7,846 research outputs found

    Machine Learning Research Trends in Africa: A 30 Years Overview with Bibliometric Analysis Review

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    In this paper, a critical bibliometric analysis study is conducted, coupled with an extensive literature survey on recent developments and associated applications in machine learning research with a perspective on Africa. The presented bibliometric analysis study consists of 2761 machine learning-related documents, of which 98% were articles with at least 482 citations published in 903 journals during the past 30 years. Furthermore, the collated documents were retrieved from the Science Citation Index EXPANDED, comprising research publications from 54 African countries between 1993 and 2021. The bibliometric study shows the visualization of the current landscape and future trends in machine learning research and its application to facilitate future collaborative research and knowledge exchange among authors from different research institutions scattered across the African continent

    Marvellous real in the Middle East: a comparative study of magical realism in contemporary women’s fiction

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    Magical realism has been studied extensively in relation to Latin America and subsequently in other parts of the world, yet the Middle East has not received adequate attention in academic scholarship. This PhD study examines a selection of contemporary female-authored narratives from the Middle East to establish an understanding of the practice of magical realism in this region. The selected texts for this study are: Raja Alem’s Fatma and My Thousand and One Nights; Shahrnush Parsipur’s Women Without Men and Touba and the Meaning of Night; Elif Shafak’s The Bastard of Istanbul and Gina B. Nahai’s Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith. This study firstly explores the concept of magical realism as a mode of writing and determines its relationship to the Middle Eastern context. It then evaluates the texts under scrutiny by examining how the narrative of magical realism is constructed and what the sources are of the magical component in these texts, specifically in relation to Middle Eastern mythology. It also investigates the ideological aspect behind the employment of magical realism and whether it serves any political goal. The analysis of the selected texts is approached from three standpoints, that is, from literary, mythological and ideological perspectives. I argue that magical realism serves various purposes and that it is applied from perspectives that can be regarded as marginal to their communities’ dominant values, to subvert mainstream ideology. I also demonstrate that the Middle East is a crucial place to investigate magical realism because of the numerous complex cultural values that interact with each other in this region, and which enrich the practice of magical realism

    Early Neanderthal social and behavioural complexity during the Purfleet Interglacial: handaxes in the latest Lower Palaeolithic.

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    Only a handful of ‘flagship’ sites from the Purfleet Interglacial (Marine Isotope Stage 9, c. 350-290,000 years ago) have been properly examined, but the archaeological succession at the proposed type-site at Purfleet suggests a period of complexity and transition, with three techno-cultural groups represented in Britain. The first was a simple toolkit lacking handaxes (the Clactonian), and the last a more sophisticated technology presaging the coming Middle Palaeolithic (simple prepared core or proto-Levallois technology). Sandwiched between were Acheulean groups, whose handaxes comprise the great majority of the extant archaeological record of the period – these are the focus of this study. It has previously been suggested that some features of the Acheulean in the Purfleet Interglacial were chronologically restricted, particularly the co-occurrence of ficrons and cleavers. These distinctive forms may have exceeded pure functionality and were perhaps imbued with a deeper social and cultural meaning. This study supports both the previously suggested preference for narrow, pointed morphologies, and the chronologically restricted pairing of ficrons and cleavers. By drawing on a wide spatial and temporal range of sites these patterns could be identified beyond the handful of ‘flagship’ sites previously studied. Hypertrophic ‘giants’ have now also been identified as a chronologically restricted form. Greater metrical variability was found than had been anticipated, leading to the creation of two new sub-groups (IA and IB) which are tentatively suggested to represent spatial and perhaps temporal patterning. The picture in the far west of Britain remains unclear, but the possibility of different Acheulean groups operating in the Solent area, and a late survival of the Acheulean, are both suggested. Handaxes with backing and macroscopic asymmetry may represent prehensile or ergonomic considerations not commonly found on handaxes from earlier interglacial periods. It is argued that these forms anticipate similar developments in the Late Middle Palaeolithic in an example of convergent evolution

    Addressing infrastructure challenges posed by the Harwich Formation through understanding its geological origins

