125 research outputs found
Exploited Edens: paradise discourse in colonial and postcolonial literature
No full textThis thesis examines the relation between figures of paradise and the ideologies and economies of colonialism, imperialism, and global capitalism, arguing that paradise myth is the product of a value-laden discourse related to profit, labour, and exploitation of resources, both human and environmental, which evolves in response to differing material conditions and discursive agendas. The literature of imperialism and conquest abounds with representations of colonies as potential gold-lands to be mined materially or discursively: from the EI Dorado of the New World and the 'infernal paradise' of Mexico, to the 'Golden Ophir' of Africa and the 'paradise of dharma' of Ceylon. Most postcolonial analyses of paradise discourse have focused exclusively on the Caribbean or the South Pacific, failing to acknowledge the appearance of fantasies of paradise in association with Africa and Asia. Therefore, my thesis not only performs a comparative reading of marginalized paradisal topoi and tropes related to Mexico, Zanzibar, and Ceylon, but also uncovers literature from these regions which has been overlooked in mainstream postcolonial .criticism, mapping the circulations, continuities, and reconfigurations of the paradise myth as it travels across colonie{and continents, empires and ideologies. My analysis of these three regions is divided into six chapters, the first of each section excavating colonial uses ofthe paradise myth and constructing its genealogy for that particular region, the second investigating revisionary uses of the motif by postcolonial writers including Malcolm Lowry, Wilson Harris, Abdulrazak Gurnah, and Romesh Gunesekera. I address imperialist discourse from outside the country in conjunction with discourse from within the independent nation in order to demonstrate how paradise begins as a literal topos motivating European exploration and colonization, develops into an ideological myth justifying imperial praxis and economic exploitation, and [mally becomes a literary motif used by contemporary postcolonial writers to challenge colonial representations and criticize neocolonial conditions
Circeaster marcelli Koehler 1909
No full textCirceaster marcelli Koehler, 1909 Circeaster marcelli Koehler, 1909: 84, pl. IV, figs 1, 2, pl. VI, fig. 1. — Clark 1993: 251. MATERIAL EXAMINED. — No specimens available for examination. DISTRIBUTION. — Recorded from 7°23'N, 75°44'E in the Indian Ocean. 1926 m (1053 fms). DIAGNOSIS. — R/r = 2.67. Arm plates significantly larger than disk plates.Transition abrupt between abactinal disk and arm plates. Abactinal granules absent. Superomarginals not abutting at midline, arm plates continuous to terminal. Interradial arcs linear.Spinelets and granules with spiny tips cover superomarginal, inferomarginal plates, actinal surface. Seven to eight thick, blunt furrow spines. Prominent paddle-like toothed pedicellariae, separated from furrow spines. Granules identical to actinal surface present on remainder of adambulacral plate. APOMORPHY LIST. — Nodes 14 to Circeaster marcelli: 1.4, abactinal accessories absent; 1.6, no size, accessories absent. DESCRIPTION See Koehler (1909; translation in English of the description is available from the author).Published as part of Mah, Christopher L., 2006, Phylogeny and biogeography of the deep-sea goniasterid Circeaster (Echinodermata, Asteroidea, Goniasteridae) including descriptions of six new species, pp. 917-954 in Zoosystema 28 (4) on page 935, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.452546
A New Look at the Byzantine Sanctuary Barrier
No full textREB 51 1993 France p. 203-228, 4 pl.
Ch. Walter, A New Look al the Byzantine Sanctuary Barrier. — Profiting from the numerous studies of the subject published over the last two decades, the author attempts to establish with more precision what was the purpose of the Byzantine sanctuary barrier. While it effectively prevented the laity from entering the sanctuary and even from observing what took place there, it was also intended to be the focal point of lay piety. The lower icons were accessible to the laity for veneration. The icons on the architrave or epistyle were destined to nourish their meditation during the celebration of the liturgy. The Deësis recalled the necessity of the intercession of the saints. The Twelve Feasts provided a selection from the redemptive acts of Christ's life, analogous to the mysteries of the Roman Catholic rosary. Thus the purpose of the imagery of the sanctuary barrier was primarily to respond to the needs of lay devotion. It had its specific function independent of the programmes developed on the walls of Byzantine churches.Walter Christopher. A New Look at the Byzantine Sanctuary Barrier. In: Revue des études byzantines, tome 51, 1993. pp. 203-228
The Development of Oromo Writing System
No full textThe development and use of languages for official, education, religion, etc. purposes have been a major political issue in many developing multilingual countries. A number of these countries, including China and India, have recognised the issues and developed language policies that have provided some ethnic groups with the right to develop their languages and cultures by using writing systems based on scripts suitable for these purposes. On the other hand, other countries, such as Ethiopia (a multilingual African state) had, for a long time, preferred a policy of one language and one script in the belief that this would help the assimilation of various ethnic groups create a homogenous population with one language and culture. Rather than realizing that aim, the policy became a significant source of conflict and demands for political independence among disfavoured groups.
