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Assessing the Reliability of Early Marine Cements in Recording Changes in Seawater Redox Conditions Across the Late-Devonian Mass Extinction
Get PDFThe Late-Devonian Mass Extinction (LDME) extinguished up to 40% of all marine species, with evidence suggesting marine anoxia was the primary cause. This study performs rare earth element analysis of early marine cements from reefal limestones from Australia and Scotland to show that these cements capture a marine anoxic signature across the LDME for the first time, directly implicating marine anoxia and by extension, the rise of land plants, as the cause of the LDME. This work also demonstrates that early marine cements serve as reliable proxies for recording changes in seawater redox conditions over whole-rock analysis
Leveraging Machine Learning for Photometric Redshift Estimation of JWST Galaxies
Get PDFWith the launch of JWST, the volume and complexity of astronomical data are increasing, a trend that will continue with future instruments such as SKA and Euclid. It is inevitable that data-driven methods will become more prominent alongside model-driven analysis. This research utilises machine learning, specifically a kernelised local linear regression model, in photometric redshift predictions of galaxies observed with JWST. With a spectroscopic dataset of 4605 galaxies, we trained the model and achieved a deviation of σdz = 0.018 and a catastrophic outlier rate of foutlier = 3.5%. These results demonstrate high accuracy and computational efficiency, highlighting the potential of machine learning for astronomical data analysis, in particular for large-scale surveys
A Hebridean Plough-type
Get PDFMaterial culture, Ethnology, Folklore, Scottish History, Rural Life, Regional Studies, Local Studies, Hebrides, National Museums Scotland, Museums, Museology, European ethnology, plough, ploughing, South Uist, North Uist, Benbecula, West Kilbride, Clearances, Highland Clearance
Stills, Shielings and Retting Ponds: Survey and Excavation at the Camp Shiel Burn, Peeblesshire, Scottish Borders
Get PDFFolklore, Ethnology, Scottish History, Rural life, Regional Studies, Local Studies, Archaeology, Material Culture, Scottish Borders, Cultural History, Fieldwork, Excavation, Stills, Illicit Stills, Distilling, Shielings, Retting ponds, Farming Histor
\u27These Chicks are Damaged Goods\u27: The Abject Female Body in Fielding\u27s Bridget Jones\u27s Diary and Warner\u27s The Sopranos
No full text The female body as a disruptive force was a dominant topic in the popular culture and literature of the 1990s, as well as in debates of the postfeminist theorists of the decade. As culture began to constantly scrutinise women’s bodies and obsessively fixate on unhealthy thinness and perpetual youth, an idealistic model of the female body was conceptualised: self-contained, perfectly smooth, with no biological functions or needs (vide McRobbie 57-8). Due to the impossibility of meeting these voyeuristic standards, the uncomfortable biological reality of womanhood has been perceived as deserving of societal degradation and unyielding control. This essay will examine the nature of Kristevan\u27s abjection of female bodies in Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary (1997) and Alan Warner’s The Sopranos (1999). I shall follow the thesis of Margrit Shildrick and Janet Price, which delineates the relationship between the physicality of the female body and the negative perception of women, outlined as such: ‘the body has a propensity to leak, to overflow the proper distinctions between self and other, to contaminate and engulf. Thus, women themselves are, in the conventional masculinist imagination, not simply inferior beings whose civil and social subordination is both inevitable and justified, but objects of fear and repulsion’ (3). I will argue that the female protagonists of these novels are unwilling to reject their corporeality despite its negative connotations; however, due to the all-encompassing nature of their patriarchal environments, they are unable to liberate themselves from the oppressive demarcations of female abjection
The Strange Case of an Agent Acting for an Unidentified Principal
Get PDFThe concept of disclosed – but unidentified agency – generates a high level of uncertainty for third parties in Scotland. The article attempts to untangle the web of three leading Inner House cases, namely, Ferrier v Dods, Lamont, Nisbet & Co v Hamilton, and Ruddy v Monte Marco & ors, demonstrating that there is no established approach to unidentified agency in our jurisdiction. Furthermore, the paper evaluates three possible approaches to unidentified agency: the absence of a general rule of liability (Lamont), the general rule of liability against (1) the agent (Ruddy), or (2) the principal (cf Ruddy), and finally, the general rule that the agent is liable, but only unless – and until – he names the principal (Ferrier). In agreement with Professor Macgregor’s interpretation of Ferrier, the article concludes that the agent should be liable only ‘unless and until the principal is disclosed.’ In other words, the agent should be seen as intervening in the contract between the principal and third party ab initio, automatically absolved from liability by naming the principal. Such an approach would accurately reflect where the third party’s consent lies, adequately address the practical difficulty of identifying the principal, and be in consistence with the position taken by some leading European law instruments, with which Scottish agency law shares a common tradition. The proposed solution is not uncontroversial due to the general principle of privity. However, it could be accommodated as an exception to the privity doctrine on the basis of practical necessity – or, more persuasively, by the emerging doctrine of good faith in Scots law
Travelin’ stones: The oolitic chert blades from Zambujal Chalcolithic enclosure (Torres Vedras, Portugal)
Get PDFThe Oolitic chert is an important raw material for large blade production in Betic Cordillera (Spain) during 4th-3rd mill. BCE. These blades are part of a long-distance trade network of artefacts found in Chalcolithic settlements of southwestern Iberia. In Zambujal, the westernmost site with oolitic chert blades, with the source-area distance more than 500km, these utensils are included in the “import package” with remarkable implications for social change and innovation (Lillios 2020). Sourcing oolitic chert blades contributes to understanding mobility in the Chalcolithic of the Iberian Peninsula as part of a complex trade and exploitation network.
