"Endless Forms" of Evolution? Heuristics in Darwin and Taine.

Morse Peckham wrote in 1959 that rejection and misinterpretation had characterised the first one hundred years of Darwinism. After reviewing René Wellek's 1956 survey of evolutionary ideas in literary history and Joseph Carroll's 1995 discussion of Darwinism in Hippolyte Taine, I argue that Wellek and Carroll have failed to provide accurate accounts of Darwin's influence. I suggest that methodological parallels must be found to make a claim for a theoretical approach being "Darwinian." I consider why The Origin of Species might have appealed methodologically to Taine by examining Darwin's argument, and then suggest that there is a better evaluative criterion of influence—that of "heuristic support"—than those provided by Wellek or Carroll. I test the hypothesis that the "shape" of Taine's theory in History of English Literature is the same as that of Darwin's theory in the Origin. I summarise Taine's theory in brief outline, counter Carroll's claim that Taine was a "biological determinist," and show that Taine's theory was congruent at the explanatory, methodological level with Darwin's, finding that Taine used the same kind of heuristic support to overcome procedural problems similar to Darwin's. I conclude that literary scholars must make better use of specialist scholarship in history and philosophy of science to answer Peckham's charge

Providing Improved Livelihoods for Muskoka\u27s Stakeholders in the Time of Two Global Crises

Climate change and the coronavirus pandemic have drastically impacted the livelihoods ofMuskoka\u27s stakeholders. Climate change has led to altered weather patterns and environments in Muskoka, which have negatively impacted stakeholders\u27 ( defined as permanent residents, seasonal residents and tourists) built infrastructure, mental and physical health, and these effects are only expected to worsen in the coming decades. Similarly, the coronavirus pandemic has caused many physical and mental health problems for Muskoka\u27s stakeholders and has also led to tensions and anxieties regarding opinions about whether or not every stakeholder should be able to access the region during the pandemic. Although coronavirus cases are lower than prior months, the effects of the virus on stakeholders\u27 livelihoods merits closer attention and analysis. I, Andrew Court, am a stakeholder in the Muskoka, Ontario region who greatly cares about the health of the environment and the livelihoods of stakeholders. This summer, I had the privilege of living in Muskoka and studying the effects of these two global crises to provide stakeholders with a framework for adapting to climate change and managing tensions around the coronavirus. I love Muskoka and its citizens, and I hope they find these suggestions helpful in improving their livelihoods

Proposing a Sustainable Future for the Muskoka Region

The following report is from a summer research project conducted between May and August 2020 that was supported by Hamilton College’s Emerson Collaborative Grants. The project’s ultimate goal is to collect empirical survey data combined with expert interviews to propose pathways to a sustainable future for the Muskoka Region. The Muskoka Region is a gorgeous and unique area in Northern Canada that requires and deserves environmental stability and preservation. Over the past few years, Muskoka\u27s environment has been increasingly degraded, and the causes and motivations of this degradation merit attention. This project consists of 3 reports, and aims to improve the Muskoka Region\u27s sustainability. Report 1 and 2 consist of preliminary research through a combination of online empirical data, elite interviews, and participant surveys to set the stage for Report 3, where I propose a sustainable and equitable vision for the future of the very precious Muskoka Region. Specifically, I am interested in finding out what the biggest threats to Muskoka\u27s natural environment are, what demographics may be causing these threats, and how the stakeholders within the region can better manage their individual and collective actions to reduce their ecological impacts

"Endless Forms" of Evolution? Heuristics in Darwin and Taine.

Morse Peckham wrote in 1959 that rejection and misinterpretation had characterised the first one hundred years of Darwinism. After reviewing René Wellek's 1956 survey of evolutionary ideas in literary history and Joseph Carroll's 1995 discussion of Darwinism in Hippolyte Taine, I argue that Wellek and Carroll have failed to provide accurate accounts of Darwin's influence. I suggest that methodological parallels must be found to make a claim for a theoretical approach being "Darwinian." I consider why The Origin of Species might have appealed methodologically to Taine by examining Darwin's argument, and then suggest that there is a better evaluative criterion of influence—that of "heuristic support"—than those provided by Wellek or Carroll. I test the hypothesis that the "shape" of Taine's theory in History of English Literature is the same as that of Darwin's theory in the Origin. I summarise Taine's theory in brief outline, counter Carroll's claim that Taine was a "biological determinist," and show that Taine's theory was congruent at the explanatory, methodological level with Darwin's, finding that Taine used the same kind of heuristic support to overcome procedural problems similar to Darwin's. I conclude that literary scholars must make better use of specialist scholarship in history and philosophy of science to answer Peckham's charge

Development of H. G. Wells’s Conception of the Novel, 1895 to 1911

In his writing on the nature and purpose of the novel between 1895 and 1911, Wells endorses artistic principles for their social effects. His public lecture on “The Contemporary Novel,” written in 1911 in response to a debate with Henry James, is the most lucid articulation of his artistic principles, and his later autobiographical reflections on the debate obscure the clarity of the earlier version. Wells’s artistic principles emerge in his reviews of contemporary fiction for the Saturday Review (1895–1897), where he extends Poe’s concept of “unity of effect” to the novel and justifies his preference for social realism with a theory of cultural evolution. His views develop further in the context of sociological and philosophical debates between 1901 and 1905. Wells commenced the century with a sceptical view on the social effects of literature, but his exposure to British Pragmatism encouraged him to revive the principles developed in his reviewing. The view on Wells’s conception of the novel presented in this thesis challenges the prevailing view that he began his career with a set of purely artistic principles, adding sociological and intellectual apparatus after the turn of the century

