3,106 research outputs found
The construction of Karen Karnak: The multi-author-function
No full textThis thesis is situated within the comparatively recent developments of Web 2.0 and the emergence of interactive WikiMedia, and explores the mode of authorship within a Read/Write culture compared to that of a Read/Only tradition. The hypothesis of this study is that the role of the audience has become merged with the author, and as such, represents new functions and attributes, distinct from a more conventional concept of authorship, in which the roles of audience and author are more separate. Read/Write and participatory culture, as defined by this study, is focused on collaboration, and includes the influences of D.I.Y. culture, Open-Source practices and the production of text by multiple authors. Multi-authorship presents a re-thinking of several concepts which support the notion of the individual author, since the focus of multi-authorship is not on attribution and ownership of a finished text, but on the continued malleability of a text. Modes of multi-authorship, demonstrated in the use of the pseudonyms Alan Smithee and Karen Eliot, represent declarative authors whose names signify multiple origins, whilst concurrently indicating a distinct body of work. The function of these names form an important context to this study, since primary research involves the construction of an experimental mode of multi-authorship utilising WikiMedia technology and the interaction of thirty nine participants, who are invited to create a body of work under the collective pseudonym Karen Karnak. The data generated by this experiment is analysed using aspects of Michel Foucault's author-function to identify and determine power structures inherent in the WikiMedia context. The interplay of power structures, including concepts such as identity, ownership and the body of work, affect the resulting mode of authorship and contribute to the construction of Karen Karnak, suggesting further areas of research into the emerging multi-author
The interaction of Sika deer (Cervus nippon Temminck 1838) with lowland heath mosaics.
No full textSika deer (Cervus nippon) has become an invasive species in many parts of the world. In the south of England large populations appear to be concentrated in landscapes comprising of mosaics of lowland heath, woodlands and grassland. Despite the association between the distribution of Sika deer and that of lowland heath, little is known regarding the extent to which Sika deer utilize lowland heath and their impacts on its plant and animal communities. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the ecological interaction of Sika deer with lowland heath set in a mosaic of other habitats. Specifically, the main three
objectives of this thesis were: i) to investigate the different ecological factors affecting the distribution and habitat use by Sika deer; iii) to explore consistency in Sika deer habitat associations as a potential tool to predict the distribution and abundance ofSika deer; iii) to
investigate the ecological impacts of the usage of areas of lowland heath by Sika deer upon plant and animal communities oflowland heath. Results showed that Sika deer distribution and habitat use are affected by the availability of habitats, landscape structure and human
disturbance at both the landscape and home range scale (i.e. few hundred of hectares and few dozens of hectares respectively). At the landscape scale, Sika deer seemed to use the requirement for safe access to pastures as the main criteria for their habitat selection. At the home range scale, the criteria of choice in the use of resources by Sika deer seemed to be related to a requirement for an appropriate balance of food and cover as the selection of
pastures and cover were inversely related to their availability. However, human disturbance, as a form of perceived risk, was also a limiting factor of habitat use at the home range scale. Consistencies in the habitat selection by Sika deer at the landscape scale between areas with similar landscape were detected, which could potentially be used to develop models to predict the distribution and abundance of Sika deer and their subsequent
impacts in areas of lowland heath. This study has found a different response of plant and animal communities between dry and wet heath to levels in usage of areas of heath by Sika deer. The existence of a threshold in the local density of Sika deer on areas of heath above which dry lowland heath showed signs of decline in quality has also been identified
Greek Mathematics in English: The Work of Sir Thomas L. Heath (1861–1940)
No full textThis short note provides some basic information about the life and work of Sir Thomas Little Heath (1861–1940), the author of well-known English versions of ancient Greek mathematical works. It suggests some of the questions which a study of Heath might ask, and provides brief illustrations of some ways in which his work might be situated intellectually and biographically
Prime ministers & Civil Service reform 1960-74
No full textPhDThis thesis anatomises the high watermark of belief in administrative and
institutional remedies to the deeply-felt relative economic and absolute military decline of
Britain in the years after the Second. World War. It analyses the second half of the
Macmillan years, the administration of Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the first two
premierships of Harold Wilson (but not the period from 1974-76 which saw little
reformist activity) and the three-and-a-half years that Edward Heath occupied No. 10
Downing Street. The approach has been to look at the prime ministers' plans, examine
how these were embraced by the Civil Service and analyse the results.
