Reading Africa into American Literature: Epics, Fables, and Gothic Tales

The literature often considered the most American is rooted not only in European and Western culture but also in African and American Creole cultures. Keith Cartwright places the literary texts of such noted authors as George Washington Cable, W.E.B. DuBois, Alex Haley, Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, William Faulkner, Joel Chandler Harris, Herman Melville, Toni Morrison, and many others in the context of the history, spiritual traditions, folklore, music, linguistics, and politics out of which they were written. Cartwright grounds his study of American writings in texts from the Senegambian/Old Mali region of Africa. Reading epics, fables, and gothic tales from the crossroads of this region and the American South, he reveals that America’s foundational African presence, along with a complex set of reactions to it, is an integral but unacknowledged source of the national culture, identity, and literature. Keith Cartwright, assistant professor of English at Roanoke College in Roanoke, Virginia, was a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal. Cartwright\u27s purpose is simple-to show the importance of African culture in United States literature, and he succeeds in fulfilling the essential goal. In so doing, his insights are often surprising and almost invariably interesting. —College Literature No matter how obvious the political demand to acknowledge the unacknowledged is, we need the research, the scholarly guidance, and the close, comparative readings that Cartwright offers in order to make acknowledgement more than a half-informed political gesture, to make it fully appreciative. —Zoltan Abadi-Nagy, Hungarian Journal of English and American Studieshttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_american_literature/1006/thumbnail.jp

Environmentally-friendly surface treatments

The presentation will focus upon both existing and novel developmental processes for the replacement of the hexavalent chromium containing 40/50V Bengough-Stuart anodise (CAA), with particular emphasis on their resultant performance in structurally bonded systems. Two systems of particular interest are based upon a phosphoric acid based electrolytic deoxidiser (EPAD) studied in combination with a standard sulphuric acid anodise and an alternating current-direct current phosphoric-sulphuric (ACDCPSAA) anodise in a benign electrolyte. It has been shown that the EPAD provides an open porous structure in order to enhance adhesion to the modified sulphuric acid anodised (SAA) surface. Additionally, a post anodising (PAD) treatment has been used to further aid structural adhesion in combination with the aforementioned processes. As a control, the standard 40/50V Bengough-Stuart chromic acid anodising (CAA) has been used as a baseline performance indicator in adhesion tests. Adhesion levels have been established using single lap shear and modified wedge test configurations. Overall, excellent initial joint strengths and durability have been found with both EPAD and ACDCPSAA, suggesting that these environmentally benign treatments may be used as possible drop-in replacements for the currently used CAA process

EAT 1

1. William Slaughter - Like Atlantis 00:27 2. Tim Gilmore - A Saying of Graces 02:57 3. Clark Lunberry & Jason Arnold - Reconsider Now 04:02 4. Keith Cartwright with Jesse Cartwright - Bloomdido 02:08 5. Mark Ari as Cyrano Moon - Under the Influence: Part 1 04:12 6. Clark Lunberry & Jason Arnold - As If / To Drift 03:11 7. William Slaughter - What I Learned Living in an Olive Grove 00:16 8. Mark Ari as Cyrano Moon with Blind Willie Sixpence - I’ll Be Glad When You’re Gone 02:12 9. Clark Lunberry & Jason Arnold - Eavesdropping Across America 05:32 10. Thelma Young - Ria 11:28 11. Christopher Sylvester - Morning Trawl 03:4312. April Fisher - Mine 02:44 13. Tim Gilmore - Leaving Word 07:03 14. K. Hassall - Sabbatical Report: A Compulsory Study in Violence(bonus) 28:06https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/eat/1000/thumbnail.jp

Inserting rights and justice into urban resilience : a focus on everyday risk

Resilience building has become a growing policy agenda, particularly for urban risk management. While much of the resilience agenda has been shaped by policies and discourses from the global North, its applicability for cities of the global south, particularly African cities, has not been sufficiently assessed. Focusing on rights of urban citizens as the object to be made resilient, rather than physical and ecological infrastructures, may help to address many of the root causes that characterize the unacceptable risks that urban residents face on a daily basis. Linked to this idea, we discuss four entry points for grounding a rights and justice orientation for urban resilience. First, notions of resilience must move away from narrow, financially-orientated risk analyses. Second, opportunities must be created for “negotiated resilience”, to allow for attention to processes that support these goals, as well as for the integration of diverse interests. Third, achieving resilience in ways that do justice to the local realities of diverse urban contexts necessitates taking into account endogenous, locally situated processes, knowledges and norms. And finally, urban resilience needs to be placed within the context of global systems, providing an opportunity for African contributions to help reimagine the role that cities might play in these global finance, politics and science processes

3D collagen orientation study of the human cornea using X-ray diffraction and femtosecond laser technology

Purpose. To study the distribution and predominant orientations of fibrillar collagen at different depths throughout the entire thickness of the human cornea. This information will form the basis of a full three-dimensional reconstruction of the preferred orientations of corneal lamellae. Methods. Femtosecond laser technology was used to delaminate the central zones of five human corneas into three separate layers (anterior, mid, and posterior stroma), each with predetermined thicknesses. Wide-angle x-ray diffraction was used to study the gross collagen fibril orientation and distribution within each layer. Results. The middle and posterior parts of the human cornea demonstrated a preferential orthogonal arrangement of collagen fibrils, directed along the superior–inferior and nasal–temporal meridians, with an increase in the number of lamellae toward the periphery. However, the anterior cornea (33% of total corneal thickness) showed no systematic preferred lamellar orientation. Conclusions. In the posterior two thirds of the human cornea, collagen lies predominantly in the vertical and horizontal meridians (directed toward the four major rectus muscles), whereas collagen in the anterior third of the cornea is more isotropic. The predominantly orthogonal arrangement of collagen in the mid and posterior stroma may help to distribute strain in the cornea by allowing it to withstand the pull of the extraocular muscles, whereas the more isotropic arrangement in the anterior cornea may play an important role in the biomechanics of the cornea by resisting intraocular pressure while at the same time maintaining corneal curvature

