Waking Sleep: The Uncanny in Modernist Literary Aesthetics

With the dawning of the twentieth century, writers and critics found themselves facing a social world undergoing massive change, the forces of capitalist modernity leaving the individual increasingly disaffected and disconnected from her surroundings. This social world, rent as it was by alienation, offered a hostile environment for the sort of coherence that had traditionally been prized by Western aesthetics since the Enlightenment. How could a literary work attain a degree of coherence while reflecting a deeply dissonant modernity? Navigating this contradiction between literature’s inherited values and literature’s possibilities in alienated society can be seen as central to the project of literary modernism that emerges at this time. The uncanny, the experience of something appearing at once strange yet somehow familiar, offers a means by which these conflicting demands of coherence and relevance can be managed. Forwarding a theory of the uncanny that emphasizes its ability to bridge, if momentarily, the disconnect between a subject and her world while not hiding the reality of this disconnect, my dissertation seeks to place the uncanny at the center of our structural understanding of pivotal modernist texts. By employing the experience of the uncanny at crucial moments in the text, the work is able to achieve a coherence between a character’s psyche and their material surroundings otherwise difficult to come by when describing a social life often devoid of this coherence. Modernism’s innovation is to allot the uncanny the structural role of joining disparate elements of the text together; it is not that modernist works are more uncanny than that which came before, but more reliant on the uncanny on a structural level. In support of this theory of the uncanny’s role in modernism, I look at the works of two of modernism’s canonical writers: D.H. Lawrence and Katherine Mansfield. In my chapter on Lawrence, I begin with a reading of his posthumous novella The Virgin and the Gipsy, a work that relies heavily on the uncanny as a structural support, before looking back to one of the earlier Brangwen novels, The Rainbow, to discern how those novels prefigure a deeper embrace of the uncanny as a means of dealing with problems facing the modern novel. In my chapter on Mansfield, I trace the evolution of her short stories from her first published collection, 1911’s In a German Pension, though her later works, Bliss and Other Stories and The Garden Party and Other Stories. In these later collections, there is seen a movement toward a more uncanny short story, a movement which can be understood as an attempt to deal with the problem of depicting alienated characters while still bringing the story to a satisfying conclusion, a problem which bedeviled many of the stories in her early collection. Mansfield is thus seen as, over the course of her career, tending toward the uncanny as a way of reconciling content and form within her stories. In this dissertation, I see the first step toward a longer, book-length study of the uncanny as central to the development of twentieth century literature, the changing role of the former reflecting changing pressures on the latter as modernism gives way to postmodernism

Dynamic Compression Plating with Strategic Screw Fixation in Diaphyseal Transverse Fractures of the Radius: the Biomechanical Effect of Numbers of Screws

Introduction.Diaphyseal fracture of radius could compromise function unless adequately treated. Open reduction and internal fixation with six cortices of screw fixation on either side of the fracture is generally accepted as the best method of treatment. Unfortunately, a very high rate of refracture after plate removal has been observed for as high as up to 22%. Although a number of factors are thought to be the cause of such a high rate, such as the type of plate used, time from plating to plate removal, quality of reduction and compression achieved, type and duration of immobilization after plate removal, nevertheless, the stress riser from the screw holes is also considered as one of the important factor. In accordance with the stress riser from screw holes, number of screws introduced into bone played a very important role. The objective of this study is to biomechanically compare the load to failure between constructs for the treatment of diaphyseal transverse fractures of the radius in skeletally mature bone. Materials and methods. Sixteen skeletally mature human radii were retrieved, devoid of soft tissue including periosteum. Transverse osteotomy was done in each radius in its midpoint. In the control group, the radius was fixed with 6-holes 6-screws construct. In the test group, the radius was fixed with 6-holes 4-screws construct. All radii were fixed with 3.5mm mini Dynamic Compression Plates. They were then randomly divided into two groups, with each group consisted of four controls and four test specimens. Group I was tested in three-point bending force and group II was tested in axial compression force.Results.In the three-point bending test, the controls showed slightly higher load to failure but this value was not significant (p = 0.57). Meanwhile in the axial compression test, the test group showed higher load to failure with a p-value of 0.05 which was marginally significant.Conclusions.The 6-holes 6-screws construct showed higher load to failure when compared to the 6-holes 4-screws construct in terms of 3-point bending force although the value was not significant. In contrast, the 6-holes 4-screws construct showed a higher load to failure in terms of axial compression force and the value was deemed marginally significant. Furthermore, failure starting point in this experimental study was observed in the screw holes

Does expressive writing lead to physical health benefits in women who have undergone surgery for gynecological cancers?