This thesis addresses the development of a writing system for Oromo, a language spoken by approximately 40 percent of the total population of Ethiopia, which remained officially unwritten until the early 1990s. It begins by reviewing the early history of Oromo writing and discusses the Ethiopian language policies, analysing materials written in various scripts and certain writers starting from the 19th century. The adoption of Roman script for Oromo writing and the debates that followed are explored, with an examination of some phonological aspects of the Oromo language and the implications of representing them using the Roman alphabet.
This thesis argues that the Oromo language has thrived during the past few years having implemented a Roman-based alphabetical script. There have been and continue to be, however, internal and external challenges confronting the development of the Oromo writing system which need to be carefully considered and addressed by stakeholders, primarily by the Oromo people and the Ethiopian government, in order for the Oromo language to establish itself as a fully codified language in the modern nation-state
Mineral acquisition from clay by Budongo Forest chimpanzees
No full textDate of Acceptance: 06/07/2015Chimpanzees of the Sonso community, Budongo Forest, Uganda were observed eating clay and drinking clay-water from waterholes. We show that clay, clay-rich water, and clay obtained with leaf sponges, provide a range of minerals in different concentrations. The presence of aluminium in the clay consumed indicates that it takes the form of kaolinite. We discuss the contribution of clay geophagy to the mineral intake of the Sonso chimpanzees and show that clay eaten using leaf sponges is particularly rich in minerals. We show that termite mound soil, also regularly consumed, is rich in minerals. We discuss the frequency of clay and termite soil geophagy in the context of the disappearance from Budongo Forest of a formerly rich source of minerals, the decaying pith of Raphia farinifera palms.Peer reviewe
Quantitative analyses of freight train derailments
No full textRailroad safety analysis encompasses several areas, one of which is freight train risk analysis. There are various types of freight train accidents including derailments, collisions, highway-rail grade crossing incidents, and others. The mainline freight train derailment rate of the major U.S. Railroads (Class I) declined almost 50% over the past decade. Nevertheless, derailments remain the most frequent type of major railroad accident. They can damage infrastructure and rolling stock, delay transportation, and may cause casualties and the release of hazardous materials. Therefore, further reduction in derailments remains an ongoing priority of the rail industry and government.
Freight train derailment analysis involves several areas: derailment rate estimation, identification of factors affecting derailment rate, root cause analysis, hazardous material transportation risk management, and consequence analysis. Statistical and risk analysis techniques can be used to evaluate progress in rail safety and prioritize areas for improvement. Past research has analyzed various factors affecting freight train derailments and introduced different models for derailment rate estimation and consequence analysis.
The principal objective of this dissertation encompasses three derailment research areas: quantitative analysis of derailments, cause-specific derailment rate estimation, and severity analysis. The first part provides a quantitative analysis of several aspects of recent derailment trends and new approaches to assessing cause-specific changes. It also improves upon the methodology for derailment rate estimation and presents new, up-to-date derailment rate estimates for Class I railroad mainlines using statistical techniques. The second part develops a statistical methodology to understand the effect of two metrics of traffic exposure, train-miles and car-miles and which accident causes are related to these two metrics. Properly accounting for train-mile and car-mile causes has implications for derailment rate analysis in general, and the effect of train length in particular. A machine learning methodology is introduced to improve the classification of derailment causes as being a function of train-miles or car-miles. The last section presents a new methodology to identify factors affecting derailment severity and use of statistical learning techniques to predict derailment severity.
The new approaches to derailment trend and cause analysis will provide new insights for industry, government, and researchers in assessing risk and prioritizing derailment prevention resources. The incorporation of the effect of train-mile and car-mile caused derailments will enable more accurate safety and risk analyses than was previously possible. This dissertation also introduces new methodologies for use of applied machine learning techniques to address several freight train accident analysis questions.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2021-12-01The student, Brandon Wang, accepted the attached license on 2019-12-03 at 14:46.The student, Brandon Wang, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2019-12-03 at 14:53.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2019-12-03 at 16:56.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #14672 on 2020-02-28 at 17:37:30Made available in DSpace on 2020-03-02T22:38:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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Models of verbal working memory capacity: What does it take to make them work?
