Why \u3cem\u3eA Lost Lady\u3c/em\u3e is Naturalist

In Steven Crane’s Maggie, people survive in a downcast world, where desperate people squelch the hope of those around them. This hopeless environment reduces the characters, even the once innocent, beautiful Maggie, into a creature that is more animal than human. This situation is also seen in A Lost Lady. Instead of having happy, idealized events, both novels are realistic and often pessimistic, with characters whose descriptions and behaviors do not match up with what is expected of a human being. Willa Cather’s A Lost Lady is a naturalist text due to the dehumanization of the characters through animalistic descriptions, emphasis on the three biological needs of man, and casual announcements of life changing events as also seen in Maggie by Crane

Spatially resolved pump-probe study of single-layer graphene produced by chemical vapor deposition

Carrier dynamics in single-layer graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is studied using spatially and temporally resolved pump-probe spectroscopy by measuring both differential transmission and differential reflection. By studying the expansion of a Gaussian spatial profile of carriers excited by a 1500-nm pump pulse with a 1761-nm probe pulse, we observe a diffusion of hot carriers of 5500 square centimeter per second. We also observe that the expansion of the carrier density profile decreases to a slow rate within 1 ps, which is unexpected. Furthermore, by using an 810-nm probe pulse we observe that both the differential transmission and reflection change signs, but also that this sign change can be permanently removed by exposure of the graphene to femtosecond laser pulses of relatively high fluence. This indicates that the differential transmission and reflection at later times may not be directly caused by carriers, but may be from some residue material from the sample fabrication or transfer process.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

The 1992 Employment Service Act and the Influx of Foreign Workers in Taiwan and Translation of the 1994 Implentary Provisions

The 1992 Employment Service Act, the first major law in Taiwan to legalize the hiring of blue-collar foreign workers, was adopted to stem the tide of illegal aliens while alleviating Taiwan\u27s labor shortage. The Act and its Implementary Provisions, however, have not resolved the problems caused by the influx of foreign labor. Taiwan\u27s foreign labor policy has not curtailed the influx of illegal aliens, and in an effort to resolve the labor shortage without recognizing the consequences of importing foreign labor, Taiwan has encouraged the continuation of labor-intensive industries and has indirectly perpetuated the continuation of employer abuses against foreign workers

Using Tourist Travel Habits and Preferences to Assess Strategic Destination Positioning: The Case of Costa Rica

A study of 118 U.S. travelers to Costa Rica is analyzed to highlight how consumer preferences and patterns of consumption can be used to reveal the status of a particular destination in its life cycle. Using a model for destinations\u27 psychographics developed by S. C. Plog, the analysis shows that Costa Rica may be increasingly appealing to the middle of the psychographic distribution. While this trend is not inherently bad, it challenges Costa Rica\u27s destination managers to consider carefully what type of further development they will allow. This research illustrates the means by which other destinations can assess their own positioning to ensure that they are using strategies to attract the most profitable tourist segments

Epigenetic shielding: 5-hydroxymethylcytosine and 5-carboxylcytosine modulate UV induction of DNA photoproducts

Maintaining the balance between dynamic DNA methylation and demethylation is crucial to mammalian development and pathogenesis. In vitro methylation at the C-5 position of cytosine enhances cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer (CPD) formation and promotes transition mutations. While the loss of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) and inactivation of the ten-eleven translocation (TET) family have been implicated in cancers, and repeated exposure to UV radiation is a known risk factor for developing skin cancers, the link between DNA demethylation and UV damage has not yet been illustrated. We report that hydroxylation and carboxylation of 5-methylcytosine mitigate methylation-induced CPD enhancement upon UV irradiation. However, 5hmC also increases UV induction of (6-4) photoproducts. In a melanoma cell model, this duality by 5hmC in modulating the UV response is accentuated through TET2 overexpression. These findings implicate the DNA demethylation intermediates 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) and 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC) as selective epigenetic shields against UV induction of DNA photoproducts

Metallic and Non-Metallic Plasmonic Nanostructures for LSPR Sensors

Localized surface plasmonic resonance (LSPR) provides a unique scheme for light management and has been demonstrated across a large variety of metallic nanostructures. More recently, non-metallic nanostructures of two-dimensional atomic materials and heterostructures have emerged as a promising, low-cost alternative in order to generate strong LSPR. In this paper, a review of the recent progress made on non-metallic LSPR nanostructures will be provided in comparison with their metallic counterparts. A few applications in optoelectronics and sensors will be highlighted. In addition, the remaining challenges and future perspectives will be discussed

Molecular regulation of brain metabolism underlying circadian epilepsy

Extensive study has demonstrated that epilepsy occurs with greater frequency at certain times in the 24-h cycle. Although these findings implicate an overlap between the circadian rhythm and epilepsy, the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying this circadian regulation are poorly understood. Because the 24-h rhythm is generated by the circadian molecular system, it is not surprising that this system comprised of many circadian genes is implicated in epilepsy. We summarized evidence in the literature implicating various circadian genes such as Clock, Bmal1, Per1, Rev-erb⍺, and Ror⍺ in epilepsy. In various animal models of epilepsy, the circadian oscillation and the steady-state level of these genes are disrupted. The downstream pathway of these genes involves a large number of metabolic pathways associated with epilepsy. These pathways include pyridoxal metabolism, the mammalian target of rapamycin pathway, and the regulation of redox state. We propose that disruption of these metabolic pathways could mediate the circadian regulation of epilepsy. A greater understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanism of circadian regulation of epilepsy would enable us to precisely target the circadian disruption in epilepsy for a novel therapeutic approach

Application of Microarray-Based Comparative Genomic Hybridization in Prenatal and Postnatal Settings: Three Case Reports

Microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH) is a newly emerged molecular cytogenetic technique for rapid evaluation of the entire genome with sub-megabase resolution. It allows for the comprehensive investigation of thousands and millions of genomic loci at once and therefore enables the efficient detection of DNA copy number variations (a.k.a, cryptic genomic imbalances). The development and the clinical application of array CGH have revolutionized the diagnostic process in patients and has provided a clue to many unidentified or unexplained diseases which are suspected to have a genetic cause. In this paper, we present three clinical cases in both prenatal and postnatal settings. Among all, array CGH played a major discovery role to reveal the cryptic and/or complex nature of chromosome arrangements. By identifying the genetic causes responsible for the clinical observation in patients, array CGH has provided accurate diagnosis and appropriate clinical management in a timely and efficient manner

Enhanced dielectric nonlinearity in epitaxial Pb0.92La0.08Zr0.52Ti0.48O3 thin films

This is the published version. Copyright 2014 American Institute of PhysicsHigh quality c-axis oriented epitaxial Pb 0.92La0.08Zr0.52Ti0.48O3 films were fabricated using pulsed laser deposition on (001) LaAlO3 substrates with conductive LaNiO3 buffers. Besides confirmation of the in-plane and out-of-plane orientations using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy study has revealed columnar structure across the film thickness with column width around 100 nm. Characterization of ferroelectric properties was carried out in comparison with polycrystalline Pb 0.92La0.08Zr0.52Ti0.48O3 films to extract the effect of epitaxial growth. It is found that the ratio between the irreversible Rayleigh parameter and reversible parameter increased up to 0.028 cm/kV at 1 kHz on epitaxial samples, which is more than twice of that on their polycrystalline counterparts. While this ratio decreased to 0.022 cm/kV with increasing frequency to100 kHz, a much less frequency dependence was observed as compared to the polycrystalline case. The epitaxial Pb 0.92La0.08Zr0.52Ti0.48O3 films exhibited a higher mobility of domain wall and the higher extrinsic contribution to the dielectric properties, as well as reduced density of defects, indicating that it is promising for tunable and low power consumption devices