Context Matters: Intertextuality and Voice in the Early Modern English Controversy about Women

This dissertation examines three clusters of works from the early modern English controversy about women--the debate about the merits and flaws of womankind--in order to argue that authors in the controversy took advantage of the malleability of women's voices to address issues beyond the worth of women. I depart from standard treatments of the controversy by giving priority to the intertextual contexts among works that engage with one another. Attending to the intertextual elements of this genre reveals the metapoetic concerns of the authors and the way such authors fashion their feminine apologists as discursive agents in order to express those concerns. Chapter 1 examines Edward Gosynhyll's sixteenth-century works in tandem with Geoffrey Chaucer's The Legend of Good Women and "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale," arguing that Gosynhyll's revisions of Chaucer--revisions embodied by the feminine apologists in the texts--are integral to his project of establishing the controversy genre as multivalent and dialectical. The resulting metacommentary examines in a new light the age-old rhetorical tradition of exemplarity, a persuasive tool used in diverse literary genres. Chapter 2 considers the way the anonymous play Swetnam the Woman-Hater uses cross-voicing and cross-dressing to establish the performative nature of controversy conventions. In doing so, the play argues for the social benefits of abandoning essentialist logic in favor of gender performance, as such performance makes the role of apologist available to men and women alike. This cluster reconsiders the very processes by which a person--male or female--can be known to others. Finally, I trace John Taylor's use of the marginal woman in his controversy works in order to demonstrate the extent to which Taylor makes these women instrumental in establishing his own poetic and social identity. This project contributes to studies on the English controversy as well as to the field of early modern women and women's writing by arguing that authors found the genre generally and the woman's voice specifically to be fit vehicles for articulating poetic agendas beyond the immediate task of debating the nature of womankind

Stochastic Behavior of Effective Field Theories Across Threshold

We explore how the existence of a field with a heavy mass influences the low energy dynamics of a quantum field with a light mass by expounding the stochastic characters of their interactions which take on the form of fluctuations in the number of (heavy field) particles created at the threshold, and dissipation in the dynamics of the light fields, arising from the backreaction of produced heavy particles. We claim that the stochastic nature of effective field theories is intrinsic, in that dissipation and fluctuations are present both above and below the threshold. Stochasticity builds up exponentially quickly as the heavy threshold is approached from below, becoming dominant once the threshold is crossed. But it also exists below the threshold and is in principle detectable, albeit strongly suppressed at low energies. The results derived here can be used to give a quantitative definition of the `effectiveness' of a theory in terms of the relative weight of the deterministic versus the stochastic behavior at different energy scales.Comment: 32 pages, Latex, no figure

Low-density star cluster formation: Discovery of a young faint fuzzy on the outskirts of the low-mass spiral galaxy NGC 247

The classical globular clusters found in all galaxy types have half-light radii of rh ~2-4 pc, which have been tied to formation in the dense cores of giant molecular clouds. Some old star clusters have larger sizes, and it is unclear if these represent a fundamentally different mode of low-density star cluster formation. We report the discovery of a rare, young \u27faint fuzzy\u27 star cluster, NGC 247-SC1, on the outskirts of the low-mass spiral galaxy NGC 247 in the nearby Sculptor group, and measure its radial velocity using Keck spectroscopy. We use Hubble Space Telescope imaging to measure the cluster half-light radius of rh ≃ 12 pc and a luminosity of LV ≃ 4 × 105Lθ. We produce a colour-magnitude diagram of cluster stars and compare to theoretical isochrones, finding an age of ≃300 Myr, a metallicity of [Z/H] ~-0.6 and an inferred mass of M∗ ≃ 9 × 104Mθ. The narrow width of blue-loop star magnitudes implies an age spread of ≲50 Myr, while no old red-giant branch stars are found, so SC1 is consistent with hosting a single stellar population, modulo several unexplained bright \u27red straggler\u27 stars. SC1 appears to be surrounded by tidal debris, at the end of an ∼2 kpc long stellar filament that also hosts two low-mass, low-density clusters of a similar age. We explore a link between the formation of these unusual clusters and an external perturbation of their host galaxy, illuminating a possible channel by which some clusters are born with large sizes

