Finely aware and ironically responsible: Rorty and the functions of literature

Richard Rorty’s conception of literature has been criticised more than acclaimed. While Rorty certainly has impacted literary studies, a comprehensive account of his understanding of literature is still lacking. Moreover, while literature is seen as significant to his later work, the philosophical role this plays in Rortyan thought is underexamined and underappreciated. This paper aims to provide an account of the role of literature and the “literary” in Rorty’s philosophy and the functions he assigns to literature and poetry – in a broad and narrow sense – in democratic cultures. Beginning with an account of Rorty’s conceptions of metaphor and “unfamiliar” language, it draws on this to explain Rorty’s parallel view of literature in the “narrower sense” as playing the same role in culture as metaphors do in language. “Stimulating” literature unsettles settled selves and beliefs and expands human imagination. Using Rorty’s readings of Lolita and 1984 as examples, it shows that to him, literature not only plays a part in increasing empathy and solidarity but has a distinct therapeutic epistemological task: it helps individuals and societies adopt a more pluralist, ironist, post-metaphysical outlook. Both are important democratic functions. For these reasons, Rorty recommends that we work to realise a “literary” culture that rejects any ontologically inflected distinctions between kinds of texts, where philosophy becomes comparative “literary” criticism, and we see literature in the “narrower sense” as equally necessary material for making selves, communities and just institutions as any philosophical or political treatise

Ice tectonic deformation during the rapid in situ drainage of a supraglacial lake on the Greenland Ice Sheet.

We present detailed records of lake discharge, ice motion and passive seismicity capturing the behaviour and processes preceding, during and following the rapid drainage of a 4 km<sup>2</sup> supraglacial lake through 1.1-km-thick ice on the western margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Peak discharge of 3300 m<sup>3</sup> s<sup>−1</sup> coincident with maximal rates of vertical uplift indicates that surface water accessed the ice–bed interface causing widespread hydraulic separation and enhanced basal motion. The differential motion of four global positioning system (GPS) receivers located around the lake record the opening and closure of the fractures through which the lake drained. We hypothesise that the majority of discharge occurred through a 3-km-long fracture with a peak width averaged across its wetted length of 0.4 m. We argue that the fracture's kilometre-scale length allowed rapid discharge to be achieved by combining reasonable water velocities with sub-metre fracture widths. These observations add to the currently limited knowledge of in situ supraglacial lake drainage events, which rapidly deliver large volumes of water to the ice–bed interface

Functional genomics of ozone stress in Arabidopsis.

The gas ozone (O3) functions as a protector against ultra-violet radiation in the stratosphere. However, in the troposphere it is toxic to plants and causes significant reductions in crop yields. Ozone is a reactive oxygen species (ROS) and can cause oxidative damage directly by entering stomata and interacting with cell wall and membrane components. Ozone can also form other ROS such as hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals that can cross the plasma membrane and cause further damage, leading to reduced transpiration, accelerated senescence and decreased photosynthesis. A plant-derived oxidative burst also occurs after plants have been exposed to ozone. This closely resembles the hypersensitive response (HR) displayed when plants are challenged by a pathogen. Plants react to oxidative stress by increasing their antioxidant defences in an attempt to neutralise harmful ROS. The individual roles of several antioxidants have been extensively studied, however their regulation and interaction in planta have yet to be fully elucidated. The specificity of antioxidants and other stress-related molecules to each unique stress is also poorly understood. In this work a functional genomics approach has been used to identify novel genes in Arabidopsis thaliana, that are regulated by ozone. A DNA microarray has been utilised to determine gene regulation at the transcriptional level and NMR spectroscopy has been employed to investigate ozone-induced changes to the metabolite profile of Arabidopsis. Twenty genes, which are significantly up-regulated and one gene that is down-regulated by ozone treatment have been identified. The expression of these genes in response to a range of ozone concentrations and time points has been further investigated

A multilateral technology initiative on ocean energy

The Implementing Agreement on Ocean Energy Systems (OES-IA) is one of ten International Energy Agency (IEA) Implementing Agreements within the renewable energy domain. The OES-IA is an important platform for a wide range of international collaborative R&D activities in ocean energy. The OES-IA has the following mission: To facilitate and co-ordinate ocean energy research, development and demonstration through international co-operation and information exchange, leading to the deployment and commercialisation of sustainable, efficient, reliable, cost-competitive and environmentally sound ocean energy technologies. The first term of the OES-IA, which ran from 2001 until 2006, was extended until 2011 and 3rd 5-year term is being contemplated. The mechanisms of collaboration have been through the activities of specific work programmes (known as Annexes to the OES-IA work programme). During the present period, 4 Annexes have been in force, one of which was initiated in 2009: Assessment of Environmental Effects and Monitoring Efforts for Ocean Wave, Tidal, and Current Energy Systems. In late 2009 the Executive Committee (ExCo) approved the preparation of an OES-IA document to summarise the position, direction and opportunities for ocean energy in the future. The document, an International Vision for Ocean Energy will provide a firm but interim vision for ocean energy to 2020 with a perspective on developments towards 2050. This Vision is summarized in this paper and the main achievements of OES-IA during 2009-2010 are presented.Peer reviewe

The wetlands of Greater Manchester North west wetlands survey 2

Includes map of Chat Moss inside back coverAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:5145.7605(3) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

A method for the determination of the relative reactivities of monomers towards the 1-phenylethyl radical

Several monomers have been polymerized using 1,1′-azobis(1-phenyl [1-^(13)C] ethane as initiator; the initiator fragments incorporated in the polymers have been examined by ^(13)C-NMR. The chemical shift for the enriched site in the end-group depends upon the nature of the attached monomeric unit. It is concluded that acenaphthylene is suitable as a reference monomer in comparisons of the reactivities of monomers towards the 1-phenylethyl radical (regarded as a model for the polystyrene radical) by consideration of end-groups in copolymers