Professional Documents
Culture Documents
universities in fifteen countries. Collectively, its members enroll over 700,000 students, employ
over 145,000 staff, and have nearly 2.5 million alumni. The network’s purpose is to facilitate
collaboration and cooperation between the member universities and to create opportunities
for them on a scale that none would be able to achieve operating independently or through
traditional bilateral alliances.
Each year, a member institution hosts the Universitas 21 Undergraduate Research Conference.
The University of Melbourne hosted the sixth annual conference, organized on the theme
“Faculty of Imagining,” from 1 to 7 July 2010. Fifty-eight students attended, representing
twelve countries and nineteen institutions. The University of Virginia’s student-run research
journal, The Oculus, has the privilege of publishing research papers presented at the annual U21
undergraduate research conference.
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
United States of America
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 1
U ni ndergr
U
v eraduate
sita s 21
Research Conference: Melbourne
Table of Contents
(28) Binary Unities: Split Selves in Yves Bonnefoy and Michel Henry
Graham Riach, University of Glasgow
Abstract
For marginalised groups in society, the imagination and imaginative techniques are key to expressing
ideas and opinions that have hitherto been silenced. This is even more so in a country like Syria where
censorship of the written word has been prevalent in one form or another for over a century. In this paper
I will look at imaginative narrative techniques in Layla Wahida, a novel by Collette Khuri as an example of
this. Born in 1937 Collette Khuri is a Syrian novelist, poet and short story writer. When she began writing
in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s she was one of the first women to write about women’s desire and female
sexuality from a woman’s point of view. Since these themes were taboo to an extent, she used imaginative
techniques in a subversive manner in her writing. Of the numerous strategies that she uses this paper will
focus on her use of ellipsis points and ‘extraliterary genres’. The overall discussion in the paper is informed
by an understanding of the work of discourse theorist Mikhail Bakhtin, whose work on the narrative, the
word and the dialogue, has often been appropriated by feminist literary critics as a means to breakdown
traditionally held dichotomies like male/female, public/private, and objectivity/subjectivity to name a few.
Introduction the country4. There have, of course, been women
Literary canons have traditionally been writing in the country from the early decades of
dominated by men, and given this, women writers the century5, however the texts they have written
have often worked with and tried to subvert have often been seen as being more ‘personal’ or
techniques used by their male counterparts in ‘private’ in nature rather than being ‘literary’ and/
order to forge a literary tradition of their own1. In or ‘political’ like those of their male counterparts.
this paper I look at the ways in which Syrian author Collette Khuri’s work, too, can be seen as being
Collette Khuri does this in her second novel Layla more ‘personal’ and ‘confessional’ and not ‘political’
Wahida (A Single Night). Before moving onto the or even ‘literary’. However, in the rest of this paper
novel itself it is worth looking briefly at some aspects I will argue that it is precisely this characteristic
of the political and social climate in Syria in the first that makes her fiction(s) subversive and politically
half of the twentieth century. engaged.
Syria, in the early twentieth century, saw a Collette Khuri was born into an elite Christian
variety of regimes come and go, until 1963 when the family in 1937, in Damascus6. Her grandfather was
Ba‘ath party came to power (See Box 1 for details)2. Faris al-Khuri, a leader of the Syrian independence
It is perhaps ironic that despite all these upheavals movement who later became Prime Minister of
the only constant in Syria right from Ottoman rule Syria in the 1960s. Despite his early nationalist
up to and including the Ba‘athist regime is the tendencies, the government during his tenure as
country, Syria has been fraught with some form of Prime Minister was seen as being too pro-Western.
censorship3. Nonetheless several eminent figures This seemingly conflicting relationship between
of the Arab literary (male) canon including Nizar nationalist sentiments and ‘liberal’ western ideals
Qabbani and Zakariya Tamer have emerged from was experienced by not only nationalist leaders
educated in France but also by the women in their
households like Collette, who was educated at the
1 Feminists right from Virginia Woolf (A Room of One’s
Own) to Elaine Showalter (A Literature of Their Own)
Arab French Institute. Furthermore, despite the
and Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar (The Madwoman fact that Syria is a Muslim majority country it has
in the Attic), among others have looked at the dearth of always had a sizeable population of minorities, up
a female English literary tradition. In the case of Ara- 4 For my discussion I am using Syrian to describe au-
bic literature, Ashour et al. make a strong case for the thors who either, through their work, can be identified
existence of a female literary tradition. However, most as Syrian or write, live and work in Syria.
general introductions to Modern Arabic Literature 5 Subhi Hadidi and Iman al-Qadi, ‘Syria’, in Radwa
mention one or two women, if any. Ashour, Ferial J. Ghazoul and Hasna Reda-Mekdashi,
2 Timeline adapted from Samar Attar, Lina: A Portrait of eds., Arab Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide
a Damascene Girl ,Colorado Springs: Three Continents 1873-1999, trans. Mandy McClure, Cairo: The Ameri-
Press, 1994, 214-217. can University in Cairo Press, 2008, 60.
3 Mohja Kahf, ‘The Silences of Contemporary Syrian 6 All Biographical details are from Ashour et al Arab
Literature’, World Literature Today 75.2 (2001) 230. Women Writers.
4
Box 1. Political Context: Early 20th Century Syria Box 2. Religious groups in Syria
until the present. Surprisingly enough, members of of voices, but these voices emanate from a ‘plurality
these minorities, like the Khuri family, have often of equal consciousnesses’8. The operative word in
occupied positions of power (see box 2). Collette this case is ‘equal’ because this multiplicity of voices
rose to fame with her first novel Ayyam Ma’ah (Days is not relegated to the periphery; rather each of them
with Him) which was published in 1959. It was is treated as being equally valid. It is this strategy
controversial in its depiction of female desire and an that makes a polyphonic text subversive and is one
affair between a young female poet and a musician of the reasons why Bakhtin is appropriated by critics
outwith the confines of marriage. At the same time, analysing literature by ‘minority’ groups.
speculation was also rife that the novel was based This dialogic interconnectedness between
on Collette’s affair with acclaimed Syrian poet Nizar and across various elements in the texts, as well as
Qabbani. She has since published several novels and the use of polyphony as a strategy forms the basis
collections of short stories and poetry. of my analysis of Syrian women’s fiction. In recent
times Syrian fiction, especially women’s fiction,
Theoretical Framework has not been the subject of much literary analysis,
Feminist literary critics have often turned to perhaps due to relative lack of conflict in Syria when
discourse theorist Mikhail Bakhtin, and his work compared to the rest of the Levant (Lebanon and
on the narrative, the word and the dialogue, as a Palestine specifically). In the texts, however, there
means to breakdown traditionally held dichotomies is conflict in the Bakhtinian sense of interaction
like male/female, public/private, and objectivity/ between various voices/positions. This conflict,
subjectivity to name a few. Bakhtin, with his in the case of women authors specifically, is often
emphasis on the dialogic interconnectedness within the female protagonist/narrator herself,
between the individuality of the speaker, and the rather than between different characters or contexts.
social factors that impact the meaning of what is For instance Reem, the protagonist of Collette Khuri’s
said, develops a fluid model of meaning creation Ayyam Ma‘ah, is a polyphonic character, voicing her
instead of a polarising one. It is however problematic identities as a woman, as a Syrian, as a young person,
to unequivocally appropriate his work to women’s as an educated person etc. These different identities
writing because, by and large, he did not mention are often in conflict with one another. This analysis
any writing by women in his literary criticism. of the subversive nature of some of the narrative
However, some of the concepts he uses in his strategies adopted by Collette Khuri is informed by
analysis of Dostoevsky’s work and the novel as a the Bakhtinian concepts outlined above.
genre are useful as starting points for the analysis
of various fictions. Of Voices and Silences: Stylistic
One such concept is that of ‘heteroglossia’, Strategies in the Novel
which is a web-like coming together of ‘a diversity Given that canonical literature has traditionally
of social speech types and a diversity of individual consisted of works by men, destabilisation of
voices.’7 The implication here is that a heteroglossic conventions is a particularly potent means to resist
text is one that challenges the dominant discourse by patriarchy and its confines for women writers, in this
giving voice to different points of view. For Bakhtin, case from Syria. However, this resistance is fraught
the novel was a prime example of such a text, because with complexities as is the notion of a ‘woman
there was often conflict between the voices of writer’- a category impossible to homogenise. This
different characters, or between that of the narrator makes strategies adopted for this end complex as
and the characters. As an extension of this, he goes well. They involve an interaction between and the
on to describe Dostoevsky’s particular style as being articulation of, perhaps paradoxically, various voices
‘polyphonic’ – one where not only is there a plurality and silences. This section will look at two such
strategies: the appropriation of ‘extraliterary genres,’
7 M. M. Bakhtin, The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays,
trans. Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist, Austin: 8 Mikhail Bakhtin, Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics, trans.
University of Texas Press, 1981, 263. R. W. Rostel, Ann Arbor, Michigan: Ardis, 1973, 4.
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 5
which allows different voices to be expressed, and morning when she was in Marseilles with her
the use of pauses, specifically ellipsis points, which husband, Rasha writes, ‘remember?’13in an attempt
focuses more on silences in Layla Wahida. to reach out to the implied reader and involve him
Layla Wahida is for the most part a letter written in the process of remembering. Such an invitation
by Rasha to her husband recounting the events of the is interesting for several reasons. First, it highlights
previous night, which she spent with another man. that the creation of memory and by extension
Rasha and her husband are in Marseilles because history, is a collaborative process. Second, by asking
he has work there. She has a doctor’s appointment her husband to remember and corroborate her story,
in Paris which she is forced to go to alone after her she is seeking a form of legitimacy. Third, and this
husband gets tied down with work. It is in Paris that is somewhat paradoxical to the second point, by
she meets the other man and writes the letter to her inviting her husband to participate in the creation of
husband from the hotel room the following morning. these memories, she is indicating his complicity in
The first strategy is the use of ‘extraliterary the societal elements that have made her complacent.
genres’ – ‘the genres of everyday life ’9. This At the same time, however, she often slips into her
includes, among other things, the incorporation of husband’s consciousness while trying to guess his
diaries, and letters. In doing so not only does the text reaction. For example, she says:
cross ‘the boundary of what we call strictly fictional
literature’10 but it also highlights issues of narrative ‘My words have astonished you... my
authority and subjectivity. Furthermore, it questions opinions have frightened you... and have
notions of grand narratives as well. made you wonder what has happened to
Collette Khuri does this in Layla Wahida by her to make her philosophise so... she, who
writing the novel in the form of a long letter from used to normally write to me about nothing
Rasha to her husband, written after she has spent the but the ordinary...
night with another man. By using this form, Khuri Yes, what’s happened to her?
challenges literary conventions in a vein similar to What’s happened to me...14’
that of her protagonist Rasha, who challenges the
linguistic conventions of daily life, and sees them This extract, is in fact in a Virginia Woolfesque
as originating in patriarchy. The novel begins with style of free indirect speech where a third person
such a challenge when Rasha questions the reasons narrative is combined with an individual character’s
why she usually begins letters to her husband with stream of consciousness. Until the ‘so’ the voice is
the phrase, ‘My Dear Husband’. She describes clearly that of Rasha, the narrator. However, from
this phrase as being one, which ‘her pen used to that point up until ‘her?’, it switches to her husband’s
write automatically’11. The interesting thing in this consciousness even if she remains the one voicing it.
sentence is that the subject of the verb ‘write’ isn’t As a woman, and perhaps especially as a wife this
Rasha, but is the pen, thereby implying not only serves to subvert the authority of the voice of the
that this sentence is written in a state of extreme husband by showing its predictability and the ease
unconsciousness but also, if the word ‘pen’ is being with which it is assumed by her.
used metonymically, that social factors condition This usage of the implied reader also
the individual woman in this manner. She goes on complicates the position of the actual reader. For
to speculate on the reasons why she unconsciously instance, it is easy for the actual reader to assume
uses this phrase. One of the reasons she comes up the role of the implied reader, even without
with has to do with being taught from a young age necessarily empathising with or taking on the role
that husbands were meant to be ‘dear’12. Both the of the husband. This can have a twofold implication.
act of questioning and the results it yields serve to Firstly, the actual reader, like the implied reader
unhinge conventions – in this case it is the ‘husband’ has an opportunity to actively engage with the
who is portrayed as always being ‘dear’ to the wife letter writer, given the predominance of rhetorical
– especially those implicitly created by patriarchy. questions posed in the letter. Secondly, even if the
Another convention that using the letter actual reader does not identify with the character of
undermines is the position or the role of the reader. the husband, her thought process may be guided by
As the novel is a letter, the implied reader is Rasha’s the thoughts that Rasha attributes to her husband.
husband, even if he doesn’t actually read the letter The way in which Khuri uses the rhetorical
during the course of the narrative. Furthermore, this question in Layla Wahida leads to another technique
letter engages with the implied reader extensively. employed in the text being discussed here, the use
For instance, while describing events of the previous of ellipsis points (‘...’). Khuri seems to repeatedly use
them to indicate pauses in the thought processes of
9 Bakhtin, Dialogic Imagination, 33. various characters, as well as to provide opportunities
10 Bakhtin, Dialogic Imagination, 33.
for the reader to interact with the text and play a
11 Collette Suhayl Khuri, Layla Wahida, Beirut: al-Maktab
al-Tijari, 1961, 13. 13 Khuri, Layla Wahida, 20.
12 Khuri, Layla Wahida, 14. 14 Khuri, Layla Wahida, 14-15.
6
part in the creation of meaning. For example, in the Conclusion
quote above, consider the uses of the ellipsis points Along with using ‘extraliterary’ genres, this
between the phrases ‘my opinions have frightened technique of having pauses/omissions and using
you’ and ‘and have made you wonder’. Instead of ellipsis points also makes the texts ‘heteroglossic’
explaining the reasons behind or the manifestations in that it marks the coming together of ‘literary’
of the fright, all the reader (whether actual or implied) and ‘everyday’ languages. Pauses, as signified
gets is a forced pause between thoughts. As with any by the ellipsis points in the written text, are a
reader-response based analysis15, the meaning that common feature of speech16, and by giving them a
this pause can carry is manifold and depends on the visual representation, the boundaries between oral
reader. This pause for instance, could evoke any, all, and written texts are blurred. Moreover, it is also
none or a combination of the responses given below indicative of the ‘struggle’ between what Bakhtin
(other responses are potentially plausible as well), calls ‘authoritative discourse’ and ‘internally-
depending in part on which word of the preceding persuasive discourse’17. For him the former is
phrase, the reader places the most emphasis on. If the ‘word of the fathers’ the authority of which
the emphasis in her mind were on ‘opinions’, she was ‘already acknowledged in the past’18 while the
may use the pause to consider the opinions Rasha latter is closer to ‘retelling a text in one’s own
has presented, and her response to them, whether words’19. This implies an intense dialogue between
of fright or of any other. If the emphasis were on narrative conventions and traditions and individual
‘frighten’, or if the opinions in question did frighten subjectivity. In the case of the texts looked at here
her just as they are assumed to frighten the implied this can be seen more in terms of resistance against
reader, the pause may be used to experience the the narrative traditions, conventions or as Bakhtin
physical sensation of being frightened, or its after- calls it the ‘word of fathers’20which for a woman
effects. If however the emphasis were on the use of writing, and especially the women considered here,
the pronoun ‘you’, the pause may evoke a fleeting takes on a highly gendered meaning.
moment of self-reflection on her personality. For
the implied reader and his (i.e. Rasha’s husband) References
relationship and interaction with Rasha, the pauses 1. Ashour, Radwa, Ferial J. Ghazoul and Hasna
could represent the implications of the statements Reda-Mekdashi (eds.), Arab Women Writers: A
presented, which might be quite radical if they were Critical Reference Guide 1873-1999, trans. Mandy
explicitly voiced by a woman. As an example of this McClure, Cairo: The American University in
it is worthwhile to look at the first few sentences Cairo Press, 2008.
from the quotation above: 2. Attar, Samar, Lina: A Portrait of a Damascene
‘My words have astonished you because you Girl, Colorado Springs: Three Continents Press,
are not used to me expressing myself, my opinions 1994.
have frightened you as they challenge your patriarchal 3. Bakhtin, Mikhail, Problems of Dostoevsky’s
authority over me and have made you wonder what Poetics, trans. R. W. Rostel, Ann Arbor, Michigan:
has happened to her to make her philosophise so’. Ardis, 1973.
This time however I have placed probable 4. Bakhtin, M. M., The Dialogic Imagination:
implications in italics in place of the ellipsis points Four Essays, trans. Caryl Emerson and Michael
used by the author. The meaning that the inserted Holquist, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981.
words convey is however, implicit in the original. 5. Davis, Todd F. and Kenneth Womack, Formalist
Not explicitly saying it is perhaps a strategy Criticism and Reader-Response Theory,
adopted by the author to expose ingrained states Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002.
of mind without being controversial, or at any rate 6. Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar, The
more controversial than some of Khuri’s work was Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and
perceived to be. Moreover, in many ways, not stating the Nineteenth Century Literary Imagination,
it makes it all the more powerful both because it puts New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979.
some of the onus of the situation on the reader and
also because it mirrors the silences that are often 16 The link between ellipsis points and everyday speech
integral to women’s lives, and that Rasha has had to is discussed in Anne C. Henry, ‘The Re-mark-able
Rise of ‘...’: Reading Ellipsis Marks in Literary Texts’ in
endure before the events of that particular night.
Joe Bray, Miriam Handley, and Anne C. Henry (eds.),
15 The primary questions that reader-response criticism Ma(r)king the Text: The Presentation of Meaning on the
explores revolve around the existence of multiple Literary Page, Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2000, 138.
readings and their relative plausibility as well as 17 Bakhtin, Dialogic Imagination, 424.
validity. Todd F. Davis and Kenneth Womack, Formal- 18 Bakhtin, Dialogic Imagination, 342.
ist Criticism and Reader-Response Theory, Basingstoke: 19 Bakhtin, Dialogic Imagination, 424.
Palgrave, 2002, 51. 20 Emphasis mine.
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 7
7. Hadidi, Subhi and Iman al-Qadi, ‘Syria’, pp. 60-97
in Radwa Ashour, Ferial J. Ghazoul and Hasna
Reda-Mekdashi (eds.), Arab Women Writers: A
Critical Reference Guide 1873-1999, trans. Mandy
McClure, Cairo: The American University in
Cairo Press, 2008.
8. Henry, Anne C., ‘The Re-mark-able Rise of
‘...’: Reading Ellipsis Marks in Literary Texts’
pp. 120-142 in Joe Bray, Miriam Handley, and
Anne C. Henry (eds.), Ma(r)king the Text: The
Presentation of Meaning on the Literary Page,
Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2000.
9. Kahf, Mohja, ‘The Silences of Contemporary
Syrian Literature’, World Literature Today 75.2
(2001) 224-236.
10. Khuri, Collette Suhayl, Layla Wahida, Beirut: al-
Maktab al-Tijari, 1961.
11. Khuri, Collette, Days with him, trans. Farishta
G.de Sayess and A.de Sayess Abbasi, Damascus:
MAS, 2005.
12. Showalter, Elaine, A Literature of Their Own:
British Women Novelists from Brontë to Lessing,
London: Virago Press, 1982.
13. Woolf, Virginia, A Room of One’s Own, London:
Penguin Books, 2004.
8
Hinduism in Britain and its Direction for the Future
Amy Swanwick
University of Nottingham
Abstract
The future of Hinduism in Britain should be considered in light of its history and
current trends. Two distinct directions are acknowledged here, the dilution of the faith and
the search for more a more philosophical and scripture based understanding of the religion.
The faiths shift to the domestic realm is also explored and analysed as well as the possible reasons for this
change. Through previous research and interviews all these trends are isolated and discussed here in order
to make predictions about the future of Hinduism in Britain.
Abstract
A disproportionate amount of Aboriginal1 women have gone missing or been murdered in Canada since
the 1980s. It is only in the last five years, since the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC)’s began
their activism through their Sisters in Spirit (SIS) initiative, that the mainstream media and majority of the
population have paid attention to this crisis. Historically, activism has been one method that marginalised
voices have used to make themselves heard. But does activism really have the potential to instigate change
in society? In this paper I explore why Aboriginal women need to be re-imagined in society and analyse how
the NWAC’s activism has attempted to reduce Aboriginal femicide.
Previous academic research on activism in North America has tended to ignore grassroots activism
in non-white communities. This paper thus fills a gap in the research by providing a critique of Aboriginal
feminist activist techniques. Indeed, as Amber Dean attests, critique of important socio-cultural practices
must occur, and occur in a thorough manner, in order to understand what exactly it is that makes forms of
activism most effective (2008, p.237).
This paper is an abridged version of my BA American and Canadian Studies dissertation. For more
information on the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC)’s work, please visit www.nwac-hq.org.
Abstract
Empathy and emotion regulation have been implicated as critical to socio-emotional functioning,
though examination of possible cognitive mechanisms common to both has largely remained unexplored.
We examined the relationship between empathy and emotion regulation through self-report questionnaires
and a behavioral task where participants regulated their emotions to salient film clips. Participant reports
of tendencies to use reappraisal as a regulatory strategy correlated positively with cognitive empathy
assessments. Alternatively, negative correlations were found between cognitive empathy measures and self-
reports of tendencies to use suppression as a regulatory strategy. These results support the hypothesis that
cognitive skills critical to empathy are likewise paramount to regulation strategies like reappraisal.
