone FCR3/IT) was selected on Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells transfected with human CD36. Cytoadhesion to CHO CD36 at 1–4 days after seeding was quantified by using a static binding assay. Results The glycocalyx thickness of CHO cells increased during 4 days in culture as assessed by metabolic labelling of glycans with azido sugars and with electron microscopy studying the binding of cationized ferritin to cell surfaces. The functional importance of this process was addressed in binding assays by using CHO cells transfected with CD36. In parallel with the maturation of the glycocalyx, antibody-binding to CD36 was inhibited, despite stable expression of CD36. P. falciparum selected for CD36-binding recognized CD36 on CHO cells on the first day in culture, but the binding was lost after 2–4 days. Conclusion The endothelial glycocalyx affects parasite cytoadhesion in vitro, an effect that has previously been ignored. The previously reported loss of glycocalyx during experimental malaria may play an important role in the pathogenesis of malaria complications by allowing the close interaction between infected erythrocytes and endothelial receptors

Aportaciones empíricas al tratamiento de la esquizofrenia tipo paranoide : Modelo magariano

La presente disertación consistió en desarrollar una técnica orientada en el modelo de Peter Magara para el tratamiento de la esquizofrenia tipo paranoide. Se utilizo una muestra de 20 pacientes esquizofrénicos tipo paranoide. Se utilizo una muestra de 20 pacientes esquizofrénicos tipo paranoides y otra de 20 pacientes esquizofrénicos no paranoides. Los resultados confirman una relativa eficacia en la reducción de la sintomatologia paranoide. Lo que pone de manifiesto que quizás la técnica sea eficaz específicamente en el tratamiento de la esquizofrenia paranoide. Asi mismo, los resultados pueden estar indicando que la llamada esquizofrenia tipo paranoide, quizá, mas que una forma de esquizofrenia, sea una forma de estado paranoide. Lo que estaría en la línea del modelo de Magaro. Por otra parte, nuestros resultados ponen de manifiesto un leve incremento en el nivel de la depresión de los pacientes paranoides, esto en línea con las investigaciones de Colby, Meissner y Zigler y Glick. Se sugiere un estudio mas detallado de este aspecto y de su relación con la esquizofrenia

Ancient expansion of the Hox cluster in Lepidoptera generated four homeobox genes implicated in extra-embryonic tissue formation

Gene duplications within the conserved Hox cluster are rare in animal evolution, but in Lepidoptera an array of divergent Hox-related genes (Shx genes) has been reported between pb and zen. Here, we use genome sequencing of five lepidopteran species (Polygonia c-album, Pararge aegeria, Callimorpha dominula, Cameraria ohridella, Hepialus sylvina) plus a caddisfly outgroup (Glyphotaelius pellucidus) to trace the evolution of the lepidopteran Shx genes. We demonstrate that Shx genes originated by tandem duplication of zen early in the evolution of large clade Ditrysia; Shx are not found in a caddisfly and a member of the basally diverging Hepialidae (swift moths). Four distinct Shx genes were generated early in ditrysian evolution, and were stably retained in all descendent Lepidoptera except the silkmoth which has additional duplications. Despite extensive sequence divergence, molecular modelling indicates that all four Shx genes have the potential to encode stable homeodomains. The four Shx genes have distinct spatiotemporal expression patterns in early development of the Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria), with ShxC demarcating the future sites of extraembryonic tissue formation via strikingly localised maternal RNA in the oocyte. All four genes are also expressed in presumptive serosal cells, prior to the onset of zen expression. Lepidopteran Shx genes represent an unusual example of Hox cluster expansion and integration of novel genes into ancient developmental regulatory networks

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) positively affect the growth of mature northern red oak (Quercus rubra) trees

Understanding and predicting the effects of deer (Cervidae) on forest ecosystems present significant challenges in ecosystem ecology. Deer herbivory can cause large changes in the biomass and species composition of forest understory plant communities, including early life-cycle trees (i.e., seedlings and saplings). Such changes can impact juvenile to adult transitions and the future age structure and species composition of mature forests. Changes to understory vegetation also impact flow of energy and nutrients in forest ecosystems. Studies examining the influence of deer on mature trees, however, are rare and rely on extrapolating effects from early life cycle stages of trees. We tested the hypothesis that the absence of deer would result in an increase in the growth rate of mature trees by examining the impact of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on mature canopy trees. We examined incremental growth in individuals of Quercus rubra, an important component of temperate deciduous forests in North America, inside and outside 16-year deer exclosures in eastern U.S. deciduous forests. We found that adult trees inside exclosures grew less than those directly exposed to deer. Our findings highlight the indirect effects of white-tailed deer on the growth of adult individuals of Q. rubra in a way opposite of what would be expected from previous studies based on immature or understory tree populations. We suggest the increased growth of adult trees in the presence of deer may be explained by increased nutrient inputs through deer fecal and urine deposits and the alteration of the competitive environment belowground through the reduction of understory vegetation by browsing. Underscoring the ecological and demographic importance of adult trees in forest ecosystems, results from this study suggest the direct and indirect effects of deer on mature trees should not be overlooked

Superbeam Studies at CERN

A conventional low energy neutrino beam of great intensity could be produced by the Super Proton Linac at CERN as a first stage of a Neutrino Factory. Water Cerenkov and liquid scintillator detectors are studied as possible candidates for a neutrino oscillation experiment which could improve ourcurrent knowledge of the atmospheric parameters deltam2atm , delta23 and measure or severely constrain 13. It is also shown that a very large water detector could eventually observe leptonic CP violation