Apocalyptic Visions from the Past: The Colonization of Mars in Dick's Martian Time-Slip

In recent years, climate change has emerged as a dominant theme in literature, with writers trying to find new ways to express how the alteration of climate affects people. Even though it was published before climate change was so pressing an issue, Philip K. Dick’s Martian Time-Slip (1964) deals with the worries caused by an Earth that is becoming increasingly inhospitable, pushing people to migrate to Mars. This article explores how Dick expresses the challenges that immigrants must face in trying to adapt to a new environment and how he uses Mars society to criticize the degeneration of the capitalistic society that marginalizes people who are acutely able to empathize with both humans and the natural world. Among these marginalized people there is Manfred, a child who suffers from autism. Dick conveys Manfred’s conscience through an imaginative language that extends beyond the limits of the human perception of time.  &nbsp

LA (RI)SCOPERTA DI JOHN EDWARD WILLIAMS. LO STILE, I SOTTOGENERI E I TEMI DI BUTCHER'S CROSSING, STONER E AUGUSTUS

Negli ultimi anni l’autore americano John Edward Williams (1922-1994) è stato riscoperto grazie all’incredibile successo del suo terzo romanzo, "Stoner" (1965), ripubblicato negli Stati Uniti nel 2006 e apparso in Europa tra il 2009 e il 2013. Per molto tempo Williams era stato uno scrittore poco considerato dal pubblico e dalla critica perché la sua prosa misurata ed elegante era in controtendenza rispetto alle forme dominanti nella letteratura americana della seconda metà del Novecento. Oggi egli è apprezzato soprattutto come maestro di stile, ma l’analisi dei suoi tre romanzi principali ("Butcher’s Crossing", "Stoner", "Augustus") rivela anche altri aspetti originali della sua opera. Innanzitutto, Williams sfida le rappresentazioni egemoniche dell’eroismo americano: i suoi protagonisti sono, infatti, caratterizzati dalla capacità di sopportazione, dalla pazienza e dal senso di responsabilità verso il loro lavoro. Inoltre, egli si distanzia dalle narrazioni trionfalistiche della storia statunitense: tracciando la parabola discente dell’impero americano dalla fine dell’Ottocento fino al secondo dopoguerra, i suoi romanzi mostrano come una nazione fondata sulla conquista, la distruzione e le disuguaglianze sociali sia destinata all’autodistruzione. Nel primo capitolo di questa tesi viene tratteggiata la carriera di Williams come romanziere, accademico, critico e poeta, esaminando le sue posizioni letterarie nel contesto culturale degli anni Sessanta e Settanta. I tre capitolo successivi sono invece dedicati a "Butcher’s Crossing" (1960), "Stoner" e "Augustus" (1972), analizzati in relazione ai loro sottogeneri (western, "academic novel" e romanzo storico) e ad alcuni temi che emergono nell’opera di Williams (la relazione tra l’uomo e la natura, l’eredità puritana, la raffigurazione dei personaggi femminili).In recent years, the American author John Edward Williams (1922–1994) has been rediscovered, thanks to the incredible success of his third novel, "Stoner" (1965), which was republished in the United States in 2006 and appeared in Europe between 2009 and 2013. For a long time, Williams had been neglected as a writer because his restrained and elegant prose was antithetical to the dominant forms of late-twentieth-century American literature. Today he is considered a master of style, but an analysis of his three major novels ("Butcher’s Crossing", "Stoner", and "Augustus") reveals other original elements in his fiction. First, Williams challenges hegemonic representations of American heroism: his protagonists are characterized by endurance, patience, and a sense of responsibility to their jobs. Moreover, Williams distances himself from triumphalist narrations of American history: tracing the descending parable of the American empire from the end of the nineteenth century to the second half of the twentieth century, his novels show that a nation founded on violence, conquest, and social contradictions is bound to destroy itself. In the first chapter of this thesis, I trace Williams’s career as a novelist, academic, critic, and poet, examining his literary positions in the cultural context of the sixties and seventies. The study then proceeds by analyzing "Butcher’s Crossing" (1960), "Stoner", and "Augustus" (1972) in relation to their subgenres (Western, academic novel, and historical novel) and some themes that emerge in Williams’s writing (the relationship between man and nature, the American Puritan heritage, and the representation of female characters)

