The rebel as tragic hero : a study of The plague by Albert Camus [and] Death of a salesman by Arthur Miller

One of the most riddling of all literary genres is that which is called tragedy. The term "tragedy" has been used to describe all sorts of serious literature, of varying degrees of excellence, throughout the artistic history of Western man. However, to the ancient Greeks, who invented the genre, tragedy had distinct and highly refined characteristics of composition. It was a particular art after a recognizable pattern. The pattern of tragedy was analyzed by Aristotle in his Poetics, in which the Greek philosopher based his discussion on the works of the three masters of Greek tragedy, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. The essential principles of the Aristotelian definition, crucial of a development of any understanding of the art of tragedy, are adequately summarized by a modern tragic theorist, Oscar Mandel, in his A Definition of Tragedy: "Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action which is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude, concerning the fall of a man whose character is good, appropriate, believable, and consistent, whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play, with incidents arousing pity and fear wherewith to accomplish the catharsis of these emotions."

Single Molecule Analysis Research Tool (SMART): An Integrated Approach for Analyzing Single Molecule Data

Single molecule studies have expanded rapidly over the past decade and have the ability to provide an unprecedented level of understanding of biological systems. A common challenge upon introduction of novel, data-rich approaches is the management, processing, and analysis of the complex data sets that are generated. We provide a standardized approach for analyzing these data in the freely available software package SMART: Single Molecule Analysis Research Tool. SMART provides a format for organizing and easily accessing single molecule data, a general hidden Markov modeling algorithm for fitting an array of possible models specified by the user, a standardized data structure and graphical user interfaces to streamline the analysis and visualization of data. This approach guides experimental design, facilitating acquisition of the maximal information from single molecule experiments. SMART also provides a standardized format to allow dissemination of single molecule data and transparency in the analysis of reported data

Modulating RNA structure and catalysis: lessons from small cleaving ribozymes

RNA is a key molecule in life, and comprehending its structure/function relationships is a crucial step towards a more complete understanding of molecular biology. Even though most of the information required for their correct folding is contained in their primary sequences, we are as yet unable to accurately predict both the folding pathways and active tertiary structures of RNA species. Ribozymes are interesting molecules to study when addressing these questions because any modifications in their structures are often reflected in their catalytic properties. The recent progress in the study of the structures, the folding pathways and the modulation of the small ribozymes derived from natural, self-cleaving, RNA motifs have significantly contributed to today’s knowledge in the field

Scholarship on Gender and Sport in Sex Roles and Beyond

In this paper we critically review how research on girls or women and sport has developed over the last 35 years. We use a post-positivist lens to explore the content of the papers published in Sex Roles in the area of women, gender and sport and examine the shifts in how gender and sport have been conceptualized in these accounts. In order to initiate a broader dialogue about the scholarly analysis of gender and sport, we subsequently explore ideas inspired by feminist theorizing that have dominated/guided related research in other outlets over this time period but have received relatively little attention in papers published in Sex Roles. We conclude by briefly making suggestions for further research in this area

Construction and calibration of an optical trap on a fluorescence optical microscope

The application of optical traps has come to the fore in the last three decades. They provide a powerful, sterile and noninvasive tool for the manipulation of cells, single biological macromolecules, colloidal microparticles and nanoparticles. An optically trapped microsphere may act as a force transducer that is used to measure forces in the piconewton regime. By setting up a well-calibrated single-beam optical trap within a fluorescence microscope system, one can measure forces and collect fluorescence signals upon biological systems simultaneously. In this protocol, we aim to provide a clear exposition of the methodology of assembling and operating a single-beam gradient force trap (optical tweezers) on an inverted fluorescence microscope. A step-by-step guide is given for alignment and operation, with discussion of common pitfalls.</p