Fiction absolute and ethics: Tom Wolfe‘s back to blood

Tom Wolf once more in his last novel Back to Blood (2012) has taken the issue of race and ethnic tensions as one of its primary themes and this time he has chosen the city of Miami, home to the highest proportion of foreign-born residents of any US major metropolitan area. This novel looks into the interethnic relationships among the Cuban immigrants, Haitians, and American whites and blacks. Applying Emmanuel Levinas’s theory of alterity and ethics of sensibility to Back to Blood could be rewarding since it sheds light on the interethnic tensions present among different groups of people whose only concern is their own ‘blood’ and their own race. We argue that Wolfe’s novel, read in terms of ethics of sensibility, with its emphasis on the responsibility of one for the naked, universal Other, reveals how altericide and indifference towards the plight of the Other lie at the heart of most interethnic tensions and conflicts

Correlation of Midkine Serum Level with Pro- and Anti-Inflamatory Cytokines in Multiple Sclerosis

Background: Midkine (MK) is a heparin-binding growth factor with promoting effects in inflammatory responses through enhancing leukocytes migration. Objective: To study the correlation between MK serum levels and concentration of inflammatory cytokines in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. Methods: We evaluated the MK level and its relationship with inflammatory cytokines (IL-17 and IL-23) and anti-inflammatory ones (IL-10 and TGF-beta) in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The serum concentrations of MK and cytokines were assessed by ELISA in 32 MS patients in comparison with 32 healthy subjects. Results: Our data showed that the MK concentration in MS patients is lower than healthy controls (341.15 +/- 40.71 Pg/ml vs. 620.15 +/- 98.61 Pg/ml, respectively, p= 0.015). We also observed a significant decrease in IL-10, IL-23, and TGF-beta cytokine levels in MS patients. There was a significant correlation between MK and IL-23 concentrations in our study (r = + 0.829, p <= 0.001). Conclusion: These results confirm a role for MK in inflammatory reactions in MS

Impacts of color design on improving human performance in space

A cor é um dos elementos inseparáveis do design do espaço, afetando o ser humano e as suas emoções, e permitindo melhorar o bem-estar, a qualidade de vida e conforto dos indivíduos. As cores têm efeitos estimulantes e calmantes que podem igualmente ajudar a melhorar a eficiência do desempenho no espaço. No entanto é frequente observar locais onde os utilizadores são sob ou sobre estimulados perante a exposição a uma determinada cor, por um determinado período de tempo, resultando na redução do desempenho. De acordo com a “Teoria do U invertido”, é possível demonstrar que, de forma a desempenhar qualquer atividade de forma otimizada, o nosso corpo necessita de alcançar um determinado nível ideal de excitação. Este projeto pretende apresentar uma nova perspetiva à seleção de cores no design de ambientes, criando modificações nos planos arquitetónicos. O conceito proposto consiste na aplicação de cores estimulantes ou calmantes numa fase anterior à fase em que se espera que uma determinada ação ocorra, com o objetivo de auxiliar o utilizador a atingir o nível ótimo de excitação ótimo, melhorando e otimizando o desempenho. Consequentemente, o equilíbrio com o ambiente é estabelecido.Color is one of the inseparable elements of space design, which affects on human bodies and emotions. It enhances welfare, quality of life and comfort of individuals. Colors have stimulating and calming effects that can help improve efficiency of performances in space. However, frequently we observe places wherein users become under - or overstimulated due to exposing to strong and constant area of a color for a period of time, that in both cases result in impaired functions. According to the studies which have been done, “Inverted-U” hypothesis demonstrate that, in order to do any task optimally, our body requires to reach at a certain optimum arousal level. This project pretends to introduce a new approach to color design in the project of spaces, creating modifications to the architectural plans. The proposed theory consists in the application of stimulating or calming colors in a phase before the phase in which a certain action is expected to occur. This helps the user to reach the optimal arousal level, which brings optimal performances. Consequently, balance is set in the environment

Ethics in a City “Too Busy to Hate”: Tom Wolfe’s A Man in Full

Tom Wolfe in A Man in Full (1998) addresses the racial, political, cultural, and economic issues of the 1990s. Setting the novel in Atlanta, one of the most important cities of the American South, Wolfe probes America's racial and political history decades after the Civil Rights Movement. In this article, we look into the relationship between the white upperclass, the black middleclass and underclass depicted in Wolfe’s novel before and after the black political empowerment through the lens of Emanuel Levinas’s theory of alterity and the ethics of sensibility. By weaving different subplots together, we argue, the novel seems to suggest that a combination of the ethics of sensibility − with its emphasis on responsibility for the Other − and the ethics of Stoicism − with its emphasis on self-respect and self-responsibility − could contribute to the formation of much more ethical and responsible citizens

Local heritage/ global forces: hybrid identities in Le Guin’s The Telling

This paper examines Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Telling (2000), her last novel in the Hainish Cycle, which addresses intercultural communications among her imagined worlds. These relationships, which resemble those of our globalizing world, are analyzed in the light of Homi Bhabha’s theories of mimicry, hybridity and the Third Space. It is suggested that in this novel, Le Guin criticizes cultural imperialism and rejects both conservative and assimilative attitudes toward the other; instead, she praises hybridity as the culture of our globalizing world. Besides warning against the hegemony of the West in international relationships, through analogy, The Telling highlights the ways the developing countries could be responsible for their own colonialism and the annihilation of their own culture. In this context, this paper proposes that the Dovzans, lured by Hain’s advanced technology, as an act of self-colonization, impoverish their lives and deny their entire culture by criminalizing the Telling. The article further argues that indigenous peoples and groups of minorities, through hybridity and focus on their difference, not only can survive and conserve their local heritage and identity in the face of intense globalization pressures but also affect the dominant power. Accordingly, Sutty and the people of Okzat-Ozkat are introduced as courageous hybrid characters who finally succeed in asserting their voice in the third space. The article concludes that through bargaining with the Ekumen and remaining faithful to their own culture, the people of Okzat-Ozkat can save the Telling from extermination