Molecular Interactions that Enable Movement of the Lyme Disease Agent from the Tick Gut into the Hemolymph

Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, is transmitted to humans by bite of Ixodes scapularis ticks. The mechanisms by which the bacterium is transmitted from vector to host are poorly understood. In this study, we show that the F(ab)2 fragments of BBE31, a B.burgdorferi outer-surface lipoprotein, interfere with the migration of the spirochete from tick gut into the hemolymph during tick feeding. The decreased hemolymph infection results in lower salivary glands infection, and consequently attenuates mouse infection by tick-transmitted B. burgdorferi. Using a yeast surface display approach, a tick gut protein named TRE31 was identified to interact with BBE31. Silencing tre31 also decreased the B. burgdorferi burden in the tick hemolymph. Delineating the specific spirochete and arthropod ligands required for B. burgdorferi movement in the tick may lead to new strategies to interrupt the life cycle of the Lyme disease agent

International nosocomial infection control consortium (INICC) report, data summary of 36 countries, for 2004-2009

The results of a surveillance study conducted by the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) from January 2004 through December 2009 in 422 intensive care units (ICUs) of 36 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe are reported. During the 6-year study period, using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN; formerly the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance system [NNIS]) definitions for device-associated health care-associated infections, we gathered prospective data from 313,008 patients hospitalized in the consortium's ICUs for an aggregate of 2,194,897 ICU bed-days. Despite the fact that the use of devices in the developing countries' ICUs was remarkably similar to that reported in US ICUs in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were significantly higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals; the pooled rate of central line-associated bloodstream infection in the INICC ICUs of 6.8 per 1,000 central line-days was more than 3-fold higher than the 2.0 per 1,000 central line-days reported in comparable US ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia also was far higher (15.8 vs 3.3 per 1,000 ventilator-days), as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (6.3 vs. 3.3 per 1,000 catheter-days). Notably, the frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates to imipenem (47.2% vs 23.0%), Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (76.3% vs 27.1%), Escherichia coli isolates to ceftazidime (66.7% vs 8.1%), Staphylococcus aureus isolates to methicillin (84.4% vs 56.8%), were also higher in the consortium's ICUs, and the crude unadjusted excess mortalities of device-related infections ranged from 7.3% (for catheter-associated urinary tract infection) to 15.2% (for ventilator-associated pneumonia). Copyright © 2012 by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Efficacy and safety of baricitinib or ravulizumab in adult patients with severe COVID-19 (TACTIC-R): a randomised, parallel-arm, open-label, phase 4 trial

Background From early in the COVID-19 pandemic, evidence suggested a role for cytokine dysregulation and complement activation in severe disease. In the TACTIC-R trial, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of baricitinib, an inhibitor of Janus kinase 1 (JAK1) and JAK2, and ravulizumab, a monoclonal inhibitor of complement C5 activation, as an adjunct to standard of care for the treatment of adult patients hospitalised with COVID-19. Methods TACTIC-R was a phase 4, randomised, parallel-arm, open-label platform trial that was undertaken in the UK with urgent public health designation to assess the potential of repurposing immunosuppressants for the treatment of severe COVID-19, stratified by a risk score. Adult participants (aged ≥18 years) were enrolled from 22 hospitals across the UK. Patients with a risk score indicating a 40% risk of admission to an intensive care unit or death were randomly assigned 1:1:1 to standard of care alone, standard of care with baricitinib, or standard of care with ravulizumab. The composite primary outcome was the time from randomisation to incidence (up to and including day 14) of the first event of death, invasive mechanical ventilation, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, cardiovascular organ support, or renal failure. The primary interim analysis was triggered when 125 patient datasets were available up to day 14 in each study group and we included in the analysis all participants who were randomly assigned. The trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04390464). Findings Between May 8, 2020, and May 7, 2021, 417 participants were recruited and randomly assigned to standard of care alone (145 patients), baricitinib (137 patients), or ravulizumab (135 patients). Only 54 (39%) of 137 patients in the baricitinib group received the maximum 14-day course, whereas 132 (98%) of 135 patients in the ravulizumab group received the intended dose. The trial was stopped after the primary interim analysis on grounds of futility. The estimated hazard ratio (HR) for reaching the composite primary endpoint was 1·11 (95% CI 0·62–1·99) for patients on baricitinib compared with standard of care alone, and 1·53 (0·88–2·67) for ravulizumab compared with standard of care alone. 45 serious adverse events (21 deaths) were reported in the standard-of-care group, 57 (24 deaths) in the baricitinib group, and 60 (18 deaths) in the ravulizumab group. Interpretation Neither baricitinib nor ravulizumab, as administered in this study, was effective in reducing disease severity in patients selected for severe COVID-19. Safety was similar between treatments and standard of care. The short period of dosing with baricitinib might explain the discrepancy between our findings and those of other trials. The therapeutic potential of targeting complement C5 activation product C5a, rather than the cleavage of C5, warrants further evaluation

