Liberation and the authority of the writer in the Russian, Czech and Slovak fiction of the Changes.

This dissertation represents the first comparative study of works by the 'writers of the Changes', those Russian, Czech and Slovak writers who, in the late 1980s and 1990s, presented themselves as 'liberators' of literature from its traditional function in Russian, Czech and Slovak culture as the ultimate authority on how to live. The 'fiction of the Changes' at once asserts the surrender of this position of authority and contemplates its consequences. In the introduction, the 'fiction of the Changes' is placed in the context of a longer retreat from this position of authority in sanctioned fiction. Chapter 1 compares novels by Venedikt Erofeev, Hrabal and Vilikovsky which reflect the defeat of literature's attempts to perfect the human being and the writer's desire no longer to be implicated in such attempts. In the works by Evgenii Popov, Placak and Pistemek discussed in Chapter 2, the writer ceases to be the voice of the collective, instead asserting his freedom to 'give shape to his fate'. Writing which no longer seeks to perpetuate the accepted shape of the external world, represents for Ivanchenko, Tolstaia and Mitana, discussed in Chapter 3, a futile but necessary escapism from existence. However, for Ajvaz, Hodrov Kratochvil and Jhym Topol, discussed in Chapter 4, it represents the energy of being as it passes. In Chapter 5, the aspiration to meaning in writing is, for Kolenic and litv futile, and for Sorokin, indicates a harmful desire for power that must be thwarted. Chapter 6 argues that, while Pelevin and Balia reject this defeat of creativity, Kahuda rejects the sentimental attachment to writing as to being in other Czech fiction of the Changes. The conclusion divides the writers of the Changes between those who 'fear speaking' and those who 'fear stopping speaking', and suggests how the writers of the Changes have sought to reconcile these positions

Microfluidic Lateral Flow Cytochrome P450 Assay on a Novel Printed Functionalized Calcium Carbonate-Based Platform for Rapid Screening of Human Xenobiotic Metabolism

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) is a superfamily of enzymes in charge of elimination of the majority of clinically used drugs and other xenobiotics. This study focuses on the development of a rapid microfluidic lateral flow assay to study human phase I metabolism reactions mediated by CYP2A6 isoenzyme, the major detoxification route for many known carcinogens and drugs, with coumarin 7-hydroxylation, as the prototype model reaction. Assay fabrication utilizes custom-designed porous functionalized calcium carbonate (FCC) coatings and inkjet-printed fluid barriers. All materials used are novel and carefully chosen to preserve biocompatibility. The design comprises separate zones for reaction, separation and detection, and an absorbent pad to keep the assay wet for extended periods (up to 10 min) even when heated to physiological temperature. The concept enables CYP assays to be made at lower cost than conventional well-plate assays, while providing increased selectivity at equally high speed, owing to the possibility for simultaneous chromatographic separation of the reaction products from the reactants on the FCC coating. The developed concept provides a viable rapid prediction of the interaction risks related to metabolic clearance of drugs and other xenobiotics, and exemplifies a novel coating technology illustrating the opportunity to broaden application functionality.Peer reviewe

The silence of the occupied in Czech Literature, 1940-46

The use of silence to characterize the dominant response of occupied populations during the Second World War recurs throughout post-war European literature and is especially prominent in Czech writing. Interpreting the meaning of this silence therefore became central to Czech efforts to establish a preferred narrative about the German occupation in the immediate post-war period. Through analysis of the motif in more and less well-known works published between 1940 and 1946, I shall map the narrowing understanding of the silence of the occupied from its varied, ambiguous portrayal in the now forgotten first Czech novel about the Occupation, Silences by Josef Horal, to its unequivocal interpretation as resistance in Jan Drda's canonical The Mute Barricade. While this narrowing reflects Tony Judt's notion of a “collective amnesia” necessary for national unity and recovery, the marginalization of certain perspectives also presages the broader move in Czech post-war society away from pluralism to nationalist authoritarianism