Royal representations in Print: Charles II and the Exclusion Crisis (1678-1683)

The King as figure and image represented in polemical literature, is the central focus of the present research. This thesis offers a study in the semiotics of royal representation: a deciphering or de-coding of its imagery, symbolism and iconicity. From the creation of meaning displayed in these representational constructs, a new examination becomes possible of the mechanisms by which the concept and image of kingly power was being re-projected and received at a critical moment of English history.Printed propaganda reveals the King, in his 'two bodies', to have been the nerve-point around which a whole constellation of political arguments, powerful emotional stimuli and evocations of national memory, were conjured up and deployed in persuasion and struggle. Tracing representations of the King through the period 1678-83 establishes not only how the language of printed propaganda developed over the period; it also reveals, more surprisingly, a permanent process of oblique or lateral reference which goes to the heart of the quest for national and cultural identity in this period.Similar methodological approaches have been applied fruitfully in research treating Louis XIV and Oliver Cromwell; yet the present study is the first of this type to have been carried out in relation to Charles II and, via this central icon, used to renew our understanding of the Exclusion crisis itself. Beyond this, my thesis, it is hoped, makes a genuine contribution to our wider insight about the character of Restoration England, about kingly power at a time of major phase-change in the political mindset, and about the emergence of 'politicised media' recognizable in our own contemporary world

The changing racial profile of academic staff at South African higher education institutions (HEIs), 2005–2013

South Africa has undergone transformation since the end of apartheid governance in 1994. Legislatively enforced, this transformation has permeated most sectors of society, including higher education. Questions remain, however, about the extent to which transformation has occurred in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in general, and across the academic staff body in HEIs in particular. In this study, we examine the transformation of academic staff profiles at HEIs throughout the country. Initially, we graph the racial profile of academics across multiple positions (junior lecturer to professor) from 2005 to 2013. We then use correlational analysis to identify which characteristics of universities in South Africa can be used to explain the racial inequities evident in South African HEIs. Our results indicate that world university ranking; percentage black African staff; percentage black African student body; and whether the university is 'historically disadvantaged', all influence the racial profile of the academic staff body to varying degrees. The size of the overall staff and study body does not appear to influence the racial profile of universities' staff component. We conclude that transformation of the academic staff body of HEIs in South Africa is indeed occurring, albeit slowly. Rather than seeing this as a negative, we argue that the pace of 'academic' transformation in the country needs to be interpreted within the framework of academic governance.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/raer202018-03-30Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorolog

The Scale of Cosmic Isotropy

The most fundamental premise to the standard model of the universe, the Cosmological Principle (CP), states that the large-scale properties of the universe are the same in all directions and at all comoving positions. Demonstrating this theoretical hypothesis has proven to be a formidable challenge. The cross-over scale R_{iso} above which the galaxy distribution becomes statistically isotropic is vaguely defined and poorly (if not at all) quantified. Here we report on a formalism that allows us to provide an unambiguous operational definition and an estimate of R_{iso}. We apply the method to galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7, finding that R_{iso}\sim 150h^{-1} Mpc. Besides providing a consistency test of the Copernican principle, this result is in agreement with predictions based on numerical simulations of the spatial distribution of galaxies in cold dark matter dominated cosmological models.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, accepted by JCAP. The text matches the published versio

The first decade of web-based sports injury surveillance: Descriptive epidemiology of injuries in us high school girls' volleyball (2005-2006 through 2013-2014) and national collegiate athletic association women's volleyball (2004-2005 Through 2013-2014)

