戀愛幻影 : 論《帶我去吧 ，月光》

朱天文(1956- )為台灣當代女作家、編劇家，早已享負盛名。《世紀末的華麗》1 短篇小說集是其寫作風格之轉折點，長篇小說《荒人手記》(1994)則獲得第一屆時報文學百萬小說首獎。 《世紀末的華麗》於1990年出版，包括七個短篇小說，其中一篇〈帶我去吧，月光〉故事頗有趣味，主角的幻想亦耐人尋味。故事講述主角佳瑋的戀愛故事。她的男朋友李平，為人忠厚，對她百般遷就。後來，她遇上來自香港的夏杰甫。他是商界精英，善交際，對感情不專一。佳瑋愛上了他，並開始畫JJ與美美的漫畫，分別代表夏和自己，她便沉溺在這個幻想世界裏。後來，她到香港尋找夏，卻發現他對她並不是認真的。 《世紀末的華麗》備受注目，被認為寫出了時代的蒼涼，反照了台灣的歷史背景。詹宏志形容它是 “一種老去的聲音”，2 他說：“朱天文筆下的 ‘成長’ ，如何竟都變換一副蒼涼沙啞的聲調；這一系列的小說，如何竟都包括一位滄桑於心的人，獨自在那裏，傾聽自己體內卡兹鈣化老去的聲音。” 3 簡括而言，今昔對比、年華不再是此書的基調，但是，獨立篇章總還有別的東西，如〈帶我去吧，月光〉衷的佳瑋，只用 “緬懷昔日” 來涵蓋其意義就不能細察她的行為。 王德成認為“這位小姐生猛的激情，真是如此 ‘天真無邪近乎無恥’。相對於她母親四十年舊情綿綿，孰輕孰重，反倒難下論斷。” 4 又說 “朱天文以小兒女式的筆調起始，卻終於述說一個恩情不再，回憶蕩然的故事。” 5 他以情之輕重去看故事的人物和時代。 張誦聖亦以台灣政治背景為立足點 “女主角陪母親到了香港卻不願再陪她到大陸去探親。中國即已變成了具體的現實， ‘中國情結’ 所賴以維繫的想像基礎也因之瓦解，換句話說，中國再也不是一個可供懷舊遐想的 ‘從前’。6 無疑小說充滿緬懷昔日之情，政治的隱義也昭然若揭。 不過，如果能撇開政治、歷史的層面，而轉以心理分析的方法，去剖析人物，就更能了解故事的細節，而不至於忽略了人物的思想，或無從解釋主角幻想世界的含意。運用心理分析，可以深入了解作品主題和象徵意義，避免歷史批評方法過分著重歷史和社會背景，而忽略了文學作品本身的獨立性。 本篇論文將依據水仙子的神話，運用心理分析來解構人物。論文以兩個方向來論述：首先，將故事人物和神話人物作一對照，李平就是厄科(Echo)，佳瑋是水仙子(Narcissus)，夏杰甫就是倒影，美茵就彷似小丑與水仙子性格相反；第二個方向，分析主角的性格特徵，是與水仙子吻合，從而證明主角的戀愛其實是虛幻的，她只在自己的世界裏，戀上了自己的倒影，因為在自戀的世界裏，真愛是不存在的

CDER\u27s emerging technology team

The newly formed Emerging Technology Team (ETT) draws membership from all CDER quality review, research and inspection functions, including Office of Biotechnology Products. The goal of the ETT is provide a primary point of contact for external inquiries regarding emerging technology in pharmaceutical and biotechnology manufacturing and quality control. The ETT will partner with review offices in a cross-functional manner and identify regulatory strategy and resolve roadblocks to new technologies relating to existing guidance, policy or practices related to review or inspection. The ETT’s initial focus will be innovation on novel products, manufacturing processes, or testing technologies or processes to be submitted in a BLA, NDA or ANDA. This talk will provide an update on ETT’s activities in 2015

Understanding pathogenic and physiological T follicular helper cell formation

T follicular helper (Tfh) cells localize to follicles where they provide growth and selection signals to mutated germinal center (GC) B cells, thus promoting their differentiation into high affinity long-lived plasma cells and memory B cells. T-dependent B cell differentiation also occurs extrafollicularly, giving rise to unmutated plasma cells that are important for early protection against microbial infections. Bcl-6 expression in T cells has been shown to be essential for the formation of Tfh cells and GC B cells, but little is known about its requirement in physiological extrafollicular antibody responses. We use several mouse models in which extrafollicular plasma cells can be unequivocally distinguished from those of GC origin, combined with antigen-specific T and B cells, to show that the absence of T cell-expressed Bcl-6 significantly reduces T-dependent extrafollicular antibody responses. Bcl-6+ T cells appear at the T-B border soon after T cell priming and before GC formation, and these cells express low amounts of PD-1. Their appearance precedes that of Bcl-6+PD-1hi T cells, which are found within GC. IL-21 acts early to promote both follicular and extrafollicular antibody responses. In conclusion, Bcl6+ T cells are necessary at B cell priming in order to form extrafollicular antibody responses, and these pre-GC Tfh cells can be distinguished phenotypically from GC Tfh cells. Overactivity of the GC pathway due to accumulation of Tfh cells causes autoimmunity, underscoring the need to understand the factors that control Tfh homeostasis. Here, we have identified posttranscriptional repression of interferon-gamma (Ifng) mRNA as a novel mechanism to limit Tfh cell formation. Using the sanroque lupus model, we have shown that decreased Ifng mRNA decay caused excessive interferon-gamma signaling in T cells and led to accumulation of Tfh cells, spontaneous GC, autoantibody formation and nephritis. Unlike ICOS and T-bet deficiency that failed to rescue several autoimmune manifestations, interferon-gamma receptor deficiency completely prevented lupus development. Interferon-gamma blockade after disease onset reduced Tfh cells and autoantibodies, demonstrating that interferon-gamma overproduction was required to sustain lupus-associated pathology. Increased interferon-gamma signaling caused Bcl-6 overexpression in Tfh cells and their precursors. This novel link between interferon-gamma and aberrant Tfh formation provides a rationale for interferon-gamma blockade in lupus patients with an overactive Tfh cell-associated pathway

