Elizabeth Bowen’s Suburbia: Life After the Big House

This essay focuses on Bowen’s short story “The Disinherited”. It is an appropriate title because it deals with a world of disempowered aristocrats who inhabit the new world of housing estates and suburbia, ghostly remnants of an older order. What elevates this story beyond a simple lament for an impotent aristocracy is the introduction of the character Prothero: a murderer on the run who is presented writing the story of his crime night after night. He is a mysterious and ultimately threatening image of modernity and all that it may entail. It is a story that essentially draws a picture of the conflict between the old world and the new world, between those who are “made” out of a class structure which is passing away and those who “made” themselves. In “The Disinherited” Bowen allows herself to express her very real fears about the emergence of a new world order where power and authority have shifted away from her class and caste. The element that gives “The Disinherited” such a menacing air is the presence of the character Prothero. It allows Bowen to widen her focus beyond the new middle classes and the failed aristocracy and consider, in the person of Prothero, those whom she believes are set to inherit the modern world.This essay focuses on Bowen’s short story “The Disinherited”. It is an appropriate title because it deals with a world of disempowered aristocrats who inhabit the new world of housing estates and suburbia, ghostly remnants of an older order. What elevates this story beyond a simple lament for an impotent aristocracy is the introduction of the character Prothero: a murderer on the run who is presented writing the story of his crime night after night. He is a mysterious and ultimately threatening image of modernity and all that it may entail. It is a story that essentially draws a picture of the conflict between the old world and the new world, between those who are “made” out of a class structure which is passing away and those who “made” themselves. In “The Disinherited” Bowen allows herself to express her very real fears about the emergence of a new world order where power and authority have shifted away from her class and caste. The element that gives “The Disinherited” such a menacing air is the presence of the character Prothero. It allows Bowen to widen her focus beyond the new middle classes and the failed aristocracy and consider, in the person of Prothero, those whom she believes are set to inherit the modern world

Reply to “Endless Beginnings”

“Endless beginnings” is an appropriate phrase to apply to John Banville’s work. It is appropriate too, perhaps, to all those who come to that work and evaluate it critically. After many years reading and studying Banville, and reading and studying the criticism that surrounds Banville’s work, it seems to me that any one attempt to “say” or to “know” that work necessarily leads on to other attempts to say and to know: and so it goes on, endlessly. Truth – or a final end – is not, I think, the aim of any reader of Banville’s work, nor is it mine. This “reply”, then, is testament to that fact which Banville and his characters are so very much aware of, that one text leads inexorably onto other texts.“Endless beginnings” is an appropriate phrase to apply to John Banville’s work. It is appropriate too, perhaps, to all those who come to that work and evaluate it critically. After many years reading and studying Banville, and reading and studying the criticism that surrounds Banville’s work, it seems to me that any one attempt to “say” or to “know” that work necessarily leads on to other attempts to say and to know: and so it goes on, endlessly. Truth – or a final end – is not, I think, the aim of any reader of Banville’s work, nor is it mine. This “reply”, then, is testament to that fact which Banville and his characters are so very much aware of, that one text leads inexorably onto other texts

