The general object of study of this work is the rise and effects of competing visions in the construction of the subjective personal American landscape in 20th century North American travel literature. The research and analysis done will follow the idea that there are different visions of America present at the same time in a given text-character. These visions, when affecting and transforming the travelling experience and, when contrasted to other’s visions and compared between them, may allow for the appropriation of the landscape through the creation of a personal, intimate and polyphonic image of the same. In order to grasp this final vision characters must undergo a process with three stages that resemble an empiric scientific experiment. Is on the exploration of this experimental dimension from where we start this study.

El objetivo central del trabajo es realizar un diseño básico de una plataforma tipo Jack Up y el estudio de factibilidad para desarrollar la construcción de esta estructura en Chile, comparando los costos de fabricación con los costos de compra de este equipo.

A finalidade deste estudo é analisar, do ponto de vista da Literatura Comparada, as relações existentes entre contos do escritor Caio Fernando Abreu e o romance On the Road, do norte-americano Jack Kerouac. Com o objetivo de apreender o diálogo entre os textos, a investigação desenvolve-se desde o exame do estilo de vida das personagens até as condições históricas nas quais foram produzidas as obras. Dessa forma, focaliza-se o local que ocupa a produção literária do escritor gaúcho, a partir das relações inter-literárias com a realidade cultural do seu tempo. Pretendeu-se verificar, através da Literatura Comparada, de que modo a obra de Caio absorve os influxos da obra de Kerouac. Assim, examina-se a apropriação cultural estrangeira através da recepção, em Caio, da literatura “beat”. O estudo aborda questões referentes ao sujeito, à liberdade, à introspecção, à fragmentação, à identidade, ao estranhamento, ao desejo, à autonomia, relacionando-as à construção da linguagem e à representação da visão de mundo dos autores. Para tanto, foram considerados alguns momentos históricos do final do século XX, como a Segunda Guerra Mundial, a Guerra Fria, o Macartismo e a ditadura militar brasileira. Nesse contexto, intensifica-se, de um lado, o desejo de livre arbítrio e, de outro, a imobilidade resultante da falta de esperança. A partir desses dados, analisa-se a atmosfera vivida e representada nas obras de Caio e Kerouac. Dessa forma, o trabalho desenvolve a hipótese de que Caio Fernando Abreu absorve aspectos da filosofia “beat”, assimila-os e os transforma para adaptá-los ao seu contexto histórico e cultural.

A finalidade deste estudo é analisar, do ponto de vista da Literatura Comparada, as relações existentes entre contos do escritor Caio Fernando Abreu e o romance On the Road, do norte-americano Jack Kerouac. Com o objetivo de apreender o diálogo entre os textos, a investigação desenvolve-se desde o exame do estilo de vida das personagens até as condições históricas nas quais foram produzidas as obras. Dessa forma, focaliza-se o local que ocupa a produção literária do escritor gaúcho, a partir das relações inter-literárias com a realidade cultural do seu tempo. Pretendeu-se verificar, através da Literatura Comparada, de que modo a obra de Caio absorve os influxos da obra de Kerouac. Assim, examina-se a apropriação cultural estrangeira através da recepção, em Caio, da literatura “beat”. O estudo aborda questões referentes ao sujeito, à liberdade, à introspecção, à fragmentação, à identidade, ao estranhamento, ao desejo, à autonomia, relacionando-as à construção da linguagem e à representação da visão de mundo dos autores. Para tanto, foram considerados alguns momentos históricos do final do século XX, como a Segunda Guerra Mundial, a Guerra Fria, o Macartismo e a ditadura militar brasileira. Nesse contexto, intensifica-se, de um lado, o desejo de livre arbítrio e, de outro, a imobilidade resultante da falta de esperança. A partir desses dados, analisa-se a atmosfera vivida e representada nas obras de Caio e Kerouac. Dessa forma, o trabalho desenvolve a hipótese de que Caio Fernando Abreu absorve aspectos da filosofia “beat”, assimila-os e os transforma para adaptá-los ao seu contexto histórico e cultural.