In the current study, all the oolitic chert blades recovered in Zambujal are analysed which are recovered from the ancient excavations between 1964 and 1973 by H. Schubart and E. Sangmeister to the recent investigations by M. Kunst (1994-2012).
After first using a techno-typological classification, the raw material characterization focused on the petrographic compositional and textural features (macro-, in hand specimen, meso-, with hand lens, and microscopic, with binocular lens and petrographic microscope). Polished thin-sections were analysed also by Raman Microspectroscopy in order to determine the main crystalline phases present. It was possible to correlate with high probability the archaeological raw material with oolitic chert from the Milanos Formation (Upper Kimmeridgian-Tithonian in Middle Subbetic, Granada) and also from the Malaver Formation (Miocene in Campo de Gibraltar Complex, Malaga), with conglomerates from Lower-Middle Jurassic oolithic chert. The identification of signs of usage, fracturing and reuse are frequently observed in the oolitic chert blades of Zambujal, as in other Portuguese sites. The association of an intensive use of the oolitic chert blades with its scarcity in the archaeological record highlight the importance of blades for domestic activities, as “prestige” functional goods (Teather 2008: 84). In this sense, the oolitic chert blades are material records of an intense mobility of humans and objects in the Chalcolithic. The presence of an expressive set of oolitic chert blades in Zambujal is related to their important role played within the network of transregional relations
Singing and the Dùsgaidhean: The Impact of Religious Awakenings on Musical Creativity in the Outer Hebrides
Get PDFThe evangelical revivals (known in English as ‘awakenings’ and in Gaelic as na dùsgaidhean) of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries had an immediate impact upon singing and music-making in Presbyterian communities in the Western Isles as well as a significant long-term effect on both traditional and sacred musical practice and performance. Awakenings often led converts to re-evaluate their participation in traditional music-making and singing and compelled many to give up their secular music practices upon conversion. Even so, music-making itself was not discouraged, and these religious revivals created an environment which encouraged converts to replace their secular repertoire with spiritual songs and hymns, and to embrace the singing and new composition of spiritual songs to express their newly experienced Christian faith. This article examines the impact of religious revivals on music-making in the Outer Hebrides – particularly Lewis – and the significant musical shifts, including the composition of new repertoire, which took place within communities as a result
Community Development through Leisure Adult Learning:: The Role of Mature Adult Groups
No full textCommunity education groups can play an important role in reducing social isolationism among mature adults. The current study describes one such organization that has played an important part in the lives of about 30 mature women who have an average age of 76. Through semi-structured interviews, a thematic analysis showed that the organization has played a critical role in their social interactions, creating deep bonds among the women. What began as a group dedicated to education evolved into a strong social support network that has provided important social capital development for participants
Diversity amongst Decision Makers?: Workplace Inequality, Black Underrepresentation, and the Afterlife of Colonialism in NHS Governance
No full textWhereas senior management within NHS England was once so monocultural that it was dubbed the ‘snowy white peaks of the NHS’, recent data suggests that things have begun to change. However, Black staff in particular are still underrepresented. Interviews with Black and White NHS managers from four London trusts found that though the acronyms ‘BME’/‘BAME’ lack subtlety, management considered quantitative data important. The #BlackLivesMatter movement impacted NHS staff as a potential catalyst for change, though momentum fizzled out. Barriers to diversity and promotion have been seen to include microaggressions and negative stereotyping of Black staff. This article interrogates such underrepresentation, and uses the concept of ‘the afterlife of colonialism’ to suggest that NHS management hierarchies follow colonially-introduced hierarchies of ethnicity and discrimination, creating structural issues that are difficult to address. Taking a feminist framework of analysis, I will argue that diversity race work, including that of #BlackLivesMatter, is anti-hierarchical at its core, suggesting that it is difficult to assimilate within the hierarchically minded world of management. I will conclude that for ethnic diversity amongst staff to be realised, all staff must be committed to supporting this agenda, regardless of their race.