La thèse entend démontrer que la droite pédérastie par sa dimension cyclique (dans le Banquet) et répétitive (dans le Phèdre) est une réponse à l'incarnation et à la finitude qui en découle, puisqu'en permettant à l’humain l’accès au Beau au moyen de la réminiscence (dans le Phèdre) et de la contemplation (dans le Banquet) ainsi qu’en offrant un modèle divin à imiter autant qu'il est possible, elle le conduit au bonheur. La droite pédérastie est ainsi une pratique eudémoniste. Platon affirme dans nombre de ses dialogues que le but de tout humain est le bonheur dont la vertu est l’élément constitutif. Lorsque l’expérience érotique sous l’égide d’Éros est correctement dirigée, l’humain peut satisfaire son désir de bonheur. Toutefois, la finitude humaine, qui s’exprime notamment par le caractère éphémère de toute possession, que ce soit celle de la connaissance ou de la vertu, prive l’humain du bonheur qu’il doit toujours reconquérir. Pour contrevenir à cette imperfection de nature, et s’approcher autant que possible du divin, le Banquet et le Phèdre proposent le recours à la droite pédérastie comme style de vie. La connaissance et la vertu ne suffisent pas au bonheur parce que celui-ci nous échappe toujours. Il faut une pratique ritualisée, la droite pédérastie, que l’humain peut répétée à chaque fois que le bonheur, la connaissance et la vertu disparaissent. C’est pourquoi la pédérastie est de nature cyclique. Il s’agit d’une pratique qu’il faut réitérer lorsque le bonheur n’est plus présent. Sans la répétition – dont la circularité imite l’éternité –, toute possession de la connaissance, de la vertu et par conséquent du bonheur est vouée à la disparition. La connaissance, la vertu et le bonheur laissent place à l’ignorance, l’intempérance et au malheur. Bien que la corporéité de l’humain soit problématique puisqu'elle porte en elle la finitude, ces deux dialogues ne proposent pas de vivre dans la pure intellection. Le corps est en effet la première étape de l’initiation érotique. Bien que la contemplation du Beau ou sa réminiscence ne soit pas immédiatement accessible, par la présence du corps désirable, l’élan érotique porte l’âme incarnée vers les belles choses, c'est-à-dire en dernier ressort vers le bonheur. La solution à la finitude humaine se découvre au cœur même de sa manifestation : le corps.

Protein eIF4E2 belongs to the family of eukaryotic translation initiation factors 4E, but it does not participate in translation initiation under normal circumstances. Its main role lies in translational repression of specific mRNAs. Nevertheless eIF4E2 takes part in translation initiation as a subunit of a specific translation initiation complex in hypoxic conditions. The exact mechanism in which eIF4E2 takes part in either of these processes is not known. One way to study the role of eIF4E2 in the cell is to find out what other proteins does eIF4E2 interact with. The goal of this work was to seek out potential eIF4E2-interacting partners in the HEK293 cell line using immunoprecipitation followed by mass spek- trometry. Apart from finding individual proteins the goal was to identify eIF4E2-containig protein com- plexes in HEK293 cells. A second line of work was preparation of a system for screening inhibitors of the interaction between eIF4E2 and eIF4G3. The main result is finding potential new eIF4E2-intera- cting partners in human cells.

Among other things, mentoring research is concerned with how mentors go about the process of choosing who they should mentor. Even when mentoring relationships are assigned, mentors need to feel that the efforts they are putting forth are worth the time and energy. What protégé attributes best attract the attention of a mentor? What mentor attributes make some protégés more attractive to them than others? This study looks at 3 explanations for mentor-protégé attraction, shedding light on the mental processes that influence why some protégés find it easy to get mentors and why some have a much tougher time finding the right person to mentor them. Practical and theoretical implications of this study are included.

Thesis (M.A. (African Languages)) --University of Limpopo, 2004 / Refer to document

