Belfast Maine: Irish Identity and Acceptance In a Small City On Penobscot Bay

Retzlaff’s article examines how stereotypes were applied to Irish newcomers in early Belfast, Maine, even by “old-timers,” who also descended from Irish immigrants. Neither shared ancestry nor shared religion removed the stigma of these stereotypes, which complicated Irish identity in Belfast during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as Protestant and Catholic newcomers alike sought to benefit from their ties to the Irish community while separating themselves from their Irish tropes. Kay Retzlaff is a professor of English at the University of Maine at Augusta. She earned her PhD from the University of Maine. Her MA and BA are from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She has taught at the University of Kentucky and the American University. She is writing the history of the Irish community in Belfast, Main

Creating the World of the Táin through the Remscéla: Prologemena to Reading

This dissertation argues that the great twelfth-century Irish Epic Táin Bó Cuailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley) cannot be read with understanding without first addressing the remscela, or foretales, that set the context for the Táin itself. The remscela create a rationale for the actions depicted in the Táin. They also serve to establish the fact that the Táin action is the result of Other World involvement in human affairs. This dissertation uses the 1969 English translation by Thomas Kinsella and challenges his omission of some of the remscéla. Kinsella\u27s decision to present a battle of the sexes story allowed for a popularization of the text, but it failed to address the sacred nature of the story

Degradation of chloroaromatics by Pseudomonas putida GJ31: assembled route for chlorobenzene degradation encoded by clusters on plasmid pKW1 and the chromosome

Pseudomonas putida GJ31 has been reported to grow on chlorobenzene using a meta-cleavage pathway with chlorocatechol 2,3-dioxygenase (CbzE) as a key enzyme. The CbzE-encoding gene was found to be localized on the 180 kb plasmid pKW1 in a cbzTEXGS cluster, which is flanked by transposases and encodes only a partial (chloro)catechol meta-cleavage pathway comprising ferredoxin reductase, chlorocatechol 2,3-dioxygenase, an unknown protein, 2-hydroxymuconic semialdehyde dehydrogenase and glutathione S-transferase. Downstream of cbzTEXGS are located cbzJ, encoding a novel type of 2-hydroxypent-2,4-dienoate hydratase, and a transposon region highly similar to Tn5501. Upstream of cbzTEXGS, traNEOFG transfer genes were found. The search for gene clusters possibly completing the (chloro)catechol metabolic pathway of GJ31 revealed the presence of two additional catabolic gene clusters on pKW1. The mhpRBCDFETP cluster encodes enzymes for the dissimilation of 2,3-dihydroxyphenylpropionate in a novel arrangement characterized by the absence of a gene encoding 3-(3-hydroxyphenyl)propionate monooxygenase and the presence of a GntR-type regulator, whereas the nahINLOMKJ cluster encodes part of the naphthalene metabolic pathway. Transcription studies supported their possible involvement in chlorobenzene degradation. The upper pathway cluster, comprising genes encoding a chlorobenzene dioxygenase and a chlorobenzene dihydrodiol dehydrogenase, was localized on the chromosome. A high level of transcription in response to chlorobenzene revealed it to be crucial for chlorobenzene degradation. The chlorobenzene degradation pathway in strain GJ31 is thus a mosaic encoded by four gene clusters.