O nitrogênio é o nutriente mineral essencial mais limitante ao crescimento das plantas. Apenas alguns microorganismos procariotos desenvolveram um mecanismo bioquímico que permite reduzir N2, abundante na atmosfera, a amônia, que pode ser assimilada pelas plantas. Muitos destes microorganismos conseguem associar-se simbioticamente com outros organismos, sendo a associação de bactérias do grupo Rhizobium com plantas do grupo das leguminosas a mais importante a nível econômico. Por outro lado, quando existe disponibilidade de nitrato no meio ambiente, a leguminosa abandona a fixação biológica absorvendo nitrato, que é reduzido a amônia pelas enzimas nitrato redutase (NR) e nitrito redutase (NiR) e, ao final, assimilada pelo sistema GS/GOGAT. Apesar de as duas vias terem amônia como produto final, em leguminosas tropicais, principalmente as pertencentes à tribo Phaseolae, quando a amônia provém de associação simbiótica a planta exporta, via xilema, preferencialmente ureídeos, enquanto quando a amônia provém da redução de nitrato, a planta exporta amidas, principalmente asparagina e glutamina. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi identificar, em Canavalia ensiformes (L.), as alterações metabólicas que ocorriam em função da concentração de nitrato fornecida à planta, através da quantificação localizada dos principais compostos nitrogenados do metabolismo de nitrogênio e dos principais sítios de redução de nitrato; bem como estudar o metabolismo de asparagina na leguminosa em questão desde o estádio de germinação até a fase reprodutiva, identificando os sítios preferenciais de metabolismo desta amida. Observou-se que o metabolismo de aminoácidos foi profundamente alterado em função da concentração de nitrato fornecida. Os níveis de aminoácidos solúveis totais não se alteraram drasticamente, o mesmo ocorrendo com os níveis de proteína e ureídeos, considerando-se os diferentes tratamentos em um mesmo estádio de desenvolvimento. Com a alteração do estádio de desenvolvimento, especialmente com o início da fase reprodutiva, o metabolismo de nitrogênio foi profundamente alterado, observando-se inversão no sítio de redução de nitrato, alterações nas concentrações totais de ureídeos e aminoácidos e alterações profundas no metabolismo de aminoácidos, quando se relaciona com o estádio vegetativo. A atividade de nitrato redutase, em Canavalia ensiformes (L.) mostrou-se regulada pela concentração de glutamina presente nos tecidos, tendo se mostrado mais elevada nos tecidos onde os níveis de glutamina eram menores. A alteração no sítio de redução de nitrato em função da mudança no estádio de desenvolvimento foi acompanhada pelo aumento simultâneo na concentração de glutamina solúvel nos tecidos onde a atividade da enzima foi menor. Em função das mudanças no estádio de desenvolvimento, percebeu-se também uma redução no número de sítios de possível atividade da enzima asparaginase, o que foi inferido pela redução no número de tecidos onde a enzima esteve presente, sugerindo então um possível aumento no catabolismo desta amida por ação da enzima asparagina-aminotransferase. Para maior entendimento dos processos que levam às alterações no metabolismo de nitrato, asparagina e aminoácidos de uma forma geral, os mecanismos de síntese e utilização de aminoácidos devem ser analisados para melhor compreensão dos processos envolvidos, através da análise da atividade das principais enzimas envolvidas nestes processos, bem como de estudos da transcrição dos respectivos genes. / Nitrogen is the most limiting essential nutrient for plant growth. Some prokaryotic microorganisms have developed a biochemical mechanism, which allows the reduction of N2, which is abundantly present in the atmosphere, to ammonium that can be assimilated by the plants. Many of these microorganisms form symbiotic associations with other organisms. This is especially true for leguminous plants that form symbiotic associations with bacteria belonging to the Bradyrhizbium, Rhizobium, and Sinorhizobium groups. Bacterial nitrogen fixation from these interactions are extremely important for the global nitrogen balance and plays a major economically role in agriculture. On the other hand, when nitrate is available in the environment, leguminous plants interrupt the symbiotic fixation process to directly use of the nitrate, which is reduced to ammonium by the enzymes nitrate reductase (NR) and nitrite reductase (NiR), and is finally assimilated by the GS/GOGAST system. Although both will result in ammonium as the end-product, in tropical leguminous plants species, mainly those of the Phaseoleae tribe, when ammonium is produced by the symbiotic association the plant translocates mainly ureides via xylem, whereas the plant translocate mainly amides such as asparagine and glutamine, when the ammonium is produced by nitrate reduction. The objective of this study was to identify in Canavalia ensiformes (L.), metabolic alterations dependent upon the concentration of nitrate supplied to the plant. Specific attention was given to the quantity of nitrogen compounds from nitrogen metabolism and asparagine metabolism from the early stage of germination to the reproductive stage, with the identification of the main locations of metabolism for this amide. Amino acids metabolism was significantly altered when nitrate was supplied at different concentrations. Total soluble amino acids, total protein and ureide contents were not dramatically altered when considering the different treatments at the same developmental stage. However, nitrogen metabolism was shown to be drastically altered when different development stages were compared, particularly at the beginning of the reproductive stage, at which time a switch in the location of nitrate reduction, alterations in the total concentration of ureides and amino acids were observed, when compared to the vegetative stage. Nitrate reductase activity of Canavalia ensiformes was shown to be regulated by the concentration of glutamine present in the tissues, exhibiting higher activity in tissues containing lower concentrations of glutamine, which coincided with the shift of the site of nitrate reduction with the changing developmental stage. The understanding of the processes leading to the alterations in the metabolism of nitrate, asparagine, amino acids, and the mechanism related to the synthesis and utilization of amino acids requires further studies.

