This dissertation comprises two sections. The title section collects a volume of the author's original poetry, subdivided into four parts. The concerns of this section are largely aesthetic, although some of the poems involve issues that emerge in the introductory essay. The introductory essay itself looks at slightly over three centuries of poetry in English, and focuses on three representative poems from three distinct periods: the long eighteenth century and the Romantic period in England, and the Post-war period in the United States. John Dryden's translation of Ovid's "Cinyras and Myrrha," John Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale," and James Dickey's "The Sheep Child," whatever their stylistic and aesthetic differences may be, all share a concern with taboo. Each of the poems, in its own way, embraces taboo while transgressing societal norms in order to effect a synthesis that merges subject and object in dialectical transcendence. For Dryden, the operative taboo is that placed on incest. In his translation of Ovid, Dryden seizes on the notion of incest as a metaphor for translation itself and views the violation of taboo as fructifying. Keats, in his Nightingale ode, toys with the idea of suicide and reconstructs a world both natural and mythic …

This follows an earlier study of the same data set, which, through its findings, presented new questions that are investigated in this study. Both studies used a prospective controlled design, wherein women receiving genetic counseling for breast cancer risk were randomized into two groups. Subjects receiving an audiotaped recording of their genetic consultation (tape group) were compared to subjects who also had a genetic consultation but did not receive an audiotaped recording of it (no-tape group). Participants were drawn from attendees at the genetic clinics of two London hospitals and included 115 women with a family history of breast cancer. Cancer worry and psychological distress were assessed before genetic consultation (baseline), and at one- and six-month follow-ups by post. Objective risk was estimated by the geneticist during the consultation, and subjective risk was assessed at one month follow-up. The goals of the current study were to investigate relationships between cancer worry, psychological distress, and recall of genetic risk for breast cancer in a sample of women receiving genetic counseling for breast cancer risk, and to investigate the role sociodemographic variables on cancer worry, psychological distress, or risk recall for these women. Results for this sample of women with a family …

The characterization of work functions and field emission stability for molybdenum and iridium oxide coatings was examined. Single emission tips and flat samples of molybdenum and iridium oxide were prepared for characterization. The flat samples were characterized using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction to determine elemental composition, chemical shift, and crystal structure. Flat coatings of iridium oxide were also scanned by Atomic Force Microscopy to examine topography. Work functions were characterized by Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectroscopy from the flat samples and by Field Emission Electron Distributions from the field emission tips. Field emission characterization was conducted in a custom build analytical chamber capable of measuring Field Emission Electron Distribution and Fowler-Nordheim I-V plots simultaneously to independently evaluate geometric and work function changes. Scanning Electron Microscope pictures were taken of the emission tips before and after field emission characterization to confirm geometric changes. Measurement of emission stability and work functions were the emphasis of this research. In addition, use of iridium oxide coatings to enhance emission stability was evaluated. Molybdenum and iridium oxide, IrO2, were characterized and found to have a work function of 4.6 eV and 4.2 eV by both characterization techniques, with the molybdenum value in agreement with previous …