Virtuoso Beasts: Modernist Fables and the Vitality of Style

This dissertation examines the pivotal function of animals in modernist writing, particularly where modernist style confronts inherited moral codes. Classic accounts of modernism emphasize â??impersonalityâ?? as the prime method for artists seeking cultural and ethical authority in the period after 1880. This project digs into what I argue is ultimately the more palatable capacity of literary beasts to animate a similar poetics of authority. Where doctrines of impersonality often resorted to figures of the inorganic in order to simultaneously disavow and indulge the expression of authorial intention, modernists such as Gerard Manley Hopkins, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Rudyard Kipling, and Marianne Moore instead avowed their didactic ambitions by appealing not to traditional expressive and explicit methods nor, on the other hand, to the complete evacuation of personality, but to the vitality and instinct of animals. More than any platinum filament (T.S. Eliotâ??s famous catalyst), animals offered modernists a vocabulary for the bodily and behavioral mechanisms by which individuals become ethical and historical subjects. In my chapters, I examine specific formal effects that require animal energyâ??from the modeling of queer poetic virtuosities upon animal instinct (as in Hopkinsâ?? windhover, for example, or Mooreâ??s slapstick critters) and the casting of fictional characters along evolutionary-typological lines (as in Woolfâ??s The Waves) to the anticolonial implementation, even, of a â??bestialâ?? prose style resistant to modernismâ??s self-authorization (exemplified by the indifferent creatures we find in Finnegans Wake)

Integrating concept-based learning into writing assessment in Chinese as a second language: An exploration of students’ perspective

Concept-based learning has gained currency in recent years in international school contexts. While there is substantial pedagogical research on concept-based learning, there is relatively little work within the context of exploring L2 Chinese students’ conceptual understanding in writing assessments. This study investigated how learners of L2 Chinese demonstrate the three concepts of Audience, Context and Purpose (IBO, 2013b) as applied to L2 writing. Three students in a Hong Kong international school completed an IB Language B (One of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) subjects is Language Acquisition, which consists of Language ab initio and Language B. While Language ab initio is language acquisition course for students with no prior experience of the target language, or for those students with very limited previous experience, Language B is for students with some previous experience of the target language.) writing assessment task. Their thinking and writing processes, including instances where they apply the relevant concepts, were investigated through eliciting think-aloud verbal reports and stimulated recall. The analysis found a general alignment of students’ understanding of the concepts and the definitions in the IB curriculum document, and the students indeed applied the concepts at various stages of their writing processes. However, their conceptual understanding was found to be considerably compromised by their limited lexical repertoire in L2 Chinese. Implications for the IB Language B writing assessment, and suggestions for further research on how to align the assessment of conceptual understanding and language skills, are discussed

Complete and accurate mass spectrometric isotope analysis of tropospheric nitrous oxide

We describe a manual extraction and purification method for mass spectrometric isotope analyses of tropospheric N2O. A theoretical framework to correct for (hydro)fluorocarbon and CO2 interferences is developed and verified experimentally. The standard deviation for analysis of one sample on a single day is 0.05‰ for d15N and d18O and 0.2‰ for the relative enrichment of the terminal (1d5N) and central (2d5N) nitrogen atoms. The isotopic composition of N2O in tropospheric background air could thus be measured with unprecedented precision on samples from six locations. We obtained overall average values of d15N = (6.72 ± 0.12)‰ versus air N2 and d18O = (44.62 ± 0.21)‰ versus Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water. Neither a clear spatial pattern from 28°N to 79°N, nor a temporal trend over the course of 2 years was found. Within the experimental uncertainties, this is in line with small trends of 0.02 to 0.04‰/a derived from analyses of Antarctic firn air and isotopic budget calculations. Using an independent 2d15N calibration of our working standard versus air N2, we find large differences in the position-dependent 15N/14N ratios: The mean for all samples is 1d15N = (-15.8 ± 0.6)‰ and 2d15N = (29.2 ± 0.6)‰ versus air N2. In light of a new definition for oxygen isotope anomalies, we reevaluate the existing measurements and derive a 17O excess of ?17O = (0.9 ± 0.1)‰

The elimination of congenital syphilis: a comparison of the proposed World Health Organization action plan for the elimination of congenital syphilis with existing national maternal and congenital syphilis policies.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Building upon a critical assessment of national policies, programs, and treatment options, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently developed an action plan for the elimination of congenital syphilis (CS). The objective of the review was to identify areas of commonality or divergence between the national strategies and the WHO plan, thereby helping to target the development of national-level policies in light of the forthcoming recommendations of the proposed WHO action plan to eliminate CS. STUDY DESIGN: The 4 strategic pillars of the proposed WHO action plan were used as a comparative framework to examine the policy, programmatic, and monitoring components of a sample of 14 existing national-level congenital or maternal control policies. The countries were chosen to represent a range of resource and prevalence levels. RESULTS: The majority of countries do not meet every element proposed in the WHO action plan. Political commitment (pillar 1) across the 14 countries is varied. CS elimination goals were rare but all had universal screening. Linkages to appropriate case management services were identified in 11 countries, although a national governing body was not generally evident. Efforts to increase and improve access to care (pillar 2) were noted in 8 countries with recommendations to ensure all pregnant women were screened and treated. Low-resource settings have formed international partnerships. Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of pregnant women and partners (pillar 3) found in high-resource settings were lacking in low-resource and high CS prevalence countries. Surveillance programs were active in 10 countries while comprehensive details on monitoring and evaluation (pillar 4) components including proxy CS indicators were unavailable for nearly all. CONCLUSIONS: The elimination of CS can be achieved through the implementation of a series of proven measures but requires technical support, funding, and a commitment among political forces, health officials, and the public to prevent and treat all CS cases and help countries reach their Millennium Development Goals. Stronger partnerships with clearly defined responsibilities should be developed among agencies responsible for national STI control, HIV/AIDS control, and Making Pregnancy Safer initiatives to ensure the universal coverage of CS control interventions