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This psychobiography examined the question: Did philosopher Albert Camus’ unique childhood experiences influence his philosophical perspective? Multiple volumes of Camus’ philosophical writings, as well as two full length biographies were reviewed and analyzed for this psychobiographical study. (A psychobiography is a biographical analysis of a notable person in history from the vantage point of personality theories such as Erik Erikson’s developmental personality theory and Social Learning Theory). Erik Erikson’s developmental theory of personality, which covers the lifespan from birth to death in terms of critical turning points, was applied to an analysis of Camus’ written work and life choices. A number of Camus’ unique perspectives on human nature, relationships, and the meaning of life are traced back to developmental crises that Camus experienced as a child, youth, and young man. Social Learning Theory is applied to understand how important figures in Camus’ life reinforced attitudes and behaviors. The main findings included that Camus’ response to developmental crises influenced his philosophy of life, relationships, and death.
Previous research has revealed that psychological and emotional shock is related to sudden death. This type of death has been referred to as Broken Heart Syndrome. However, sudden death does not always occur after an individual has experienced a shock. History of a positive psychological wellbeing and resilience has been linked to survival of the widowed individual after the death of a long-term spouse. The purpose of this research was to determine the presence of Broken Heart Syndrome in the surviving spouses of a long-term relationship. Data was collected using the Obituary section of The Oregonian newspaper over a period of eight months. Names of widowed individuals (N=1697) were recorded, along with age, gender, name of deceased spouse, year spouse died, calendar year couple was married, years married, and number of years widow survived. These widows were tracked for information regarding survival and remarriage over the eight month period during data collection. Independent T-tests, Pearson’s correlations and frequencies were run to determine significance for our hypothesis. Statistical analysis supported the hypothesis after the death of a long-term spouse, the surviving widows will not succumb to broken heart syndrome but will instead, live longer than the first year of bereavement.
Terror management theory (TMT) postulates that when mortality is made salient, humans cling to cultural worldviews to buffer the feeling of insecurity that death engenders. This article is building upon the link between TMT and consumer behavior. Recent research indicates that consumerism may be one way of obtaining symbolic immortality in a culture where materialism is considered a life value. This study examined the effects of mortality salience (MS), gender and age on perceptions of materialism and consumer choice. Participants’ feelings of insecurity were experimentally activated by answering open-ended questions about death. The participants in the mortality salience condition, compared with participants who wrote about dental pain, were more inclined to invest in a savings fund (long-term status) compared with additional product choices such as social status items (e.g., jewelry). MS and gender also affected ratings of financial investment, such that males were more likely to make a financial investment overall, whereas females’ desire for investment increased when primed with death. However, results did not reveal any significant effect of MS on materialism scores overall. In conclusion, these findings, and those of similar future research is instrumental to uncovering how terror management processes influence the emphasis consumers place on specific types of material products.
The indigenous Ngöbe population migrates annually from northern Panama to work on coffee plantations in southern Costa Rica. Chronic poverty and poor living conditions render the Ngöbe vulnerable to several health problems. In particular, smoke-producing activities in poorly ventilated houses may predispose the Ngöbe and their children to respiratory illness. A cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the relationship between respiratory health and housing conditions among Ngöbe children. Interview survey data were collected by staff from Finca Sana, a local health organization. Individual interviews of Ngöbe mothers were conducted in Ngöbere, the indigenous language, and responses were recorded in Spanish. Data from 123 surveys were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square analysis and logistic regression. Over 50% of mothers reported recent respiratory symptoms among their children. Analyses suggested that crowding in houses (p = 0.0032), trash burning (p = 0.0207) and wood burning (p = 0.0256) increased the likelihood of respiratory symptoms such as cough, runny nose and shortness of breath. The significance of these factors and the high prevalence of recent respiratory symptoms in Ngöbe children warrant further investigation. In order for local public health authorities to address the needs of migrant Ngöbe workers and their families, more thorough empirical examination of the factors that may contribute to their health status is necessary.
In this paper, I examine William Dean Howells’ characterization of Penelope in The Rise of Silas Lapham. I argue that she represents his idea of a new type of woman that was emerging in the late 1800s. Educated and independent minded, Penelope is presented outside of typical female stereotypes of her time. She can be seen as a potential participant in the growing prominence of women in society. Through a close reading of the novel, I refute some critics’ interpretation of Penelope as a minor character. I reference 19th century “conduct books” for women, using them to illustrate how Penelope defied convention. For example, they discouraged women “talking simply to display themselves” (Donawerth 6). Yet Penelope admits that, while talking to a young man, “I tried to make him think I was pretty and funny” (Howells 133). I read works on women’s place in American fiction to build my argument about Penelope’s distinctiveness, and historical texts about the women’s movement to show the type of person Penelope could become.
Individuals treating the mentally ill and trauma victims often experience negative side effects as part of their job. Their well-being not only has repercussions for them but directly impacts the service they deliver and outcomes of their clients. Thus, indications of distress should never be ignored. Although the severity of these occupational hazards is a commonly cited theme, a major gap exists as to what methods are best to prevent or treat these symptoms. An examination of professional burnout, vicarious traumatization, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion fatigue is presented to clarify differences in these concepts as they are often used interchangeably. A distinction is necessary since cognitive and behavioral symptoms may differ and manifest either cumulatively or immediately. Information from evolutionary psychology is needed to explain how the brain has adapted to produce behaviors that may be perceived as maladaptive without an exhaustive look. This can aid the professional in understanding their complex reactions to stress. Mindfulness-based therapies are offered as models to combat the symptoms described. Suggestions draw from empirical evidence of the efficacy of mindfulness in other populations. These techniques are also cost-effective since they are taught in group sessions and skills can be used thereafter. Future research will test MBCT’s adequacy in dealing with these issues in mental healthcare-provider populations.
Attractiveness plays a significant part of everyone’s everyday life. Whether men and women realize it or not, attractiveness affects them in many ways. This article examines college students’ perceptions on attractiveness. One hundred and twenty students answered self-report survey questions on a variety of attraction indicators. The questions are based on social relationships, qualities of attractiveness, self-esteem, and the influences of media. The dependent variable deals with how we feel about our own overall personal attractiveness. The independent variables are concerned with our relationship with others, attractive characteristics, self-esteem, and media. The dependent variable and the four independent variables were tested for significance. Results of the analysis showed there was no significant relationship between our own personal attractiveness in reference to our relationships with others and characteristics. There was a marginally significant relationship between our own personal attractiveness and self-esteem and a significantly strong relationship between our personal attractiveness and media. Limitations for this study include having a convenient sample, limited male representation, and self-report.
This article falls under the English and Writing discipline. The research was conducted from March of 2010 to August of 2010. It is an analysis of queer and sadomasochistic tendencies within the female written slave narrative. The primary sources are Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, and The Bondswoman’s Narrative by Hannah Crafts. The article explores the inherent queer condition of slavery, as well as the inherent deviance in the slave’s relationship with the mistress. It asks whether these relationships are opportunities for power or subjugation between women, as well as whether they maintain the socially dominant role of the male. The analysis indicates that the tendency for Kinship Systems between women may provide avenues for women and slaves to work out their negative self-definitions.
Sattabacin and 4-hydroxysattabacin are natural products isolated from the soil bacteria Bacillus sp. by Satta and coworkers, and these related compounds show strong antiviral activity against Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) and Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV2). The increasing prevalence of life threatening drug resistant HSV infections has led to an increase in interest in the discovery and study of new treatments for HSV infections. Within this context, we report the first asymmetric total syntheses of the antiviral natural products (+)-sattabacin and (+)-4-hydroxysattabacin. These syntheses are remarkably concise and were completed without using protecting groups. In each case, a series of three synthetic steps was developed that allows one to transform readily available α-hydroxy carboxylic acids to the isobutyl ketones found in the natural products. The total synthesis of each natural product allowed the unambiguous assignment of the absolute configuration of both compounds, which was previously unknown. The syntheses of these natural products are readily amenable to the preparation of structural analogs and progress in this regard is also reported. Efficient access to structural analogs could lead to even more effective antiviral therapies.
Decapitation is the ultimate seizure of power in medieval literature. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, power moves between the Green Knight and Sir Gawain, who represents Arthur’s court as a whole, until Gawain reclaims the power of honor on behalf of his king by completing the Beheading Game. The same retrieval of power and reputation on behalf of Arthur falls to Gawain in The Carle of Carlisle, in which a second version of the Beheading Game paradigm brings about the return of authority to Arthur via Gawain. While these two Gawain tales follow a particular strand of Celtic mythology that manifested itself politically in Wales and Ireland, the older Beowulf illustrates the Anglo-Saxon element in the decapitation corpus, emphasizing the importance of beheading in the retrieval of power over Heorot from Grendel and his mother. Through the symbol of the Giant’s sword and its figurative beheading by virtue of the melting of its blade, Beowulf indicates a transfer of power, this time between races: from monsters to men. Decapitation plays a major role in all of these medieval works, signifying the transfer of power from one party to another, whether those parties are human, monstrous, Otherworldly, or even an entire species.
Contemporary portraiture is heavily reliant on the photograph to produce mementoes and to document likeness. Starting in the 16th century, British portraiture achieved the same purposes through miniatures: small-scale paintings that can be worn around the neck, pinned to clothing, or stowed away secretly. My research during recent travel to England has opened a world of understanding both the technique and unique materials that were mastered to create a new and brilliant style. With sincere study of Queen Elizabeth I’s favorite portrayer Nicholas Hilliard’s prominent method I have produced my own miniatures in tribute to this purposeful art.
Cormac McCarthy’s novels present the traditional novelistic theme of good versus evil as a philosophical dilemma that his characters must face in their everyday lives. He explores the existential question of whether or not morality even matters in a world where nihilism exists. McCarthy focuses on nihilism versus morality by placing his characters in a world where the two belief systems must encounter each other, and his novels ultimately determine that nihilism undermines morality. His characters are plagued with facing the question, "Why do good things happen to bad people?" His readers are given the task of delving into the epistemological dilemma of distinguishing good guys from bad guys and realizing that it is often difficult to discern between the two.
This essay highlights the importance of education as it pertains to equality between men and women, looking specifically at education and the role that it plays as asserted by Mary Wollstonecraft in her work, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” (1792) as well as the manipulative means that Wollstonecraft contends women are forced to use in order to compensate for their supposed inferiorities. In order to support Wollstonecraft’s philosophy, I juxtapose Eliza Haywood’s story of Fantomina (1725) and Louisa May Alcott’s “How I Went Out to Service” (1874) to demonstrate that without a complete education, women are 1) unschooled in the ways of the world 2) that in order to compensate for this, they revert to cunning, or manipulation and 3) that this social behaviour can be attributed to not only the gender roles and beliefs associated with a particular culture, but also that this social behaviour is a result of the way that women are portrayed in the literature of that culture.
In order to accomplish the third aspect, I use various works by eighteenth and nineteenth century women writers to demonstrate that the emergence of the female voice was too tentative according to Gilbert and Gubar’s theory on the “anxiety of authorship” and, as a result, how women as writers were not taken as seriously as they should have been, which in turn resulted in a reinforcement of the belief that women had no place in the literary world. Exceptions to this conformity are Lady Mary Wortley Montague with her “Reasons that Induced Dr. Swift to Write a Poem Called ‘The Lady’s Dressing Room’” (1734), as well as Anne Ingram’s “An Epistle to Mr. Pope Occasioned by his Characters of Women” (1736). Their voices lack the anxiety of authorship when compared to other female poets, lending their work the authority and independence that was wanting in many of their contemporaries as well as successors.
The French Revolution marks the beginning of a new attitude referred to as Romanticism. Romanticism emphasizes human emotion and the imagination in opposition to the reason and rigor of Neoclassicism during the late eighteenth-century. Leading the French Romantic art and literary movements were none other than Anne-Louis de Roussy Girodet-Trioson, pupil of Neoclassicist leader Jacques-Louis David, and François-Rene de Chateaubriand, respectively. In 1801, Chateaubriand wrote a Romantic novella, entitled Atala, in which the Christian-Indian maiden commits suicide in fear of breaking her vow of chastity. Girodet depicts the tragic burial scene of Chateaubriand’s novella in his painting, The Funeral of Atala, in 1808. The use of Christian iconography in Girodet’s painting is apparent; however, it is the significance of virginity that ties together pictorial and literary elements of both the sacred and secular worlds.
In this paper I will compare various images of the death of Christ and the Virgin Mary to Girodet’s The Funeral of Atala as well as to other Romantic works of Girodet’s time. I will discuss the various ways in which Native Americans were viewed during this time and their role as the ‘noble savage’ in Romantic works of art and literature, alike. In this paper, I will address the stereotypes within Romantic art and literature, such as the pitiful ‘hero/heroine’. I will discuss the parallels between Chateaubriand’s novella, Atala, with Girodet’s painting of Atala’s burial scene and the significance of these Romantic revolutionaries in the midst of neoclassicism.
This research was undertaken as a systematic attempt to understand the role of gender and learning modality in young adolescents’ mathematical problem solving. The study included review of literature regarding genders’ differences in mathematical abilities and approaches due to brain composition and other factors. Fifty-three seventh grade students in an urban, Central Georgia middle school participated in this study. The VARK learning modality construct was utilized, categorizing students into learning modalities. The findings suggested that genders and learners of dissimilar modalities approach problem solving differently. One implication of this research is that middle grade mathematics teachers should be mindful of students’ gender and learning modality when teaching problem-solving skills in order to deepen students’ conceptual and metacognitive understanding.
Bacteria perform tasks such as creating biofilms and becoming virulent by communicating with one another and acting as a group through a mechanism called quorum sensing. They secrete small molecules called autoinducers into the environment, and receptors in the plasma membrane bind them. This initiates a signaling pathway within the cell. At high cell density, the signaling cascade produces an abundance of the master transcriptional regulator protein, LuxR. LuxR acts as either a transcriptional activator or repressor to regulate over 100 genes during quorum sensing. To determine the mechanism of activation and repression, we isolated E. coli containing plasmids with mutant luxR alleles that either cannot activate or cannot repress. Single mutations were constructed by site-directed mutagenesis, and activity was measured by fluorescence output from an activated promoter (PluxC-gfp) and a repressed promoter (P05222-mCherry) compared to wild-type LuxR. Mutants with positive phenotypes were mated into V. harveyi and qRT-PCR was used to test activation and repression at regulated promoters. We found that activator mutants could activate at some promoters, and repressor mutants could repress at some promoters. These results might indicate that activation and repression depend on the LuxR binding sequence at each promoter, whether it is activated or repressed.