Biosynthesis and characterization of Dillenia indica-mediated silver nanoparticles and their biological activity

Dillenia indica L. is a traditional medicinal plant well known for its ability to cure various human diseases. In the current study, silver nanoparticles have been synthesized by simple and eco-friendly method using Dillenia indica extract. The green synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), UV-visible spectroscopy, Atomic force microscopy (AFM), High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), Zeta Potential and Size Distribution. UV-visible and FTIR spectra, AFM, HR-TEM and Zeta Potential readings and size distribution conformed that the synthesized silver particles were in the size of nano. The green synthesized silver nanoparticles were subjected for antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria Enterococcus faecalis and Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli by agar well diffusion method. The synthesized AgNPs exhibited significant inhibition of 27 and 16 mm against the test bacteria at 0.25 mg/ml. Further the antibacterial activity was confirmed by live and dead cell assay by fluorescence microscopy and morphological changes of bacteria were studied by Scanning electron microscope (SEM). The study recommends that the synthesized silver nanoparticles using Dillenia indica extract have potential application in inhibition of bacteria owing to their potent antibacterial activity

Indian sign language recognition using convolution neural network

The goal of the project is to create a machine learning model that can classify the numerous hand motions used in sign language fingerspelling. Communication with deaf and dumb persons is frequently difficult. A variety of hand, finger, and arm motions that assist the deaf and hard of hearing in communicating with others and vice versa. Classification machine learning algorithms are taught on a set of image data in this userindependent model, and testing is done on a completely other set of data. For some people with particular needs, sign language is their only means of communicating their thoughts and feelings. It enables individuals to understand the world around them by visual descriptions and hence contribute to society. As a result, our model aids us in solving the problem more broadly. By watching the user’s hand gestures, this transforms sign language to regular words

Antimicrobial activity of leaf extracts of Indian medicinal plants against clinical and phytopathogenic bacteria

The ethnobotanical efficacy of Indian medicinal plants; Achyranthes aspera, Artemisia parviflora, Azadirachta indica, Calotropis gigantean, Lawsonia inermis, Mimosa pudica, Ixora coccinea, Parthenium hysterophorus and Chromolaena odorata were examined using agar disc diffusion method against clinical bacteria (Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus) and phytopathogenic bacteria (Xanthomonas vesicatoria and Ralstonia solanacearum). Leaves were extracted using different solvents such as methanol, ethanol, ethyl acetate and chloroform. Among treatments, maximum in vitro inhibition was scored in methanol extracts of C. odorata which offered inhibition zone of 10, 9, 12 and 12 mm against E. coli, S. aureus, X. vesicatoria and R. solanaccearum, respectively, followed by chloroform extract of the same plant leaf with inhibition zone of 8, 4, 4 and 4 mm, respectively. A significant inhibition of E. coli was found in aqueous and in all tested solvent extracts of A. indica. In case of S. aureus, maximum inhibition of 8 mm was obtained in aqueous extracts of A. indica and 6 mm from methanol extract of L. inermis. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value for the clinical bacteria ranged between 0.35 to 4.0 mg/ml and 0.25 to 4.0 mg/ml for phytopathogenic bacteria when tested with all four solvents extracts of C. odorata. Whereas, extracts of A. aspera, A. parviflora, C. gigantean, L. inermis, M. pudica and I. coccinea were found to be ineffective or showed poor inhibition on tested human and phytopathogenic bacteria