“THAT DARK PARADE”: EMILY DICKINSON AND THE VICTORIAN CULT OF DEATH”

The elegiac poems of Emily Dickinson provide what is perhaps the clearest depiction of the conflicting emotions inherent to the death-conscious nineteenth century. In one such poem, Dickinson’s oxymoronic phrase, “Dark Parade,” encapsulates the spirit of a social movement that was born of a desire to comfort the grief-stricken and to beautify the horrific. Throughout Dickinson’s corpus of elegiac poetry, the speaker echoes these sentiments and crafts an insightful portrait, juxtaposing the stark horror of death with the ethereal beauty of ceremony. As Dickinson’s elegies are traced over time, the poems develop as microcosmic representations of a grieving nation, as the speaker resacralizes the corruption of the death scene in the domestic realm. Particularly through her death-bed narratives, the poet exemplifies the paradox that was the 1800s-death scene, the “Dark Parade.” Carefully placed together, the two simple words create an image—couched within the ostentatious display of ritual and deeply embedded in the v disconsolate setting of mourning. In doing so, Dickinson’s speaker captures the essence of the nineteenth-century Victorian “cult of death.

Proteomic, Bioinformatic and Functional Characterization of the Nuclear Pore Complex of the African Trypanosome

The eukaryotic genome, and its associated proteins, is intricately packaged and sequestered within the boundary of a double membrane, known as the nuclear envelope (NE). Transport across the NE is mediated by large protein assemblages known as nuclear pore complexes (NPCs). Yeast and vertebrate NPCs are comprised of about 30 proteins, termed nucleoporins (Nups), which are present in multiple copies. The origins and evolution of the nucleus and NPC are not yet clear, although it seems likely that the nucleus arose only once in eukaryotic evolution. To further our understanding of the evolution of the NPC, we characterized the NPC of a distantly related organism, relative to yeast and vertebrates. The parasitic protist Trypanosoma brucei is a suitable candidate for such a study due to its sequenced genome and experimental tractability, compared to other protists. In this thesis, we present the comprehensive analysis of the protein components of the trypanosome NPC. Towards this end, we used several biochemical and proteomic strategies to identify the proteins that associate with a preparation of enriched T. brucei NEs. Discerning authentic trypanosome Nups from the 859 proteins identified was challenged by the large sequence divergence between yeast, vertebrates and trypanosomes. To overcome this challenge, we used a suite of rigorous bioinformatic tools, which allowed us to identify 24 putative Nups. We then confirmed fully half of the putative trypanosome Nups by fluorescent localization, and observed that the density of trypanosome NPCs around the nucleus is less than that of yeast or vertebrates. This lower density enabled us to visualize individual NPCs and note differences in the spatial distribution of NPCs between these three species. To further characterize these putative Nups and the NPC, we employed RNAi. The results of these studies suggest that, in addition to its role in nucleocytoplasmic transport, the trypanosome NPC plays a key role in maintaining the stability and morphology of the NE. Despite significant divergence with respect to primary structure and species-specific innovations, the trypanosome NPC contains many homologs, domains and motifs found in opisthokonts. Given these findings, it is reasonable to infer that the architecture of the NPC is conserved across Eukaryota. This suggests that the NPC of the last common eukaryotic ancestor had many features in common with NPCs of contemporary bikonts (e.g. plants and excavates) and opisthokonts (e.g. animals and fungi)

The social progress of the Boston Negro: 1638-1900

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University, 1939. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

Folded traveling wave maser structure Patent

Design of folded traveling wave maser structur

Knight Innovation Awards: An Interview with Honoree Neil deGrasse Tyson

Jeff Jarvis (Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism) and Dr. Tyson explore the universe -- and have a lot of fun doing it -- in this in-depth and wide-ranging interview. This video was recorded on October 14, 2015 during the Knight Innovation Awards at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism

Science, pseudoscience, evidence-based practice and post truth

[Excerpt] We live a time when it is easier to question the value of statins to fight cholesterol or the efficacy of vaccination and replace these treatments with homeopathic substances that lack any demonstrated therapeutic effect, promoting BILIEF to the category of PSEUDO-SCIENCE, than rely on evidence-based facts supported by the SCIENTIFIC METHOD. These are challenging times for clinicians and we need to be aware of the “siren songs”, question easy TRUTH even when it looks EVIDENT and the recent so-called POST TRUTH where beliefs seem to be stronger than FACTS, and find the path for safe EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE. This brief paragraph contains several terms and constructs that we often use, hear or read but the definitions of which require more careful reflection, the goal of this editorial. [...](undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Preface