Core Schemas across the Continuum of Psychosis: A Comparison of Clinical and Non-Clinical Groups

This article has been accepted for publication and will appear in a revised form, subsequent to peer review and/or editorial input by Cambridge University Press, in Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy published by Cambridge University Press. Copyright BABCP.Background: Research suggests that core schemas are important in both the development and maintenance of psychosis. Aims: The aim of the study was to investigate and compare core schemas in four groups along the continuum of psychosis and examine the relationships between schemas and positive psychotic symptomatology. Method: A measure of core schemas was distributed to 20 individuals experiencing first-episode psychosis (FEP), 113 individuals with “at risk mental states” (ARMS), 28 participants forming a help-seeking clinical group (HSC), and 30 non-help-seeking individuals who endorse some psychotic-like experiences (NH). Results: The clinical groups scored significantly higher than the NH group for negative beliefs about self and about others. No significant effects of group on positive beliefs about others were found. For positive beliefs about the self, the NH group scored significantly higher than the clinical groups. Furthermore, negative beliefs about self and others were related to positive psychotic symptomatology and to distress related to those experiences. Conclusions: Negative evaluations of the self and others appear to be characteristic of the appraisals of people seeking help for psychosis and psychosis-like experiences. The results support the literature that suggests that self-esteem should be a target for intervention. Future research would benefit from including comparison groups of people experiencing chronic psychosis and people who do not have any psychotic-like experiences

An ecological method for the sampling of nonverbal signalling behaviours of young children with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD)

- Background: Profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) are a complex range of disabilities that affect the general health and wellbeing of the individual and their capacity to interact and learn. - Method: We developed a new methodology to capture the nonsymbolic signalling behaviours of children with PMLD within the context of a face-to-face interaction with a caregiver to provide analysis at a micro-level of descriptive detail incorporating the use of the ELAN digital video software. - Conclusion: The signalling behaviours of participants in a natural, everyday interaction can be better understood with the use of this innovation in methodology, which is predicated on the ecology of communication. Recognition of the developmental ability of the participants is an integral factor within that ecology. The method presented establishes an advanced account of the modalities through which a child affected by PMLD is able to communicate

Synchronization in complex networks

Synchronization processes in populations of locally interacting elements are in the focus of intense research in physical, biological, chemical, technological and social systems. The many efforts devoted to understand synchronization phenomena in natural systems take now advantage of the recent theory of complex networks. In this review, we report the advances in the comprehension of synchronization phenomena when oscillating elements are constrained to interact in a complex network topology. We also overview the new emergent features coming out from the interplay between the structure and the function of the underlying pattern of connections. Extensive numerical work as well as analytical approaches to the problem are presented. Finally, we review several applications of synchronization in complex networks to different disciplines: biological systems and neuroscience, engineering and computer science, and economy and social sciences.Comment: Final version published in Physics Reports. More information available at http://synchronets.googlepages.com

Strategic Intellectual Property Rights Policy and North-South Technology Transfer

This paper analyzes welfare implications of protecting intellectual property rights (IPR) in the framework of TRIPS for developing countries (South) through its impact on innovation, market structure and technology transfer. In a North-South trade environment, the South sets its IPR policy strategically to manipulate multinationals decisions on innovation and location. Firms can protect their technology by exporting or risk spillovers by undertaking FDI to avoid tariffs. A stringent IPR regime is always optimal for the South as it triggers technology transfer by inducing FDI in less R&D-intensive industries and stimulates innovation by pushing multinationals to deter entry in high-technology sectors

Post-depositional fracturing and subsidence of pumice flow deposits: Lascar Volcano, Chile

Unconsolidated pyroclastic flow deposits of the 1993 eruption of Lascar Volcano, Chile, have, with time, become increasingly dissected by a network of deeply penetrating fractures. The fracture network comprises orthogonal sets of decimeter-wide linear voids that form a pseudo-polygonal grid visible on the deposit surface. In this work, we combine shallow surface geophysical imaging tools with remote sensing observations and direct field measurements of the deposit to investigate these fractures and their underlying causal mechanisms. Based on ground penetrating radar images, the fractures are observed to have propagated to depths of up to 10 m. In addition, orbiting radar interferometry shows that deposit subsidence of up to 1 cm/year occurred between 1993 and 1996 with continued subsidence occurring at a slower rate thereafter. In situ measurements show that 1 m below the surface, the 1993 deposits remain 5°C to 15°C hotter, 18 years after emplacement, than adjacent deposits. Based on the observed subsidence as well as estimated cooling rates, the fractures are inferred to be the combined result of deaeration, thermal contraction, and sedimentary compaction in the months to years following deposition. Significant environmental factors, including regional earthquakes in 1995 and 2007, accelerated settling at punctuated moments in time. The spatially variable fracture pattern relates to surface slope and lithofacies variations as well as substrate lithology. Similar fractures have been reported in other ignimbrites but are generally exposed only in cross section and are often attributed to formation by external forces. Here we suggest that such interpretations should be invoked with caution, and deformation including post-emplacement subsidence and fracturing of loosely packed ash-rich deposits in the months to years postemplacement is a process inherent in the settling of pyroclastic material