The Author As The Novel Self: Shirley Lim’s Sister Swing

While authorial omniscience is denied the biographer, I argue that Lim as novelist takes this advantage in Sister Swing as a tool through which to explore the development of self-identity through characterizations of three sisters that in combination form the tripartite self as proposed by Freud. Autobiographical memories of familial, social and cultural life experiences are the source from which Lim draws and fleshes out, in her novel, portrayals of family members seeking freedom through different ways and means. As a self-analyst probing deep within the psyche, Lim employs linguistic stylizations to express contrastive and yet complementary points of view in a polyphonic unity of expression that echoes the id, ego and superego in Freud’s topographic model of personality. This psychoanalytic reading of the novel provides an opening through which to explore the deeper meanings within the novel and how the characters are interrelated beyond the level of sisterhood

The effect of low volume sprint interval training in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Objectives: Exercise is an important part of disease management in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but adherence to current exercise recommendations is poor. Novel low-volume sprint interval training (SIT) protocols with total training time commitments of ≤30 min per week have been shown to improve cardiometabolic risk and functional capacity in healthy sedentary participants, but the efficacy of such protocols in the management of NAFLD remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to examine whether a low-volume SIT protocol can be used to improve liver function, insulin resistance, body composition, physical fitness, cognitive function and general well-being in patients with NAFLD.Methods: In the present study, 7 men and 2 women with NAFLD (age: 45±8 y, BMI: 28.7±4.1 kg·m−2) completed a 6-week control period followed by 6 weeks of twice-weekly SIT sessions (5-10×6-s ‘all-out’ cycle sprints). Body composition, blood pressure, liver function, metabolic function, functional capacity, cognitive function and quality of life were assessed at baseline, following the control period, and following the SIT intervention.Results: Walking speed during the walk test (+12%), estimated V̇O2max (+8%), verbal fluency (+44%), and blood platelet count (+12%; all p<0.05) significantly increased during the control period. These measures remained significantly raised compared to baseline following the SIT intervention, but did not significantly change any further compared to the post-control time-point. Diastolic blood pressure decreased from 87±10 to 77±8 mm Hg from the end of the control period to the end of the SIT intervention (p<0.05).Conclusion: This study does not support the use of 6 weeks of a low volume SIT protocol involving twice-weekly sessions with 5-10×6-s ‘all-out’ cycle sprints as an intervention for NAFLD disease management

Shape-dependent Depinning of a Domain Wall by a Magnetic Field and a Spin-Polarized Current

The effect of sample shape on the depinning of the domain wall (DW) driven by an applied magnetic field or a spin-polarized current is studied theoretically. The shape effect resulting from the modulation of the sample width (geometric pinning) can essentially affect the DW depinning. We found a good agreement between the ratios of the critical values of the magnetic field and the spin-polarized current predicted by the theory and measured in the experiment.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

A comparison between word analysis and prompting in oral reading.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Temperature-dependent rate coefficients for the reactions of the hydroxyl radical with the atmospheric biogenics isoprene, alpha-pinene and delta-3-carene

Pulsed laser methods for OH generation and detection were used to study atmospheric degradation reactions for three important biogenic gases: OHCisoprene (Reaction R1), OH+α-pinene (Reaction R2) and OH+Δ- 3-carene (Reaction R3). Gas-phase rate coefficients were characterized by non-Arrhenius kinetics for all three reactions. For (R1), k1 (241-356 K)= (1:93±0:08)× 10-11 exp{(466±12)/T} cm3 molecule-1 s-1 was determined, with a room temperature value of k1 (297 K)= (9:3± 0:4)×10-11 cm3 molecule-1 s-1, independent of bath-gas pressure (5-200 Torr) and composition (MDN2 or air). Accuracy and precision were enhanced by online optical monitoring of isoprene, with absolute concentrations obtained via an absorption cross section, αisoprene = (1:28±0:06)× 10-17 cm2 molecule-1 at λ = 184:95 nm, determined in this work. These results indicate that significant discrepancies between previous absolute and relative-rate determinations of k1 result in part from σ values used to derive the isoprene concentration in high-precision absolute determinations. Similar methods were used to determine rate coefficients (in 10-11 cm3 molecule-1 s-1/ for (R2)-(R3): k2 (238-357 K)= (1:83±0:04) ×exp{(330±6)/T } and k3 (235-357 K)= (2:48±0:14) ×exp{(357±17)/T }. This is the first temperature-dependent dataset for (R3) and enables the calculation of reliable atmospheric lifetimes with respect to OH removal for e.g. boreal forest springtime conditions. Room temperature values of k2 (296 K)= (5:4±0:2) ×10-11 cm3 molecule-1 s-1 and k3 (297 K)= (8:1±0:3)×10-11 cm3 molecule-1 s-1 were independent of bathgas pressure (7-200 Torr, N2 or air) and in good agreement with previously reported values. In the course of this work, 184.95 nm absorption cross sections were determined: σ = (1:54±0:08) ×10-17 cm2 molecule-1 for α-pinene and (2:40±0:12)×10-17 cm2 molecule-1 for 1-3-carene

Kaluza-Klein gravitons at LHC2

In this work we study constraints from new searches for heavy particles at the LHC on the allowed masses and couplings of a KK Graviton in a holographic composite Higgs model. Keeping new electroweak states heavy such that electroweak precision tests are satisfied, we control the mass of the lightest KK graviton using a brane kinetic term. With this we study KK graviton masses from 0.5-3 TeV. In our analysis we also employ Little Randall-Sundrum (RS) Models, characterised by a lower UV scale in the 5D model which in turn implies modified couplings to massless bulk fields. Viewing this scenario as a strongly coupled 4D theory with a composite Higgs boson, the KK graviton is interpreted as a composite spin-2 state and the varying UV scale corresponds to a varying intermediate scale between the cutoff of the low energy effective theory and the Planck scale. We find that KK gravitons with masses in the range 0.5-3 TeV are compatible with current collider constraints, where the most promising channels for detecting these states are the di-photon and ZZ channels. A detection is more likely in the little RS models, in which the dual gauge theory has a larger number of colours than in traditional RS models

Determination of the mosaic angle distribution of Grafoil platelets using continuous-wave NMR spectra

We described details of a method to estimate with good accuracy the mosaic angle distributions of microcrystallites (platelets) in exfoliated graphite like Grafoil which is commonly used as an adsorption substrate for helium thin films. The method is based on analysis of resonance field shifts in continuous-wave (CW) NMR spectra of $^{3}$He ferromagnetic monolayers making use of the large nuclear polarization of the adsorbate itself. The mosaic angle distribution of a Grafoil substrate analyzed in this way can be well fitted to a gaussian form with a $27.5\pm2.5$ deg spread. This distribution is quite different from the previous estimation based on neutron scattering data which showed an unrealistically large isotropic powder-like component.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure