The depiction of the hero in Soviet Russian scientific fantasy: Aspects of alienation in a peripheral genre

This dissertation is based on the assumption that speculative literature, specifically its Soviet Russian component, is not receiving the amount of critical attention which it deserves due to its popularity and growing literary quality. The introduction attempts to show some of the reasons for this situation and to indicate the type of alienated hero who is the subject of this study. The second and third chapters are devoted to the depiction of the conventional Soviet positive hero in scientific fantasy and his more unusual partner, who is here named the 'positive superhero'. They demonstrate how both characters fail to meet the requirements of a futuristic literature, although they must be regarded as superior to most heroes of Western science fiction. Most space and consideration is given to the fourth chapter, which deals with the central figure of the dissertation. The first two subchapters evaluate the position of the alienated man in the history of Soviet scientific fantasy and also refer to some pre-revolutionary examples. The third sub-chapter concentrates on writers of non-fantasy and their interest in the genre as a whole and the alienated hero in particular. In the fourth and last part of this chapter the protagonists of anti-utopias are considered and the possibilities of an anti-utopia directed against the Soviet system are weighed. The conclusion attempts to sum up the similarities between alienated heroes of scientific fantasy and 'mainstream' literature and to state the differences. It considers the political advantages that scientific fantasy, compared to other genres, gains through its fantastic devices, especially time-travel and resulting parachronism. Finally, it defines the position of the alienated man among his more conventional counterparts. A bibliography is given at the end

Oil generation in the michigan basin: A biological marker and carbon isotope approach

Palaeozoic strata in the Michigan Basin produced crude oils which, despite their rather small volume and economic value, are interesting because of the considerable age of the basin and because of the opportunity to study generation and migration of oils within a relatively simple but ancient geological setting.Based on n-alkane profiles, biological marker distributions and carbon isotope ratios, the oils belong to three main families of different genetic origin and a few less important mixed types. Silurian oils from Salina and Niagara Limestones have broad n-alkane distributions and abundant isoprenoid hydrocarbons. A strong phytane-over-pristane predominance and the lack of diasteranes indicate a carbonate source for these oils. Chemical maturity parameters show that they are more mature than the oils from the other main families from which they are also clearly distinguished by carbon isotope ratios of hydrocarbon fractions and single n-alkanes.Oils found in the calcareous Ordovician Trenton formation contain n-alkane, cyclohexylalkane and alkyl phenanthrene distributions typical of immature oils. Many oils from the Devonian Dundee reservoirs are very similar in overall composition to the Trenton oils.Devonian Traverse oils are considered to be mainly from a Devonian source with some contribution of Ordovician-type oil and are of intermediate maturity. Based on calculations using kinetic parameters of biological marker reactions, considerably deeper subsidence of the Devonian source rock in the past is implied.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/26406/1/0000493.pd

Phosphate-free ornithine lipid contents in Desulfovibrio spp. respond to growth temperature

Eight sulfate-reducing Desulfovibrio strains isolated from intertidal sediments of the North Sea were investigated for their intact polar lipid (IPL) composition. They contained two types of IPLs, phospholipids and aminolipids. The dominating phospholipids were phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylglycerol (PG) and, in lower concentration, diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG). Aminolipids formed a significant IPL fraction in all strains and high resolution tandem mass spectrometry assigned them as phosphate-free ornithine lipids (OLs). In intertidal flat sediments microorganisms may face strong temperature changes on varying timescales and it is crucial for the microbes to maintain constant membrane fluidity, e.g. by modification of their membrane lipid composition. We therefore investigated whether or not these strains employ the same strategies for adjusting their membrane composition to growth temperature and, in particular, how OLs are modified. In all strains the relative OL content was found to be higher at higher growth temperature, in most cases at the expense of PE content and less often PG content. The fatty acid (FA) side chains of the main PE and PG species were similar, i.e. both were dominated by C17 or C18, whereas C15 FAs were additionally found as major OL side chains. The temperature-related side chain variation was similar for all IPLs: unsaturated FA content was lower at higher temperature. The corresponding FA patterns after hydrolysis revealed elevated branched FA content and anteiso/iso ratio at higher growth temperature. As the temperature-related changes in the IPL side chains were similar for all strains, we conclude that side chain modification plays a major role in the maintenance of membrane fluidity at higher temperature and that alternative roles of OLs in the membrane adaptation of Desulfovibrio spp. other than melting point adjustment are possible