An array of different cyclopropanes have been synthesised, including the structurally simple 1-phenylcyclopropanol. These were synthesised in yields upwards of 60%, using the well published Kulinkovich reaction. From 1-phenylcyclopropanol, variations of the cyclopropane core structure were synthesised, creating species ideal for palladium cross coupling reactions, such as 1-phenylcyclopropyl methanesulfonate and 1-phenylcyclopropyl 4-methylbenzenesulfonate. These were formed in 50 and 60% yield respectively. Once obtained these cyclopropanes were used to perform Suzuki cross coupling reactions towards the formation of 1,1- diphenyl cyclopropane. Unfortunately, despite various attempts, the palladium cross coupling reactions were unsuccessful. The work did facilitate the discovery of a novel methodology for the synthesis of tetra substituted alkenes. Using similar methodology as that developed for the formation of 1- phenylcyclopropanol, a McMurry reaction was able to be performed on a number of different ketones. This reaction formed a wide array of different tetra-substituted alkenes with yields ranging from 20-99%, depending on the nature of the starting material. The method, involving the use of 9 equivalents of Grignard reagent and stoichiometric amounts of titanium isopropoxide, is a unique way of making low valent titanium in situ, as well as being homogeneous. Methodology for the formation of vinyl cyclopropanes containing an amide moiety has been developed, allowing a variety of different amines to be coupled to two different cyclopropanes. Once these species were synthesised, a palladium catalysed cyclisation, Heck reaction, carbonylation cascade was developed. This allowed the core cyclic structure of the stemona alkaloids to be obtained in a single reaction vessel with good yields of up to 52% depending on the amine used. The cascade was then applied to a fully substituted cyclic natural product core. However, the cascade reaction was unsuccessful. Efforts to alter the structure of the starting material, to remove the potentially hindering bromine, provided no improvement. It was established that the tetrakis(triphenylphosphine) palladium (0) catalyst used was too encumbered for insertion in to the sterically hindered starting material, which is likely to be causing the failure of the reaction.

Masters of Science / A nitrile and amide hydrolysing Nesterenkonia sp. was isolated from Antarctic soil and was characterised as a psychrotolerant, halotolerant and alkaliphilic extremophile. Amidases are widely distributed in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. These enzymes hydrolyze C-N bonds other than peptide bonds and are particularly interesting for their potential industrial application. This study aimed to identify and characterize amidase genes from this novel psychrotolerant microorganism. Using BLAST analysis, two ORFs with conserved amidase sequences were identified from the complete genome sequence of the organism. Two ORFs, AmiF and AmiS, were assigned to two different gene families, the aceta/formamidase family and amidase signature family, respectively. On the genome, the spatial orientation and intergenic distance (1bp overlap) of the ORF‟s suggested that amiF and amiS could possibly be cotranscribed which was confirmed by reverse transcription PCR. A third ORF with a conserved amidase sequence was found ±500bps downstream from amiS, suggesting the possible presence of a multi amidase operon. The two genes were cloned and expressed as N-terminal 6x His-Tag fusion proteins. AmiS and Ami F were partially purified using Ni-chelation chromatography. Although both proteins were subjected to activity assay, their activities are yet to be established. Homology modeling of the AmiF and AmiS translated sequences showed that the proteins had the significant similarities to the members of their families. Although the sequence identities between the AmiF and AmiS and their templates were very low (24 % and 25% respectively), the evaluation of the models showed that the quality of the models were good. This study reports the genetic and functional characterisation of amidase genes from the cold adapted microorganisms. / South Africa

No description available.

