Death is undoubtedly the theme of Don DeLillo’s White Noise. Murray Siskind, a College-on-the-Hill professor who is obsessed with the exploration and reinterpretation of American popular culture, talks about the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and the German mentor of Jack Gladney has been using the Egyptian Book of the Dead, translated into German. The core episode of the story is the Airborne Toxic Event, the associate of Heinrich (Jack’s teenage son), Orestes Mercator, dreams of becoming one of the great figures in the Guinness Book by challenging and confronting death by enclosing himself in a glass pen jam-packed with poisonous snakes, and Heinrich challenges an imprisoned mass murderer in a chess game. The scholarly expertise of Jack centers on the leading organizer of mass slaughter—Hitler—whereas Murray Siskind and his associates in the American Environments movement are fascinated with the melancholy related to the passing away of superstars and the killing of political figures, and the image of death in mainstream culture. In this paper, Don DeLillo’s White Noise is analyzed in relation to the fear of death with the guidance of the characters of the novel. Similar to others, Jack, who is the head of the Hitler course at the College-on-the-Hill and the storyteller of the narrative, and Babette, the wife of Jack who takes care of an old blind man and gives lecture on adult education, have been preoccupied with the concept of death due to their inexplicable fear of it. They are unable to admit or recognize death as a normal part of human existence. They are too absorbed by their fear of death that their emotions, thoughts, and everyday interactions are frequently disrupted by the uncertainty of death. Both of them assert their desire to die before the other because neither of them can endure the difficulty of surviving without the other. Yet, it is absurd that neither of them wishes to pass on first since the two of them dread death extremely.
In the present study, an attempt has been made to experimentally investigate the flexural performance of ten simply supported reinforced concrete gable roof beams, including solid control specimen (i.e., without openings) and nine beams with web openings of different dimensions and configurations. The nine beams with openings have identical reinforcement details. All beams were monotonically loaded to failure under mid-span loading. The main variables were the number of the created openings, the total area of the created openings, and the inclination angle of the posts between openings. Of interest is the load-carrying capacity, cracking resistance and propagation, deformability, failure mode, and strain development that represent the behav
... Show MoreThe present study deals with the synthesis of four different azo-azomethine derivatives; this is done by two steps; the first step is diazotization of sulfonamides (sulfanilamide, sulfacetamide, sulfamethoxazole, and sulfadiazine) separately, followed by the second step; the coupling reaction of diazotized compounds with isatin bis-Schiff base named 3-((4-nitrobenzylidene) hydrazono)indolin-2-one. The later one (bis-Schiff base) was synthesized by the reaction of 3-hydrazono-indolin-2-one with p-nitrobenzaldehyde. The chemical structures of newly synthesized compounds were approved on the basis of their FTIR, 1H-NMR, and CHNS elemental analysis data results. The synthesized azo compounds were tested in vitro for their antimicrobial potentia
... Show MoreIn this research, annealed nanostructured ZnO catalyst water putrefaction system was built using sun light and different wavelength lasers as stimulating light sources to enhance photocatalytic degradation activity of methylene blue (MB) dye as a model based on interfacial charges transfer. The structural, crystallite size, morphological, particle size, optical properties and degradation ability of annealed nanostructured ZnO were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and UV-VIS Spectrometer, respectively. XRD results demonstrated a pure crystalline hexagonal wurtzite with crystalline size equal to 23 nm. From AFM results, the average particle size was 79.25nm. All MB samples and MB with annealed nanostr
... Show MoreThis study evaluates the flexural behavior of ultra-thin (50 mm) one‑way reinforced‑concrete (RC) slabs retrofitted with near‑surface mounted (NSM) carbon‑fiber‑reinforced polymer (CFRP) rods under quasi‑static loading. T300‑grade CFRP rods (≈4 mm diameter) were bonded in pre‑cut 7 mm × 7 mm grooves using a two‑part epoxy. As a proof-of-concept experimental baseline, three simply‑supported specimens (1000 mm × 500 mm × 50 mm) were tested in a six‑point bending configuration (four applied loads + two reactions): two conventional controls and one strengthened slab. A load‑control rate of ~15 kN/min was applied; the controls were cycled twice and the strengthened slab four times. Relative to the average of
... Show MoreRecently, there has been an increasing advancement in the communications technology, and due to the increment in using the cellphone applications in the diverse aspects of life, it became possible to automate home appliances, which is the desired goal from residences worldwide, since that provides lots of comfort by knowing that their appliances are working in their highest effi ciency whenever it is required without their knowledge, and it also allows them to control the devices when they are away from home, including turning them on or off whenever required. The design and implementation of this system is carried out by using the Global System of Mobile communications (GSM) technique to control the home appliances – In this work, an ele
... Show MoreThe fall angle of sun rays on the surface of a photovoltaic PV panel and its temperature is negatively affecting the panel electrical energy produced and efficiency. The fall angle problem was commonly solved by using a dual-axis solar tracker that continually maintains the panel orthogonally positioning to the sun rays all day long. This leads to maximum absorption for solar radiation necessary to produce maximum amount of energy and maintain high level of electrical efficiency. To solve the PV panel temperature problem, a Water-Flow Double Glazing WFDG technique has been introduced as a new cooling tool to reduce the panel temperature. In this paper, an integration design of the water glazing system with a dual-axis tracker has been ac
... Show MoreBackground: The healing process involves the restoration of the body’s structural integrity. The extracellular matrix, blood cells, cytokines, and growth factors are all involved in this dynamic, intricate, multicellular process. Hemostasis, the inflammatory phase, the proliferative phase, and the maturation phase are all included. Opuntia ficus-indica oil (OFI) and Punica grantum (PGS) oil are extensively used natural treatments that are regarded as advantageous for their sedative, spasmolytic, and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as for angiogenesis promotion, fibroblast increase, collagen production and deposition, and extracellular-matrix remodeling. Materials and methods: Twenty-four New Zealand rab
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