A few words for Axel Vander: John Banville and the pursuit of deconstruction

To read is to understand, to question, to know, to forget, to erase, to deface, to repeat – that is to say, the endless prosopopoeia by which the dead are made to have a face and a voice which tells the allegory of their demise and allows us to apostrophize them in our turn. No degree of knowledge can ever stop this madness, for it is the madness of words.1 When Paul de Man’s wartime journalism in Belgium for the collaborationist paper Le Soir was unearthed in 1987, four years after his death, deconstruction was placed on trial within and beyond the academy. The scandal revolved around legacy, survival and forgetting, and raised questions about how one might speak, or come after, such an event. In the immediate aftermath, Jacques Derrida reflected that the affair had bequeathed “the gift of an ordeal, the summons to a work of reading, historical interpretation, ethico-political reflection, an interminable analysis”.2 For Derrida, those who read after de Man are left with a ceaseless labour of judgement, a reckoning with the past that remains a matter of the present and of the future. Derrida sees de Man’s life and thought as shaped by two separate but entangled temporalities that unsettle notions of ‘before’ and ‘after’: one was a traumatic “prehistoric prelude” in occupied Belgium, the other a “posthistoric afterlife, lighter, less serious” in America. The “war” that de Man endured within himself was lived at “the crossroads of these two incompatible and disjunctive temporalities”. The accused is dead, in ashes, with “neither the grounds, nor the means, still less the choice or the desire to respond”, leaving us, alone, “to carry his memory and his name in us”.3 Those who are left behind must live at this crossroads too, reluctant to discount the mature body of work but unable to forget the youthful ‘error’ of the collaborationist articles. This responsibility to the future is a matter of judging, remembering and reckoning with these temporalities

Reading poetry and dreams in the wake of Freud

Adapting the question at the end of Keats's 'Ode to a Nightingale', this thesis argues that reading poetic texts involves a form of suspension between waking and sleeping. Poems are not the product of an empirical dreamer, but psychoanalytic understandings of dream-work help to provide an account of certain poetic effects. Poetic texts resemble dreams in that both induce identificatory desires within, while simultaneously estranging, the reading process. In establishing a theoretical connection between poetic texts and drearit-work, the discussion raises issues concerning death, memory and the body. The introduction relates Freudian and post-Freudian articulations of dream-work to the language of poetry, and addresses the problem of attributing desire "in" a literary text. Interweaving the work of Borch-Jacobsen, Derrida and Blanchot, the discussion proposes a different space of poetry. By reconfiguring the subject-of-desire and the structure of poetic address, the thesis argues that poetic "dreams" characterize points in texts which radically question the identity and position of the reader. Several main chapters focus on texts - poems by Frost and Keats, and Freud's reading of literary dreams - in which distinctions between waking and sleeping, familiarity and strangeness, order and confusion are profoundly disturbed. The latter part of the thesis concentrates on a textual "unconscious" that insists undecidably between the cultural and the individual. Poems by Eliot, Tennyson, Arnold and Walcott are shown to figure strange dreams and enact displacements that blur the categories of public and private. Throughout, the study confronts the recurrent interpretive problem of reading "inside" and "outside" textual dreams. This thesis offers an original perspective on reading poetry in conjunction with psychoanalysis, in that it challenges traditional assumptions about phantasy and poetry dependent upon a subject constituted in advance of a poetic event or scene of phantasy. It brings poetry into systematic relation with Freud's work on dreams and consistently identifies conceptual and performative links between psychoanalysis and literature in later modernity

Cancers of unknown primary diagnosed during hospitalization: a population-based study

