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A study of John Clare in his historical and political context
No full textAs the title indicates, the basis of the thesis is to set John Clare’s life and work within the context of the social and political history of his time. It is a study that is long overdue. The manner in which topical and political matters were mediated to him and were reflected in his work are analysed. His introduction to the literary and social worlds of Stamford and London is evaluated, and the advantages and disadvantages of patronage assessed. The active and complex political culture of Stamford has been taken into account as this may have affected his later political statements and a growing awareness of his audience. His antagonism to enclosure and the social changes that it engendered are considered. Three major questions that arise from this are addressed. The two local newspapers that Clare is known to have read are used throughout. His correspondence with friends, colleagues and casual correspondents has provided valuable insights as have his poetry and prose writings. Research in the Northamptonshire Record Office has revealed important new information in the form of one book of Enclosure Commissioners’ Minutes dated 1809-14, the first five years of the enclosure of Helpstone, Clare’s native village
The life and works of Osbert of Clare
No full textOsbert of Clare was an English monastic writer, whose works extended from
the mid-1120s to the mid-1150s. His Latin hagiography reflects a deep admiration for
Anglo-Saxon saints and spirituality, while his letters provide a personal perspective
on his turbulent career. As prior of Westminster Abbey, Osbert of Clare worked to
strengthen the rights and prestige of his monastery. His production of forged or
altered charters makes him one of England's most prolific medieval forgers. At times
his passion for reform put him at odds with his abbots, and he was sent into exile
under both Abbot Herbert (1121-c.1136) and Abbot Gervase (1138-c.1157). Also
Osbert, as one of the first proponents of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, wrote
about the feast, worked to legitimize its celebration, and provided us with the only
significant narration of its introduction to England.
This thesis is divided into two sections. The first section is principally
historical and the second is principally literary. In the first section, I provide an
overview of Osbert of Clare's career and examine in greater detail two of his most
significant undertaking: his promotion of Westminster Abbey and his attempted
canonization of Edward the Confessor. In the second section, I give a philological
study of Osbert Latin style and examine themes that nm throughout his writings, such
as virginity, exile and kingship. Osbert's promotion of the feast of the Immaculate
Conception is included in the second section of the thesis because of its ties to the
themes of virginity and femininity within his writings. There are also two appendices:
the first is a survey of the extant manuscripts of Osbert's writings, and the second is
an edition of Osbert's unpublished Life of St Ethelbert from Gotha,
Forschungsbibliothek MS Memb. i. 8l
Open WIN Ambassadors: Call notes and documentation drafts
No full textCall notes, documentation and comms created by the Open WIN Ambassadors, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford.
Please refer to the GitLab repository for most up-to-date materials and contributions: https://git.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/open-science/community/open-win-ambassadors
This version issued at the end of the 2021-2022 cohort.
Author Contributions (credit):
Conceptualization: Stuart Clare, Cassandra D. Gould van Praag, Clare E. Mackay.
Data curation: Cassandra D. Gould van Praag.
Formal analysis: Cassandra D. Gould van Praag.
Funding acquisition: Stuart Clare, Clare E. Mackay.
Investigation: Cassandra D. Gould van Praag.
Methodology: Stuart Clare, Cassandra D. Gould van Praag, Clare E. Mackay.
Project administration: Stuart Clare, Dejan Draschkow, Yingshi Feng, Cassandra Gould van Praag, Clare E. Mackay, Verena Sarrazin, Bernd Taschler.
Resources: Dejan Draschkow, Yingshi Feng, Cassandra Gould van Praag, Verena Sarrazin, Bernd Taschler.
Software: Dejan Draschkow, Yingshi Feng, Cassandra Gould van Praag, Verena Sarrazin, Bernd Taschler.
Supervision: Stuart Clare, Cassandra D. Gould van Praag, Clare E. Mackay.
Visualization: Dejan Draschkow, Yingshi Feng, Cassandra Gould van Praag, Verena Sarrazin, Bernd Taschler.
Writing - original draft: Dejan Draschkow, Yingshi Feng, Cassandra Gould van Praag, Verena Sarrazin, Bernd Taschler.