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    Variable deposits known to make up the sequence of the Harwich Formation in London have been the subject of ongoing uncertainty within the engineering industry. Current stratigraphical subdivisions do not account for the systematic recognition of individual members in unexposed ground where recovered material is usually disturbed - fines are flushed out during the drilling process and loose materials are often lost or mixed with the surrounding layers. Most engineering problems associated with the Harwich Formation deposits are down to their unconsolidated nature and irregular cementation within layers. The consequent engineering hazards are commonly reflected in high permeability, raised groundwater pressures, ground settlements - when found near the surface and poor stability - when exposed during excavations or tunnelling operations. This frequently leads to sudden design changes or requires contingency measures during construction. All of these can result in damaged equipment, slow progress, and unforeseen costs. This research proposes a facies-based approach where the lithological facies assigned were identified based on reinterpretation of available borehole data from various ground investigations in London, supported by visual inspection of deposits in-situ and a selection of laboratory testing including Particle Size Distribution, Optical and Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-ray Diffraction analyses. Two ground models were developed as a result: 1st a 3D geological model (MOVE model) of the stratigraphy found within the study area that explores the influence of local structural processes controlling/affecting these sediments pre-, syn- and post- deposition and 2nd a sequence stratigraphic model (Dionisos Flow model) unveiling stratal geometries of facies at various stages of accretion. The models present a series of sediment distribution maps, localised 3D views and cross-sections that aim to provide a novel approach to assist the geotechnical industry in predicting the likely distribution of the Harwich Formation deposits, decreasing the engineering risks associated with this stratum.Open Acces

    The Adirondack Chronology

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    The Adirondack Chronology is intended to be a useful resource for researchers and others interested in the Adirondacks and Adirondack history.https://digitalworks.union.edu/arlpublications/1000/thumbnail.jp

    Stratigraphy, chronology, and correlation of the Plio-Pleistocene (c. 2.2-0.8 Ma) Kauroa Ash sequence, western central North Island, New Zealand

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    The Kauroa Ash beds (K-beds) comprise a 12-20 m-thick sequence of extremely weathered, clay-rich (40-95% <4 μm clay) beds of tephra and loess, and associated paleosols. Found in isolated remnants throughout the western central North Island, the sequence comprises 15 defined members, with as many as 44 constituent macroscopic beds. The type site, ‘Woodstock’, near Raglan, is the most comprehensive sequence known, but other sites (e.g. Papakura Creek and Tiritirimatangi Peninsula) contain units not found or poorly defined at Woodstock. Field properties as well as magnetic susceptibility measurements and particle-size analysis characterise the facies in the sequence. Field properties (in particular colour, consistence, macrofabric) describe the lithostratigraphy. The sequence contains five interpretive (i.e. genetic) ‘facies’: paleosols, primary tephra, very weathered tephra (possibly composite beds), loess and ‘tephric loess’ beds. At least seven loess beds are (newly) identified in the sequence: K4a, K5, K6ai, K8ai, K8bi, K10a and K14ai. Mass-specific susceptibility and frequency-dependent susceptibility results partly conform to established models (developed mostly on Chinese loess-paleosol deposits) of susceptibility enhancement in paleosols and depletion in loess. Many parts of the sequence do not appear to conform to this model and the results more closely resemble the inverse relationship found on Alaskan loess-paleosol beds. Frequency-dependent susceptibility is reliable in delineating paleosols by their ‘ultrafine’ ferrimagnetic mineral content, and citrate-bicarbonate-dithionite treatments successfully remove all iron oxides so that remeasurement of susceptibility isolates a strictly ‘pedogenic’, rather than lithogenic, fraction. Laser diffraction particle-size analysis shows that the Kauroa Ash beds are texturally reasonably homogenous. They have bimodal particle-size distributions with the most dominant mode at around 11.25 ɸ inferred to be the product of intense and prolonged weathering. Other modes are variously centred on 7-8.5 ɸ and, despite weathering and pedogenesis, have some relationship to the original depositional particle-size distributions because trends between facies (i.e. genetic units) are delineated. Principal components analysis objectively characterises these modes as (Wentworth size classes) ‘very fine clay’ and ‘coarse silt’, although there is no proportional relationship between them, supporting a post-depositional origin for the former mode. The chronology of the sequence, previously poorly defined, is greatly improved by a combination of tephrochronologic correlations, fission-track dating, and paleomagnetism. Five zircon fission-track dates provide independent age ‘spikes’ and range from 2.24 ± 0.29 Ma in the basal member, K1, to 1.28 ± 0.11 Ma for the distal ignimbrite unit K12a. Paleomagnetism is invaluable in providing additional age information. The top of the sequence, member K15, is dated as >0.78 Ma (Brunhes-Matuyama boundary) because of its reversed polarity; two episodes of normal polarity are found in beds K14b and K2b and are inferred to represent the Jaramillo (1.07-0.99 Ma) and Olduvai (1.95-1.79 Ma) subchrons, respectively. Beds underlying the Kauroa Ash sequence are also of normal polarity, indicating that they were deposited in the Gauss Chron (>2.6 Ma). Identification and correlation of tephras by conventional means (fingerprinting by their lithological or geochemical properties) is impossible in the Kauroa Ash sequence because the beds have no remaining volcanic glass, which has instead been altered to an assemblage of authigenic phases (clays) by weathering and pedogenesis. However, a new technique analysing fresh glass found as melt inclusions in quartz grains is successful in circumventing this problem. Inclusions represent samples of non-degassed magma that became entrapped during phenocryst growth prior to eruption. The glass has remained unaltered because it is hermetically sealed in a chemically resistant phenocryst, which has protected it from weathering processes. Electron microprobe analysis of the glass inclusions yield results which are wholly reasonable for glass (totals ranging from 93-97%; low standard deviations of <1 %), and a number of provisional correlations are established by comparing the major element composition of Kauroa Ash tephra beds with those of proximal deposits. The Kauroa Ash sequence may contain deposits correlated with at least seven major TVZ eruptions, in many cases expanding the known extent of the (distal) deposit and, for the first time answering the question as to the origin of the Kauroa Ash beds. These correlations, together with an improved chronology, enable the Kauroa Ash sequence to be placed in a regional stratigraphic framework alongside other New Zealand Plio-Pleistocene sequences such as those in the Wanganui Basin, Wairarapa, Cape Kidnappers and Port Waikato. Using paleosols as chrono- and climatostratigraphic entities (correlated to warm periods in global climate), the sequence can also be placed alongside a global reference, the marine oxygen isotope stratigraphy. A further correlation to the Chinese loess-paleosol record suggests that large parts of the Kauroa Ash sequence were deposited in an incremental manner akin to deposition of loess, so that the sequence is not only a record of TVZ volcanism, but also of Plio-Pleistocene paleoclimate

