Ceramics and Society in Northern Europe

Neolithic pottery in Britain and Ireland was produced from shortly after 4000 BC. There are regional variations but overall a four phase chronology for the pottery is also suggested: First Neolithic, approximately 4000–3800 BC; Early Neolithic, approximately 3800–3500 BC; Middle Neolithic, approximately 3500–2900 BC; and Late Neolithic, approximately 2900–2400 BC. Within this framework evidence for the processes of pottery production and use are studied to define a number of different traditions and practices. The external form of vessels seems to be strongly codified in the early part of the period, although there was a range of different inclusion recipes used. In the Middle and Later Neolithic there seem to be much simpler fabrics but a greater range of vessel shapes. This later pottery also seems to have been used for a much wider range of tasks

Die advertensie

"When does a language die?" This question leads to the central, overarching theme explored in the novel. The protagonist is a naive twenty-something who runs a boutique advertising agency in the bustling heart of Cape Town. As a published author he has a passion for Afrikaans literature but he knows that due to the socio-economic climate of the current postapartheid South Africa, making a career out of his passion, is futile. It is this reality that is investigated in the text, posing a secondary question: Can a passionate, gifted individual follow his or her artistic ambitions in South Africa's current socio-economic environment? The story unfolds with a car crash that leaves the protagonist paralyzed and dying in the middle of nowhere. With this scene, the protagonist becomes a metaphor for the Afrikaans language - a language paralyzed by its historical baggage, dying in the middle of nowhere (the southern tip of Africa). The protagonist also represents the passionate, young artists and writers who naively dream of achieving artistic success and saving the language. A young girl stumbles upon the lead character in this deserted landscape (almost as one would stumble upon a new piece of literature). The girl's father is "out of town", and therefore can't help. So, she tries to save him herself, giving him nourishment and accompaniment. The missing father figure, or more specifically, the missing leader figure, is also fundamental to the theme. It intensifies the concept that the burden is upon the younger generation to save themselves, their language and their culture. The plot of the novel drives this theme. The protagonist is given the chance to save himself, his family and his language - everything he holds dear - by an opportunity created by a business tycoon. This character is depicted as the quintessential leader figure. He has the desire to create a long-lasting legacy by saving the language and he has the financial means to see it through. He briefs the protagonist as well as other agencies to conceptualize a marketing campaign that will ensure the survival of the Afrikaans language for generations to come. In the final chapter, the protagonist dies, not being able to save himself, his family, or his language. The young girl that discovered him, now buries him with his notebook (which is filled with his literary writings sporadically featured throughout the text). The metaphor is thus that as he (the young, passionate writer) dies, the language dies. The theme's crescendo is reached in the final three sentences of the novel, where it is professed that the Afrikaans language will not die some unforeseeable time in the future, but that the language is in fact already dead. And there is nothing the passionate, naive young artists can do to save it. By dying, the protagonist himself becomes the concept of his marketing campaign. He becomes the billboard, the advertisement (Die Advertensie), for a language that cannot be saved

Kaczmarz Algorithm with Soft Constraints for User Interface Layout

The Kaczmarz method is an iterative method for solving large systems of equations that projects iterates orthogonally onto the solution space of each equation. In contrast to direct methods such as Gaussian elimination or QR-factorization, this algorithm is efficient for problems with sparse matrices, as they appear in constraint-based user interface (UI) layout specifications. However, the Kaczmarz method as described in the literature has its limitations: it considers only equality constraints and does not support soft constraints, which makes it inapplicable to the UI layout problem. In this paper we extend the Kaczmarz method for solving specifications containing soft constraints, using the prioritized IIS detection algorithm. Furthermore, the performance and convergence of the proposed algorithms are evaluated empirically using randomly generated UI layout specifications of various sizes. The results show that these methods offer improvements in performance over standard methods like Matlab\u27s LINPROG, a well-known efficient linear programming solver

Neuromorphic Hardware In The Loop: Training a Deep Spiking Network on the BrainScaleS Wafer-Scale System

Emulating spiking neural networks on analog neuromorphic hardware offers several advantages over simulating them on conventional computers, particularly in terms of speed and energy consumption. However, this usually comes at the cost of reduced control over the dynamics of the emulated networks. In this paper, we demonstrate how iterative training of a hardware-emulated network can compensate for anomalies induced by the analog substrate. We first convert a deep neural network trained in software to a spiking network on the BrainScaleS wafer-scale neuromorphic system, thereby enabling an acceleration factor of 10 000 compared to the biological time domain. This mapping is followed by the in-the-loop training, where in each training step, the network activity is first recorded in hardware and then used to compute the parameter updates in software via backpropagation. An essential finding is that the parameter updates do not have to be precise, but only need to approximately follow the correct gradient, which simplifies the computation of updates. Using this approach, after only several tens of iterations, the spiking network shows an accuracy close to the ideal software-emulated prototype. The presented techniques show that deep spiking networks emulated on analog neuromorphic devices can attain good computational performance despite the inherent variations of the analog substrate.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures, submitted to IJCNN 201

Characterization and Compensation of Network-Level Anomalies in Mixed-Signal Neuromorphic Modeling Platforms

