William Faulkner\u27s Hebrew Bible: Empire and the Myths of Origins

I propose that William Faulkner\u27s literary imagination is charged by a Jewish sensibility rooted in reverence for the Bible as a text that is as vital and relevant in his time as in any since its composition. The Hebrew Bible\u27s narrative method of compiling, redacting, doubling, and retelling, and its attention to curses, genealogies, covenants, and nation-building, reverberate in Faulkner\u27s time as resoundingly as in any preceding it. There are myriad links in Faulkner\u27s work between the Hebrew Bible, Southern Christianity, and American colonialism that merit our attention within ongoing discussions of Faulkner, empire, and nation-building, the Bible and colonialism, and Faulkner and the Bible in order to situate a postcolonial reading of Faulkner and scripture. I suggest that William Faulkner, raised Methodist and on record as considering himself a good Christian is, ontologically speaking, Jewish. That is, Faulkner, as his texts bear out and his many comments on the Hebrew Bible, Christianity, God, morality, and Messianic time substantiate, is imbued by a Jewish sensibility. Within a framework informed by Mieke Bal\u27s counter-reading approach to the Hebrew Bible, Walter Benjamin\u27s constellation of events, and Susan Handelman\u27s conception of literary theory as rabbinical, I want to consider Faulkner\u27s interrogation of US imperialism and his dismantling of the authority of origins. I begin by locating Faulkner within a Jewish, text-based tradition, and then canvass Faulkner\u27s historical moment—the rise of US imperialism at home and abroad—to suggest why the Hebrew Bible, itself an account of empires and nation-building, echoes so poignantly in Faulkner. Close readings of Absalom, Absalom!, Light in August, and Go Down, Moses follow, with an emphasis on a Hebrew Bible dialogue between ancient Israel and modern America as negotiated by William Faulkner. The ethical imperative, intones Faulkner, is to recognize that oppressive behaviors are no progress at all but rather contemporary realizations of the originary Exodus enslavement, upon which America\u27s imperial assault marches onward

Profiling Rural Festival Visitors by Previous Visits, Purpose of Travel, and Activities: A Multi-Segmentation Approach

Festivals in rural areas are increasingly being used as instruments for promoting tourism and boosting the regional economy (Felsenstein & Fleischer, 2003). However, most market segmentation studies have been conducted using a single segmentation basis. The present study used three variables to identify segments of visitors from ten rural community festivals to avoid this limitation. A total of 366 visitors provided usable data. The results show significant differences in information sources, length of stay, travel expenditures, and satisfaction levels among three clusters. Visitors did not come to the area for the events were actually the ones who stayed longer and spent more to the event. Event managers should consider different needs and preference of these two segments and create value proposition for non-event seekers

Using the J1-J2 Quantum Spin Chain as an Adiabatic Quantum Data Bus

This paper investigates numerically a phenomenon which can be used to transport a single q-bit down a J1-J2 Heisenberg spin chain using a quantum adiabatic process. The motivation for investigating such processes comes from the idea that this method of transport could potentially be used as a means of sending data to various parts of a quantum computer made of artificial spins, and that this method could take advantage of the easily prepared ground state at the so called Majumdar-Ghosh point. We examine several annealing protocols for this process and find similar result for all of them. The annealing process works well up to a critical frustration threshold.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures (2 added), revisions made to add citations and additional discussion at request of referee

Livelihood Vulnerability Index: An Approach to Assess Vulnerability of Crop Farmers to Climate Variability and Change in Ghana

Climate change has emerged as a global concern, especially its negative impacts on agriculture, particularly amongst poor subsistence and smallholder farmers because of the sector’s dependency on rainfall. The impacts of climate change and climate related extreme events may vary among farmers within the same locality based on the interplay of factors such as differences in households’ socio-demographic and economic characteristics. The extent of the impacts of climate change depends on the capacity of farmers and appropriateness of the adaptation measures undertaken to mitigate such impacts. This study adopts the Livelihood Vulnerability Index to assess the vulnerability of the two districts (Atwima Mponua and Ejura-Sekyeredumase) in different agro-ecological zones (Semi-Deciduous Forest and Transition Zone respectively). The study used household questionnaires to collect primary data from150 farming households from each district as well as using secondary data on rainfall and temperature from the Ghana Meteorological Agency. The Livelihood Vulnerability Index was used to assess the vulnerability of the two districts. The overall LVI indicates that Ejura-Sekyeredumase District may be more vulnerable to climate change impacts than Atwima Mponua District. The vulnerability triangle indicates that Ejura-Sekyeredumase District is more sensitive to climate change and variability impacts than Atwima Mponua District.  Although Atwima Mponua District may have a higher adaptive capacity than Ejura-Sekyeredumase District, the difference is relatively small. The study found that while it is important to have generic policies that address the main agricultural issues in Ghana, development and implementation of region-specific adaptation policy is crucially important. Keywords: Climate variability and change, Livelihood Vulnerability Index, exposure, sensitivity, adaptative capacity DOI: 10.7176/JEES/13-1-03 Publication date: January 31st 202