Background: Cancers of Unknown Primary (CUP) are the 3-4th most common causes of cancer death and recent clinical guidelines recommend that patients should be directed to a team dedicated to their care. Our aim was to inform the care of patients diagnosed with CUP during hospital admission. Methods: Descriptive study using hospital admissions (Scottish Morbidity Record 01) linked to cancer registrations (ICD-10 C77-80) and death records from 1998 to 2011 in West of Scotland, UK (population 2.4 m). Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess effects of baseline variables on survival. Results: Seven thousand five hundred ninety nine patients were diagnosed with CUP over the study period, 54.4% female, 67.4% aged ≥ 70 years, 36.7% from the most deprived socio-economic quintile. 71% of all diagnoses were made during a hospital admission, among which 88.6% were emergency presentations and the majority (56.3%) were admitted to general medicine. Median length of stay was 15 days and median survival after admission 33 days. Non-specific morphology, emergency admission, age over 60 years, male sex and admission to geriatric medicine were all associated with poorer survival in adjusted analysis. Conclusions: Patients with a diagnosis of CUP are usually diagnosed during unplanned hospital admissions and have very poor survival. To ensure that patients with CUP are quickly identified and directed to optimal care, increased surveillance and rapid referral pathways will be required

Platelet Lysate to Promote Angiogenic Cell Therapies

Cellular therapies for patients with ischemic muscle have been limited by poor cell retention and survivability. Platelets are a robust source of growth factors and structural proteins, and extracts from this peripheral blood component may be manipulated to improve both cell retention and survivability in percutaneous delivery methods. Human platelet lysate is generated from pooled human platelets and contains a growth factor milieu that promotes robust human mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) proliferation without risk of xenogenic contamination. As such, platelet lysate is a practical alternative to animal serum for MSC culture and, with minor adjustments to the production process, can also be used as a scaffold for cell delivery. Human platelet lysate is a promising substrate that can provide nutritive delivery both in vitro and during cell implantation, potentially improving retention and survivability of MSCs that may improve angiogenic function for cell therapy in treatment of ischemic tissues

Cardiovascular disease and air pollution in Scotland: no association or insufficient data and study design?

<p><b>Background:</b> Coronary heart disease and stroke are leading causes of mortality and ill health in Scotland, and clear associations have been found in previous studies between air pollution and cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to use routinely available data to examine whether there is any evidence of an association between short-term exposure to particulate matter (measured as PM10, particles less than 10 micrograms per cubic metre) and hospital admissions due to cardiovascular disease, in the two largest cities in Scotland during the years 2000 to 2006.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> The study utilised an ecological time series design, and the analysis was based on overdispersed Poisson log-linear models.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> No consistent associations were found between PM10 concentrations and cardiovascular hospital admissions in either of the cities studied, as all of the estimated relative risks were close to one, and all but one of the associated 95% confidence intervals contained the null risk of one.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> This study suggests that in small cities, where air quality is relatively good, then either PM10 concentrations have no effect on cardiovascular ill health, or that the routinely available data and the corresponding study design are not sufficient to detect an association.</p&gt

Do You Hear What I Hear? Human Perception of Coyote Group Size

Recordings of 1 – 4 coyotes (Canis latrans) that were howling and yip-yapping were played to 427 participants who were asked to estimate the number of coyotes they perceived to hear. Participants were separated by gender (M or F), age group ( 35), resident location (urban, suburban, or rural), and occupation type (rancher/farmer or non-rancher/farmer). Differences between participants concerning gender, age group, resident location, and occupation type were not observed; however, treatment differences were observed. Participants were able to discern differences in the number of coyotes howling with the addition of each coyote; however, participants consistently overestimated the number of coyotes they heard by nearly 2-fold. Thus, it seems the general public has the perception that coyotes are more abundant than they actually are

Validation of an improved batch model in a coupled combustion space/melt tank/batch melting glass fumace simulation

An improved coupled combustion space model, model for the transport processes in the melting tank, and batch blanket melting model has been developed which is capable of predicting the transport phenomena in a float glass furnace. Model predictions are compared with experimental furnace measurements reported previously. The batch blanket has been approximated as continuous and discrete (island) regions in an attempt to simulate the formation of discrete batch clumps ("logs") observed in real furnaces. Both the boundary location between the continuous blanket and batch island zones, and the batch coverage fraction in the batch island zone are specified as model inputs. The heat fluxes and temperatures at the interfaces between the combustion space, the batch coverage, and the glass tank are calculated in a coupled fashion rather than assumed as input boundary conditions as it must be done in traditional, uncoupled models. Α 455-metric-ton pull rate per day, air-fuel fired float-glass melting furnace was simulated. The 100 % batch blanket simulation (absence of batch islands) yields over-prediction of glass surface temperature, crown incident heat flux, and crown temperature. The assumption of 85 % batch coverage and 15 % free glass surface in the batch island zone agrees well with most experimental measurements. The batch island concept added to the batch melting model is a significant improvement over previous approaches for this case

