Sabeans

International audienceDictionary entry: Sabea

Conflict and Reconciliation: Representations of Christianity in Contemporary Native American Literature by Women

The Native American literary Renaissance of the 1970s and 1980s created a web of American Indian voices interpreting the past, indicting America’s imperialism alongside Christianity for its participation in conquest, and renegotiating the cultural possibilities and losses resulting from colonial takeover. In contemporary Native America, Christianity is both the subject of controversy and a widely practiced religion. This dissertation explores representations of Christianity in works by four contemporary female Native American authors, Linda Hogan, Louise Erdrich, Diane Glancy, and Joy Harjo. The study’s theoretical framework privileges indigenous voices by relying on a paradigm of reconciliation mapped by Native American activist and attorney Walter Echo-Hawk and by employing ethnographic research methods including an interview study with American Indian women. Gender, story, land, and multiethnic identity surface as major themes throughout the study. Hogan, Erdrich, Glancy, and Harjo each engage in or resist cross-cultural reconciliation v in the wake of Christianity’s involvement in colonization and assimilation. Hogan focuses on strengthening communities within Native America; Erdrich explores the possibilities and pitfalls of community building between American Indians and Catholic German-Americans; Glancy creates community by giving voice to both Native and non-Native Christians who have been silenced in the past; and Harjo calls for an expansive community that grows across cultural and religious boundaries, resulting in enemies becoming family members. I ultimately argue that imaginative writing makes space for dialogues of reconciliation that are otherwise stifled in the midst of complex and historically tense cultural and socioeconomic circumstances. Together, these writers perform an act of reconciliation that is neither total nor insignificant. Individually acting out aspects of Echo-Hawk’s paradigm for reconciliation, works produced by Hogan, Erdrich, Glancy, and Harjo can be read in tandem as simultaneous expressions of anger, consternation, and indignation over the ravages of colonization and Christianity’s participation in it. The same texts offer creative expressions of possibility and hope for a future marked by distinctive Native American cultural contributions and a revised and repentant Christianity stripped of its institutional sins and characterized instead by the peace and love that persists at the heart of its teachings

Characterizing the PolyIC-induced activation and apoptosis of MuTuDCs by determining the influence of Bim isoforms and Corticosterone

Dendritic cells (DCs) are a critical subset of immune cells responsible for connecting the innate and adaptive immune response. Dendritic cells are activated by exposure to Pathogen Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMPs). Polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (PolyIC) is synthetic double-stranded RNA that functions as a PAMP. Corticosterone (CORT), a stress hormone, is generally immunosuppressive. The response of murine DCs (MuTuDC) to PolyIC and CORT exposure is being investigated. ELISA demonstrated that PolyIC exposure increased IL-12 production, an indicator of DC activation. Increased cell death was also observed following PolyIC exposure, but pre-treatment with CORT decreased cell death. The literature suggests that DC death post activation is important for regulating the immune response. However, the pathway mediating PolyIC-induced DC death and the influence of CORT on the process is loosely characterized. Literature suggests that apoptosis occurs through the pro-apoptotic protein Bim. It is hypothesized that CORT is altering Bim isoform expression to reduce cell death. Bim has three predominant isoforms, varying in function, that regulate apoptosis. Primers derived from the literature for both murine and human Bim mRNA isoforms were analyzed using the NCBI BLAST program to ensure detection of the three isoforms. However, detection of Bim protein and mRNA isoforms in MuTuDCs was difficult. Therefore, Human-Diploid Fibroblast cells immortalized with T-antigen (HDF+T) were used to establish necessary RT-PCR and Western protocols. After demonstrating Bim isoform(s) presence in HDF+Ts, future studies will involve MuTuDCs pretreatment with CORT and then treatment with PolyIC, or another apoptosis inducer such as 5-fluorouricil (5-FU). Elucidating the PolyIC-mediated cell death pathway and the impact of CORT will provide novel information about factors influencing DC abundance and lifespan, which ultimately influence the immune response

Indigenous Engagement with Christianity: A Review Essay

Mixed Blessings, Defining Métis, and Perishing Heathens all move scholarly dialogue past mere indictment of the colonizer’s religion toward the possibilities of Indigenous refusal, acceptance, adaptation, and politically motivated use of Christianity. Read together, these three books function like a primer on the possibilities and pitfalls involved in studying often tense and ambiguous moments of interreligious and cross-cultural encounter. This review offers an overview of each text and then highlights ways in which all three situate themselves in relation to Indigenous perspectives, address the difficulty of accessing Indigenous history through archival sources, and contribute something significant to the field of Indigenous studies

Evaluation of the service performance of an innovative precast prestressed concrete pavement

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 18, 2010).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. Vellore S. Gopalaratnam.M.S. University of Missouri--Columbia 2009.Precast prestressed concrete pavement (PPCP) is the product of an optimization of conventional materials coupled with economical fabrication and transportation means to create a product that exceeds the performance and implementation of current pavement rehabilitation methods. PPCP results in a more efficient, thinner section translating to material savings as well as improved long-term durability. Precast pavement allows faster replacement and rehabilitation of existing roadways as well as providing an economical alternative for new construction to minimize undesirable traffic congestion that causes increased fuel consumption and lost productivity. This project, near Sikeston, MO on Interstate 57, explored feasibility of current construction methods and service performance of precast roadway panels subjected to an adverse "Midwest environment" (extreme temperatures in summer accompanying deicing salts in winter). Evaluation of results from the investigation include: (a) construction challenges that may affect long term durability (b) local and global prestress distributions within PPCP (c) traffic loadings (d) daily thermal loadings (e) weekly and seasonal temperature variations and corresponding pavement behavior. Visual performance surveys over the one year long evaluation period are discussed.Includes bibliographical references

Biomechanical Evaluation of Recurrent Dissociation of Modular Humeral Prostheses

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the force and torque required to dissociate a humeral head from the unimplanted modular total shoulder replacement system from different manufacturers and to determine if load and torque to dissociation are reduced in the presence of bodily fluids. Impingement, taper contamination, lack of compressive forces, and interference of taper fixation by the proximal humerus have all been reported as possible causes for dissociation. Experimental values determined in this research were compared with literature estimates of dissociation force of the humeral head under various conditions to gain more understanding of the causes of recurrent dissociations of the humeral head. This study examined biomechanical properties under dry and wet conditions under clinically practiced methods. Mean load to dissociation (1513 N ± 508 N) was found to be greater than that exerted by the activities of daily living (578 N) for all implants studied. The mean torque to dissociation was (49.77 N·m ± 19.07 N·m). Analysis of R2 correlation coefficients and p-values (α = 0.05) did not show any significant correlation between dry/bovine, dry/wet, or wet/bovine for load, displacement, or torsional stiffness in the majority of tests performed. Wetting the taper with water or bovine serum did not reduce the dissociation force to a statistically significant degree. Torque and lack of compressive forces at the rotator cuff may be the cause of dissociation at values less than those of activities of daily living. Torque data are provided by this study, but further research is needed to fully appreciate the role of torque in recurrent dissociations

Conquest and Form: Narrativity in Joshua 5-11 and Historical Discourse in Ancient Judah

One goal of this essay is to offer an exploratory, historiographical analysis of the conquest account in the book of Joshua, an analysis that focuses upon the sociocultural milieu of ancient Judah. I propose to show how this narrative of conquest might have contributed to discourse(s) among the literate Judean community that perpetuated the text, and I will offer a few thoughts on the potential relationship between the narrative and the supposed cultic reforms of the late seventh century b.c.e. A number of biblical scholars have argued that the late monarchic period gave rise to the conquest story as recounted in Joshua. In this essay, I would like to pay special attention to precisely how this narrative might have functioned within the milieu of the late monarchic period, thus refining our understanding of the narrative’s contribution to the discourses of this era and our knowledge of its relationship to other narratives that were probably extant at the same time. In other words, what particular features of the narrative might have had special import in this period? Specifically, I will argue that the narrative reveals certain discursive statements about Yahweh’s cultic supremacy and about important cultic sites in late monarchic Judah, and that this is evident in particular narratival features that are present in the text