The confrontation of savageness and civilization in Joe Abercrombie’s fantasy Western Red Country

In the novel Red Country the famous British author Joe Abercrombie carries out a genre experiment combining in one book the features of such distant and incongruous genres as fantasy and Western. He constructs in his imaginary world a territory with all specific characteristics of a Western chronotopos and actively uses typical plot devices of the Western. But on the level of ideas the plot of Red Country comes into a conflict with the basic values of the Western, instilling the clichés borrowed from this genre with a unique author’s meaning. A good example of this is Abercrombie’s unexpected development of the subject of savageness and civilization. A conflict with savage Indians who must give way to the white man and his civilization is an obligatory part of Western ideology. The attitude to savages in Westerns has undergone some changes, but the opposition of savages and the civilized society remains unchanged. In Red Country Abercrombie uses traditional episodes of Indian attacks etc. according to the Western genre conventions, but afterwards he shows the relativity of the ideas of civilization and savageness themselves; since attributing these characteristics to one or the other group of characters depends exclusively on one’s point of view. The problems of the civilization of the Western kind are also highlighted: its coming leads to the destruction of the indigenous ways of life and brings about the reign of unscrupulous greed. Characters, portrayed as traditional savages in the beginning of the novel, are seen later already as bearers of dying ancient cultures. The fact that they are becoming extinct under the pressure of modern civilization does not bring any satisfaction, as a victory over savageness in a Western should do. This is achieved by actualizing the understanding of dying ancient cultures inherent to fantasy. Therefore, the novel Red Country reconsiders the genres of Western and fantasy and supports values of the modern multicultural and post-colonial society.&nbsp

Electron-ion plasma modification of Al-based alloys

The paper reports on the study where we analyzed the surface structure and strength properties of coated Al alloys modified by electron-ion plasma treatment. The Al alloys were deposited with a thin (≈0.5 μm) TiCu film coating (TiCu-Al system) and with a hard TiCuN coating (TiCuN–AlSi system) on a TRIO vacuum setup in the plasma of low-pressure arc discharges. The temperature fields and phase transformations in the film–substrate system were estimated by numerical simulation in a wide range of electron energy densities (5–30 J/cm2) and pulse durations (50–200 μs). The calculations allowed us to determine the threshold energy density and pulse duration at which the surface structure of the irradiated Al-based systems is transformed in a single-phase state (solid or liquid) and in a two-phase state (solid plus liquid). The elemental composition, defect structure, phase state, and lattice state in the modified surface layers were examined by optical, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy, and by X-ray diffraction analysis. The mechanical characteristics of the modified layers were studied by measuring the hardness and Young’s modulus. The tribological properties of the modified layers were analyzed by measuring the wear resistance and friction coefficient. It is shown that melting and subsequent high-rate crystallization of the TiCu–Al system makes possible a multiphase Al-based surface structure with the following characteristics: crystallite size ranging within micrometer, microhardness of more than 3 times that in the specimen bulk, and wear resistance ≈1.8 times higher compared to the initial material. Electron beam irradiation of the TiCuN–AlSi system allows fusion of the coating into the substrate, thus increasing the wear resistance of the material ≈2.2 times at a surface hardness of ∼14 GPa

Oxidative Stress during HIV Infection : Mechanisms and Consequences

Publisher Copyright: © 2016 Alexander V. Ivanov et al.It is generally acknowledged that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play crucial roles in a variety of natural processes in cells. If increased to levels which cannot be neutralized by the defense mechanisms, they damage biological molecules, alter their functions, and also act as signaling molecules thus generating a spectrum of pathologies. In this review, we summarize current data on oxidative stress markers associated with human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) infection, analyze mechanisms by which this virus triggers massive ROS production, and describe the status of various defense mechanisms of the infected host cell. In addition, we have scrutinized scarce data on the effect of ROS on HIV-1 replication. Finally, we present current state of knowledge on the redox alterations as crucial factors of HIV-1 pathogenicity, such as neurotoxicity and dementia, exhaustion of CD4+/CD8+ T-cells, predisposition to lung infections, and certain side effects of the antiretroviral therapy, and compare them to the pathologies associated with the nitrosative stress.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Modification of the surface layer of the system coating (TiCuN)/substrate (A7) by an intensive electron beam

In order to study the conditions of modification of the surface layer of the system coating (TiCuN)/substrate (A7) an analysis of processes occurring in the surface layer of the system wear-resistant coating/substrate irradiated by an intensive pulsed electron beam at a submillisecond exposure time has been carried out on the example of aluminum and titanium nitride. Irradiation has been carried out under conditions ensuring melting and crystallization of the surface layer of the material by a nonequilibrium phase diagram. It has been experimentally established that irradiation of the system coating (TiCuN)/substrate (A7) by an intensive electron beam is accompanied by changes in the phase composition of the material. It is evident that nanostructuring of the aluminum layer adjacent to the coating, and formation in it of nitride phase particles will contribute to hardening of the surface layer of the material, creating a transition sublayer between a solid coating and a relatively soft volume. The carried out analysis shows that binary nitrides based on TiN1-x are most likely to form under nonequilibrium conditions, since the homogeneity range of this compound is rather large. On the other hand, formation of the ternary compound Ti3CuN, which can be formed after an arc plasma-assisted deposition of titanium nitride of the composition TiCuN and by the subsequent intensive pulsed electron beam exposure, cannot be excluded

An analysis of methods for aberrated spot diagram center evaluation

The paper considers spot diagram center evaluation methods and errors depending on aberration type and value. The authors present the modified center of mass method which provides higher accuracy of center evaluation for spot diagram with coma. Error estimation methods involved using simulated spot diagram with symmetrical and non-symmetrical aberrations of the third and fifth order and their combinations. The error of center evaluation by the maximum value method and center of mass method is analyzed. The proposed modified center of mass method gives higher weight for pixels with higher intensity that leads to better sensitivity of the method and it is compared with other methods. The center of mass method can evaluate accurate center position only for coma-free spot diagram. The maximum value method cannot evaluate accurate center position for spot diagram with coma either and for coma-free spot diagram it can also produce larger errors than the center of mass method. The modified center of mass method is more robust and evaluates center for spot diagram with coma and other aberrations more accurately. The modified center of mass method shows higher accuracy while evaluating center of spot diagram with aberration, and hence higher accuracy of modulation transfer function evaluation by spot diagram. The precise evaluation of spot diagram center will also increase the convergence of the phase retrieval method with parametric optimization techniques