Review of Heathen and Outcast: Scenes in the Life of George Eliot

This fictionalized version of George Eliot\u27s life between 1841 and 1854 takes as its starting point Edith Simcox\u27s account of visiting the Midlands after the novelist\u27s death and collecting material for a biography which, in the end, was never written. Thus the first section of four chapters is titled \u27From Conversations with Maria Lewis\u27 and is written in the latter \u27s voice, while the second section of two chapters follows the same pattern and is narrated by Charles Bray. The Simcox framework of posthumous interviews falters in the final section of eight chapters since here the narration is taken over by the novelist herself telling \u27her story in her own words\u27 from when she leaves England for the Continent with the Brays after her father \u27s death. These different narratives draw on the standard sources - the letters and journals, Bray\u27s and Simcox\u27s autobiographies, Haight, Ashton, Bodenheimer, Hughes etc - and dramatize and elaborate on the characters and events that are well-known to students of the novelist. The author is sometimes cavalier with the familiar material, as when, for instance, William Hale White\u27s famous description of the young Marian Evans correcting proofs in the dark back room at 142 Strand, with her legs over the arms of an easy chair, turns up in a letter to the novelist written by G. H. Lewes in the early days of their courtship. Some other authorial decisions are puzzling, such as referring to Sara Hennell as Sophie throughout. This could all be ascribed to the licence afforded to the novelist as opposed to the historian or biographer, and it is a licence that the author fully exploits in combining biography with fiction in the expressed hope that his combination will prove \u27dramatically entertaining and historically convincing\u27. What is quite convincing is the image that emerges of Isaac Evans as a bully and a bigot whose treatment of both his sisters is obnoxious and overbearing. He recruits Maria Lewis to spy on Mary Ann and report back to him, and, in his concern to get his sister safely married, engineers, by bribery or blackmail, the proposal she receives from the young picture-restorer. If this stretches credulity, the overall picture of him as the dominant and sinister power in the life of the Evans family does not. Other fictional excursions beyond the known facts are Maria Lewis aspiring to secure the elderly Robert Evans as a husband; Charles Bray having an affair with Chrissey; and Chrissey later finding sexual consolation after the death of her husband in the arms of her attractive maid Sally. It is doubtful whether these do more than add a rather gratuitous spice to the background of the novelist\u27s life. What are more successful are the drama of the sad decline and early death of Chrissey\u27s husband, Dr Edward Clarke; the comic portrait of the hypochondriac Herbert Spencer; and the hesitant, often awkward development of the relationship between Marian and Lewes. Readers who find this combination of fiction and biography entertaining and convincing, at least in part, will be encouraged to see that the volume closes with the inscription \u27End of Book One\u27

The Golden Gates are Passed

There have always been attempts not just to conceal knowledge of George Eliot\u27s life but also to manipulate it into conformity with a preconceived profile. In the Preface to his edition of The George Eliot Letters in nine volumes, Gordon Haight revealed that those pages of her Journal from immediately after her father\u27s death in 1849 until shortly before she went to Weimar with Lewes in 1854 were tom out and presumably destroyed, probably by Cross. Charles Lewes, George Eliot\u27s main literary executor, also seems to have destroyed nine of his father \u27s journals, the first volume extant beginning in 1856 is numbered X. Haight corrected Cross \u27s idealized portrayal of \u27a George Eliot who never really existed, a marmoreal image\u27.1 However, in the meantime questions have been and are being asked by biographers about many of the value judgments in Haight\u27s enormously influential biography. I would like to pose and try to answer such a question of my own: why did Robert Evans and Mary Ann Evans leave Griff House in 1841? Everywhere we read that Mr. Evans decided to retire, passed his job and the family home on to Isaac and, after much dithering, moved to Foleshill to improve his blue-stocking daughter\u27s prospects on the marriage market. This explanation of what was a very great disruption in the lives of both father and daughter deserves at least careful scrutiny. The question of why Mr. Evans should suddenly decide to retire has not, as far as I know, been adequately answered or even seriously posed in the main biographies. The original bland version provided by Cross is still the generally if not universally accepted one: New circumstances now created a change almost amounting to a revolution in Miss Evans\u27s life. Mr. Isaac Evans, who had been associated for some time with his father in the land agency business, married, and it was arranged that he should take over the establishment at Griff. This led to the removal in March 1841 of Mr. Robert Evans and his daughter to a house on the Foleshill Road, in the immediate neighbourhood of Coventry

