The Chronotope and the Study of Literary Adaptation : The Case of Robinson Crusoe

This paper proposes a reflection on the potential of the chronotope as a heuristic tool in the field of adaptation studies. My goal is to situate the chronotope in the context of adaptation studies, specifically with regard to perhaps the most central treatise in the field of literary adaptation, Gérard Genette’s “Palimpsests: Literature in the Second Degree”, and to draw attention to perhaps one of the most overlooked works in the field of adaptation studies, Caryl Emerson’s chronotope-inspired “Boris Godunov: Transpositions of a Russian Theme”. I will demonstrate how the chronotope might be used in the study of literary adaptation by examining the relationships between Daniel Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe”, its historical sources, and Michel Tournier’s twentieth-century adaptation of the Robinson story, “Friday”. My analysis draws upon three of the semantic levels of the chronotope presented in the introduction to this volume: (1) chronotopic motifs linked to two opposing themes: enthusiasm for European colonial expansionism and skepticism regarding the supremacy of European culture; (2) major chronotopes that determine the narrative structure of a text; and (3) the way in which such major chronotopes may be linked to broader questions of genre

Hugo à la rencontre de Rabelais : l’esprit carnavalesque dans Attentat d’Amélie Nothomb

Dès le premier paragraphe d’Attentat, Amélie Nothomb fournit l’intertexte le plus important de son roman, qui raconte l’histoire d’un homme laid s’étant épris d’une belle femme : Notre-Dame de Paris de Victor Hugo. La réécriture du texte hugolien s’effectue ici sous l’égide de ce que Mikhaïl Bakhtine nomme l’esprit carnavalesque, et doit ainsi beaucoup à un autre antécédent littéraire : l’oeuvre de François Rabelais. Dans la présente étude, qui s’inspire aussi des travaux de Linda Hutcheon sur la parodie, nous analysons le lien entre la réécriture, le postmodernisme et le carnaval, avant de passer à une analyse des éléments carnavalesques dans Attentat. De plus, nous étudions la façon dont Hugo, dans William Shakespeare, interprète le carnaval rabelaisien. Les commentaires de Bakhtine à ce sujet permettent de réévaluer les réactions critiques à l’égard d’Attentat. La plupart des critiques ont tendance à souligner le côté destructif de la réécriture nothombienne de texte connus, y voyant l’anéantissement de la tradition littéraire. Cependant, même si la parodie brise les conventions de la bienséance des romans « classiques » et nous encourage à réévaluer des textes bien connus, il est aussi vrai qu’elle les réactive en tant que modèles génériques qui déterminent toujours l’horizon d’attente lors de la lecture. C’est ainsi que, loin de signer la mort du roman, le style tout à fait rabelaisien de l’oeuvre postmoderne de Nothomb signale plutôt sa « renaissance ».From the very first paragraph of her novel Attentat, Amélie Nothomb introduces an important intertext for this story of a hideously ugly man who becomes smitten with a beautiful woman: Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo. I argue that Nothomb’s rewriting of the Hugo classic is strongly influence by what Mikhail Bakhtin identified as the presence of the carnival in literature, and therefore owes much to another literary antecedent, the works of François Rabelais. Taking Linda Hutcheon’s work on parody as my starting point, I will examine the link between intertextual rewriting, postmodernism and Bakhtin’s concept of the carnival; I will then identify carnivalistic elements in Attentat. Finally, I will examine how Hugo, in his study William Shakespeare, interprets the carnival in Rabelais, and how Bakhtin’s comments on Hugo’s Reading might help to reevaluate recent critical reaction to Attentat. Most critics high-life the destructive aspects of Nothomb’s acerbic style, seeing in her rewriting of classic scenarios a blatant attack on preceding literary traditions. While it is true that parody encourages us to reevaluate, often unfavorably, well-known texts, it is also true that the nature of parody is profoundly ambivalent in that parody also preserves these same texts and therefore reactivates them as generic models that détermine our horizon of expectations as readers. Rather than signaling the death of the novel, Nothomb’s Rebelaisian style seems rather to suggests its highly creative, postmodern rebirth