The period 1960-74 saw a great many major reforms to the machinery of
government, all of which are analysed. Significant new findings include the struggle over
the demarcation `concordat' between the Treasury and the Department of Economic
Affairs in 1964; the way that the Prime Minister's Principal Private Secretary acted
against the senior civil servant handling the reception of the Fulton Report; the fact that
Harold Wilson developed a keen interest in the `hiving off' of parts of the public sector in
1969; how, after the Heath Government was elected in 1970, the Civil Service took the
massive political planning undertaken prior to government and effectively cherry-picked
what it wanted, turning the dynamism for reform to its own advantage; the remarkable
lack of interest in Programme Analysis and Review; and the way that the Central Policy
Review Staff was sidelined in Heath's last weeks
The poetical works of Thomas Campbell : in two volumes.
No full textWith drawings by R. Westall engraved by C. Heath, and an engraved portrait of the author by W. H. WattEuropeana-GoogleBook
The determinant method and applications
No full textThe thesis is structured into 5 chapters as follows: Chapter 1 is an introduction to the tools and methods we use most frequently. Chapter 2 Pairs of k-free Numbers, consecutive square-full Numbers. In this chapter, we refine the approximate determinant method by Heath-Brown. We present applications to asymptotic formulas for consecutive k-free integers, and more generally for k-free integers represented by r-tuples of linear forms. We also show how the method can be used to derive an upper bound for the number of consecutive square-full integers. Finally, we apply the method to make a statement about the size of the fundamental solution of Pell equations. Chapter 3 Power-Free Values of Polynomials. A conjecture by ErdŐs states that for any irreducible polynomial f of degree d≥3 with no fixed (d-1)-th power prime divisor, there are infinfinitely many primes p such that f(p) is (d-1)-free. We prove this conjecture and derive the corresponding asymptotic formulas. Chapter 4 Integer Points on Bilinear and Trilinear Equations. In the fourth chapter, we derive upper bounds for the number of integer solutions on bilinear or trilinear forms. Chapter 5 In the fifth chapter, we present a method to count the monomials that occur in the projective determinant method when the method is applied to cubic varieties
Herbivore absence can shift dry heath tundra from carbon source to sink during peak growing season
No full text© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Min, E., Wilcots, M. E., Naeem, S., Gough, L., McLaren, J. R., Rowe, R. J., Rastetter, E. B., Boelman, N. T., & Griffin, K. L. Herbivore absence can shift dry heath tundra from carbon source to sink during peak growing season. Environmental Research Letters, 16(2), (2021): 024027, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd3d0.In arctic tundra, large and small mammalian herbivores have substantial impacts on the vegetation community and consequently can affect the magnitude of carbon cycling. However, herbivores are often absent from modern carbon cycle models, partly because relatively few field studies focus on herbivore impacts on carbon cycling. Our objectives were to quantify the impact of 21 years of large herbivore and large and small herbivore exclusion on carbon cycling during peak growing season in a dry heath tundra community. When herbivores were excluded, we observed a significantly greater leaf area index as well as greater vascular plant abundance. While we did not observe significant differences in deciduous dwarf shrub abundance across treatments, evergreen dwarf shrub abundance was greater where large and small herbivores were excluded. Both foliose and fruticose lichen abundance were higher in the large herbivore, but not the small and large herbivore exclosures. Net ecosystem exchange (NEE) likewise indicated the highest carbon uptake in the exclosure treatments and lowest uptake in the control (CT), suggesting that herbivory decreased the capacity of dry heath tundra to take up carbon. Moreover, our calculated NEE for average light and temperature conditions for July 2017, when our measurements were taken, indicated that the tundra was a carbon source in CT, but was a carbon sink in both exclosure treatments, indicating removal of grazing pressure can change the carbon balance of dry heath tundra. Collectively, these findings suggest that herbivore absence can lead to changes in plant community structure of dry heath tundra that in turn can increase its capacity to take up carbon.The authors would like to thank Jess Steketee, Austin Roy, Matthew Suchocki, Ruby An, Cody Lane and the Arctic LTER (NSF Grant No. 1637459) for maintaining the long-term herbivore exclosure experiment. This work was supported by funding from the NSF (Grant Nos. OPP-1603677 to J R M, OPP-1603760 to L G, OPP-1603654 to R J R, OPP-1603560 to E R, OPP-1603777 to N B and K L G). We also acknowledge financial support for Megan Wilcots from the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology at Columbia University
Systems of cubic forms in many variables
No full textWe consider a system of cubic forms in variables, with integer
coefficients, which define a smooth complete intersection in projective space.
