The dissertation argues that the development of the British abolition movement was based on the abolitionists' perception that their actions were kairotic; they attempted to shape their own kairos by taking temporal events and reinterpreting them to construct a kairotic process that led to a perceived fulfillment: abolition. Thus, the dissertation examines the rhetorical strategies used by white abolitionists to construct an abolitionist kairos that was designed to produce salvation for white Britons more than it was to help free blacks. The dissertation especially examines the three major texts produced by black persons living in England during the late eighteenth centuryIgnatius Sancho's Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho (1782), Ottobauh Cugoano's Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery (1787), and Olaudah Equiano's The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (1789)to illustrate how black rhetoric was appropriated by whites to fulfill their own kairotic desires. By examining the rhetorical strategies employed in both white and black rhetorics, the dissertation illustrates how the abolitionists thought the movement was shaped by, and how they were shaping the movement through, kairotic time. While the dissertation contends that the abolition movement was rhetorically designed to provide redemption, and thus salvation, it illustrates that the abolitionist's intent was not merely to save the slave, but to redeem blacks first in the eyes of white Christians by opening blacks to an understanding and acceptance of God. Perhaps more importantly, abolitionists would use black salvation to buy back their own souls and the soul of their nation in the eyes of God in order to regain their own salvation lost in the slave trade. But ironically, they had to appear to be saving others to save themselves. So white abolitionists used the black narratives to persuade their overwhelmingly white audience that slavery was as bad for them as it was for the African slave. And in the process, a corpus of black writing was produced that gives current readers two glimpses of one world.

The reception of the Huguenot poet Guillaume de Saluste Du Bartas' Semaines (1578, 1584 et seq.) is an important episode in early modern literary history for understanding relations between Scottish, English and French literature, interactions between contemporary reading and writing practices, and developments in divine poetry. This thesis surveys translations (Part I), allusions and quotations in prose (Part II) and verse imitations (Part III) from the period when English translations of the Semaines were being printed in order to identify historical trends in how readers absorbed and adapted the poems. Early translations show that the Semaines quickly acquired political and diplomatic affiliations, particularly at the Jacobean Scottish Court, which persisted in subsequent decades (Chapter 1). William Scott's treatise The Model of Poesy (c. 1599) and translations indicate how attractive the Semaines' combination of humanist learning and sacred rhetoric was, but the poems' potential appeal was only realized once Josuah Sylvester's Devine Weeks (1605 et seq.) finally made the complete work available in English (Chapter 2). Different communities of readers developed in early modern England and Scotland once this edition became available (Chapter 3), and we can observe how individuals marked, copied out, quoted and appropriated passages from their copies of the poems in ways dependent on textual and authorial circumstances (Chapter 4). The Semaines, both in French and in Sylvester's translation, were used as a stylistic model in late-Elizabethan playtexts and Zachary Boyd's Zions Flowers (Chapter 5), and inspired Jacobean poems that help us to assess Du Bartas' influence on early modern poetry (Chapter 6). The great variety of responses to the Semaines demonstrates new ways that intertextuality was a constituent feature of vernacular religious literature that was being read and written in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Britain.

Muerte y justicia constituyeron dos temas que ocuparon un lugar central en las preocupaciones de las sociedades de Antiguo Régimen. En las ejecuciones confluían ambos; no les podían resultar indiferentes, por lo que no llama la atención que la población participara activamente en ellas. La presente investigación aborda el tema en el Perú del siglo XVIII. Siglo signado por transformaciones a todo nivel y reformas que están en el origen de múltiples revueltas y rebeliones, a las ejecuciones de delincuentes "comunes" y a la de la última persona relajada al brazo secular por la inquisición, se suman las de los sediciosos. El corpus resulta por lo tanto, abultado. El trabajo sostiene la necesidad de destacar la función de "memoria de la muerte" que la ejecución cumplió, junto a las de vindicta, escarmiento, retribución y espectáculo de poder. Considera que esto contribuyó a que la ejecución fuera un momento de gran tensión en el que la población se encontraba presta a leer los signos que indicarían si la persona salvaba o no su alma. Busca demostrar cómo la política borbónica intentó invadir paulatinamente ámbitos que competían a lo espiritual, y que cuando las rebeliones adquirieron mayor peligrosidad para el régimen, este dio sentencias de muerte que pretendían manipular los resortes religiosos para que la represión y el escarmiento fueran radicales. Con ello de alguna manera hacía extensible el castigo a los cuerpos, al de las almas. / Tesis

No description available.

