94 research outputs found
Deborah Lutz, Relics of Death in Victorian Literature and Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015) [Review]
No full textWhen Merlin falls prey to Vivien’s enchanting songs in Idylls of the King, infatuation leads to entrapment, and the power of song within the poem darkens. It is at this point in Merlin and Vivien that Tennyson likens rhyme to relics:
this rhyme
Is like the fair pearl-necklace of the Queen,
That burst in dancing, and the pearls were split;
Some lost, some stolen, some as relics kept. [...]
It lives dispersedly in many hands,
And every minstrel sings it differently (ll. 448-451, 455-456)
The common thread that binds together the pearls of bardic matter is snapped, and alongside the variants and verses that scatter, some are venerated, as akin to relics. Such links between relics and verse are the subject of Deborah Lutz’s well-researched monograph, which performs a literary-cultural study of mourning in the nineteenth century. Tennyson, naturally, features prominently, though Lutz limits her analysis to In Memoriam and shorter elegies, alongside chapters on Keats, D. G. Rossetti, Emily Brontë, Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy. Her focus throughout is on relics as ‘lyrical matter’ (1), a phrase which puns on the book’s conceptual origins in the recent wave of cultural and material analysis. Lutz invokes ‘Thing theory’ (3), and terms such as ‘thingification’ (10), to examine how the dead body, devoid of consciousness, returns to the state of an object: an object that can trigger memories, like an elegy or epitaph.</p
Automating the determination of wave speed using the pu-loop method
No full textThe PU-loop (pressure-velocity loop) is a method for determining wave speed and relies on the linear relationship between the pressure and velocity in the absence of reflected waves. This linearity of the PU-loop during early systole, which is directly related to wave speed, has always been established by eye. This paper presents a new technique that establishes this linearity and thus determining wave speed online. Pressure and flow were measured in the ascending aorta of 11 anesthetised dogs. The slope of the PU-loop, indicating wave speed was determined by eye and by using the new technique. The difference between the slopes of the two methods is in the order of 3%. The new technique is convenient and allows for the online assessment of wave speed, which could be used as a bedside tool for the assessment of arterial compliance
Using habitat-specific population trends to evaluate the consistency of the effect of species traits on bird population change
No full textMany species are undergoing rapid population declines, while other species have increased. Previous work has related population change to species traits to elucidate the drivers of population change. However, this assumes that these drivers operate consistently across habitats. We use national-scale monitoring data on UK bird abundance from 1994–2012 to calculate habitat-specific population trends, allowing us to evaluate whether the effect of species traits was consistent between habitats. Although we found significant interactions with habitat for traits relating to migratory behaviour, diet, nest site and habitat specialisation, the direction of these trait effects was generally consistent between habitats. This suggests that large-scale processes operating across habitats are responsible for many changes in bird populations, although processes operating within habitats can modulate the effect of these drivers. Despite this, differences in population trends between habitats remain when variation in population trends due to species identity is accounted for, indicating that some habitat effects do occur. By identifying the scale at which drivers of population change operate, it is possible to target conservation actions more directly. Population declines were most evident in woodland and urban habitats, and we suggest that these habitats should be the focus of increased research and conservation effort if declines evident in many bird species are to be reversed
Evidence for the buffer effect operating in multiple species at a national scale
No full textA long-standing aim of ecologists is to understand the processes involved in regulating populations. One such mechanism is the buffer effect, where lower quality habitats are increasingly used as a species reaches higher population densities, with a resultant average reduction in fecundity and survival limiting population growth. Although the buffer effect has been demonstrated in populations of a number of species, a test of its importance in influencing population growth rates of multiple species across large spatial scales is lacking. Here, we use habitat-specific population trends for 85 bird species from long-term national monitoring data (the UK Breeding Bird Survey) to examine its generality. We find that both patterns of population change and changes in habitat preference are consistent with the predictions of the buffer effect, providing support for its widespread operation
A Multilayered Jurisdictional Patchwork: Immigration Federalism in the United States
No full textabstract: This article focuses on the immigration-related demands currently being placed on local police in the United States and the emergence of what we call a “multilayered jurisdictional patchwork” (MJP) of immigration enforcement. We report results from nationwide surveys of city police chiefs and county sheriffs and intensive fieldwork in three jurisdictions. The enforcement landscape we describe is complicated by the varying and overlapping responsibilities of sheriffs and city police, and by the tendency for sheriffs to maintain closer relationships with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities. We conclude by reflecting on the implications of the MJP—for immigrants, for their communities, and for the evolving relationship between levels of government in the federal system.This is the peer reviewed version of the above-titled article, which has been published in final form in Law & Policy, vol. 34, no. 2 (2012), pp. 138-158, at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9930.2011.00356.x/full. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving
Validating weather and climate models at small Rossby numbers: including a boundary layer
No full textThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Ideally, the validation of weather and climate models requires that the predictions remain close to an exact solution of the governing equations. The complexity of weather and climate models means that it is not possible to compute exact solutions except in trivial cases. However, in the limit of small Rossby number, the exact solution of the Euler equations can be shown to be close to that of a semi-geostrophic model, which can be computed. Previous studies have used the small-Rossby-number limit to validate numerical methods for a baroclinic wave without sub-grid physics. However, the method of coupling to the sub-grid physics plays an important role in the performance of weather and climate models. The aim of this article is thus to extend the previous studies to include a boundary-layer parametrization. We use a balanced model that includes a known boundary-layer parametrization, the semi-geotriptic model. We then demonstrate that the semi-geotriptic model is the appropriate small-Rossby-number limit of the solution of the Euler equations with the same boundary-layer representation. The semi-geotriptic model is then used to expose weaknesses in the numerical methods for coupling the boundary layer to the rest of the model
Grassland responses to increased rainfall depend on the timescale of forcing
No full textForecasting impacts of future climate change is an important challenge to biologists, both for understanding the consequences of different emissions trajectories and for developing adaptation measures that will minimize biodiversity loss. Existing variation provides a window into the effects of climate on species and ecosystems, but in many places does not encompass the levels or timeframes of forcing expected under directional climatic change. Experiments help us to fill in these uncertainties, simulating directional shifts to examine outcomes of new levels and sustained changes in conditions. Here we explore the translation between short-term responses to climate variability and longer-term trajectories that emerge under directional climatic change. In a decade long experiment, we compare effects of short-term and long-term forcings across three trophic levels in grassland plots subjected to natural and experimental variation in precipitation. For some biological responses (plant productivity), responses to long-term extension of the rainy season were consistent with short-term responses, while for others (plant species richness, abundance of invertebrate herbivores and predators) there was pronounced divergence of long-term trajectories from short-term responses. These differences between biological responses mean that sustained directional changes in climate can restructure ecological relationships characterizing a system. Importantly, a positive relationship between plant diversity and productivity turned negative under one scenario of climate change, with a similar change in the relationship between plant productivity and consumer biomass. Inferences from experiments such as this form an important part of wider efforts to understand the complexities of climate change responses
Efficient stochastic simulation on discrete spaces: Using balancing functions to incorporate local target density information into Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling schemes
No full textThe breadth of theoretical results on efficient Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling schemes on discrete spaces is slim when compared to the available theory for MCMC sampling schemes on continuous spaces. Nonetheless, in [Zan17] a simple framework to design Metropolis-Hastings (MH) proposal kernels that incorporate local information about the target is presented. The class of functions for which the resulting MH kernels are Peskun optimal in high-dimensional regimes is characterized. We will refer to these functions as \textit{balancing functions} and to the class of resulting MH proposal kernels as \textit{pointwise informed proposals}. In [PG19], the class of balancing functions is used to construct Markov Jump Processes (MJP) on discrete state spaces. As a result, the Zanella process is constructed. In the absence of a theoretical result on the optimal balancing function to choose from the class of balancing functions, a heuristic approach is proposed using the Zanella process. To further encourage the mixing behaviour of the simulated chain, the algebraic structure of the state space is exploited to achieve non-reversible Markov chains on short to medium timescales. Simulations are performed for all the considered MCMC sampling schemes by studying the Bayesian record linkage problem.Applied Mathematic
Markov chain monte carlo inference for markov jump processes via the linear noise approximation
No full textBayesian analysis for Markov jump processes (MJPs) is a non-trivial and challenging problem. Although exact inference is theoretically possible, it is computationally demanding, thus its applicability is limited to a small class of problems. In this paper, we describe the application of Riemann manifold Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods using an approximation to the likelihood of the MJP that is valid when the system modelled is near its thermodynamic limit. The proposed approach is both statistically and computationally efficient whereas the convergence rate and mixing of the chains allow for fast MCMC inference. The methodology is evaluated using numerical simulations on two problems from chemical kinetics and one from systems biology. © 2012 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved
Cuidando do recém-nascido em UTIN: convivendo com a fragilidade do viver/sobreviver à luz da complexidade
No full textDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Enfermagem, Florianópolis, 2009.Este estudo trata da elaboração de um modelo que contempla o fenômeno do cuidado em Unidade de Terapia Intensiva Neonatal a partir da compreensão do ser e fazer enquanto enfermeiro neste sistema complexo. Tal compreensão aborda as transformações ocorridas desde a criação das UTINs até a atualidade, vislumbrando sua busca pela integralidade ao oferecer um cuidado sensível e compartilhado. O referencial metodológico da Teoria Fundamentada nos Dados (Grounded theory) associado ao Paradigma da Complexidade de Edgar Morin foi utilizado na análise e na construção do Modelo Teórico: CUIDANDO DO RECÉM-NASCIDO EM UTIN: Convivendo com a fragilidade do viver/sobreviver à luz da complexidade. Participaram da pesquisa 11 sujeitos, entre enfermeiros e mães com bebês internados na UTIN. Utilizou-se a entrevista aberta para coleta dos dados. A análise comparativa dos dados subsidiou o processo de codificação, amostragem, saturação teórica, ordenação e integração dos dados. Os dados foram inseridos no software NVIVO, dando seqüência na organização e agrupamento dos mesmos. A organização dos códigos foi feita de acordo com suas propriedades e, então, agrupados em códigos preliminares, subcategorias e categorias. Através das inter-relações entre categorias, emergente dos dados coletados, identificou-se a categoria central, eixo norteador do Modelo Teórico, e integradora das categorias analíticas denominada: Convivendo com a fragilidade do viver/sobreviver: cuidado altamente complexo, sensível, singular e compartilhado em torno da qual giram as demais categorias: Buscando conhecimentos e competências; Gerenciando o cuidado na UTIN e Vivenciando as singularidades na UTIN. Neste contexto, o cuidado em UTIN se fortalece como uma das áreas da Enfermagem em constante desenvolvimento, visando conciliar os avanços tecnológicos importantes para o sobreviver do bebê prematuro com abordagens que valorizam as inter-relações em seu quotidiano, de modo sistêmico. Busca atuar nas diversas esferas do cuidado complexo em saúde, desde os serviços de apoio da instituição hospitalar e seus gestores até a academia, visando evitar atuações compartimentadas e isoladas, integrando e aplicando conhecimentos científicos, com ganhos para a prática profissional. Oferecer suporte tecnológico já não basta. A pesquisa ressalta que é necessário exercitar as potencialidades já inatas dos profissionais de enfermagem e caminhar para o encontro de outras, um verdadeiro convite a novas percepções de cuidar do neonato, sua família e os membros deste sistema complexo, numa constante inquietação e adaptação para as demandas que surgem. Assim, as indagações norteadoras desta pesquisa convidam para a ampliação de novos horizontes de investigação, de forma que as possibilidades de estudos indicadas permitam o aprofundamento no âmbito das organizações de saúde e da academia.This study deals with the elaboration of a model which contemplates the phenomenon of care in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), based on the comprehension of the human being and human actor as a nurse in this complex system. Such comprehension encompasses the transformations which have occurred since the creation of the NICUs, discerning its search for the entirety to offer sensible and shared care. The methodological reference of the Grounded Theory associated with Edgar Morins Complexity Theory was utilized in analysis and the construction of the Theoretical Model: CARING FOR THE NEWBORN IN THE NICU: Living with the fragility of living/surviving in the light of complexity. The sample was composed of 11 subjects, including nurses and mothers with newborns in the NICU. Open interviews were used in order to collect data. Comparative data analysis subsidized the data codification, sampling, theoretical saturation, ordering, and integration processes. Data was inserted into NVIVO software, providing a sequence in data organization and grouping. Organizing the codes was done according to their properties and thus, grouped in preliminary codes, subcategories, and categories. Through the relationships in these categories which emerged from the data collected, the central category, the guiding axis of the Theoretical Model and the integrating factor of the analytical categories was identified, denominated: Living with the fragility of living/surviving: highly complex, sensitive, singular, and shared care around which are the following categories: Seeking knowledge and competencies; Managing NICU care; and Living the singularities of the NICU. In this context, NICU care is strengthened as one of the Nursing areas in constant development, seeking to conciliate important technological advances towards premature newborn survival with the approaches which systematically value day-to-day relationships. It seeks to enact in the diverse spheres of complex health care, from the support services of the hospital institution and its management to academia, searching to avoid fragmented and isolated care through integrating and applying scientific knowledge with gains for professional practice. Offering technological support is no longer enough. Research highlights that it is necessary to exercise already innate potential in nursing professionals and work towards finding others, a true invitation towards new perceptions for care for the newborn, his/her family, and the members of this complex system in a constant unrest and adaptation of demands which may arise. Thus, the guiding questions of this study invite towards the amplification of new investigative horizons, in such a manner that the possibilities for suggested studies permit more profound in the realm of health care and academic organizations
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