The Case of Human Plurality: Hannah Arendt\u27s Critique of Individualism in Enlightenment and Romantic Thinking

The theme of this thesis is Hannah Arendt’s critique and ultimate rejection of the ideas of individualism developed during the Enlightenment and the Romantic periods. She rejects the Enlightenment notion of the “abstract man,” but equally rejects the notion of Romantic introspection that followed. Such a critique is important to Arendt because she makes human plurality the center for her entire system of thought. Using the French Revolution, Jewish history, and totalitarianism as her examples, Arendt explains the effects of such overtly individualistic thinking in both society and politics. The goal of this thesis is not a comprehensive look at the vast number of theories developed during the Enlightenment and Romantic periods. That is far beyond its intended scope. The goal, instead, is to show how Arendt used her critique of a select number of ideas to further define and clarify her own thoughts. In the end it will be shown that while Arendt ranged all over in her thinking (from history to politics to philosophy) she engaged these topics in a systematic way as to explore the affinities and contradictions to human plurality in whatever she studied. She is drawn to the late 18th/early 19th centuries precisely because she envisions it as a watershed moment in Western conceptions of individuality, one that stamped out all thought of human plurality. Arendt wants to rescue the notion of human plurality and elevate it to a primal position in Western thought

Hypervelocity Impact of Composite Overwrap Pressure Vessels

There is a limited amount of hypervelocity impact (HVI) data on pressurized composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPV). In recent years, NASA has performed HVI tests to characterize impact conditions resulting in either leak or burst of the COPVs representative of spacecraft hardware. This paper reports on the results of 40 tests that have been conducted on several types of COPV configurations, pressurized by inert gas to near the vessels rated maximum expected operating pressure (MEOP). These tests were used to better understand COPV response under HVI conditions and develop ballistic limit equations (BLE) related to these tests

Making a market for Miscanthus: Can new contract designs solve the biofuel investment hold-up problem?

We present designs for optimal contracts to solve the investment hold-up problem for perennial crops for the biofuel industry. A fixed-price contract is ex-ante efficient but renegotiation-proof for a limited range of discount parameters. A perfectly- indexed contract is both renegotiation-proof and ex-post efficient. Provided long-run land prices are stationary, the expected cost for both contracts converges to the long-run expected price of land for a risk-neutral farmer.Biofuels, Miscanthus, contract theory, industrial organization, renegotiation-proof contract, Marketing,

Effects of Human Apolipoprotein E3 and E4 Genotypes on Cardiometabolic Disease Risk

Apolipoprotein (apo) E isoforms have specific effects on the etiology of cardiovascular disease (CVD), but data is limited on the effects of these genotypes for the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and related cardiometabolic alterations. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of human apoE3 and E4 genotypes on risk factors for T2DM and cardiac metabolism. Cardiac tissue from human apoE3 (n=8) and E4 (n=8) knock-in (KI) mice were compared to lean (n=11) and diet-induced obese (n=12) B6D2F1 mice to characterize the cardiac metabolic activity of AMPK, as well as for lipid and glycogen levels. Plasma was analyzed for lipid and lipoprotein concentrations, as well as glucose, insulin and HOMA-IR. An ANOVA was used to identify differences between groups. Statistical significance was set at a P\u3c0.05. ApoE3 and E4 mice displayed mild insulin resistance (Table 1) despite for having a body mass similar to the lean mice. In addition, apoE3 mice had a 1.5 fold greater HOMA-IR than apoE4 mice. Interestingly, apoE3 and E4 mice had significantly lower TC, Tg and HDL-C than both lean and obese mice. In apoE3 mice, nonHDL-C was significantly lower than both the lean and obese mice and the apoE4 mice. In apoE3 mice, cardiac cholesterol was greater than both lean and obese controls and apoE4 mice. In contrast, apoE4 mice had 2.5 and 2.9 fold greater cardiac triglyceride levels than the lean and obese mice, respectively. In the absence of an obesogenic diet, apoE3 and E4 mice displayed an insulin resistant metabolic state combined with altered lipid and lipoprotein metabolism that paralleled an increase in cardiac lipid deposition. These alterations in cardiac metabolism may contribute to the increased risk of CVD observed in apoE3 and E4 genotypes

A single codon insertion in PICALM is associated with development of familial subvalvular aortic stenosis in Newfoundland dogs

