Laughing with George Eliot

The tradition of admiring George Eliot for her genius is as old as the author herself. Alexander Main, one of her more sycophantic devotees, laid the foundations of this tradition during her lifetime with the publication of Wise, Witty, and Tender Sayings, a work dedicated \u27to George Eliot in recognition of a genius as original as it is profound and a morality as pure as it is impassioned\u27. Though Main confesses that the preface to his book is \u27not the place in which to attempt to give an exposition of George Eliot\u27s genius\u27, he cannot resist using it to remind us that she has made the novel \u27the vehicle of the grandest and most uncompromising moral truth\u27 , that \u27there is to be found, on almost every page of her writings, some wise thought finely expressed, some beautiful sentiment tenderly clothed, some pointed witticism exquisitely turned\u27, and that the \u27riches\u27 to be found in her work \u27would seem to be actually without a limit\u27.1 If this is Main determined not to expound George Eliot\u27s worth, it is hard to imagine him in an expository mood. Main\u27s preface, however, is more than mere goddess-worship; it also outlines the major characteristics of George Eliot\u27s writing - \u27moral truth\u27, \u27wise thought\u27, \u27pointed witticism\u27 - qualities for which her novels have been vigorously championed and violently criticized for the last century and a half. Of these, it is undoubtedly with a kind of moralism and wisdom that George Eliot has become most closely associated since her death. Gordon Haight attributes this phenomenon largely to John Walter Cross, George Eliot\u27s second husband and first biographer. \u27The legend of lofty seriousness\u27, Haight explains, \u27fostered in the beginning by Lewes, became through Cross\u27s efforts so firmly fixed that it colored her reputation as a novelist\u27.2 And indeed it has. Despite the range of critical opinions that informs scholarship on George Eliot\u27s life and work, to view her as a \u27serious\u27 artist first and foremost has become something of standard practice among her critics both cruel and kind. As V. S. Pritchett put it, \u27one pictures her, in life, moralizing instead of making a scene\u27.\u27 George Eliot was certainly a serious author, and her penchant for \u27moralizing\u27 is a well-documented (if not well-loved) fact of her style. But alongside her penetrating observations of human nature and her sincere appeals to the moral conscience of her readers runs a vibrant current of something with which she is too rarely associated: humour. George Eliot may well be formidable, but she is also funny, a quality with which I think she has been insufficiently associated since her death. Like John Cross, whose devotion to the \u27sibylline\u27 George Eliot prompted him in editing her letters to highlight \u27the more sententious passages\u27 and omit altogether \u27the spontaneous, trivial, and humorous remarks\u27 posterity, it would seem, has committed itself to an unsmiling image of the author. This essay seeks to adjust that image, to catch the sibyl in the act of smirking. By highlighting the work of critics who appreciated her capacity for humour, and by calling attention to moments in her writings which exhibit that comic capacity at work, I will argue here that to conceive of George Eliot solely as an austere, weighty, untouchable personality is to misunderstand her, and that knowing how to laugh with George Eliot is a crucial part of knowing how to read her

Bosonic Operator Methods for the Quark Model

Quark model matrix elements can be computed using bosonic operators and the holomorphic representation for the harmonic oscillator. The technique is illustrated for normal and exotic baryons for an arbitrary number of colors. The computations are much simpler than those using conventional quark model wavefunctions

Recurrent rhabdomyolysis caused by carnitine palmitoyltransferase II deficiency, common but under-recognised: Lessons to be learnt

We discuss two adult siblings who presented with symptoms of myalgia and rhabdomyolysis following exercise with myoglobinuria; genetic testing confirmed carnitine palmitoyltransferase II deficiency and resulted in institution of appropriate crisis management and dietary advice. We explore the phenotypic variability of this commonest fatty oxidation defect that remains under-diagnosed in the adult population and provide clues for early recognition and diagnosis

Relativistic Point-Coupling Models as Effective Theories of Nuclei

Recent studies have shown that concepts of effective field theory such as naturalness can be profitably applied to relativistic mean-field models of nuclei. Here the analysis by Friar, Madland, and Lynn of naturalness in a relativistic point-coupling model is extended. Fits to experimental nuclear data support naive dimensional analysis as a useful principle and imply a mean-field expansion analogous to that found for mean-field meson models.Comment: 26 pages, REVTeX 3.0 with epsf.sty, plus 5 figure

Extragenic suppressor mutations in ΔripA disrupt stability and function of LpxA

Background: Francisella tularensis is a Gram-negative bacterium that infects hundreds of species including humans, and has evolved to grow efficiently within a plethora of cell types. RipA is a conserved membrane protein of F. tularensis, which is required for growth inside host cells. As a means to determine RipA function we isolated and mapped independent extragenic suppressor mutants in ΔripA that restored growth in host cells. Each suppressor mutation mapped to one of two essential genes, lpxA or glmU, which are involved in lipid A synthesis. We repaired the suppressor mutation in lpxA (S102, LpxA T36N) and the mutation in glmU (S103, GlmU E57D), and demonstrated that each mutation was responsible for the suppressor phenotype in their respective strains. We hypothesize that the mutation in S102 altered the stability of LpxA, which can provide a clue to RipA function. LpxA is an UDP-N-acetylglucosamine acyltransferase that catalyzes the transfer of an acyl chain from acyl carrier protein (ACP) to UDP-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) to begin lipid A synthesis. Results: LpxA was more abundant in the presence of RipA. Induced expression of lpxA in the ΔripA strain stopped bacterial division. The LpxA T36N S102 protein was less stable and therefore less abundant than wild type LpxA protein. Conclusion: These data suggest RipA functions to modulate lipid A synthesis in F. tularensis as a way to adapt to the host cell environment by interacting with LpxA

Chiral Lagrangian for Baryons in the 1/Nc1/N_c Expansion

A $1/\N$ expansion of the chiral Lagrangian for baryons is formulated and used to study the low-energy dynamics of baryons interacting with the pion nonet $\pi$, $K$, $\eta$ and $\eta^\prime$ in a combined expansion in chiral symmetry breaking and $1/\N$. Strong $CP$-violation is included. The chiral Lagrangian correctly implements nonet symmetry and contracted spin-flavor symmetry for baryons in the large $\N$ limit. The implications of nonet symmetry for low-energy baryon-pion interactions are described in detail. The procedure for calculating non-analytic pion-loop corrections to baryon amplitudes in the $1/\N$ expansion for finite $\N$ is explained. Flavor-$\bf 27$ baryon mass splittings are calculated at leading order in chiral perturbation theory as an example.Comment: 25 pages, two postscript figure

Is the Sun Embedded in a Typical Interstellar Cloud?

The physical properties and kinematics of the partially ionized interstellar material near the Sun are typical of warm diffuse clouds in the solar vicinity. The interstellar magnetic field at the heliosphere and the kinematics of nearby clouds are naturally explained in terms of the S1 superbubble shell. The interstellar radiation field at the Sun appears to be harder than the field ionizing ambient diffuse gas, which may be a consequence of the low opacity of the tiny cloud surrounding the heliosphere. The spatial context of the Local Bubble is consistent with our location in the Orion spur.Comment: "From the Outer Heliosphere to the Local Bubble", held at International Space Sciences Institute, October 200

Partially fluidized shear granular flows: Continuum theory and MD simulations

The continuum theory of partially fluidized shear granular flows is tested and calibrated using two dimensional soft particle molecular dynamics simulations. The theory is based on the relaxational dynamics of the order parameter that describes the transition between static and flowing regimes of granular material. We define the order parameter as a fraction of static contacts among all contacts between particles. We also propose and verify by direct simulations the constitutive relation based on the splitting of the shear stress tensor into a``fluid part'' proportional to the strain rate tensor, and a remaining ``solid part''. The ratio of these two parts is a function of the order parameter. The rheology of the fluid component agrees well with the kinetic theory of granular fluids even in the dense regime. Based on the hysteretic bifurcation diagram for a thin shear granular layer obtained in simulations, we construct the ``free energy'' for the order parameter. The theory calibrated using numerical experiments with the thin granular layer is applied to the surface-driven stationary two dimensional granular flows in a thick granular layer under gravity.Comment: 20 pages, 19 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Progress on a gas-accepting ion source for continuous-flow accelerator mass spectrometry

Author Posting. © Elsevier B.V., 2007. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms 259 (2007): 83-87, doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2007.01.189.A gas-accepting microwave-plasma ion source is being developed for continuous-flow Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). Characteristics of the ion source will be presented. Schemes for connecting a gas or liquid chromatograph to the ion source will also be discussed