title: Lifting the Silence: Ethical Representation of Mental Illness in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction

authors: Thomas, Loren

subjects: Mental Illness

abstract: Young adult (YA) fiction is a fast-growing area of literature that is constantly responding to commercial pressures and the demands of its growing audience. Although it has a large commercial popularity, the critical focus on YA literature is lacking in some areas. As YA literature expands and increasingly engages with more complex issues, such as mental illness, there is a need for rigorous analysis of the ethical issues and questions raised by this fiction.  

In answering recently scholarly calls for critical analysis of YA literature, this thesis considers two novels that fall under the often-used label of the “problem novels”—Neal Shusterman’s Challenger Deep (2015) and Sophie Kinsella’s Finding Audrey (2015)—in order to explore ethical representation of mental illness in YA fiction. The discussion is informed by the scholarship of Wayne C. Booth, whose The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction foregrounds the ethical responsibilities of both writer and reader, and Mike Cadden, who seeks to improve the power dynamic between reader and writer through the use of double-voiced discourse theory.

This thesis is a creative practice thesis and the exegesis will be followed by a YA novella narrated by a teenage girl attempting to recover from an anxiety disorder and regain control of her life.  The creative component is closely linked to the exegesis not only in terms of genre and theme, but also in its engagement with ethical issues. The creative component highlights that ethical representation is possible and beneficial, but also reveals that double-voiced discourse is a challenging theory to apply as it requires the writer to constantly step back from the narrative in a way that disrupts immersion in the creative process.

text: Lifting the Silence: Ethical Representation of Mental Illness in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction Young adult (YA) fiction is a fast-growing area of literature that is constantly responding to commercial pressures and the demands of its growing audience. Although it has a large commercial popularity, the critical focus on YA literature is lacking in some areas. As YA literature expands and increasingly engages with more complex issues, such as mental illness, there is a need for rigorous analysis of the ethical issues and questions raised by this fiction.  

In answering recently scholarly calls for critical analysis of YA literature, this thesis considers two novels that fall under the often-used label of the “problem novels”—Neal Shusterman’s Challenger Deep (2015) and Sophie Kinsella’s Finding Audrey (2015)—in order to explore ethical representation of mental illness in YA fiction. The discussion is informed by the scholarship of Wayne C. Booth, whose The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction foregrounds the ethical responsibilities of both writer and reader, and Mike Cadden, who seeks to improve the power dynamic between reader and writer through the use of double-voiced discourse theory.

This thesis is a creative practice thesis and the exegesis will be followed by a YA novella narrated by a teenage girl attempting to recover from an anxiety disorder and regain control of her life.  The creative component is closely linked to the exegesis not only in terms of genre and theme, but also in its engagement with ethical issues. The creative component highlights that ethical representation is possible and beneficial, but also reveals that double-voiced discourse is a challenging theory to apply as it requires the writer to constantly step back from the narrative in a way that disrupts immersion in the creative process.

year: 2017

title: Adaptations to submarine hydrothermal environments exemplified by the genome of Nautilia profundicola

authors: Campbell, Barbara J.

subjects: hydrothermal environment

abstract: Submarine hydrothermal vents are model systems for the Archaean Earth environment, and some sites maintain conditions that may have favored the formation and evolution of cellular life. Vents are typified by rapid fluctuations in temperature and redox potential that impose a strong selective pressure on resident microbial communities. Nautilia profundicola strain Am-H is a moderately thermophilic, deeply-branching Epsilonproteobacterium found free-living at hydrothermal vents and is a member of the microbial mass on the dorsal surface of vent polychaete, Alvinella pompejana. Analysis of the 1.7-Mbp genome of N. profundicola uncovered adaptations to the vent environment—some unique and some shared with other Epsilonproteobacterial genomes. The major findings included: (1) a diverse suite of hydrogenases coupled to a relatively simple electron transport chain, (2) numerous stress response systems, (3) a novel predicted nitrate assimilation pathway with hydroxylamine as a key intermediate, and (4) a gene (rgy) encoding the hallmark protein for hyperthermophilic growth, reverse gyrase. Additional experiments indicated that expression of rgy in strain Am-H was induced over 100-fold with a 20uC increase above the optimal growth temperature of this bacterium and that closely related rgy genes are present and expressed in bacterial communities residing in geographically distinct thermophilic environments. N. profundicola, therefore, is a model Epsilonproteobacterium that contains all the genes necessary for life in the extreme conditions widely believed to reflect those in the Archaean biosphere—anaerobic, sulfur, H₂- and CO₂-rich, with fluctuating redox potentials and temperatures. In addition, reverse gyrase appears to be an important and common adaptation for mesophiles and moderate thermophiles that inhabit ecological niches characterized by rapid and frequent temperature fluctuations and, as such, can no longer be considered a unique feature of hyperthermophiles.

text: Adaptations to submarine hydrothermal environments exemplified by the genome of Nautilia profundicola Submarine hydrothermal vents are model systems for the Archaean Earth environment, and some sites maintain conditions that may have favored the formation and evolution of cellular life. Vents are typified by rapid fluctuations in temperature and redox potential that impose a strong selective pressure on resident microbial communities. Nautilia profundicola strain Am-H is a moderately thermophilic, deeply-branching Epsilonproteobacterium found free-living at hydrothermal vents and is a member of the microbial mass on the dorsal surface of vent polychaete, Alvinella pompejana. Analysis of the 1.7-Mbp genome of N. profundicola uncovered adaptations to the vent environment—some unique and some shared with other Epsilonproteobacterial genomes. The major findings included: (1) a diverse suite of hydrogenases coupled to a relatively simple electron transport chain, (2) numerous stress response systems, (3) a novel predicted nitrate assimilation pathway with hydroxylamine as a key intermediate, and (4) a gene (rgy) encoding the hallmark protein for hyperthermophilic growth, reverse gyrase. Additional experiments indicated that expression of rgy in strain Am-H was induced over 100-fold with a 20uC increase above the optimal growth temperature of this bacterium and that closely related rgy genes are present and expressed in bacterial communities residing in geographically distinct thermophilic environments. N. profundicola, therefore, is a model Epsilonproteobacterium that contains all the genes necessary for life in the extreme conditions widely believed to reflect those in the Archaean biosphere—anaerobic, sulfur, H₂- and CO₂-rich, with fluctuating redox potentials and temperatures. In addition, reverse gyrase appears to be an important and common adaptation for mesophiles and moderate thermophiles that inhabit ecological niches characterized by rapid and frequent temperature fluctuations and, as such, can no longer be considered a unique feature of hyperthermophiles.

year: 2009

title: Māori & Psychology Research Unit Annual Report 2013

authors: Waitoki, Waikaremoana

abstract: Annual report of the Māori and Psychology Research Unit (MPRU) 2013. The unit was established in August of 1997. The unit is designed to provide a catalyst and support network for enhancing research concerning the psychological needs, aspirations, and priorities of Maori people. The MPRU is well situated to draw together skilled and experienced interdisciplinary research groups by networking and establishing working relationships with staff and students within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the University, and the wider community

text: Māori & Psychology Research Unit Annual Report 2013 Annual report of the Māori and Psychology Research Unit (MPRU) 2013. The unit was established in August of 1997. The unit is designed to provide a catalyst and support network for enhancing research concerning the psychological needs, aspirations, and priorities of Maori people. The MPRU is well situated to draw together skilled and experienced interdisciplinary research groups by networking and establishing working relationships with staff and students within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the University, and the wider community

year: 2013