Quantitative evaluation of the educational programmes on students’ awareness of social responsibility

As discrimination and hazardous working conditions have been constituting social costs in the Hong Kong economy, legislative progress in enforcing equal opportunity, safety and health at work becomes obvious with the enactment of discrimination ordinances and the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance in 1997. Educational programmes were being conducted for students to realise such social responsibility soon after they graduate. The evaluation of the educational programmes is based on the empirical data collected after the delivery of educational packages

Tsallis distribution and luminescence decays

Usually, the Kohlrausch (stretched exponential) function is employed to fit the luminescence decays. In this work we propose to use the Tsallis distribution as an alternative to describe them. We show that the curves of the luminescence decay obtained from the Tsallis distribution are close to those ones obtained from the stretched exponential. Further, we show that our result can fit well the data of porous silicon at low temperature and simulation result of the trapping controlled luminescence model.Comment: 8 pages and 4 figure

Elderly participation and empowerment : experiences of SAGE

The Hong Kong Society for the Age (SAGE) established in 1977 is one of the well-known Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in responding to the rapid growing elderly population and the welfare needs of the senior in Hong Kong. Its services include Care and Attention Home, Elderly Hostels, Elderly Centres, Day Care Centres, Home Care Service. etc. The mission of SAGE is to ensure the elderly to have dignity and reasonable comfort in their old age. In 2008, SAGE aims to provide distinctive services to the elderly, i.e. elderly participation and empowerment (Homepage of Sage: http://www.sage.org.hk/eng/ideal.htm). This paper focuses how Sage as an elderly organization in Hong Kong empower older persons through active participation. In the past, the term “client” was widely used to describe those who approached SAGE for service or assistance. It was later changed to “Service User” or “Service Recipient”, a more appropriate term to describe the relationship as SAGE moves more towards the philosophy of a customer-oriented approach. However, the usage of this term implied a power relationship between the service providers, meaning those who “give”, and the service recipients, meaning those who “receive”. Therefore, the situation has been changed in order to emphasize “partnership” instead – a term that is devoid of status hierarchy with a fair chance of participation for both parties, which could result in a win-win situation. It is anticipated that there will be an even more progressive approach to include service users as “decision-makers”, so that they can have more say in deciding the type and mode of service provision, as well as in allocating resources. These changes not only denote the significance of enhancing the customers’ dual roles of being “partners” and “decision-makers” in the process of service provision, but also emphasis the importance of encouraging their participation through empowerment. With rapid development in information and technology, distinguish to before, the participations of the Hong Kong elderly are no longer conservative and invisible nowadays, this development promotes and enhances the active role and self-awareness in society among the elderly. Throughout the advocacy, guidance, and support of many community services in SAGE, it helps to echo the active involvement of the elders in the community. This involvement leads the elders becoming more aware of their collective strength and the power of voicing their concerns about social issues that directly or indirectly affect their own life and well-being. From SAGE experience, Elders’ involvement can be seen from the active roles they play in the organization and operation of different committees, including “Service Users’ Councils”, “Canteen Service Management Committees”, elder learning platform, etc., all these participation definitely enhance the well-being of the elders. However, elderly participation is still relatively low as regards to the whole society, and there exists considerable room for improvements at the policy-making and decision level. For example, at present, most elders’ involvements are mainly through invitations. Their opinions are generally sought on specific issues such as elderly education and welfare. From time to time, maybe, elderly representatives from different sectors of the community are invited to participate in focus group discussions initiated by the Elderly Commission of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, an official agency that is responsible for advocacy and policy decision-making concerning elderly welfare. Sometimes the elders themselves run some self-organized groups at local level, such as “The Hong Kong Association of Senior Citizens”, which helps play their active roles in sensitizing the Government and the community towards elderly-related issues. With these examples, how could we identify the benefits of the elderly participation? How do the elderly being empowered? A theoretical framework of participation and empowerment with a real experience in SAGE is going to explain in the next part

Quantum Oscillations of the J=3/2 Fermi Surface in the Topological Semimetal Yptbi

The bismuth-based half-Heusler materials host a nontrivial topological band structure, unconventional superconductivity, and large spin-orbit coupling in a system with very low electron density. In particular, the inversion of p-orbital-derived bands with an effective angular momentum j of up to 3/2 is thought to play a central role in anomalous Cooper pairing in the cubic half-Heusler semimetal YPtBi, which is thought to be the first high-spin superconductor. Here, we report an extensive study of the angular dependence of quantum oscillations (QOs) in the electrical conductivity of YPtBi, revealing an anomalous Shubnikov-de Haas effect consistent with the presence of a coherent j=3/2 Fermi surface. The QO signal in YPtBi manifests an extreme anisotropy upon rotation of the magnetic field from the [100] to [110] crystallographic direction, where the QO amplitude vanishes. This radical anisotropy for such a highly isotropic system cannot be explained by trivial scenarios involving changes in effective mass or impurity scattering, but rather is naturally explained by the warping feature of the j=3/2 Fermi surface of YPtBi, providing direct proof of active high angular momentum quasiparticles in the half-Heusler compounds