Willa Cather believed literature and journalism were separate and unequal genres. During her decade in Pittsburgh (1896-1906), as she gained recognition as a literary artist, she increasingly censored her early journalism and apprentice fiction. My dissertation promotes the recovery of these writings, especially the unsigned and pseudonymous pieces contained in two affiliated journals she served as an editor: Home Monthly the National Stockman and Farmer. My first chapter describes more then forty additional items from Home Monthly and the Stockman, including poetry, short fiction, and editorials. Annotated tables of contents and contributors' lists for both journals (1896-97) and maps and period photographs are offered in appendices.<br>Employing the methodology of New Historicism, my dissertation returns little regarded works to their approximate contexts of publication. Chapter 2 reads Cather's story "The Conversion of Sun Loo" (1900) as part of the debate over proselytizing the Chinese within the Library, a Pittsburgh magazine whose brief life (Spring and Summer of 1900) coincided with the Boxer rebellion in North China. "Sum Loo," it argues, is a satire upon recent events linking China and Pittsburgh's small Chinese colony.<br>The third chapter recovers a journalistic prototype for a story Cather held among her most "literary." Although Cather preferred to say "Paul's Case" (1905) was inspired by her teaching experience, she borrowed its plot from the city papers of November 1902, which reported the theft of $1,500 from the offices of the Denny Estate by two Pittsburgh boys. This chapter examines not only Cather's adaptation of extra-literary sources, but also her ambivalence toward her first career in journalism.<br>The final chapter concerns two late novellas, "Uncle Valentine" (1922) and "Double Birthday" (1929), written more than a decade after Cather's last physical visit to the city. Both use memories of Pittsburgh and Allegheny City at the turn of the century to attack suburbanization and class stratification, twin problems that she thought were eroding the nation's social fabric in the 1920s. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / English / PhD; / Dissertation;

This study analyzes two successful exhibitions on American slavery in the South: In Bondage and Freedom: Antebellum Black Life in Richmond, Virginia, 1790-1860 by the Valentine Museum and Before Freedom Came: African American Life in the Antebellum South by the Museum of the Confederacy. It puts the exhibitions in the context of the social history movement, and explains the difficulties exhibiting a sensitive topic. It examines the creation of the exhibitions, the controversies because of the subject, both real and potential, and the overwhelmingly positive reaction.

ABSTRACT Few antibiotics are left that are effective against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and even strains resistant to these agents have been isolated. Previous studies have identified five distinct MRSA clonotypes, which are present globally. No comprehensive national study has previously been undertaken to investigate the MRSA types in South Africa, and this study was aimed at elucidating the genotypic population structure of South African MRSA isolates. SmaI digested genomic DNA, separated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, was used to characterise 349 S. aureus isolates, obtained from various state and private diagnostic laboratories. PFGE results were complemented with those of spa typing and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) typing results. Two-hundred-and-five different PFGE patterns were identified, which were grouped into twenty-four clusters. Three were major lineages, containing more than 20% of the isolates with a similarity cut-off of 70%. Only thirty-seven spa types were identified (fourteen novel spa types), which clustered into six spa-Clonal Complexes after BURP analysis. SCCmec types I-IV were identified, including variants of each type. Data suggest that the Archaic clone (RSA05), oldest of the epidemic clones, represents one of the major clones in South Africa. Strains that were part of this complex (n=98 (28.2%); t064; SCCmec type I-pls) clustered together with strain E2125/ATCC BAA-38 (t051; SCCmec type I). Another major complex, RSA16 (n=90 (25.7%); t012; SCCmec type II/IIB) possessed a single-locus variant (SLV) spa type and the same or a SLV SCCmec types as EMRSA-16 (t018; SCCmec type II). The third major complex, RSA03 (n=74 (21.2%); t037; SCCmec type III/IIIE), had similar spa and SCCmec types to control strainANS46 (t037; SCCmec type III). One MRSA and twelve MSSA isolates were also identified as carrying genes for the toxin Panton-Valentine leukocidin, which was confirmed by DNA nucleotide sequencing.

