1,471 research outputs found
Shifting in the n-Cube: online mistake bounds and the sample compression conjecture
No full textDeposited with permission of the author. © 2009 Benjamin I. P. RubinsteinThis thesis explores near-optimal bounds on worst-case expected risk in supervised classification, and the Sample Compressibility Conjecture of Littlestone and Warmuth. These topics are related by the one-inclusion graph, an important data structure in learning theory
Public worship and practical theology in the work of Benjamin Keach (1640-1704)
No full textThe late seventeenth century was a critical and fruitful period
for the Particular Baptists of England. Severely persecuted following
the Restoration, toleration in 1689 brought its own perils.
Particular Baptists were fortunate in having several strong leaders,
especially the London trio of Hanserd Knollys, William Kiffin, and
Benjamin Keach. Such a small and severely persecuted group as the
Baptists could afford little time for academic pursuits, thus of
necessity most of their theology was practical in nature.
Benjamin Keach (1640-1704) was the most outstanding practical
theologian among the English Particular Baptists of the late
seventeenth century. This dissertation is a study of Keach, in
particular his writings on public worship and practical theology.
Although Keach was a prolific author, he has been almost completely
neglected by scholars.
After a biographical sketch of Keach, this study considers his
writings on public worship and practical theology. In the area of
worship, Keach made two outstanding contributions: First, he was the
most vocal apologist for Baptist views on Baptism of his period.
Secondly, and more importantly, his hymn writing and defense of hymn
singing broke new ground, not just for Baptists, but for English
Protestantism, in general. In addition to his contributions in these
areas, he also dealt with the laying on of hands and the sabbath day
worship controversy.
Keach's contributions to practical theology fall into two main
groups: his writings that concern religious education and those that
deal with polity. In addition to these, Keach's vigorous advocacy of
a high Calvinist soteriology are also considered under the rubric of
practical theology. Keach's most important (although not his most
positive) contribution in this area were his soteriological writings.
Although well within the bounds of orthodoxy, some of the tendencies
in Keach's soteriology were taken up by the following generation of
Baptist leaders and developed into a stultifying hyper-Calvinism that
handicapped Baptist evangelism and missions.
In the conclusion, Keach's contributions to a theory of practical
theology are considered
Bristowia gandhii Kanesharatnam & Benjamin, 2016, sp. nov.
No full text<i>Bristowia gandhii</i> sp. nov. <p>urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:46066597-9E86-483A-BB19-6D08EE6DF7C9</p> <p>Figs 1, 2 A–B, 3 – 4</p> <p> <i>B. heterospinosa</i> – Dobroruka, 2004: 14–17, Fgs 8–11, ♀ from India, Goa Province, S of Margao, Palolem env., leg. P. Sipek (specimens in the private collection of author), not examined. MisidentiFcation.</p> <p> non <i>B. heterospinosa</i> Reimoser, 1934: 17, Fgs 1–3.</p> Diagnosis <p> This species can easily be distinguished from <i>B. afra</i> Szüts, 2004 by the high carapace with steeper thoracic slope, a thicker and longer embolus, copulatory openings anterior to the spermathecae, a large distance between copulatory ducts and the presence of a posterior epigynal plate with a median depression, and from <i>B. heterospinosa</i> by broader copulatory ducts, a comparatively shallow median indentation of posterior epigynal plate and a thicker embolus.</p> Etymology <p>The species is named for Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869–1948). He was the pre-eminent leader of the Indian Independence Movement in British-ruled India, eventually paving the way for independence of Sri Lanka as well.</p> Material examined Holotype <p>SRI LANKA: Ƌ, Central Province, Kandy District, Balagola, home garden (L63), 07°17′20.08″ N, 80°42′48.85″ E, 476 m, 10 Nov. 2013, leg. S.P. Benjamin (IFS _ SAL 228).</p> Paratype <p> SRI LANKA: 1 ♀, Central Province, Matale District, IFS Arboretum (Ll7), 07°51′36.70″ N, 80°40′29″ E, 185 m, litter, 2 Nov. 2013, leg. S.P. Benjamin <i>et al</i>. (IFS _ SAL 297).