La réappropriation de l’eschatologie judéo-chrétienne par les doctrinaires politiques du XIXe siècle est un topos de l’histoire des idées ; le soubassement religieux de l’idéologie démocratique du XXe siècle, quoique moins éclatant, est tout aussi réel. Quant à l’art, ouvrant dans un monde ultra-territorialisé le champ de l’extraterritorialité par excellence, il constitue peut-être la dernière altérité du discours rationnel positiviste. La théorie spéculative de l’Art a montré en quoi la littérature se rapproche plus d’un logos que d’une tekhnè, et l’écrivain de la figure du messager plutôt que de celle de l’artisan. En outre, dans sa tentation des origines, l’inspiration artistique appelle la surenchère : de mot en mot, on en vient au Verbe, et d’idée en idée au Saint-Esprit. Qu’il le transpose ou le critique, l’illustre ou le rejette, le livre a toujours entretenu des rapports étroits au Livre — et il y a là plus qu’une simple homothétie médiologique, où tout incipit vaudrait genèse. Parmi les pratiques actuelles de transplantation de l’héritage chrétien dans le roman, rares sont les ambitions architectoniques, les prolongements majestueux ; plus fréquents sont les greffons ou les scories. Fragments d’ensembles qui n’existent plus. Il s’agira donc ici de mettre en lumière ces nouvelles insertions du sacré dans l’univers profane de la littérature et d’en étudier la nature singulière en lien avec l’actuelle société française. Et de démontrer qu’entre modèle descriptif, recours spéculatif et détour narratif, le christianisme, plus qu’un simple référent parmi d’autres, demeure, en dépit d'une sécularisation de la société, l’un des horizons privilégiés de la création romanesque française d’aujourd’hui. / The taking back of the Judeo-Christian eschatology by political theorists of the nineteenth century is a topos of the history of ideas. Though it is less obvious, the religious foundation of the democratic ideology of the twentieth century is just as real. As for art, since it is perhaps the last otherness of positivist rational discourse, it leads, in an overterritorialized world, to the extraterritorial field par excellence. The speculative theory of Art showed how literature is much more a logos than a tekhnè, and how the writer is closer to the figure of the messenger than to that of the craftsman. Moreover, in its temptation of origins, artistic inspiration calls for upmanship: word by word, we come to the Word, and from idea to idea to the Holy Spirit. Shall it transpose or criticize it, illustrate or reject it, the book has always had close relations to the Bible – and those relations are much deeper than an simple mediological homothety, where every beginning would count as a genesis. Among the current practices of transplantation of the Christian heritage in the novel, few are architectural ambitions or big extensions; most common are grafts or slags. Fragments of bigger schemes that no longer exist. Our aim is to highlight the new insertions of the sacred in the profane world of literature and to study its unique nature in connection with the current French society. And to demonstrate that between descriptive models, speculative crutches and narrative detours, Christianity, more than a mere referent among others, remains, in spite of society’s secularization, one of the privileged backgrounds of French fictional creation today.

the project was based on genetic modification of cell's chromosome using žef Stefan's Institute, Ljubljana,

DESERT PALMS is a contemporary women’s novel set in an Arizona RV park. When Miamians Margie Campos and her husband, Carlos, unexpectantly inherit Desert Palms, a rundown retirement community, Margie reluctantly agrees to stay in Arizona to overhaul the park. With the discovery of a secret letter that threatens to unravel the family, an unscrupulous broker determined to buy the park on the cheap, and a husband bent on hitting it big, Margie digs in and starts to find purpose amidst a desert microcosm. Told from Margie’s perspective in a closely attached third person, DESERT PALMS is a realistic and humorous narrative that falls somewhere between the style of Liane Moriarty in, “The Husband’s Secret” and Anne Tyler in her novel, “Back When We Were Grownups.” DESERT PALMS offers an offbeat cast of central characters who help Margie gain a deeper understanding of herself and what makes life worth living.

A BODY OUTSIDE THE KREMLIN is a historical mystery novel set in the Northern Camps of Special Significance, a Soviet Russian penal institution based in the Solovetsky Archipelago during the 1920s. The protagonist, working first with the camp authorities, then in spite of their disapproval, solves the murder of a fellow prisoner. In the process he improves his position within the camp, while also becoming hardened to the brutal necessities of camp life. Prior to the establishment of the penal camp, the Solovetsky Archipelago was the site of an important Russian Orthodox monastery, and the mystery proves to involve valuables, particularly icons, seized from the monks by the Soviet secret police. Thus the novel treats themes not only of statist repression, but also religious epiphany and the problems of true perception in a world of symbols.

One of the most interesting aspects of Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1999[1946]) is its dual address. The illustrated narrative is at once a charming story for children and an allegory inviting adults to consider philosophical questions. In the graphic-novel adaptation of the book by Joann Sfar (2008), this allegory is obscured:; the abstract, philosophical ideas recede to the background while the material details of the story become more prominent. But this recession of the allegory does not mean that the adaptation turns its back on adult readers completely. The graphic novel creates a web of intertextual references, which, among other things, amplify the suggestion in the source text that the protagonist is Antoine de Saint-Exupéry himself. It thus displaces the adult interest from allegory to autobiography and the mechanism of adult address from allegory to intertextuality, restricting its adult audience. For those adult readers who remain addressed by the graphic novel, however, the text identifies itself explicitly as a translation, which has consequences for we should think about the “voice” of the translator. Un des aspects les plus intéressants du livre Le Petit Prince d’Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1999 [1946]) tient au fait que le récit illustré est une histoire charmante pour les enfants en même temps qu’il invite les adultes à réfléchir à des questions philosophiques. Dans l’adaptation du récit en bande dessinée par Joann Sfar (2008), les éléments abstraits du livre s’estompent derrière les détails concrets de l’histoire. Cet effacement de l’allégorie ne signifie pourtant pas que la bande dessinée tourne le dos aux adultes : elle crée un réseau intertextuel qui renforce l’impression donnée par le texte source que le véritable protagoniste est Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Ainsi, l’intérêt pour les questions philosophiques se reporte sur l’autobiographie et, passant de l’allégorie à l’intertextualité, la bande dessinée sollicite alors moins les adultes. Cependant, pour les adultes auquelles la bande dessinée s’addresse toujours, le texte s’identifie explicitement comme une traduction, ce qui implique une réévaluation du concept de la “voix” du traducteur.

Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) for small molecule analysis has been plagued with inherent problems associated with matrix interference. The matrix plays an important role in MALDI-MS where it has the ability to absorb UV energy from the laser employed and transfer it to the analyte, acts as a proton donor and protecting the analytes from being obliterated. For decades, research has been performed to eradicate matrix interference by matrix avoidance, finding alternative matrices, suppression through sample preparation methods and via chemical modification.In this investigation a number of the above mentioned approaches have been undertaken. First, a mesoporous silica powder, SBA-16, functionalised with a phenyl group to absorb UV from the MALDI-MS laser gave unfruitful results due to inhomogeneous dispersion of the SBA-16 powder. Therefore the same material was prepared but as a thin film and a homogeneously coated surface was generated with the phenyl group incorporated into the silica and this was compared with a conventional matrix, 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB). This was by far the most sensitive method which was accurate, with little background noise and importantly for small molecule analysis clear of matrix interference. Other surface systems were also tested such as graphene on copper and silver on copper, but the functionalised SBA-16 thin film remained the best. Graphite and 2B pencil were also investigated for MALDI-MS but were compared with conventional matrices (DHB and α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (CHCA)) in a functional genomics study. The ability of all methods to find subtle phenotypic differences in various yeast strains was assessed with the help of multivariate data analysis (MVDA). Although DHB came out best, 2B pencil produce notably good separations that correlated nicely with the different genotypes. Therefore in addition to conventional matrices, 2B pencil should be considered for functional genomic studies when MALDI-MS is used as it is such a rapid and inexpensive method. Finally, chemical modifications were performed on amino acids where picolinic acid was used to attach a chromophore to the compounds, therefore, allowing UV absorption from the laser. Upon attaching the picolinate UV absorbing group, the amino acid compounds were detected LC-MS at an increased intensity of 10 to 100-fold. Moreover, enhanced separation in LC-MS was also observed.This project has successfully investigated alternative approaches to matrix-free MALDI-MS analysis. Functionalised SBA-16 thin films were by far the best method and this novel surface for MALDI-MS has the potential to transform small molecule analysis.

Le problème de la communication, et pas seulement du danger des liaisons, est au cœur du roman épistolaire de manière générale et de Clarissa de Samuel Richardson en particulier. Sans cesse menacée d'interruption, la communication représentée dans la diégèse du deuxième roman de Richardson influe également sur le sens et relève à ce titre de ce que Janet Altman a appelé l'épistolarité. Cette étude se concentre sur le code de la communication représentée dans l'œuvre et saisit la lettre dans l’économie de l’information toute particulière dont elle participe, à la croisée d'une communication interne entre ses personnages et des exigences d'une communication externe qui voit le matériau épistolaire affluer vers le Lecteur. Elle s'efforce de souligner à quel point le scénario romanesque est informé par la nature des communications au travers desquelles il s’exprime ainsi qu'à travers les communications auxquelles il donne lieu (Clarissa étant l'objet d'âpres négociations entre son auteur et ses lecteurs), tout comme il informe à son tour la nature de ces communications. L'examen de la communication dans et autour du roman de Richardson met en évidence l'existence d'une poétique qui est aussi une économie. L'histoire de Clarissa n'est pas tant l'histoire de ses lettres que celle de ses communications. / The problem of communication, and not only that of the danger of the liaisons, is at the heart of the epistolary novel in general and of Samuel Richardson's Clarissa in particular. Constantly threatened with interruption, the communication represented in the diegesis of Richardson's second novel also informs meaning and thus belongs to what Janet Altman called epistolarity. This study concentrates on the code of communication represented in the work and endeavors to grasp the letter in its particular economy of communication, at the crossroads of internal communication between its characters and the demands of an external communication that requires that the epistolary material be oriented towards the reader. This study strives to underline to what extent the novelistic scenario is informed by the nature of the communications through which it expresses itself as well as by the communications it produces among its readers in the shape of letters to the author. The examination of communication in and around Richardson's novel bears witness to the existence of a poetics that is also an economy. The history of Clarissa is not so much that of its letters as that of its communications.