Generic education for specialist information professionals

Debate concerning specialist and generalist education for law librarianship is reviewed

Stability of weighted extremal manifolds through blowups

In a previous paper, we showed that the blowup of a weighted extremal K\"ahler manifold at a relatively stable fixed point admits a weighted extremal metric. Using this result, we prove that a weighted extremal manifold is relatively weighted K-polystable. In particular, a weighted cscK manifold is weighted K-polystable. This strengthens both the weighted K-semistability proved by Lahdili and Inoue, and the weighted K-polystability with respect to smooth degenerations by Apostolov--Jubert--Lahdili, allowing for possibly singular degenerations.Comment: 41 page

Avant-garde realism: James Hanley, Patrick Hamilton and the lost years of the 1940s

This thesis examines the dynamic relationship between realism and experimentalism in the 1940s and mid-century fiction of James Hanley and Patrick Hamilton. It is argued that the work of both writers during this period, although it might utilise realist forms and techniques, is not characterised by reversion to a traditional and outmoded model of novel writing that predates modernism, but rather, is engaged in a productive and sometimes tense dialogue with the gestures, manners and experiments of the avant-garde. In so doing, Hanley and Hamilton are read as key exemplars of a varied and adventurous literary moment that has been frequently overlooked within the broad narrative of twentieth century British fiction. It is argued that these works complicate the vocabulary of literary realism by suggesting the novel as a hybrid form: an aesthetic which privileges fidelity to a contemporary ―real‖, especially the conditions of wartime and post-war and the shifting configurations of social and economic relations, even as it simultaneously projects a deep estrangement or satirical detachment from a sense of unified reality. Whilst registering the manifest differences between the two writers, the thesis explores their fiction‘s varying reactions towards and absorption of avant-garde idioms, such as the surrealist and expressionist, and analyses the affective qualities of that ―heightening‖ of language in the construction of their realist narratives. All the novels discussed, in a series of close readings, possess a stylistic or tonal singularity that tangibly frames their narratives, a process of divergence that contests and reconceptualises the concept and aims of literary realism. In historicising this phase of literary change, the thesis draws on the work of various cultural theorists and historians and elaborates the interpretive framework in which the literary 40s and the fiction of Hanley and Hamilton can be recast

The universal structure of moment maps in complex geometry

We introduce a natural, geometric approach to constructing moment maps in finite and infinite-dimensional complex geometry. This is applied to two settings: K\"ahler manifolds and holomorphic vector bundles. Our new approach exploits the existence of universal families and the theory of equivariant differential forms. In the setting of K\"ahler manifolds we first give a new, geometric proof of Donaldson-Fujiki's moment map interpretation of the scalar curvature. Associated to arbitrary products of Chern classes of the manifold-namely to a central charge-we then introduce a geometric PDE determining a Z-critical K\"ahler metric, and show that these general equations also satisfy moment map properties. On holomorphic vector bundles, using a similar strategy we give a geometric proof of Atiyah-Bott's moment map interpretation of the Hermitian Yang-Mills condition. We go on to give a new, geometric proof that the PDE determining a Z-critical connection-associated to a choice of central charge on the category of coherent sheaves-can be viewed as a moment map; deformed Hermitian Yang-Mills connections are a special case, in which our work gives a geometric proof of a result of Collins-Yau. Our main assertion is that this is the canonical way of producing moment maps in complex geometry-associated to any geometric problem along with a choice of stability condition-and hence that this accomplishes one of the main steps towards producing PDE counterparts to stability conditions in large generality.Comment: 41 page

Revealing flows in the local economy through visualisations:customers, clicks/cliques and clusters

It is well known by now, that the world has suffered an economic downturn. This has led many governments and organisations to invest resources into researching varying strategies to combat such problem. For some time now, governments have been promoting growth by encouraging local spending; we have witnessed this through ?shop local? campaigns and local currencies. We introduce BARTER a moBile sociAl netwoRking supporTing local Ethical tRading system to tackle this issue, at it?s core an information system that encompasses technology, social media and business analytics are brought together to engage customers, traders and citizens to spend locally by featuring the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations of trading local. After situating BARTER at the heart of the community (with varying traders in and around Lancaster, UK) for some time, this paper is a follow on from a ?BARTER Visualisations? design concept, reporting on the progression and recent developments in the project. Whilst these systems are in place within the community, further research is being conducted to evaluate if revealing and transforming transaction data in a playful and informative manner will help citizens better understand the flow of money in the local economy

Comment on “Dynamic surface topography: A new interpretation based upon mantle flow models derived from seismic tomography” by A. M. Forte, W. R. Peltier, A. M. Dziewonski and R. L. Woodward

In a recent paper in this journal, Forte et al. [1993] have proposed a model of global dynamic topography with an amplitude of three kilometers (six kilometers peak to peak). If North America, Australia, and other continents were dynamically depressed by the one to two kilometers predicted, then these continents would today be below sea level and nearly covered by epeiric seas. Since the continents are nearly entirely exposed and have become progressively exposed since the Late Mesozoic the amplitude of the Forte et al., model is clearly much too large

The role of lamotrigine in the management of bipolar disorder

Lamotrigine has emerged with a distinct place in the pharmacological treatment of bipolar disorder, with the potential to treat and prevent bipolar depression, which is the dominant and arguably most disabling and under-treated phase of the illness. This review examines the published clinical trials of lamotrigine in bipolar treatment. While the data supports its tolerability and safety, the strongest evidence for its efficacy lies in the prevention of bipolar depression, with weaker evidence for the treatment of acute bipolar depression, refractory unipolar and bipolar depression, and rapid cycling bipolar disorder. The total number of published well designed trials is small, even the maintenance evidence is derived from two studies. However, this relative inadequacy compares favorably with the alternative treatment options for bipolar depression, which are marked by poor efficacy or risk of polarity switch. The designation of lamotrigine as first-line treatment for bipolar depression prophylaxis should be done in cognizance of this context, and it would seem prudent to await greater evidence of efficacy before designating lamotrigine as first-line treatment for other bipolar indications. Further randomized controlled trials are required to consolidate the available findings and to explore the boundaries of lamotrigine’s efficacy, which may encompass the soft spectral disorders