</p> Other material <p>SRI LANKA: 1 ♀, Central Province, Matale District, IFS Arboretum (Ll7), 07°51′36.70″ N, 80°40′29″ E, 185 m, litter, 19 Oct. 2015, leg. K. Kanesharatnam (IFS _ SAL 543); 1 ♀, North Central Province, Anuradhapura District, Wilpattu National Park (L38), 08°24′37.98″ N, 80°03′03.99″ E, hand collection, 6 Apr. 2011, leg. S. Batuwita (IFS _ SAL 157); 1 Ƌ, Sabaragamuwa Province, Udawalawe National Park (L65), 06°28′25.41″ N, 80°53′54.35″ E, 109 m, litter, 30 Dec. 2011, leg. N. Athukorala (IFS _ SAL 154); 3 ƋƋ, Uva Province, Badulla District, environs of Kalupahana village (L62), 06°44′58″ N, 80°50′19.8″ E, 820 m, beating, 2 Jan. 2012, leg. S.P. Benjamin (IFS _ SAL 357–359).</p> Description Male <p>MEASUREMENTS. BL 2.58, CL 1.42, PW at PLEs 0.74, AL 1.12,AW 0.53. Eye Feld: Diameter of AME 0.24, PLE 0.19, ALE 0.16, PME 0.03, PME-PME 0.65, PLE-PLE 0.70, ALE-PME 0.30, ALE-PLE 0.68. Leg I: Tr 0.35, Fm 0.93, Pt 0.44, Tb 0.70, Mt 0.40, Ta 0.22; Leg II: Tr 0.10, Fm 0.44, Pt 0.22, Tb 0.35, Mt 0.26, Ta 0.22; Leg III: Tr 0.10, Fm 0.44, Pt 0.22, Tb 0.31, Mt 0.26, Ta 0.22; Leg IV: Tr 0.13, Fm 0.57, Pt 0.22, Tb 0.44, Mt 0.39, Ta 0.22.</p> <p>COLOR AND BODY. Reddish brown carapace with punctured reticulate microsculpture (Fig. 3 A). Chelicerae dark brown with two promarginal and four retromarginal teeth. Labium reddish brown with yellowish brown margin. Elevated ocular area blackish brown, median ocular quadrangle much broader than long and little wider behind than in front. Eye ratio AME> PLE> ALE> PME. Sternum oval-shaped, brownish yellow with sparse brown hairs, edges reddish brown. Prosoma longer than wide with thoracic fovea. Posterior margin of prosoma steep and slightly truncated (Fig. 3 A). There are black stripes made up of minute tubercles behind PLEs.</p> <p>LEGS. First pair of legs more strongly modiFed in males than females, with elongated coxa, trochanter and patella. Patella and tibia with fringe of thick, long, black bristles (Fig. 3 A). Leg I dark brown except for pale yellow tarsus, other legs yellowish brown. Tibia I with 4 prolateral and 3 retrolateral spines, metatarsus I with 2 pairs of Fne, long spines. Legs III and IV spineless.</p> <p>PALP. Relatively simple. Cymbium and palpal tibia pale yellow, but coxa, femur and patella dark brown. Pyriform tegulum (Figs 3 C–D, 4 A–B). Thin and short embolus, tip of embolus slightly bent (Figs 3 C, 4A), tibial apophyses hook-shaped and strongly bent towards venter.</p> Female <p>MEASUREMENTS. BL 3.20, CL 1.78, PW at PLEs 0.77,AL 1.40,AW 0.93. Eye Feld: Diameter of AME 0.24, PLE 0.14, ALE 0.11, PME 0.03, PME-PME 0.65, PLE-PLE 0.73, ALE-PME 0.30, ALE-PLE 0.46. Leg I: Tr 0.25, Fm 0.73, Pt 0.25, Tb 0.53, Mt 0.31, Ta 0.22; Leg II: Tr 0.12, Fm 0.46, Pt 0.15, Tb 0.31, Mt 0.25, Ta 0.22; Leg III: Tr 0.12, Fm 0.37, Pt 0.15, Tb 0.18, Mt 0.25, Ta 0.15; Leg IV: Tr 0.12, Fm 0.43, Pt 0.19, Tb 0.50, Mt 0.34, Ta 0.21.</p> <p>COLOR AND BODY. Similar to male except abdomen with four light brown, longitudinal stripes converging near spinnerets; less strongly modiFed Frst pair of legs (Figs 2 A–B, 3 B); leg spination resembles males except in tibia II which has a prolateral and a ventral spine.</p> <p>EPIGYNUM. Circular hollow copulatory openings above the level of spermathecae (Fig. 4 C–D). Long and broad copulatory ducts bent over 180°. Somewhat rounded accessory gland- like structures in front of spermathecae (Fig. 4 C–D). Large and globe-like spermathecae. Posterior margin of epigynal plate with a median indentation (Figs 3 E, 4C–D). Fertilization ducts lanceolate, originating from anterior wall of receptacles.</p> Distribution <p>India, Sri Lanka.</p>Published as part of <i>Nilani Kanesharatnam & Suresh p. Benjamin, 2016, Three new generic records and descriptions of four new species of jumping spiders (Araneae, Salticidae) from Sri Lanka, pp. 1-23 in European Journal of Taxonomy 228</i> on pages 4-9, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2016.228, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/322370">http://zenodo.org/record/322370</a>
Walter Benjamin
No full textIn a 1985 interview with Adriano Sofri, Agamben says of his encounter
with Benjamin:
I read him for the first time in the 1960s, in the Italian translation of the Angelus Novus edited by Renato Solmi. He immediately made the strongest impression on me: for no other author have I felt such an unsettling affinity. To me happened what Benjamin narrates about his own encounter with Aragon’s Paysan de Paris: that after a very short while he had to close the book because it made his heart thump.