This paper examines the effectiveness of psychological interventions for patients undergoing major surgery. It reviews which of these help patients either in their psychological adaptation to or physical recovery from surgery. A total of 26 intervention studies were identified. These were divided into five categories of intervention: (1) psycho-education (2) social support (3) relaxation (4) expressive writing and (5) supportive and mixed interventions. Twenty two studies analysed measures of psychological outcomes of these, eleven reported improvements. Twenty two studies reported on measures of physical recovery of these, 10 studies reported improvements. Three further studies found better physical health outcomes in control than in intervention groups. Overall, there is mixed evidence that psychological interventions improve physical and psychological outcomes after major surgery. More good quality studies are needed to explore how psychological interventions could be incorporated into surgical ward practises

A longitudinal project of new venture teamwork and outcomes

This chapter present a research project dedicated to better understand how new venture teams work together to achieve desired outcomes. Teams, as opposed to an individual, start a majority of all innovative new ventures. Yet, little research or theory exists in new venture settings about how members interact with each other over time—teamwork—to produce innovative technologies, products, and services. We believe a systematic study of social and psychological processes that underlie new venture teamwork and venture outcomes is timely and important. Unique features of our research project include: (1) a team level focus on social and psychological processes, to assess relations to proximal (e.g., innovation, first sales and team satisfaction), and distal value creation outcomes (e.g., sales growth, raised capital and profits). (2) Combined qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to provide both theory building and theory testing for the relations of interest. (3) A time-sequential design with data collection every three months over one year to allow us to investigate the relations of interest for new ventures

Regulation of cardiovascular connexins by mechanical forces and junctions

Connexins form a family of transmembrane proteins that consists of 20 members in humans and 21 members in mice. Six connexins assemble into a connexon that can function as a hemichannel or connexon that can dock to a connexon expressed by a neighbouring cell, thereby forming a gap junction channel. Such intercellular channels synchronize responses in multicellular organisms through direct exchange of ions, small metabolites, and other second messenger molecules between the cytoplasms of adjacent cells. Multiple connexins are expressed in the cardiovascular system. These connexins not only experience the different biomechanical forces within this system, but may also act as effector proteins in co-ordinating responses within groups of cells towards these forces. This review discusses recent insights regarding regulation of cardiovascular connexins by mechanical forces and junctions. It specifically addresses effects of (i) shear stress on endothelial connexins, (ii) hypertension on vascular connexins, and (iii) changes in afterload and the composition of myocardial mechanical junctions on cardiac connexin

A Journey across Tibet, from North to South, and West to Ladak: Discussion

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Ordered Assembly of the Adhesive and Electrochemical Connections within Newly Formed Intercalated Disks in Primary Cultures of Adult Rat Cardiomyocytes

The intercalated disk (ID) is a complex structure that electromechanically couples adjoining cardiac myocytes into a functional syncitium. The integrity of the disk is essential for normal cardiac function, but how the diverse elements are assembled into a fully integrated structure is not well understood. In this study, we examined the assembly of new IDs in primary cultures of adult rat cardiac myocytes. From 2 to 5 days after dissociation, the cells flatten and spread, establishing new cell-cell contacts in a manner that recapitulates the in vivo processes that occur during heart development and myocardial remodeling. As cells make contact with their neighbors, transmembrane adhesion proteins localize along the line of apposition, concentrating at the sites of membrane attachment of the terminal sarcomeres. Cx43 gap junctions and ankyrin-G, an essential cytoskeletal component of voltage gated sodium channel complexes, were secondarily recruited to membrane domains involved in cell-cell contacts. The consistent order of the assembly process suggests that there are specific scaffolding requirements for integration of the mechanical and electrochemical elements of the disk. Defining the relationships that are the foundation of disk assembly has important implications for understanding the mechanical dysfunction and cardiac arrhythmias that accompany alterations of ID architecture

International Space Station (ISS) Anomalies Trending Study

The NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) set out to utilize data mining and trending techniques to review the anomaly history of the International Space Station (ISS) and provide tools for discipline experts not involved with the ISS Program to search anomaly data to aid in identification of areas that may warrant further investigation. Additionally, the assessment team aimed to develop an approach and skillset for integrating data sets, with the intent of providing an enriched data set for discipline experts to investigate that is easier to navigate, particularly in light of ISS aging and the plan to extend its life into the late 2020s. This document contains the Appendices to the Volume I report