Familial subvalvular aortic stenosis (SAS) is one of the most common congenital heart defects in dogs and is an inherited defect of Newfoundlands, golden retrievers and human children. Although SAS is known to be inherited, specific genes involved in Newfoundlands with SAS have not been defined. We hypothesized that SAS in Newfoundlands is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern and caused by a single genetic variant. We studied 93 prospectively recruited Newfoundland dogs, and 180 control dogs of 30 breeds. By providing cardiac screening evaluations for Newfoundlands we conducted a pedigree evaluation, genome-wide association study and RNA sequence analysis to identify a proposed pattern of inheritance and genetic loci associated with the development of SAS. We identified a three-nucleotide exonic insertion in phosphatidylinositol-binding clathrin assembly protein (PICALM) that is associated with the development of SAS in Newfoundlands. Pedigree evaluation best supported an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance and provided evidence that equivocally affected individuals may pass on SAS in their progeny. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated the presence of PICALM in the canine myocardium and area of the subvalvular ridge. Additionally, small molecule inhibition of clathrin-mediated endocytosis resulted in developmental abnormalities within the outflow tract (OFT) of Xenopus laevis embryos. The ability to test for presence of this PICALM insertion may impact dog-breeding decisions and facilitate reduction of SAS disease prevalence in Newfoundland dogs. Understanding the role of PICALM in OFT development may aid in future molecular and genetic investigations into other congenital heart defects of various species

The Lantern Vol. 73, No. 1, Fall 2005

• Newspaper Clippings Found on the Wall of Giuseppe Luchenzo\u27s Home When it was Raided by Police • All the Time in the World • The Man Who Would Win • Souffle Suit • A Day in the Mind • Context • Felicity / Awareness • Frivolous • Thank You Note to J.S.B. • September 17, 2005 • Eight Ways of Looking at a Highway • Dusty Glass Spreads Air Like Light • Clockwork • Rubber Band • Outside Eye or I Am? • A Mundane Mysticism • Half Carat • Things I Learned on My Trip to the Mutter Museum of Medical Oddities • Peer Editing • The Attic Bones • Yeshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1167/thumbnail.jp

The Lantern Vol. 72, No. 2, Spring 2005

• Transmigration • Faces of the Moon • Euphony of the Euphonium • He Met Me in the Arcs & Ebbs of Frailty • An Adoration of Ordination • Ebony: The Essence Thereof • Curbside Statue Has No Legs Left • Triggerfinger Romance • Lost • Running Through Connecticut • Eve • The Day Lates and the Dollar Shorts • Somnambulist • That\u27s That • The Glenn Machine • Evenfall in Bad Homburg • Absence of Field • Dating Myself • Traveling Without a Map • The Non-Euclidean Way to Get Some Bagels • La Belle Epoque • Satin Boxeshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1166/thumbnail.jp

The Lantern Vol. 73, No. 2, Spring 2006

• Of the Man • Beauty in America • Kindling • Genevieve • Bits of Copper • A Love Song to Hip Hop • From James\u27 Journal • I Want a Woman • Peregrine Rain • Resurge • Frustrations • (At Least) You Gave Me Something to Write About • The Fun of Giving Interactive History Lectures as a Summer Job • Exigence • White Water • My Summer, with Salt • The City With Two Faces • I Dig Your Cello • Life-Filled Ghost Town • Laura, On Happiness • Integration/Assimilation • Sunny Side Estates • Every Night I Shut My Eyes • New England State of Mind • Your Body\u27s Weight in Water for Your Soul, Thank You Very Much • A Story That\u27s 10 Percent Truehttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1168/thumbnail.jp

A Functional Screen Provides Evidence for a Conserved, Regulatory, Juxtamembrane Phosphorylation Site in Guanylyl Cyclase A and B

Kinase homology domain (KHD) phosphorylation is required for activation of guanylyl cyclase (GC)-A and -B. Phosphopeptide mapping identified multiple phosphorylation sites in GC-A and GC-B, but these approaches have difficulty identifying sites in poorly detected peptides. Here, a functional screen was conducted to identify novel sites. Conserved serines or threonines in the KHDs of phosphorylated receptor GCs were mutated to alanine and tested for reduced hormone to detergent activity ratios. Mutation of Ser-489 in GC-B to alanine but not glutamate reduced the activity ratio to 60% of wild type (WT) levels. Similar results were observed with Ser-473, the homologous site in GC-A. Receptors containing glutamates for previously identified phosphorylation sites (GC-A-6E and GC-B-6E) were activated to ∼20% of WT levels but the additional glutamate substitution for S473 or S489 increased activity to near WT levels. Substrate-velocity assays indicated that GC-B-WT-S489E and GC-B-6E-S489E had lower Km values and that WT-GC-B-S489A, GC-B-6E and GC-B-6E-S489A had higher Km values than WT-GC-B. Homologous desensitization was enhanced when GC-A contained the S473E substitution, and GC-B-6E-S489E was resistant to inhibition by a calcium elevating treatment or protein kinase C activation – processes that dephosphorylate GC-B. Mass spectrometric detection of a synthetic phospho-Ser-473 containing peptide was 200–1300-fold less sensitive than other phosphorylated peptides and neither mass spectrometric nor 32PO4 co-migration studies detected phospho-Ser-473 or phospho-Ser-489 in cells. We conclude that Ser-473 and Ser-489 are Km-regulating phosphorylation sites that are difficult to detect using current methods