Advancing the size and complexity of neural network models leads to an ever increasing demand for computational resources for their simulation. Neuromorphic devices offer a number of advantages over conventional computing architectures, such as high emulation speed or low power consumption, but this usually comes at the price of reduced configurability and precision. In this article, we investigate the consequences of several such factors that are common to neuromorphic devices, more specifically limited hardware resources, limited parameter configurability and parameter variations. Our final aim is to provide an array of methods for coping with such inevitable distortion mechanisms. As a platform for testing our proposed strategies, we use an executable system specification (ESS) of the BrainScaleS neuromorphic system, which has been designed as a universal emulation back-end for neuroscientific modeling. We address the most essential limitations of this device in detail and study their effects on three prototypical benchmark network models within a well-defined, systematic workflow. For each network model, we start by defining quantifiable functionality measures by which we then assess the effects of typical hardware-specific distortion mechanisms, both in idealized software simulations and on the ESS. For those effects that cause unacceptable deviations from the original network dynamics, we suggest generic compensation mechanisms and demonstrate their effectiveness. Both the suggested workflow and the investigated compensation mechanisms are largely back-end independent and do not require additional hardware configurability beyond the one required to emulate the benchmark networks in the first place. We hereby provide a generic methodological environment for configurable neuromorphic devices that are targeted at emulating large-scale, functional neural networks

Establishing a Novel Modeling Tool: A Python-Based Interface for a Neuromorphic Hardware System

Neuromorphic hardware systems provide new possibilities for the neuroscience modeling community. Due to the intrinsic parallelism of the micro-electronic emulation of neural computation, such models are highly scalable without a loss of speed. However, the communities of software simulator users and neuromorphic engineering in neuroscience are rather disjoint. We present a software concept that provides the possibility to establish such hardware devices as valuable modeling tools. It is based on the integration of the hardware interface into a simulator-independent language which allows for unified experiment descriptions that can be run on various simulation platforms without modification, implying experiment portability and a huge simplification of the quantitative comparison of hardware and simulator results. We introduce an accelerated neuromorphic hardware device and describe the implementation of the proposed concept for this system. An example setup and results acquired by utilizing both the hardware system and a software simulator are demonstrated

2′,3,4,4′,5-Penta­meth­oxy­chalcone

In the title chalcone [systemetic name 1-(2,4-dimeth­oxy­phen­yl)-3-(3,4,5-trimeth­oxy­phen­yl)prop-2-en-1-one], C20H22O6, the dihedral angle between the plane of the two benzene rings is 7.03 (4)° with all but one of the meth­oxy groups essentially co-planar with these rings [C—C—O—C torsion angles = −76.1 (2), −0.7 (3), 1.8 (3), −6.2 (3), 2.0 (3)°]. An intra­molecular C—H⋯O inter­action occurs. The crystal packing is stabilized by weak inter­molecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds

A narrative hermeneutical adventure : seafarers and their complex relationship with their families

This article has been adapted from the PhD dissertation of C.J.V. (University of Pretoria) which was completed under the supervision of J.C.M. (University of Pretoria).This research project is an attempt to develop a rich understanding about the relationship between seafarers and their families by means of a conversational construction between a number of co-researchers. In order to do this, the question that is explored is: How can there be a better understanding of the lives, the circumstances and the problems that seafarers are experiencing in the relationship with their families? The answer put forward in this research is that this can be accomplished through a narrative approach guided by the ABDCE formula which applies the metaphor of story writing to research. The research was motivated by pastoral and missionary concerns. The epistemologies that informed this research were social constructionism, the narrative approach and postfoundationalism with its emphasis on the interdisciplinary approach. In this article the main character for this research was a seafarer called John1 from Nigeria who was brought into conversation with a number of other coresearchers. The understanding that was developed found that the career choice of seafarers creates problems in their relationship with their family because they become in a sense strangers and outsiders to their loved ones. On the other hand seafarers are empowered, many times through their faith, to handle the challenges of their career, in addition to which this profession offers opportunities that would otherwise not have been possible. The relationship between a seafarer and his or her family was described as a complex one and thin, superficial and stereotypical conclusions were hopefully in the process deconstructed.http://www.hts.org.zahttp://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-05112012-200607/nf201

Managing psycho-social factors to develop junior golf players

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY : Golf has evolved into a professional sport, which places greater demands on golf coaches and managers to deliver players with high skill levels. There is a paucity of research regarding the developmental pathway for junior golf players to reach professional level. The purpose of this study was to determine how to effectively manage the transition of junior golf players to a professional level. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH : Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 former or current Sunshine Tour players, Professional Golfers Association of South Africa (PGA of SA) members, PGA of SA teaching professionals and/or golf administrators. FINDINGS : The Professional Golfers Development Framework (PGDF) for junior golfers in the South African context was developed. RECOMMENDATIONS/VALUE : The PGDF suggests that social support, coaching, specialisation, financing, psychology, lifestyle and branding are aspects that have a significant influence on golf player development. MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS : By utilising the PGDF, junior golf players may achieve greater success in their transition to become a professional golfer through developmental programmes.https://www.jcman.co.za/#/homeam2023Psycholog