For Agamben, this encounter with Benjamin proved to be ‘decisive’2 and would mark his entire career, as much as meeting Heidegger in person at the end of the 1960s. Of these two first philosophical ‘masters’ he would often say, quite enigmatically, that for him the two philosophers worked ‘each one as antidote for the other’,3 or more precisely: ‘Every great work contains a shadowy and poisonous part, against which it does not provide the antidote. Benjamin has been for me this antidote, which helped me to survive Heidegger.’4 The nature of Heidegger’s poison and of Benjamin’s antidote is not very clear; what is clear, however, is that this early encounter with Benjamin shaped Agamben’s own encounter with philosophy itself, and would exert an enduring influence (perhaps ‘the single most important influence’)5 on his entire oeuvre.</p
Comments on the book, Temiar Religion, by Geoffrey Benjamin
No full textMy comments on the book Temiar Religion, by Geoffrey Benjamin (2014. NUS Press). After testing the book with with Temiars of Pos Goob, in Kelantan, Malaysia, I discovered that many errors had been made (misunderstandings and mixed up concepts) which then led the author to make some inaccurate and false conclusions. Unfortunately, the author did not respond to my comments.
As his work is currently the leading voice on Temiar ritual traditions, I find it necessary to make my comments public, so that the Temiars might be better understood and their culture be better preserved. Without my work to balance/correct areas of the book by Benjamin, their real belief system will hardly be known by the outside world.
In the book, he seemed determined to prove that good vs evil is rooted in the culture (when actually it is human vs the wild), and to prove his theory that rituals produce morals (which I find they don't in Temiar society), thus clouding the real social concepts from view. His theory of multiple souls existing in the Temiar makeup, the heart soul, head soul, grave soul, eye soul, tiger soul and any other soul, also doesn't hold up well to real Temiar belief. And his description of spirit mediums making a pretense, dreaming what they want to and having fake experiences does little to promote respect.
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Perspectiva filosófica de Giorgio Agamben a respeito da noção de recordação em Walter Benjamin
No full textResumo: A finalidade deste artigo é colocar os termos de uma problemática da transmissibilidade, relacionada à categoria da imagem, no interior da filosofia de Walter Benjamin a partir da perspectiva filosófica de Giorgio Agamben. Para o autor só é possível fugir das armadilhas da instrumentalização representacional da história – tarefa esta proposta por Benjamin – a partir de uma verdadeira apreensão do passado – o que consiste, teoricamente, em convergir filosofia, ética e poesia. A categoria chave para pôr em vigor os termos de um potenciamento do passado é a recordação, concepção que opera as noções de potência e facticidade no interior da experiência histórica.Palavras-chave: recordação; Walter Benjamin; Giorgio Agamben; imagem.Abstract: The purpose of this article it is to put the terms of a problematic of transmissibility, related to the category of image, within the philosophy of Walter Benjamin from the philosophical perspective of Giorgio Agamben. To the author, it is only possible to escape from the traps of representational instrumentalisation of history - the task proposed by Benjamin - from a real apprehension of the past - which theoretically consists in converging philosophy, ethics and poetry. The key category to bring into force the terms of a past empowerment is the recall, conception that operates the notions of potency and facticity within historical experience.Keywords: remembrance; Walter Benjamin; Giorgio Agamben; image.</jats:p
The microbiome associated with high <i>E. coli</i> inhibitory activity is significantly different than the microbiome in women with low activity (p = 0.042).
