Ricky Bobby’s William Faulkner, Or, Talladega Nights as Cultural Critique

At the close of the 2006 film, Talladega Nights, William Faulkner makes a surprising appearance. More specifically, as the credits roll, we enter a bedroom, where Faulkner\u27s short story, The Bear, is read and discussed with great seriousness by two children - the progeny of Ricky Bobby - under the watchful eye of their grandmother. The film is a lowbrow, farcical portrait of Southern folkways. The intimate conversation - a debate over competing literary interpretations, really - is, at first glance, a part of the farce, so random and so obscure that it begs for laughter. But there is more than a joke here, and more, too, than mere randomness. The coda signals the dead seriousness of a film that has, on the surface, no real reason to be viewed seriously. Guided by feminine virtue, and supplementing their love of KFC and NASCAR with a sober study of Faulkner, the once troubled children are redeemed. And so, too, it seems, is the South. What does it mean, I ask, to discover a restorative representation of Faulkner in such an unexpected place? Is Talladega Nights a Faulknerian text? And is Faulkner now a part of the national popular

Investigation of sheath effects on interchange modes in TORPEX plasmas

The TORoidal Plasma EXperiment (TORPEX) at CRPP generates and confines plasmas in a magnetic configuration with open helical magnetic field lines, in which similarly to the SOL of magnetic fusion devices, grad B and magnetic field curvature are at play. In the high vertical magnetic field, Bz, scenario, interchange modes are observed with flute characteristics, k// = 0, and a global character in the perpendicular direction, growing on the largest allowed spatial scale. By further increasing Bz, sheath effects are found to affect strongly the properties of interchange modes, which develop into harmonics with broader spectra and smaller wavelengths. Low temperatures and densities of TORPEX plasmas permit high spatial and temporal resolution measurements over the entire plasma cross-section. These measurements are not achievable in typical fusion experiments. This configuration represents, therefore, a unique starting point to investigate the importance of the sheath in modifying interchange modes and related turbulence with unprecedented diagnostics capabilities. The goal of the present master work is to experimentally investigate how the sheath affects the linear and non-linear properties of interchange modes in TORPEX plasmas

Catalyst-free soft-template synthesis of ordered mesoporous carbon tailored using phloroglucinol/ glyoxylic acid environmentally friendly precursors

International audienceCarbon porous materials with a periodically ordered pore structure, controlled pore size and geometry and high thermal stability are synthesized using self-assembly of environmentally friendly phloroglucinol/ glyoxylic acid precursors with an amphiphilic triblock copolymer template. Glyoxylic acid, a plant-derived compound, is used for the first time as a substituent of carcinogen formaldehyde usually employed in such a synthesis. Thanks to the double functionality, i.e., aldehyde and carboxylic acid, glyoxylic acid plays not only the role of a cross-linker for the formation of the resin but also the role of a catalyst by creation of H-bonding or specific reactions between the precursors. Hence, no extra catalyst such as strong acids (HCl) or bases (NaOH) is any longer required. Carbon films and powders were successfully prepared with high surface areas (up to 800 m2 g−1), high porous volume (up to 1 cm3 g−1), tunable pore size (0.6 nm to 7 nm) and various pore architectures (hexagonal, cubic, and ink-bottle) by tuning the precursor ratio and by applying different manufacturing engineering strategies. Insights on the synthesis mechanism of the phenolic resin and carbon mesostructures were obtained using several analysis techniques, i.e., nuclear magnetic resonance (13C NMR) and FTIR spectroscopy, temperature programmed desorption coupled with mass spectrometry (TPD-MS) and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA)

Insights on the Na+ ion storage mechanism in hard carbon: Discrimination between the porosity, surface functional groups and defects

Sodium ion batteries (SIBs) using hard carbon as negative electrode hold the promise of being low cost alternative to lithium ion batteries (LiBs). However, the Na+ storage mechanism in hard carbons is not fully understood yet and the attribution of Na storage in the sloping and plateau regions of the sodiation/desodiation curves remains still controversial. The current work employs N-2, Kr and CO2 gases to correctly assess the changes in hard carbon porosity induced by different pyrolysis temperature of cellulose. The sloping capacity was found to decrease with the decrease of the specific area of ultramicropores measurable only by CO2 adsorption, while the plateau capacity demonstrated an opposite behavior. The high temperature derived carbons (> 1400 degrees C) present no porosity which disqualifies the attribution of plateau region to the adsorption of Na+ in the nanopores but rather the insertion between the pseudo-graphitic domains. Temperature programmed desorption coupled with mass spectrometry (TPD-MS) was performed to determine the nature and the quantity of oxygen surface functional groups followed by oxygen chemisorptions to assess the amount of carbon edge defects expressed by active surface area (ASA) values. A decrease in the amount of oxygen groups and active surface area with the increase of the pyrolysis temperature was observed which is accompanied by a decrease of the sloping capacity. These results shed light in the storage mechanisms, the sloping region being ascribed mainly to the interaction of Na+ with carbon edge defects and adsorption in the microporosity while the plateau region assigned to the intercalation of Na+ in the pseudo-graphitic nanodomains

Challenges and strategies in the repair of ruptured annulus fibrosus

Lumbar discectomy is the surgical procedure most frequently performed for patients suffering from low back pain and sciatica. Disc herniation as a consequence of degenerative or traumatic processes is commonly encountered as the underlying cause for the painful condition. While discectomy provides favourable outcome in a majority of cases, there are conditions where unmet requirements exist in terms of treatment, such as large disc protrusions with minimal disc degeneration; in these cases, the high rate of recurrent disc herniation after discectomy is a prevalent problem. An effective biological annular repair could improve the surgical outcome in patients with contained disc herniations but otherwise minor degenerative changes. An attractive approach is a tissue-engineered implant that will enable/stimulate the repair of the ruptured annulus. The strategy is to develop three-dimensional scaffolds and activate them by seeding cells or by incorporating molecular signals that enable new matrix synthesis at the defect site, while the biomaterial provides immediate closure of the defect and maintains the mechanical properties of the disc. This review is structured into (1) introduction, (2) clinical problems, current treatment options and needs, (3) biomechanical demands, (4) cellular and extracellular components, (5) biomaterials for delivery, scaffolding and support, (6) pre-clinical models for evaluation of newly developed cell- and material-based therapies, and (7) conclusions. This article highlights that an interdisciplinary approach is necessary for successful development of new clinical methods for annulus fibrosus repair. This will benefit from a close collaboration between research groups with expertise in all areas addressed in this review

Relationship between the carbon nano-onions (CNOs) surface chemistry/defects and their capacitance in aqueous and organic electrolytes

The effect of surface functionalities on the supercapacitors performances has been highlighted often in many works. However, studies devoted to the influence of carbon defects did not gain particular attention due to the difficulty to quantify such parameter. In this context, carbon nano-onions were used as model material in order to understand the influence of the surface chemistry (nature and amount of oxygen groups) and structural defects (active surface area, ASA) on the capacitance. Different types of thermal treatments in oxidizing or reducing atmospheres allowed to finely tune the surface chemistry and the ASA as demonstrated by temperature programmed desorption coupled with mass spectrometry (TPD-MS). For the first time, the presice control of these characteristics independently one of each other allowed to highlight an important influence of the carbon defects on the capacitance in organic and aqueous electrolytes which outbalance the oxygen functional group effect