Writing - review & editing: Dejan Draschkow, Yingshi Feng, Cassandra Gould van Praag, Verena Sarrazin, Bernd Taschler
An ethnography of tourism and traditional Irish music in Doolin, Ireland
No full textThis thesis is an ethnographic study of the complex interplay between tourism and traditional Irish music based on fourteen months of fieldwork in Doolin, County Clare, Ireland between June 2002 and August 2003. The historical development of traditional Irish music and the localised tourist industry have become conjoined during the last three decades, and as a result the music and the idea of Doolin as a 'place' have become institutionalised and consolidated. This has further led to the development of a complex socioeconomic structure surrounding the music, its performance, and its commercialisation and consumption. The local social structure has also become complicated and internationalised. Specifically, the locale has seen a significant growth in the 'incomer' population, called 'blow-ins'. Blow-ins in this case have in fact become the inheritors and propagators of the local music scene, but this causes surprisingly little cognitive dissonance or tension between locals and incomers. This is despite the fact that the music is the raison d'etre of the local tourism industry. I propose that those incomers who successfully inherit and propagate the local music become assets to the cultural capital of the village, not a drain on it. Moreover, I suggest that the 'authenticity' of the music is not an ascribed quality but interdependently related to social status, seasonality, one’s relationship with the music, context, and phenomenologically inter subjective relations. By means of holistic anthropological research, this thesis attempts to refine our understanding of complex social relations in touristed destinations, the appropriation of musical 'traditions', and sharpen current anthropological theories surrounding the issues of 'authenticity' and globalisation
Rezension zu: Ilaria Bignamini/Clare Hornsby, Digging and Dealing in Eighteenth-Century Rome. With additional research by Irma Della Giovampaola and Jonathan Yarker (New Haven and London 2010)
No full textEfficient preservation of young terrestrial organic carbon in sandy turbidity-current deposits
No full text© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Hage, S., Galy, V. V., Cartigny, M. J. B., Acikalin, S., Clare, M. A., Grocke, D. R., Hilton, R. G., Hunt, J. E., Lintern, D. G., McGhee, C. A., Parsons, D. R., Stacey, C. D., Sumner, E. J., & Talling, P. J. Efficient preservation of young terrestrial organic carbon in sandy turbidity-current deposits. Geology, 48(9), (2020): 882-887, doi:10.1130/G47320.1.Burial of terrestrial biospheric particulate organic carbon in marine sediments removes CO2 from the atmosphere, regulating climate over geologic time scales. Rivers deliver terrestrial organic carbon to the sea, while turbidity currents transport river sediment further offshore. Previous studies have suggested that most organic carbon resides in muddy marine sediment. However, turbidity currents can carry a significant component of coarser sediment, which is commonly assumed to be organic carbon poor. Here, using data from a Canadian fjord, we show that young woody debris can be rapidly buried in sandy layers of turbidity current deposits (turbidites). These layers have organic carbon contents 10× higher than the overlying mud layer, and overall, woody debris makes up >70% of the organic carbon preserved in the deposits. Burial of woody debris in sands overlain by mud caps reduces their exposure to oxygen, increasing organic carbon burial efficiency. Sandy turbidity current channels are common in fjords and the deep sea; hence we suggest that previous global organic carbon burial budgets may have been underestimated.We thank C. Johnson, M. Lardie, A. Gagnon, A. McNichol, and the NOSAMS (National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) team (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [WHOI], Massachusetts, USA) for their help with ramped oxidation system and isotopes. We thank the captain and crew of CCGS Vector. Support was provided by UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grants NE/M007138/1 (to Cartigny) and NE/L013142/1 (to Talling), NE/P005780/1 and NE/P009190/1 (to Clare); a Royal Society Research Fellowship (to Cartigny); an International Association of Sedimentologists Postgraduate Grant and National Oceanography Centre Southampton–WHOI exchange program funds (to Hage); an independent study award from WHOI (to Galy); the Climate Linked Atlantic Sector Science (CLASS) program (NERC grant NE/R015953/1); and the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant 725955, to Parsons). We thank François Baudin, Xingqian Cui, editor James Schmitt, and three anonymous reviewers
