The end of the wor(l)d as we know it? : language in postapocalyptic novels

In recent times, the idea of apocalypse has consumed the public consciousness. Naturally, this preoccupation with the end of the world has been a frequent subject for literary exploration. Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake are two recent novels that are set in the aftermath of global destruction. In The Road, an unnamed cataclysmic event has left the world in ruins, while in Oryx and Crake, the human race has been nearly annihilated by a man-made pandemic. As a result of these apocalyptic events, the postapocalyptic landscapes of the novels have been radically changed and rendered unspeakable for many of the characters that have survived. These characters are equipped only with the signifiers of the old world, and these signifiers no longer hold meaning in the new, postapocalyptic world. Therefore, as a result of the cataclysmic events, the postapocalyptic worlds of The Road and Oryx and Crake become sites for linguistic transformation. Both novels feature protagonists, in the father and Snowman, who represent the pre-apocalyptic world. These characters struggle to find their place in the new world, since they are burdened by the signifiers of the old world. Ultimately, their existences prove anachronistic, as they are unable to fully define themselves in the new world. Both novels also feature characters, in the boy and the Crakers, who represent the postapocalyptic world. These characters are charged with determining the linguistic transformation that will take place in the postapocalyptic world. Both the boy and the Crakers employ a simple, pared-down language that stands in stark contrast to the language of the pre-apocalyptic world. As a result of the apocalyptic events in the novels, language has been restored to its essential elements. Ultimately, both The Road and Oryx and Crake affirm language as a redemptive and inextricable part of human existence. They also suggest, however, that if language is to exist after an apocalyptic event, it must be radically re-imagined

Nursing in a Time and Place of Peril: Five North Carolina Nurses

Nurses are all around us. They attend our births and deaths, administer healing treatments when we are ill and help us promote well-being through public health and mental health programs. Almost every family can identify a nurse or two on its family tree. Nurses are members of and care for members of every racial, religious and cultural group. For over a century, nurses have worked in rural and urban areas, provided care in chrome trimmed surgical suites and tumble down cabins and have navigated legal, political and economic currents to improve the health of the public while continuously upgrading the profession. While much nursing history has been chronicled by scholars, the record of North Carolina military nurses is virtually unknown. Illuminating the stories of a select group of nurses who have cared for soldiers from the Civil War through the current war on terror can offer insights and increase understanding of development of professional nursing and the evolving role of women in our society. Historical inquiry involves studying primary and secondary sources to increase our understanding of the past. Evidenced based source material may include written documents, oral histories, artifacts, photographs and new media such as websites and even “tweets”. Nurse historians use all of these forms of evidence to discover and analyze our collective professional heritage. Historical findings may be disseminated through oral, written, audio-visual and electronic means. The best method to report historical findings depends on the subject of inquiry. Prosopography, frequently referred to as collective biography, is a useful historical tool to chronicle a group of individuals with shared characteristics and/or experiences. While biographies and case studies focus on the uniqueness of a single person, prosopography allows the researcher to analyze the changing roles and status of a cluster of individuals. Using a prosopographic approach, this article analyzes the progress of professional nursing through the contributions of five North Carolina military nurses over the course of one hundred and fifty years

Optimization of a PS2.M-based catalytic beacon in preparation for use as a device to explore mRNA secondary structures

The DNA oligonucleotide PS2.M has been previously reported to have nanomolar affinity for hemin. The PS2.M-hemin complex then exhibits peroxidase activity. It was predicted that this sequence could be used in a catalytic beacon to facilitate the development of a laboratory tool that would be effective at determining potential siRNA target sites. The PS2.M-based beacon used for this study forms a stem-loop structure that opens upon hybridization with a single-stranded target sequence. Once open, the PS2.M part of the beacon can fold, locking hemin within a three level planer arrangement. Once hemin is in place, the structure is catalytically active and can catalyze the oxidization of the chromogenic substrate 2,2,’-azino-bis (3-ethylebenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Thus, binding of the beacon can be monitored with absorbance readings at 414 nm. Although molecular beacons with a stem-loop structure could potentially be used for this type of test, the cost would be prohibitively expensive for most labs. Molecular beacons cost over $300 a piece, and many of them would be needed to conduct an exploration for a suitable siRNA target site within an mRNA. In contrast, a PS2.M-based beacon would only cost approximately$12. In general, development and optimization of a PS2.M-based catalytic beacon could provide a more economical and improved means of establishing siRNA target site accessibility within an mRNA. It was concluded that K+ and Mg+ are required for folding of the PS2.M beacon. The substrate ABTS offered the highest absorbance values at a concentration of 3.2 mM. Also, H2O2 concentrations of 3.6 mM and an extension of the beacon stem by 10 nucleotides will result in reduced non-specific background absorbance activity

Designing and implementing a new model for functional behavior assessments incorporating positive behavioral supports at a Native American middle school

