Mars and Venus: Symbols of the Chaotic and Conflicted Human Passions and the Reestablishment of Order in “The Knight’s Tale.”

During the Middle Ages, Europe experienced a period when philosophers attempted to separate and analyze the passionate and rational elements of the soul. Some supported strict reason as the sole moral basis for living, while others looked to the tempestuous passionate emotions. Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Knight’s Tale” portrays this conflict between reason and the passions through the depicted relationship between Mars and Venus and the uncontrolled passions of Arcite and Palamon. Determining that a world controlled by passions results in chaos, Chaucer offers three different solutions—negating the passions, subjugating the passions to reason, and a balance between passion and reason. He ultimately determines that only the third option will result in true order within nature and the human soul

Natural Language Processing in-and-for Design Research

We review the scholarly contributions that utilise Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods to support the design process. Using a heuristic approach, we collected 223 articles published in 32 journals and within the period 1991-present. We present state-of-the-art NLP in-and-for design research by reviewing these articles according to the type of natural language text sources: internal reports, design concepts, discourse transcripts, technical publications, consumer opinions, and others. Upon summarizing and identifying the gaps in these contributions, we utilise an existing design innovation framework to identify the applications that are currently being supported by NLP. We then propose a few methodological and theoretical directions for future NLP in-and-for design research

Effects of dietary acid load on exercise metabolism and anaerobic exercise performance

Dietary acid load, quantified as the potential renal acid load (PRAL) of the diet, affects systemic pH and acid-base regulation. In a previous cross-sectional study, we reported that a low dietary PRAL (i.e. alkaline promoting diet) is associated with higher respiratory exchange ratio (RER) values during maximal exercise. The purpose of the present study was to confirm the previous findings with a short-term dietary intervention study. Additionally, we sought to determine if changes in PRAL affects submaximal exercise RER (as a reflection of substrate utilization) and anaerobic exercise performance. Subjects underwent a graded treadmill exercise test (GXT) to exhaustion and an anaerobic exercise performance test on two occasions, once after following a low-PRAL diet and on a separate occasion, after a high-PRAL diet. The diets were continued as long as needed to achieve an alkaline or acid fasted morning urine pH, respectively, with all being 4-9 days in duration. RER was measured during the GXT with indirect calorimetry. The anaerobic performance test was a running time-to-exhaustion test lasting 1-4 min. Maximal exercise RER was lower in the low-PRAL trial compared to the high-PRAL trial (1.10 ± 0.02 vs. 1.20 ± 0.05, p = 0.037). The low-PRAL diet also resulted in a 21% greater time to exhaustion during anaerobic exercise (2.56 ± 0.36 vs. 2.11 ± 0.31 sec, p = 0.044) and a strong tendency for lower RER values during submaximal exercise at 70% VO(2)max (0.88 ± 0.02 vs. 0.96 ± 0.04, p = 0.060). Contrary to our expectations, a short-term low-PRAL (alkaline promoting) diet resulted in lower RER values during maximal-intensity exercise. However, the low-PRAL diet also increased anaerobic exercise time to exhaustion and appears to have shifted submaximal exercise substrate utilization to favor lipid oxidation and spare carbohydrate, both of which would be considered favorable effects in the context of exercise performance

Long-Term Renal Function following Exposure to Petroleum Environmental Pollutants in the population of Ogoni Women,Niger Delta: A possible cellular mechanisms of Environmental Pollutants-induced Nephrotoxicity

Environmental toxic pollutants are of environmentalconcern because of its diversity of toxic effects in human body. In this study, randomly selected 184 female volunteers,94  from  Ogoni, Rivers State, Niger Delta and 90 from Ogoja Cross River State,consistently living in the petroleum exploration or gas and oil flaring region and non-petroleum production environments respectively, Nigeria, were used to estimate the contents of renal function indices  using standard procedures. Volunteers’ age ranged from 18 to 50 years. When compared to control, this study indicated significant high level of urea, creatinine, sodium and potassium with the ratio of urea to creatinine of 3:1 for the population of Ogoni women. Correlation coefficient analysis revealed significant positive relationship between heavy metals (lead, cadmium and vanadium) and renal function indices (urea and creatinine). An indication that environmental toxic pollutants cancause direct damage to the kidneysplausibly mediated by the combination of the high content of the exposed environmental pollutants and the induced high level of the renal toxins, specifically urea, which possibly fragmented blood cells without heat leading to nephrotoxicity.Additionally, the inference is that the population in the petroleum exploitation and exploration or oil and gas flaring environments are predisposed to renal dysfunction and are unaware

Problems hampering the collapse of distance in ODL

This article examines e-learning as a transformational educational tool in collapsing the transactional distance among communication science students at Unisa. The problem that was investigated pertains to students' inadequate engagement in the e-learning arena. The study targeted executive members of the Communication Science Association (COMSA), and Unisa Radio employees. The COMSA executives which consist of ten Communications Science students, and employees at Unisa Radio comprise 200 Communication Science Students. A survey research design was used, whereby questionnaires were administered to all COMSA executives and 50 per cent of Unisa Radio student employees, chosen using simple random sampling. The data gathered were analysed through thematic categorisation and tabulation and the findings were presented descriptively. An examination of the data indicates that students do not engage actively in e-learning. They use myUnisa for basic educational needs, but not for the purpose for which it is intended, namely to bridge the transactional distance in order to ensure increased engagement among all stakeholders. In light of the above, we recommend that an in-depth study be conducted to ascertain core issues in respect of why students do not engage actively in what is meant to promote a deep learning experience

Affective Learning and Psychophysiological Reactivity in Dementia Patients

We examined the association of faces with biographical information that varied in emotional content in patients with Alzheimer's disease and a healthy control group. During two experimental sessions, participants rated neutral male faces on dimensions of hedonic valence and emotional arousal, later paired with fictitious biographical information. Both groups changed their ratings of the faces according to the biographical content. Free recall and recognition were tested in the second session. Patients neither recalled the biographical information nor recognized the faces, whereas the controls did. In addition, psychophysiological measures were taken in response to the face stimuli. Patients showed significant heart rate modulation as a function of their emotion ratings, whereas the controls did not. No correlation of rating changes with skin conductance was found in any group. Results suggest that psychophysiological reactions such as heart rate changes may indicate preserved affective associative learning in dementia patients despite impaired explicit memory

Passing the Torch: Continuation of the South Carolina Libraries Journal

In this article, The South Carolina Libraries Editorial Board discusses the history and rebuilding of the South Carolina Libraries journal, the official publication of the South Carolina Library Association (SCLA). As the journal adjusted in response to community needs, changes in the Editorial Board, the publication cycle, and peer review process were made to expand and enhance the functionality, appearance, and content of the journal. The Editorial Board reviews strategies for library community members – including practitioners, research faculty, and LIS students – to become involved as a part of the publication through authoring, book reviewing, peer reviewing, or artwork for future issues