Examining barriers, motivations, and perceptions of women working in the tourism industry: Case study of Ayampe, Ecuador

The notion of examining gender is gaining momentum across disciplines as an important phenomenon to understand (Kincheloe & Mclaren, 2008). The tourism field is one such area that has made sizeable contributions to the literature; however there is a lack of research focusing on women and tourism in developing countries. This is an exploratory case study of a rural community in Ecuador. Using community-based research methodology and a gender and development framework, this study explores the motivations, barriers and perceptions towards women seeking employment in the tourism industry and identified disparities between the perceptions of men and women in regard to the potential for women securing employment in the industry. The themes that emerged from the data may be grouped as those indicating barriers: gender role expectations, machismo, and poor education; and as motivators: economic benefits, opportunity to learn new things, purpose in life, and education for their children

Algorithm for Dual-Energy Radiographic Analysis

The use of two or more radiographs of an object taken with different x-ray spectral characteristics to infer quantitative values of material density or Z number has been of interest to both the medical and industrial worlds for some time. One method uses monoenergetic isotopic sources with well defined energies in conjunction with standard step wedges and solving the resulting simultaneous equations. Besides the problem of finding isotopic sources with the appropriate energies, you have to have a priori knowledge of the materials in the object

Botulinum toxin treatment of urethral and bladder dysfunction.

Tremendous excitement has been generated by the use of botulinum toxin for the treatment of various types of urethral and bladder dysfunction over the past several years. Botulinum toxin is the most lethal naturally occurring toxin known to mankind. Why, then, would an urologist want to use this agent to poison the bladder or urethral sphincter? In this review article we will examine the mechanisms underlying the effects of botulinum toxin treatment. We will discuss the current use of this agent within the urologic community and will provide perspectives on future targets of botulinum toxin.</p

Impact of Social Buffering and Restraint on Welfare Indicators during UK Commercial Horse Slaughter

Simple Summary Retrospective CCTV footage was analysed by trained observers to assess the welfare of horses co-slaughtered with a conspecific present or slaughtered individually, restrained or unrestrained. Co-slaughtered horses were found to move around the kill pen more but were less likely to slip/fall in the pen. Both individually slaughtered horses and loose (unrestrained) horses were more likely to show agitated behaviour and resist entry to the pen, with unrestrained horses also showing increased agonistic behaviour towards abattoir personnel. Horses showed affiliative behaviour towards each other when co-slaughtered, with the shooting of the first horse seldom eliciting a startled response from the second horse. This study shows that enabling abattoirs to co-slaughter unrestrained horses could minimise stress and maximise both human safety and horse welfare. The results of this study are relevant on a wider scale, with countries across the world slaughtering high numbers of unhandled or semi-feral horses, and encourage further research to guide welfare improvements in this area. Current legislation in the United Kingdom stipulates that horses should not be slaughtered within sight of one another. However, abattoir personnel anecdotally report that, for semi-feral horses unused to restraint, co-slaughtering alongside a conspecific could reduce distress through social buffering and improve safety, but there is a lack of evidence to support this. CCTV footage from an English abattoir was assessed retrospectively with welfare indicators from when horses entered the kill pen until they were killed. Of 256 horses analysed, 12% (32/256) were co-slaughtered (alongside a conspecific) and 88% (224/256) individually. Co-slaughtered horses moved more in the pen, but individually slaughtered horses showed more agitated behaviour, required more encouragement to enter the kill pen, and experienced more slips or falls. Unrestrained horses (40%; 102/256) showed increased agitation, movement, and agonistic behaviour towards the operator and resisted entry to the kill pen compared to restrained horses (60%; 154/256). Positive interactions between conspecifics were seen in 94% (30/32) of co-slaughtered horses, and only 6% (1/16) showed a startled response to the first horse being shot, with a median time of 15 s between shots. This study highlights the impact that both conspecific and human interactions can have on equine welfare at slaughter. Semi-feral or unrestrained horses appear to experience increased distress compared to horses more familiar with human handling, and the presence of a conspecific at slaughter mitigated this