“The Same Authority as God”: The U. S. Presidency and Executive Power in the Works of Thomas Pynchon, Philip Roth and Cormac McCarthy

This thesis aims to interrogate the role and representation of the United States presidency, presidential figures and avatars, and the question of executive power more generally, in the works of Thomas Pynchon, Philip Roth and Cormac McCarthy. Observing a gap in current criticism of these authors, and American literature generally, I propose that the presidency/executive provides a new and important way of mapping these authors’ work. In this I seek to build on Sean McCann’s work on this area in A Pinnacle of Feeling. My project situates itself in a historical framework, investigating the extensive network of historical evidence that each author uses in their conception of and dialogue with the presidency and executive power. My argument takes Pynchon’s portrayal of George Washington, the United States’ semi-mythical first president, in Mason & Dixon as its starting point, then proceeds to consider a range of texts before finally discussing the presence of Ronald Reagan and the rise of corporate power in McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men. I posit that in each of these authors’ work, the executive power is present simultaneously as an embodied and a “phantom” force, shaping the narrative and subjective individual experiences even when characters are not expressly engaged in political activity. A complex relay between embodied and phantom forces is apparent, with the identity and even physicality of individual presidential figures and avatars substantially affecting the operation of this power, amid a nuanced dialogue with the nation’s historical narrative. This dynamic occurs across these authors’ work, although they have divergent political and literary approaches. This thesis aims finally to establish this framework of executive power as a fundamental aspect of these authors’ writing that is vital to understanding their thinking about the United States, its history, and socio-political context, which could ultimately be extended to many other cultural and literary texts and their producers

The understanding of nature in the Old Testament: an investigation of some scholarly views

In Part I section A examines J. Pedersen's exposition of the Hebrew view of nature in the context of his ideas concerning Israelite modes of thought. It is argued that Pedersen brings to his interpretation of the biblical text notions about ancient Israelite psychology and linguistic usage which destroy the intelligibility of the Old Testament for a modern reader, and which involve Pedersen himself in obscurities and grave inconsistencies. Section B examines W. Eichrodt's claim to have discovered two apparently mutually exclusive, but never the less reconcilable views of nature in the Old Testament. It is argued that this claim involves a contradiction. An extensive survey of biblical texts reveals the lack of evidence to support it. Sections C and D concern the belief of G. Von Rad and H. W. Robinson that ancient Israelites saw the natural world as pervaded by the direct activity of God. It is suggested that this belief arose out of a confused concept of causation and cannot be sustained by an appeal to the text. Section E examines two volumes by E. C. Rust, which raise problems of philosophy as well as biblical interpretation. Sections B, D and E also examine the problems raised by the concept of the miraculous for those scholars who see the divine preservation of the world as creation continua. Part II outlines and criticises scholarly interpretations of the Israelite classification of creatures into clean and unclean, followed by a consideration of the opinions of anthropologists concerning this and similar classifications in primitive societies and their symbolic significance. The problems of interpreting anthropological evidence are considered; and the work of Durkheim and his influence on the thought of Mary Douglas are examined. Douglas's work suggests that a fresh approach to the Old Testament view of nature may be necessary in the light of anthropological research

Homophobia and heterosexism : a military social work perspective

Homophobia and heterosexism are forms of prejudice found throughout societies the world over. Prejudice filters to all levels within a society and community. Prejudice thus finds its way into institutions, organisations, families and individuals. The existence of prejudice results in discrimination that causes a vast array of hurt. Homophobic attitudes and hetero-sexist perceptions are known to have impacted social work as a profession as well as social workers as individuals, socialised within society and communities. The same attitude and perceptions are known to be rife within the military as an institution. Prejudice and discrimination has been deemed unconstitutional. Prejudice and discrimination based on sexual orientation, the focus of this study, are prohibited by the Constitution of South Africa as well as by a policy document of the South African National Defence Force. Changes in law and policy do not necessarily reflect changes in attitudes and perceptions by those on who these policies and laws apply. Social workers with homophobic attitudes and hetero-sexist attitudes are not able to offer a professional service to homosexual clients, and could cause harm where healing is needed. In this study an explorative non-experimental field study was undertaken investigating the existence and extent of homophobic attitudes and hetero-sexist perceptions amongst military social workers employed at Military Health Units, practicing in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The findings of the study indicate that even though the military social workers were not severely homophobic or hetero-sexist, they did reflect a significant degree of reservation. Most of the military social workers did not consider themselves equipped to offer services to homosexual clients

Homophobia and heterosexism : a military social work perspective

Homophobia and heterosexism are forms of prejudice found throughout societies the world over. Prejudice filters to all levels within a society and community. Prejudice thus finds its way into institutions, organisations, families and individuals. The existence of prejudice results in discrimination that causes a vast array of hurt. Homophobic attitudes and hetero-sexist perceptions are known to have impacted social work as a profession as well as social workers as individuals, socialised within society and communities. The same attitude and perceptions are known to be rife within the military as an institution. Prejudice and discrimination has been deemed unconstitutional. Prejudice and discrimination based on sexual orientation, the focus of this study, are prohibited by the Constitution of South Africa as well as by a policy document of the South African National Defence Force. Changes in law and policy do not necessarily reflect changes in attitudes and perceptions by those on who these policies and laws apply. Social workers with homophobic attitudes and hetero-sexist attitudes are not able to offer a professional service to homosexual clients, and could cause harm where healing is needed. In this study an explorative non-experimental field study was undertaken investigating the existence and extent of homophobic attitudes and hetero-sexist perceptions amongst military social workers employed at Military Health Units, practicing in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The findings of the study indicate that even though the military social workers were not severely homophobic or hetero-sexist, they did reflect a significant degree of reservation. Most of the military social workers did not consider themselves equipped to offer services to homosexual clients