Context: The advent of Web-based sports injury surveillance via programs such as the High School Reporting Information Online system and the National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance Program has aided in the acquisition of girls' and women's volleyball injury data. Objective: To describe the epidemiology of injuries sustained in high school girls' volleyball in the 2005-2006 through 2013-2014 academic years and collegiate women's volleyball in the 2004-2005 through 2013-2014 academic years using Webbased sports injury surveillance. Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Setting: Online injury surveillance from high school girls' (annual average=100) and collegiate women's (annual average = 50) volleyball teams. Patients or Other Participants: Girls' and women's volleyball players who participated in practices and competitions during the 2005-2006 through 2013-2014 academic years in high school and the 2004-2005 through 2013-2014 academic years in college. Main Outcome Measure(s): Athletic trainers collected timeloss (≥24 hours) injury and exposure data. Injury rates per 1000 athlete-exposures (AEs), injury rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and injury proportions by body site and diagnosis were calculated. Results: The High School Reporting Information Online system documented 1634 time-loss injuries during 1 471 872 AEs; the National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance Program documented 2149 time-loss injuries during 563 845 AEs. The injury ratewas higher in college than in high school (3.81/ 1000 versus 1.11/1000 AEs; IRR=3.43; 95%CI=3.22, 3.66), and higher in high schools with ≤1000 students than in those with >1000 students (IRR=1.35; 95% CI=1.23, 1.49). Injury rates did not vary by collegiate division. The injury rate was higher during competitions than practices for high school (IRR=1.23; 95% CI= 1.12, 1.36) but not for college (IRR= 1.01; 95% CI= 0.92, 1.10). Ankle sprains were common in both the high school and collegiate setting. However, liberos had a high incidence of concussion. Conclusions: Injury rates were higher among collegiate than high school players. However, injury rates differed by event type in high school, unlike college. Concussion injury patterns among liberos varied from those for other positions. These findings highlight the need for injury-prevention interventions specific to setting and position

Hamiltonian Study of Improved U(1U(1 Lattice Gauge Theory in Three Dimensions

A comprehensive analysis of the Symanzik improved anisotropic three-dimensional U(1) lattice gauge theory in the Hamiltonian limit is made. Monte Carlo techniques are used to obtain numerical results for the static potential, ratio of the renormalized and bare anisotropies, the string tension, lowest glueball masses and the mass ratio. Evidence that rotational symmetry is established more accurately for the Symanzik improved anisotropic action is presented. The discretization errors in the static potential and the renormalization of the bare anisotropy are found to be only a few percent compared to errors of about 20-25% for the unimproved gauge action. Evidence of scaling in the string tension, antisymmetric mass gap and the mass ratio is observed in the weak coupling region and the behaviour is tested against analytic and numerical results obtained in various other Hamiltonian studies of the theory. We find that more accurate determination of the scaling coefficients of the string tension and the antisymmetric mass gap has been achieved, and the agreement with various other Hamiltonian studies of the theory is excellent. The improved action is found to give faster convergence to the continuum limit. Very clear evidence is obtained that in the continuum limit the glueball ratio $M_{S}/M_{A}$ approaches exactly 2, as expected in a theory of free, massive bosons.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Using the past to constrain the future: how the palaeorecord can improve estimates of global warming

Climate sensitivity is defined as the change in global mean equilibrium temperature after a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentration and provides a simple measure of global warming. An early estimate of climate sensitivity, 1.5-4.5{\deg}C, has changed little subsequently, including the latest assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The persistence of such large uncertainties in this simple measure casts doubt on our understanding of the mechanisms of climate change and our ability to predict the response of the climate system to future perturbations. This has motivated continued attempts to constrain the range with climate data, alone or in conjunction with models. The majority of studies use data from the instrumental period (post-1850) but recent work has made use of information about the large climate changes experienced in the geological past. In this review, we first outline approaches that estimate climate sensitivity using instrumental climate observations and then summarise attempts to use the record of climate change on geological timescales. We examine the limitations of these studies and suggest ways in which the power of the palaeoclimate record could be better used to reduce uncertainties in our predictions of climate sensitivity.Comment: The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Progress in Physical Geography, 31(5), 2007 by SAGE Publications Ltd, All rights reserved. \c{opyright} 2007 Edwards, Crucifix and Harriso

Does technology and Innovation Management improve Market Position? Empirical Evidence from Innovating Firms in South Africa

There is a growing recognition of the central role of technology and knowledge management for market success of organizations. Little is empirically know, however, about this relationship. Drawing on the South African Innovation Survey, a unique dataset on innovative behavior of South African firms in manufacturing and services, this paper investigates the question to what extent and in which ways do technology and innovation management activities affect firms’ market position. Findings show that conducting technology strategy activities pays out. Moreover, especially a combination of internal and external technology audits seems to be beneficial for organizational performance