Maths Meets Myths: Network Investigations of Ancient Narratives

Three years ago, we initiated a programme of research in which ideas and tools from statistical physics and network theory were applied to the field of comparative mythology. The eclecticism of the work, together with the perspectives it delivered, led to widespread media coverage and academic discussion. Here we review some aspects of the project, contextualised with a brief history of the long relationship between science and the humanities. We focus in particular on an Irish epic, summarising some of the outcomes of our quantitative investigation. We also describe the emergence of a new sub-discipline and our hopes for its future

A study of the attitudes of English-speaking high school pupils in Gauteng towards Afrikaans-speaking teachers teaching through the medium of English

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of learners at English-medium schools towards teachers whose home language was Afrikaans and who taught through the medium of English. A secondary objective was to determine whether the teacher's home language had any effect on the learners' academic performance in the subject concerned. It was found that English-speaking learners had a slightly negative attitude to Afrikaans and did not give English much consideration except as a useful means of communication. Afrikaans-speaking learners expressed a positive attitude to - and pride in - their language. They were also much more positive to English than were the English-speaking learners towards Afrikaans. The English-speaking learners' attitude towards Afrikaans was not generally carried over to Afrikaners. However they objected to being taught English by non-English-speakers. Gender appeared to play a role in the learners' attitudes, as the girls were generally more positive to Afrikaans than the boys and achieved higher marks than the boys in almost all the subjects covered in this study The academic performance of learners at the English-medium schools was adversely affected by having Afrikaans-speaking teachers since, in almost every case, the learners in these teachers' classes obtained lower marks than those who were taught by English-speaking teachers. The principal recommendation arising from this study is that, where possible, the teachers at English-medium schools should be English L1 speakers.Linguistics and Modern LanguagesM.A. (Sociolinguistics

Universal Properties of Mythological Networks

As in statistical physics, the concept of universality plays an important, albeit qualitative, role in the field of comparative mythology. Here we apply statistical mechanical tools to analyse the networks underlying three iconic mythological narratives with a view to identifying common and distinguishing quantitative features. Of the three narratives, an Anglo-Saxon and a Greek text are mostly believed by antiquarians to be partly historically based while the third, an Irish epic, is often considered to be fictional. Here we show that network analysis is able to discriminate real from imaginary social networks and place mythological narratives on the spectrum between them. Moreover, the perceived artificiality of the Irish narrative can be traced back to anomalous features associated with six characters. Considering these as amalgams of several entities or proxies, renders the plausibility of the Irish text comparable to the others from a network-theoretic point of view.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Updated to incorporate corrections from EPL acceptance proces

Planck 2018 results. XII. Galactic astrophysics using polarized dust emission

We present 353 GHz full-sky maps of the polarization fraction p, angle \u3c8, and dispersion of angles S of Galactic dust thermal emission produced from the 2018 release of Planck data. We confirm that the mean and maximum of p decrease with increasing NH. The uncertainty on the maximum polarization fraction, pmax=22.0% at 80 arcmin resolution, is dominated by the uncertainty on the zero level in total intensity. The observed inverse behaviour between p and S is interpreted with models of the polarized sky that include effects from only the topology of the turbulent Galactic magnetic field. Thus, the statistical properties of p, \u3c8, and S mostly reflect the structure of the magnetic field. Nevertheless, we search for potential signatures of varying grain alignment and dust properties. First, we analyse the product map S 7p, looking for residual trends. While p decreases by a factor of 3--4 between NH=1020 cm 122 and NH=2 71022 cm 122, S 7p decreases by only about 25%, a systematic trend observed in both the diffuse ISM and molecular clouds. Second, we find no systematic trend of S 7p with the dust temperature, even though in the diffuse ISM lines of sight with high p and low S tend to have colder dust. We also compare Planck data with starlight polarization in the visible at high latitudes. The agreement in polarization angles is remarkable. Two polarization emission-to-extinction ratios that characterize dust optical properties depend only weakly on NH and converge towards the values previously determined for translucent lines of sight. We determine an upper limit for the polarization fraction in extinction of 13%, compatible with the pmax observed in emission. These results provide strong constraints for models of Galactic dust in diffuse gas