Table 1. Correlations between Interpersonality Reactivity Index (IRI) and Emotion Regulation Question subscales
Figure 1. Relationships between cognitive empathy IRI scales and self-reports of reappraisal tendencies
Figure 2. Relationship between cognitive empathy IRI scales and self-reports of suppression tendencies
22
greater insights into their emotional tendencies than 4. Davis, M.H. (1980). A multidimensional approach
others and thus be more accurate in their reporting. to individual differences in empathy. JSAS
Future studies could benefit from third-person Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 10, 85.
observations or friend ratings of participants to 5. Davis, M.H. (1983). Measuring individual
verify the accuracy of reports. differences in empathy: Evidence for a
Although we found a relationship between multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality
cognitive empathy measures and emotion regulation and Social Psychology, 44 (1), 113-126.
styles, it is possible that a third variable is mediating 6. Goldin, P.R., McRae, K., Ramel, W., & Gross, J.J.
this relationship. The ability to change one’s thinking (2008). The neural bases of emotion regulation:
and figuratively step outside of one’s thoughts is reappraisal and suppression of negative emotion.
a cognitive skill required to both empathize with Biological Psychiatry
others and to regulate one’s emotions. Future 7. Gross, J.J. (2002). Emotion regulation:
studies should further explore the roles of cognitive Affective, cognitive and social consequences.
flexibility and imagination, as these phenomena Psychophysiology, 39, 281-291.
could be the bridge between empathy and emotion 8. Gross, J.J. & John, O.P. (2003). Individual
regulation. differences in two emotion regulation processes:
Another concern with this study is the implications for affect, relationships and well-
relatively small sample size (n=47). While this sample being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
had enough power to draw conclusions regarding 85(2), 348-362.
overall trends, it would be helpful to verify these 9. Gross, J.J & Levenson, R.W. (1995). Emotion
results with a larger sample. Repeating the study elicitation using films. Cognition and Emotion, 9
with populations other than college students would (1), 87-108.
likewise validate the scope of these results. 10. Jackson, P.L., Brunet, E., Meltzoff, A.N., & Decety,
Beyond incorporating a larger sample size, J. (2006). Empathy examined through the neural
future studies should aim to extend the findings mechanisms involved in imagining how I feel
of the present study through experimental designs versus how you feel pain. Neuropsychologia 44,
that assess individual differences in empathy and 752-761.
emotion regulation skills. A movie watching task 11. Preston, S., Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Grabowski,
in which participants are instructed to change their T.J., Stansfield, R.B., Mehta, S. & Damasio,
thoughts to a film stimulus is a good online measure A.R. (2007). The neural substrates of cognitive
of reappraisal abilities (see Gross & Levenson, 1995) empathy. Social Neuroscience, 2, 254-275.
that also mimics real-world emotion processing 12. Shamay-Tsoory, S.G. (2009). Empathic processing:
because it requires engaging with dynamic stimuli. Its cognitive and affective dimensions and
Tasks that that require empathic reasoning such as neuroanatomical basis. In J. Decety and W. Ickes
the Mind in the Eyes test (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001; (Eds.), The Social Neuroscience of Empathy (3-15).
2004) could help tap into individual differences in Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
social cognition and are relatively easy to administer 13. Spinella, M. (2005). Prefrontal substrates of
by hand or on a computer. Overall, investigating empathy: Psychometric evidence in a community
individual differences in the use and application of sample. Biological Psychology 70, 175-181.
both empathy and emotion regulatory skills would
validate the strength of the relationship between
these two domains of socio-cognitive functioning.
References
1. Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Hill, J., Raste,
Y., & Plumb, I. (2001). The “Reading the Mind
in the Eyes” test revised version: A study with
normal adults with asperger syndrome or high-
functioning autism. Journal of Child Psychology
and Psychiatry, 42 (2), 241-251.
2. Baron-Cohen, S. & Wheelwright, S. (2004). The
empathy quotient: an investigation of adults with
asperger syndrome or high functioning autism,
and normal sex differences. Journal of Autism and
Developmental Disorders, 34 (2), 163-175.
3. Batson, C.D. (2009). These things called empathy:
Eight related but distinct phenomena. In J.
Decety and W. Ickes (Eds.), The Social Neuroscience
of Empathy (3-15). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 23
Evelyn Wan
University of Hong Kong
Abstract
While the international human rights framework is used to outlaw practices which are viewed as
human rights violations in the form of culture-based violence against women, supporting feminist legal
rights would possibly undermine women’s right to cultural uniqueness. Using female genital cutting as an
example, the paper addresses the question of whether the complete elimination of the practice constitutes an
infringement of women’s right to choose culture.
I argue that the human rights framework perpetuates the process of oppression and discrimination
against Other cultures through constructing the stereotypical image of the circumcised woman and
assigning fixed features to her—she is downtrodden, oppressed, she blindly follows cultural norms and is
incapable of deciding what is best for her body. The construction of such a victim image is premised upon
the problematic binary opposition of the First World Self vs the Third World Other. A deconstruction of
the binary logic would shed light on why it is problematic and discriminatory to fall on the side of feminist
rights and disregard claims of culture.
Graham Riach
University of Glasgow
Abstract
This paper focuses on the role of imagination in the work of the great twentieth-century French poet
and theoretician Yves Bonnefoy, and the similarities it has with the thought of Michel Henry, a wrongly-
overlooked French philosopher. Both Bonnefoy and Henry express the need to seek out a sense of the
givenness of our experience, the ‘real’ which is concealed behind a veil of abstraction and conceptualisation.
In juxtaposing the works of these thinkers, I hope to demonstrate the need for synthesis between imagination
and practice. I examine the similarities between their conceptions of what constitutes the ‘real’, their reasons
for striving towards it, and the means by which they feel it should be attained. In particular, I will examine
the roles of embodiment, language, and, by derivation, conceptuality.
The imagination can be ephemeral and liberating, but brings with it notable absences, namely the
need for practice, and concrete realisation of the abstract. Faced with the discrepancy between imaginary
worlds and reality, Bonnefoy and Henry turn inward, seeking universality in that which seems to them the
most personal, and the most immediate: subjectivity, flesh, and lived experience. Given the richness of their
thought, the work of these two thinkers has been hugely underrepresented in recent study, a trend which I
hope to rectify in this research.
In the search for the Real, our frantic clawing at always indicates an absence. In Bonnefoy’s words:
the doors of science or the heaped rubble of history
reveals little, save an ever-receding ontological floor ‘[The word horse] contains a quiddity,
and the inadequacy of our method. Faced with the nothing else, and as such it is destined
exterior, intentional world’s seeming incapacity to never to evoke, like a proper noun cried out
grant access to the Real, Yves Bonnefoy and Michel could, the actual existence here, before me,
Henry turned inward, seeking universality in that of ‘a horse’…what is ‘horse’ if not a concept?
which seems to them the most personal, and the A horse, yes, before me, and ‘horse’, the
most immediate: subjectivity. Where one strand notion of it, no matter how this notion is
of phenomenology set out from Husserl towards determined.’2
textuality, virtuality, and shifting systems of signs,
Henry and Bonnefoy took the road less travelled, The central paradox in Bonnefoy’s thought is
towards the flesh and the immediacy of lived that he considers language to be both the cause of
experience. our separation from essential reality, and a means
Through the incorporation of language, in to find access to presence, the place where reality is
other words by reading poetry aloud, Bonnefoy experienced at its most immediate. This may seem
hopes to find ways to access presence, a term he uses to impossible, but Bonnefoy argues for a distinction
describe ‘[an] impression of participating in a reality between poetic language and other forms, claiming
suddenly more immediate, more unified, and more for poetry a capacity to overcome the pitfalls faced
interior to our being.’1 This state of grace has been by non-poetic language. Before examining this in
lost, he would have it, through our use of language, more detail, a brief description of Michel Henry’s
which has left our subjectivity estranged through position will help put this in perspective.
language’s conceptualisation of the world. One While Bonnefoy holds language to be at the
means of regaining access to the realm of presence root of our alienation from the real,3 Henry feels that
is through direct contact with nature, when chance a distancing from our own corporeal immediacy
smiles upon us, and we temporarily feel ourselves clouds our awareness of what he calls life, ‘the pure
to be in communion with all things. In poetry, ontological element’ that is ‘anterior to every act of
Bonnefoy seeks a less aleatoric means to reach understanding directed toward it.’4 According to
presence. However, he believes that by its very nature
language substitutes a conceptual replacement for 2 Yves Bonnefoy, ‘La poesie francaise et le principe
the object itself; a letter, be it alphabetical or postal, d’identite’, in Un rêve fait à Mantoue (Mercure de
France, 1967) trans. Graham Riach pp 91-2, trans.
1 Yves Bonnefoy, ‘Poésie et liberté (1989)’ in Entretiens sur Graham Riach
la poésie (1972-1990) (Mercure de France, 1990) p310, 3 ‘Poésie et liberté’, p310
trans. Graham Riach 4 Michel Henry, The Essence of Manifestation, Trans. Gi-
rard Etzkorn (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1973) p153
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 29
Henry, life is an immediate subjective experience of Poetic language, then, when it is spoken, has not
the world, a kind of gut instinct which occurs before only the abstract qualities of the linguistic signs it
our intentional interaction with it. Life is experienced incorporates, but also a physical element in sound.
thanks to auto-affectivity, a self-awareness of one’s Crucially, words become physically palpable in the
own participation in life, coupled with a sense of breath which produces them, and the ear which
one’s individuality and pathos, which consists of discerns them. Here, language is no longer merely a
feeling both joy and suffering. This auto-affection system of empty signifiers, but a ‘substance…which
is closely tied to his concepts of praxis, and flesh. was breath.’7 Through its incorporation, language is
With regards to flesh, it is important to bear in transubstantiated from the ethereal to the physical,
mind here that Henry distinguishes between the and this allows us access to presence.
flesh of our organic body, which would participate However, these claims come fraught with
in the world, and a more fundamental, subjective a number of problems. In Henry’s work, as in
fleshliness, constituted of auto-affectivity, which Bonneofy’s, it is conceptualisation which constitutes
participates in life. As James Williams points out the major stumbling block to direct involvement
in an enlightening article comparing some aspects in presence, or as Henry calls it, life. Despite this,
of Henry with other philosophers, unlike Maurice both positions rely on complicated theory, which is
Merleau-Ponty’s intertwining of the body and hardly the easiest thing to grasp non-conceptually.
consciousness, which links the two, but on a basis In addition, both Bonnefoy and Henry have no
of difference, Henry claims their indivisibility.5 This choice but to turn to language in order to express
distinction is useful, as it foregrounds the necessity their thoughts, tying them both to a conceptual
for Henry of dismantling the binary between body linguistic system. Moreover, Bonnefoy gives no
and self. Where Descartes states Cogito ergo sum, clear guidelines as to how we should distinguish
I think therefore I am, Henry might be thought to poetic language from non-poetic, save that we will
claim Facio ergo sum, I do therefore I am. just know. Similarly, Henry is vague as to exactly
For Henry, if objective intentionality, a kind what types of physical activity constitute praxis. The
of conscious perception of the world, is put first, it passage in which he comes closest to addressing the
causes an abstraction from immediate subjectivity issue directly describes praxis as something which
similar to the estrangement from reality Bonnefoy occurs when the body’s physicality, grafted onto its
claims is caused by language. In other words, subjective core, is exploited through movement as
both theorists feel that we are living in a world of an instancing of auto-affection.8 This does not seem
concepts which keeps us at a distance from our to provide a particularly rigorous model from which
immediate experience of being. One of the key to work.
means Henry advocates for accessing a state of unity
with the exterior world of objects is through praxis, a Despite these problems, I feel that the picture
physical interaction with the world which bypasses Bonnefoy and Henry paint of our relationship with
the objectification caused by conscious perception. the world in which we live to be a vivid one, and
This concept of praxis helps in understanding it is one which is often in accord with what I have
Bonnefoy’s conception that poetry can allow us to experienced personally. Yes, the imagination can
experience reality directly. In his essay ‘Poetry and grant us relief from the burdens of the world. Yes, it
Freedom’, he clarifies why poetry can accomplish provides us with the fuel to persist in our endeavours,
what other language cannot: but whatever it offers us, it can only be thought
valuable in that it benefits us in our physical lived
Words, yes, but active in a sentence in a experience, our most immediate point of contact
way I have not yet spoken of…Words, and with the world. This idea is eloquently summed up
with them signification, but this time also by Bonnefoy in one of his later poems, and it seems
sounds, rhythms which are formed from fitting that the last words be his:
one vocable to others in a different type of
language, a new scheme of association… Passer by, these are words. But instead of reading
before any thought.6 I want you to listen... 9
In On the Genealogy of Morality1 Nietzsche claims that “there is only a perspectival seeing, only a
perspectival ‘knowing’”. The interpretation of this idea goes far beyond a simple textual debate, and signals
a dividing line between sceptical relativistic approaches and analytic positivistic approaches to the ideas
of truth, knowledge, and science. This short paper will be mainly concerned with looking at readings of
Nietzsche’s later works2 to compare three different approaches to this perspectivism: a relativistic sceptical
understanding popular amongst some post-structualists, a more positivistic analytic approach advocated
by Brian Leiter, and a third way that tries to combine the sceptical aspect of the first while avoiding the
slide into relativism. I will analyse each interpretation based on its how well they fit with the texts, but also
mention what I see as the pros and cons of the positions more generally3. I will argue that the relativistic
component of the post-structualist’s sceptical approach is an undesirable conclusion that is incompatible
with other aspects of Nietzsche’s work, and entails nihilism. I will also argue that the opposing positivistic
interpretation fails because it misses the context of Nietzsche’s work, relies too heavily on an optical analogy,
and generally it misses the inescapable necessity of interpretation in everything. I will then argue that the
correct reading of perspectivism is our third way, which manages to simultaneously combine aspects of
both and shift the question from the domain of knowledge to that of value.
Perspectivism in On the Genealogy of of the world; the dissolution of myths and the
Morality1,2,3 substitution of knowledge for fancy” (1997, p. 3), the
Before we dive into our discussion of Enlightenment revolutionised ideas and attitudes
perspectivism it is important to think about the about religion, morality and knowledge. Nietzsche
context of Nietzsche’s work; this draws in a vast had great respect for the general myth-busting
array of considerations, but there are two that are attitude of the Enlightenment; his (and later Adorno
particularly important for our present purposes. and Horkheimer’s) problem with many ideas
We must first note that Nietzsche is a philosopher during and post it was that he felt they failed to
who’s work is a continuation of a lineage that runs recognize that in many areas they simply replaced
through Schopenhauer, and many other European old myths with new. In brief Nietzsche’s ideas were
philosophers of the time, but that ultimately begins influenced by, a reaction against (the situation it
with Kant; we can trace many of the methodological left western philosophy), and a continuation of the
aspects (i.e. continuing the critical project), questions Enlightenment all at the same time.
and ideas of Nietzsche (Smith, 2010) right back to The texts that this paper focuses on (GM, TI,
Kant4. One central issue of this lineage was how to and BGE) are the ones that are most concerned with
formulate metaphysics to make it possible to have critiques of Kantian and Enlightenment ideas. GM
knowledge of things in themselves (things as they itself is a text that Nietzsche calls his “thoughts on
are absent of us as opposed to knowledge of things the descent of our moral prejudices” (GM Pref. 2);
as they are merely apparent to us). Kant, Hegel and where these “thoughts” are the basis of a critique
in a more negative way Schopenhauer had differing on the prevailing Christian morality of his (and to
ideas of how to do it, but they were all obsessed with a large extent our) age. We will focus particularly
this issue; Nietzsche was also influenced by this, on the third and final Essay of GM where Nietzsche
but in a rather different way. The second contextual goes beyond morality and embarks on a wider
consideration is the Enlightenment; characterised by critique on the whole of western society; he attacks
Adorno and Horkheimer as “the disenchantment aspects of art, science, religion and philosophy and
concludes that there is one ideal/value system that
1 Henceforth: Beyond Good and Evil – BGE, On the Geneal- underlies all of the problems that he addresses: the
ogy of Morality – GM, and Twilight of the Idols – TI.
ascetic ideal. For Nietzsche this ascetic ideal is the
2 Specially BGE (1-23), TI (IV), and mainly Essay 3 of GM
3 Both of these aspects, but particularly the later, are
intentional object behind judgements of the world
greatly expanded on in the larger project of which this in terms of transcendental values (Smith, 2010); it
paper is a part is the mistake of confusing one’s interpretations of
4 This is not necessarily a positive lineage, more that Ni- the world (i.e. one’s ideals) to be some metaphysical
etzsche’s ideas follow on from and react against those evaluative standard of the world. Asceticism for
of Kant and Schopenhauer Nietzsche is a disaster:
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 31
“I can think of hardly anything that has The core idea of perspectivism is the inescapable
sapped the health and radical strength of fact that we always know from a perspective; the
precisely the Europeans so destructively as interpretation of this idea, why it is an antidote to
this ideal; without any exaggeration we are asceticism, and the consequences of it on our picture
entitled to call it the real catastrophe in the of knowledge is what will be discussed in the rest of
history of European man.” (GM III 21) this paper.
Abstract
Government involvement in health provision became increasingly central to national agendas in the
post-World War II world. The recognition of the need for such provision in the wake of the losses attributable
to war ensured that public health would become an issue of increasing importance throughout Europe. This
article analyses the general trend towards governmental involvement in Irish health provision by engaging
in an examination of the role of the visual in the public health campaigns of 1945-1958. This increasing
emphasis on the visual in society will be assessed through the prism of health posters and pamphlets.
By examining the many and varied visual representations of illness, the depiction of those at risk from
disease can be understood as an aestheticised one. Symbolic imagery and metaphors, which articulate
particular beliefs about illness and its victims, were employed as an advertising tool adopted by the Irish
state. The analysis of health announcements in terms of iconography regarding disease, child welfare and
the perception of women indicates that such media, despite appearing nationally all-inclusive, were in
reality, aimed at specific groups or genders in society. Such announcements promoted a conceptualised and
imagined view of society under the auspices of health promotion.
Figure 1. TB poster issued by the Anti-Tuberculosis Section of Figure 2. Department of Health pamphlet providing advice and
the Irish Red Cross (NAI, HLTH D102/8) tips on dealing with coughs in children (NAI 2002/74)
Pamphlets and posters dealing with maternal and Whilst the actions of successive Ministers for
child welfare services, the combat of tuberculosis Health were indicative of a new and somewhat
and the importance of home hygiene will be radical agenda for disease control and treatment,
analysed in relation to their intended function and the social and cultural climate of the period was
their inherent symbolism. still predominately influenced by the machinations
The Health Hints in the Home series, introduced of the Catholic Church under the auspices of the
at the behest of central government in the late 1950s, Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid. 8
aimed to highlight the continuing efforts to combat This was reflected in an increase in the popularity
various health and hygiene issues. It specifically of Irish Catholic social instruction and the efforts
addressed ‘Diphtheria Immunisation’, ‘Mumps’, of the Catholic Church in applying the teachings of
‘Flies – The Assassins of the Home’, ‘Sore Throat’, papal encyclicals to contemporary social problems.9
‘Cough in Children’, ‘Whooping Cough’, ‘Your A more thorough commitment to Catholic social
Children’s Teeth’, ‘Worms in Children’ and ‘Measles’. teaching, to Catholic concepts of the moral law and
The Anti-Tuberculosis section of the Irish Red Cross a more explicit recognition of the special position of
Society distributed an array of poster and pamphlet the church within both Irish political and social life
material relating to tuberculosis in a concerted was expounded.10
attempt to educate and inform the public on the Whilst it appeared that Irish social conditions
spread of the disease and the importance of early were improving in the post-Emergency period,
detection. This article investigates the importance Ireland still had the highest rates of infant and
of such public health images in transferring an maternal mortality in Europe by 1949.11 Central
imagined construction of independent Ireland to the Statistics Office data imparts a clear and candid
nation. This specific conceived perception of society picture of the high level of death rates from infectious
will be examined within three distinct areas of study diseases amongst children aged 1 to 4 in 1949.12
namely, the perception of the mother in Irish public Tuberculosis accounted for 14.8% of deaths amongst
health campaigns, the use of the Irish language in infants, diarrhoea and enteritis 6.6% and whooping
health information, and disease representation cough at 4.7%.13 Tuberculosis also affected large
within the sphere of public health. numbers of young adults, and was accountable for
half of all deaths of those aged 25 to 34 in 1949. The
The P erception of the Mother in Irish incidence of the disease in 1952 was 230 new cases
P ublic Health Campaigns 8 John Horgan, Nöel Browne: Passionate Outsider (Dublin,
During the period 1945-1960 a general re- 2000), p. 72.
appraisal of the role of State and local government 9 Barrington, Health, Medicine and Politics, p. 143.
in relation to public health was undertaken.7 A 10 Whyte, Church and State in Modern Ireland, p. 158.
need for interventionist and preventative policies 11 Ferriter, The Transformation of Ireland, p. 497.
rather than curative practices was championed. 12 Central Statistics Office, That was then, This is now:
Change in Ireland, 1949-1999, ed. Adrian Redmond
7 Diarmaid Ferriter, The Transformation of Ireland 1900- (Dublin, 2000), p. 37.
2000 (London, 2004), p. 497. 13 CSO, That was then, This is now, p. 37.
38
per 100,000 of the population.14 Such stark figures women more acutely responsible for the health
ensured that some form of government intervention and welfare of their families.17 It was through the
would be necessary to combat these extreme levels ideology of scientific motherhood that the nurture
of infectious disease and the corresponding high of children could be elevated to the status of a
mortality rates. profession.18 Motherhood was identified as a site
Familial and maternal obligations consequently from which women were to locate their identity and
became central to State-led health campaigns lifetime happiness.19
throughout the post-Emergency period. The mother The Health Hints in the Home campaign
was repeatedly broadcast as the chief provider for centred on specific maternal instruction and health
the child within the home. The protection afforded guidelines. Such pamphlets functioned to prevent
the family in the Irish Constitution and the treatment and reduce the high rates of infant mortality in the
accorded women in Article 41 was deeply influenced State. The importance of early detection in ensuring
by Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical Rerum Novarum of 1891, recovery rates is highlighted both textually and
which asserted that only in extreme cases was it illustratively. In Fig. 2 the Mother is depicted
acceptable for the State to interfere with the family.15 undertaking what is portrayed as her maternal
The clause relating to mothers concluded that “a duty by seeking the judgement and guidance of the
woman is by nature fitted for homework, and it is medical profession. Whilst this is a highly stylised
that which is best adapted at once to preserve her representation, its purpose is to establish a particular
modesty and promote the good bringing-up (sic) mode of behaviour and correct health conduct.
of children and the well being of the family”.16 As This pamphlet is specifically aimed at the female
illustrated by the central positioning of the mother in society and more particularly the mother as the
and child in Fig. 1 it is this perception of the role primary care-giver to the child. The male figure, the
of women in society which recurs throughout the professional and skilled doctor, although working
published propaganda material of the period. in the domestic environment clearly represents
Furthermore the influence of scientific the gender divide within Irish life. Concurrently it
advances had a potent impact on the provision of endorses the doctor as the mother’s guide. Therefore
infant welfare from the early 1950s. The principle the pamphlet is intended to assist the mother in
that women required scientific and medical advice carrying out her maternal responsibilities astutely.20
to raise their children properly gained increasing 17 Rima D. Apple, ‘Constructing Mothers: Scientific
prominence in the twentieth century. The need Motherhood in the Nineteenth and Twentieth
to follow explicitly the direction of experts made Centuries’, Social History of Medicine, no. 8 (1995), pp.
161-178
14 CSO, That was then, This is now, p. 36. 18 Apple, ‘Constructing Mothers: Scientific Motherhood
15 Dermot Keogh and Andrew J. McCarthy, The Making in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries’, p. 165.
of the Irish Constitution 1937 Bunreacht na hÉireann 19 Apple, ‘Constructing Mothers: Scientific Motherhood
(Cork, 2007), p. 113. in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries’, p. 164.
16 McQuaid extract from Rerum Novarum, UCDA 20 Apple, ‘Constructing Mothers: Scientific Motherhood
P150/2411, deValera Papers. in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries’, p. 168.
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 39
Figures 5 and 6. Department of Health pamphlets promoting Diphtheria Immunisation (NAI 2002/74)
The family is enshrined in the Constitution of perception of women which was repeatedly
the state as the “natural primary and fundamental illustrated in a variety of health notices, namely that
unit group of Society”21 By extension the mother of homemaker.
within the home is established as the essential
and imperative care-giver of the family unit. It is The Irish Language
this perception of the role of women, particularly The adoption of the Irish language in the
mothers, that serves as a recurring visual publication of a variety of health notices characterises
representation in many of the State produced public a distinct depiction of an imagined Independent
health notices concerning infant welfare throughout nation. In a society which was increasingly
the post-Emergency era. operating in the English language the continued use
The iconography utilised throughout the of Irish in the political and administrative function
public campaign to promote the “Mother and Child of the state represented its importance as a symbol
Scheme” employed specific symbols and metaphors of Irish identity. Cultural nationalism assumed the
which were presented as representative of the moral role of official state ideology.22 Conradhna Gaeilge, a
code prevalent in contemporary society. The Brigid’s non-governmental organisation responsible for the
Cross held a prominent position in the official promotion of the Irish language, had actively and
publication of the “Mother and Child Scheme”. As successfully founded it as an emblem of national
depicted in Fig. 3 the central composition of the identity since the early years of the twentieth century.
mother and baby is juxtaposed with the religious The Irish language had been established as the first
symbol of a Brigid’s Cross. This cross was believed language of the state in Bunreacht na hÉireann, the
to protect the home from evil, hunger and fire. The Irish Constitution, 1937. The centrality of the Irish
pictorial representation of the Mother and Child language, as seen in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, ensured that
proves reminiscent of traditional depictions of the health notices would now be published in both
Madonna and Child. Consequently the informal and the Irish and English language. The production of
maternal arrangement and the juxtaposition of the equal numbers of health notices in both the Irish
two central figures with the St. Brigid’s Cross alludes and English languages serves to somewhat over
to Madonna and Child symbolism. By utilising such emphasise the number of Irish speakers operating
powerful and easily recognisable iconography the outside that of Gaeltacht areas. All those pamphlets
poster achieved a high-level of comprehensibility. produced for the Health Hints in the Home campaign
This constitutional image of the role of women in were available in both an Irish and English language
society disregarded the continuously increasing version. The production of such health notices
numbers of women engaged in gainful employment represents the maintenance of governmental
outside the home during the 1950s. Indeed such cultural policy as opposed to a true reflection of
proliferation did little to alter the traditional language usage amongst the general population.
21 Bunreacht na hÉireann, 1937, Article 41; available 22 Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin, Language from Below: The
from http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/upload/static/256. Irish Language, ideology and power in 20th Century Ireland
htm; accessed on 24 February 2010. (Oxford, 2006), p. 170.
40
idealised view of society in relation to disease
representation was circulated for precise reasons,
particularly the control of fear, the creation of
alternative historical truth and to affirm the social
and religious tenets of the Irish Constitution and the
society in which it operated. It has been suggested
that the depiction of those at risk from certain
diseases can be understood as an aestheticised
one.28 Such images attempted to simplify the actual
complexities of disease and the society in which they
functioned through the use of highly formulated
images. Therefore symbolic imagery and metaphors,
which reveal particular beliefs about both illness
and its victims, were employed as a successful
advertising tool adopted by the State.
The employment of images in a highly
constructed manner can be primarily perceived as
governmental efforts to combat fear. Formal rigidity
and expectation in visual images allows a certain
Figure 7. Department of Health Pamphlet dealing with Measles level of normalcy to remain within the field of
(NAI 2002/74)
disease and illness.29 S.L Gilman and Mary Douglas
argue that those rigid forms of art that often reveal
Whilst the number of school children speaking themselves within the confines of the public health
Irish had increased since Independence in 1922 the poster represent an attempt at controlling disease
use of the language rarely transferred to the home within civil society worldwide.30 Despite the
environment. Education was the chief means of significant infant death rate from measles, which
restoring the language to prominence in Irish stood at 3.3% of all deaths in the one to four age
society. However the payment of fees restricted entry group in 1949, the visual projection of the disease
to secondary schools and universities.23 Certainly highlighted preventative and curative measures as a
language restoration could not be achieved by a means to combat both concern and anxiety.31 In Fig. 7
mainly primary education.24 The ethnic definition of the depiction of the child with the arm raised and fist
‘Irishness’ shifted slowly from the Irish language to clenched alludes to recovery and inherent strength
Catholicism.25 From the late 1930s the views of the against the ravages of infectious disease. The control
church came to dominate the ideology of the state. of fear by national governments through their
During the period ending with the Second World public health advertising schemes coincided with
War support for the Irish language peaked and yet a wish to promote the prevention of disease within
the spoken language went into a gradual decline.26 society rather than introducing heightened curative
This decline continued throughout the post-war measures. It is therefore within a specific aesthetic
years, a reality which is noticeably absent in the tradition, that of imagining and presenting disease,
numerous Irish language health notices produced that a sense of ultimate loss is projected.32 Images are
throughout these same years. Certainly the harsh placed within culturally accepted boundaries and
reality of poverty and emigration fractured the categories of representation. Within “art”, they are
popular perception of the Irish language idyll that presented as a social reality, a controlled image of
had been promoted since the 1930s.27 The contrast the world.33
between government rhetoric and practice marked It is imperative that a positive focus
the declining role of the state. Bilingualism rather regarding the state health service is constantly
than restoration became the more viable aspiration maintained. As Gilman indicates, one function of
of the state. the health poster is to enable a general attempt by
society to “localize and therefore limit the source of
Disease Representation within the sphere pollution”.34 By portraying preventative measures,
of Public Health both visually and textually, society preserves a
The representation of disease and illness in a level of hope and optimism within public medical
highly controlled style signified the portrayal of a
28 Gilman, Picturing Health and Illness, p. 115.
particular ‘imagined’ view of society. A specifically
29 Gilman, Disease and Representation: Images of Illness
23 Ó Croidheáin, Language from Below, p. 173. from Madness to AIDS (New York, 1988), p. 2.
24 Ó Croidheáin, Language from Below, p. 171. 30 Gilman, Disease and Representation, p. 2.
25 Ó Croidheáin, Language from Below, p. 178. 31 CSO, That was then, This is now, p. 37.
26 Ó Croidheáin, Language from Below, p. 196. 32 Gilman, Disease and Representation, p. 2.
27 Ó Croidheáin, Language from Below, p. 207. 33 Gilman, Disease and Representation, p. 2.
34 Gilman, Disease and Representation, p. 5.
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 41
Figure 8. Beware of Diphtheria: Protect Your Child by Figure 9. Department of Health Pamphlet dealing with Worms
Immunisation! (NLI OPIE K / 57/4) in Children (NAI 2002/74)
discourse. Furthermore, the nationwide campaigns simplify the actual complexities of disease, the use
introduced in the post-Emergency period, genuinely of highly constructed images renders the portrait of
improved early detection rates and consequently the sufferer inconsequential to the actualities of the
led to the successful treatment of disease.35 From illness. The person at risk is shown to be ‘healthy’
the introduction of national immunisation schemes and therefore beautiful, thereby more receptive to
the number of cases gradually declined as increased positive action from a visual viewpoint. As depicted
numbers availed of the service. As expressed in Fig. in Fig. 9 the two potential sufferers are displayed
8, the use of a direct-address style “ PROTECT Your as healthy and happy, the successes of a pro-active
CHILD by IMMUNISATION” the accompanying preventative health policy. Whilst the mortality
text to pamphlet material relating to diphtheria statistics for many of the infectious diseases during
immunisation only serves to further foster the this period are distressingly high, the depiction of
conception that confidence in curative measures the prospective victim omits any reference to death
were continually maintained within the visual or the act of dying. It is thus, argues Gilman that
expression of disease and illness. “these images are both dying and not really dying.
It is perhaps the image itself which makes the The anxiety about death can thus be bonded.”40
historical narrative appear complete rather than
partial.36 The health poster, illustrated pamphlet and Conclusion
more generally the public health notice can often The production of a range of aestheticised
serve as tools of state propaganda for national health. images represented the visualisation of a specifically
The image, when combined with the associated Irish culture. Health campaigns launched by
caption effectively forms a narrative closure with successive Irish governments throughout the 1940s
each acting as verification for the other in the public and 1950s targeted particular groups in society
eye.37 The visual representation acts to erase any through specific forms of representation. The
ambivalence within the historical discourse and visual and verbal language employed in public
leaves more limited space for contestation in any notices correlate with the prevailing beliefs of the
historical interpretation.38 era. Religious symbolism remained intertwined in
In an Irish context neither the poster nor the idealised representations of both mothers and
the pamphlet depicts the end result of disease. children, serving to illustrate the significant position
Rather there is a deliberate focus on the healthy in of the Catholic Church within the State system. The
society, those who have followed health instruction inherent weakness of the social feminist movement
and education, the preventative rather than the within Irish society facilitated the production of
palliative cure. Certainly, as argued by Gilman, the particular images which upheld traditional gender
representation of those at risk from certain infectious roles.41 In a society largely dominated by Catholic
diseases is an aestheticized one.39 In an attempt to social teaching the maintenance of long-established
35 Horgan, Nöel Browne, p. 72.
40 Gilman, Disease and Representation, p. 117.
36 Cooter and Stein, ‘Coming into focus’, p. 186.
41 Earner-Byrne, ‘Managing Motherhood: Negotiating
37 Cooter and Stein, ‘Coming into focus’, p. 186.
a Maternity Service for Catholic Mothers in Dublin,
38 Cooter and Stein, ‘Coming into focus’, p. 186.
1930-1954’, p. 274.
39 Gilman, Picturing Health and Illness, p. 115.
42
societal positions remained largely unchallenged. 14. Ferriter, Dermot. The Transformation of Ireland
The centrality of the mother and child was clearly 1900-2000. London, 2004.
advanced in a variety of poster and pamphlet 15. Gilman, Sander L. Picturing Health and Illness:
material. Images of Identity and Difference. Baltimore, 1995.
Certainly disease control and prevention 16. Gilman, Sander L. Disease and Representation:
became somewhat central to State policy. By Images of Illness from Madness to AIDS. New York,
producing a series of health notices, the State 1988.
attempted to overcome the clash between assistance 17. Horgan, John. Nöel Browne: Passionate Outsider.
and intervention. The motivating factor was left to Dublin, 2000.
the individual but concepts of maternal duty and 18. Jones, Greta. ‘Captain of all these Men of Death’: the
health prevention for the good of society generally History of Tuberculosis in Nineteenth and Twentieth
were repeatedly accentuated. Moreover it was the Century Ireland. Amsterdam, 2001.
cultural and social character of the country which 19. Keogh, Dermot, McCarthy, Andrew J. The Making
influenced the representative framework of the of the Irish Constitution 1937 Bunreacht na hÉireann.
numerous propagandist images and films of the Cork, 2007.
period. Health issues provided the necessary means 20. McKee, Eamonn. ‘Church-State Relations and the
for signifying a specific conceptualised image of Development of Irish Health Policy: The Mother-
society to the nation. Ultimately, the administrative and-Child Scheme, 1944-53’. Irish Historical
fervour of successive governments in advancing Studies, Vol. 25, No. 98 (Nov., 1986), pp. 159-194.
health promotion campaigns would prove invaluable 21. Ó Croidheáin, Caoimhghin. Language from Below:
in the diminution of endemic infectious diseases. The Irish Language, ideology and power in 20th
Century Ireland. Oxford, 2006.
References 22. Redmond, Adrian. Central Statistics Office, That
Primary Sources was then, This is now: Change in Ireland, 1949-1999.
1. Bunreacht na hÉireann, 1937. Article 8, Article 41. Dublin, 2000.
2. Dáil Éireann Debates (Parliamentary Debates)
1947-1958.
3. Department of Health Files, National Archives of
Ireland, Dublin.
4. Department of Justice Files, National Archives of
Ireland, Dublin.
5. Department of the Taoiseach Files, National
Archives of Ireland, Dublin.
6. Éamon de Valera Papers, University College
Dublin Archives.
7. James A. Deeny Papers, Royal College of
Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin.
8. Official Health Periodicals, National Library of
Ireland, Dublin.
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9. Apple, Rima D. ‘Constructing Mothers: Scientific
Motherhood in the Nineteenth and Twentieth
Centuries’. Social History of Medicine, No. 8 (1995),
pp. 161-178.
10. Barrington, Ruth. Health, Medicine and Politics in
Ireland 1900-1970. Dublin, 1987.
11. Clear, Caitriona. Women of the House: Women’s
household work in Ireland 1926-1961: Discourses,
Experiences, Memories. Dublin, 2000.
12. Cooter Roger, and Stein, Claudia. ‘Coming into
focus: Posters, power, and visual culture in the
history of medicine’. Medizinhistorisches, No.42
(2007), pp181-209.
13. Earner-Byrne, Lindsey. ‘Managing Motherhood:
Negotiating a Maternity Service for Catholic
Mothers in Dublin, 1930-1954’. Social History of
Medicine, Vol 19, No. 2 (Mar., 2006), pp. 261-277.
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 43
Jill Carman
University of Queensland
Abstract
Richard Flanagan, the contemporary Australian novelist, has for decades been a passionate advocate
for environmental conservation, particularly in his home state of Tasmania. He has built up a strong
political profile on Tasmanian environmental issues, leading protest rallies, giving speeches, and writing
in newspapers the world over. In his novels, however, he takes a very different approach, opening the
Tasmanian environment up into a playful and disturbing new world. Flanagan’s 2000 novel, Gould’s Book of
Fish, exemplifies this tendency. It is a work that must be understood within the long history of Tasmanian
environmentalist art, which has traditionally depicted the environment within a highly aestheticised
wilderness discourse. In Gould’s Book of Fish, Flanagan resists this trend, choosing instead to represent the
local environment as a surreal and violent space. The text’s fixation with physical experience allows for an
understanding of environment in a broader sense, which makes clear the connections between the humans
and the surrounding world. It is precisely Gould’s Book of Fish’s refusal to depict nature in any kind of a
natural way at all that makes it such an ecologically important novel.
Tasmania. Home to the world’s cleanest air, environmental campaigns, fought to save various
and some of the world’s clearest water. This island wilderness areas, have become issues of national
off the southern end of Australia’s mainland holds importance. The Tamar Valley pulp-mill, the
the world’s last great temperate wilderness. A Franklin River, Lake Pedder—these Tasmanian
remarkable more than 40% of the state is given over campaigns are household names for most
to national parks, reserves, and World Heritage sites. Australians, and have been instrumental in raising
In its rugged mountain ranges, dense rainforests, public support for environmental issues more
wild rivers and glaciated peaks there is wildlife, generally.
scenery and vegetation unlike anywhere else on Tasmanian artists have played a crucial role in
earth. these conservation campaigns from the beginning,
You could be forgiven for thinking that this working to publicise and popularise key campaign
introduction reads like a tourist advertisement issues. The first major conservation campaign
for Tasmania’s natural attractions. A reasonable fought was to prevent the damming of Lake Pedder,
assumption—most of that material came straight and local Tasmanian artists were a critical part of the
from the official Tourism Tasmania website movement. The Pedder campaign mounted a case
(“Wilderness Areas”). I do this to emphasise that this for wilderness that was, in a large part, aesthetic.
image of Tasmania as a land of ancient wilderness The important role played by local artists within
is a crucial element of its construction today. this campaign was such that the Commonwealth
Here, the Australian environmental movement is Inquiry into Lake Pedder admitted the testimony
at its strongest. The focus of this paper is on the of artists— “professionals in aesthetics”—affirming
contemporary Tasmanian novelist Richard Flanagan, the natural beauty of the lake, which was considered
and his 2000 novel, Gould’s Book of Fish, a novel which to be expert evidence on a par with evidence on the
contributes to the environmental movement in some lake’s scientific and recreational value (Bonyhady
unexpected ways. Flanagan’s novel arises out of a 34). Future environmental campaigns waged in
rich tradition of Tasmanian environmentalism, an Tasmania have continued to rely heavily on art to
understanding of which is crucial to my reading of politicise the importance of wilderness areas. In
his work. Before I consider Flanagan’s work further, the fight to save the Franklin River, wilderness
it is necessary to briefly contextualise it within a photography remained a central campaigning tool.
consideration of Tasmanian environmentalism, and Peter Dombrovskis’s photograph of “Rock Island
Tasmanian environmentalist art. Bend” on the Franklin River became the campaign’s
Tasmania has been at the heart of the central image, symbolising the mystical wilderness
environmental movement in Australia for the last quality of the river. The photograph was used to
forty-odd years. Indeed, it is in Tasmania that great political effect in the lead-up to the 1983 federal
the world’s first-ever Green Party was formed, in election, when it appeared as a full-colour insert in
1972 (Hutton and Connors 121). Major Tasmanian one million copies of newspapers on the mainland in
44
a bid to make the dam an election issue. The leader are no lush evocations of peat and moss and ancient
of the Australian Greens political party, Bob Brown, trees. Rather, through the eyes of Gould, the reader
has commented that fellow politicians still tell him is granted quite a different take on the concept of
that the lift-out was the most effective political environment. Environment, in this novel, is best
advertisement they have ever seen (Wildness). considered in terms of its more general meaning
Richard Flanagan, a fifth-generation as simply, surroundings. It is not some lush, green
Tasmanian, is a contemporary novelist writing realm at a remove from human activity, but a very
out of this landscape. He has a strong political tangible thing in this book, an omnipresent, often
profile, and has been a consistently strong voice claustrophobic space that interacts with the novel’s
within the Tasmanian environmental movement. characters. The scene is set for this understanding
He has led protest rallies, delivered speeches, and of environment very early in the novel.
written in newspapers the world over on Tasmanian In one of the opening episodes, Gould,
environmental issues. His novels, however, present imprisoned within his cell, narrates his surroundings.
a strikingly different conceptualisation of the He describes in particular his cellmate, who he
environment. Gould’s Book of Fish, in particular, is a affectionately refers to as the King. Gould and the
text that refuses to depict the natural world with any King share what Gould calls a “fish cell,” built at the
representational stability. Instead the Tasmanian base of the cliffs ringing the island, so that it fills
environment is portrayed in surreal forms that almost entirely with seawater every high tide. In
entirely erase all traces of the wilderness discourse this claustrophobic environment, Gould describes
so important to the environmentalist movement. his cell-mate. The King, Gould tells us, is a silent,
This is an interesting contradiction between majestic figure. The King is, writes Gould:
Flanagan’s political work and his fictional work, one
that I argue leads to a much richer understanding of ...a most remarkable man.... His presence
the environment. is large, inescapable. You can feel him all
Gould’s Book of Fish is a difficult book to over you. Sometimes I think of him only
summarise, but essentially, it’s the story of the as a creeping slime rising up the walls... He
Tasmanian convict William Buelow Gould, a real grows daily not only in my estimation, but
historical figure, who painted a series of paintings of also, it has to be admitted, in his very being,
Tasmanian fish. These paintings still exist today, and becoming more & more corpulent.... (49-50)
Flanagan reproduces the images at the start of each
new chapter. This, however, is where the similarities Slowly, it becomes apparent to the reader that
between the historical record and Flanagan’s novel Gould’s majestic cellmate is in fact, a corpse. This
end. William Buelow Gould narrates the action of grotesque body bobs around the waterfilled cell
this novel. He is a melodramatic, foul-mouthed every high tide, slowly becoming more bloated, and
petty criminal with artistic leanings. In the story more recently, notes Gould, developing a greenish
as he tells it, locked within his prison cell, he is tinge. In this vignette, the scene is effectively set
commissioned to paint a series of watercolours for what will be the ongoing fixation on physical
of fish, but as these paintings progress, he finds environment throughout the novel. This is not
himself becoming progressively more attached to a conventionally picturesque understanding of
these creatures. By the story’s end, Gould, with a environment but one that’s much more immediately
sense of inevitability, metamorphoses into a fish—a tangible, in say, the slime of a decomposing,
weedy seadragon, to be precise. Gould’s records waterlogged corpse.
of these events, replete with his fish paintings, are It is this fascination with the physical that I
preserved as the Book of Fish, which is discovered think makes Gould’s Book of Fish such an interesting
some 200 years later by a local petty criminal, who text to read in an ecological light. This is a very
finds himself getting sucked into the story as well. earthy novel, full of often hyperbolic references to
This is a surreal and playful novel with a physical experience—by turns bawdy, scatological,
decidedly political agenda. The novel addresses the and violent. . Characters are eaten by giant pigs
shameful treatment of the Tasmanian Aborigines, and digested as giant pig turds, they are gruesomely
contemporary Tasmanian tourism, the literary disembowelled, they engage in sex acts with bottles
marketplace, the brutality of convictism, and much of cologne. In this attention to the physical lies the
more besides. Interestingly, however, there are not ecological insight of the novel. As an embodied
many mentions of the Tasmanian environment, the subject, Gould is all too aware of his environment.
pristine wilderness of rainforest and river in which Through their shared physicality, the natural world
this story is set. In the face of this, I wish to argue and the realm of the human are shown to be, in this
that this is a deeply environmental novel. Like text, inextricable. This is an ecological message of
many Tasmanian artists before him, Flanagan is the most basic order: Gould is materially constituted,
working to engage environmental consciousness, and as such has an affinity with the whole of the
but he’s doing it in quite an unusual way. Here, there material world. The focus on the disgusting and
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 45
the bawdy elements of Gould’s physical experience, clearfelling might. What it does do is inspire the
which pervade the novel, sets this out in striking imagination, provide another means of thinking
terms. through the question of human’s relationship to the
Gould becomes more aware of this world around them. In the history of the Tasmanian
connectedness to the whole physical world through environmental movement, the imaginative role
the fish paintings that he creates. This act of art played by art has been an important one. In the
involves him sitting for hours at a time with each surreal and playful world of Gould’s Book of Fish,
expiring fishy subject, studying them up close as as I have argued, Richard Flanagan continues this
he commits them to paper. It is a process by which tradition.
he reaches what might be called the novel’s ethic of
connectedness, which Gould records as a rapturous References
epiphany: 1. Bonyhady, Tim. “Lake Pedder: 1971.” Island 56
(1993): 29-34. Print.
Because of my newfound proximity to what 2. Flanagan, Richard, Gould’s Book of Fish: A Novel in
hitherto had been little more than stench Twelve Fish. Sydney: Picador, 2001. Print.
wrapped in slime & scale, I began to dream 3. Hutton, Drew, and Libby Connors. A History of
that there was nothing in the extraordinary the Australian Environment Movement. Cambridge:
universe opening up in front of me, not a Cambridge UP, 1999. Print.
man or woman, not a plant or tree, not a 4. “Wilderness Areas.” DiscoverTasmania.com.
bird or fish, to which I might be allowed to Tourism Tasmania, 2010. Web. 7 Aug 2010.
continue remaining indifferent. (258) 5. Wildness. Dir. Scott Millward. Australian
Broadcasting Corporation, 2003. Videocassette.
And indeed, Gould does not remain indifferent
to these fish. His felt affinity for them is not abstract
but bodily. In one of the novel’s many surreal
moments, Gould metamorphoses into a weedy
seadragon. The “whole extraordinary universe” is
so radically connected in Gould’s Book of Fish that
such boundaries between beings constantly shift.
As I see it, Flanagan’s novel is ecologically
important precisely for its surreality, for its focus
on the bawdy and disgusting elements of the
physical world at the expense of depicting the
ancient rainforests. This is a text which challenges
the distinction between the realm of the human
and the realm of nature. Humans are always
already involved in the world around them, and
this is the powerful ecological message of the
book. Historically, it has been artforms such
as nature photography, which idealise what is
beautiful and pristine in nature, that have been
aligned with Tasmanian environmentalism. While
such artforms have an important place within
the environmental movement, Flanagan’s novel
offers an important difference of perspective.
There is no idyllic, untouched wilderness space in
this text and yet the environment, more broadly
conceived, is everywhere, interacting with human
development and even merging the two together
in surreal metamorphoses. This novel emphasises
the connections between the human and the
surrounding world, in a way that shows us to be
inextricably tied to the fate of this world.
When all’s said and done, Gould’s Book of
Fish is just a book—a wildly imaginative, moving,
unsummarisable story about convicts who turn into
fish, among many other things. It’s not going to
change the world in the same way as, say, emissions
reductions targets or campaigns against rainforest
46
A Chinese Verbal Inhibitory Control Task with
Potential Clinical Application
Abstract
Recent findings suggested a relationship between inhibitory control and language production in the
aspect of language treatment outcomes (Yeung, Law, & Yau, 2009). The present study aimed at developing
a modified version of the classic Stroop task, a verbal inhibitory control task without the requirement of
verbal output, applicable to those with language and speech production problem i.e. aphasic individuals.
Normative data were collected from 50 Cantonese-speaking Chinese in the classic and modified Stroop
tasks and interference effects were found. The interference effects in the modified Stroop task confirmed
an element of inhibition which could be considered as related to “resistance to distractor interference”, and
highlighted the potential clinical application of the task. In addition, the absence of a significant correlation
in the interference effect size between the current modified Stroop task and the classic Stroop task was
consistent with and indeed predicted by the account of different inhibitions-related functions.
Introduction Therefore, the development of verbal inhibitory
Executive functions can be defined as control tasks is of great clinical significance.
mental functions which organize, regulate and The Stroop task (Stroop, 1935) has been
execute purposive behaviors enabling humans to widely used in research on working memory and
solve problem for successful living (Hamilton & attention (MacLeod, 1991). In the classic Stroop task,
Martin, 2007). One of the critical components of participants have to name the ink color of a written
executive processes is inhibition, a term defined color word. Typically, naming the ink color of the
by the ability to suppress interfering or irrelevant color word in the incongruent condition (e.g. saying
information (Friedman & Miyake, 2004; MacLeod, ‘green’ in response to the written word “RED”
2005). Inhibitory control process has long been an presented in green) is less accurate and slower than
essential explanatory element in mental functions naming the ink color of a series of Xs or a neutral
like attention and working memory (Macleod, 1991). word in the control condition. This is known as the
Recently, Hamilton and Martin (2007) showed Stroop interference. In contrast, color naming is faster
that the inhibitory control deficits might underlie in the congruent condition (e.g. saying ‘green’ to the
short-term memory impairment. Disruption to written word “GREEN” presented in green) than in
inhibition might account for language production the control condition. This is known as the Stroop
deficits. The findings of Yeung, Law, and Yau facilitation.
(2009) converged on the close relationship between Since 1965, more than 2,000 studies have
inhibitory control and language production in the examined the Stroop task and different theoretical
aspect of language treatment outcomes. Yeung et approaches have tried to explain Stroop interference
al. showed an adverse effect of inhibitory control (MacLeod, 1991). Cohen, Dunbar, and McClelland
deficits on the efficacy of a word retrieval treatment (1990) proposed the relative-pathway-strength
for anomic individuals based on their performance account in the framework of parallel distributed
on a nonverbal inhibitory control task, i.e. the processing (PDP), which introduced inhibition as
Attention Network Test (ANT). the explanatory element. In their model, the process
Meanwhile, Hamilton and Martin (2005a) in the reading pathway contributes inhibitory
reported a dissociation between the performance input to the response unit which increases the time
in verbal and non-verbal inhibitory control tasks in required to accumulate enough activation from the
a stroke patient with semantic short-term memory color naming pathway to exceed a threshold for a
deficits. This indicated the differentiation of response, resulting in interference.
components of inhibition into verbal and non-verbal On the contrary, Macleod, Dodd, Sheard,
modalities. As the findings in Yeung et al. was Wilson, and Bibi (2003) argued that inhibition was
based only on the results of a nonverbal inhibitory unnecessary in the Stroop task and they suggested
control task, further investigation in aphasic that inhibitory links in the Cohen et al.’s (1990)
individuals’ verbal inhibitory control abilities, and PDP model might not be necessary to explain the
the relationship between these abilities and the Stroop effect. They instead argued for Roelofs’s
language treatment outcome should be addressed. (2003) account based on the WEAVER ++ model
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 47
of word production. Although Macleod et al. Method
(2003) suggested that Roelofs’s account was free Participants
of inhibition, according to Hamilton and Martin Fifty undergraduates (25 males and 25 females)
(2005b), the production rule -- “If the goal is to say the aged from 19 to 25 from local universities in Hong
name of the color, and input is received from a word, Kong participated in the study. All participants
THEN block out the word input” (Roelofs, 2003, p. were native speakers of Cantonese without a
101), could reasonably be regarded as inhibition. history of color blindness, brain injury and hearing
Since then, inhibition has been the core impairment.
element in different accounts for the Stroop effect;
as such, the Stroop task is considered a verbal Materials and Design
inhibitory control task. The task is available in Classic Stroop task. The stimuli used in
Cantonese (Lee, Yuen & Chan, 2002) and is the the present computerized version were Chinese
only verbal inhibitory control task used in Hong characters related to the colors 紅 red, 黃 yellow, 藍
Kong. However, the task may not be administered blue and 綠 green, and unrelated characters including
to those with language and speech production 問 ask, 英 outstanding, 走 go and 生 birth, appearing in
problems, i.e. aphasic and dysarthic speakers. The red, yellow, blue or green. The unrelated characters
speech and language deficits restrict one’s ability in acted as the neutral words and were chosen from
participating in task requiring oral responses. The a database of high frequency Chinese words at a
lack of suitable assessment of verbal inhibitory for primary two reading level. The whole task consisted
this population has motivated the current study. It of 104 trials in three conditions (36 congruent, 36
involved a modification of the response modality of incongruent and 32 neutral trials). The example
the classic Stroop task from oral to covert responses. trials of each condition were illustrated in figure 1.
Given the potential significance of inhibitory control Modified Stroop task. The auditory stimuli, /
in language rehabilitation (Yeung et al., 2009), it is huŋ4/ red, /wɔŋ4/ yellow, /lam4/ blue, and /luk9/
desirable to include a verbal inhibitory control green, were spoken by a native Cantonese female
task as part of language assessment, and its score speaker. The written word stimuli were the same as
may provide valuable information for designing the classic Stroop task except for the neutral Chinese
language rehabilitation programmes for aphasic characters. Only 問 ask and 英 outstanding were
individuals. included chosen randomly from the neutral words
For any modified version of the classic Stroop used in the classic Stroop task. The modified task
task, a significant correlation between the conflict consisted of 144 trials in six conditions with 24 trials
effects in response time in the classic Stroop task each. The example trials of each condition were
and those of the modified test can be taken as illustrated in figure 2.
an indicator of external validity. In the present
modified Stroop task, a spoken color name is Procedure
presented simultaneously with a written word in The classic and modified Stroop tasks were
each trial, and the participant has to decide if the completed in a single session. All participants were
former matches the color of the written word by individually tested in a sound-attenuated room.
pressing a button. Different from the classic Stroop In both tasks, an E-prime programme presented
task, an auditory signal is involved and a spoken the written stimuli on a Fujitsu-brand laptop color
word-color matching is required. Compared to the screen.
classic Stroop task, both tasks involved inhibition of Classic Stroop task. The participant was
distraction from the written word. On this basis, it seated in front of the screen and a microphone was
was predicted that the conflict effect in the modified connected to a voice key to collect vocal latency
Stroop task would be correlated with that in the between stimulus onset and response onset. The
classic Stroop task. participants were asked to verbally name the color of
In summary, the purpose of this study was the word as accurately and quickly as possible. The
to develop a version of the Stroop task without 104 trials were presented in different randomized
requiring oral responses for Chinese speakers. orders across participants. Each participant’s
Normative data were collected to investigate if the response was charted by the experimenter for
Stroop interference effect was present. The validity accuracy.
of the modified Stroop task was also investigated Modified Stroop task. The participant was
by correlating the size of the conflict effect in the seated in front of the screen and earphones were
modified Stroop task with the classic Stroop task. worn for receiving the auditory stimuli. A response
box was connected to the laptop to collect latency and
accuracy data. On each trial, a spoken color name
was presented simultaneously with a written color
word. The participants were asked to decide if the
auditory stimulus matched the color of the written
48
word stimulus and respond by pressing either the Interference effects: The mean difference between
“Yes” or “No” key on the response box as accurately incongruent and neutral trials was statistically
and quickly as possible. Two experimental blocks significant both by-subject, p <.001, and by-item, p
were executed. In each blocks, 12 trials of each <.001, indicating that responses in incongruent trials
conditions were included with a total of 72 trials. were slower with an interference of 124 msec.
The trials in each block were presented in different Facilitation effects: The mean difference
randomized orders across participants. between congruent and neutral trials was statistically
significant both by-subject, p <.001, and by-item, p
Data Analysis <.001, showing that responses in congruent trials
Response latencies and error rates of both the were faster with a facilitation of 48 msec.
classic and modified Stroop tasks were submitted Error rate. Participants’ mean error rates in the
to a by-subject and by-item analysis of variance three conditions are given in Table 1. The error rate
(ANOVA) with experimental conditions as the main averaged 3%. A significant main effect of congruency
factor. The one-way repeated ANOVA test with was revealed, F1 (1.466, 71.827) = 41.59, ηp2 = .459, p
the Geisser-Greenhouse correction and one-way < .001 by-subject, and F2 (2,101) = 39.71, ηp2 = .440, p
ANOVA test were used in by-subject and by-item < .001 by-item. Only the mean difference between
analyses, respectively. Post hoc tests with adjustment incongruent and neutral trials was statistically
for multiple comparisons using the Bonferroni significant both by-subject, p <.001, and by-item, p
method were done between conditions in the two <.001, demonstrating that responses in incongruent
tasks to test for the interference and facilitation trials were less accurate than on neutral trials.
effects.
Modified Stroop Task
Results Response latency. Incorrect responses were
Classic Stroop Task excluded from data analysis. Group means of the
Response latency. Incorrect responses response latency were calculated in the same way
including wrong response words, trigger of the as the classic Stroop task. As a result, 1.25% of data
voice key by a non-speech sound, and failures to were removed.
respond within the designated 3000 msec interval The mean response times by the six
after the target presentation were excluded from experimental conditions are presented in Table 2. A
data analysis. Group means of the response latency significant main effect was revealed in by-subject, F1
were calculated across the trimmed-mean latencies (3.329, 156.442) = 97.722, ηp2 = .675, p < .001, and by-
of each participant in each condition. Any trial that item analyses, F2 (5, 138) = 81.487, ηp2 = .747, p < .001.
deviated from the participant’s mean response time Interference effects: Significant interference
in a particular condition by more than three standard effects were assessed using relevant neutral trials
deviations was also eliminated; as a consequence, as the baselines. Responses in the positive different
1.5% of data were removed. character condition were significantly slower than
Participants’ mean response times in the three positive neutral character trials with an interference of
experimental conditions are presented in Table 1. A 81 msec both by-subject, p < .001, and by-item, p <
significant main effect of congruency was revealed .001. Responses in negative same character trials were
in by-subject, F1 (1.479, 72.485) = 200.16, ηp2 = .803, p < significantly slower than negative neutral character
.001, and by-item analyses, F2 (2, 101) = 293.97, ηp2 = trials with an interference of 57 msec in by-subject,
.853, p < .001, respectively. p <.001, and by-item, p <.001. Responses in negative
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 49
Abstract
One reason for poverty is that many people are denied access to financial markets. A new alternative
way of providing credit to people living in a vulnerable economic situation is microfinance. Microfinance
has often been a success story and one explanation has often been the impact of social capital.
This thesis investigates the relationship between social capital and microfinance. Do individuals and
groups with a higher social capital perform better in the context of microfinance; do they receive more
loans as implied in theory? The aim is to review the impact of the different dimensions and types of social
capital on the success of microfinance. To evaluate this, our study was conducted in the Mbarara district in
the southern part of Uganda, in cooperation with The Foundation for International Community Assistance
(FINCA). To gather the information we attended 34 group meetings where three members in each group
answered our questionnaire. To be able to use the information we use econometric methods.
The results of this study make it hard to draw any general conclusions about the impact of social
capital. They indicate that individuals with relatively lower trust are better off in terms of received loans.
Higher education and collective action also have a positive impact on the number of loans a participant
receives. In terms of number of received loans, it is better to be a man.
economic avenues for poor people and helps economy could reduce the impact of the failure of
communities to grow economically.16 In general the financial market and make the economy more
social capital has a big influence on the economy efficient, especially in developing countries.21
especially when the market is failing in some way.17 Information sharing and collective actions that
In societies that lack a sufficient formal safety net, exist between members of a network have many
relations to people in the close environment could positive outcomes. Foremost social capital helps
work as a substitute for this.18 It is important though to solve the problem with information asymmetry
to be aware that social capital can be a hindrance to and also contributes to lower the transaction costs.
economic development when group interests are not Trust between parties that are interacting makes a
in line with society’s overall interest.19 third supervising party unnecessary and therefore
Social capital appears to have an impact the transaction costs are declining. Eventually the
on actors in the society and society at large. decreased transaction costs and the level of trust
For the purpose of our research it is interesting lead to aggregate benefits.22
to distinguish the impact on the outcome of Through the horizontal relationship between
microfinance. Social capital between groups helps to group members, group lending can solve the
mobilize resources such as increasing access to more problem of information asymmetry. When they
formal credit systems, for example microfinance work as a group, the connections between the
programs,20 it also plays an important role for the members contribute to overcome the problem of
outcome. Castiglione et al states that the connection hidden information but also problems of collective
between local social networks that consist of repayment through peer pressure.23
associates, who trust each other, has a major impact Dolšak and Ostrom argue that adverse
on the success of microfinance. These connections selection and moral hazard can be avoided when
have been an important channel through which an people involved in microcredit projects can choose
who to cooperate with. They then choose people
16 World Bank 3 2009 that are trustworthy and have a personal knowledge
17 Castiglione, Van Deth & Wolleb 2008 p. 375
18 World Bank 3 2009 21 Castiglione, Van Deth & Wolleb 2008 p. 468
19 Castiglione, Van Deth & Wolleb 2008 p. 374 22 Hjøllund & Tinggard Svendsen 2000 p. 3
20 World Bank 5 2009 23 Castiglione, Van Deth & Wolleb 2008 p. 376
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 55
Figure 1. Conducted from the empirical material, gathered in cooperation with FINCA
about. This selection of group members promotes sample has received and indicates how successful
group homogeneity when it comes to land holding, the specific group is in terms of repayments and
gender and income. Group homogeneity also efficiency. The independent variables (xki) consist of
promotes repayment of the loans, when repayments questions asked in the questionnaire; demographical
are encouraged because the group members are aspects and the different dimensions of social capital.
required to act together.24 The demographic variables are included to describe
the sample but also because we think that they have
Method an impact on the dependent variable. The social
Due to the purpose our research we have capital variables were transformed into aggregated
chosen to use a quantitative method consisting of variables corresponding to the different dimensions
a questionnaire with its questions on an individual of social capital. All the social capital variables,
level. The questionnaire is based on standard including the aggregated, were transformed into
questions for measuring social capital.25 To gather dummy-variables responding to high and low social
the data, we took part in 34 microfinance group capital.
meetings in cooperation with FINCA Mbarara where The definitions of the variables and their
we received a total of 102 individual responses. The expected impact can be seen in Table 1.
individuals were randomly selected at the meetings, Every method has its limitations.26 Although
and often selected by the field officers. the one used in this thesis is not an exception, we
To be able to analyze the questionnaires we consider the chosen method to be appropriate due to
use statistical methods; multiple linear regressions the purpose of this thesis.
analyzed with the method of ordinary least squares
(OLS). Results
The dependent variable (Y) is set out to be the Figure 1 illustrates a compilation of the
total number of loans each group in this research’s dependent variable, i.e. number of loans received on
24 Dolšak and Ostrom 2003 p. 275 group basis. The base-line for the dependent variable
25 The questions are taken from the following sources: is the year of 2008 and all groups that we met have
Hjøllund, Lene & Tinggard Svendsen, Gert (2000). Social had an ongoing business since then. The figure tells
capital. A standard method of measurement. Department us about the variation of the dependent variable. 27
of Economics- The Aarhus school of business. Aarhus
26 See for example Lundåsen & Pettersson (2009).
Holm, Håkan & Nystedt, Paul. (2005). Trust in surveys and
27 Bulikiro, I (2009)
games- a matter of money and location?. Department of
Economics- Lund University, Lund and the World
Bank´s Instrument of the Social Capital Assessment Tool.
56
The first relationship that we test, Equation responding to high or low social capital and we
1, is the impact of demographic variables and the cannot say that this answering alternative is either
different dimensions of social capital on the number high or low social capital. The sample size is still
of loans received.28 appropriate though.29
The regression shows that individuals with
Equation 1: higher education receive on average two more loans
Number of received loans= β + β1Gender + β2Age + than the study’s participants with a relative lower
β3Education + β4Number of years in business + β 5Income education. Individuals with low trust, compared to
per capita + β 6Trust + β7Networks + β8Social inclusion + individuals with high trust, receive on average five
β9Civic action + β10Information and Communication + ε more loans. Finally, individuals with high collective
action receive on average one more loan compared
From the beginning the sample size was set to participants with low collective action.30 The
to 102 individuals but after processing the data following equation is used for the second analysis:
a great loss appeared. As seen in the table above
the sample size was reduced to 48 observations. Equation 2:
The loss appeared because problems arose about Number of received loans= β + β1Gender + β2Age +
the coding of some of the variables corresponding β3Education + β4Number of years in business + β 5Income
to social capital. All the individuals that once or per capita + β 6Bonding social capital + β7Bridging social
more answered “I don´t know” and “Hard to answer” capital + β8Linking social capital+ ε
were excluded from the material. This because
all the variables are coded into dummy variables Men receive on average almost three more
28 To be able to use the method of ordinary lest squares loans than women, individuals with a higher
(OLS) the data have to fulfill the assumptions of the education level receive on average one more loan
multiple linear regression model (see for example Gu- than individuals with a lower education level and
jarati 2006 p. 212f). In our case all the assumptions are
29 See for example Westerlund 2005 p. 59
successfully fulfilled and the method can therefore be
30 The variables are significant at α=0.1.
seen as appropriate.
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 57
individuals with low bridging social capital receive honest and who fail to pay back their loans because
on average one more loan than participants with there are no other alternative ways of receiving
high bridging social capital. credit than through a microfinance institution.
The second significant variable corresponding
Analysis to social capital is collective action. Within
In the first regression the variable microfinance institutions, groups need to collaborate
corresponding to education is significant. The to achieve common goals. Even if all the members do
explanation why education has a positive impact not trust each other, they have to collaborate because
on the success of microfinance could possibly be they have a common goal they all want to reach.
found in the advantages that follow with a higher As in the previous regression the education
education. With a higher education one can assume variable, as well as the variables of gender and
that you have more knowledge and information bridging social capital, were significant in the
about how the society works and how parties second regression.
interact with each other and in the long run it affects The reason why it is more beneficial to be
their participation on a market. a man if you want to receive more loans could be
The result that lower trust is positive, in explained by their superior position in the Ugandan
relation to the number of received loans, was quite society. A man is often the head of the household,
unexpected since it contradicts the mainstream even in financial terms. In relation to women’s
theory on the subject. The answer could perhaps be economic position in the household (they might not
found in the relationship between FINCA and the even have access to their own income) a man is often
different banking groups. The groups may have low favored since he is often in charge of the household’s
trust in other people in the society but higher trust gathered income. Following this reasoning, it
in an external enforcer, in this case FINCA. FINCA might be easier for a man to have better repayment
works as an external enforcer that makes the group documentation and therefore qualify for additional
work and makes sure that the repayments are made. loans.
Although there might be individuals that do Another possible situation could be that even
not trust the members of their group, they might be if it is the women that are involved in microfinance
willing to take the risk of other members not being it is in reality their husbands that decide over
58
the repayment. If the husband is in control of the
household’s finances and if he does not have any References
incentives to see that the loans are replayed, maybe 1. Arun, Thankom, Hulme, David, Matin, Imran
the wife will not have access to money to repay her and Rutherford, Stuart. 2009 Finance for the Poor.
loans. In Hulme, David and Arun, Thankom (2009)
Members that have lower bridging social Microfinance A reader Routledge, Chippenham. p.
capital receive more loans than those with a relative 7-16.
higher bridging social capital (trust in people outside 2. Castiglione, Dario, Van Deth, Jan W and Wolleb,
your close surrounding but also in people in the Gulielmo. 2008. The handbook of social capital,
same economic situation as you). One explanation Oxford university press
could therefore be that individuals have a low 3. Dolšak, AvNives and Ostrom, Elinor. 2003. The
bridging social capital because it is not profitable commons in the new millennium: Challenges and
to trust these people, since they have very little to adaptation, MIT PRESS
offer you. Hypothetically, with a high bridging 4. Gujarati, Damodar N. (2006). Essentials of
social capital responsibility might follow. Personal Econometrics, Mc Graw Hill, New York
contacts are very important in many developing 5. Hjøllund, Lene and Gert, Tinggard Svendsen.
countries and sometimes you must rely on people 2000. Social capital: A standard method of
outside your our close surrounding for economic measurement, Department of Economics-The
assistance. These ties work in the other direction as Aarhus school of business, Aarhus
well; if you have a high bridging social capital you 6. Islam, Tazul. 2007. Microcredit and Poverty
might have a larger amount of people that rely on Alleviation, Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham
your assistance. Therefore you sometimes have to 7. Ledgerwood, Joanna. 1999. Microfinance handbook:
share your assets more often and in the long run you an institutional and financial perspective, The World
might have less capability to repay your loans. Bank, Washington D.C.
8. Lundåsen Susanne och Petterson, Thorleif. 2009.
Conclusion Att mäta tillit – teori och metodprobelm. In
The results of the research make it hard to Trägårdh, Lars. (et.al.). Tillit i det moderna Sverige-
draw any general conclusions about the impact of Den dumme svensken och andra mysterier, SNS
social capital; it matters in a different way to what Förlag, Stockholm. p. 112-147
mainstream theory suggests. Trust is important for 9. Muriisa,Roberts. (2009). The AIDS Pandemic in
microfinance but individuals receive more loans if Uganda – Social Capital and the Role of NGOs in
they have a lower level of trust. Collective action Alleviating the Impact of HIV/AIDS, VDM Verlag
had a positive impact just as we thought. The other 10. Ray, Debraj. 1998. Development economics,
variables in our regression corresponding to the Princeton University Press, Princetown
other dimensions of social capital turned out not to 11. Robinson, S. Marguerite. 2001. The Microfinance
be statistically significant and therefore we are not Revolution Sustainable Finance for the Poor, The
able to draw any conclusions from them. World Bank, Washington D.C.
Bridging social capital has an impact on the 12. Tinggard Svendsen, Gert. 1998. Social capital,
number of loans received, although our results economic and transition economies, Department of
contradict mainstream theory when a lower bridging Economics-The Aarhus School of business
social capital is better in terms of number of loans 13. Westerlund, Joakim. 2005. Introduktion till
received. Unfortunately the variables corresponding ekonometri, Studentlitteratur, Lund
to bonding and linking social capital turned out not
to be statistically significant and therefore it is hard Electronic Sources
to draw any conclusions from them. 14. Cassar, Alessandra, Crowley, Luke and Wydick,
Due to our results suggestions for future Bruce. 2007. The effect of social capital on group loan
research could for example be to focus more on the repayment: evidence from field experiments, The
other aspects of social capital and put this into other Economic Journal, 117 (February), Blackwell
contexts than is done today. It would be interesting publishing, F85-F106. Available at: < http://ehis.
to analyze whether the negative aspects of social ebscohost.com.ludwig.lub.lu.se/ehost/detail?vid
capital actually is present more often than we think =1&hid=114&sid=a2ff5a79-98a44abf8918fc26d2d
when it comes to microfinance. 68011%40sessionmgr114&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWh
vc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=25751978 >
18 April 2010
15. FINCA, 2010, available at: < http://www.
v i l l ag eb a n k i n g.o r g/s it e/c.e rK PI 2 PC IoE/
b.2671211/k.BFD7/Uganda.htm > 9 April 2010
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 59
16. Gomez, Rafael and Santos Eric. 2001.
Membership Has Its Privileges: The Effect of Social
Capital and Neighborhood Characteristics on the
Earnings of Microfinance, Canadian Journal of
Economics, vol 34, nr 4, Blackwell Publishing,
p. 943-966. Available at: < http://www.jstor.org/
stable/3131932 > 18 April 2010
17. Olomola, Ade S. 2002. Social capital, microfinance
group performance and poverty implications
in Nigeria, Nigerian Institute of Social and
Economic Research (NISER) Ibadan. Available at:
<http://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/conferences/2002-
UPaGiSSA/papers/Olomola-csae2002.pdf> 18
April 2010.
18. World Bank, Instrument of the Social
Capital Assessment Tool. 2009, available
at: <http://siteresources.worldbank.org/
I N T S O C I ALC A PI TAL/Re s ou r c e s/S o c i a l-
Capital-Assessment-Tool--SOCAT-/annex1.pdf>
18 August 2009
19. World Bank 1, 2009, available at: <http://web.
worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/
EXTSOCIALDEVELOPMENT/EXTTSOCIAL
CAPITAL/0,,contentMDK:20185164~menuPK
:418217~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSite
PK:401015,00.html> 18 August 2009
20. World Bank 2, 2009, available at: <http://web.
worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/
EXTSOCIALDEVELOPMENT/EXTTSCIALCAPI
TAL/0,,contentMDK:20461319~menuPK:994404~
pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:401015~i
sCURL:Y,00.html> 18 August 2009
21. World Bank 3, 2009, available at: <http://web.
worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/
EXTSOCIALDEVELOPMENT/EXTTSOCIALCA
PITAL/0,,contentMDK:20185249~isCURL:Y~men
uPK:418213~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSit
ePK:401015,00.html> 20 August 2009
Interviews
22. Bulikiro, Israel (2009): oral interview 2 December
2009, regional manager of FINCA, Mbarara.
60
Obesity in Scotland:
A Quantile Regression Approach to Studying the BMI
Distribution
Kelly Gallacher
University of Glasgow
Abstract
Body Mass Index (BMI) is a commonly used population level measure of obesity, calculated as weight
in kg divided by squared height in metres. Cross sectional data from the Scottish Health Survey (1995,
1998 and 2003) show that the proportion of men and women age 16-64 in Scotland of all social classes who
are described as overweight (BMI>25kg/m2) or obese (BMI>30kg/m2) has increased since 1995. In this
paper we model the conditional distribution of the body mass index (BMI) as a function of gender, age and
socioeconomic status using quantile regression. This research takes a new look at a well-known problem
with the aim of improving the quality of information available. Height and weight measurements were
taken from representative samples of the Scottish population during participation in the Scottish Health
Survey. These measurements were used to calculate the BMI of participants. Quantile regression modelling
shows that the entire BMI distribution is significantly affected by age, gender and social class, and that BMI
increased significantly between 1995 and 2003 for all subgroups of the population considered in this study.
The BMI of adults in Scotland is increasing on average. The greatest effects of gender, age and social class
are seen among those with the highest BMI. It is the people at the upper end of the BMI distribution whose
weight is increasing at the fastest rate over time.
Figure 1. Proportion of males and females in each weight category as defined in Table 1.
Figure 1 illustrates the proportions of males This study considers the application of a novel
and females in each weight category (described in statistical method to existing obesity data, with
Table 1), for each year in which the Scottish Health the aim of improving the quality of information
Survey was conducted. The proportion of males and available.
females classed as obese or overweight has increased This study does not aim to investigate causes
each year, while the proportion classed as being of of obesity, or to develop interventions based on
desirable weight or underweight has decreased each the information obtained by applying the quantile
year. The proportion of females classed as obese was regression technique to the data.
greater than the proportion of males classed as obese
for each year, but the proportion of males classed Method
as overweight was greater than the proportion of The data sets analysed in this study contain
females classed as overweight for each year. data for approximately 18,500 subjects in total.
Height and weight measurements were
Study Aim collected by trained interviewers from participants
This study examines the changes in BMI of the Scottish Health Surveys, during interviews
according to age, gender, socio-economic status and in the homes of participants. These measurements
year in which the Scottish Health Survey was taken were then used to calculate the BMI of participants.
in a representative sample of Scottish adults. Due Participants in the Scottish Health Survey
to changes in sampling criteria between the three were classified into one of four weight categories, as
Scottish Health Surveys, only subjects aged between defined in Table 1.
16 and 64 years have been included in this study, to The 2003 survey defined different cut off
allow comparison between years. points for the underweight and desirable categories
62
the whole distribution of the response and not just
the mean, varies with the explanatory variables [10].
Quantile regression modelling of the data was
carried out using R 2.11.11[11] using the ‘Quantreg’
package [12].
Table 1: Classification of respondants by BMI Model selection was carried out by first looking
at the full model with four way interactions between
the predictor variables (gender, social class, year
of survey and a smooth term for age). We used a
natural cubic B-spline to model age (see Equation 1),
Figure 2. Gender, Social Class and Year coefficients with 95% confidence bands (shaded) for values of τ (percentiles) between 0.05
and 0.95. Solid lines indicate the value of the coefficient of the mean. Dashed lines are 95% confidence interval for the estimates of
the mean coefficient.
Figure 3. BMI by gender: 10th, 50th, and 90th fitted BMI quantiles as a function of age for year 2003
References
1. Walker A. The Cost of Doing Nothing - the economics
of obesity in Scotland. National Obesity Forum,
2003 referenced in Grant I, Fischbacher C, Whyte
B. Obesity in Scotland: an epidemiology briefing.
Scottish Public Health Observatory, 2007.
2. Dong W, Erins B, et al. Scotland’s Health:
Scottish Health Survey 1995. The Scottish Office
Department of Health 1997.
3. Zaninotto P, Head J, Stamatakis E, Wardle H,
Mindell J. 2009. Trends in obesity among adults
in England from 1993 to 2004 by age and social
class and projections of prevalence to 2012.
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health;
63:140-146.
4. Reas D, Nygard J, Svensson E, Sorensen T,
Sandanger I. 2007. Changes in body mass index
by age, gender and socio-economic status among
a cohort of Norwegian men and women (1990-
2001). BMC Public Health; 7:269.
5. Kuczmarski R, Flegal K, Campbell S, Johnson,
C. Increasing prevalence of overweight among
US adults. JAMA 1994; 272(3):205-11 (referenced
in Dong W, Erins B, et al. Scotland’s Health:
Scottish Health Survey 1995. The Scottish Office
Department of Health.)
6. Shaw A, McMunn A, Field J (ed.). The Scottish
Health Survey 1998. The Scottish Office
Department of Health, 2000.
66
Drug Discovery from Ardisia elliptica
Jun Feng Lee
National University of Singapore
Abstract
Ardisia elliptica is a tropical sub-shrub native to Singapore. The plant is used in traditional herbal
therapy to treat parturition complications (pain and discomfort associated with childbirth) and chest pains.
This project aims to identify potent antiplatelet and anticoagulant compounds which could be used in the
prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVD, which include stroke and heart attack) from the leaf extract of
A. elliptica for possible drug development in the future. Leaves of A. elliptica were boiled in 70% methanol by
volume in water in a soxhlet to obtain an extract. The extract was dried and reconstituted in pure methanol
for chemical analyses using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GCMS) and High Performance
Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). An active compound β-amyrin was isolated using HPLC. β-amyrin,
isolated from the leaf extract, was found to possess antiplatelet properties while the leaf extract showed
both antiplatelet and anticoagulant properties in vitro in human blood and in vivo in Sprague Dawley (SD)
rats. This suggests the possibility of more potent compounds with antiplatelet and anticoagulant properties
awaiting discovery in the leaves of A. elliptica. Both β-amyrin and the leaf extract prolonged tail bleeding
times in SD rats, indicating potent antithrombotic activity (thrombus is a clot in the blood vessel which
leads to CVD). β-amyrin constitutes 0.098% by mass in the fresh leaves of A. elliptica as determined by Liquid
Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LCMS).
Figure 1: Total ion chromatograms of A) 70 % (v/v) methanol leaf extract and B) β-amyrin standard.
chromatograph and a gp2010 mass spectrometer, was eluted at around 67.8 min and its identity in both
and using HPLC, with an Agilent 1100 series HPLC chromatograms was verified by mass spectrometry
system. This was followed by a quantitation of and an autolibrary search using the Wiley mass
β-amyrin in the leaf extract according to International spectral library.
Conference of Harmonisation guidelines using an The presence of β-amyrin in the leaf extract
API 2000 triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer by was further verified with analytical HPLC. The
Applied Biosystems. β-amyrin was isolated from chromatograms from analytical HPLC analysis of
the leaf extract using preparative HPLC and the the leaf extract and β-amyrin standard are shown in
β-amyrin isolate was purified thereafter using semi- Figure 2. The chromatograms indicate the presence
preparative HPLC on an Agilent 1100 series HPLC of β-amyrin in the leaf extract. β-amyrin was eluted
system. at around 63 min and its presence in the leaf extract
The isolated β-amyrin was used in in vitro was verified by comparing the UV spectra of the
bioassays on human blood which consisted of peak of interest and that of the β-amyrin standard.
platelet aggregation assays with a whole blood The composition of β-amyrin in the leaf extract
aggregometer from Chronolog Corporation and is about 1.2 % while that in fresh leaves of A. elliptica
plasma coagulation assays with an automated blood is 0.098 % as determined by the quantitation method
coagulation analyzer CA-500 series from Sysmex. using LC-MS.
The isolated β-amyrin was also fed to SD rats for The results obtained for the inhibition of
the in vivo tail bleeding assays and ex vivo bioassays collagen-induced platelet aggregation, in vitro in
which consisted of both platelet aggregation assays human blood, as shown in Figure 3 suggest that
and plasma coagulation assays. all the test samples (aspirin, leaf extract and the
β-amyrin standard (pure manufactured amyrins) showed antiplatelet effects at the indicated
compound), used in the chemical analyses involving final concentrations in the reaction mixtures.
GCMS and analytical HPLC to verify the presence Moreover, although the composition of β-amyrin
of β-amyrin in the leaf extract, was purchased from in the leaf extract is about 1.2 % w/w, a leaf extract
Extrasynthese. final concentration of 1.2 mg ml-1 and not 10 mg ml-1
was sufficient to elicit equivalent if not more potent
Results and Discussion response than 0.1 mg ml-1 of β-amyrin. This suggests
Chromatograms obtained from the GC-MS the possibility of other active compounds in the
analysis of the leaf extract and β-amyrin standard leaf extract that can also inhibit collagen-induced
are shown in Figure 1. The chromatograms indicate platelet aggregation.
that β-amyrin is present in the leaf extract. Β-amyrin
68
Figure 2: HPLC chromatograms of A) 70 % (v/v) methanol leaf extract and B) β-amyrin standard.
Figure 3: In vitro comparison of percentage inhibition of A) collagen-induced platelet aggregation and B) arachidonic acid-induced platelet
aggregation by different test samples in human blood. Error bars represent standard deviation; all experiments were done in triplicates.
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 69
Figure 4: In vitro comparison of A) PT and B) aPTT due to different test samples in human plasma. Error bars represent standard
deviation; all experiments were done in triplicates. (* indicates p < 0.05, ** indicates p < 0.01 compared with the control)
Figure 5: Ex vivo comparison of percentage inhibition of collagen-induced platelet aggregation after treatment with different test
samples in SD rats. Error bars represent standard deviation and experiments on each animal were done in triplicates. Doses of test
samples indicated in brackets; n denotes the actual number of rats being analysed for each test sample.
70
Table 1: Tail-bleeding times after oral administration of test samples (n denotes the actual number of rats being analysed for each
test sample). (* indicates p < 0.05; ** indicates p < 0.01 compared with the control)
The results obtained for the inhibition of phytoconstituents in the leaf extract. Although herbal
arachidonic acid-induced platelet aggregation as extracts may contain only minute concentrations of
shown in Figure 3B suggest that only the leaf extract bioactive compounds, such as in this case whereby
demonstrated antiplatelet effects at the indicated β-amyrin constitutes only 1.2 % of the leaf extract,
final concentration in the reaction mixture. Both the overall therapeutic effects observed could be a
amyrin isomers did not inhibit arachidonic acid- result of synergy which presents itself as a high level
induced platelet aggregation. The discrepancy of potency not achievable by the individual isolates
between results obtained for the leaf extract and of the bioactive compounds.
the amyrin isomers suggests the presence of other The antithrombotic effect in vivo was further
potent antiplatelet compounds in the leaf extract verified by the ex vivo platelet aggregation assays
which remain to be identified. presented in Figure 5. The ex vivo assays indicated the
The use of different agonists (collagen and absorption of the test samples into the bloodstream
arachidonic acid) in the platelet aggregation assays via the gastrointestinal tract, suggesting that both
can provide some information on the possible the leaf extract and β-amyrin are orally active. This
mechanisms of action of the test samples -- details is a highly desirable drug property as orally-active
of which is beyond the scope of this discussion drugs would encourage greater patient compliance
targeted at a wider audience. than those requiring intra-venous injections.
The following section presents and discusses Comparing the results obtained for the leaf
on the results of the human plasma coagulation extract and β-amyrin in the in vitro assays, it is clear
assays in vitro. Prothrombin Time (PT) is a measure that there remains to be identified compounds with
of the effect on the extrinsic pathway of coagulation anticoagulant and antiplatelet effects in the leaf
by the different test samples while activated Partial extract which have markedly different properties
Thromboplastin Time (aPTT) is a measure of that from β-amyrin. Further isolation should be carried
on the intrinsic pathway. The difference between out to identify these bioactive compounds.
the two pathways is again beyond the scope of this Experimental evidence has hinted at the
discussion. The results of the coagulation assays possible effect of synergy occurring when the leaf
for human plasma shown in Figure 4 suggest that extract was tested for antiplatelet activity. This could
only the leaf extract has anticoagulant effect at the be a possible explanation for the therapeutic effect
indicated concentration as demonstrated by the observed in herbs despite the seemingly minute
significant prolongation of aPTT. The results suggest concentrations of bioactive compounds present.
the presence of potent anticoagulant compounds in Sceptics of herbal remedies have often cited the low
the leaf extract which remain to be identified. concentrations of bioactive compounds in plants as
The comparison of tail-bleeding times between a reason for their doubts in the observed therapeutic
the control and other treatment groups shown in effect being caused by the compounds detected.
Table 1 suggests that both β-amyrin and the leaf With the possibility of multiple compounds acting
extract have antithrombotic effects as demonstrated together to achieve therapeutic effects at low
by the prolonged bleeding times. concentrations as demonstrated in the experiments,
The results from this experiment indicate that it is advisable that the study of medicinal plants
the leaf extract prolonged bleeding time more than take a turn in strategy. Isolation of bioactive
β-amyrin. This could be due to the presence of both compounds for individual testing may no longer
antiplatelet and anticoagulant compounds in the be a sufficiently good analysis of the therapeutic
leaf extract acting synergistically to bring about potential of medicinal plants. It would be worthwhile
the antithrombotic effect, compared with β-amyrin examining the mechanisms of synergy occurring
which only has antiplatelet effect as discussed in the compounds present in herbs and attempt to
earlier in the in vitro bioassays. replicate the same effect with a right combination of
Hence, the leaf extract final concentration of compounds in future drug development.
300 mg kg-1 body weight which is 10 times and not The study of prescriptions involving multiple
100 times that of β-amyrin (30 mg kg-1 body weight) herbs have often proved to be challenging to the
is sufficient to elicit more potent responses in vivo, novice. Prescriptions with instructions such as
suggesting that there may be synergistic effects of the brewing in a claypot and consuming the medicine
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 71
warm may seem unimportant details to the scientist References
employing modern scientific methods in the study 1. Ching, J., Chua, T. K., Chin, L. C., Lau, A. J.,
of such herbal remedies. Such instructions are Pang, Y. K., Johannes, M. J., Tan, C. H., and Koh,
often explained with unfathomable terms such as H. L.(2010). β-amyrin from Ardisia elliptica is
drinking the warm medicine will better promote the more potent than aspirin in inhibiting collagen-
flow of “qi” in the body for quick recovery compared induced platelet aggregation. Indian J Exp Biol
with drinking it cold. While the concept of “qi” is 48, 275-279.
hardly explicable in scientific terms, it is important 2. Jalil, J., Jantan, I., Shaari, K., and Rafi, I. A. A. (2004).
that the scientist relates these instructions to a sound Bioassay-guided isolation of a potent platelet-
knowledge of science wherever possible. activating factor antagonist alkenylresorcinol
For instance, there have been instances in our from Ardisia elliptica. Pharm Biol 42, 457-461.
laboratory in which boiling prescriptions in water in
pyrex glass or metal pots have failed to produce the
bioactive compound responsible for the therapeutic
effect of the medicine. The compound could only be
obtained when brewed in a claypot on a charcoal
stove according to traditions. There is a possibility
that claypot brewing on a charcoal stove may allow
slightly higher boiling temperatures and pressures
to develop in the claypot which aids the extraction
process of bioactive compounds from the herbs or
even establishes the right conditions for complex
reactions to occur between the organic compounds
to form the desired bioactive ones.
As for drinking the medicine warm, it is
important to relate the simple concept of the
increasing solubility of sparingly soluble compounds
in water with higher temperatures. Prescriptions of
medicine to be drunk warm generally have doses
adjusted such that the right concentration of the
bioactive compound will be present in the water
extract when it is warm. When analyses are done
cold or at room temperature, the concentration of the
sparingly soluble bioactive compound will naturally
be much lower or even undetectable in the water
extract. In such instances, analyses of the sediments
will generally show toxic concentrations of the
bioactive compound. Thus, we see that even though
Chinese physicians use perplexingly abstract
concepts like “qi” in their explanation of drinking
certain prescriptions warm, modern science has
its own theories to explain the observations made.