My thesis explores the role of religion and spirituality in the work of the Beat Generation, a mid-twentieth century American literary movement. I focus on four major Beat authors: William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Gregory Corso. Through a close reading of their work, I identify the major religious and spiritual attitudes that shape their texts. All four authors’ religious and spiritual beliefs form a challenge to the Modern Western worldview of rationality, embracing systems of belief which allow for experiences that cannot be empirically explained. They also assert the primacy of the individual—a major American value—in a society which the authors believed to encroach upon individual agency. Ginsberg, Kerouac, and Corso are also strongly influenced by established religious traditions: an aspect of their work that is currently overlooked in Beat criticism. Burroughs’ belief in a magical universe shapes his work. Ginsberg is heavily influenced by the Jewish exegetical tradition. Kerouac and Corso’s work contains Catholic themes. My study rectifies some tendencies in current criticism which I find problematic: a dismissal of the Beats as a countercultural phenomenon rather than a literary movement, a tendency to frame Beat religion and spirituality in vague language, and a tendency to focus solely on Buddhism within the movement. My study illustrates that the Beat authors’ work contains serious religious and spiritual content, that they take part in American religious and literary traditions, and that the authors engage with major social issues of the post-war period.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka positiva och negativa konsekvenser omarbetningarna i en lättläst återberättad version skulle kunna leda till för en god läsare. Ambitionen är att underlätta för en lärare att avgöra vilken version som mest fördelaktig att erbjuda en god läsare för att både utmana läsningen och främja läslust. För att uppnå syftet bedrivs en textanalys med fokus på historiens handlingskomponenter: händelser, miljö och personer. Materialet som används är klassikern Skriet från vildmarken, skriven av Jack London (1993) och återberättad av Maj Bylock (1999). Analysmetoden som används är en komparativ analysmetod där originalversionen och den återberättade versionen ställs mot varandra. Resultatet visar att de råder innehållsliga skillnader och att omarbetningarna kan leda till både positiva och negativa konsekvenser för den goda läsaren. Slutsatsen av studien är därför att det är upp till respektive lärare beroende på vem den enskilda goda läsaren är att avgöra vilken version som är mest fördelaktig.Analysen kan användas för att underlätta lärarens didaktiska val då den synliggör hur innehållet genomgående skiljer sig i de olika versionerna.

Neotoma micropus from Jack County, Texas, were studied over a 9-month period. Loci from blood and saliva were used to determine genetic variation within the population. Deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were found at one locus. The average temporal F over all seven loci was 0.040. Genetic structuring was subtle, fluctuated on a seasonal basis, and was due to differential migration or predation on genotypes. Heterozygotes tended to move more than homozygotes, and a greater proportion of heterozygotes were lost from the population during each season. Genetic variation was maintained in the population by immigrant individuals. This differential in dispersal of genotypes fits current models of reorganization within the genome of populations.