The process of translation initiation is the most highly regulated step of protein synthesis. In bacteria, three initiation factors (IF1, IF2 and IF3) play crucial roles during initiation. IF3 acts as an anti-association factor for the two ribosomal subunits. Eubacterial IF3 also permits initiator tRNA (i-tRNA) selection at the P site of the ribosome. Two features of i-tRNA, i. e. the characteristic 3GC base pairs in the anticodon stem and the cognate interaction of the anticodon sequence with the initiation codon of the mRNA contribute to IF3 based selection and/or proofreading. However, the exact mechanism of this discrimination and the contribution of the individual domains towards this process of selection/ proofreading are unclear. Further, there are exceptional instances in the natural world where either the codon-anticodon interaction or the anticodon stem composition deviates from the norm. For instance, in mammalian mitochondria, non-AUG codons such as AUU and AUA are present in the genome although they are notoriously poor initiation codons. In addition, some species of Mycoplasma have i-tRNAs with variations in the typically conserved 3GC base pairs of the anticodon stem. In this study, we have investigated the mechanism of proofreading activity of IF3 of E. coli, mitochondrial and mycoplasmal origins. Part I: Proofreading function of IF3 in E. coli IF3 is composed of N and C terminal domains joined by a flexible linker region. By means of complete and partial IF3 knockouts, we show that the C-terminal domain (CTD) is essential for the survival of E. coli while the N-terminal (NTD) is required for cellular fitness. Using reporter assays, we have established the role of the NTD in proofreading, while polysome profile analyses reaffirm that the CTD alone can bind to the 30S and carry out ribosome anti-association. Therefore, we show that the CTD is the ribosome binding and anti-association domain, while the NTD is the major proofreading domain. Unpublished cryoEM structures from Prof. Ramakrishnan’s lab indicate that the NTD of IF3 pushes the i-tRNA at its elbow and helps in P site accommodation of the i-tRNA. We propose that when the codon-anticodon interaction is non-cognate or if the 3GC base pairs of the anticodon stem are not intact, then the dynamic action of the NTD destabilises the tRNA at the P site and leads to its rejection. Part II: Proofreading function of mitochondrial IF3 (IF3mt) Of the 13 protein-coding genes in mammalian mitochondria, 3 utilise the non-canonical AUA codon and one utilises the non-canonical start codon AUU. Since IF3mt does not possess many of the generally conserved residues implicated in proofreading, we decided to characterise the proofreading function of IF3mt and its role in initiation with non-canonical start codons. Structurally, IF3mt is similar to EcoIF3 with its N and C terminal domains joined by a linker region. However, IF3mt additionally possesses N- and C-terminal extensions which are generally disordered in structure. In vivo studies of mitochondrial translation factors have been mired by the lack of methodologies to manipulate mitochondria. We have developed an E. coli strain to study the proofreading functions of mitochondrial IF3 (IF3mt) with the help of reporter genes. Consistent with its function in mitochondria, IF3mt allowed promiscuous initiation from non-AUG codons. However, IF3mt avoided initiation with i-tRNAs lacking evolutionarily conserved 3GC pairs in anticodon stems. Interestingly, expression of IF3mt N-terminal domain or IF3mt devoid of its typical N-, and C-terminal extensions significantly improved its proofreading activity. Our immunoblot assays from polysome profile fractions indicate that the IF3mt derivative lacking extensions is capable of superior 30S ribosome binding. The two derivatives of IF3mt missing the Next (IF3mtΔNext) or both the Next and Cext (IF3mtΔNextCext) display an affinity for the 50S ribosome. We propose that the extensions of IF3mt may have evolved to reduce the affinity of IF3mt to the ribosome and thereby permit initiation with non-canonical start codons like AUU and AUA. Our studies suggest that E. coli provides an excellent heterologous model to study distinctive features of mitochondrial factors. Part III: Fidelity of translation initiation in mycoplasma One of the many singular features of mycoplasma is the presence of many anticodon stem variants of the i-tRNA across different species. In general, i-tRNAs are characterized by the presence of the typical feature of the conserved 3 consecutive GC base pairs (GC/GC/GC) in the anticodon stem. However, many mycoplasmal species have i-tRNAs with AU/GC/GC, GC/GC/GU or AU/GC/GU sequences. Interestingly, the mycoplasmal species which harbour the AU/GC/GU i-tRNA are also human pathogens. Therefore, we decided to investigate whether these organisms possess any unique features to accommodate the i-tRNA variants, by investigating the usage of Shine Dalgarno sequences and by carrying out multiple sequence alignments of genes encoding initiation factors, ribosomal proteins S9 and S13 and 16S rRNA. Since IF3 plays a crucial role in i-tRNA selection, we carried out computational analysis of mycoplasmal IF3 sequences, which revealed many interesting features. Most striking amongst them was the variation of the highly conserved R at position 131 in some species. Interestingly, these were the very mycoplasmal species which possessed the anticodon stem variant AU/GC/GU, suggesting a strong correlation between these two features. It is known that the R131P mutation of EcoIF3 is characterised by an enormous loss of proofreading activity. It seemed unusual that such compromised proofreading would be tolerated in the cell, so we decided to investigate other components of the translational machinery as well. The C-terminal SKR tail of the ribosomal protein S9, which contacts the P-site tRNA, is highly conserved across bacteria. Analysis of the C-terminal sequences of S9 proteins in various mycoplasmal species revealed a surprising variation- the presence of a TKR tail in strains with the AU/GC/GU tRNA. In this study we have investigated the co-occurrence of S9 and IF3 variations in i-tRNA selection in E. coli. We see that the R131P polymorphism of IF3 leads to a tremendous loss of proofreading, but this loss is significantly tempered by the presence of the S9 TKR variation. Our bioinformatics studies revealed that the mycoplasmal species which are sustained on AU/GC/GU i-tRNAs also tend to use a higher percentage of non-AUG codons. By means of our reporter assays in E. coli, we have shown once again that the R131P polymorphism of IF3 leads to a tremendous increase in initiation with the non-canonical start codon AUA, but this increase is significantly tempered by the presence of the S9 TKR variation.

It is a common observation that organizations of violence make use of moral transgression to bond new recruits to the group’s authority figures and to encourage compliance to them. The present study drew on the work of Festinger (1957), Aronson and Mills (1959) and Martens et al. (2007) and, for the first time examined this observation empirically. It was hypothesized that when participants agreed to make a moral transgression for the experimenter that they would come to view him more positively, see him as more professional and become more compliant to him, and that this would happen even more when that choice to comply was made salient. Participants were asked to place a number of bugs into a modified coffee grinder that ostensibly exterminated the bugs and then to activate the device. No bugs were killed in any condition, but participants were either led to believe that they were killing the bugs or informed that it was just a simulation. Subsequent positivity in the perception of the experimenter and how professional they considered him to be was then measured by questionnaire and compliance to him was measured in an optional data-entry task. Results yielded partial support for the research hypotheses suggesting that at least under some circumstances, agreeing to make a personal moral transgression for an authority figure leads to increases in the positivity in the perception of that figure and compliance to him and that making that choice salient enhances this effect. The implications of this finding for the understanding of the processes by which a person can become bonded to unsavory authority-figures and potential applications to community education programs are discussed; as are the limitations of this study and possibilities for future research.

No description available.

In the history of Catholic initiation, there have been moments of dissonance between what the institution expects to happen in the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist, and what actually occurs when they are practiced at the local level. Such dissonance often then leads to an evolution in the understanding and/or practice of these sacraments such as when Augustine‟s theology of imputed sin created an emphasis on infant baptism or when the drunkenness of early Christians at the Eucharist table led to shifting communion from an evening meal to a morning liturgy. In light of this historical pattern, this dissertation looks at a current form of dissonance and evolution in the specific context of the western suburbs of Minneapolis. Here, the dissonance relates to high rates of initiate attrition immediately following the ritual process despite institutional expectations that initiates be incorporated into the community as actively participating members. This dissonance is documented through two years of qualitative, interview-based research in multiple Catholic parishes as well as several Protestant churches on a comparative basis. Based on these reports, the dissonance, seen among Catholics and Protestants alike, seems to arise from the fact many initiates in this part of Minneapolis live as highly-empowered individuals who regularly negotiate a variety of disconnected social and relational networks – each of which vies for their attention. In this competition of social spheres, initiates commonly leave the church to participate in contexts that they perceive to “meet their needs” such as schoolwork, athletics, jobs, and other extra-curricular activities. As a result, the church appears to be in the early stages of an evolution in which initiation sacraments focus less on community incorporation and more on how they meet needs in an individual‟s faith journey.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

From the history of the Church, we gather that one of the most major tests that confronted the early Christian community was whether everyone who wanted to become a Christian also of necessity had to become a Jew as a pre-requisite for entrance into the new community of believers. The issue at stake is whether one qualifies to be a Christian through adherence to the Jewish identity, which centres on circumcision and the observance of the Mosaic legal code. The crisis resulted to the convocation of the Jerusalem Council (cf. Acts 15), which tasked itself with the definition of the Christian identity. The Council bases its definition of Christian identity, separable from adherence to the Jewish cultural practice (a form of cultural imperialism), solely on election by God in Jesus Christ. Moreover, the event of the Pentecost in Jerusalem demonstrated what the nature of the spreading of the message of this new community of believers in Jesus Christ should be: that people from other cultures, “Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Capadocia, Ponthus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylis, Egypt and the parts of Libya around Cyrene; as well as visitors from Rome, Jews and Proselytes alike, Cretans and Arabs” (Acts 2: 9-11), could understand the message that Peter communicated to them through the force of the breath of the risen Jesus in their own mother tongue, without first becoming Jews. Against the background of this crucial point in the history of the early Church and in consideration of the Second Vatican Council, this dissertation seeks to address the problem of identity, unity and diversity in the Christian religion with special reference to Africa. It proposes that the traditional African Rites of Initiation that mark the transition from one stage of life to the other and therefore the existential and essential transformation of the individual and group offer with their rich symbolisms a very fertile ground for dialogue with the Christian religion. It views the various Rites of Initiation (from birth and ritual circumcision over puberty and adult to marriage and funeral rites) as vital and immutable seminal points in the life of the individual African and his/her society at large. These Rites that express in various ways the African holistic view and conception of life and reality are, in terms of their religious symbolism, meaning and function, analogous to their Christian counterparts (such as baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, ordination, marriage) and can as a result be conveniently accepted or at least incorporated even if in modified forms as authentic African initiation rites for African Christians. Without being syncretistic, such an incorporation and modification at one and the same time recognizes and respects the cultural identity of the African and marks his/her transformation and acceptance of his/her new identity, modelled on Christ. In this way, the African Christian will be enabled to live, articulate and express his/her faith within his/her own historical-cultural milieu. On the whole, the presentation is predictive and prescriptive with regard to what the relationship and dialogue between Christianity and the African Traditional Religion should be or should not be. It is an honest effort to make the Christian message relevant to the African in his/her own perceptual and conceptual world-view. This task remains a steady challenge to African Christians who want to maintain at one and the same time and at the same level their African identity and their Christian calling. The balancing and reconciling of these two identities in a correlating rather than confrontational manner remains a task for the Church of today and tomorrow. The dissertation is a foundational contribution to building up and sharpening consciousness for this problem.