Cultivating the Classical Style: The Stanford-Denver Creative Writing Axis

Recent scholarship has done much to reveal the influence of the institutionalisation of creative writing on US literary culture in the post World War II. This article seeks to contribute to this emergent field by drawing attention to the distinct form this took in key institutional sites at Stanford University and the University of Denver between 1940 and 1960. This "Stanford-Denver axis" served to retrieve and develop a "classical style" of prose composition that influenced, among others, key figures of post-war US literary culture such as Evan Connell, John Williams, Gordon Lish and Raymond Carver

Comparison of Push Press Muscle Activity between Olympic and Flexible Barbell

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a difference in muscle activation when performing a push press using a flexible barbell versus an Olympic barbell

Writing the Republic: liberalism and morality in American political fiction

This thesis deploys works of literature, political theory and intellectual history to reach an understanding of both the specific form and the content taken by the American political novel. This understanding is informed by an over-arching analysis of liberalism as the dominant ideology within the US political tradition and the pressure, moral and political, exerted on this ideology by successive counter-ideologies at various historical junctures. The alleged 'anti-political' basis of many post World War II theories of American literature is initially explored along with the relative absence of American literature in studies of the political novel. Works by the 'New Americanist' literary critics as well as an important recent study of American political fiction by John Whalen-Bridge are also subjected to critical scrutiny. In the central chapters, novels by Gore Vidal, Russell Banks, Lionel Trilling and Philip Roth foreground the critique of liberalism put forward by republicanism, Transcendentalism, Marxism and neo-conservatism at their respective historical moments of ascent. The aim here, primarily, is to treat novelists seriously as political thinkers; much of the analysis is, accordingly, inter-disciplinary in approach drawing from artists, philosophers and theorists such as Herman Melville, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Hannah Arendt, John Dewey and numerous contemporary commentators and historians as well as the novelists listed above. Melville's Moby Dick is ultimately invoked as a formal template for the American political novel with a theory of 'republican' fiction then being presented that is compared and contrasted with the 'democratic' mode Mikhail Bakhtin associated with Dostoevsky. The American political novel, finally, it is argued, is always informed by the complexities of the American political tradition itself: a form of immanent liberal critique pre-occupied with the health of the polity and guided by a 'republican' persuasion

Electromyographic and kinetic comparison of a flexible and steel barbell

Purpose: This research design compares mean peak integrated electromyography (I-EMG) and mean peak ground reaction forces (GRFs) between a standard steel Olympic barbell (SB) and flexible barbell (FB) during the squat (SQ) exercise for human subjects, as well as GRFs for a similar machine-driven lift. Methods: A lifting machine set atop a force plate and lifted either a SB or FB with a total loaded weight of 47.6 kg at a rate of 52 repetitions per minute for a minimum of 12 repetitions. Next, ten NCAA Division I football players familiarized with both bars were randomly assigned the SB and FB loaded at 30% one repetition maximum (1RM) and performed 7-10 repetitions at the same rate as the machine. I-EMG data was collected from surface electrodes placed on the legs and trunk according to the SENIAM protocol where appropriate. Results: Paired t-tests between the SB and FB revealed significant increases (p<0.05) in GRFs for the FB during the machine-driven lift and the SQ exercise. I-EMG was significantly higher for the FB when compared to the SB for the vastus lateralis (VL), rectus abdominis (RA), rectus femoris (RF) and external oblique (EO). Results show increases in some leg and trunk muscle activity and increases in GRFs when using a FB loaded at 30% 1RM for the SQ exercise when compared to a SB. Conclusions: A FB, when used under certain conditions, may illicit increased muscle activity for the SQ exercise for some leg and trunk muscle groups compared to a SB

Supercooling Point of Western Bean Cutworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Collected in Eastern Nebraska

Western bean cutworm, Striacosta albicosta (Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a pest of maize and dry beans that has recently undergone a northeastern range expansion in North America. In order to assess the cold tolerance of S. albicosta, we determined the supercooling point of lab and field collected late instar larvae and pre-pupae. Individuals were attached to fine contact thermocouples and cooled at 1°C per minute to detect heat released due to freezing of body fluids. Mean supercooling points decreased as larvae developed into later life stages. Pre-pupa collected in late fall had a mean supercooling point of -12.63°C. This research is the first documentation of cold tolerance measures for S. albicosta and will aid in designing future cold tolerance experiments and predicting S. albicosta population densities based on winter temperatures

Photosystem II Peripheral Accessory Chlorophyll Mutants in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Biochemical Characterization and Sensitivity to Photo-Inhibition

In addition to the four chlorophylls (Chls) involved in primary charge separation, the photosystem II (PSII) reaction center polypeptides, D1 and D2, coordinate a pair of symmetry-related, peripheral accessory Chls. These Chls are axially coordinated by the D1-H118 and D2-H117 residues and are in close association with the proximal Chl antennae proteins, CP43 and CP47. To gain insight into the function(s) of each of the peripheral Chls, we generated site-specific mutations of the amino acid residues that coordinate these Chls and characterized their energy and electron transfer properties. Our results demonstrate that D1-H118 and D2-H117 mutants differ with respect to: (a) their relative numbers of functional PSII complexes, (b) their relative ability to stabilize charge-separated states, (c) light-harvesting efficiency, and (d) their sensitivity to photo-inhibition. The D2-H117N and D2-H117Q mutants had reduced levels of functional PSII complexes and oxygen evolution capacity as well as reduced light-harvesting efficiencies relative to wild-type cells. In contrast, the D1-H118Q mutant was capable of near wild-type rates of oxygen evolution at saturating light intensities. The D1-H118Q mutant also was substantially more resistant to photo-inhibition than wild type. This reduced sensitivity to photo-inhibition is presumably associated with a reduced light-harvesting efficiency in this mutant. Finally, it is noted that the PSII peripheral accessory Chls have similarities to a to a pair of Chls also present in the PSI reaction center complex

Introducing rapid tests for malaria into the retail sector: what are the unintended consequences?

The observation that many people in Africa seek care for febrile illness in the retail sector has led to a number of public health initiatives to try to improve the quality of care provided in these settings. The potential to support the introduction of rapid diagnostic tests for malaria (mRDTs) into drug shops is coming under increased scrutiny. Those in favour argue that it enables the harmonisation of policy around testing and treatment for malaria and maintains a focus on market-based solutions to healthcare. Despite the enthusiasm among many global health actors for this policy option, there is a limited understanding of the consequences of the introduction of mRDTs in the retail sector. We undertook an interpretive, mixed methods study with drug shop vendors (DSVs), their clients and local health workers to explore the uses and interpretations of mRDTs as they became part of daily practice in drug shops during a trial in Mukono District, Uganda. This paper reports the unintended consequences of their introduction. It describes how the test engendered trust in the professional competence of DSVs; was misconstrued by clients and providers as enabling a more definitive diagnosis of disease in general rather than malaria alone; that blood testing made drug shops more attractive places to seek care than they had previously been; was described as shifting treatment-seeking behaviour away from formal health centres and into drug shops; and influenced an increase in sales of medications, particularly antibiotics. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT01194557; Results