The Ontological Imperative in Irish Writing

There is a tendency to engage with Irish writing and culture in terms of identity. Epistemological concerns are therefore foregrounded with the emphasis on the intellect and the imagination and how it creates and apprehends itself in relation to the world about it. Identity, then, in either the political or historical sphere becomes a matter of narrative. This, it could be argued, fits neatly with Ireland’s conception of itself primarily as a culture where the act of story-telling is celebrated above all else. I want to argue that in the last thirty years there has been a recognition of ontological concerns in Irish writing; in other words, a shift in emphasis away from epistemology toward a questioning of Being – of what it is to exist. Of course, Being can only be imperfectly accessed through language so that words and narrative still remain of paramount importance. Yet, this shift signals a self-reflexive consideration of the ontological status of the text itself. Thus the act of writing is interrogated and its relationship to the ‘real’ world probed. Form now becomes important as writers struggle to find and sustain a structure/model in either poetry, prose or drama that will adequately express their predicament. John Banville’s novels are the most obvious example of books about the writing of books. Yet, in looking at the work of some other contemporary Irish writers like Brian Friel, Seamus Deane, Tom Murphy and Eilís Ní Dhuibhne it can be observed that each of them struggle with the telling of their stories, with attempting to give final shape and meaning to their narratives.There is a tendency to engage with Irish writing and culture in terms of identity. Epistemological concerns are therefore foregrounded with the emphasis on the intellect and the imagination and how it creates and apprehends itself in relation to the world about it. Identity, then, in either the political or historical sphere becomes a matter of narrative. This, it could be argued, fits neatly with Ireland’s conception of itself primarily as a culture where the act of story-telling is celebrated above all else. I want to argue that in the last thirty years there has been a recognition of ontological concerns in Irish writing; in other words, a shift in emphasis away from epistemology toward a questioning of Being – of what it is to exist. Of course, Being can only be imperfectly accessed through language so that words and narrative still remain of paramount importance. Yet, this shift signals a self-reflexive consideration of the ontological status of the text itself. Thus the act of writing is interrogated and its relationship to the ‘real’ world probed. Form now becomes important as writers struggle to find and sustain a structure/model in either poetry, prose or drama that will adequately express their predicament. John Banville’s novels are the most obvious example of books about the writing of books. Yet, in looking at the work of some other contemporary Irish writers like Brian Friel, Seamus Deane, Tom Murphy and Eilís Ní Dhuibhne it can be observed that each of them struggle with the telling of their stories, with attempting to give final shape and meaning to their narratives

Satori: Enlightened page sharing

Abstract We introduce Satori, an efficient and effective system for sharing memory in virtualised systems. Satori uses enlightenments in guest operating systems to detect sharing opportunities and manage the surplus memory that results from sharing. Our approach has three key benefits over existing systems: it is more able to detect short-lived sharing opportunities, it is efficient and incurs negligible overhead, and it maintains better performance isolation between virtual machines. We have implemented and evaluated a prototype of Satori for the Xen virtual machine monitor. In our evaluation, we show that Satori quickly exploits up to 94% of the maximum possible sharing with insignificant performance overhead. Furthermore, we demonstrate workloads where the additional memory improves macrobenchmark performance by a factor of two

No Clear, Direct Evidence for Multiple Protoplanets Orbiting LkCa 15: LkCa 15 bcd are Likely Inner Disk Signals

Two studies utilizing sparse aperture-masking (SAM) interferometry and H-alpha differential imaging have reported multiple Jovian companions around the young solar-mass star, LkCa 15 (LkCa 15 bcd): the first claimed direct detection of infant, newly formed planets ("protoplanets"). We present new near-infrared direct imaging/spectroscopy from the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) system coupled with Coronagraphic High Angular Resolution Imaging Spectrograph (CHARIS) integral field spectrograph and multi-epoch thermal infrared imaging from Keck/NIRC2 of LkCa 15 at high Strehl ratios. These data provide the first direct imaging look at the same wavelengths and in the same locations where previous studies identified the LkCa 15 protoplanets, and thus offer the first decisive test of their existence. The data do not reveal these planets. Instead, we resolve extended emission tracing a dust disk with a brightness and location comparable to that claimed for LkCa 15 bcd. Forward-models attributing this signal to orbiting planets are inconsistent with the combined SCExAO/CHARIS and Keck/NIRC2 data. An inner disk provides a more compelling explanation for the SAM detections and perhaps also the claimed H-alpha detection of LkCa 15 b. We conclude that there is currently no clear, direct evidence for multiple protoplanets orbiting LkCa 15, although the system likely contains at least one unseen Jovian companion. To identify Jovian companions around LkCa 15 from future observations, the inner disk should be detected and its effect modeled, removed, and shown to be distinguishable from planets. Protoplanet candidates identified from similar systems should likewise be clearly distinguished from disk emission through modeling.NASA Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship; NASA/Keck grant [LK-2663-948181]; CONICYT-FONDECYT [1171246]; project CONICYT PAI/Concurso Nacional Insercion en la Academia, convocatoria 2015 [79150049]; JSPS KAKENHI [18H05442, 15H02063]; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Subaru Time Allocation Committe; NASA/Keck Time Allocation CommitteThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery

Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery