An examination of the compositional style, subject matter, and use of technology as found in Thea Musgrave's 1987 composition Narcissus for solo flute and digital delay. Includes a short history of Musgrave's formal training, an overview of her creative output, and a discussion of the evolution of her compositional style from her studies with Boulanger in Paris to the present with special emphasis on her dramatic-abstract concept and her forays into post-modernism. Provides insight into Musgrave's choice of mythological text, the literary basis of the Narcissus legend, and its impact on Western thought. Identification of principal motifs, discussion of harmonic implications, melodic language, and optional intermedia effects; and explanation of the electronic effects used within the work. Detailed analysis of the motifs, their electronic manipulations, and how they represent aurally the characters of the Narcissus myth. Listing of Musgrave's works with flute or piccolo in a primary role, details of her transcription of Narcissus for solo clarinet, and diagrams of digital delay controls and stage setting follow as appendices.

Thesis--University of Florida. / Description based on print version record. Typescript. Vita. Bibliography: leaves 230-236.

The myth, Echo and Narcissus, is retold in a modern context in my play Jinx Infinity. The accompanying exegesis examines the techniques I employed in writing this piece with reference also to two other plays I have written from myth. This exploration seeks to determine the fine balance between focusing or relying on the myth and the actuality of writing a dramatic text to be performed on stage by actors in front of a live audience. I was able to divide the results from the examination of my writing process into a ten-step guideline or template. The question of balance is addressed throughout the guidelines but becomes particularly vital in the final step, when the playwright is advised to forget the myth in order to ensure the established principles of playwriting are adhered to. If these principals are present and the essence of the ancient myth is inherent, then the final product should be a successful play containing a universal theme that will translate through the ages.

Proefschrift--Leyden. / "Geciteerde literatuur": p. [101]-104.

Charles University, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department: Department of Pharmaceutical Botany (16-16130) Author: Tkáčová Beáta Supervisor: PharmDr. Kateřina Breiterová, Ph.D. Title of thesis: Alkaloids of Narcissus species cultivars and their biological activity I. Key words: Narcissus, alkaloids, biological activity, Alzheimer's disease. The main aim of this diploma thesis was to obtain summary alkaloid extracts from bulbs of five species cultivars (Narcissus cv. Acropolis, Delta, White Marvel, Kedron, Scarlet Gem) and one variety (Narcissus albus var. plenus odoratus), labeled as AL-450, AL-457, AL-460, AL-463, AL-467 and AL-508, from which samples were subsequently prepared for GC-MS analysis and screening of biological activities (cholinesterase inhibitory activity and cytotoxicity). Totally, 18 alkaloids were identified by GC-MS analysis, comparing their mass spectra. Identified alkaloids include 3-O-demethylmaritidine, 11,12-dehydroanhydrolycorine, assoanine, dehydroassoanine, galanthamine, galanthine, haemanthamine, hippeastrine, incartine, lycoramine, lycorine, narwedine, norpluvine, pancracine, pluvine, pseudolycorine and tazettine. Samples of cultivars AL-457, AL-460, AL-463 and AL-508, showed relatively promising hAChE inhibitory activity in screening assay (c = 50 µg/ml),...

Gosse’s reputation, both during his lifetime and thereafter, was compromised by his propensity for error, a trait that Henry James famously described as ‘a genius for inaccuracy’. Though much of his biographical and critical writing justifies this criticism, my study of Gosse’s use of the device of allusion, mainly in his fictional writing, reveals a strategy of misprision that is creative and innovative. Since the concepts of Modernism and Postmodernism have changed the way in which texts are read, it is now time to re-read Gosse, and to explore the potential meaning of passages that would hitherto have been dismissed as error or exaggeration. Using Ziva Ben-Porat’s characterisation of allusion ‘as a device for the simultaneous activation of two texts’ as my methodology, I explore the complex and often subversive resonances of Gosse’s allusive practice. Allusion requires four participants: author, reader, the source text by the precursor, and the alluding text. Because a phrase does not ‘become’ an allusion until all four parties have been ‘activated’, many of Gosse’s allusions have for a long time lain dormant in the palimpsest of his writings. I argue that Gosse’s evangelical, tract-writing mother, rather than his father, exerted primary influence on him. I foreground the impact of her prohibition of fiction as the genesis for Gosse’s idiosyncratic vision, showing that its legacy was more bewildering, and ironically more creative, than has hitherto been recognised. Using the revisionary ratios of Bloom’s theory of the anxiety of influence, I establish a trajectory of charged interactions between the texts of Gosse as ephebe and those of his mother as precursor. Many hitherto puzzling and unresolved aspects of Gosse’s writing now make sense in the context of his ‘answering back’ the spectral Bowes. Although Gosse never fully extricates himself from his maternal precursor, he metaphorically orphans himself, and transfers his ephebe allegiance to a host of literary fosterfathers, constantly invoking them in his texts. He thus secures his ‘mental space’ through the covert mode of allusion, and the zenith of this practice is manifested in Father and Son. My thesis demonstrates the potential of allusion as a methodological tool in literary analysis. By his acts of re-reading, Gosse achieves the paradoxical act of simultaneously arresting and promoting a sense of cultural continuity. On the one hand, Gosse arrests tradition by fragmenting texts: by importing a phrase or a passage from a past work into his present text, he engenders textual instability in both. On the other hand, Gosse promotes cultural continuity by importing into his work fragments that serve as allusive bridges forging connections through space and time. I hope that this exploration of his practice will initiate a reassessment of Gosse’s role in relation to the allusive mode as employed by the early Modernists.

by Hung-mee Poon. / Includes bibliographical references / Thesis (M.Ph.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1986

by Bi Yu Rong. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 188-220). / Acknowledgment --- p.i / Abstract --- p.ii / Table and contents --- p.v / List of abbreviation --- p.x / List of Tables --- p.xi / List of Figures --- p.xiv / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Literature review --- p.5 / Chapter 2.1 --- General information of plant growth regulators --- p.5 / Chapter 2.2 --- Natural plant growth inhibitors --- p.14 / Chapter 2.3 --- Alkaloids and narciclasine --- p.15 / Chapter 2.4 --- Studies on expansion and greening of cotyledons --- p.22 / Chapter 2.5 --- Investigation on chlorophyll synthesis --- p.28 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Materials and methods --- p.31 / Chapter 3.1 --- Plant materials --- p.31 / Chapter 3.2 --- Isolation and purification of inhibitory substance from Narcissus bulbs --- p.31 / Chapter I. --- Isolation of inhibitory substance from fresh Narcissus bulbs --- p.31 / Chapter II. --- Partial purification of the inhibitory substance with different organic solvents --- p.32 / Chapter III. --- Purification and identification --- p.32 / Chapter A. --- Thin layer chromatography (TLC) --- p.32 / Chapter B. --- Column chromatography --- p.33 / Chapter C. --- Spectrometric analyses --- p.33 / Chapter IV. --- Bioassays --- p.34 / Chapter 3.3 --- Effect of narciclasine (NCS) on the seeds germination and seedling growth --- p.34 / Chapter I. --- Germination experiments --- p.35 / Chapter II. --- Seedlings growth --- p.35 / Chapter 3.4 --- Interaction of NCS and phytohormones --- p.35 / Chapter I. --- Interaction with abscisic acid (ABA) --- p.36 / Chapter A. --- Seed germination --- p.36 / Chapter B. --- Seedling growth --- p.36 / Chapter II. --- Interaction with auxin --- p.36 / Chapter III. --- Interaction with gibberellin --- p.37 / Chapter VI. --- Interaction with cytokinin --- p.38 / Chapter 3.5 --- Interaction of NCS and phytohormones to growth and greening of excised radish cotyledons exposing to light --- p.39 / Chapter I. --- Growth of excised radish cotyledons exposing to light --- p.39 / Chapter II. --- Chlorophyll content determination --- p.40 / Chapter III. --- Effects of a pretreatment with BA or NCS on the growth and greening of excised radish cotyledons --- p.40 / Chapter 3.6 --- Effect of NCS on the growth and greening of excised radish cotyledons and etiolated wheat leaves --- p.41 / Chapter I. --- Effect of NCS on the growth and greening of excised radish cotyledons --- p.41 / Chapter II. --- Effect of NCS on the greening of etiolated wheat leaves --- p.41 / Chapter 3.7 --- Effect of NCS on chlorophyll synthesis and δ-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) accumulation of etiolated wheat leaves in presence of levulinic acid (LA) --- p.42 / Chapter 3.8 --- Enzymes studies in the excised radish cotyledons --- p.43 / Chapter I. --- Assay of isocitrate lyase activity --- p.44 / Chapter II. --- Assay of hydroxypyruvate reductase activity --- p.44 / Chapter 3.9 --- Ultrastructural studies --- p.45 / Chapter Chapter 4. --- Results --- p.47 / Chapter 4.1 --- Chemical studies of NCS --- p.47 / Chapter I. --- Isolation and partial purification of inhibitory substance from Narcissus bulbs --- p.47 / Chapter A. --- "Effect of lyophilized slimy secretion (LSS) on the germination seeds, the growth of radicle and hypocotyl of seedlings of Brassica" --- p.47 / Chapter B. --- Effect of different solvent extracts on the germination and the elongation of radicle and hypocotyl of Brassica seedlings --- p.47 / Chapter C. --- Effect of fraction isolated with n-butanol from dried bulbs or LSS on the germination of Brassica seeds and radicle growth --- p.49 / Chapter D. --- Purification of inhibitory substance from Narcissus bulbs by chromatography --- p.54 / Chapter II. --- Identification of the inhibitory substance from Narcissus bulbs .… --- p.62 / Chapter 4.2 --- Physiological and biochemical studies ofNCS --- p.70 / Chapter I. --- Effects ofNCS on seed germination and seedlings growth of Brassica --- p.70 / Chapter II. --- Time course studies ofNCS on germination and growth of radish seeds --- p.70 / Chapter III. --- Comparative studies ofNCS and ABA on seeds germination and seedlings growth --- p.73 / Chapter IV. --- Interaction between NCS and phytohormones --- p.79 / Chapter A. --- Interaction of NCS with ABA --- p.79 / Chapter B. --- Interaction of NCS with IAA --- p.84 / Chapter C. --- Interaction of NCS with gibberellin --- p.84 / Chapter D. --- Interaction of NCS with cytokinin --- p.89 / Chapter V. --- Effects ofNCS and BA on chlorophyll and carotenoid content of excised cotyledons --- p.89 / Chapter A. --- "Effects ofNCS and BA on expansion, chlorophyll content and carotenoid content of excised radish cotyledons" --- p.89 / Chapter B. --- Effects of a pretreatment with BA or NCS on the growth and greening of excised radish cotyledons --- p.97 / Chapter VI. --- Interaction between NCS and phytohormones in growth and greening of excised radish cotyledons --- p.105 / Chapter A. --- "Effects of BA,GA3 and ABA on the growth and greening of excised radish cotyledons" --- p.105 / Chapter B. --- Interaction of NCS with phytohormones on growth and greening of excised radish cotyledons --- p.108 / Chapter 4.3 --- Investigation of effects of NCS on chlorophyll synthesis --- p.113 / Chapter I. --- Effect of preincubation in water on growth and greening of excised cotyledons under light --- p.113 / Chapter II. --- Effect of NCS on the growth and greening of etiolated radish excised cotyledons --- p.116 / Chapter III. --- Effect of NCS on the greening of etiolated leaves of 7-day-old wheat seedlings under light --- p.116 / Chapter IV. --- Effect of LA on ALA accumulation in the light --- p.120 / Chapter V. --- Time course study of NCS on ALA accumulation in the presence of LA --- p.122 / Chapter 4.4 --- Effect of NCS on the development of enzymes activities in the excised radish cotyledons --- p.122 / Chapter I. --- Effect of NCS on isocitrate lyase activity of excised radish cotyledons --- p.122 / Chapter II --- Effect of NCS on hydroxypyruvate reductase activity of excised radish cotyledons --- p.125 / Chapter 4.5 --- Effect of NCS on ultrastructural changes of excised radish cotyledons --- p.128 / Chapter I. --- Time course studies --- p.128 / Chapter II. --- "Effect ofNCS, BA and ABA on the ultrastructural change of excised radish cotyledons in the light" --- p.142 / Chapter III. --- Effect of a pretreatment with dark on the inhibition ofNCS on ultrastructural change of excised radish cotyledons in light --- p.150 / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Discussion --- p.160 / Chapter Chapter 6. --- Conclusions --- p.180 / References --- p.188