Analysis of in situ pre-mRNA targets of human splicing factor SF1 reveals a function in alternative splicing

The conserved pre-mRNA splicing factor SF1 is implicated in 3′ splice site recognition by binding directly to the intron branch site. However, because SF1 is not essential for constitutive splicing, its role in pre-mRNA processing has remained mysterious. Here, we used crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP) to analyze short RNAs directly bound by human SF1 in vivo. SF1 bound mainly pre-mRNAs, with 77% of target sites in introns. Binding to target RNAs in vitro was dependent on the newly defined SF1 binding motif ACUNAC, strongly resembling human branch sites. Surprisingly, the majority of SF1 binding sites did not map to the expected position near 3′ splice sites. Instead, target sites were distributed throughout introns, and a smaller but significant fraction occurred in exons within coding and untranslated regions. These data suggest a more complex role for SF1 in splicing regulation. Indeed, SF1 silencing affected alternative splicing of endogenous transcripts, establishing a previously unexpected role for SF1 and branch site-like sequences in splice site selectio

Analysis of in situ pre-mRNA targets of human splicing factor SF1 reveals a function in alternative splicing

The conserved pre-mRNA splicing factor SF1 is implicated in 3′ splice site recognition by binding directly to the intron branch site. However, because SF1 is not essential for constitutive splicing, its role in pre-mRNA processing has remained mysterious. Here, we used crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP) to analyze short RNAs directly bound by human SF1 in vivo. SF1 bound mainly pre-mRNAs, with 77% of target sites in introns. Binding to target RNAs in vitro was dependent on the newly defined SF1 binding motif ACUNAC, strongly resembling human branch sites. Surprisingly, the majority of SF1 binding sites did not map to the expected position near 3′ splice sites. Instead, target sites were distributed throughout introns, and a smaller but significant fraction occurred in exons within coding and untranslated regions. These data suggest a more complex role for SF1 in splicing regulation. Indeed, SF1 silencing affected alternative splicing of endogenous transcripts, establishing a previously unexpected role for SF1 and branch site-like sequences in splice site selection

Possibilities for teaching Nature Sciences in early Childhood Education: an experience lived in the Normal Course

A formação de professores no Curso Normal visa habilitar profissionais éticos, pesquisadores e reflexivos, combinando aulas teóricas e práticas no ambiente de atuação do docente. Diante da lacuna observada, na área das Ciências da Natureza, quando se trata de objetos de conhecimento da Física e da Química na Educação Infantil e Anos Iniciais do Ensino Fundamental, considera-se imprescindível aprimorar a formação de professores do Curso Normal, tendo em vista que tais profissionais atuarão com os alunos das referidas etapas. Nesse sentido, o presente artigo busca socializar experiências realizadas no componente curricular Didática das Ciências da Natureza, a partir de atividades desenvolvidas com alunos de uma turma de segundo ano do Curso Normal de uma escola pública. Os alunos foram desafiados a organizarem experimentos para abordar conceitos das Ciências da Natureza na Educação Infantil, em formato de “Feirinha de Ciências”, online, visualizando formas de explorar Física e Química com as crianças. Como resultado, foram desenvolvidos vídeos com os experimentos e planos de aula abordando os conceitos em questão.The training of teachers in the Normal Course aims to enable ethical, researchers and reflective professionals, combining theoretical and practical classes in the teaching environment. Given the gap observed, in the area of ​​Natural Sciences, when it comes to objects of knowledge in Physics and Chemistry in Kindergarten and Early Years of Elementary School, it is considered essential to improve the training of teachers in the Normal Course, bearing in mind that these professionals will work with students of those stages. In this sense, this article seeks to socialize experiences carried out in the Didactics of Natural Sciences curricular component, based on activities developed with students from a second-year class of the Normal Course of a public school. Students were challenged to organize experiments to address concepts of Nature Science in Kindergarten, in the format of "Science Fair", online, viewing ways to explore Physics and Chemistry with children. As a result, videos were developed with the experiments and lesson plans addressing the concepts in question