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2014. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 103 (2014): 1-5, doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2014.02.007.The Gulf of Maine (GOM) is a continental shelf sea in the northwest Atlantic, USA that supports highly-productive shellfisheries that are frequently contaminated by toxigenic Alexandrium fundyense blooms and outbreaks of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), resulting in significant economic and social impacts. Additionally, an emerging threat to these resources is from blooms of toxic Pseudo-nitzschia species that produce domoic acid, the toxin responsible for amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP). Nearshore shellfish toxins are monitored by state agencies, whereas most offshore stocks have had little or no routine monitoring. As a result, large areas of federal waters have been indefinitely closed or their shellfish beds underexploited because of the potential risk these toxins pose and the lack of scientific understanding and management tools. Patterns and dynamics of Alexandrium blooms and the resulting shellfish toxicity in nearshore waters were examined in a number of research projects, the largest being the Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB)-Gulf of Maine (GOM), a five-year regional program emphasizing field surveys, laboratory studies and numerical modeling. At the completion of the ECOHAB-GOM program (documented in Anderson et al., 2005), great progress was made in understanding A. fundyense blooms and resulting shellfish toxicity in nearshore waters, but there were major unknowns that still required investigation. For example, little was known about A. fundyense bloom dynamics in the waters south and east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and in particular, about the link between blooms in surface waters and toxicity in deep offshore shellfish. Large areas of offshore shellfish beds were off limits to harvest, including a 40,000 km2 region closed during the 2005 bloom and a much larger zone (~80,000 km2) including portions of Georges Bank was closed in 1990 after high levels of PSP toxicity were detected. In recent years, pressures were mounting from industry to open those offshore areas and to develop management strategies so that surfclam (Spisula solidissima), ocean quahog (Arctica islandica), and roe-on sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) fisheries could be opened. In response to these unknowns and societal needs, a new multi-investigator program, GOMTOX (Gulf of Maine Toxicity), was formulated and ultimately funded through the NOAA ECOHAB program. GOMTOX was a regional observation and modeling program that investigated the patterns and mechanisms underlying A. fundyense and Pseudo-nitzschia blooms and the resulting toxicity in shellfish in the southern GOM and its adjacent New England shelf waters, with special emphasis on the delivery pathways, mechanisms, and dynamics of offshore shellfish toxicity. The GOMTOX team of investigators included 16 principal investigators from eight institutions and, continuing in the ECOHAB-GOM tradition, strong participation from federal and state resource managers as well as representatives of the shellfish industry. This team worked together for over five years, running numerous large-scale survey cruises of Alexandrium cells and cysts, and also supporting industry cruises to collect shellfish from offshore sites including Georges Bank. Other efforts included participation in National Marine Fisheries Service surveys for shellfish (sea scallops, surfclams, and ocean quahogs), numerical modeling studies, deployment of sediment traps, and laboratory and ship-based experiments to investigate grazing and other processes that might regulate blooms and deliver toxins to shellfish in deeper waters. A smaller-scale but concurrent effort collected samples to characterize Pseudo-nitzschia species and their potential toxicity in the region.We gratefully acknowledge the support of NOAA through the ECOHAB program. Partial support for some of the studies contained herein was provided by NSF and NIEHS through the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health. Funding for J.L. Martin’s contributions from the Bay of Fundy was provided by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and NERACOOS, which is a part of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System, funded in part by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Evolution of the nucleus

Under a Creative Commons license.The nucleus represents a major evolutionary transition. As a consequence of separating translation from transcription many new functions arose, which likely contributed to the remarkable success of eukaryotic cells. Here we will consider what has recently emerged on the evolutionary histories of several key aspects of nuclear biology; the nuclear pore complex, the lamina, centrosomes and evidence for prokaryotic origins of relevant players.Work in our laboratories was supported by the following agencies, and which is gratefully acknowledged; MRC and Wellcome Trust (MR/K008749/1 and 090007/Z/09/Z respectively, to MCF), C2A Junta de Andalucia to DPD and DFG GR1642/4-1 to RG.Open Access funded by Wellcome Trust.Peer Reviewe

Georges Bank : a leaky incubator of Alexandrium fundyense blooms

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2012. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 103 (2014): 163-173, doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2012.11.002.A series of oceanographic surveys on Georges Bank document variability of populations of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense on time scales ranging from synoptic to seasonal to interannual. Blooms of A. fundyense on Georges Bank can reach concentrations on the order of 104 cells l-1, and are generally bank-wide in extent. Georges Bank populations of A. fundyense appear to be quasi-independent of those in the adjacent coastal Gulf of Maine, insofar as they occupy a hydrographic niche that is colder and saltier than their coastal counterparts. In contrast to coastal populations that rely on abundant resting cysts for bloom initiation, very few cysts are present in the sediments on Georges Bank. Bloom dynamics must therefore be largely controlled by the balance between growth and mortality processes, which are at present largely unknown for this population. Based on correlations between cell abundance and nutrient distributions, ammonium appears to be an important source of nitrogen for A. fundyense blooms on Georges Bank.We appreciate financial support of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (grant NA06NOS4780245 for the Gulf of Maine Toxicity (GOMTOX) program) and the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health through National Science Foundation grants OCE-0430724 and OCE-0911031 and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grant 1P50-ES01274201