Order of dismissal - Civil Action No. B-08-56

Order of dismissal in United States of America v. 37.52 ACRES OF LAND, more or less, situate in CAMERON COUNTY, STATE OF TEXAS; and TEXAS SOUTHMOST COLLEGE DISTRICT, ET AL.https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/bwbsdocuments/1000/thumbnail.jp

A systematic review of the energy and climate impacts of teleworking

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) increasingly enable employees to work from home and other locations (‘teleworking’). This study explores the extent to which teleworking reduces the need to travel to work and the consequent impacts on economy-wide energy consumption. Methods/Design: The paper provides a systematic review of the current state of knowledge of the energy impacts of teleworking. This includes the energy savings from reduced commuter travel and the indirect impacts on energy consumption associated with changes in non-work travel and home energy consumption. The aim is to identify the conditions under which teleworking leads to a net reduction in economy-wide energy consumption, and the circumstances where benefits may be outweighed by unintended impacts. The paper synthesises the results of 39 empirical studies, identified through a comprehensive search of 9,000 published articles. Review results/Synthesis: Twenty six of the 39 studies suggest that teleworking reduces energy use, and only eight studies suggest that teleworking increases, or has a neutral impact on energy use. However, differences in the methodology, scope and assumptions of the different studies make it difficult to estimate ‘average’ energy savings. The main source of savings is the reduced distance travelled for commuting, potentially with an additional contribution from lower office energy consumption. However, the more rigorous studies that include a wider range of impacts (e.g. non-work travel or home energy use) generally find smaller savings. Discussion: Despite the generally positive verdict on teleworking as an energy-saving practice, there are numerous uncertainties and ambiguities about its actual or potential benefits. These relate to the extent to which teleworking may lead to unpredictable increases in non-work travel and home energy use that may outweigh the gains from reduced work travel. The available evidence suggests that economy-wide energy savings are typically modest, and in many circumstances could be negative or non-existent

Evaluation of Monte Carlo to support commissioning of the treatment planning system of new pencil beam scanning proton therapy facilities

To demonstrate the potential of Monte Carlo (MC) to support the resource-intensive measurements that comprise the commissioning of the treatment planning system (TPS) of new proton therapy facilities.

Approach: Beam models of a pencil beam scanning system (Varian ProBeam) were developed in GATE (v8.2), Eclipse proton convolution superposition algorithm (v16.1, Varian Medical Systems) and RayStation MC (v12.0.100.0, RaySearch Laboratories), using the beam commissioning data. All models were first benchmarked against the same commissioning data and validated on seven spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) plans. Then, we explored the use of MC to optimise dose calculation parameters, fully explore the performance and limitations of TPS in homogeneous fields and support the development of patient-specific quality assurance (PSQA) processes. We compared the dose calculations of the TPSs against measurements (DDTPSvs.Meas.) or GATE (DDTPSvs.GATE) for an extensive set of plans of varying complexity. This included homogeneous plans with varying field-size, range, width, and range-shifters (RSs) (n=46) and PSQA plans for different anatomical sites (n=11).

Results: The three beam models showed good agreement against the commissioning data, and dose differences of 3.5% and 5% were found for SOBP plans without and with RSs, respectively. DDTPSvs.Meas.and DDTPSvs.GATEwere correlated in most scenarios - for example, in homogeneous fields the Pearson's correlation coefficient was 0.92 and 0.68 for Eclipse and RayStation, respectively. The standard deviation of the differences between GATE and measurements (±0.5% for homogeneous and ±0.8% for PSQA plans) was applied as tolerance when comparing TPSs with GATE. 72% and 60% of the plans were within the GATE predicted dose difference for both TPSs, for homogeneous and PSQA cases, respectively.

Significance: Developing and validating a MC beam model early on into the commissioning of new proton therapy facilities can support the validation of the TPS and facilitate comprehensive investigation of its capabilities and limitations

Draft mitogenomes of the invasive ant Lepisiota frauenfeldi (Mayr 1855) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

We present the draft mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of two Lepisiota frauenfeldi (Mayr 1855) workers from two separate invasive populations detected in Western Australia (Perth OK569858) and Queensland (Brisbane OK5569859), Australia. The draft mitogenomes ranged between 16,657 and 17,090 bp and contained 37 genes (13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs), and two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes). As with other arthropod mitogenomes, we observed high A + T content (A: 39.4-39.8%, T: 40.55-41.5%). We confirmed the species identity by molecular diagnostics based on the partial mtCOI gene that showed >99% similarity between the Australian populations and other L. frauenfeldi sequences reported to date, and in the process identified putative origins of the invasive populations as Pakistan and India for the WA and Qld incursions respectively that suggested separate introductions.Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.NHM Repositor