Xaymaca fulvopulvis R D E Macphee & Clare Flemming 2003, new species
No full text<i>Xaymaca fulvopulvis</i>, new species <p>HOLOTYPE AND ONLY REFERRED SPECIMEN: AMNHM 268011, a left hemimandible retaining the incisor (presumptive i1) and excessively worn p4 (figs. 7–11). Recovered (but not then identified) in January 1995 by the senior author with the assistance of Lisa DeNault, Don McFarlane, and Alan and Adam Fincham.</p> <p>TYPE LOCALITY: Brown Dust Passage of Drum Cave, near Entrance #3 (fig. 1). Drum Cave, part of the ‘‘upper’’ sequence of the ~ 10 km Jackson’s Bay cave system (Fincham, 1997), is located on the south slope of Portland Ridge near Jackson’s Bay, in the southernmost part of Clarendon Parish, Jamaica. Entrance #3 is located at approximately 17°44'05̎N, 77°13'15̎W.</p> <p>ASSOCIATED FAUNA AND DISTRIBUTION: A provisional vertebrate faunal list for late Quaternary levels in the Portland Ridge (Jackson’s Bay) caves has been assembled by McFarlane et al. (2002). The birds, which include some extinct forms, were identified and are now under study by Storrs Olson (Smithsonian Institution). Mammalian taxa recovered in Brown Dust Passage are either extant or survived until very recently (MacPhee and Horovitz, in press).</p> <p> The most significant agent of small­mammal bone concentration in Jamaican cave deposits is the extant barn owl, <i>Tyto alba</i>. Since <i>Xaymaca</i> is evidently rare in such deposits, perhaps its size or behavior made it unlikely to be tracked by owls. <i>Quemisia gravis</i>, a relatively large species, is likewise known from very few specimens (McFarlane et al., 2000), although in Hispaniolan localities remains of other endemic rodents are encountered in great abundance (Woods, 1989b).</p> <p>ETYMOLOGY: Species name (‘‘of the brown dust’’) is a manufactured Latin adjective in the nominative singular in agreement with the genus name. Reference is to type locality, Brown Dust Passage of Drum Cave.</p> <p> DIAGNOSIS: Hystricognathous, lower premolar cylindriform and apparently hypselodont, showing marked apical hypertrophy. Other cheekteeth probably also cylindriform and hypselodont. Inferred features of cheektooth root development closest (among Antillean caviidans) to heptaxodontines <i>Amblyrhiza</i> and <i>Elasmodontomys</i>. Attributes of cheektooth ontogeny, alveolar construction, incisor procumbency, and other minor features are consistent with tentative allocation to Heptaxodontinae (family incertae sedis).</p> <p> The jaw is hystricognathous because its angular process is morphologically lateral to a parasagittal plane drawn through the incisor alveolar sheath (Landry, 1957). Cheektooth crown morphology not yet known. As may be seen plainly in figure 9 (bottom), the shape of the deeply striated p4 and the structure of the alveoli for m1–m 3 in <i>Geocapromys brownii</i> immediately rule out referral to this taxon, the only extant hystricognath on the island and the only endemic of any age in the new species’ body size range. Not an echimyid, because cheekteeth of all known species of Antillean spiny rats exhibit furcated roots, prominent cervix, and deep enamel infolds. Not a clidomyine, because all known clidomyines are far too large to be confused with the new taxon and in any case exhibit a substantially different tooth pattern.</p> <p> EXCAVATION RECORD AND DATING: Detailed discussion of the stratigraphy, dating protocols, and chronology of the secondary deposits in Drum and associated caves is presented by McFarlane et al. (2002). The following remarks pertain to discovery of the <i>Xaymaca</i> holotype.</p> <p> Pit 2, which yielded the holotype, was first opened in January 1995 and subsequently extended in July and September 1996. This relatively large amount of attention given to one site in one cave was warranted because the pit also yielded a well­preserved humerus of the extinct endemic monkey <i>Xenothrix mcgregori</i> and a number of jaws of the equally extinct endemic rice rat <i>Oryzomys antillarum</i>. The pit is located near Entrance #3, a major collapse feature (fig. 1). Excavations exposed ~ 1 m of deposits that have entered the cave through the collapse. A loose surface layer of limestone fragments, cave earth, and modern owl pellet debris 20 cm thick is underlain by a discontinuous calcite layer (<2 cm). This calcite caps a distinctive and sharply delineated dark­brown layer of subfossil bat guano 34 cm thick, designated ‘‘Guano I’’, beneath which 6 cm of limestone fragments, clay, and huge concentrations of bone extend down to a second guano layer (3 cm thick) designated ‘‘Guano II’’. Beneath this, material extends to a solid calcite floor at 125 cm below surface, beyond which excavation did not continue.</p> <p> The enormous quantity of lightly cement­ ed small bones present in parts of Pit 2 formed a ‘‘bone cake’’ that had to be broken out and divided by hand. In this situation, dry screening was the only feasible method of recovering specimens. On the screen, representative samples of lizards, snakes, bats, and <i>Geocapromys</i> were collected by handpicking, but much material was also simply bagged for later identification. The jaw which became the holotype specimen of <i>Xaymaca</i> was missed on the screen and was not recognized as distinctive until we sorted the material at the AMNH in New York.</p> <p> Bone is present throughout the Brown Dust Passage section, but bone recovered from the Guano I and II horizons (including the <i>Xaymaca</i> holotype) is invariably and characteristically stained a deep brown color not seen in other layers. Thus, although it is known that AMNHM 268011 came from a ~12­cm interval between the bottom of Guano I and the bottom of the thin Guano II horizon, its stratigraphic position cannot be fixed more firmly. Fortunately, however, its temporal position can be fixed with considerable accuracy. Radiocarbon dating of the acid­insoluble organic component (crude chitin) of Guano I provided isotopically corrected dates of 10,250 ± 80, 11,050 ± 70, and 11,260 ± 80 BP in correct stratigraphic sequence; similarly, Guano II dated to 11,980 ± 80 BP (see McFarlane et al., 2002). Thus although there is some uncertainty about the exact position of the holotype within Pit 2, its age can be fixed as lying between 10,090 – 11,420 BP (2 sigma error), or the terminal part of the late Pleistocene. Improved constraints on the ‘‘last occurrence’’ date for Fig. 7.</p>Published as part of <i>MacPhee, R. D. E. & Flemming, Clare, 2003, A Possible Heptaxodontine and Other Caviidan Rodents from the Quaternary of Jamaica, pp. 1-43 in American Museum Novitates 3422</i> on pages 16-17, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2003)422<0001:aphaoc>2.0.co;2, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/5056742">http://zenodo.org/record/5056742</a>
Preservice Teachers' Development of Effective Approaches to Text-based Discussion
No full textText-based discussion is a dialogic instructional practice to promote reading comprehension among students. To enact this practice, a teacher engages students in authentic conversation about text as students read it, to assist them in building understanding of text ideas as they are encountered. Text-based discussion has the potential to promote the development of both low-level and high-level comprehension skills among students, yet teachers need support in learning to enact it. Research has indicated that text-based discussion is not well-represented in classrooms today, likely because not many teachers have access to this support.
Recently, some teacher educators have focused on teaching preservice teachers (PSTs) to enact text-based discussions during teacher preparation programs, in an attempt to increase the presence of the practice in classrooms. Practice-based methods courses have been developed which attempt to provide preservice teachers with the knowledge and skill needed to enact text-based discussions successfully. This study investigated the ways in which six preservice teachers’ enactments of text-based discussion developed over the course of their one-year student teaching placements, after completing one such methods course in which they learned to enact the practice.