It is important to appreciate the differences in the
approach of experimentation and application of
theories in the two disparate methods of studying
medicine. Only scholars and scientists who can
embrace the beauty of an open mind will have
what it takes to acquire the imaginative capacity of
applying modern scientific theories to the study of
herbal remedies.
72
Continuous Flow, Multi-Phase Reaction Modeling
of Biodiesel Production using Cahn-Hilliard
Approach
Lu Han
University of Connecticut
Abstract
The purpose of my research is to model a novel continuous flow biodiesel reactor/separator in order to
optimize reactor specifications for productivity. The laminar flow reactor employs a static mixing unit and
achieves greater than 95% conversion. The overall chemical reaction converts methanol and triglycerides
(fatty acids) into biodiesel (methyl esters) and glycerol, which form two immiscible liquid phases with
methanol present in both. In modeling the phase separation and flow characteristics of the continuous
flow multiphase reactor, the Cahn-Hilliard theory for diffusion and Navier Stokes momentum continuity
equations are used. Different phase separation models are explored in COMSOL Multiphysics.
Introduction and biodiesel from the top of the reactor drives the
Biodiesel offers many possibilities as a source equilibrium to completion. Figure 1 is a schematic
of alternative energy. Biodiesel fuel is nontoxic, of the reactor. The reactor has achieved greater than
biodegradable, and can be used in most diesel engines 99% conversion of pre-treated waste canola oil to
with little or no modification. Biodiesel is derived biodiesel by removing 70-99% of glycerol produced.
from triglycerides, which are the major components
of vegetable oils and animal fats. Transesterification Model Development
is the chemical reaction where triglycerides react in The goal of my thesis is to model of the
the presence of a catalyst with methanol to produce biodiesel reacting system, taking into account the
methyl esters known as biodiesel. The majority of phase separation. The model is an expression for
current biodiesel production methods employ batch Gibbs free energy based on the approach developed
reactor technology, which has a limited capacity. by Cahn-Hilliard that assumes diffusion is driven
Due to the immiscibility of the reactants with the by the gradient of the chemical potential. The
products, the synthesis of biodiesel takes place as general continuity expression is given by Equation 1,
a two-phase reaction. Batch reactors utilize intense where u is velocity, c is concentration, M is mobility
mixing in order to overcome immiscibility and batch (Diffusivity * mole fraction) and μ is the chemical
operations require multiple separation stages to potential. The free energy model expressed in
remove the byproducts from the biodiesel product. Equation 2 provides a means for calculating an
Under specifications outlined by the ASTM, the analytical phase separation.
equilibrium conversion obtained in a batch system
fails to meet fuel standards. Equation 1:
The inefficiencies of a batch reactor can be ∂c
reduced by implementing continuous removal of the + u * ∇c = ∇(M (c )∇µ )
glycerol phase during the reaction, which will drive ∂t
the equilibrium reaction to completion. The existing Equation 2:
technologies capable of glycerol phase separation
necessitate high temperatures and pressures which
introduces substantial energy costs. The novel
continuous reactor/separator, patented by Dr.
Parnas of the Department of CMB, employs a static The chemical potential can be determined
mixing unit as an injector to a reaction chamber, this from Equation 2 by applying the Frechet derivative,
reliefs the need for extreme conditioned mixing. The where γ is the gradient energy parameter, which
reactants flow through tortuous pathways in the gives an estimation of the interface between two
static mixer, then enters the plug flow tubular reactor equilibrium phases. The Cahn-Hillard continuity
where the bulk velocity in the axial direction is equation after simplification is shown in Equation 3.
decreased into a laminar flow. As the reactants flow
upward in the organic phase, the formed glycerol Case 1 - Equation 3:
molecules separate by density and settle downward.
The continuous removal of glycerol at the bottom
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 73
Figure 1. Continuous biodiesel reactor; reaction produces biodiesel and glycerol that separate into two immiscible compounds
Equation 9:
Dr. Fred Phelan of NIST is the author of an
alternative separation model that modifies Cahn-
Hilliard theory for binary phase separation by
treating the solution as ideal. The free energy
expression, Equation 5, combined with the Frechet
derivative to chemical potential, Equation 6, yields
Equation 7.
Case 3 for binary ideal phase separation
Equation 5: was evaluated in COMSOL Multiphysics 3.5a, and
the model did not phase separate. Investigation
immediately turned to the ideal liquid assumption
used for the free energy model. The binary mixture
was treated with regular solution theory, which
breaks the Gibbs free energy into an ideal and an
excess part, as shown in Equation 10, where g id is
Equation 6: previously defined in Equation 8 and gex is defined
in Equation 11, where χ12 is a binary interaction
coefficient.
Equation 10:
Equation 7:
Equation 11:
74
Equation 7 can be re-arranged and the two Gibbs X1_0+A_0*sin(f_0*pi*x)*sin(f_0*pi*y). The initial
free energy terms can be applied to produce the final condition is a high frequency randomization of mole
continuity expression, Equation 12. fraction with small amplitude. The initial condition
is designed to perturb the system at X1_0=0.5 or c=0
Case 4 - Equation 12: because c=2x-1. Please see the attached COMSOL
Results for pictorial displays of the COMSOL results
and the COMSOL inputs as PDE format for each case.
Complete derivations can be given upon request.
Future work remains for modeling biodiesel
as a heterogeneous reacting system. A quaternary
regular solution model should be developed
Results and implemented into COMSOL, which is an
The models for phase separation using Cahn- improvement to the binary regular solution model
Hilliard (Case 1), Cahn-Hilliard with Navier Stokes because it will describe global reaction. Also,
(Case 2), binary ideal solution (Case 3), and binary intermediates should be added to the regular solution
regular solution (Case 4) were evaluated in COMSOL theory. The methanol partitioning coefficient,
Multiphysics 3.5a with initial conditions, x1(t0)= which was neglected in model derivation, should
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 75
References
1. Chakulsi, Brian. “A Continuous Flow, Multi-
Phase Reaction Model for Biodiesel Production:
A One- Semester Grad Project.” University of
Connecticut, 2009.
2. Boucher, Matthew B, et al. “Pilot Scale Two-Phase
Continuous Flow Biodiesel Production via Novel
Laminar Flow Reactor-Separator.” Energy &
Fuels, Vol. 23, 2009, pp. 2750-2756.
76
Success Factors in Australian Public Sector Alliance
Projects
Matthias Wobbe
University of Melbourne
Abstract
Project alliancing is a relatively new procurement method being utilised in the construction industry.
This research aims to explore the factors which contribute to successful public sector alliance projects in the
Australian construction industry. Case studies and an industry questionnaire were used to investigate the
organisational, alliance and human factors associated with the success of these projects. This research is of
great use to the construction industry as it allows industry participants to better understand the concept of
alliances and improve their project performance.
Introduction Methodology
This dissertation aims to explore the factors In order to better understand the nature of
which contribute to successful public sector alliance these success factors, three key areas of success
projects in the Australia construction industry. creation in a project alliance have been identified.
Project alliancing is a relatively new procurement The participating organisations, the structure of
method being utilised in the construction industry. It the alliance itself and the human factors involved
was developed in the UK on North Sea oil and gas in the interactions of the participants. Government
projects in the 1990’s (Knott 1996 and Thompson information, expert reports, project reviews and
1997) and was refined in Australia by Sydney Water journal articles were evaluated and the information
on the Northside Storage Tunnel Project (Ross 2008). synthesised to form the theoretical framework for
Alliancing is a relationship based procurement this study. Alliancing is a complex undertaking
method (Jefferies, 2006) which tries to achieve a “shift however there seems to be little dedicated research
to peer relationships based on mutual respect, trust to project alliancing success factors with a focus
and equitable sharing of all risks and benefits” (Ross on the Australian construction industry. A lack of
2000). On a theoretical level, Hoffmann and Schlosser empirical research was also noted by numerous
(2001) found that “alliances are the most transaction authors.
cost efficient organisational form” since they replace The current views and perceptions of alliance
the traditional adversarial project delivery with a project leaders in the industry were assessed, as
scenario where all participants work collaboratively these people are best positioned to offer insight into
in seeking to achieve the optimal project outcome. The the success factors being studied. A questionnaire
structure of alliances “create the essential conditions of senior members of past Australian public sector
required for optimal intergroup contact” (Anvuur alliance projects was used in conjunction with two
and Kumaraswamy, 2007). This is confirmed in case studies. The questionnaire provided quantitative
literature world-wide such as (Trim, 2008), who data on the current industry practices whilst the
states that “it was the alliance method which allowed case studies helped to interpret the results of the
contractors and owners to work in one harmonious questionnaire and provide a qualitative discussion
group dedicated to continuous improvement.” of the subject matter. This research methodology
The benefits of using the alliancing approach was chosen since it provided a mix of qualitative and
are many. Alliances have the ability to offer greater quantitative data. The aim was to determine current
certainty of timely completion, improved life- industry practices as Heimeriks et al. (2009) prove
cycle efficiencies, greater risk and opportunity that “using managerial assessments is a sound way
management (Liew, 2009), more effective stakeholder to measure alliance performance”.
management, lower direct costs, higher levels of A register of successful public sector alliance
innovation (Ross, 2000), early contractor involvement projects was compiled and key stakeholders in
(Queensland Department of Public Works, 2008) and each project identified. Research participants were
a more enjoyable working environment (Hosking, selected based on selected sampling of these suitable
2005). The use of alliancing has notable long and past projects. The data produced was analysed using
short term effects on the industry as well. Hennefeld descriptive statistics and qualitative methods as
(2006) states that alliancing can relieve short term outlined by Babbie (2003).
pressures in the industry, such as skills shortages,
inappropriate risk allocation and contract strategies
among others, and improve the long term operation
of the industry in the way projects are procured.
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 77
References
1. Anvuur, A. And Kumaraswamy, M. (2007)
“Conceptual model of partnering and
alliancing” Journal of Construction Engineering and
Management, 133(3), 225-234.
2. Babbie, E. (2003) “The Practice of Social Research”
9th ed. Wadsworth Pub. Co.
3. Heimeriks, K., Klijn, E. and Reuer, J. (2009)
“Building capabilities for alliance portfolios”
Long Range Planning, 42, 96-114.
4. Hennefeld, M. (2006) “Alliance contracting.
Removing the boundaries for infrastructure
delivery” Presented at the opening plenary session
of the 2006 Annual Conference of The Transportation
Association of Canada, Charlottetown, Prince
Edward Island.
5. Hoffmann, W. and Schlosser, R. (2001) “Success
factors of strategic alliances in small and
medium-sized enterprises – and empirical
survey” Long Range Planning, 34, 357-381.
6. Hosking, I. (2005) “The case for alliancing”
Infrastructure Australia, 24-25.
7. Jefferies, M., Brewer, G., Rowlinson, S., Cheung,
F. and Satchell, A. (2006) “Project alliances in the
Australian construction industry: A case study
of a water treatment project: In: Symposium on CIB
W92 : sustainability and value through construction
procurement, 29 November, Digital World Centre,
Salford, UK.
8. Knott, T. (1996) “No Business As Usual.” The
British Petroleum Company. Britannic House,
London, UK.
80
Genetic Basis for Sexual Dimorphism in the Lizard
Anolis sagrei
Megan Kobiela
University of Virginia
Abstract
Sexual dimorphism is readily apparent in the animal kingdom, but its occurrence is a paradox because
males and females share a majority of their genome. Between-sex genetic correlations are a way to quantify
the shared genetic basis of male and female traits. When these correlations are large, they may constrain
the evolution of further sexual dimorphism. Anolis sagrei is a common lizard in the Caribbean and is highly
dimorphic in both size and shape. This lizard was used in a laboratory breeding design to examine sexual
dimorphism in six morphological traits and their between-sex genetic correlations. We found that both head
width and jaw length were significantly sexually dimorphic and had weak between-sex genetic correlations.
All other skeletal characteristics (pectoral and pelvic width and length of front and hind limbs) had stronger
between-sex genetic correlations and a less pronounced difference between males and females. Across
all six traits, the correlation between sexual dimorphism index and between-sex genetic correlation was
found to be strongly negative. This relationship suggests that either strong between-sex genetic correlations
constrain the evolution of dimorphism for some traits or that strong selection for dimorphism may reduce
the strength of between-sex genetic correlations.
Introduction
Sexual dimorphism, or the consistent
differences between males and females, is readily
apparent throughout the animal kingdom. From
the smallest worm to the largest whale, males and
females are often different sizes, shapes, and colors.
Although humans have undoubtedly observed these Figure 1. Male (left) and female (right) adult A. sagrei,
dissimilarities for millennia, Charles Darwin (1859; illustrating the extensive size and shape sexual dimorphism.
1871) is cited as the first person to propose a reason
for sexual dimorphism: sexual selection. Sexual between-sex genetic correlations are important
selection often occurs via female choice, where because they show how constrained males and
females choose among males to sire their offspring, females are in the evolution of dimorphism. Traits
or via male-male competition for mates. Both types with a strong correlation (r close to 1) may limit the
of sexual selection are thought to favor males with divergent evolution of the sexes, whereas low genetic
exaggerated phenotypes, whether showy display correlations (r close to 0) may facilitate independent
behavior or elaborate weapons for fending off rival evolution of males and females (Lande 1980).
males (Delph 2005). In addition to sexual selection, In this study, I examine between-sex genetic
ecological selection may occur when males and correlations and sexual dimorphism in a lizard,
females live in slightly different habitat niches, Anolis sagrei (Fig. 1). Lizards in the genus Anolis have
causing each sex to adapt divergently (Schoener been shown to be an excellent model of adaptive
1976). radiation in the Caribbean. With over 150 species
Genetic variation is necessary for selection to described in the West Indies alone, Anoles are unique
lead to any evolutionary change. In the case of the in their radiation because of the repetition of habitat
evolution of sexual dimorphism, genetic variation specialists that arose across multiple islands, termed
in sexual dimorphism is needed. However, this is “ecomorphs” (Losos et al. 2006). Sexual dimorphism
paradoxical because males and females share the is hypothesized to aid colonization of new habitats
majority of their genome, with the exception of the and facilitate the evolution of different ecomorphs
sex-specific chromosomes (Lande 1987). Several because each sex may inhabit a significantly
mechanisms for differences in male and female different niche (Butler et al. 2007).
gene expression have been proposed, including Anolis sagrei, or the Cuban brown anole, is a
sex-chromosome linkages and differential gene highly sexually dimorphic trunk-ground ecomorph
expression due to gene cascades (Mackay 2001). Anole. Indigenous to Cuba and the Bahamas, this
The amount of available genetic variation for species has been introduced to Florida, Hawaii, and
sexual dimorphism may be represented by genetic Taiwan (Kolbe et al. 2004). Males are larger than
correlations between male and female traits. Such females, with male snout-vent length (SVL) about
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 81
5 cm and female SVL about 4 cm (Schoener 1976). in an incubator at 28°C and generally took three to
Besides having size and extensive shape sexual five weeks to hatch after they were found. Upon
dimorphism, A. sagrei was chosen for this study hatching, the lizard was moved to an individual
because it is easily found in the field and breeds and cage (17 x 26 x 15 cm) with a single perch, carpet, and
survives well in the laboratory environment. a potted plant. The current analysis uses data from
I measured sexual dimorphism and between- 649 juveniles produced from 49 unique sires and 86
sex genetic correlations for 6 size-corrected skeletal unique dams.
traits in A. sagrei. More dimorphic traits are predicted Juvenile lizards were X-rayed at hatching and 1,
to have lower between-sex genetic correlations. This 3, 6, 9, and 12 months old in order to measure several
pattern may arise if strong between-sex correlations skeletal morphological markers (see Fig. 2). To take
constrain the evolution of dimorphism or if strong radiographs, lizards were placed in small plastic
selection for dimorphism leads to the weakening of bags and placed in a 5-6°C refrigerator for 10 minutes
between-sex genetic correlations. (or less) to reduce their movements. The bags with
the lizards are then taped to film and X-rayed at low
Methods power for eleven seconds. Radiographs are scanned
Adult lizards were collected in September 2006 into a computer and ImageJ is used to measure
and February 2009 from Bimini, Bahamas, with 73 eleven traits: snout-vent length (SVL), tail length (if
males and 134 females collected in total. All adults tail intact), jaw length, head width, pectoral width,
are housed in separate cages until females began pelvic width, and the lengths of the humerus, radius,
laying non-viable eggs (about 6 weeks), at which ulna, femur, and tibia. A previous study has shown
point they were randomly paired with males in a that multiple radiographs do not have an effect on
large cage (28 x 36 x 20 cm) with two large PVC or the juveniles’ growth or mortality (McGlothlin et al.,
wooden perches, carpet for substrate, and a potted in prep). To date, there have been 2209 radiographs
plant for laying eggs. The pairs were kept together measured of the 649 juveniles.
for approximately 6 weeks, when females were Sex of the juvenile lizards is known at hatching
removed to a separate cage and males were randomly by examining the back pattern. Females have
paired to a second female to form a paternal half- either a diamond or striped pattern while males
sibling breeding design. exhibit a “chevron” design or no pattern at all (see
Searching for eggs started 4 weeks after adults Fig. 3). Examining the gonads of many juveniles
are paired and continued weekly until the cessation has corroborated the determination of sex by back
of egg laying. Eggs were kept in separate containers pattern and all of the captured adults have patterns
82
References
1 Darwin, C. 1859, The Origin of Species. London,
John Murray.
2 Darwin, C. 1871, The Descent of Man, and Selection
in Relation to Sex. London, John Murray.
3 Delph, L. 2005. Processes that constrain and
facilitate the evolution of sexual dimorphism. The
American Naturalist 166:S1-S4.
4 Schoener, T. W., and A. Schoener. 1976. Ecological
context of female pattern polymorphism in the
lizard Anolis sagrei. Evolution 30:650-658.
5 Lande, R. 1987. Genetic correlations between the
sexes in the evolution of sexual dimorphism and
mating preferences, Pages 83-94 in J. W. Bradbury,
and M. B. Andersson, eds. Sexual Selection:
Testing the Alternatives. Chichester, John Wiley
& Sons.
6 Mackay, T. F. C. 2001. The genetic architecture of
quantitative traits. Annual Review of Genetics
35:303-339.
7 Lande, R. 1980. Sexual dimorphism, sexual
selection, and adaptation in polygenic characters.
Evolution 34:292-305.
8 Losos, J. B., R. E. Glor, J. J. Kolbe, and K. Nicholson.
2006. Adaptation, speciation, and convergence:
a hierarchical analysis of adaptive radiation in
Caribbean Anolis lizards. Annals of the Missouri
Botanical Garden 93:24-33.
9 Butler, M. A., S. A. Sawyer, and J. B. Losos. 2007.
Sexual dimorphism and adaptive radiation in
Anolis lizards. Nature 447:202-205.
10 Kolbe, J. J., R. E. Glor, L. R. G. Schettino, A. C. Lara,
A. Larson, and J. B. Losos. 2004. Genetic variation
increases during biological invasion by a Cuban
lizard. Nature 431:177-181.
84
Generating Automatic Abstractive Summaries of
Product Reviews: The ASSESS System
Nicholas FitzGerald
University of British Columbia
Abstract
The Internet provides many sources of unsolicited opinions, expressed through user reviews of
consumer products, blogs, and forum discussions. Systems which could automatically summarize these
opinions would be immensely useful to those wishing to use this information to make decisions. Most past
work in automatic summarization has focused on extractive summarization, in which key sentences from
the source text are identified and extracted to form the output. An alternative framework is abstractive
summarization. Information from the source text is first extracted into the form of abstract data which
is then processed, and from which the most important messages are inferred. This work built upon past
work to create a completely automatic system which could produce abstractive summaries from a plain text
corpus of product reviews without the need for any prior manual annotation. As an additional contribution,
I also devised an improvement for a crucial step of the summarization process. To the best of our knowledge,
this is the first complete system which effectively performs this task.
Automatic Summarization
Traditionally, systems for automatic extraction
have followed two main approaches. In Extractive
Summarization, representative sentences are
Table 1. An illustration of the differences between Extractive
selected from the source text, creating a summary and Abstractive summaries. The Extractive summary lacks
which is a concatenation of these. This approach is coherence, and is highly redundant, since the sentences have
simple and straightforward, as it can be cast as a come from different document. By contrast, an abstractive
binary classification problem (sentences are either summarization is able to express the same situation more
cohesively and concisely.
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 85
The ASSESS Pipeline
To the best of our knowledge, ASSESS is the first
completely automatic Abstractive Summarization
system for summarization of evaluative statements
(opinions). The only other input required for this
system, other than the source reviews, is a hierarchy
of User Defined Features (UDFs). This is a hierarchical
list of features of the product important to the user.
For instance, for reviews of a Digital Camera, UDFs
might include “Image Quality”, “Battery Life” and
“Price”. “Image Quality” could be further separated Table 2. Example output from steps 1 & 2 from Canon corpus.
into “Resolution”, “Focus” and “Contrast”, forming Sentences are tagged with the extracted features, which are
a hierarchy. These hierarchies are quick and easy to assigned scores based on the polarity and strength of expressed
opinions.
create.
The major steps involved in this system are as rating. However, in the interest of creating a working
follows: pipeline, this approximation was necessary, and
should be ameliorated in a sufficiently large corpus.
Step 1: Feature Extraction [6] provides a method for calculating a semantic
Reviewers provide opinions on many features orientation score for a sentence by averaging
of a product within their reviews, and may use scores from lexicon of positive and negative terms,
a variety of different terms to refer to the same adjusted by syntactic functions such as negation or
feature. For example “picture”, “photo” and “clarity” emphasis. This lexicon is built from a seed list which
could all refer to the feature “Image Quality”. The is expanded based on distributional co-occurrence
first step of the information extraction is to identify using Google hits. These scores are then normalized
the feature terms each review mentions. This step onto the -3 to +3 scale used by [1] and applied to all
produces a list of Crude Feature terms (CFs) which is features found within the sentence. To avoid the
then mapped to the User Defined Features (UDFs) in problem described above, sentences which contain
step 3. This allows the output summary to aggregate contrasting opinion terms are ignored. Empirically,
opinions expressed about one feature via different this is approximately 15% of sentences in the corpora
terms, and reduces redundancy in the summary. tested. See Table 2 for example outputs from step 1
For feature extraction the focus was on and 2 – review sentences tagged with features and
capturing as many features as possible (high semantic orientation scores.
recall rate), rather than on accuracy of output
candidates (high precision). This is because non- Step 3: CF to UDF Mapping
features produced at this step tend to be pruned My main original contribution was an
out later by the CF-UDF mapping (step 3). Feature improvement of the CF-UDF mapping step. [1]
extraction was achieved by implementing the provide a set of simple algorithms for mapping
algorithm described by Hu and Liu [3]. Put simply, which are moderately successful. The downside is
this algorithm selects groups of words which appear that the most successful of these algorithms require
with high frequency within noun-phrases, as these a tuned parameter, Θ, which acts as a threshold for
are likely to be features. I experimented with other accepting mappings, and which must be empirically
algorithms including [4] however Hu, Liu produced determined for each domain (eg. Cameras, DVD
the best recall while still producing a reasonable list players, Restaurants etc). Ideally, a mapping
of feature candidates. algorithm should not require such tuning and
should function well in a wide range of domains.
Step 2: Semantic Orientation Scored I started by surveying the NLP literature on
The ideal system would analyze each feature synonym matching and implementing 17 different
within a sentence separately, and determine the algorithms, and analyzed their effectiveness on the
opinion expressed towards each feature. However, metrics and corpora of [1]. These algorithms fell
for sentences with multiple features and complex into two main categories: Lexicon-Based algorithms
grammatical structure, this becomes a very difficult using WordNet [7] – a lexical database of terms
task (see [5] sec. 6). An reasonable approximation encompassing relationships between words such
is to calculate the overall sentiment of the sentence as homonymity and hyponymity (X “is-a” Y), and
and apply that to all features within the sentence. Distribution-Based scores using search-engine co-
The downside of this approach is that it will occurance data. Several of these algorithms did
incorrectly handle sentences which express multiple, quite well, however most still required optimization
contrasting opinions eg. “This camera produces great of Θ. In order to improve upon these scores I created
photos, but battery life is simply terrible” wherein image a simple voting algorithm: if the majority of the
quality is rated highly, but battery life is given a low
86
selected, a Natural Language Generation system
produces grammatical sentences expressing the
information. Furthermore, each statement in the
summary provides a link to the source material
(the reviews) which illustrates the generalization.
This means that output test functions not only as
a summary, but as a means to access the details of
the source material. The information extracted from
the review corpus is also displayed as a TreeMap
visualization, described in [2].
Results
Table 3. Scores of top 3 individual mapping algoriths, 3- and Preliminary results for the completed pipeline
5-score voting groups on APEX corpus. See [Carenini et al are very encouraging. Summaries of the two
06a] for definition of Accuracy and RR metrics. Note that the corpora tested in [1] seem to correspond quite well
individual algorithms have optimal theta value, while voting
to expectations. In addition, the pipeline was tested
groups require no parameter optimization.
on an entirely new domain – restaurant reviews.
Despite none of the component parts of the system
mapping-scores in the vote mapped a given CF to
having been designed with this domain in mind, the
a UDF, the mapping would be applied, otherwise
pipeline seems to handle it quite well and produce
it would be discarded. For the scores requiring a
reasonable outputs.
tuned parameter, the parameter was set such as to
The following is an example summary for
maximize recall ( Θ = 0). I then tested mapping for all
reviews of Chambar Belgian Restaurant downloaded
possible combinations of 3, 5 and 7 scores. See Table
from http://dinehere.ca. In the HTML output of the
3 for a summary of scores of the top 3 individual
program, the bracketed numbers link to specific
algorithms, and 3- and 5-score voting groups.
sentences in the corpora which illustrate the point
The highest accuracy achieved by an
being made:
individual metric is .787 for lch_score. This
represents the maximum score achieved by the
Almost all users thought the Chambar Belgian
metric with Θ optimized. For certain combinations
Restaurant [1] was good because many diners
of voting groups, accuracy scores exceeded those of
found the service [2] to be good. This was because
any of the individual algorithms – even when those
even though customers had mixed opinions
algorithms’ parameters were perfectly optimized.
about the reservations [3],[4], many users liked
This means that better mappings can be achieved
the servers [5]. Furthermore, many customers
with no empirical optimization of parameters
found the price [6] to be good. Also, many diners
required. The precision which is lost by setting
thought the ambiance [7] was very good possibly
parameters for maximal recall is made up for by the
because several customers found the noise level
regulatory effect of voting. Also interesting were
[8] to be good. Finally, almost all customers liked
the patterns evident in the most successful voting
the menu [9] because many customers found the
groups, which allow us to reliably pick a successful
drinks [10] to be good. Also, many users liked
group of metrics to use. A good general rule is to
the set menu[11]. Finally, almost all users found
pick one lexical metric, one term-level distributional
the food [12] to be good.
metric, and syn_score (for a vote n=3).
Abstract
This paper presents an overview of the agrarian credit scenario in India. Drawing from past studies and
previous research, this paper provides a detailed analysis of the various issues pertinent to the functioning
of agrarian credit markets. These include the glaring chasm between demand and supply of agrarian credit,
the emergence of sectors within the Indian economy which compete with agriculture for institutional credit
and the aversion of institutional lenders towards agrarian borrowers. The paper also attempts an analysis of
deficiencies plaguing the three distinct phases of a credit cycle—resource mobilisation, lending and recovery.
Abstract
Figure 1. Comparison of cysteines in mammalian and bacterial metallothioneins. This alignment of human and mouse
MT-I and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Synechococcus SmtA shows 4 cysteines conserved in all 4 sequences. Sequence data is from
and Synechococcus species where its role as a metal- ROS released as bacteriocides during the host’s
binding protein is clearly established. A sequence response to infection. Protection from this source of
alignment between SmtA and mammalian MT oxidative stress could aid in the survival and increase
shows alignment between various cysteine residues the virulence of a SmtA-expressing bacterium, such
as well as other sequence similarities (Figure 1). as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, during an infection.
In addition to cysteine motifs, it is thought that P. aeruginosa infections commonly occur in the
additional histidine residues also contribute to airways of immunocompromised individuals and
SmtA’s ability to bind metals. A total of 8-9 cysteine account for 10.1% of hospital-acquired infections
and 3 histidine residues allow SmtA to bind, on (15). If SmtA indeed influences bacterial resistance
average, 3-4 zinc molecules (5). to immune attack, it may represent a valuable target
Like mammalian MT, SmtA is inducible in for therapeutic intervention.
the presence of heavy metals. Its expression is Given the sequence similarities between
controlled by the metalloregulatory protein SmtB, MT and SmtA and the established shared
which normally binds the SmtA promotor region in properties between eukaryotic and prokaryotic
the absence of metals, preventing transcription of metallothioneins, it is likely that SmtA shares
the gene encoding SmtA. SmtA is known to share additional properties with mammalian MT that
mammalian MT’s metal-binding capabilities and have not yet been explored. The role of SmtA in metal
its induction through the metallo-regulated SmtB sequestration has been well documented; however,
pathway is well understood, but there is a lack of its ability to scavenge and neutralize ROS or induce
research exploring the possibility of other roles for chemotaxis has not yet been addressed. Our research
SmtA. Mammalian MT’s ability to scavenge ROS is designed to establish whether or not SmtA has the
and induce chemotaxis is important to its interaction capacity to bind and neutralize ROS and whether
with the immune response, and if such properties the presence of SmtA is a factor in bacterial survival
of MT were shared with its bacterial homolog, during infection. Our hypothesis is that SmtA does
SmtA could represent a virulence factor in specific bind and neutralize ROS, protecting bacteria from
bacterial pathogens. oxidative stress elicited during the inflammatory
Mammalian MT’s ability to bind and neutralize response and contributing to its survival during the
ROS protects host immune cells from self-inflicted respiratory burst of innate immune cells.
oxidative damage. Because SmtA shares numerous
cysteine motifs with MT, it may be able to scavenge
ROS in a similar manner and protect bacteria from
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 93
Figure 2a.
Figure 2b.
Figure 2c
Figure 2. Survival of E.coli MC1061+pGex-6p-SmtA and MC1061+pGex-6P-1 after exposure to various oxidants. The
E.coli MC1061 strains expressing either plasmid construct were sub-cultured from overnight cultures in a rich media containing
IPTG to early log phase and monitored at OD600. The cultures were then aliquoted into 96-well plates and exposed to the various
concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (a), tert-butyl hydroperoxide (b), or sodium hypochlorite (c). Values are compared to an
untreated control culture maintained for the same duration.
94
Materials and Methods of bacteria expressing either plasmid construct
Cells. were sub-cultured from IPTG induced overnight
E. coli MC1061 cells (ATCC 53338) were cultured cultures in a rich media to early log phase and
in rich media. RAW267.4 cells (ATCC TIB-71) are then aliquoted into 96-well plates and treated with
a mouse macrophage cell line and were cultured multiple concentrations of hydrogen peroxide as a
in RPMI media supplemented with 1% pen-strep, source of oxidative stress. Bacteria were monitored
25mM Hepes, 4mM L-glut, and 10% FBS. with OD600nm absorbance readings every 30
minutes for 3 hours. When treated with hydrogen
Plasmid construction and transformation of peroxide at multiple concentrations, both SmtA-
MC1061 E. coli. containing and SmtA-deficient strains showed a
A Pseudomonas aeruginosa SmtA gene dose-dependent response. As the concentration of
(YP_791105) was cloned into the pGEX-6P-1 hydrogen peroxide increased, the bacteria were less
expression vector (Amersham) between the EcoRI able to survive and grow. At each concentration of
and XhoI sites (pGEX-SMTA) (D. Laukens, U. Ghent). hydrogen peroxide, the SmtA-expressing E. coli were
MC1061 E. coli was transfected with either the pGEX- better able to survive the treatment than the control
SMTA or pGEX-6P-1 plasmid using the calcium strain lacking SmtA (Figure 2a). Because the only
chloride procedure and selected for by taking difference between the two strains is the inducible
advantage of the plasmid’s ampcillin-resistance SmtA gene present in the pGEX-6p-1 plasmid of the
gene. Under isopropyl-b-D-thiogalactoside (IPTG) SmtA-expressing bacteria, the resistance towards
induction, the transfected E. coli express either hydrogen peroxide demonstrated was concluded to
a GST-tagged SmtA protein or GST (glutathione be due to the presence of SmtA.
S-transferase) alone. In addition to using hydrogen peroxide as
a source of oxidative stress, parallel experiments
In vitro exogenous oxidant exposure. were completed using two other oxidants, tert-
The MC1061+pGEX-SMTA and MC1061+pGEX- butyl hydroperoxide and sodium hypochlorite, in
6P-1 E. coli were subcultured from overnight order to further test the anti-oxidant capacity of
cultures to log phase in YTA media containing SmtA. Testing multiple oxidants provides a more
ampicillin and IPTG (1:1000). The cultures were complete understanding of the extent to which SmtA
then aliquoted into 96-well plates and exposed to the offers protection to the bacteria, and may suggest
various concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), the context (e.g. interactions with macrophages
tert-butyl hydroperoxide (tBOOH), or sodium or neutrophils) in which SmtA is most important.
hypochlorite (NaOCl) ranging from 3mM to 15mM. Unlike in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, we
Survival was monitored at OD600 and represented did not find a signficant difference between the
graphically as percent absorbance of untreated responses of the SmtA-expressing and SmtA-
control. deficient bacteria when treated with either tert-butyl
hydroperoxide (Figure 2b) or sodium hypochlorite
Infection of RAW267.4 macrophage. (Figure 2c). Thus, SmtA does not protect E. coli from
E. coli MC1061 expressing either plasmid oxidative damage caused by all ROS.
construct were grown overnight and subcultured in When the bacteria were treated with tert-butyl
rich media to log phase with IPTG and ampicillin hydroperoxide we did not observe a dose-dependent
(1:1000). The RAW264.7 cells were grown 72 hours, response; rather, at all concentrations of the oxidant,
plated in 6 well plates, and allowed to adhere 2.5 the bacteria, regardless of the presence of SmtA,
hours in 5% CO2.The RAW264.7 cells were then showed the same degree of viability (Figure 2b).
infected with E.coli at an MOI of 5:1 and incubated When treated with sodium hypochlorite, there was a
in special gas at 37oC. The supernatant was removed dose-dependent response, although no difference in
after 30 minutes and after 24 hours and plated on the response between the two strains was observed
YTA plates supplemented with ampicillin and IPTG (Figure 2c). This data suggests that the protective
to determine cfu/ml. effect of SmtA is not universal to all oxidants.
Additionally, we measured the survival of
Results the two E. coli MC1061 constructs after infection
MC1061 E. coli were transfected with a pGEX- of RAW 267.4 murine macrophage cultures.
6p-1 plasmid containing the P. aeruginosa SmtA Macrophages are one of the first types of immune
gene under IPTG induction (see Methods section). cells present at an infection site, and upon exposure
A control pGEX-6p-1 plasmid that lacks the SmtA to endotoxin, macrophages are known to undergo
gene was transfected into the same strain of E. coli a respiratory burst during which ROS are released
for use as a negative control. In the presence of as bacteriocides. The two strains expressing the
IPTG, the pGEX-SmtA plasmid expresses a GST- plasmid constructs were grown overnight and
tagged SmtA protein while the pGEX-6p-1 plasmid subcultured to early log phase in rich media. The
expresses only the GST protein. The two strains RAW 264.7 cells were grown to confluency, plated
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 95
in 6-well plates, and infected with the E. coli at a 16). Infections with P. aeruginosa are complicated
multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 5:1. After thirty and often life threatening. Typical treatment
minutes of infection, the supernatant was removed includes two antibiotics in combination: an anti-
and plated on YTA plates supplemented with pseudomonal beta-lactam and an aminoglycoside.
ampicillin and IPTG to determine cfu/ml of the Pseudomonas infections, however, have a tendency
surviving bacteria. Surviving cell numbers were also towards drug resistance, demonstrating a need for
determined after 24 hours of infection according to alternative therapies (17).
the same protocol. The SmtA-expressing bacteria Our future research is designed to determine
were significantly greater in number than SmtA- SmtA’s role in scavenging ROS released as
deficient bacteria after the 30 minutes of infection bactericides from innate immune cells of the airway
as well as the 24 hour infection (Figure 3). This data where Pseudomonas infections are common. To
supports the conclusion that SmtA confers a survival assess the role of SmtA, wildtype P. aeruginosa could
benefit to E. coli in an oxidative environment such be compared to P. aeruginosa treated with small
as that produced during the respiratory bursts of interfering RNA (siRNA) to prevent the translation
macrophages. of the SmtA protein. If SmtA provides protection to
The experiments done in Figure 2 were done P. aeruginosa during mammalian infection, targeting
in triplicate and all experiments were repeated in SmtA with siRNA may be applicable to treatment of
a duplicate experiment to ensure reproducibility. Pseudomonas infections. The use of RNA interference
From these initial studies, it appears that SmtA (RNAi) as a treatment for disease would not novel
shares MT’s ROS scavenging capabilities in addition to our studies; however, it is an innovative approach
to its already established metal-binding function. and constitutes a popular area of research that
holds valuable therapeutic promise. Recently, RNA
Discussion interference was highlighted as a treatment for
We have been able to show that E. coli HIV in humanized mice by blocking expression of
transformed with a P. aeruginosa SmtA gene is CCR5 (18). This research, along with other similar
resistant to some forms of oxidative attack but not studies, provides the rationale for the use of RNA
all. Further exploration is necessary to determine interference in our own research.
whether SmtA provides protection against Our research may find that Pseudomonas
mammalian immune defense mechanisms in infections treated with siRNA to stop the production
vivo; however, these initial results have provided of SmtA are less able to cause disease than
promising incentive to continue these studies and Pseudomonas actively producing SmtA. Pseudomonas
move into a model system more similar to the is an opportunistic pathogen, and infections often
natural infection. occur due to a temporary decrease in immune
P. aeruginosa is an opportunistic efficacy or temporary damage to airway barriers.
pathogen, typically infecting the airways of Developing a drug that would keep an infection
immunocompromised individuals, such as those under control until immune function is restored
suffering from burns, HIV, or chemotherapy. P. or until the airway repairs itself would allow the
aeruginosa infection is also commonly seen in body, once healthy, to fight off the infection as it
patients where there has been damage to a physical would normally in a healthy individual without
barrier of the airway that normally protects against the use of antibiotics. This would prevent multiple
infection as in diseases like cystic fibrosis, chronic drug resistance infections and other side effects of
obstructive pulmonary disease, and pneumonia (15, antibiotic use, such as loss of hearing. And so, if
96
SmtA proves to be a significant factor in bacterial
defense against host immune mechanisms,
therapeutic manipulation of SmtA may be a
possible avenue of co-treatment for patients with a
P. aeruginosa infection. In addition, the experimental
procedure, if successful, would indicate the ability to
halt the production of SmtA with siRNA, providing
a specific method of therapeutic intervention that
could be explored further. Therefore, our research
may elucidate a new pathway to fight Pseudomonas
infection and would also provide a specific means
of doing so.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grants from NIH
(ES07408) to MAL.
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 97
Abstract
This paper attempts to understand the variations in patterns of imagination between boys and girls
who fall in the adolescent age group. Based on a notable review of literature and the findings of research
by Susan A. Myers (1983) that reveals that gender differences exist in imagination in the context of western
and east- European nations, with regard to individuals falling in adolescent age group, this study seeks to
understand the differences in the light of not just the universally uniform biological factors, but also socio-
cultural, economic and political context of India. Data has been collected on Imagination, using the Creative
Imagination Scale published in detail by Wilson and Barber (1978), from 30 boys and 30 girls from the age
group of 15 to 17, falling in the economic status of Below Poverty Line and having secured education from
class ten to twelve. The data has been analyzed quantitatively using statistical methods, and qualitatively
in the light of socio-cultural, political and economic characteristics of India. Finally, the limitations of this
research have been considered and suggestions for future research have been proposed.
Conclusion
The results have revealed a significant
difference between boys and girls on imagination,
with girls scoring a higher average score than boys.
Thus, the stated hypothesis has been accepted.
102
Language Rights and the Security Dilemma:
Education Policy at the Margins of Contemporary China
Verity Robins
University of Nottingham
Abstract
This article focuses on how the Chinese state balances issues of security with the rights of minority
groups to have their language accommodated in state education. This article uses a case study comparison
of two provinces; Xinjiang Province and Yunnan Province to suggest that when a security dilemma arises
and minority groups are assessed as a threat to the integrity of the state, their linguistic rights are restricted
in education. Education is, instead, used by the state as a tool for assimilation into the majority culture and
language. This is demonstrated by the example of Xinjiang Province, the home of the Uyghur people, whose
relationship with the state has been tense. Yunnan Province, the home of 25 minority groups who are perceived
to pose a low threat to state security, is used as a contrast with Xinjiang, to demonstrate that the security
dilemma is not, however, always present between state and minority at the margins of contemporary China.
While state/minority relationships in Yunnan are not based on security, neither are these relationships based
on justice. Instead this article argues that the accommodation of minority language rights in education policy
in Yunnan Province is better explained as an outcome of benign indifference by the state, as security issues
are placed in abeyance. Under such circumstances, there is a greater educational space for the engagement of
civil society that place minority language rights at the centre of their educational objectives.
Veronika Fafienski
University of Birmingham
Abstract
This paper argues that the ongoing generation of theoretical constructs, which attempts to
conceptualise notions such as democracy, social integration and more generally, representation, under the
broad frame of capitalism and globalisation, requires critical engagement in order to question the trust,
which is continuously placed in the authority of the working definitions of these concepts.
In other words, the task of critical conceptual analysis is to unmask the violence behind definitions
and practices of representation. Using a critical postmodern framework, this article suggests that the line of
thought implicit in “Derridean Marxism” provides a passage to reconfiguring the understanding of ontology,
which moreover can gesture at new forms of political and social engagement. The case of a debate between
Antiono Negri and Jacques Derrida is briefly discussed to illustrate this point. This article contributes to
encourage a re-imagination of political matters as non-reducible to a single mode of analysis (e.g. military,
economic, psychological), since within these analyses economic or cultural identities, are presented as a
caricatures. One needs to intervene with deconstructive thought to complement existing approaches to
politics and examine more closely the layers, with which representations are constructed.
