Open destinies : modern American women and the short story cycle

This thesis examines the juncture between the short story cycle form and gender politics. It explores how twentieth-century women from the United States have been using the form to represent and question gender identity. The introduction outlines commentaries on the story cycle and considers definitions of the form. It includes case studies of earlier twentieth-century cycles by American women: cycles such as Mary McCarthy's The Company She Keeps that have been passed over by critics of the form. Chapter One presents Eudora Welty's The Golden Apples as a cycle paradigm, examining conventions such as the form's metafictional dimension and its preoccupation with communal identity. Chapter Two argues that Grace Paley's scattered Faith narratives set a standard for more dispersed versions of the form. Chapter Three considers how Joyce Carol Oates uses the sequential cycle to represent gender identity as a social construct. Chapters Four and Five examine the macrocosmic cycles of Gloria Naylor and Louise Erdrich and consider changes in their form and gender politics. The final 'composite' chapters explore postmodern versions of the form such as Susan Minot's Monkeys. The prose works of Sandra Cisneros stretch across the story cycle continuum, whilst Toni Morrison's Paradise is universally regarded as a novel. Readings of contemporary cycles by Melissa Bank, Elissa Schappell and Emily Carter demonstrate that American women are re-invigorating the form to facilitate the plural identity of the postmodern heroine

Local Column Density Distribution Function from HI selected galaxies

The cross-section of sky occupied by a particular neutral hydrogen column density provides insight into the nature of Lyman-alpha absorption systems. We have measured this column density distribution at z=0 using 21-cm HI emission from a blind survey. A subsample of HI Parkes All Sky Survey (HIPASS) galaxies have been imaged with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). The contribution of low HI mass galaxies 10^7.5 to 10^8 M_solar is compared to that of M_star (10^10 to 10^10.5 M_solar) galaxies. We find that the column density distribution function is dominated by low HI mass galaxies with column densities in the range 3x10^18 to 2x10^20 cm^-2. This result is not intuitively obvious. M_star galaxies may contain the bulk of the HI gas, but the cross-section presented by low HI mass galaxies 10^7.5 to 10^8 M_solar is greater at moderate column densities. This result implies that moderate column density Lyman-alpha absorption systems may be caused by a range of galaxy types and not just large spiral galaxies as originally thought.Comment: 5 pages, including 1 figure. To appear in "Extragalactic Gas at Low Redshift" (ASP Conf. Series, Weymann Conf.

The Column Density Distribution Function at z=0 from HI Selected Galaxies

We have measured the column density distribution function, f(N), at z=0 using 21-cm HI emission from galaxies selected from a blind HI survey. f(N) is found to be smaller and flatter at z=0 than indicated by high-redshift measurements of Damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) systems, consistent with the predictions of hierarchical galaxy formation. The derived DLA number density per unit redshift, dn/dz =0.058, is in moderate agreement with values calculated from low-redshift QSO absorption line studies. We use two different methods to determine the types of galaxies which contribute most to the DLA cross-section: comparing the power law slope of f(N) to theoretical predictions and analysing contributions to dn/dz. We find that comparison of the power law slope cannot rule out spiral discs as the dominant galaxy type responsible for DLA systems. Analysis of dn/dz however, is much more discriminating. We find that galaxies with log M_HI < 9.0 make up 34% of dn/dz; Irregular and Magellanic types contribute 25%; galaxies with surface brightness > 24 mag arcsec^{-2} account for 22% and sub-L* galaxies contribute 45% to dn/dz. We conclude that a large range of galaxy types give rise to DLA systems, not just large spiral galaxies as previously speculated.Comment: 13 pages, low resolution figures in the appendix, MNRAS accepte

Evolution of damped Lyman alpha kinematics and the effect of spatial resolution on 21-cm measurements

We have investigated the effect of spatial resolution on determining pencil-beam like velocity widths and column densities in galaxies. Three 21-cm datasets are used, the HIPASS galaxy catalogue, a subset of HIPASS galaxies with ATCA maps and a high-resolution image of the LMC. Velocity widths measured from 21-cm emission in local galaxies are compared with those measured in intermediate redshift Damped Lyman alpha (DLA) absorbers. We conclude that spatial resolution has a severe effect on measuring pencil-beam like velocity widths in galaxies. Spatial smoothing by a factor of 240 is shown to increase the median velocity width by a factor of two. Thus any difference between velocity widths measured from global profiles or low spatial resolution 21-cm maps at z=0 and DLAs at z>1 cannot unambiguously be attributed to galaxy evolution. The effect on column density measurements is less severe and the values of dN/dz from local low-resolution 21-cm measurements are expected to be overestimated by only ~10 per cent.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS letter

“Preposterous Adventures”: Affective Encounters in the Short Story Cycle

Cet article explore l’utilisation de la forme du cycle de nouvelles par trois écrivaines du vingtième siècle pour développer des récits défiant certaines notions hégémoniques du bonheur. S’appuyant sur le domaine des études de l’affect, cet article analyse la manière dont Eudora Welty, Katherine Anne Porter et Alice Munro utilisent les cycles pour représenter des modèles alternatifs d’épanouissement pour les personnages féminins. Sont appliquées à ces cycles les théories de Sara Ahmed, afin de démontrer la façon dont elles ouvrent à des récits et des espaces au-delà des « communautés affectives », qui ont tendance à construire et perpétuer des modèles de bonheur féminin. Ces lectures apportent une analyse détaillée de types de moments particuliers qui interviennent dans les cycles des trois auteurs, moments produisant la sensation fugace de possibilité qu’Ahmed associe aux notions affectives du bonheur. On compte parmi ces moments : la rencontre furtive avec une figure marginalisée ayant trouvé le bonheur au-delà de l’« horizon des semblables » instituée par sa « communauté affective » ; des moments de transformation inattendue ; et des moments de retour vers les « communautés affectives » familières

Female expansion and Masculine Immobilization in the Short Story Cycle

Cet article étudie la thématique des personnages masculins paralysés dans le short story cycle. Il s’appuie sur la théorie féministe pour examiner d’une part les traits particuliers du short story cycle et d’autre part les raisons qui rendent ce genre si attractif pour les auteurs féminins

Female expansion and Masculine Immobilization in the Short Story Cycle

Cet article étudie la thématique des personnages masculins paralysés dans le short story cycle. Il s’appuie sur la théorie féministe pour examiner d’une part les traits particuliers du short story cycle et d’autre part les raisons qui rendent ce genre si attractif pour les auteurs féminins

The LCOGT Network

Motivated by the increasing need for observational resources for the study of time varying astronomy, the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) is a private foundation, whose goal is to build a global network of robotic telescopes for scientific research and education. Once completed, the network will become a unique tool, capable of continuous monitoring from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The network currently includes 2 x 2.0 m telescopes, already making an impact in the field of exoplanet research. In the next few years they will be joined by at least 12 x 1.0 m and 20 x 0.4 m telescopes. The increasing amount of LCOGT observational resources in the coming years will be of great service to the astronomical community in general, and the exoplanet community in particular.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the proceedings of IAU Symposium 276 "The Astrophysics of Planetary Systems: Formation, Structure, and Dynamical Evolution

Effects of Yoga on Perceived Stress Level and Cognitive Ability in College-Aged Females

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if perceived stress levels and response inhibition scores (measure of cognitive function) differ in female college students who regularly participate in yoga compared to female college students who do not. Methods: College-aged females ranging from 19-24 years of age were recruited to participate in this study. Subjects filled out a personal information sheet followed by a perceived stress level questionnaire to measure the amount of yoga each participant performed and assess their perceived stress level, respectively. Response inhibition and accuracy (cognitive function) were measured via a computerized Stroop Effect test consisting of three modules. The research project implemented a cross-sectional design, with the independent variable being past yoga experience (no previous experience & regular yoga participation) and the dependent variables being perceived stress level and response inhibition (speed & accuracy) score of the Stroop Effect test. Significance was accepted at p ≤0.05. Results: An independent t-test revealed that there were no differences in average reaction time or percent accuracy between yogis and novice yogis. The difference between average perceived stress scores (PSS) in advanced versus novice yogis was approaching significance (p ≤ 0.06). The PSS for novice yogis was 17.28 ± 4.20 while that for advanced yogis was 21.59 ± 7.96. Conclusion: The study concludes that yogis reported higher PSS compared to non-yogis; however, there was no significant difference in cognitive ability between the groups. Future studies should seek to further investigate various measures of cognitive abilities in these populations. Furthermore, more research should be implemented to discern the true effects of yoga on an individual’s perceived stress level

The Weak Clustering of Gas-Rich Galaxies

We examine the clustering properties of HI-selected galaxies through an analysis of the HI Parkes All-Sky Survey Catalogue (HICAT) two-point correlation function. Various sub-samples are extracted from this catalogue to study the overall clustering of HI-rich galaxies and its dependence on luminosity, HI gas mass and rotational velocity. These samples cover the entire southern sky Dec < 0 deg, containing up to 4,174 galaxies over the radial velocity range 300-12,700 km/s. A scale length of r_0 = 3.45 +/- 0.25 Mpc/h and slope of gamma = 1.47 +/- 0.08 is obtained for the HI-rich galaxy real-space correlation function, making gas-rich galaxies among the most weakly clustered objects known. HI-selected galaxies also exhibit weaker clustering than optically selected galaxies of comparable luminosities. Good agreement is found between our results and those of synthetic HI-rich galaxy catalogues generated from the Millennium Run CDM simulation. Bisecting HICAT using different parameter cuts, clustering is found to depend most strongly on rotational velocity and luminosity, while the dependency on HI mass is marginal. Splitting the sample around v_rot = 108 km/s, a scale length of r_0 = 2.86 +/- 0.46 Mpc/h is found for galaxies with low rotational velocities compared to r_0 = 3.96 +/- 0.33 Mpc/h for the high rotational velocity sample.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa