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The Canterbury Tales and Chaucer’s Corrective FormbyChad Gregory CrossonDoctor of Philosophy in EnglishUniversity of California, BerkeleyProfessor Steven Justice, ChairThe long and sharp debate over Geoffrey Chaucer’s moral aims for the Canterbury Tales has been shelved in recent years, not resolved. The question of his moral aims is unavoidable by design, but it is also irresolvable by design. At least that is my claim: I show that Chaucer’s fictional narrative devises a corrective process based on grammatical emendation that was tied, by a long-standing analogy, to moral reform. Through his narrative, Chaucer pushes his reader to retrace the corrective structure in the Tales, yet the sort of corrective process he recreates is so closely akin to moral practice as to make any distinction between the two difficult. The resulting form is a defining characteristic of the Tales and answers why his moral aims have been irresolvable: in this literary form, the literary and moral are inseparable; they become versions of each other. Medieval grammatical and textual practice inherited this analogy of correction from traditions of classical grammar. Grammatical theory, pedagogy, and practice all developed around the correction of error in several related areas – grammar, pronunciation, style, and (eventually) scribal reproduction. Grammarians and scribes understood correction as a task requiring chronic vigilance and recursive reform, and they treated these various arenas of fault and correction as analogous to each other. But they further used language that suggested an analogy with moral reform, so that evocations of textual emendation could allude to moral correction; in turn, moral error could as easily allude to textual and scribal error. Medieval grammarians and thinkers recognized that errors persist not only despite emendation, but even as a result of emendation. Roger Bacon insisted that correction perpetuated error, and handbooks like the correctoria, which listed textual variants to help correct copies of the Bible, themselves fostered errors; they perpetuated what they were designed to eliminate. And just as grammarians and scribes recognized error as inevitable, they understood emendation as recursive: since authors and scribes need chronically to re-correct their work, they could never consider emendation complete. The dissertation’s first chapter traces this history of correction: its theory in antique and medieval grammatical arts, its practice in scribal emendation, and the development of the analogy between these unending processes of verbal correction and the process, also unending, of moral correction. The remaining three chapters treat the Canterbury Tales. Chaucer, more than his predecessors, explicitly notes the recursive logic of error, as famous passages in the Troilus and his “Adam Scriveyn” show. At the same time, he bases his narrative poetics on this recursive logic, developing from it a structure and theme for his Tales. The discussion of Chaucer begins in chapter two, perhaps unpromisingly, with the notoriously unsatisfactory Tale of Melibee, where Chaucer recreates the recursive process of correction to suggest both the ambitions and the dangers of his artistic and moral project. The Melibee’s narrative – like the rigorous training of the grammar student, like the tireless work of scribal correctors, like a monk’s continual attempts at self-reform – outlines paths of correction while perpetually creating new material for emendation. The tale portrays a slow, incremental repetition that only gradually brings about change. In that way, the tale displays the ambitions of the project. Its dangers are clear enough, because it is notoriously unsatisfactory. Chaucer however deliberately stages those dangers in the Melibee and contrasts the dangers with a solution. Chapter three shows this solution at work in the structure of the Tales as a whole. The work revolves around topics discussed by the pilgrims, but these topics will either dissolve or change through shifts in the storytelling or by the pilgrims’ interruptions. Indeed, the series of tales soon abandon the very ideas and vocabularies that set them in motion and frame their narratives. The pilgrims not only adopt each other’s terms and ideas, but modify and sometimes distort them, creating the incremental repetition of the Tales. But while in the Melibee that incremental repetition illustrates literary pitfalls, in the Tales it becomes a means for literary innovation: the certainty of error and the corruption of discourse provide an artistic method. What looks on the small scale like accident and entropy proves on the large scale to be recursion, and by this Chaucer shapes the narrative of the Tales to the analogy he inherited from classical grammar traditions. Thus the work’s pilgrimage is not strictly anagogical, as Chaucer’s Parson and D.W. Robertson suggested it was, but also literal, errant, and discursive. Through Chaucer’s narrative design we understand that pilgrimage involves going astray, that a moral path must always be redirected. And while the Tales’ conclusion indicates an end is near, as the pilgrims approach Canterbury, such a conclusion still leaves the pilgrims in a wandering state; their physical and moral journey remains incomplete. Still, although he depicts the certainty of error, Chaucer emphasizes that persistent correction leads to renewed possibilities. I make this point clear in chapter four, as I read the Melibee in the context of Fragment VII, vis-à-vis both the tale of Sir Thopas and the Nun’s Priest’s Tale. The Nun’s Priest’s Tale presents a singular literary opposition to the Melibee, that the recursive process of correction, more than just an analogy for Chaucer’s idea of pilgrimage, is a tool for literary creation. Similarly, rather than just indicating humankind’s perpetual state of sin, the Nun’s Priest’s Tale points out humankind’s enduring re-creative potential. We can witness how repetition produces the interminable narrative of the Melibee, where the protagonist needs constant re-correction. However, synthesizing the surrounding tales, the Nun’s Priest’s Tale reveals repetition with a difference, an incremental repetition whereby the Tales as a whole will revisit topics, but never in the same way. What this recursive process lends to Chaucer’s moral outlook is not doomed repetition or the failure of humankind, but the idea of human renewal, of a society replete with possibilities. Through this argument, my dissertation resolves a conundrum in critical history: why the question of Chaucer’s moral aims has been widely contested but more recently shelved. The exegetical method of the 1950s and early 1960s in Chaucer studies presented an approach that relied on Augustinian doctrine and allegorical exegesis to convey a determinate moral message. Those who rejected this allegorical method tended to point instead to Chaucer’s artistic complexity. However, an inability either to dispose of or to defend the exegetical method seemed to exhaust that debate, since the question of his moral aims is now largely ignored. Yet the very fact of this debate should make us ask: what is it about his poetry that invites disagreement on a topic so fundamental and leaves it unamenable to resolution? This debate betrays a unique quality of his art: something about it that generates the question of a moral agenda but makes that question irresolvable. I argue that Chaucer develops a method by which he can consider moral concerns without subordinating his art to those concerns. The Tales’ corrective process and its resulting structure have made his moral aims elusive because the elusiveness of moral clarity is precisely the lesson he learned from this tradition. However, while the Tales may evade moral clarity, the recursive nature of correction allows Chaucer to present both texts and humans as ever-malleable subjects, and provides the literary occasion for ongoing intellectual, artistic, and moral exercise.

A 46-year-old healthy male Air Force pilot presented to the emergency department (ED) experiencing symptoms of exercise-induced anaphylaxis (EIAn), during a vigorous outdoor run. The patient recovered in the ED and was seen, subsequently, by a civilian allergist; eventually a diagnosis consistent with EIAn was made. EIAn is a rare but potentially life-threatening syndrome believed to involve IgE mediated release of histamine and other immunoactive compounds, during or after exercise. The diagnosis is determined by a strong clinical suspicion along with careful exclusion of other potential diagnoses. Interestingly, this particular patient was also found to have a possible correlation between the introduction of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A, for hyperlipidemia, shortly before his first episode of EIAn, and remission of the condition since discontinuing the statin medication.A detailed review of the clinical notes, ED presentation, and all subspecialty consultation notes were include in the compilation of this case report, in conjunction with a careful review of all current literature pertaining to drug exacerbated, exercise-induced EIAn. The review of literature was also conducted to review potential mechanisms of this particular hypersensitivity reaction, and to give a thorough discussion of the history and presentation of this disorder.The patient described in this case was successfully treated over a 2-year period, with exercise modifications and a daily second generation antihistamine. Nearly a year after his initial diagnoses, in an acute visit to the flight medicine clinic for muscle soreness and elevated creatine kinase isoenzymes, the patient's medication profile was reviewed and his statin medication was discontinued. The clinical notes revealed that the statin was started a few months before his first onset of EIAn, and following its discontinuation, the patient has been asymptomatic for over a year, exercising regularly, and completed a successful forward deployment to an austere desert environment.To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of possible statin exacerbated, EIAn. Data concerning the incidence of drug-induced hypersensitivity to statins are limited as is any discussion on prevalence of EIAn in adult populations. There have been, however, case reports documenting statin immunological effects on serum IgE levels, which may offer a potential mechanism of statin-exacerbated EIAn. However, the role of IgE antibodies in drug-induced anaphylactic reactions remains unclear. In this patient's case, there was no measure of statin-specific immune reactivity performed; however, the timing of statin initiation of monotherapy in relation to presentation of EIAn strongly supports the diagnosis of statin-exacerbated EIAn. Although the mechanisms involving statin-induced EIAn remain elusive, this case report illustrates the need for military providers to recognize this condition and cofactors that may contribute to its genesis. Moreover, this case also illustrates the need for increased research and surveillance of this condition in civilian and military populations.

Ventilation and dissolved oxygen in Lake Superior are key factors that determine the fate of various natural and anthropogenic inputs to the lake. We employ an idealized age tracer and biogeochemical tracers in a realistically configured numerical model of Lake Superior to characterize its ventilation and dissolved O2 cycle. Our results indicate that Lake Superior is preferentially ventilated over rough bathymetry and that spring overturning following a very cold winter does not completely ventilate the lake interior. While this is unexpected for a dimictic lake, no part of the lake remains isolated from the atmosphere for more than 300 days. Our results also show that Lake Superior's oxygen cycle is dominated by solubility changes; as a result, the expected relationship between biological consumption of dissolved O2 and ventilation age does not manifest.

The following essay examines the congruence of American labor and social history scholarship with actualworking-classexperiences. Particularly, it compares an author's immersion in a masculine working-class environment with recent ideas in historical research about the interplay of gender and work. The author argues that the challenge of working on a fast-paced loading dock with male coworkers was made less onerous by the free expression of working-class male behaviors. Sexual kidding, physical posturing, and profanity, sometimes accentuated with crude but appreciable wit, made the demanding labor more bearable, a theme borne out by recent scholarship on masculinity and the workplace.

This study explored the nature of barriers to the implementation of sustainable development planning on Vancouver Island as perceived by land use planners. The study provides insights into strategies that planners see as useful when faced with barriers to planning for sustainable development. Recent planning literature suggested the three categories of planning employed throughout the study: political, institutional and public. Qualitative methods were used because of their strengths for producing insights into planners' decision-making in the context of their everyday work situations. The methods were also suggested by a review of planning literature and other relevant descriptive studies recently completed in the study region. The principal method used in this exploratory and inductive study was in-depth, personal interviews in which open-ended questions were asked of twenty practicing regional and city public planners from five regional districts on Vancouver Island. Respondents noted 133 challenges. These were analyzed and synthesized into 20 categories. These categories of challenges ranged from planners lacking professional credibility with elected officials and the public to institutionalized conflicts within and between municipal and provincial government departments. Respondents noted 73 planning strategies that were found to be comprised by 16 categories. The categories of strategies ranged from increasing public trust in planning through using multiple, optimal means of public consultation, to fostering interagency coordination, and educating elected officials. Possible explanations are discussed as to why respondents identified relatively few challenges and strategies explicitly related to sustainable development planning. Concluding implications are offered for professionals and agencies involved with public planning.

As supercomputing resources become more available, users will require resources managed by several local schedulers. To gain access to a collection of resources, current systems require metajobs to run during locked down periods when the resources are only available for metajob use. It is more convenient and efficient if the user is able to make a reservation at the soonest time when all resources are available. System administrators are reluctant to allow reservations external to locked down periods because of the impact reservations may have on utilization and the Quality of Service that the center is able to provide to its normal users. This research quantifies the impact of advance reservations on and outlines the algorithms that must be used to schedule metajobs. The Maui scheduler is used to examine metascheduling using trace files from existing supercomputing centers. These results indicate that advance reservations can improve the response time for metajobs, while not significantly impacting overall system performance.

Homestay living has long been considered a mainstay of successful English language programs for international students in North America based on the crosscultural experiential learning theory. However, there is a significant knowledge gap of information on the applicability of this theory in the context of nonwestern students living in North America. This study investigated the perceptions of young adult Japanese women who chose to live in homestays while studying English in Greater Vancouver. Eight students were selected primarily based on the number of international students living with their host family. The participants were divided into four categories: one student, two student, three student, and four student homestays. It was found that many of the participants felt that homestays were useful especially in regards to cultural learning and the acquiring of basic life skills needed for life in Greater Vancouver. However, the participants overwhelming felt that students need to have more input on the host family selection process, and that the agencies or schools responsible for organizing homestays must take a greater responsibility in ensuring families offer an acceptable level of homestay care. Finally, only two of the eight participants felt that they would recommend studying English in Greater Vancouver without reservation because of the high number of Japanese students in such programs, there was a feeling amongst the participants that a large contingent of other Japanese students makes it too easy to speak Japanese which reduced their opportunities to befriend Canadians and other international students.