Provided , we prove an asymptotic formula for the number of integer
points in an expanding box at which these forms simultaneously vanish. In
particular we can handle systems of forms in variables, previous work
having required that . One conjectures that should be
sufficient. We reduce the problem to an upper bound for the number of solutions
to a certain auxiliary inequality. To prove this bound we adapt a method of
Davenport.Comment: 23 pages, submitte
Aspects of the ecology of the Lepidoptera associated with Calluna vulgaris on managed northern heath
No full textAspects of the ecology of the Lepidoptera associated with Calluna vulgaris on managed northern heaths were studied between 1991-1993 at five study areas in Durham, Northumberland and southern Scotland. The study areas were northern heaths that were managed by rotational burning and each comprised a mosaic of even-aged Calluna stands. Lepidoptera were studied in the larval stage of development. A range of even-aged Calluna stands, with different ages and vegetation structures were selected as sample sites and the larval assemblages in the different stands were monitored by sweepnet sampling. A total of 29 species of macrolepidoptera and 3 species of microlepidoptera larvae were recorded. Species lists were similar at the five study areas, but the relative abundance of individual species varied between sites. The degree of similarity between communities was not related to the distance between study areas. The densities of many macrolepidoptera species were closely correlated with Calluna height. Intercorrelation between vegetation architecture variables meant that other factors e.g. green shoot density or flower density could also have been responsible. Lepidoptera diversity varied with Calluna height, due to changes in the dominance of common species and the presence of additional rare species at certain heights. However patterns in diversity were not consistent between study areas. The concentrations of total leaf nitrogen, total phenolics and water were significantly higher in current year's Calluna leaves than in the shoots formed in previous years. In same-aged leaves, there was no relationship between plant age and the concentrations of leaf nitrogen or phenolics. The water content of same-aged leaves was negatively correlated with stand age at some sites and at certain sampling times. Larvae offered different choices of ericaceous plants exhibited significant preferences for different plant species and also for the current year's Calluna leaves rather than previous years' growth. Mechanisms that could be responsible for the observed distribution patterns of larvae in different heights of Calluna are discussed. The maintenance of a mosaic of different-aged Calluna stands on northern heath represents the best conservation strategy for Lepidoptera by maintaining species diversity at a site
Dark island heath (ninety-mile plain, South Australia). VIII.* The effect of fertilizers on composition and growth, 1950-1972
No full textIn the early 1950s fertilizers, i.e. phosphorus, nitrogen, copper and zinc, were added in various factorial combinations to raise the fertility of an area of native heath vegetation to that of the more fertile soils found in southern Australia. The first 10 years of observations on the effects of increased soil fertility on the composition and growth of heath vegetation were reported in 1963. The field experiment was re-examined in 1972. No significant response to the application of nitrogen, copper, or zinc has been observed in this experiment. A response to nitrogen plus phosphorus was reported previously; no response to any other essential nutrient has been demonstrated in the field. Phosphorus fertilizer showed five effects which, collectively, have gradually changed the heath vegetation towards an ‘herbaceous sward’ over the last 22 years. (1) Much of the phosphorus fertilizer applied in 1950-1953 was retained in the ecosystem for at least two decades. (2) The fertilizer increased the growth of well-established ‘adult’ species of heath, and tended to speed up their life cycle and cause them to die many years earlier than usual. (3) Herbaceous species with a spring peak of growth which gave them a competitive advantage (for water and nutrients) over heath seedlings which produced new shoots towards the end of spring and over summer invaded the fertilized heath. (4) ‘Phosphorus toxicity’ and water stress in competition with invaders induced the death of almost 100% of the seedling heath species. (5) Bushfires, an integral part of this ecosystem, released phosphorus stored in above-ground vegetation to the surface soil; seedling regeneration of the heath was further inhibited by this accession of nutrient. The conservation of heath vegetation subjected to phosphate contamination from adjacent farms and forest plantations, and from litter (even fruit peelings) deposited along tracks, poses a major problem in the management of conservation areas
- …