Introduction: Critical Postmodernism is, they believe that the development of technology
Critical engagement with postmodern theory and globalisation are crucial to intellectually
can indicate alternative ways of understanding “connect” with others, in order to eventually resist
presence, subjectivity and the constitution of and transform this totality. It is arguable, though,
social structures. The questions on which I will to what extent technology and communication
primarily focus have their roots in Marx’s statement, allow for a global emancipation, since the degree
that there is no relation between objects and the of coercion which haunts the formation of identity
value they possess1. This opens a discussion of the cannot be disregarded. This insight is also of concern
following. Firstly, how is the relationship between to Derrida. He points out, however, that a fertile
“the material” (object) and “the immaterial” (value) ground for resistance can be found in the experience
constituted? And secondly, what are the criteria for of injustice and difference. In this respect he contests
value? the relationship between matter and property to
In The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass show that issue needs to be taken with ‘ontological
Deception (1944) Adorno and Horkheimer argue, embodiments’, which continuously pose an obstacle
that value accumulates as fetish. They explain that for accounting for contingency and reimagining
social relations, hierarchy and subjectivity operate existing conditions of reality.
according to laws of arbitrary value (Adorno and Consequently, I am particularly interested
Horkheimer, 1944: 63)1. Currently, new technologies in how postmodern theory has inherited Marx’s
enhance this arbitrariness by coupling the virtual political demand, namely, resisting the repressive
with the ‘real’ and thus generating images of forces of alienation in order to re-gain a sense for the
‘perfection’. In consequence, the violent politics spirit of revolutionary forces and more importantly,
behind abstract binary categories, e.g. male/ to what extent they contribute to rethinking our
female; black/white; homo/hetero are rendered relationship towards the political.
legitimate. Nevertheless as Deleuze and Guattari
make the point in A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism Enslavement and the Reification of the
and Schizophrenia (2004), totality is atrocious, yet Culture Industry
fixations and embodiments (representations) Adorno and Horkheimer outline, that it is
continue to be sustained. This problematic is also the promise of the Enlightenment to bring about
implicit in the approach Hardt and Negri take2. That liberation from ignorance, by means of reason. As the
Cartesian notion of cogito ergo sum implies, the process
1 see also Benjamin in Zimmermann, 1990: 243)
2 Hardt, M. and Negri, A. (2000) Empire. Cambridge, of reasoning firstly asserts reality and secondly
MA: Harvard University Press. masters it in the sense, that both, a conceptual and
Hardt, M. and Negri, A. (2005) Multitude. London: technical mastery of reality are supposed (Adorno,
Penguin Books. 1991: 4). Yet, as the scholars further show, if the
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 109
intensification of production, creation of mass goods, communication. In fact, they stress, that the decline
and virtualised images are taken as the new logic of of industrial labour has changed the notion of
rationality, then rationality turns against itself: “The subjectivity (Hardt and Negri, 2003: 117). In essence
true aims of Enlightenment: freedom and happiness Hardt and Negri’s concept of the Multitude2 rests
[and] the path of enlightened rationality become upon the hypothesis that economic production is
occluded” (Adorno 1991: 4). The logic of capitalist simultaneously socially productive and carries the
production primarily sustains a limitless will to potential to resist the domination of capital (Hardt
appropriation: “Fetishism attaches itself [anklebt] to and Negri, 2005: 107). This statement makes their
the products of labour as soon as they are produced assumption explicit that the intensification of
as commodties, [it is] therefore inseparable from the technology as main means of production retains
production of commodities” (Marx cited in Derrida, the autonomy of individuals and the force of the
1994: 166). Consequently, the very same principles Multitude grows simultaneously with the expansion
of economic production extend on the sphere of of constraint, suppression and exploitation. Hardt
culture (Adorno, 1991: 3). Culture, initially regarded and Negri argue that liberation becomes the sole,
as the residual sphere of freedom from capital, common aim of the Multitude. Derrida, to whom I
produces an illusionary “realization of the right to will come in more detail shortly, argues however,
all gratification of desire while in reality continuing that articulating a common revolutionary desire is
the negative integration of society” (Adorno, 1991: always problematic. Hardt and Negri’s picture of a
3). This negative integration, or ‘double duty of spatially divided yet common suffering of the many
enslavement’, becomes apparent, for instance, in would simply return to
the transformation of the nature of art. According
to Adorno and Horkheimer “art is the emphatic “[…] orthodox Marxism in all its theoretical
assertion of […] the claim of sensuous particularity” and political forms. The whole totalitarian
(Adorno, 1991: 4). Under capitalism, the experience inheritance of Marx thought is bound up
of sensuous particularity is transformed into ‘life- with the demand, that every presentation
styles’. Life-styles are symptomatic for fetishisation. of difference should be given its proper
Initially artistic production carries the potential of place in the restricted economy of class
retaining the individual’s political capacity (Kirwan, struggle” (Derrida, 1994: 193).
2005) but “[t]he collapse of high art into the triviality
of culture industry [merely sustains] the bourgeois Thus, when analysing Hardt and Negri’s
need for materialism” (Adorno cited in Abbinnett, concept of the Multitude, it becomes clear that their
2006: 24) and acquisition of “l’art pour l’art” (Adorno inheritance of Marx cannot entirely refrain from
and Horkheimer, 1947:125); art for art’s sake. Thus, relying on embodiments (ontology) and ultimately
political capacity is degraded into a pure display gestures at a return to the notion of totalisation.
of material purchasing power. This is even more In this line of argument, the notion of irrevocable
explicit in the practice of advertising; an aesthetic enslavement of the mass is merely replaced with a
picture of reality is instated in which the prevalence notion of mutual recognition of common suffering.
of life-styles distracts from an alternative experience Consequently, by imagining itself as an ontological
of love, friendship and ethical responsibility. being, the Multitude sustains a “code”, which
Admittedly, Adorno and Horkheimer have presents an aestheticised picture of reality and
been criticised that the lack of application makes their which, similarly like the code of the commodity,
accounts dispensable3. However, I attempt to show, bears no relation to truth or authenticity.
that their work is significant for deconstructing the
pursuit of the promesse the bonheur (Adorno, 1991: The Non-iterability of the Image
4) and the “narcisstic pursuit of consumer comforts Derrida would argue against claims which
and possessions” (Lash, 1984 cited in Casey, 1995: locate authenticity in “the common”. In fact, for
24). Derrida totality is marked by the disruption of
This leads back to enquiring how the spectres as “seismic events” (Derrida, 1994)4. To some
emergence of new technological forces impact on the extent one can claim that the Frankfurt scholars and
‘political spirit’, so that it would be possible for an Marx have pre-identified the ‘specter’ by formulating
authentic, ethical demand to operate within such a the fetish character of commodities. I examine this
logic of political, cultural and economic agency. in more detail below. Traditional Marxists return
to the notion of authenticity as presenting itself
Ontology as Code as an ontologically coherent formation, like the
Hardt and Negri state, that the present “proletarian class” (or respectively “the Multitude”).
conditions of economic and social life are However, Derrida argues that coherence is always
characterised by permanent work and 4 see Derrida, J. (1994) Specters of Marx. The State of
3 cf. Adorno on his critics, 1991:244 the Debt, the Work of Mourning, and the New Inter-
national. London: Routledge
110
already infused by difference. Rendering difference as suggested by Marx. According to Derrida, Nergi
into coherency would deprive it of its transformative reproduces this gesture “which is still metaphysical,
capacity. As to the character of the “un-entity” i.e. because it is ontological” (259). Derrida identifies that
the spectre, Derrida argues, that the cognitive “clinging to ontology”, has perpetuated a promise of
perception of spectres, is mediated by language, and revolution, which has not been fulfilled. Thus, the
cannot be encompassed as ontological designation. paradigm of Marxism is rendered obsolete (257).
Language, constructs the symbol, which ‘represents’ In other words, by ascribing ontology to social
an ontological entity. To sum up this aspect of “embodiments” (institutions, representations,
Derrida’s position: etc.) would consequently reify the arbitrariness of
properties. This is why Derrida takes issue with a
“The ‘who’ of humanity (its inscription return to ‘ontology’ since he argues that the cycle of
in time, language and culture) emerges exploitation and the violence of inequality will not
through a technical relationship to inorganic be changed by doing so.
matter which is the condition of language, In sum, Negri takes ontology as an entity, which
and which constantly re-differentiates/ can be incorporeal, but its inherent property sustains
destabilizes the categories through which a particular ontological pertinence (Negri, 1999: 13).
the social being is articulated” (Abbinnett, For Derrida on the other hand, ontology is merely
2006: 111). an intangible flux. The properties which ‘ontology’
accumulates are rooted in particularised and
Thus, the question I want to examine in the personalised desires, fears, fetishes, images. In this
following is preoccupied with the constitution of respect, Derrida suggests that stabilised knowledge
ontology and its relationship to representation. or ‘authenticity’ is merely reification. In other words,
reification/abstraction becomes representation and
Excursus: Ontology stabilises itself as “more real” than its actual state as
As I have outlined earlier, the fetish lives discursive/spectral construction.
through its form as property5 which constructs real
hierarchical relations. In this respect, Negri sketches Representation and the Political
out, that the subject can, however, assert itself as Negri’s and Derrida’s stances on ontology
not affected by spectres6. In other words, the finally need to be taken into the sphere of politics.
conscious revolutionary can re-appropriate the However, considering the kind of politics, which
spectres, which sustain the domination of capital they anticipate, there is a fundamental difference
and re-demonstrate, as Marx has coined it, one’s real in their approach. Again, it is problematic that
interest. Thus, for Negri, the inheritance of Marx, i.e. many successors of the “spirit of Marx” become
resistance against exploitation and inequality, must lost in attempts to formulate a totalitarian Marxism
be upheld in order to account for what is undeniably (Bedggood, 1999), which disregards the haunting
real (and according to Negri, non-spectral), like and returning issue of contingency. A demand
exploitation and flight from exploitation (Negri, for representational (i.e. objectified in symbol,
1999: 12). Consequently, Negri criticises Derrida materialised as presence) politics will reinstate
for not referring to the material reality of these imposed consensus, finality, performativity, i.e.
relations (13) and thus, for Negri, exploitation needs everything which silences genuine diversity
to be demystified, exactly by equating presence (i.e. (Haber, 1994: 37). Yet, it would be wrong to suggest
the ‘real’) with ontology. Hence, Negri criticises that the underlying principles of revolutionary
Derridean deconstruction to be a game, which is formations, like Multitude (Hardt and Negri) or
played out in mysticism, making an overturning of New International (Derrida) occupy an adversely
injustice impossible. Negri importantly argues that opposed political and theoretical space, both are
rejecting a material concept of ontology makes the conceptualised as
subject “unlocatable”, because as a spectre it wouldn’t
have any tangible measure (i.e. no target or victim) “[…] link of affinity, suffering, and hope,
(9). Yet, in contrast for Derrida, “the most problematic a still discreet, almost secret link, […]
aspect of Marx is [his desire] to conjure away any without status, without title, and without
and all spectrality as to recover the full, concrete name, […] without contract, [...] , without
reality of the process of genesis hidden behind the coordination, without party, without
specters mask” (Derrida, 1999: 258). That is, Derrida country, without national community.
strictly refrains from a “re-ontologisation” in the [It] calls to the friendship of an alliance
sense, that there is a “truer” reality to be discovered, [it is] a kind of counter-conjuration, in the
(theoretical and practical) critique of [...] the
5 Eigentümlichkeit cf.Hegel
concepts of State and nation, and so forth”
6 In Sprinker, M. (ed) (1999) Ghostly Demarcations. A
Symposium on Jacques Derrida’s Spectres of Marx. (Derrida, 1994: 85 – 86, Hardt and Negri,
London: Verso 2000: 66; Hardt and Negri, 2003: 126).
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 111
However, for Derrida, links and alliances are of its self-representation. However, implying a direct
contingent, and a stable, coherent revolutionary relationship between “being” and “representation”
manifestation is impossible. There is continuous alludes to that the representational properties
rupture through techno-prosthetic modifications precede the subject as absolute eideon (108). Derrida
of the body, change of the public and private rejects this. There is no external, objective reality,
social fabric and theoretical challenges to legal as implied in representation, which would be ‘truer
and philosophical conventions (Abbinnett, 2006: than reality’. Consequently, representations are not
189), which impede a formation of a single body of obstructed by ideology either, in the sense, that a
opportune organisation. Hardt and Negri’s concept, direct mediation of truth/authenticity is obscured.
despite their assertion, that the Multitude has a “new Nevertheless, representations are designated within
physiology”, which organises itself without centre, the boundaries of a proper place for the representing
without name etc., gestures towards ultimately and subject and express merely a subjective experience
necessarily reverting into identity politics, because it (122). On the scale of politics, this compels nations
incorporates contingency into a ‘singular flesh’ of the into becoming the image they construct for
Multitude (Hardt and Negri, 2003: 162). The Multitude themselves and as a result the artificial construction
anticipates defeating injustice and exploitation, but between subject and its representation creates a
as we have seen, the unfulfilled fate of supposedly world after its own image8.
fixed ontological formations and what they stand
for is always-already subject to transformation, Concluding remarks on Derrida’s
because limits are constantly exceeded (i.e. who/ Marxism
what is the ‘proletariat’ anyway? Whom does the Derrida’s issue with adhering to an objective
Labour Party in Great Britain represent etc.?). Thus, truth and ontology, has encouraged charges of
any ontologically fixed representation can only “nihilism” (Wolin) or “obscurity” (Rorty; Foucault;
be of temporary nature, since ‘fixation’ can only Chomsky)9. It appears problematic to his critics, that
signify a passage towards future transformations. Derrida argues against essentialism but by doing
So, other than conceptualising a designation of one so, he expounds the arbitrariness of structure and
common desire, one needs to retour to an analysis of the impossibility to assert an objective truth. By
the perpetuation of unspecified proprietary articles discussing ‘Envoi’, I have shown that for Derrida
(Adorno and Horkheimer. 1947: 157) and how these ontology and knowledge/truth relate to the (mis)
offer a transgression of our own cultural, economic practice of representation. Simultaneously, this is
and legislative horizon. not to say, that we are merely submersed in words
(Derrida, 2004) and could refrain from embodiments
Envoi altogether, nevertheless, we only supposedly come
In this respect, Derrida’s account titled to ‘understand’ objects and embodiments through
‘Envoi’ (Derrida, 2007) deconstructs the traditional subjective ascriptions of properties onto the object.
understanding of representation, which relates Presence alone cannot constitute the content of
representation to subjectivity as an outcome of meaning. Therefore, one needs to refrain from
a process of commodity gathering (Abbinnett, ‘interpreting’ and ‘analysing’ presence, because
2006)7. According to Derrida, the multiplicity/ the connection, which we draw, is ultimately a
contingency of “representation” (political, aesthetic/ construction, a representation. Consequently, being
artistic, linguistic etc.) needs to be firstly unfixed of must remain an ‘absent being.’ Here the charge of
notions, which ascribe an essential, “pure” kernel of nihilism comes in; how can meaning not come from
signification to it and secondly, consequently, there something that is? Is absence not vacuous? (Hale,
cannot be a saturation of the context, in which the 2004). Derrida responds, that this is not to say, that
usage of representation is finalised. For Derrida, the absence is ‘nothing’ as we know it in its reference
practice to think what representation means in itself, to presence (‘something’). To clarify, representation
invokes an essence of it, and consequently provides must remain ‘absent’ from linguistic designation
the illusionary impression, that one actually would which fix systems of inter-references and suppose
find an answer to what “representation” essentially a finite meaning (e.g. Mother/Son; some-thing/
is (cf. Platonian eidos) (Derrida, 2007: 99). As Hardt no-thing; ignorance/compassion etc). Yet, there is
and Negri (presumably unwillingly) confirm, no essential logic in words or representation, which
this practice stems from the recurrent desire to would presuppose legitimacy or objectivity;
find a regulator which would steer the chaos of “We make signs and yet signs make us
“inter-expressive relations” (101). That is, as I have and we can never step outside the network of
discussed above, it persists within Hardt and Negri’s sign making” (Milibank cited in Hale, 2004).
account that the Multitude is fixed by the boundaries However, critical engagement with postmodern
7 Due to limited space, it is not possible to reproduce the thought involves that fixations are deconstructed,
depth of Derrida’s argument. This is a complementary 8 cf. Marx and Engels 1848
account to why one must reject “identity politics”. 9 cf. Hale, 2004
112
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Adorno and Horkheimer, 1947: 158). Massumi. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism
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114
The Role of Connexins in Adult Neurogenesis
Xien Lei Liversidge
The University of Auckland
Abstract
Connexins are a family of transmembrane proteins with diverse roles in neurogenesis, the
generation of new neurons, in the perinatal brain. Currently little is known regarding the role of connexins
in adult neurogenesis, however, early studies of the hippocampus indicate a role for connexins in modulating
neuronal proliferation. The focus of this project is the subventricular zone (SVZ), a centre of neurogenesis
in the adult brain. Neuroblasts generated in the SVZ migrate towards the olfactory bulb, through the rostral
migratory stream (RMS) in close interaction with supporting astroglial cells. Factors which facilitate adult
neurogenesis are currently of interest as enhancement of endogenous neurogenesis pathways in the adult
brain would provide a novel means of replacing degenerating neurons. To characterise the expression of
Cx30 and Cx43 by the major cells types present in the SVZ/RMS, perfused adult mouse brains were serially
sectioned. A series of sections at 280 µm intervals was used to determine the expression of connexins in
the SVZ/RMS. For each connexin isoform of interest, sections were fluorescently immunolabelled for a
single connexin isoform, doublecortin (neuroblasts) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (astroglia). Sections
were visualised using widefield fluorescence microscopy. Initial results indicate colocalisation of Cx43 with
neuroblasts throughout the SVZ/RMS. Conversely, Cx30 is strongly colocalised with neuroblasts present
in the RMS but not the SVZ. Further analysis of the distribution of connexins within the SVZ/RMS will
lead to a greater understanding of the role of these connexin isoforms in adult neurogenesis based on their
identified roles in perinatal neurogenesis.
Figure 1. Arrows of the same type in corresponding areas of paired images (above and below of each column) indicate putative regions of colocalisation between doublecortin (Dcx) immunolabelled
cells and Cx30 or Cx43 immunolabelling. (A) Cx30 in the RMS, (B) Dcx in the RMS, (C) Cx30 in the SVZ, (D) Dcx in the SVZ, (E) Cx43 in the RMS, (F) Dcx in the RMS, (H) Cx43 in the SVZ,
(I) Dcx in the SVZ. All images were obtained at 400x magnification.
115
116
Methods antibodies were omitted were prepared in an
Adult mice (C57 strain, average 25 grams otherwise identical manner to that described above
weight) were sacrificed using sodium pentobarbital Slides were visualised using a Zeiss Axioplan2
overdose and transcardially perfused using ice cold microscope. Exposure times used to obtain images of
0.9% saline, followed by 4% paraformaldehyde in 0.1 each of the three fluorophores were kept constant for
M phosphate buffer (pH 7.4). After removal, brains each fluorophore type. Images of the three channels
were post fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde overnight were assigned pseudo-colours and overlayed
and stored in cryoprotective solution (30% sucrose using ImageJ software. Putative colocalisation of
diluted in 0.1M phosphate buffer). Coronal sections of connexins with specific cell types was identified
30 µm thickness were cut using a sliding microtome as overlapping pixels between the channels that
(Leica SM2000R; Leica Microsystems). Sections were capture Cx signal and Dcx or GFAP signal.
divided into 8 series, each series contained sections
at intervals of 280 µm along the length of the SVZ/ Results
RMS pathway. Prior to use, sections were stored in Images suggest that Cx30 is expressed to a
cryoprotective solution (30% ethylene glycol and comparatively high level and is strongly colocalised
30% sucrose) at -20°C. with Dcx positive cells in the mouse RMS (Figure:
To examine the relationship between the A and B). In contrast, Cx30 expression levels are
expression of Cx30 and Cx43 with neuroblast and lower in the SVZ and a corresponding lower level
astroglial cell types present in the SVZ/RMS, triple- of colocalisation with Dcx cells is observed (Figure:
antibody labelling experiments were performed. The C and D). Cx43 is expressed to a high degree in both
protocol described below allowed specific antigens the SVZ and RMS and is strongly colocalised with
of interest (e.g. Cx30) to be detected using antibodies Dcx cells (Figure: E, F, G and H). No convincing
conjugated to fluorophores which emit light at evidence of colocalisation of either of the connexin
characteristic wavelengths. Following each antibody isoforms of interest with GFAP immunolabelled
incubation period, sections were washed four times cells was found (images not shown).
for 5 minutes in PBS-Tween (0.2%) (PBS-T). All
antibodies were diluted in immunobuffer composed Discussion
of 1% normal donkey serum (NDS) diluted in PBS-T. Images obtained in this study strongly suggest
Sections were washed overnight in phosphate the presence of Cx30 and Cx43 in the SVZ/RMS
buffered saline (PBS) followed by four 5 minute pathway of the adult mouse brain. These connexin
rinses in PBS-T. Sections were then blocked to isoforms are expressed by neuroblasts which were
minimise non-specific antibody reactivity for identified using Dcx as a marker. Their localisation
1 hour at ≈20°C using 3% NDS (Sigma) and 2% in this specialised pathway of neurogenesis suggests
bovine serum albumin (AppliChem) diluted in that they are involved in neurogenesis in the SVZ/
PBS-T. To detect neuroblasts and astroglial cells RMS as protein function is often associated with
respectively, sections were incubated with anti- anatomical location.
doublecortin (Dcx) (1:500 dilution, goat polyclonal, Images obtained using wide-field fluorescence
Santa Cruz Biotechnology) and anti-glial acidic microscopy contain out-of-focus blur which limits
fibrillary protein (GFAP) (1:10,000 dilution, the confidence with which the location of connexin
mouse monoclonal, Sigma) primary antibodies. immunolabelling within brain sections can be
Antibody incubations were done overnight at 4°C. predicted. In order to confirm the observations
Sections were then incubated with anti-goat and described, the above experiment will be repeated
anti-mouse secondary antibodies conjugated to using confocal microscopy to obtain higher
fluorophores Alexa 594 and Alexa 647 respectively resolution images. Images obtained using confocal
(1:750 dilution, polyclonal donkey, Invitrogen) for microscopy will also be used to perform quantitative
4 hours at ≈20°C. To detect connexin isoforms of analyses of connexin expression and colocalisation
interest, sections were incubated with anti-Cx30 with neuroblasts within the SVZ/RMS pathway.
(1:250 dilution, polyclonal rabbit, Invitrogen) or I plan to further investigate relationships
anti-Cx43 (1:500 dilution, polyclonal rabbit, Sigma- between connexin colocalisation with neuroblasts
Aldrich) antibodies overnight at 4°C. Then sections in the SVZ/RMS by performing immunolabelling
were incubated with anti-rabbit secondary antibody experiments where neuroblasts at varying
conjugated to Alexa 488 (1:750 dilution, polyclonal stages of maturity can be identified. Using this
donkey, Invitrogen) for 4h at ≈20°C. Sections were information and data obtained from investigations
mounted onto glass slides and glass coverslips were of the role of connexins in neurogenesis occurring
applied using ProLong Gold mounting medium in the perinatal brain, it may be possible to make
(Invitrogen). To confirm that secondary antibodies inferences regarding the role of connexins in adult
used did not contribute significantly to background neurogenesis.
signal by non-specifically binding to brain sections
during incubation periods, sections where primary
The Oculus: Proceedings of the U21 Undergraduate Research Conference 117
Acknowledgements
The supervision and support of Dr Simon
O’Carroll, Professor Louise Nicholson and
Associate Professor Bronwen Connor (Centre for
Brain Research, Faculty of Medical and Health
Sciences, The University of Auckland) is gratefully
acknowledged.
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118
Capacity Factors of a Point-to-point Network
Yuan Li, Yue Zhao and Haibin Kan
Fudan University
Abstract
In this paper, we investigate some properties on capacity factors, which are first proposed in [5] to
investigate the link failure problem based on network coding. And then we obtain an equivalent condition
to characterize edges in D-set and H-set of a point-to-point acyclic network, where D-set is the union of
edges of all capacity factors and H-set consists of all the remaining ones. Besides that, some computational
hardness results relating to capacity factors are obtained. We prove that deciding whether there is a capacity
factor with size not less a given number is NP-complete.
Figure 2. A unit capacity network Figure 3. The network constructed for a given expression