Sexual Difference and Women's Space in Sandra Cisneros' Caramelo

Unlike previous feminist critics who were seeking ways to reduce the otherness of the women to help them be the same as men, the subject, Luce Irigaray, strongly emphasizes the irreducibility of the women's place as the "other." Concerned with the concept of sexual difference and the otherness of women, Irigaray occupies a unique position among feminist critics. Irigaray aims not to be the "same," but to make a clear border between these two sexually different creatures. Based on sexual difference, both men and women should stand in their bordered place, and they cannot be substituted for the other. Accordingly, Irigaray seeks irreducible alterity for women in all aspects, which is the most crucial objective of this paper. Being a feminitst by spirit, Sandra Cisneros, the prize-winning chicana writer, in her novel, Caramelo (2002), dramatizes what Irigaray theorizes in her Ethics of Sexual Difference (1993). In this light, the current study analyzes Caramelo to illustrate how the "place" of the "other," that is women's "place," is occupied unfairly by the empowered men, and how female characters resist and/or succumb to the oppressive situations. The results of the study indicate that Lala, the main character, possesses the potentiality of being aware of "sexual difference" and "space," as key tools, to regain her place occupied by men, and reclaim her subjectivity, goals for which both Sandra Cisneros and Luce Irigary have aimed for years

Ethics in a City “Too Busy to Hate”: Tom Wolfe’s A Man in Full

&nbsp; Tom Wolfe in A Man in Full (1998) addresses the racial, political, cultural, and economic issues of the 1990s. Setting the novel in Atlanta, one of the most important cities of the American South, Wolfe probes America's racial and political history decades after the Civil Rights Movement. In this article, we look into the relationship between the white upperclass, the black middleclass and underclass depicted in Wolfe’s novel before and after the black political empowerment through the lens of Emanuel Levinas’s theory of alterity and the ethics of sensibility. By weaving different subplots together, we argue, the novel seems to suggest that a combination of the ethics of sensibility − with its emphasis on responsibility for the Other − and the ethics of Stoicism − with its emphasis on self-respect and self-responsibility − could contribute to the formation of much more ethical and responsible citizens

Ethics in a City “Too Busy to Hate”: Tom Wolfe’s A Man in Full

Tom Wolfe in A Man in Full (1998) addresses the racial, political, cultural, and economic issues of the 1990s. Setting the novel in Atlanta, one of the most important cities of the American South, Wolfe probes America's racial and political history decades after the Civil Rights Movement. In this article, we look into the relationship between the white upperclass, the black middleclass and underclass depicted in Wolfe’s novel before and after the black political empowerment through the lens of Emanuel Levinas’s theory of alterity and the ethics of sensibility. By weaving different subplots together, we argue, the novel seems to suggest that a combination of the ethics of sensibility − with its emphasis on responsibility for the Other − and the ethics of Stoicism − with its emphasis on self-respect and self-responsibility − could contribute to the formation of much more ethical and responsible citizens

Modern Rape-Revenge Movies and Shelley’s The Cenci

Viewing Shelley’s The Cenci from the political upheavals of the nineteenth century would limit one’s response to the play to the issues of that century. However, this play continues to be played in the twenty first century, which makes one wonder how a modern spectator with a feminist inclination might react to the theme of rape and revenge. The Cenci shares with a number of movies flourishing with the rise of the second wave feminism during the 1970s, the theme of a female victim transformed into a hero-avenger, who takes law into her own hands and avenges herself in the face of a dysfunctional legal state. As revisions of the archetypal narratives of violation-revenge-violation, these modern movies have been praised for depicting heroines who are no longer powerless, miserable and victimized, but strong enough to avenge themselves with impunity. Though The Cenci repeats the traditional pattern of violation-revenge-violation, it focuses on the corruption and irresponsibility of the patriarchal legal system as well as its reformation, which have been neglected by both mythical narratives and modern rape-revenge movies. By reading The Cenci along with William Blake’s “Visions of the Daughters of Albion” and Shelley’s “Prometheus Unbound,” we examine how The Cenci challenges the modern rape-revenge movies and how Beatrice could have used her agency and her anger in a more effective way to fight against tyranny.&nbsp

Sexual Difference and Women's Space in Sandra Cisneros' Caramelo

Unlike previous feminist critics who were seeking ways to reduce the otherness of the women to help them be the same as men, the subject, Luce Irigaray, strongly emphasizes the irreducibility of the women's place as the "other." Concerned with the concept of sexual difference and the otherness of women, Irigaray occupies a unique position among feminist critics. Irigaray aims not to be the "same," but to make a clear border between these two sexually different creatures. Based on sexual difference, both men and women should stand in their bordered place, and they cannot be substituted for the other. Accordingly, Irigaray seeks irreducible alterity for women in all aspects, which is the most crucial objective of this paper. Being a feminitst by spirit, Sandra Cisneros, the prize-winning chicana writer, in her novel, Caramelo (2002), dramatizes what Irigaray theorizes in her Ethics of Sexual Difference (1993). In this light, the current study analyzes Caramelo to illustrate how the "place" of the "other," that is women's "place," is occupied unfairly by the empowered men, and how female characters resist and/or succumb to the oppressive situations. The results of the study indicate that Lala, the main character, possesses the potentiality of being aware of "sexual difference" and "space," as key tools, to regain her place occupied by men, and reclaim her subjectivity, goals for which both Sandra Cisneros and Luce Irigary have aimed for years