Data were collected at three time points during student teaching, and included transcripts of enactments of text-based discussion, lesson plans, interview transcripts, and assessments of lesson quality using the Instructional Quality Instrument (Junker et al., 2004). Analysis of the data suggested that the PSTs entered student teaching with the ability to enact text-based discussions with a moderate level of success, and that the quality of the discussions continued to improve over the course of the school year. The methods course seemed to support PSTs in learning to link student comments and press students for accuracy and reasoning. PSTs were more successful in eliciting student linking and recall of explicit text information than in eliciting elaborated responses from students; the participation structure enforced by the PST seemed to influence the extent to which students provided elaborated responses. This study supports the use of practice-based methods courses to teach PSTs to enact text-based discussions, and uncovers several areas that are in need of additional focus during these courses
Does HIV accelerate the aging process? An assessment of clinical, ophthalmic and serum parameters in HIV-infected individuals in South Africa
No full textHIV-infected individuals are at increased risk of age-related non-AIDS morbidity and mortality compared with HIV-uninfected persons. It is speculated that HIV-infected individuals may not only be aging chronologically, but also undergoing accelerated biological aging. This is supported by clinical reports of conditions classically associated with the normal aging process appearing at an earlier age in HIV-infected persons compared to age-matched controls.
Chronological age is an imprecise measure of biological aging due to inter-individual differences in rates of aging and therefore ‘biomarkers of aging’ may be used to assess biological age. The eye may be a uniquely useful site as a model of aging. It is easily accessible for examination and several components can be measured and assessed objectively e.g. lens density, retinal vascular calibre, corneal endothelial cell counts and the retinal nerve fibre layer thickness.
This case-control study of 504 adults recruited from one district in Cape Town, South Africa assessed whether HIV-infected individuals have more advanced ocular aging, systemic frailty and cellular senescence than an HIV-uninfected group of similar age. Accelerated biological aging was demonstrated in HIV-infected individuals compared to their uninfected counterparts. HIV infection was also associated with frailty. Ocular parameters provided evidence of greater aging within the HIV-infected group, particularly objective measurement of retinal vascular calibre and lens density. These data suggest that as well as increased biological aging at a cellular and systemic level, ocular aging occurs as part of the accelerated aging phenotype in HIV infection.
This study provides novel data about accelerated biological aging in sub-Saharan Africa and a platform for addressing future research questions relating to accelerated aging trajectories in HIV infection, the relative contributions of the infection and antiretroviral therapy, and whether biological age is dependent upon the duration of untreated disease or nadir CD4 count. As the HIV-infected population continues to age and expand, accelerated biological aging may have wideranging implications for the burden and management of HIV-related morbidity
A Life Course Approach Investigating the Mechanisms Underlying the Relationship between Loneliness and Health and Wellbeing in Retired Older Adults, using Mixed Methods
No full textLoneliness, or the negatively perceived discrepancy between desired and realised social relationships, has long been considered detrimental to health. This research sought to discover what is it that allows loneliness to be detrimental to the health of some, but not all, retired older adults. A state-of-the-art review identified the Meikirch model of health, and several theories and models relating to the association between detrimental loneliness and health. In conjunction with the life course approach, these models were drawn together to inform the development of a novel theoretical framework to underpin the study design, conduct, and analyses reported herein. An explanatory sequential mixed methods approach was deployed, involving both quantitative and qualitative techniques. In addition to investigating the correlates of loneliness and health, the study aimed to identify which factors may mitigate or aggravate the impact of detrimental loneliness on health. Individual perceptions of loneliness and old age were also explored. A total of 266 participants were recruited and completed a quantitative survey. Forty-one of the initial participant group were followed up with an unstructured narrative interview. The prevalence of loneliness was found to be greatest among the male participants, however, no significant differences were noted between the health scores of the male and female participants. Correlational analyses identified the presence of a negative association between individual scores of loneliness, and personal wellbeing. Thematic analyses of the qualitative data highlighted the importance of adverse childhood experiences on individual ability to cope with loneliness in later life, as well as underlining the importance of personally acquired potentials to mitigate the negative effects of loneliness on individual health and wellbeing. This study has generated evidence to support the proposition that the failure to develop adequate personally acquired potentials during the life course, will leave the older individual vulnerable to the detrimental influence of loneliness on their health and wellbeing
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