In Ruin Unreconciled: Women Writers and the End of the British Empire

Drawing on recent feminist cultural and historical scholarship on the roles o f women in colonial societies in the twentieth century, this dissertation examines the works o f four women writers who wrote important novels that reflect on the wider historical condition o f British imperial contraction and late colonial settler crisis. The women writers in question are from Ireland, India and southern Africa, and thus their works deal with some o f the key sites o f British imperial crisis and collapse in the last century. Beginning with Elizabeth Bow en ’s The L a st September, a novel which reflects on the condition o f the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy against the backdrop o f World War One and the Irish War o f Independence, the dissertation then moves on to examine two m id century novels by Anglo-Indian writer Rumer Godden, namely, B la c k Narcissus and B reakfast with the Nikolides. Both novels deal with th e anxieties o f the English community in India in the context o f World War Two and an increasingly assertive Indian nationalist movement. The later chapters in the study deal respectively with Doris Le ssing’s The Grass is Singing and with Nadine Gordimer’s The L y in g Days, novels that engage in diverse ways with the mentalities and predicaments o f English-affiliated settler communities in Africa in the post-World War Two era as the British Empire entered its final and closing phase. Deploying a b ro ad ly psychoanalytic mode o f analysis informed b y the scholarship o f Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar as well as b y that o f Albert Memmi and Frantz Fanon, the dissertation argues that the novels in question are deeply conflicted narratives that seem overtly to offer fairly conservative colonial settler views o f th e world, b u t which nonetheless also suggest a restive sense o f impatience and frustration with the restrictions imposed on women b y the colonial and imperial order o f things. The source o f these narrative tensions, elaborated in diverse ways in each writer, may b e traced to the historically-conflicted condition o f colonial women generally in the twentieth century. This was a period in which colonial women were compelled as white subjects to witness the collapse o f the colonial worlds in which they had come o f age, b u t in which as female subjects they were also drawn to the advances for women made possible by the women ’s movement in this period. The thesis concentrates in particular on the ways in which the novels mentioned above deal with houses and landscapes as crucial tropes that register a sense o f domestic colonial crisis and with inter-racial interactions o f various sorts as a means to explore the limits o f the possible as one historical dispensation came to an end and a new one opened up

Complications and outcome of cats with congenital extrahepatic portosystemic shunts treated with thin film: Thirty-four cases (2008-2017)

Background: Congenital extrahepatic portosystemic shunts (CEHPSS) are rare in cats. Outcome after attenuation of CEHPSS with thin film has been described in a small number of cases. Objectives: To describe the clinical presentation, postoperative complications, and outcome of cats treated with thin film to attenuate CEHPSS. Animals: Thirty‐four cats with CEHPSS were identified from the database of 3 institutions over 9 years. Methods: Retrospective study. Medical records were reviewed to identify cats with a diagnosis of a CEHPSS that underwent surgical attenuation. Congenital extrahepatic portosystemic shunts were suspected from clinical signs, clinicopathologic findings, and diagnostic imaging, and confirmed at exploratory laparotomy. Cats treated with thin film band attenuation were included. Postoperative complications and follow‐up were recorded. Results: Complications were recorded in 11 of 34 cats. Deaths related to CEHPSS occurred in 6 of 34; 4 cats did not survive to discharge. Persistent seizures were the cause of death in 4 cats. Seizures were recorded in 8 of 34 cats after surgery; all these cats received preoperative antiepileptic drugs. Serum bile acid concentrations normalized in 25 of 28 of the cats for which data was available. Three cats had persistently increased serum bile acid concentrations and underwent a second exploratory laparotomy. One had a patent shunt, the other 2 had multiple acquired portosystemic shunts. Median follow‐up was 8 months (0.5‐84 months). Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Congenital extrahepatic portosystemic shunts attenuation using thin film in cats carries a good short‐ and mid‐term prognosis if they survive the postoperative period. Seizures were the most common cause of death

The impact of cigarette/e-cigarette vapour on simulated pulmonary surfactant monolayers under physiologically relevant conditions