Methicillin-resistenta Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) som bär på genen mecA, har förekommit och spridit sig över hela världen, främst i sjukhusmiljö, och orsakat utbrott av vårdrelaterade (så kallade nosokomiala) infektioner. Dessa infektioner kan inte behandlas med stafylokock-penicilliner och MRSA-bakterierna är ofta resistenta även mot flera andra grupper av antibiotika vilket medför att infektionerna ofta är påtagligt svårbehandlade. Under senare år har emellertid allt fler fall beskrivits av samhällsförvärvad MRSA infektion, det vill säga uppträdande av MRSA hos personer som tidigare ej har haft kontakt med sjukhusvård eller behandlats med antibiotika. Det har länge varit oklart om de samhällsförvärvade MRSA [community-acquired (CA-MRSA)] representerar spridning av bakterier från sjukhusmiljön ut till samhället eller om dessa MRSA är spontant uppträdande. Många av dessa stammar har dessutom visat sig bära på sjukdomsrelaterade gener som vanligen inte återfinns hos S. aureus, t.ex. Panton Valentine leukocidin (PVL) som associeras med hudinfektioner och allvarlig lunginflammation med hög dödlighet hos unga och annars friska individer. Denna avhandling beskriver den molekylära epidemiologin hos MRSA med fokus på samhällsförvärvade MRSA som utgjorde mer än hälften av samtliga fall av MRSA i Örebro län och som dessutom ofta producerade PVL toxinet, vars funktion vidare analyserades i detalj. Undersökning av ursprung och släktskap hos samtliga MRSA som isolerats i Örebro län, samt karaktärisering av det genetiskt element som kallas staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) vilket innehåller genen mecA och ibland även andra resistensgener, visade att CA-MRSA inte är relaterade till de nosokomiala MRSA, och att dessa har uppstått oberoende av varandra. Flertalet MRSA visade sig dessutom bära på SCCmec, och resistensmekanismer, som tidigare inte beskrivits. Troligen har dessa MRSA uppstått genom ett genetiskt utbyte av SCCmec mellan methicillin-resistenta koagulas-negativa stafylokocker (MR-KNS), som utgör huvudparten av normalfloran på huden, och methicillin-känsliga S. aureus som därvid erhåller genen mecA och resistensmekanismer mot samtliga stafylokockantibiotika. I den här avhandlingen framläggs bevis för att ett sådant genetiskt utbyte har skett på Barnkliniken på Universitetssjukhuset i Örebro i slutet på 1990-talet, vilket resulterade i uppkomsten av en ny klon av MRSA som därefter orsakade ett allvarligt utbrott. Kartläggning av DNA-sekvensen hos flertalet unika SCCmec från svenska MRSA gav dessutom en bättre förståelse för hur resistens uppkommer och sprider sig, samt mekanismerna bakom detta. Dessa nya kunskaper kan bidra till en förbättrad diagnostik av MRSA. Detta är framför allt av stor betydelse eftersom nya effektiva kloner av MRSA verkar kunna uppstå ute i samhället med potential att orsaka svårbehandlade infektioner men även att sprida sig bland den friska befolkningen. / Material and methods - During a period of 14 years, around 2000 patients with head injuries were admitted to the emergency ward at Lindesberg County Hospital and Örebro Medical Centre Hospital. Six hundred subjects suffered from skull fracture and/or brain contusion and diagnosis was established using a computed tomography scan (CT). The degree of initial brain injury was estimated using the Swedish Reaction Level Scale (RLS). Sixty-six subjects were investigated with pure tone audiometry in close proximity to the trauma, and this gave an opportunity to study the issue of progress. The investigation took place two to 14 years after trauma, and the results were compared to matched control groups. A battery of different audiological methods was used to investigate peripheral and central auditory function, and a specially designed acoustic environmental room was also utilized. Cognition was investigated using a computer-based test-battery, text information process system (TIPS). Self-assessed hearing, cognition and quality of life were explored using different questionnaires. Results - A high percentage of peripheral and central auditory impairments and also cognitive shortcomings were demonstrated. Progress of SNHL was a common finding, and fracture, high age at trauma and large initial hearing loss predicted progress. Antibody-mediated autoimmunity as a mechanism behind posttraumatic progress of SNHL or clear evidence for sympathetic cochleolabyrinthitis could not be demonstrated. Binaural auditory deficits could be demonstrated when tested in a realistic acoustic environment. Tinnitus, vertigo and memory shortcomings proved to be common sequelae, even in a long-term perspectiveCognitive shortcomings were found in several of these well-rehabilitated subjects.On a group level, there was a good correlation between self-assessments and audiometric results, even if some individuals had a tendency to over- or underestimate their abilities. Conclusion - Auditory and cognitive long-term sequelae of CHI are a common finding even in well-rehabilitated and socially well-functioning subjects, as are vertigo and tinnitus. Vertigo and tinnitus are also common sequelae after CHI, therefore a basic audiovestibular investigation after CHI is recommended, at least in selected cases.Early awareness of the risk for hearing and cognitive sequelae after CHI could lead to measurements taken to prevent tension-related symptoms.Early detection of HI offers an opportunity to try immunosuppressive treatment in cases with a large initial SNHL.

Valentine Penrose est une poète, romancière et collagiste surréaliste moins connue que certaines de ses homologues telles Frida Kahlo ou Claude Cahun. Si les quelques études qui lui ont été consacrées reconnaissent l’omniprésence du féminin et le caractère inquiétant de certaines manifestations de la femme dans son œuvre, les sources de ces représentations n’ont guère été explorées. Pour combler cette lacune, notre mémoire s’applique à analyser l’œuvre de Penrose afin d’y mettre en lumière la présence textuelle et picturale du saphisme littéraire et du roman gothique, deux influences majeures de l’auteure-artiste. En plus d’étudier en détail les collages insérés dans le recueil de poèmes Dons des féminines, nous explorerons également les nombreuses images in absentia du corpus, car nous constatons que l’écriture penrosienne a très souvent recours aux effets de style « picturaux ». Par conséquent, au fil de nos analyses, nous allons osciller entre une étude littéraire et une approche intermédiale des rapports texte/image, afin de mettre en relief la réactualisation polymorphe de deux traditions ; la présence du saphisme et du gothique transparaît à travers l’emploi de certaines figures de femme, les partis pris thématiques de Penrose, le choix des décors et des trames narratives. Au terme de la présente étude, nous aurons mis en évidence trois figures de femmes propres à l’univers penrosien : la femme-nature, la fugueuse et la rebelle exemplifient, à nos yeux, la manière dont l’œuvre de Penrose se situe à la croisée du saphisme littéraire et du roman gothique. / Valentine Penrose was a surrealist poet, novelist and collagist, less well-known than many of her female counterparts such as Frida Kahlo or Claude Cahun. Albeit few, there are studies on Penrose that recognize both the omnipresence of women and their often disquieting portrayal. The origins of these representations remain, however, largely under-explored. In order to fill this considerable lacuna in existing knowledge on Penrose’s work, this thesis will analyze her œuvre, highlighting the textual and pictorial presence of two major influences: literary Saphism and the Gothic novel. In addition to analyzing the collages that accompany the poetry in Dons des féminines, we will also study the corpus’ many images in absentia, as we believe that Penrose’s style very often has recourse to “pictorial” literary devices. Consequently, throughout our analyses, we adopt both a literary and an intermedial approach, looking closely at both textual and pictorial representations of women in order to demonstrate the polymorphous borrowing of two traditions; Saphism and the Gothic appear via the representation of certain characters, Penrose’s thematic biases and the choice of particular spatial environments and narrative structures. The present study thereby sheds light on the representation of three female figures specific to Penrose’s universe: the woman of nature (la femme-nature), the fugitive (la fugueuse) and the rebel (la rebelle) each exemplify the way in which Penrose’s œuvre is located at the crossroads of literary Saphism and the Gothic novel.

The purpose of this study is to show interrelationships between the thematic contents of those piano works by Alkan that are considered to be representative of his general style and the more commonly used melodic phrases taken from the Jewish Synagogue, mainly prayer chants and accents. An attempt will be made to point out the reason behind consequent unacceptable of Alkan's piano works, despite the efforts of Busoni, d'Albert, and Lewenthal to bring them to public attention. The results of this investigation are presented in a systematic analysis and discussion of Jewish prayer-chants and their structure traceable within Alkan's music and in a presentation in table form of the Jewish accents found among Alkan's melodies. After consideration of the outcome of analysis, elements which are known to be European are also presented. These are mainly keyboard virtuousity and harmony and secondarily, form and rhythm. In this section, Robert Schumann's opinions of Alkan's music are quoted and discussed. Because Schumann's ideas carried into the twentieth century, this gave opportunity for a re-evaluation of the lack of musical beauty inherent in Alkan's music.

S. aureus est un pathogène majeur de l’Homme capable de produire une grande variété de facteurs de virulence tels que les phénol-solubles modulines alpha (PSM) et l’hémolysine delta (Hld). La transmission de S. aureus est essentiellement manu-portée mais les éléments favorisant sa dissémination dans la population restent inconnus. Les mastocytes étant connus pour libérer des médiateurs pruritogènes, nous avons suspecté leur implication dans la physiopathologie et la transmission des infections cutanées staphylococciques. Sur une lignée de mastocytes humains, l’Hld et les PSM1, montrés pour être produits in vivo, déclenchaient la libération de tels médiateurs. Chez S. aureus, la production des toxines est sous la dépendance du système de régulation globale Agr. Les souches de S. aureus appartenant au type Agr1, produisant significativement plus d’Hld et de PSM que les autres souches, ont été les plus fréquemment retrouvées au cours de l’année 2017 dans les infections cutanées staphylococciques. Ceci corrobore l’hypothèse selon laquelle une souche de S. aureus produisant des toxines capables d’interagir avec les mastocytes et induisant un prurit, diffuse plus facilement dans la population. Nous avons ensuite étudié la modulation de l’expression des PSM et d’Hld par des concentrations sub-inhibitrices d’antibiotiques. L’oxacilline induisait une inhibition de l’expression des PSM et d’Hld alors que la clindamycine entraînait plus fréquemment une induction de leur expression. Ces observations nous ont interrogé sur l’utilisation de la clindamycine considérée habituellement comme anti-toxinique et sur l’effet bénéfique ou délétère de l’effet inhibiteur de l’oxacilline / S. aureus is a major human pathogen able to produce several virulence factors such as phenol-solublemodulins alpha (PSMalpha) and delta hemolysin (Hld). S. aureus is essentially spread through hand butthe elements promoting its spreading stay unsolved. Mast cells release several soluble mediatorstriggering itching behavior. We suspect the mast cell involvement in spreading of S. aureus strains andin physiopathology of staphylococcal skin infections. Upon human mast cell line, we showed thatPSMalpha1 and Hld induced the release of mediators triggering itching behavior. Moreover, these toxinswere produced in vivo during staphylococcal skin infections. Expression of staphylococcal virulencefactors is regulated by global regulatory system Agr. Interestingly, we observed that S. aureus strainsbelonging in Agr1 produced higher quantity of PSMalpha and Hld than those belonging to Agr2 and Agr3,and were more frequently responsible to skin infections during the last year. This observation supportsour hypothesis whereby a strain producing toxins able to trigger mast cell mediator inducingscratching behavior, spreads electively in the community. Thereafter, we studied modulation of PSMalphaand Hld expression by sub-inhibitory concentration of antibiotics. We reported that oxacillin inducedan inhibitory effect on PSMalpha and Hld expression, while clindamycin resulted in more frequently aninducer effect. These results are discordant with these observed with Panton-Valentine leucocidin andalpha hemolysin and interrogate on clindamycin use for its anti-toxin activity and on benefic ordeleterious effect of oxacillin inhibitory effect

La γ-hémolysine HlgC/HlgB et la leucocidine de Panton et Valentine (LPV) sont deux toxines formant des pores de la famille des leucotoxines bipartites (formées de deux sous-unités de classe S et F) sécrétées par S. aureus qui ciblent directement les polynucléaires neutrophiles humains (hPNNs) et qui augmentent le pouvoir pathogène de la bactérie. Ces leucotoxines sont également capables de cibler d’autres types cellulaires comme les neurones en grain du cervelet de rat et les DRG. D’abord, le composé de classe S de ces leucotoxines se fixe à un récepteur membranaire, le C5aR. Des substitutions en Alanine par mutagénèse dirigée ont permis la caractérisation d’un cluster d’acides aminés essentiels pour la fixation de LukS-PV à C5aR, localisé sur 2 boucles du domaine « Rim ». Puis, suite à la fixation de la sous-unité de classe F, HlgC/HlgB et la LPV semblent être internalisées, permettant une augmentation de la [Ca2+]i. Malgré les grandes similarités entre ces deux leucotoxines les sous-unités de classe F permettent à chaque leucotoxine d’activer des voies calciques différentes. Des dérivés du para-sulfonate-calix[4]arène ont un effet inhibiteur de ces toxines et pourraient montrer un potentiel à être utilisés comme auxiliaires aux antibiothérapies. / The γ-hemolysin HlgC/HlgB and the Panton and Valentine leukocidin (PVL) are two pore-forming toxins of the family of bicomponent leukotoxins secreted by S. aureus that directly target human neutrophils (hPNNs) and increase the pathogenicity of the bacteria. These leukotoxins also are capable of targeting other cell types such as rat cerebellar granular neurons and DRG. First, the compound of the class S binds to a membrane receptor, C5aR. Alanine-scanning mutagenesis allowed the characterization of a cluster of amino acids localized on two loops of the “Rim” domain essential for LukS-PV binding to C5aR. Then, after the class F subunit binding, HlgC/HlgB and PVL appear to be internalized, allowing an increase in [Ca2+]i. Despite the similarities between these two subunits, the class F component allows each leukotoxin to activate different pathways. Derivatives of para-sulfonato-calix[4]arene have an inhibitory effect on these toxins and may offer a potential to be used as auxiliary to antibiotherapy.

Wind repertoire, especially for flute, has received little focused attention in the musicological world especially when compared with other instruments. This gap in scholarship is further exacerbated when the scope of time is narrowed to the last quarter of the twentieth century. Although Minimalism and New Complexity are – at least superficially – highly divergent styles of composition, they both exhibit aspects of a response to modernism. An examination of emblematic examples from the repertoire for solo flute (or recorder), specifically focusing on: Louis Andriessen’s Ende (1981); James Dillon’s Sgothan (1984), Brian Ferneyhough’s Carceri d’Invenzione IIb (1984), Superscripto (1981), and Unity Capsule (1975); Philip Glass’s Arabesque in Memoriam (1988); Henryk Górecki’s Valentine Piece (1996); and Steve Reich’s Vermont Counterpoint (1982), allows for the similarities in both genre’s response to modernism to be highlighted. These works are situated historically and characteristics of both styles are highlighted with particular regard to Late or Post-Modernism. / Graduate

Ce projet examine comment la politique et l’amitié sont actualisées dans la fiction spéculative du XXIe siècle à travers différents médias. Cette thèse aborde la manière dont ces relations interpersonnelles affectent la sphère sociale et le statu quo des mondes fictifs à l’étude. Pour orienter la discussion, j’utilise le concept d’autonomie relationnelle qui reconnaît l’interdépendance des individus autonomes et de la communauté en général et l’éthique du care qui environne la moralité comme étant relationnelle et contextualisée. L’utilisation conjointe de ces deux cadres me permet de discuter de la façon dont les amitiés sont propices à la participation politique. Le premier chapitre présente une discussion globale de The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) de Margaret Atwood et notamment de son influence au sein du genre de la fiction spéculative féministe. Ensuite, dans une première section, je me concentre sur les notions d’autonomie par rapport à l’adaptation graphique du roman d’Atwood par Renée Nault (2019), que je compare avec la bande dessinée Bitch Planet de Kelly Sue DeConnick et Valentine de Landro (2013-2017). Dans une seconde section, je me concentre sur l’éthique du care en tant que processus pouvant favoriser des amitiés empreintes d’implications politiques en analysant l’adaptation télévisée de The Handmaid’s Tale, produite par Hulu, et la série Orphan Black, produite par BBC America. La fiction spéculative permet d’expérimenter librement avec différentes idées politiques et de comprendre comment la société pourrait réagir dans des scénarios extrêmes. Ces expériences de pensée reflètent nos propres luttes et lacunes politiques et pourraient ultimement indiquer de meilleures façons de résoudre les problèmes actuels. / This project examines how politics and friendship are actualized in speculative fiction across different media in the twenty-first century. This thesis discusses how these interpersonal relationships affect the social sphere and the status quo of the fictional worlds in question. To guide the discussion, I use the concept of relational autonomy, which recognizes the interconnectedness of both autonomous individuals and the community at large, and ethics of care, which understands morality as relational and contextualized. I use these two frameworks in tandem to discuss how friendships are conducive to political participation. The first chapter presents an overarching discussion of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1985) in its legacy to the feminist speculative fiction genre. Following, in the first section, I focus on notions of autonomy in relation to Renée Nault's graphic novel adaptation of Atwood’s novel (2019) and contrast it with Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine de Landro’s comic Bitch Planet (2013-2017). In the second section, I focus on the ethics of care as a process that can foster friendships with political implications by analyzing Hulu's TV adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale and BBC America's Orphan Black. SF offers the freedom to test different political ideas and to understand how society might react in extreme scenarios. These thought experiments reflect our own political struggles and shortcomings; ultimately, they might point at better ways to solve current problems.