Disrupting the Welfare State? Digitalisation and the Retrenchment of Public Sector Capacity

Welfare state bureaucracies the world over have adopted far-reaching digitalisation reforms in recent years. From the deployment of AI in service management, to the ‘opening up’ of administrative datasets, digitalisation initiatives have uprooted established modes of public sector organisation and administration. And, as this paper suggests, they have also fundamentally transformed the political economy of the welfare state. Through a case study of Danish reforms between 2002 and 2019, the analysis finds that public sector digitalisation has entailed the transfer of responsibility for key infrastructure to private actors. Reforms in Denmark have not only been pursued in the name of public sector improvement and efficiency. A principal objective of public sector digitalisation has rather been the growth of Denmark’s nascent digital technology industries as part of the state’s wider export-led growth strategy, adopted in response to functional pressures on the welfare state model. The attempt to deliver fiscal stability in this way has, paradoxically, produced retrenchment of critical assets and capabilities. The paper’s findings hold important implications for states embarking on public sector digitalisation reforms, as well as possibilities for future research on how states can harness technological progress in the interests of citizens–without hollowing out in the process

Customer satisfaction of the food stamp recertification process in Dillon County

For years, the Food Stamp certification process for applicants and recipients required them to travel to the Dillon county office at least once a year for a face-to-face (office) interview in order for them to apply or continue to receive benefits. Being a rural county with limited resources, transportation is a barrier for most customers. In an effort to meet the agency's goal to help people live better lives and serve our clients in a more efficient way, the county took advantage of a new recertification option introduced in October 2002 and started the recertification process by telephone. This CPM project served as an opportunity to measure the level of customer satisfaction for Dillon County Food Stamp recipients who have used this process

Studies on the syntheses of azonia-azulenes and related compounds

Some substituted azonia-azulenes have been prepared for the first time. The synthetic route involves the double elimination of hydrogen bromide from the appropriate a,a-dibromoketone using lithium chloride in dimethylformamide. Attempts have been made to synthesise the unsubstituted azonia­azulenes from the intermediate azepinones but these were not successful. A brief review is given of the uses of lithium halides in dimethylformamide as reagents for elimination. The double dehydrobromination reaction has been extended to give a new synthesis of benzo[2,3]tropones and related systems. Investigations into the mechanism of elimination have been carried out and a possible reaction pathway proposed

Assessing Evidence-Informed Practices to Reduce Routine Interventions in Labor and Childbirth: Validating the Content of the Keeping Birth Normal Tool

Background: The overuse of interventions in labor and childbirth increase the risk of mortality and morbidity in women. There are wide variations in the use of routine interventions locally, regionally, and globally. The reasons for this are complex and multifactorial. This study focuses its investigations at the microcosm of practice. It outlines the validation of the content of a new Tool to assess and support the implementation of evidence-informed practices by health-care professionals. Methods: Seven experts and eight women user representatives used a 4-point ordinal scale of relevance to rate 50 items in the Keeping Birth Normal (KBN) Tool. Item-level content validity index (I-CVI), an average scale-level content validity index (S-CVI/Ave), and qualitative comments were used to delete and improve items. Results: Eleven experts analyzed all 50 items. Four experts rated 35–49 items. The initial scale received an S-CVI/Ave of 0.88. Two items were deleted, improvements were made to 45 items, some were merged, and 7 new items were added. The final scale with 36 items received an S-CVI/Ave of 1.0 post item deletion and improvement. Discussion: The items in the KBN Tool are construct relevant and will undergo plausibility testing in a future study. Other forms of validity evidence on response processes and internal structure, which may be gathered, will depend on its further application in practice and research

PMX-53 as a Dual CD88 antagonist and an Agonist for Mas-Related Gene 2 (MrgX2) in Human Mast Cells

Human mast cells express the G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) for C5a (CD88). Previous studies indicated that C5a could cause mast cell degranulation, at least in part, via a mechanism similar to that proposed for basic neuropeptides such as substance P, possibly involving Mas-related gene 2 (MrgX2). We therefore sought to more clearly define the receptor specificity for C5a-induced mast cell degranulation. We found that LAD2, a human mast cell line, and CD34+ cell-derived primary mast cells express functional MrgX1 and MrgX2 but the immature human mast cell line HMC-1 does not. A potent CD88 antagonist, PMX-53 (10 nM) inhibited C5ainduced Ca2+ mobilization in HMC-1 cells, but at higher concentrations (≥30 nM) it caused degranulation in LAD2 mast cells, CD34+ cell-derived mast cells, and RBL-2H3 cells stably expressing MrgX2. PMX-53 did not, however, activate RBL-2H3 cells expressing MrgX1. Although C5a induced degranulation in LAD2 and CD34+ cell-derived mast cells, it did not activate RBL-2H3 cells expressing MrgX1 or MrgX2. Replacement of Trp with Ala and Arg with dArg abolished the ability of PMX-53 to inhibit C5a-induced Ca2+ mobilization in HMC-1 cells and to cause degranulation in RBL-2H3 cells expressing MrgX2. These findings demonstrate that C5a does not use MrgX1 or MrgX2 for mast cell degranulation. Moreover, it reveals the novel finding that PMX-53 functions as a potent CD88 antagonist and a low-affinity agonist for MrgX2. Furthermore, Trp and Arg residues are required for the ability of PMX53 to act as both a CD88 antagonist and a MrgX2 agonist. Copyright © 2011 The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

Subversion of actin dynamics by EspM effectors of attaching and effacing bacterial pathogens

Rho GTPases are common targets of bacterial toxins and type III secretion system effectors. IpgB1 and IpgB2 of Shigella and Map of enteropathogenic (EPEC) and enterohemorrhagic (EHEC) Escherichia coli were recently grouped together on the basis that they share a conserved WxxxE motif. In this study, we characterized six WxxxE effectors from attaching and effacing pathogens: TrcA and EspM1 of EPEC strain B171, EspM1 and EspM2 of EHEC strain Sakai and EspM2 and EspM3 of Citrobacter rodentium. We show that EspM2 triggers formation of global parallel stress fibres, TrcA and EspM1 induce formation of localized parallel stress fibres and EspM3 triggers formation of localized radial stress fibres. Using EspM2 and EspM3 as model effectors, we report that while substituting the conserved Trp with Ala abolished activity, conservative Trp to Tyr or Glu to Asp substitutions did not affect stress-fibre formation. We show, using dominant negative constructs and chemical inhibitors, that the activity of EspM2 and EspM3 is RhoA and ROCK-dependent. Using Rhotekin pull-downs, we have shown that EspM2 and EspM3 activate RhoA; translocation of EspM2 and EspM3 triggered phosphorylation of cofilin. These results suggest that the EspM effectors modulate actin dynamics by activating the RhoA signalling pathway

Leadership as sustainability: context and primary school principals in Jamaica

School leadership is as challenging as it is rewarding. And, in a fast paced educational policy environment, school leaders sometimes are having to play catchup with the latest government mandate. This challenge is exacerbated in environments where economic and social problems and lack of parental engagement in education are a daily occurrence and a significant risk to the effectiveness of schools. While we recognize the notion of sustainable school leadership is continuing its evolution, we also acknowledge it is not a single act and nor is it enacted by a single individual. Reporting findings from a qualitative study of primary school leaders in Jamaica, we argue that sustainable school leadership is not a new form of leadership, but rather a type of leadership that combines multiple practices to produce long-term impacts on members of a school community that are “now” and “futures” oriented