Rudimentary G-Quadruplex-Based Telomere Capping In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

Telomere capping conceals chromosome ends from exonucleases and checkpoints, but the full range of capping mechanisms is not well defined. Telomeres have the potential to form G-quadruplex (G4) DNA, although evidence for telomere G4 DNA function in vivo is limited. In budding yeast, capping requires the Cdc13 protein and is lost at nonpermissive temperatures in cdc13-1 mutants. Here, we use several independent G4 DNA-stabilizing treatments to suppress cdc13-1 capping defects. These include overexpression of three different G4 DNA binding proteins, loss of the G4 DNA unwinding helicase Sgs1, or treatment with small molecule G4 DNA ligands. In vitro, we show that protein-bound G4 DNA at a 3\u27 overhang inhibits 5\u27-\u3e 3\u27 resection of a paired strand by exonuclease I. These findings demonstrate that, at least in the absence of full natural capping, G4 DNA can play a positive role at telomeres in vivo

Effects of exogenous myristic acid on growth and germination of Brassica napus L. under zirconium toxicity

Magister Scientiae - MSc (Biotechnology)Lipids when exogenously applied are known to cause various changes in ROS levels produced within plants. They can either be beneficial to the plant when not stimulating the overproduction of ROS thus resulting in improved germination and development or on the contrary, increasing the level of ROS produced, causing oxidative stress and thus leading to cell death of the plant. In this study, we report that a saturated fatty acid known as MA increased the germination percentages of Brassica napus L. seedlings when applied at a low concentration. When applied at higher concentrations, it was shown that elevated levels of ROS within the seedlings occurred therefore leading to a decrease in germination percentage as well as stunting of seedling growth. Physiological experiments such as biomass and cell death determination were conducted to further elucidate the effects of MA on the seedlings. Biochemical assays were performed to determine the oxidative state of specific ROS such as superoxide (O2-) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)

Effects of exogenous myristic acid on growth and germination of Brassica napus L. under zirconium toxicity

Magister Scientiae - MSc (Biotechnology)Lipids when exogenously applied are known to cause various changes in ROS levels produced within plants. They can either be beneficial to the plant when not stimulating the overproduction of ROS thus resulting in improved germination and development or on the contrary, increasing the level of ROS produced, causing oxidative stress and thus leading to cell death of the plant. In this study, we report that a saturated fatty acid known as MA increased the germination percentages of Brassica napus L. seedlings when applied at a low concentration. When applied at higher concentrations, it was shown that elevated levels of ROS within the seedlings occurred therefore leading to a decrease in germination percentage as well as stunting of seedling growth. Physiological experiments such as biomass and cell death determination were conducted to further elucidate the effects of MA on the seedlings. Biochemical assays were performed to determine the oxidative state of specific ROS such as superoxide (O2-) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)

Intimacy in romantic relationships during young adulthood: the role of the mother-daughter relationship

This study addressed the role of the mother-daughter relationship on the daughter‟s development of the capacity for intimacy with a romantic partner. The objective of this study was to examine whether separateness in mother-daughter interactions was related to romantic intimacy (sexual and non-sexual intimacy) in romantic relationships. The following instruments were used: 1) Socio-demographic questionnaire; 2) Competence in Mother-Daughter Relationship Questionnaire (ICQ-M) and 3) Personal Assessment of Intimacy Questionnaire (PAIR). 179 adolescent female university students participated in this study most of who were between the ages of 20 and 24. The results indicated that a positive relationship existed between separateness and sexual intimacy (r=.688, p<.01) as well as separateness and non-sexual intimacy (r=.598, p<.01). A positive relationship between connectedness and non-sexual intimacy (r=.468, p<.01) was also observed, however no correlation was observed between connectedness and sexual intimacy. These findings indicate that separateness in mother-daughter interactions has a definite effect on the different dimensions of romantic intimacy. Therefore, late adolescent women who possess the ability to assert themselves and express differences between themselves and their mothers are not as apprehensive as their peers when it comes to romantic intimacy with a partner

BAs and boride III-V alloys

Boron arsenide, the typically-ignored member of the III-V arsenide series BAs-AlAs-GaAs-InAs is found to resemble silicon electronically: its Gamma conduction band minimum is p-like (Gamma_15), not s-like (Gamma_1c), it has an X_1c-like indirect band gap, and its bond charge is distributed almost equally on the two atoms in the unit cell, exhibiting nearly perfect covalency. The reasons for these are tracked down to the anomalously low atomic p orbital energy in the boron and to the unusually strong s-s repulsion in BAs relative to most other III-V compounds. We find unexpected valence band offsets of BAs with respect to GaAs and AlAs. The valence band maximum (VBM) of BAs is significantly higher than that of AlAs, despite the much smaller bond length of BAs, and the VBM of GaAs is only slightly higher than in BAs. These effects result from the unusually strong mixing of the cation and anion states at the VBM. For the BAs-GaAs alloys, we find (i) a relatively small (~3.5 eV) and composition-independent band gap bowing. This means that while addition of small amounts of nitrogen to GaAs lowers the gap, addition of small amounts of boron to GaAs raises the gap (ii) boron ``semi-localized'' states in the conduction band (similar to those in GaN-GaAs alloys), and (iii) bulk mixing enthalpies which are smaller than in GaN-GaAs alloys. The unique features of boride III-V alloys offer new opportunities in band gap engineering.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, 6 tables, 61 references. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B. Scheduled to appear Oct. 15 200