Deviation in pulmonary surfactant structure–function activity can impair airway patency and lead to respiratory disorders. This novel study aims to evaluate the influence cigarette/e-cigarette vapour has on model surfactant films located within a simulated pulmonary environment using a lung biosimulator. Chromatographic analysis confirmed that nicotine levels were consistent with the sampling regimen employed. On exposure to smoke vapour, Langmuir isotherms exhibited condensed character and a significant reduction in maximum surface pressure was noted in all cases. Langmuir isocycles, reflective of the human breathing cycle, demonstrated condensed character on smoke vapour delivery. A reduction in themaximumsurface pressure was clear only in the case of cigarette vapour application. The components of cigarette vapour can cause oxidative damage to pulmonary surfactant and impair recycling. Neutral nicotine molecules can weaken the structure of the monolayer and cause destabilisation. A protective effect was evident in the case of repeated surfactant compression – relaxation cycles (i.e. the ability to reduce the surface tension term was impaired less), demonstrating a likely innate biological defensive mechanism of the lung. E-cigarette vapour appeared to have a reduced impact on surfactant performance, which may hold value in harm reduction over the longer term

Molecular structure and biodegradation kinetics of Linear Alkylbenzene Sulphonates in sea water.

The present paper describes the results of the application of the biodegradation test proposed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) “Biodegradability in sea water” Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances (OPPTS) 835.3160, to Linear Alkylbenzene Sulphonate (LAS), the synthetic surfactant with the highest consumption volume on a world-wide basis. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has been employed for the separation and quantification of the different homologues and isomers of the surfactant. Water from the Bay of Cádiz (South–West of the Iberian peninsula) has been used as test medium. The results indicate how both lag and t50 time shows a significant linear relationship with the length of the alkyl chain of the homologue; the effect of this is that the homologues of longer chain length not only begin to degrade first but also degrade at a faster rate. Regarding the isomeric composition, it is observed that as the percentage of biodegradation increases, there is an increase in the proportion of internal isomers, in comparison with the isomeric relationships of the original test substanc

Analysis and characterization of heparin impurities

This review discusses recent developments in analytical methods available for the sensitive separation, detection and structural characterization of heparin contaminants. The adulteration of raw heparin with oversulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS) in 2007–2008 spawned a global crisis resulting in extensive revisions to the pharmacopeia monographs on heparin and prompting the FDA to recommend the development of additional physicochemical methods for the analysis of heparin purity. The analytical chemistry community quickly responded to this challenge, developing a wide variety of innovative approaches, several of which are reported in this special issue. This review provides an overview of methods of heparin isolation and digestion, discusses known heparin contaminants, including OSCS, and summarizes recent publications on heparin impurity analysis using sensors, near-IR, Raman, and NMR spectroscopy, as well as electrophoretic and chromatographic separations

Nicotine delivery to users from cigarettes and from different types of e-cigarettes

BACKGROUND: Delivering nicotine in the way smokers seek is likely to be the key factor in e-cigarette (EC) success in replacing cigarettes. We examined to what degree different types of EC mimic nicotine intake from cigarettes. METHODS: Twelve participants (‘dual users’ of EC and cigarettes) used their own brand cigarette and nine different EC brands. Blood samples were taken at baseline and at 2-min intervals for 10 min and again at 30 min. RESULTS: Eleven smokers provided usable data. None of the EC matched cigarettes in nicotine delivery (C (max) = 17.9 ng/ml, T (max) = 4 min and AUC(0–>30) = 315 ng/ml/min). The EC with 48 mg/ml nicotine generated the closest PK profile (C (max) = 13.6 ng/ml, T (max) = 4 min, AUC(0–>30) = 245 ng/ml/min), followed by a third generation EC using 20 mg/ml nicotine (C (max) = 11.9 ng/ml, T (max) = 6 min, AUC(0–>30) = 232 ng/ml/min), followed by the tank system using 20 mg/ml nicotine (C (max) = 9.9 ng/ml, T (max) = 6 min, AUC(0–>30) = 201 ng/ml/min). Cig-a-like PK values were similar, ranging from C (max) 7.5 to 9.7 ng/ml, T (max) 4-6 min, and AUC(0–>30) 144 to 173 ng/ml/min. Moderate differences in e-liquid nicotine concentrations had little effect on nicotine delivery, e.g. the EC with 24 mg/ml cartridge had the same PK profile as ECs with 16 mg/ml cartridges. Using similar strength e-liquid, the tank EC provided significantly more nicotine than cig-a-like ECs. CONCLUSIONS: EC brands we tested do not deliver nicotine as efficiently as cigarettes, but newer EC products deliver nicotine more efficiently than cig-a-like brands. Moderate variations in nicotine content of e-liquid have little effect on nicotine delivery. Smokers who are finding cig-a-like EC unsatisfactory should be advised to try more advanced systems

Exploring the HRM process: a small firm perspective

Given their economic and social importance, it is surprising that we still know very little about HRM in small firms. Traditional prescriptive and content based searches for a bundle of generalizable practices is less relevant for small firms given their particularistic complexities and resource constraints. Recent evidence calls for more attention to be paid to the process perspective representing the implementation/conversion/enactment process of HRM and how it influences performance. This research follows a process perspective using the Bowen and Ostroff framework (2004) to animate and afford a better understanding of how HRM is applied and rendered effective in the small firm setting. Empirically the research involves two in-depth multi-level case studies of award-winning, knowledge-intensive, small firms. The method responds to previous research limitations and enables a more comprehensive higher-level assessment and contextualization of HRM in a smaller firm setting, including taking a simultaneous look at both content and process. Findings from 57 interviews and engagement with both organisations support the primary claims of the framework; distinctiveness, consistency and consensus features are influential in transferring the HR message to staff, whether intended or not. This is significant given that high skilled service-based staff (knowledge workers) have greater discretion over the delivery of the service. Findings suggest that process features have the potential to complement, reinforce and compensate for content (HR practices). Of particular relevance to small firms, the case evidence suggests that consistency and consensus may compensate for a lack of ‘fit’ and sophistication of practices, thus shedding more light on the utility of the proposed framework, the process perspective and its potential value for smaller firms. In advancing the understanding, the critical role of leadership, the context in the form of various financial pressures and employee scope to negotiate, coupled with the dynamic nature of formality/informality emerge as key themes hitherto underexplored in process research. The implications for management practice are that a strong system supports managements’ ability to close the gap between intention and implementation. Ultimately process does matter (Ostroff & Bowen, 2016), by influencing the conversion process, it illuminates how HR operates in the small firm context

In Ruin Unreconciled: Women Writers and the End of the British Empire

Drawing on recent feminist cultural and historical scholarship on the roles o f women in colonial societies in the twentieth century, this dissertation examines the works o f four women writers who wrote important novels that reflect on the wider historical condition o f British imperial contraction and late colonial settler crisis. The women writers in question are from Ireland, India and southern Africa, and thus their works deal with some o f the key sites o f British imperial crisis and collapse in the last century. Beginning with Elizabeth Bow en ’s The L a st September, a novel which reflects on the condition o f the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy against the backdrop o f World War One and the Irish War o f Independence, the dissertation then moves on to examine two m id century novels by Anglo-Indian writer Rumer Godden, namely, B la c k Narcissus and B reakfast with the Nikolides. Both novels deal with th e anxieties o f the English community in India in the context o f World War Two and an increasingly assertive Indian nationalist movement. The later chapters in the study deal respectively with Doris Le ssing’s The Grass is Singing and with Nadine Gordimer’s The L y in g Days, novels that engage in diverse ways with the mentalities and predicaments o f English-affiliated settler communities in Africa in the post-World War Two era as the British Empire entered its final and closing phase. Deploying a b ro ad ly psychoanalytic mode o f analysis informed b y the scholarship o f Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar as well as b y that o f Albert Memmi and Frantz Fanon, the dissertation argues that the novels in question are deeply conflicted narratives that seem overtly to offer fairly conservative colonial settler views o f th e world, b u t which nonetheless also suggest a restive sense o f impatience and frustration with the restrictions imposed on women b y the colonial and imperial order o f things. The source o f these narrative tensions, elaborated in diverse ways in each writer, may b e traced to the historically-conflicted condition o f colonial women generally in the twentieth century. This was a period in which colonial women were compelled as white subjects to witness the collapse o f the colonial worlds in which they had come o f age, b u t in which as female subjects they were also drawn to the advances for women made possible by the women ’s movement in this period. The thesis concentrates in particular on the ways in which the novels mentioned above deal with houses and landscapes as crucial tropes that register a sense o f domestic colonial crisis and with inter-racial interactions o f various sorts as a means to explore the limits o f the possible as one historical dispensation came to an end and a new one opened up