La literature de la Côte ouest demeure peu traduite en français. Son caractère unique et les difficultés posées par sa traduction expliquent en partie cet etat de fait regrettable. L'objectif de cette thèse est d'analyser les particularités de cette littérature régionale afin de la rendre plus accessible au traducteur et, par la-meme, au lecteur français. Pour illustrer chacun des problèmes soulevés, des exemples concrets sont utilisés. lis sont tirés de deux nouvelles de Jack Hodgins, "Every Day of His Life" et "By the River", toutes deux publiées dans Spit Delaney's Island (Toronto: Macmillan, 1976). Ces oeuvres, profondément régionalistes, fournissent une excellente source de thèmes propres à la littérature de la Côte ouest et de problèmes particuliers pour le traducteur. Chaque question traitée est accompagnée de l'étude d'un cas de traduction offrant diverses solutions possibles et expliquant leur pertinence dans le cadre d'une oeuvre de la Côte ouest. Cette analyse pratique est suivie d'un dialogue avec Jack Hodgins, visant à préciser et, dans certains cas, rectifier l'approche du traducteur et son interprétation de l'oeuvre à traduire. Des exemples de modifications qu'il est possible d'apporter àune traduction, grâce au dialogue avec l'auteur, sont proposés et discutés. Pour conclure, il sera débattu des avantages et des inconvénients d'une telle collaboration. Cette thèse met en évidence la richesse de la littérature de la Côte ouest et offre un certain nombre d'outils indispensables a sa traduction. Les caractéristiques de cette littérature régionale, une fois reconnues et comprises par le traducteur, ne forment plus un obstacle à sa lisibilité pour le lecteur françis. Elles lui ouvrent au contraire tout un univers jusqu'alors insoupçonné. / Arts, Faculty of / French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of / Graduate

This thesis considers the theme of suffering and its resolution in the novels of Jack Kerouac, Leonard Cohen, and William Burroughs, three avant-garde contemporary writers. It discusses most of their work in a general way, with reference to the theme of suffering; and it also analyses in a much more detailed manner the Subterraneans by Kerouac, The Favorite Game and Beautiful Losers by Cohen, and Naked Lunch by Burroughs. Cohen envisions man as a suffering being who experiences his pain in many different ways. He criticizes the old ritual patterns in which suffering once took its form - the pattern of religion which teaches man that suffering is good, and History which teaches that the cycle of civilization operates only in terms of the torturer and his victim. He rejects, too, the contemporary form of pop art which ignores the fact that suffering is a very real and overwhelming part of man. Having lost the old ritual patterns of suffering, man feels alienated from his own personal pain. Through the magic of good art, Cohen feels, man can regain entrance to his own being, for by experiencing another's suffering in art, he can regain his own awareness of suffering. If we misinterpret or misuse our own pain, we become one of Cohen's 'losers,' for we lose the core of our being to false ritual. Cohen believes the ancient notion that suffering deepens character, and he argues that man, through an understanding of his own pain, becomes a richer and better person, more capable of recognizing the magic which exists along with pain. For magic does exist with pain, and in art we gain a momentary entrance into this world of magic. Through the investigation of self and the uniqueness of self, man comes to recognize the uniqueness and magic of all. The artist takes on the role of prophet visionary showing all men that "magic is afoot." Jack Kerouac suffered a different form of pain - a pain which originated in his desperate search for innocence. His Catholic heritage taught him that the world of mind and spirit could see God, while the physical body was the realm of the sinful and guilty. His life became a quest in search of an innocence in which man could, transcend his guilt and shame and become beatific. Kerouac named the entire beat generation beatific, but he could not evade his feeling of guilt and shame within his own life, and he fluctuated throughout life between ecstatic idealism and hopeless despair. His strong mother fixation was a major cause for the split between his sense of idealism and the life of the physical body - and his mother became associated in his mind with those aspects of consciousness he considered 'ideal.' Yet Kerouac also longed for freedom and individuality, realms of experience outside his mother's hold. He expressed his life within his art, showing his tension and anguish from the pull of these two forms of experience. Kerouac's final interpretation of suffering paralleled the Catholic vision, for art became, in his life, a means of personal confession and penance. William Burroughs' despair is expressed through fear and rage, and a figurative comparison with 'paranoia' defines the range of his suffering fairly closely. Burroughs fears persecution from society which controls man through his need, fearing especially the implosive and depersonalizing forces of society which threaten to degrade and annihilate man. Man's own body takes part in this social degradation, for it is man's body which succumbs to addictive need. Burroughs strives to preserve his sense of inner reality and freedom at all costs. He purges his own personal sense of fear through his art, and art becomes, in his use of it, a social act of exorcism. He shouts the unspeakable and becomes a priest in a cultural purification rite; he shows the absurdity of man's reality in the form of comedy and dream and these become the source of his release. He defends himself against social control by his ability to exaggerate the power of society to the point of the grotesque, and art becomes the written form of his protest. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate