Tennyson and youth

This paper will examine the prominence of Alfred Tennyson's work in several textual accounts of youth penned between 1892 and the present day, by writers including T. S. Eliot, Virgina Woolf, Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, Kingsley Amis, J. M. Coetzee, William Faulkner and Andrew Motion. The young Woolf broke in her new pens by copying out Tennyson's 'Tithonus'; Eliot had a taste for Tennyson's 'martial and sanguinary poetry; as a young man. Kingsley Amis was singular among his contemporaries precisely because he admired the work of a poet considered outdated, and a reference for Modernist verse over that of Tennyson is seen as a sign of sophistication (however ironically presented) in the writings of people as diverse as Auden, Motion and Coetzee. [From the Author]

Tennyson among the novelists

Until now, the study of literary allusion has focused on allusions made by poets to other poets. In Tennyson Among the Novelists, John Morton presents the first book-length account of the presence of a poet’s work in works of prose fiction. As well as shedding new light on the poems of Tennyson and their reception history, Morton covers a wide variety of novelists including Thomas Hardy, James Joyce, Evelyn Waugh, and Andrew O’Hagan, offering a fresh look at their approach to writing. Morton shows how Tennyson’s poetry, despite its frequent depreciation by critics, has survived as a vivifying presence in the novel from the Victorian period to the present day.

Keeping it together: a guide for support staff working with people whose behaviour is challenging

This guide has been written for support staff, working with people with learning disabilities, who are new to challenging behaviour or facing it for the first time. It is a self-help guide and provides practical and realistic information on how direct care staff can develop strageties to support people whose behaviour is challenging and develop their skills in this area.

Lean Software Management: BBC Worldwide Case Study

This case study examines how the lean ideas behind the Toyota production system can be applied to software project management. It is a detailed investigation of the performance of a nine-person software development team employed by BBC Worldwide based in London. The data collected in 2009 involved direct observations of the development team, the kanban boards, the daily stand-up meetings, semistructured interviews with a wide variety of staff, and statistical analysis. The evidence shows that over the 12-month period, lead time to deliver software improved by 37%, consistency of delivery rose by 47%, and defects reported by customers fell 24%. The significance of this work is showing that the use of lean methods including visual management, team-based problem solving, smaller batch sizes, and statistical process control can improve software development. It also summarizes key differences between agile and lean approaches to software development. The conclusion is that the performance of the software development team was improved by adopting a lean approach. The faster delivery with a focus on creating the highest value to the customer also reduced both technical and market risks. The drawbacks are that it may not fit well with existing corporate standards.

A Family of Helminth Molecules that Modulate Innate Cell Responses via Molecular Mimicry of Host Antimicrobial Peptides

Over the last decade a significant number of studies have highlighted the central role of host antimicrobial (or defence) peptides in modulating the response of innate immune cells to pathogen-associated ligands. In humans, the most widely studied antimicrobial peptide is LL-37, a 37-residue peptide containing an amphipathic helix that is released via proteolytic cleavage of the precursor protein CAP18. Owing to its ability to protect against lethal endotoxaemia and clinically-relevant bacterial infections, LL-37 and its derivatives are seen as attractive candidates for anti-sepsis therapies. We have identified a novel family of molecules secreted by parasitic helminths (helminth defence molecules; HDMs) that exhibit similar biochemical and functional characteristics to human defence peptides, particularly CAP18. The HDM secreted by Fasciola hepatica (FhHDM-1) adopts a predominantly alpha-helical structure in solution. Processing of FhHDM-1 by F. hepatica cathepsin L1 releases a 34-residue C-terminal fragment containing a conserved amphipathic helix. This is analogous to the proteolytic processing of CAP18 to release LL-37, which modulates innate cell activation by classical toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We show that full-length recombinant FhHDM-1 and a peptide analogue of the amphipathic C-terminus bind directly to LPS in a concentration-dependent manner, reducing its interaction with both LPS-binding protein (LBP) and the surface of macrophages. Furthermore, FhHDM-1 and the amphipathic C-terminal peptide protect mice against LPS-induced inflammation by significantly reducing the release of inflammatory mediators from macrophages. We propose that HDMs, by mimicking the function of host defence peptides, represent a novel family of innate cell modulators with therapeutic potential in anti-sepsis treatments and prevention of inflammation.

Collagenolytic Activities of the Major Secreted Cathepsin L Peptidases Involved in the Virulence of the Helminth Pathogen, Fasciola hepatica

The temporal expression and secretion of distinct members of a family of virulence-associated cathepsin L cysteine peptidases (FhCL) correlates with the entry and migration of the helminth pathogen Fasciola hepatica in the host. Thus, infective larvae traversing the gut wall secrete cathepsin L3 (FhCL3), liver migrating juvenile parasites secrete both FhCL1 and FhCL2 while the mature bile duct parasites, which are obligate blood feeders, secrete predominantly FhCL1 but also FhCL2.

Agency and Appetite for religious Song: Vexilla regis prodeunt and its first thousand years

When James Joyce made two of his characters in ‘‘Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man’’ refer approvingly to ‘‘Vexilla regis prodeunt’’ he was following in the footsteps of a long line of the Latin text’s admirers. Since Anglo-Saxon times English audiences had clearly appreciated the sonorous majesty of this processional hymn, largely because of the solemnity and craft with which it celebrated the nature of Christ’s martial triumph and sacrifice. This article offers a snapshot of different kinds of English appetite for Venantius Fortunatus’ famous religious song for the first thousand years of its existence, from the Anglo-Saxon period through to the mid sixteenth century.

Cycle Ergometer Tests in Children With Cystic Fibrosis:Reliability and Feasibility

The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and feasibility of cycle ergometer tests in young children with cystic fibrosis (CF). Children with CF aged 6-11 years and with stable lung disease performed two cycle ergometry tests (intermittent sprint and continuous incremental) on two occasions 1 week apart. Reliability was assessed using repeated-measures ANOVA. Bias was considered to be significant at P?