Roles of TRIM24 in macrophage activation and experimental visceral leishmaniasis

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) causes immune and haematological dysfunction and is fatal in >95% of cases if left untreated. While macrophages are vital for efficient Leishmania parasite clearance, parasite-macrophage interactions are critical for VL progression. The transcription factor tripartite motif protein 24 (TRIM24) was recently predicted to be downregulated in an experimental VL mouse model. However, roles of TRIM24 in macrophage activation remain poorly understood, and have not been explored in VL. Here, we use TRIM24 knockout (KO) C57BL/6 mice to investigate roles of TRIM24 in bone marrow-derived macrophage (BMDM) activation in vitro, and the effects of TRIM24 deletion in an experimental model of VL in vivo using a combination of microscopy, flow cytometry, and single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq).Firstly, we show that TNF and IL-6 production in KO BMDMs is unaffected after TLR4 stimulation. However, more nitric oxide was released by KO BMDMs, attributed to higher iNOS expression. Accompanying increases in IFNβ release and interferon response-related transcriptional signatures indicated an increased propensity for KO BMDMs to produce and respond to interferons. Uptake of L. donovani amastigotes was unaffected in KO BMDMs. ScRNA-seq of L. donovani-infected BMDMs revealed a metabolic shift in KO BMDMs towards parasite-permissive oxidative phosphorylation, while also potentiating interferon responses.Flow cytometric analysis of total KO lymphoid organs revealed the dispensability of TRIM24 during homeostatic leukocyte development. However, assessment of relative fitness during 50:50 mixed bone marrow (BM) chimeric reconstitution revealed an advantage of KO leukocytes in lymphoid organs, with 80% of BM CD45+ cells deficient in TRIM24 at 10 weeks post-reconstitution. L. donovani infection reduced this skew in spleen and liver but not in BM, identifying a potential role for TRIM24 in BM retention that persists during infection independently of the CXCR4-CXCL12 axis. Immune responses characteristic of VL were unaffected by TRIM24 deletion (IFNγ, TNF, IL-10, IL-6 production, granuloma size and number, Kupffer cell iNOS expression), and hepatic parasite burden was slightly increased. Elevated mRNA abundance of interferon-stimulated genes was observed in KO spleen 24 hours post-infection.Finally, we used scRNA-seq to report a transcriptional landscape of L. donovani-infected WT murine BM, providing evidence for an emergency myelopoiesis-promoting environment. Haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells were directly responding to CD4+ T cell-derived IFNγ, and we identify CD4+ T cells as a major source of Csf1 during infection. Ccl5 was expressed by several cell types, and parasite-permissive metabolic shifts were also observed, all contributing factors to myelopoiesis. These metabolic shifts were exacerbated by TRIM24 deletion, probably through modulation of mTOR signalling. This data therefore provides an interesting avenue for future investigation of TRIM24 in immunometabolism

On the inter-foil spacing and phase lag of tandem flapping foil propulsors

The aim of this article is to provide a theoretical basis upon which to advance and deploy novel tandem flapping foil systems for efficient marine propulsion. We put forth three key insights into tandem flapping foil hydrodynamics related to their choreography, propulsive efficiency, and unsteady loading. In particular, we propose that the performance of the aft foil depends on a new nondimensional number, s/Utau, which is the inter-foil separation s normalized by the distance that the freestream U advects in one flapping period tau. Additionally, we show how unsteady loading can be mitigated through choice of phase lag

Hydromorphological control of phosphorus in a large free-flowing gravel bed river: the Garonne river (France)

The objective of this paper is to relate phosphorus (P) transport dynamics and hydromorphological characteristics of a large human-influenced river, the River Garonne within a sector receiving the waste water of a sewage treatment plant for a population of 600 000. Two studies were conducted in 1997 and 1999 during two different hydrological conditions at low-flow periods. The 1997 study was carried out on an 18-km stretch with discharges varying between 33 and 53 m3/s and with very small fluctuations. The 1999 study concerned a longer stretch of 47 km, divided into four smaller reaches, and with discharges fluctuating rapidly from 40 to 108 m3/s. Downstream of the sewage treatment plant, total phosphorus (TP) concentrations ranged from 0.19 to 0.27 mg/L and were mainly in the dissolved form: between 60 and 78% of TP was dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP). P concentrations were significantly lower upstream of the sewage treatment plant. By a mass-balance approach, we estimated that the sewage treatment plant represents more than half the input (between 59 and 67%) of the studied sector. TP dynamic is linked to suspended solids for discharges above 60 m3/s. During established low-flow period in the 1997 study (<60 m3/s), 22 and 27% of TP and DRP were retained by the river bed. In the 1999 study, under different low-water period hydraulic conditions, we calculate that particulate P retention occurred in two reaches among the four under study and only for discharges below 60 m3/s. We show that for established discharges below 60 m3/s, there is an active uptake of transported P by functional compartments (i.e. the hyporheic zone and the periphyton). During the low-water period with relatively high hydraulic fluctuations, and for discharges >60 m3/s, P retention is controlled as expected by suspended matter dynamics

3D Printing: Applications in Evolution and Ecology

In the commercial and medical sectors, 3D printing is delivering on its promise to en‐ able a revolution. However, in the fields of Ecology and Evolution we are only on the brink of embracing the advantages that 3D printing can offer. Here we discuss exam‐ ples where the process has enabled researchers to develop new techniques, work with novel species, and to enhance the impact of outreach activities. Our aim is to showcase the potential that 3D printing offers in terms of improved experimental techniques, greater flexibility, reduced costs and promoting open science, while also discussing its limitations. By taking a general overview of studies using the technique from fields across the broad range of Ecology and Evolution, we show the flexibility of 3D printing technology and aim to inspire the next generation of discoveries