363 research outputs found
Osman Bey’s The Conquest of the World by Jews (1873): A Liberal Antisemitism?
No full textThe chapter traces the profile of Osman Bey (aka Frederick Millingen, 1836-1905?) an Englishmen who converted from Protestantism to Catholicism to Islam, and finally to Christian Orthodoxy. He fought in the Ottoman and Russian Army and became a self-taught social scientist and journalist. He was the author, inter-alia, of a pamphlet on the supposed historical and contemporary role of Jews in world and economic affairs. This pamphlet, "The Conquest of the World by Jews" (1873) was one of the sources of the infamous forgery the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" (1903)
“Ordinary” italians: The genocide of the jews of Italy, 1943-45
No full textThis essay is based on the author’s recent book dedicated to the role of Italians in deporting their Jewish compatriots to the Nazi death camps: Simon Levis Sullam, The Italian Executioners: The Genocide of the Jews of Italy, trans. Oona Smyth and Claudia Patane (Princeton, 2018). Members of the Republican Fascist Party, police, the military, and ordinary citizens were responsible for the arrest of about 20 percent of Italian Jews in 1943-1945. The author argues that their participation in the Holocaust was driven not so much by anti-Semitism as by a combination of several profound crises that stirred up severe moral panic: Italy’s having lost in the world war, the escalation of the civil war with antifascists, the country’s split into two, and the German occupation of the northern part of Italy.This essay is based on the author’s recent book dedicated to the role of Italians in deporting their Jewish compatriots to the Nazi death camps: Simon Levis Sullam, The Italian Executioners: The Genocide of the Jews of Italy, trans. Oona Smyth and Claudia Patane (Princeton, 2018). Members of the Republican Fascist Party, police, the military, and ordinary citizens were responsible for the arrest of about 20 percent of Italian Jews in 1943-1945. The author argues that their participation in the Holocaust was driven not so much by anti-Semitism as by a combination of several profound crises that stirred up severe moral panic: Italy’s having lost in the world war, the escalation of the civil war with antifascists, the country’s split into two, and the German occupation of the northern part of Italy
CROTALARIA PROSTRATA VAR. LEVIS HAINES (LEGUMINOSAE): A POORLY KNOWN SPECIES REDISCOVERED, REDESCRIBED AND ENDEMIC FROM THE NORTHERN WESTERN GHATS, INDIA
No full textDuring a medicinal plant survey in Amba MPCA, Raigarh District of Maharashtra, a rare and endemic species of Crotalaria, Crotalaria prostrata var. levis, (Fabaceae) were rediscovered after type specimens author collected from Amba MPCA in Maharashtra after 94 years.</jats:p
Unpacking My Bags in Another Locale
No full textElizabeth Wholey, My Midlife Migration to Umbria Lee Haworth, My Adventures on the Move Shirley Nicholas, Worn Out Hip, Shoulder and Levis Wendy Shipnuck, Embracing La Joie de Vie Linda Jay, A New Chapter, at Seventy-Five! E. Ruth Harder, Love Never Die
Left and right generalized Drazin invertible operators on Banach spaces and applications
No full text[EN] In this paper, left and right generalized Drazin invertible operators on Banach spaces are defined and characterized by means of the generalized Kato decomposition. Then, new binary relations associated with these operators are presented and studied. In addition, a new characterization of the generalized Drazin pre-order and a sufficient condition for that to be a partial order are given by using a matrix operator technique.This paper was partially supported by Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, Facultad de Ingenieria (grant Resol. No 155/14), Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto (grant PPI 18/C472) and CONICET (grant PIP 112-201501-00433CO). Fourth author was partially supported by Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad of Spain (grant Red de Excelencia MTM2017-90682-REDT).Ferreyra, DE.; Latanzi, M.; Levis, F.; Thome, N. (2019). Left and right generalized Drazin invertible operators on Banach spaces and applications. Operators and Matrices. 13(3):569-583. https://doi.org/10.7153/oam-2019-13-43S56958313
Innovation in the governance of large co-operative businesses: the alarming case of UK Co-operative group
No full textThis paper begins by providing a short history of the Co-operative Group and the Bank, showing how its current governance structure has come about. Then it provides a summary of what has happened since its current troubles began in 2009, asking what has gone wrong and why. Then it asks who is to blame; is it a failure of management or of governance? It finds that governance has to take a large part of the blame, and so examines the recent innovations that have led to the current peculiar and unsatisfactory governance structure. It then looks forward to the redesign of governance that has been called for by Lord Myners, and explains the work of this author and his colleagues at Co-operatives UK in helping with this process. It provides a method for evaluating alternative governance structures using an analytical framework first proposed in Birchall’s study of the world’s largest co-operatives. (Birchall, 2014
PLASTICITY-LED EVOLUTION IN NATURE
No full textAn enduring problem in evolutionary biology is to explain how novel, complex traits originate. A controversial solution to this problem is that environmentally induced phenotypic change––phenotypic plasticity––can play a leading role in the origins of novelty. This process of plasticity-led evolution (PLE) posits that a change in the environment triggers a change in development via plasticity, and this pre-existing plasticity is subsequently molded by selection into an adaptive trait. The significance of PLE is controversial because few tests have been conducted in natural populations. Here, I address that problem. Conceptually, I provide an annotated bibliography of significant works relating to phenotypic plasticity’s role in evolution. I then define the PLE hypothesis, identify its key criteria, produce a framework for evaluating the criteria in natural populations, and describe study systems that have begun to test the hypothesis. Next, I focus on studies of PLE in amphibians and identify mechanisms that are important to PLE. Together, these chapters (2-4) provide a foundation for assessing the broad relevance of PLE and enable tests of PLE in diverse systems. Empirically, I use my analytical framework mentioned above to test the key criteria of PLE in spadefoot toad (genera Spea and Scaphiopus) tadpoles (chapters 5-7). Tadpoles in the genus Spea have evolved a novel, complex feeding strategy (a carnivore/cannibal morph). Using a combination of morphological and molecular approaches in diverse lineages, I provide evidence in support of PLE’s key criteria. The carnivore morph appears to have begun as an environmentally-induced developmental variant that was subsequently refined into a coordinated plastic response. Some populations have secondarily lost this plastic response and are becoming exclusively well-adapted carnivores. Looking forward, chapter 8 provides a number of additional hypotheses and research directions for the PLE field. It describes predictions with respect to particular developmental features, identifies possible taxa and traits that could be used to test these predictions, notes gaps between theory and experimentation, and concludes with a list of specific future directions. In total, this dissertation not only provides empirical tests of a significant evolutionary question, but also provides a means for this question to be addressed in the field more broadly.Doctor of Philosoph
Level of UV-B Radiation Influences the Effects of Glyphosate-Based Herbicide on Fitness of the Spotted Salamander
No full textNumerous causes have been implicated in contributing to amphibian population declines since the 1980\u27s, with habitat modification, ultraviolet radiation (UV-B) and environmental contaminants (such as glyphosate-based herbicide) being among the most common. This study identifies the effects of a generic glyphosate-based herbicide (GLY- 4 Plus) on mortality, immune function, body condition, and morphological plasticity of larvae of the spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) under conditions that reflect open and closed canopy light regimes. Larval salamander responses to glyphosate-based herbicide varied depending on UV-B conditions. In general, it appears that an open canopy (i.e. greater UV-B exposure) may confer fitness benefits. In the presence of herbicide, survival was higher in an open canopy UV-B regime and pooled open canopy survival was higher than that of closed canopy treatments. In the absence of herbicide, body condition and immune function were positively related with amount of UV-B. Finally, herbicide presence appeared to affect morphology under low UV-B conditions. UV-induced breakdown of surfactant or a complex interaction between temperature stratification and trophic relations is potentially responsible for the observed patterns in survival and body condition. However, the mechanistic underpinnings of improved immune function and morphological differences are less clear. As deforestation is likely to continue, amphibians may find themselves in ponds with increasingly open canopies. Combined with the knowledge that some amphibians can become locally adapted to UV exposure and develop pesticide tolerance, the probability of surviving exposure to this herbicide may be elevated in open canopy ponds. These results emphasize the complexity of natural systems and the importance of including multiple factors in experiments
Data from: Plasticity-led evolution: evaluating the key prediction of frequency-dependent adaptation
No full textPlasticity-led evolution occurs when a change in the environment triggers a change in phenotype via phenotypic plasticity, and this pre-existing plasticity is subsequently refined by selection into an adaptive phenotype. A critical, but largely untested prediction of plasticity-led evolution (and evolution by natural selection generally) is that the rate and magnitude of evolutionary change should be positively associated with a phenotype’s frequency of expression in a population. Essentially, the more often a phenotype is expressed and exposed to selection, the greater its opportunity for adaptive refinement. We tested this prediction by competing against each other spadefoot toad tadpoles from different natural populations that vary in how frequently they express a novel, environmentally induced carnivore ecomorph. As expected, lab-reared tadpoles whose parents were derived from populations that express the carnivore ecomorph more frequently were superior competitors for the resource for which this ecomorph is specialized—fairy shrimp. These tadpoles were better at utilizing this resource both because they were more efficient at capturing and consuming shrimp and because they produced more exaggerated carnivore traits. Moreover, they exhibited these more carnivore-like features even without experiencing the inducing cue, suggesting that this ecomorph has undergone an extreme form of plasticity-led evolution––genetic assimilation. Thus, our findings provide evidence that the frequency of trait expression drives the magnitude of adaptive refinement, thereby validating a key prediction of plasticity-led evolution specifically and adaptive evolution generally
BOOK REVIEW: Guskaroska, A., Zawadzki, Z., Levis, J. M., Challis, K., & Prikazchikov, M. (2024). Teaching pronunciation with confidence: A resource for ESL/EFL teachers and learners. Iowa State University
 Digital Press.
No full textTeaching Pronunciation with Confidence is a comprehensive, open educational resource (OER, 2024) aimed at ESL/EFL teachers and learners, with a focus on effective pronunciation teaching. The book was conceptualized by lead author, Guskaroska, who had worked on a course created by Levis with fellow PhD students at that time, Zawadski and Challis. The purpose of the book was to create an online resource for future students in Levis' pronunciation teaching course that could transform the course's paper-based activities into interactive online activities, providing immediate feedback for students completing the activities. At the same time, an OER publication offered teachers seeking to integrate pronunciation teaching into their classroom practice an accessible resource that drew on up-to-date technological resources and pedagogical approaches. ESL/EFL teachers and students will appreciate its clear, accessible format and descriptions of research-informed classroom activities that are appropriate for most levels of instruction. Teacher educators of TESOL trainees will find that the book (particularly in Chapters 1 and 2) provides succinct but thorough summaries of the theoretical background and research to ESL/EFL pronunciation teaching. Teacher trainers could find it a useful resource to draw on when preparing professional learning sessions. This review briefly outlines and evaluates each of the book's sections, including the foundational aspects of pronunciation instruction, segmentals (vowels, consonants), suprasegmentals (stress, rhythm, intonation), and assessment strategies
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