No full text<p>The pairwise Kantorovich-Rubinstein (KR) distances between sample microbiomes were calculated and a PERMANOVA principal component analysis was performed with <i>E. coli</i> inhibitory activity (A) and pregnancy (B) as the factors. The two axes represent the first two principal components of the pairwise KR distance matrix. The red point demarks the group centroid, while the black open points represent the sample coordinates in the first two principal components. The p-value test statistic is displayed at the top of each plot area, indicating the statistical significance of the difference in variances when samples were grouped according to the factor (i.e., <i>E. coli</i> inhibitory activity or pregnancy). The Eigen values, or the amount of variation in the data accounted for by each principal component, are found in parentheses adjacent to PC1 and PC2.</p
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Oriental enlightenment: the problematic military experiences and cultural claims of Count Maurice Auguste comte de Benyowsky in Formosa during 1771
No full textMaurice Benyowsky's colourful version of his global adventures during the heady, expansive days of the late-Enlightenment remains still as an historical account, and is perhaps destined for reification at a time of romantic, postmodernist cultural affirmation. Yet this paper argues that within it there lies a virile and possibly dangerous Orientalism, one at least partially based upon a lurid, opportunistic and self-seeking fabrication of his visit to Taiwan (Formosa) in the year 1771. This paper examines the veracity, provenance and historiography of the Benyowsky account of late-eighteenth century Formosa, both as an exercise in one facet of Taiwanese history and as some exploration of the origin and maintenance of European views of the "other" and of the "orient" as they were transforming during the late-Enlightenment period. Furthermore a principal task is to provide an historiographical analysis that illustrates both the initial reasons for the acceptance of Benyowsky's lurid account as well as the wider contexts of its long life as a seemingly reliable and authentic tale. Questions remain as to the cultural contexts of any general acceptance of otherwise doubtful stories, experiments, claims and "adventures". Here there is little doubt that the original Memoirs were given greater credence by Benyowsky's talent in self-fashioning his character and status as those of a reliable gentleman
Embeddedness as Condition and Strategy in Contemporary Art and Cultural Production
No full textThis thesis examines the concept of ‘embeddedness’ as condition and strategy in contemporary art and cultural production. Identifying embeddedness as a motif of contextual proximity and a strategy in contemporary art, the thesis proposes immediacy to be the result of intrinsic mediation. The project’s main concern is how embeddedness is contextualised by the current conditions that authors and cultural producers engage with. The primary question is whether and how embeddedness can convey a critical relation to the mediation that it undertakes. These concerns inform and arise from my work as an artist, and my participation in events, some of which I organise. The project claims that embeddedness in art is a critical condition and an editorial concept or a strategic plan that can be set up by the artist.
The investigation begins by looking at conditions of embeddedness by focusing on concepts of subjectivity and by elaborating strategies that I call ‘auto-direction’. For example, concepts of subjectivity are taken up in relation to Richard Serra’s video Boomerang (1974), in which the performer Nancy Holt reflects on her own spoken words, which are fed back with a short delay via microphone and headphones into her ears. Auto-direction, introduced with the example of Steven Spielberg’s initiative of a video diary exchange project between Israeli and Palestinian children, describes the activity of the producer, who self-directs his situated presence. Taking up idioms of embeddedness from artists like Phil Collins, Christian Jankowski and Erik van Lieshout the project examines embeddedness through a comparative analysis between contemporary art, visual culture, media theory, sociology, art theory, psychoanalysis and philosophy. These practices lead to an identification of embeddedness as an author’s immanent exposure, a claim taken up through analysis of theoretical texts and literature by Rosalind Krauss, Jacques Lacan, Jacques Derrida, Gregory Bateson, Hal Foster, Bernard Williams and Alfred North Whitehead
Emulation is the most sincere form of flattery : retro videogames, rom distribution and copyright
No full textThe Internet has made it possible for amateur game creators to collaborate on projects irrespective of geographical location. The success of projects such as Minecraft, and even CounterStrike, demonstrates that ‘indie’ developers can create entertainment products just as popular and successful as mainstream developers with huge budgets. However, many individuals instead are more interested in the old than the new – reliving past experiences through the playing of old videogames that are no longer commercially sold. Through the creation of emulators, and the ripping of ROM images (data that allows for the playing of an emulated videogame, such as Super Mario Bros. on the Super Nintendo), games with nostalgic value can be easily distributed, played and replayed. In addition, this allows for the preservation of legacy content that may otherwise be consigned to the ‘dustbin of history’. However, irrespective of the effort and ingenuity that goes into the creation of emulation software, and the effort involved in ripping ROM data to make old games playable, are these pursuits entirely legal? The purpose of this paper is to consider the compatibility of such projects with pre-existing norms of intellectual property law, comparing and contrasting the approaches of US and EU IP regimes in their handling of emulators and ROMS. The paper will analyse the issue under pre-existing legislation and with regard to relevant case law, seeking to draw conclusions on whether the existing regimes in copyright law are compatible and satisfactorily balance the right of videogame publishers to seek fair remuneration for their work with the desire by enthusiasts to preserve and relive a form of creative culture
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