No full textTheories of working memory (WM) capacity limits will be more useful when we know what aspects of performance are governed by the limits and what aspects are governed by other memory mechanisms. Whereas considerable progress has been made on models of WM capacity limits for visual arrays of separate objects, less progress has been made in understanding verbal materials, especially when words are mentally combined to form multiword units or chunks. Toward a more comprehensive theory of capacity limits, we examined models of forced-choice recognition of words within printed lists, using materials designed to produce multiword chunks in memory (e.g., leather brief case). Several simple models were tested against data from a variety of list lengths and potential chunk sizes, with test conditions that only imperfectly elicited the interword associations. According to the most successful model, participants retained about 3 chunks on average in a capacity-limited region of WM, with some chunks being only subsets of the presented associative information (e.g., leather brief case retained with leather as one chunk and brief case as another). The addition to the model of an activated long-term memory component unlimited in capacity was needed. A fixed-capacity limit appears critical to account for immediate verbal recognition and other forms of WM. We advance a model-based approach that allows capacity to be assessed despite other important processing contributions. Starting with a psychological-process model of WM capacity developed to understand visual arrays, we arrive at a more unified and complete model.</p
Beetroot juice ingestion during prolonged moderate-intensity exercise attenuates progressive rise in O2 uptake
No full textThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Nitrate-rich beetroot juice (BR) supplementation increases biomarkers of nitric oxide bioavailability with implications for the physiological responses to exercise. We hypothesized that BR supplementation before and during prolonged moderate-intensity exercise would: maintain an elevated plasma nitrite concentration ([NO2-]), attenuate the expected progressive increase in VO2over time, and improve performance in a subsequent time trial (TT). In a double-blind, randomized, crossover design, 12 males completed 2-h of moderate-intensity cycle exercise followed by a 100 kJ TT in three conditions: 1) BR before and 1-h into exercise (BR+BR); 2) BR before and placebo (PL) 1-h into exercise (BR+PL); and 3) PL before and 1-h into exercise (PL+PL). During the 2-h moderate-intensity exercise bout, plasma [NO2-] declined by ~17% in BR+PL but increased by ~8% in BR+BR such that, at 2-h, plasma [NO2-] was greater in BR+BR than both BR+PL and PL+PL (P0.05). BR supplementation before and during prolonged moderate-intensity exercise attenuated the progressive rise in VO2over time and appeared to reduce muscle glycogen depletion but did not enhance subsequent TT performance
Analysis of immune-related loci identifies 48 new susceptibility variants for multiple sclerosis
No full textUsing the ImmunoChip custom genotyping array, we analyzed 14,498 subjects with multiple sclerosis and 24,091 healthy controls for 161,311 autosomal variants and identified 135 potentially associated regions (P < 1.0 × 10−4). In a replication phase, we combined these data with previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) data from an independent 14,802 subjects with multiple sclerosis and 26,703 healthy controls. In these 80,094 individuals of European ancestry, we identified 48 new susceptibility variants (P < 5.0 × 10−8), 3 of which we found after conditioning on previously identified variants. Thus, there are now 110 established multiple sclerosis risk variants at 103 discrete loci outside of the major histocompatibility complex. With high-resolution Bayesian fine mapping, we identified five regions where one variant accounted for more than 50% of the posterior probability of association. This study enhances the catalog of multiple sclerosis risk variants and illustrates the value of fine mapping in the resolution of GWAS signals
Effects of Zembrin® (Sceletium tortuosum) Supplementation on Mood, Soreness, and Performance Following Unaccustomed Resistance Exercise: A Pilot Study
No full textThe purpose of this study was to investigate acute Zembrin® (Sceletium tortuosum) supplementation on muscle soreness, markers of muscle damage, mood, and exercise performance following unaccustomed resistance exercise. Untrained females (n = 16) were divided into two groups with a different three-day treatment regimen: (1) placebo (PL) and (2) Zembrin® (ZEM). During the initial visit, baseline perceived soreness, range of motion (ROM), mood state (profile of mood states (POMS) questionnaire), and plasma lactate dehydrogenase concentrations (LDH) were measured followed by the performance of an eccentric bicep curl protocol with their non-dominant arm. The total repetitions and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded throughout the exercise. The participants then supplemented with the corresponding treatment immediately following, the subsequent day, and 30 min prior to completing a 48 h follow-up visit. For the 48 h visit, all procedures were repeated and comparisons were drawn for perceived soreness, ROM, LDH, mood scores, total repetitions, and RPE. The findings indicate that short-term ZEM supplementation resulted in lower perceived soreness (p = 0.020) and a greater preservation of ROM (p = 0.028) at 48 h versus the PL group. Mood worsened from the baseline to 48 h regardless of the treatment (p = 0.043) but the decrements were exacerbated in the PL group compared with the ZEM group (p < 0.001). LDH levels (p = 0.019) and RPE (p = 0.008) were higher and total repetitions were lower (p < 0.001) at 48 h irrespective of the treatment. Although short-term dietary enrichment with ZEM did not alter the exercise performance or biomarkers of muscle damage, the current results suggest ZEM supplementation may be effective in reducing the markers of soreness and preserve mood following unaccustomed eccentric exercise
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