Enabling employability through inclusive placement learning: final report

Employability plays a significant part in most modern universities' policies and practices, with placements and work-based learning now forming a core part of the course menu. At the University of Wolverhampton employability forms a key component of its strategic plan, as do equality, diversity and inclusion. However, a graduate with a work limiting disability is less likely to have a job compared to an unqualified person with no disability (Smith, 2016) and disabled people are more likely to be unemployed than nondisabled people. While placement learning pays a key part in employability for all students, this may be even more important for disabled students. The College of Learning and Teaching (CoLT) and the Education Observatory funded an exploratory research project to investigate students’ potential barriers to a successful placement. Ninety-eight students on academic courses in the Institute of Education completed a pre-placement questionnaire, and seven participated in post-placement interviews. Staff were also invited to participate, selected for their involvement in placement learning, employability or disability support. Individual interviews and focus groups (11 staff) were conducted

Amitraz and its metabolite modulate honey bee cardiac function and tolerance to viral infection

The health and survival of managed honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies are affected by multiple factors, one of the most important being the interaction between viral pathogens and infestations of the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor. Currently, the only effective strategy available for mitigating the impact of viral infections is the chemical control of mite populations. Unfortunately, the use of in-hive acaricides comes at a price, as they can produce sublethal effects that are difficult to quantify, but may ultimately be as damaging as the mites they are used to treat. The goal of this study was to investigate the physiological and immunological effects of the formamidine acaricide amitraz and its primary metabolite in honey bees. Using flock house virus as a model for viral infection, this study found that exposure to a formamidine acaricide may have a negative impact on the ability of honey bees to tolerate viral infection. Furthermore, this work has demonstrated that amitraz and its metabolite significantly alter honey bee cardiac function, most likely through interaction with octopamine receptors. The results suggest a potential drawback to the in-hive use of amitraz and raise intriguing questions about the relationship between insect cardiac function and disease tolerance

Cost–Benefit Analysis of Coyote Removal as a Management Option in Texas Cattle Ranching

The monetary value of livestock losses attributed to coyote (Canis latrans) predation in North America has increased during the past 20 years. In Texas, USA alone in 2011, these loses were estimated at $6.9 million. To mitigate coyote-related livestock losses, several lethal and nonlethal control methods have been developed. However, there remains a need for better information to guide management decisions regarding cost-effective predator control strategies for livestock production systems. We acquired data, which was used in the model, from published literature from 1960 to present day, subject matter experts, and anecdotal information on coyote ecology. We developed a systems dynamics simulation model to evaluate the economic impact of coyote control on an average-sized cattle (Bos spp.) operation (1,000 ha) for a conceptual 10-year period in Texas. We conducted a sensitivity analyses to validate the model and identify the most sensitive parameters. We tested 88 scenarios using common coyote management methods (i.e., aerial gunning, M-44 devices, snares, livestock guard animals (LGAs), calling and shooting, and foothold traps), combinations of multiple management methods, and number of applications per year (once per year, twice per year, continuous). Several management methods were cost effective at reducing calf predation when applied sparingly and under assumptions of skillful and dedicated application of coyote control methods. The most cost-effective method of coyote control to reduce calf depredation was the combined use of snares and LGAs. When applied 1 month prior to the primary calving month, the snare/LGA combination showed an 81% decrease in overall costs of calf loss and predator management during the 10-year period, respectively. Cost effectiveness of methods deteriorated as the number of applications per year increased. While these are useful results, the intangible values of coyotes through grazing benefits (i.e., fewer prey species such as lagomorphs on the landscape to compete for forage with cattle) and ecological benefits (i.e., mitigation of meso-predator release) were not included in the model. However, these benefits should be considered by ranchers before implementing lethal coyote management