The 1997 and 2004 reauthorizations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have mandated the use of functional behavioral assessments and recommended the implementation of positive behavioral supports when developing behavior intervention plans for students exhibiting problem behaviors. However, functional behavioral assessments are traditionally based primarily on a behaviorist perspective, which overlooks the internal or cognitive processes operating within the student. The current study was conducted in order to design and implement a new model for conducting functional behavioral assessments based on a constructivist approach, which is derived from the ecological model of viewing student behavior and takes into account external as well as internal processes when assessing student behavior. In order to design behavior intervention plans incorporating positive behavioral supports, it is necessary to assess student behavior using a constructivist approach as well as a behaviorist approach. The study was conducted in a Native American Middle School in the South Eastern United States. The constructivist approach is more aligned with the cultural beliefs of the Native Americans than is the behaviorist approach

From National Negro Health Week to National Public Health Week

National Negro Health Week is a program that targeted the African-American population,and this precursor of National Public Health Week left a legacy of health awareness in the US. Theactive political participation of local and national National Negro Health Week groups led to pavedstreets, safer foods and drugs, clean water and more training and employment of African-Americanhealth workers

Semantic MARC, MARC21 and the Semantic Web

The MARC standard for exchanging bibliographic data has been in use for several decades and is used by major libraries worldwide. This paper discusses the possibilities of representing the most prevalent form of MARC, MARC21, as RDF for the Semantic Web, and aims to understand the tradeoffs, if any, resulting from transforming the data. Critically our approach goes beyond a simple transliteration of the MARC21 record syntax to develop rich semantic descriptions of the varied things which may be described using bibliographic records. We present an algorithmic approach for consistently generating URIs from textual data, discuss the algorithmic matching of author names and suggest how RDF generated from MARC records may be linked to other data sources on the Web

On-Site Bioremediation: A Solution To Treatment Of Greywater

Treating wastewater on site via bioremediation and mechanical methods can save energy by reducing the stress on a large central water treatment facility to process greywater. Development of such systems will depend on characterization of this wastewater in order to properly design the system and test its performance. The purpose of this research was to develop and test a greywater system to be used for cleaning greywater from a hair salon. The system that was tested uses bioremediation, the process of using organisms to consume and break down pollutants. The experimental apparatus is a constructed greywater system using readily available parts. It is unique in that it is exclusively gravity fed with exception of the sump pump to provide the initial input. It is a three-trough system that flows from a top-center trough, then down to two adjacent troughs via aeration siphons. The study included two phases, a short-term study consisting of four variations, and a 16-day “batch” study. These four variations included (1) a baseline assessment, (2) no plants with only a biofilter, (3) no biofilter with plants only, and (4) a complete system incorporating both plants and biofilter

With Or Without Your Blessing: Elizabeth Grimball and the Struggle of a Southern Teacher

Driven by financial difficulties within the households of southern families during the Civil War, women entered the workforce on an economic basis, which unintentionally instigated a social transformation of traditional gender roles. For example, John and Meta Grimball’s eldest daughter Elizabeth entered into the public sphere as a teacher due to the family’s economic and personal losses. By doing so she defied her parents’ wishes, and independently took control of her financial wellbeing. She became an independent thinker who no longer needed the financial stability of her father. Elizabeth Grimball is an example of a shift toward young American women taking an independent stand in professions made possible by the Civil War. Instead of conceding to follow the strict moral code of a “Southern Belle,” Elizabeth forged her own path. Her courage to enter a male dominated workforce is commendable, and her struggle resonates with today’s society

Charlotte Rhone: Nurse, Welfare Worker, and Entrepreneur

Charlotte Rhone, a pioneering African American nurse born in Craven County, North Carolina, at the end of the post–Civil War Reconstruction era, grew up in a society shaped by the harshly discriminatory Jim Crow laws enacted in her home state and in others across the American South. Her choices in education and employment were severely limited because of these racist policies, but Rhone's tenacity, flexibility, and intelligence overcame many obstacles that oppressed poverty-stricken African American women in turn-of-the-century rural North Carolina. She went on to use her education and skills for the good of her community well into the 1950s

“The Animal, Whatever It Was”: Dogs, Multi-Species Subjectivity, And The Signifier Guide In Go Down, Moses, And The Call Of The Wild

Whom or what do we write about when we write about dogs? This thesis attempts to answer this question in part by analyzing the ways in which dogs have been reductively represented in literature, particularly in wilderness narratives that tend to mistake nature and culture as separate spaces. The two narratives I focus on to demonstrate this argument are William Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses (1942), and Jack London’s The Call of the Wild (1903). I begin with establishing the opposite poles that various texts seem to gravitate toward when portraying animals. On one end, we often read texts that sentimentalize, mythologize, or anthropomorphize animals. On the opposite end, texts err on the side of stressing scientific observation to the point that the human is detached from nonhuman animals. Faulkner’s text seems to emulate the former and London’s the latter. In both cases, the narratives deny the subjectivity of animals and their lived experience