This thesis presents an analysis of the English-language work of three Welsh writers during the eighteenth century, spanning the period of the 1750s to 1794. During this period, the British state consolidated its power following the last of the significant internal uprisings in 1745, and attempted to create a British nation with internal unity. Such a unity entailed a renegotiation of older national identities as subjects attempted to partake of multiple identities simultaneously. In Wales, the manifestation of multiple identities was especially clear, as the language of the state did not accord with the mother tongue of the majority of Welshmen. Though Welsh literati had written in English since before the Act of Union (1536), choosing to write in English becomes more interesting for the critic during such a time of change. Previously, these works have been treated as aberrations, or literary curiosities less worthy of note than the Welsh-language productions of the same authors. This thesis argues that, instead, they should be analysed as offering an insight into these authors’ conception of Britain, and their place within the state and the new nation, both in the choice of language and the topics considered. As a theoretical basis for these analyses, I consider the concept of Prydeindod from the work of philosopher J.R. Jones, as distinct from the idea of Britishness, and as a way of complicating Anglocentric or binary discussions of Britishness. This in turn informs readings of the English-language productions of Welsh writers in the eighteenth century, and shows that their negotiations of new identities are not as forthright as has previously been assumed.

If we consider the representation of the body in the epic-romances of Torquato Tasso, Philip Sidney, and Edmund Spenser, certain instances of wounding and laceration emerge as crucial turning points in the development of their respective narratives: Clorinda’s redemptive mutilation, Parthenia’s blood-drenched pallor, Amavia’s disquieting suicide, Venus’s insatiable orifice, Amoret’s “perfect hole.” This thesis affords a detailed comparative study of such passages, contending that the wound assumed a critical metaphoric dimension in sixteenth-century epic-romance literature, particularly in relation to the perceived association between body condition and erotic desire. Along with its function as a marker of martial valor and somatic sacredness, the wound, I argue, increasingly is designated in these epic-romances as an interiorizing apparatus, one liable to accrue at any instance into a surplus of unanticipated meaning. As such, the wound becomes an emblem in these texts of what I call the phenomenology of desire—the equation of consummation and loss—as well as the aesthetic and metaphoric mechanism by which these writers seek to overcome it. The four chapters of this thesis constitute individual but cumulative points of response to the problem of thinking about desire as a type of wound. For Tasso, a wound poses a challenge to physical, psychological, and spiritual integrity, but its remarkable capacity for aestheticization also allows Tasso to envision it as a synthesizer of sacred and erotic affects. For Sidney, the prospect that a wound could define a body as courageous or pathetic, as sacred or corrupt, became both politically and socially troubling, and the New Arcadia, I argue, proleptically attempts to defend Sidney against interpretations of wounds that register them as manifestations of corrupt desire. For Spenser, body fracture and erotic wounding are analogic (indeed, almost indistinguishable), and The Faerie Queene investigates the prospect that confusing these analogies can become an empowering, even revelatory experience. In each of these epic-romances, a wound serves both a literal and a figurative function and, in this way, is established as the foremost image by which these writers imagine strength and mutilation, affect and heroism, epic and romance as being inextricably bound.

Muerte y justicia constituyeron dos temas que ocuparon un lugar central en las preocupaciones de las sociedades de Antiguo Régimen. En las ejecuciones confluían ambos; no les podían resultar indiferentes, por lo que no llama la atención que la población participara activamente en ellas. La presente investigación aborda el tema en el Perú del siglo XVIII. Siglo signado por transformaciones a todo nivel y reformas que están en el origen de múltiples revueltas y rebeliones, a las ejecuciones de delincuentes "comunes" y a la de la última persona relajada al brazo secular por la inquisición, se suman las de los sediciosos. El corpus resulta por lo tanto, abultado. El trabajo sostiene la necesidad de destacar la función de "memoria de la muerte" que la ejecución cumplió, junto a las de vindicta, escarmiento, retribución y espectáculo de poder. Considera que esto contribuyó a que la ejecución fuera un momento de gran tensión en el que la población se encontraba presta a leer los signos que indicarían si la persona salvaba o no su alma. Busca demostrar cómo la política borbónica intentó invadir paulatinamente ámbitos que competían a lo espiritual, y que cuando las rebeliones adquirieron mayor peligrosidad para el régimen, este dio sentencias de muerte que pretendían manipular los resortes religiosos para que la represión y el escarmiento fueran radicales. Con ello de alguna manera hacía extensible el castigo a los cuerpos, al de las almas. / Tesis

Rhodopsin ist der Photorezeptor der Stäbchenzellen in der Retina von Vertebraten und wird als Prototyp für die gesamte Gruppe der GPCRs beforscht. Trifft ein Photon auf das Protein, so wird der über eine Schiffbase kovalent gebundene Chromophor von seiner 11-cis- in die All-trans-Konfiguration isomerisiert und setzt infolgedessen den Aktivierungsprozess in Gang. Dieser mündet in der aktiven Rezeptorkonformation, die das G-Protein Transducin aktivieren kann und dadurch eine Kaskade weiterer Aktivierungsschritten einleitet, die letztlich ein Nervensignal verursachen. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit war die Aufklärung der späten Aktivierungsschritte und ihrer Ursache-Wirkungs-Beziehungen. Zu diesem Zweck wurden Blitzlichtphotolyse, Elektronenspinresonanz (EPR) mit Spinlabeling (SDSL), UV/vis-Spektroskopie, FTIR-Spektroskopie und Fluoreszenzspektroskopie angewandt. Kinetische Messungen wurden unter identischen Bedingungen durchgeführt, um die Abfolge der mit den unterschiedlichen Techniken zugänglichen Aktivierungsschritte aufzuklären. Nach der Bildung des absorptionsspektroskopisch definierten Meta-II-Zustands bewegt sich die Helix TM6 in einem späteren Schritt als ganzes nach außen und markiert damit den Übergang von Meta-IIa zu Meta-IIb. Dadurch wird die bis dahin in der Membran verborgene D(E)RY-Region für das Umgebungsmedium zugänglich und nimmt ohne Zeitverzögerung ein Proton auf, wodurch der Meta-IIb*H+-Zustand gebildet wird. Die verfügbaren Daten sprechen dafür, dass das D(E)RY-Motiv bei der Aktivierung des Transducins sowohl die Alpha- als auch die Gamma-Untereinheit desselben bindet. Die Bindung von zu Transducin-Abschnitten analogen Peptiden kann dann erfolgen, wenn die Helix TM6 im nach außen bewegten Zustand ist, und führt zur Abgabe von bis zu zwei Protonen vom aktivierten Rhodopsin. Sowohl das D(E)RY- und das NPxxY(x)5,6F-Motiv als auch die beiden Zustände Meta-IIb und Meta-IIb*H+ könnten relevant für den sequenziellen Transducin-Aktivierungsmechanismus sein. / Rhodopsin is the photoreceptor in the rod cells of the vertebrate retina. It is considered as a prototype of the whole group of GPCRs. Upon absorption of a photon the chromophore, which is covalently bound through a Schiff base, is isomerized from its 11-cis into the all-trans configuration. This initiates the activation process and finally results in the active receptor conformation which is capable of activating the G protein transducin and thereby triggers a cascade of further activation steps which finally cause a nerve signal. The aim of this work was the clarification of the late activation steps and their cause-and-effect chain. For this purpose flash photolysis, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) with spin labeling (SDSL), UV/vis spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy were applied. Kinetic measurements were executed under identical conditions in order to elucidate the sequence of activation steps, which are accessible with the different techniques. After formation of the spectroscopically defined Meta-II state helix TM6 moves outward as a rigid body, thereby marking the transition from Meta-IIa to Meta-IIb. Therefore the D(E)RY region, which is until then buried in the membrane, gets accessible to the surrounding solution. It consequently takes up a proton without delay, thus forming the Meta-IIb*H+ state. Available data argue for the D(E)RY motif binding both the Alpha and the Gamma subunit of transducin during activation of the latter. The binding of peptides which are analogous to sections of transducin is possible when helix TM6 is in the outward position. It causes the release of up to two protons from the activated rhodopsin. Both the D(E)RY motif and the NPxxY(x)5,6F motif as well as both the states Meta-IIb and Meta-IIb*H+ are potentially relevant for the sequential transducin activation mechanism.

Die Aufgabe des Proteins Arrestin ist die Beendigung der Signalweitergabe über den GPCR Signalweg. In Stäbchenzellen bindet Arrestin an Licht-aktiviertes phosphoriliertes Rhodopsin um die Signalweitergabe zu unterdrücken. Die Bindung von Arrestin an Rhodopsin erfolgt in zwei Schritten. Zunächst wechselwirkt Arrestin mit dem phosphorilierten C-Terminus von Rhodopsin und bildet einen prä-Komplex, dies induziert Konformationsänderungen im Arrestin wodurch die Bildung eines High-affinity Komplex unter Kopplung an den helikalen Kern des aktivierten Rezeptors erfolgen kann. Biochemische Untersuchungen und Kristallstrukturen haben einen Einblick in die Konformation des Komplexes aus Arrestin und Rhodopsin ermöglicht. In dieser Arbeit werden site-directed Fluorezenz Experimente angewandt um die strukturellen Änderungen zu untersuchen, die bei der Bindung von Arrestin an Rhodopsin ablaufen und der nterschiedlichen Bindungsmodi innerhalb der Wechselwirkung zwischen Arrestin und Rhodopsin. Insbesondere wird hier eine, bisher nicht beschriebene, Assoziation von Arrestin an die Membran untersucht. Des Weiteren wurden Erkenntnisse über die Struktur des prä-Komplexes gewonnen. Die Konformation vom Arrestin im prä-Komplex scheint die Konformation im Basalzustand nachzubilden unter Beteiligung zweier Kontaktstellen: Interaktion mit dem phosphorilierten C-Terminus des Rezeptors und Assoziation mit der Membran. Beim Übergang in den High-affinity Komplex durchläuft Arrestin eine Konformationsänderung in eine aktivere Konformation: der C-Terminus wird verdrängt, es erfolgt eine Neuausrichtung der zentralen flexiblen Schleifen und die Orientierung des Membranankers ändert sich. Die Aufgabe des prä-Komplexes ist somit Arrestin und den Rezeptor zusammen zu bringen sowie die korrekte Orientierung sicherzustellen um einen schnellen Übergang in den High-affinity Komplex zu ermöglichen. / The protein arrestin is responsible for termination of GPCR signalling. In the rod cell, arrestin binds light-activated phosphorylated rhodopsin in order to block further signal transduction. The binding of arrestin to rhodopsin is a two-step process. Arrestin first interacts with the phosphorylated receptor C-terminus in a pre-complex, which induces conformational changes in arrestin that allow coupling to the helical core of the active receptor in a high-affinity complex. Biochemical studies and crystal structures have provided insights into the conformation of the arrestin-rhodopsin complex. This dissertation describes site-directed fluorescence experiments, which were carried out to further investigate the conformational changes occurring upon arrestin binding to rhodopsin and the nature of different binding modes of the arrestin-rhodopsin interaction. In particular this involved characterization of a previously unidentified association of arrestin with the membrane, as well as further elucidation of the structure of the pre-complex. The conformation of arrestin in the pre-complex is indicated to resemble that of the basal state of arrestin, and involves two sites of contact: interaction with the phosphorylated receptor C-terminus, and association with the membrane. Upon transition to the high-affinity complex, arrestin undergoes a conformational change to a more active conformation: the auto-inhibitory C-tail is displaced, there is movement within the central flexible loops, and the orientation of the membrane anchor changes. The pre-complex therefore most likely functions to bring arrestin and the receptor into close contact, and in the correct orientation, to allow for fast transition to the high-affinity complex.

In dieser Dissertation wird ein Modell des visuellen Systems untersucht, basierend auf dem Prinzip des unüberwachten Langsamkeitslernens und des SFA-Algorithmus (Slow Feature Analysis). Dieses Modell wird hier für die invariante Objekterkennung und verwandte Probleme eingesetzt. Das Modell kann dabei sowohl die zu Grunde liegenden diskreten Variablen der Stimuli extrahieren (z.B. die Identität des gezeigten Objektes) als auch kontinuierliche Variablen (z.B. Position und Rotationswinkel). Dabei ist es in der Lage, mit komplizierten Transformationen umzugehen, wie beispielsweise Tiefenrotation. Die Leistungsfähigkeit des Modells wird zunächst mit Hilfe von überwachten Methoden zur Datenanalyse untersucht. Anschließend wird gezeigt, dass auch die biologisch fundierte Methode des Verstärkenden Lernens (reinforcement learning) die Ausgabedaten unseres Modells erfolgreich verwenden kann. Dies erlaubt die Anwendung des Verstärkenden Lernens auf hochdimensionale visuelle Stimuli. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit wird versucht, das hierarchische Modell mit Top-down Prozessen zu erweitern, speziell für die Rekonstruktion von visuellen Stimuli. Dabei setzen wir die Methode der Vektorquantisierung ein und verbinden diese mit einem Verfahren zum Gradientenabstieg. Die wesentlichen Komponenten der für unsere Simulationen entwickelten Software wurden in eine quelloffene Programmbibliothek integriert, in das ``Modular toolkit for Data Processing'''' (MDP). Diese Programmkomponenten werden im letzten Teil der Dissertation vorgestellt. / This thesis examines a model of the visual system, which is based on the principle of unsupervised slowness learning and using Slow Feature Analysis (SFA). We apply this model to the task of invariant object recognition and several related problems. The model not only learns to extract the underlying discrete variables of the stimuli (e.g., identity of the shown object) but also to extract continuous variables (e.g., position and rotational angles). It is shown to be capable of dealing with complex transformations like in-depth rotation. The performance of the model is first measured with the help of supervised post-processing methods. We then show that biologically motivated methods like reinforcement learning are also capable of processing the high-level output from the model. This enables reinforcement learning to deal with high-dimensional visual stimuli. In the second part of this thesis we try to extend the model with top-down processes, centered around the task of reconstructing visual stimuli. We utilize the method of vector quantization and combine it with gradient descent. The key components of our simulation software have been integrated into an open-source software library, the Modular toolkit for Data Processing (MDP). These components are presented in the last part of the thesis.