It was found that narciclasine retarded the growth of human cancer cells and plant suspension cells in dose-dependent manner. The inhibitory mechanism of narciclasine was found to be apoptosis for the DNA histogram showed an apoptotic peak in narciclasine-treated A375 cancer cells. The fluorescent signal dUTP fluorescein was found in the narciclasine-treated A735 cancer cell in TUNEL assay. The Annexin-V-FLUOS stained A375 cancer cell at 24-hour treatment with no PI found. These results suggest that narciclasine triggered early apoptosis in A375 cancer cell. Immunoblot analysis of the apoptotic signalling pathway showed that narciclasine induced apoptosis through the intrinsic pathway. Narciclasine induced the cleavage of caspase-9 but not the caspase-8, which was triggered by cytochrome c release from mitochondrial intermembrane space into cytosol. The activated caspase-9 triggered caspase cascade (e.g. cleavage of caspase-3, caspase-6 and caspase-7) which induced the cleavage of PARP. / Narciclasine is an isoquinoline alkaloid extracted from the bulb of Narcissus tazetta. It shows a wide range of biological activities such as antitumour, antiviral and plant growth inhibitory activities. However, little information is available regarding such inhibitory activities. The objective of this study is to elucidate the mechanisms of the cytotoxic effects of narciclasine in different cell models. / On the other hand, narciclasine triggered programmed cell death (PCD) in plant cells as proved by the increased intensity of Evans blue in narciclasine-treated suspension cells. Fluorescent microscopy showed that narciclasine induced PCD in tobacco BY2 cell with the dUTP fluorescein stained in narciclasine-treated cell. The induction of PCD was in dose-dependent and time-dependent manner. / Proteomic studies showed that narciclasine may affect A375 cancer cell and rice meristemic cells in similar manner. Narciclasine may affect the metabolism and defence system of both A375 cancer cell and rice meristemic cells through down-regulating the expression of metabolic enzymes (e.g. triosephosphate isomerase in A375 cancer cell and fructose bisphosphate aldolase in rice root tip) and defensive proteins (e.g. peroxiredoxin in A375 cancer cell and catalase in rice root tip). Narciclasine down-regulated the heat-shock proteins (HSP) which is involved in regulating cellular homeostasis and promoting cell survival. Therefore, narciclasine reduced HSP to lower the cell survival ability and induced the caspase cascade or caspase-like activity in A375 cancer cell and rice respectively. / To summarize, narciclasine induced apoptosis in A375 cancer cell and programmed cell death in tobacco BY2 cell. / Wong, Chi Fai. / "October 2007." / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-08, Section: B, page: 4576. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 230-255). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

The aim of my work is to comment on the issue of narcissism, which is marked as an epidemic of our time. Narcissism is mostly psychological phenomenon and its generalization to society is difficult. In my preparatory studies on this topic within sociology, I could not find any solution, that would offer a change of position. In my attempt to achieve this, I went back to the original myth.