Human migration: the big data perspective

How can big data help to understand the migration phenomenon? In this paper, we try to answer this question through an analysis of various phases of migration, comparing traditional and novel data sources and models at each phase. We concentrate on three phases of migration, at each phase describing the state of the art and recent developments and ideas. The first phase includes the journey, and we study migration flows and stocks, providing examples where big data can have an impact. The second phase discusses the stay, i.e. migrant integration in the destination country. We explore various data sets and models that can be used to quantify and understand migrant integration, with the final aim of providing the basis for the construction of a novel multi-level integration index. The last phase is related to the effects of migration on the source countries and the return of migrants

Identifying natural grouping structure in gelada baboons: A network approach

We use network analysis of co-herding and nearest-neighbour data for harems from several study populations to examine the natural grouping patterns of gelada baboons, Theropithecus gelada, a molecular fission-fusion primate species. We show that the association patterns of the harems reflect grouping levels of ca. two, ca. four, ca. seven and ca. 14 harems (equivalent to ca. 30, ca. 50, ca. 100 and ca. 200 individuals). These patterns are stable across both time and space. Analysis of the distribution of harem sizes across four study populations suggests that these grouping levels reflect the processes that influence haremfission, combined with a viscosity reflecting time since fission. We suggest that the natural social grouping for this species is a set of two to three harems that are the product of recent harem fission, in line with predictions from the social brain hypothesis, and that successivefission events over time cumulatively give rise to the other grouping layers. While the grouping of ca. 100 animals has previously been identified as the‘band’, the ca. 50 layer was previously unidentified. We do not know what its function is, although it closely resembles typical Papio troops in size

Network analysis of Beowulf, the Iliad and the Táin Bó Cúailnge

Mythological epics frequently entail plethoras of characters in timeless narratives beyond documented history. As such, they differ from legends couched in definite historical timeframes and intentionally fictional folktales. The concept of universality is important to comparative mythology and it has been claimed that narratives from a variety of cultures share similar structures. Universality also lies at the heart of network theory, a relatively new branch of theoretical physics with broad applicability. Network theory allows one to classify and compare the interconnectedness underlying a multitude of structures relevant to biology, sociology, economics, chemistry, physics, transport, computer science, and other disciplines. Here we apply this theory to study networks of characters appearing in three different mythological narratives: Beowulf, the Iliad and the Táin Bó Cúailnge. By comparing these amongst each other, and to real, fictitious and random networks, we seek to develop a new, quantitative approach to comparative mythology. In particular, we find that each of the three epics has, to varying degrees, properties akin to those of real social networks. This quantitative approach forms a basis upon which one may speculate as to the extent to which these narratives may be based upon real or imaginary societies

Network analysis of the Íslendinga sögur - the Sagas of Icelanders

The Íslendinga sögur – or Sagas of Icelanders – constitute a collection of medieval literature set in Iceland around the late 9th to early 11th centuries, the so-called Saga Age. They purport to describe events during the period around the settlement of Iceland and the generations immediately following and constitute an important element of world literature thanks to their unique narrative style. Although their historicity is a matter of scholarly debate, the narratives contain interwoven and overlapping plots involving thousands of characters and interactions between them. Here we perform a network analysis of the Íslendinga sögur in an attempt to gather quantitative information on interrelationships between characters and to compare saga society to other social networks

A quantitative approach to comparative mythology

A new, quantitative approach to comparative mythology is introduced using methods developed in theoretical physics. The broad concept of universality has long been relevant to comparative mythology, in a qualitative sense, and it has been claimed that narratives from a variety of cultures may share certain similarities in terms of structure. A notion of universality also lies at the heart of network theory, a relatively new branch of statistical physics with wide applicability. Network theory permits quantitative comparisons of the interconnectedness underlying a multitude of structures relevant to many disciplines, from biology, chemistry and physics to sociology, economics and the computer sciences. Here we apply this theory to comparative mythology and study interrelationships of characters appearing in three iconic epic narratives: Beowulf, the Iliad and the Táin Bó Cúailnge. By comparing these amongst each other, as well as to real, fictitious and random networks, we seek to introduce a new, quantitative approach to the humanities. We show that each of the three epics has, to varying degrees, properties akin to those of real social networks