    AIUCD 2022 - Proceedings

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    L’undicesima edizione del Convegno Nazionale dell’AIUCD-Associazione di Informatica Umanistica ha per titolo Culture digitali. Intersezioni: filosofia, arti, media. Nel titolo è presente, in maniera esplicita, la richiesta di una riflessione, metodologica e teorica, sull’interrelazione tra tecnologie digitali, scienze dell’informazione, discipline filosofiche, mondo delle arti e cultural studies

    Hunting Wildlife in the Tropics and Subtropics

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    The hunting of wild animals for their meat has been a crucial activity in the evolution of humans. It continues to be an essential source of food and a generator of income for millions of Indigenous and rural communities worldwide. Conservationists rightly fear that excessive hunting of many animal species will cause their demise, as has already happened throughout the Anthropocene. Many species of large mammals and birds have been decimated or annihilated due to overhunting by humans. If such pressures continue, many other species will meet the same fate. Equally, if the use of wildlife resources is to continue by those who depend on it, sustainable practices must be implemented. These communities need to remain or become custodians of the wildlife resources within their lands, for their own well-being as well as for biodiversity in general. This title is also available via Open Access on Cambridge Core

    Balancing the urban stomach: public health, food selling and consumption in London, c. 1558-1640

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    Until recently, public health histories have been predominantly shaped by medical and scientific perspectives, to the neglect of their wider social, economic and political contexts. These medically-minded studies have tended to present broad, sweeping narratives of health policy's explicit successes or failures, often focusing on extraordinary periods of epidemic disease viewed from a national context. This approach is problematic, particularly in studies of public health practice prior to 1800. Before the rise of modern scientific medicine, public health policies were more often influenced by shared social, cultural, economic and religious values which favoured maintaining hierarchy, stability and concern for 'the common good'. These values have frequently been overlooked by modern researchers. This has yielded pessimistic assessments of contemporary sanitation, implying that local authorities did not care about or prioritise the health of populations. Overly medicalised perspectives have further restricted historians' investigation and use of source material, their interpretation of multifaceted and sometimes contested cultural practices such as fasting, and their examination of habitual - and not just extraordinary - health actions. These perspectives have encouraged a focus on reactive - rather than preventative - measures. This thesis contributes to a growing body of research that expands our restrictive understandings of pre-modern public health. It focuses on how public health practices were regulated, monitored and expanded in later Tudor and early Stuart London, with a particular focus on consumption and food-selling. Acknowledging the fundamental public health value of maintaining urban foodways, it investigates how contemporaries sought to manage consumption, food production waste, and vending practices in the early modern City's wards and parishes. It delineates the practical and political distinctions between food and medicine, broadly investigates the activities, reputations of and correlations between London's guild and itinerant food vendors and licensed and irregular medical practitioners, traces the directions in which different kinds of public health policy filtered up or down, and explores how policies were enacted at a national and local level. Finally, it compares and contrasts habitual and extraordinary public health regulations, with a particular focus on how perceptions of and actual food shortages, paired with the omnipresent threat of disease, impacted broader aspects of civic life
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