The Beast Within: H.G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau, and human evolution in the mid-1890s

H.G. Wells’ novels The Time Machine and The Island of Doctor Moreau were both concerned with the evolutionary destiny of mankind and what it meant to be human, both important areas of discussion for Victorian natural science in the 1890s. In this essay I set these two works in their broader scientific context and explore some of the then contemporary influences on them drawn from the emerging disciplines of archaeology and anthropology. Wells was a student of T.H. Huxley whose influence on his own emerging views on human evolution are clear. While most scientists and the lay-public accepted the reality of evolution by the 1890s, and the natural origins of the human species, fear of the implications of our ‘primitive’ heritage pervaded popular and scientific works. Wells bridged that gap with an uncompromising outlook delivered to the public as scientific truth delivered through short stories, novels and scientific journalism

Milton\u27s Vocal Hierarchy in Paradise Lost

Despite the important work that has been done on both the narrative voice and the interplay between the characters\u27 voices in Paradise Lost, the thematic importance of the way in which the physical, audible voices of the various characters exist within the poem has not been explored. My thesis fills this critical void, focusing on the audible voices of God, the Son, Satan, Adam, and Eve to address the poem’s hierarchy: God as absolute ruler, the Son as viceroy, Satan as insurgent, and Adam and Eve as potential residents of Heaven pending their exercise of free will. I argue that, in choosing audible voice as a vital physical manifestation of the heavenly and hellish hierarchies, Milton elevates voice as one of his epic’s enduring features

Equity and Efficiency Measures of Tax-Transfer Systems: Some Evidence for New Zealand

The redistributive and efficiency aspects of personal taxes are of particular interest to both economists and governments designing tax reforms. Traditionally however, the numerous analytical tools available to calculate distributional and efficiency effects of taxes and transfers are not widely used in tax policy advice. This partly reflects the computational complexities involved in calculating some of those measures and the need for simplicity, and transparency of underlying assumptions, when presenting policy advice. This paper makes two contributions to the analysis of the equity and efficiency effects of tax policy. Firstly, it applies the methodologies proposed by economists to measure equity and efficiency outcomes of taxes to provide some evidence for the New Zealand income tax and transfer system. This makes use of Treasury’s microsimulation model, TaxWell. Secondly, the paper examines a database of low-income New Zealand taxpayers. A decomposition by individual and household characteristics shows that different groups of low income taxpayers can be affected quite differently by various aspects of the tax/transfer system. In particular, tax-free zones do not appear well targeted to help those most in need.Personal Income Taxes; Equity; Redistribution; Transfers; Tax Efficiency

Experimental stone tool replication at the Early Stone Age site of Sterkfontein, Gauteng, South Africa

Between 1999 and 2000 a large experimental knapping programme was carried out at the early hominin site of Sterkfontein, South Africa. Its purpose was to assess aspects of the technology of lithic production found in the Oldowan and Acheulean deposits at the site. The data was used to inform technological analysis of the Sterkfontein stone tool assemblages. In the light of more recent research on raw material selection and transport at East African Oldowan sites, we report on the conclusions drawn from the analysis of the experimental cores to assess their contribution to understanding the influence of raw materials on knapping in the Oldowan and Acheulean at Sterkfontein. Hominins practised raw material selectivity and adapted their knapping strategies to fit clast shape and lithology. The experimental programme offered the opportunity to analyse some of the variables commonly involved in reconstructing lithic behaviour from artefacts and found, as with other studies reported elsewhere, that linear relationships based on one, or a few supposedly diagnostic variables do not stand up to scrutin

Confined feeding facilities : site selection and management (1981)

Recently, lawsuits against owners of confined livestock and poultry feeding units have not been uncommon. In many cases, penalties have been assessed. Proper attention to site selection when the project was started could have prevented much of the litigation. Many operators could have paid more attention to management, or "housekeeping," and avoided the problem. This guide presents two recent court cases which illustrate the importance of site selection and management. It also offers some general guidelines for selecting a confined feeding facility site and for the management required to reduce odor and water pollution problems.New 11/81/15M

Measurement of Xylary Fluid Movement in Elm by the Thermoelectric Method

The thermoelectric method was used to determine the effect of external conditions and diurnal variation on the direction of xylary fluid movement in elm branches. Upward movement was detected under conditions favoring normal transpirational rates. No movement was detected during darkness or rainy conditions. Possible downward movement of branch fluid was indicated during late afternoon. Further refinement of the technique is needed for clarifying the latter observation

Chemical Coupling in Wood Fiber and Polymer Composites: A Review of Coupling Agents and Treatments

Coupling agents in wood fiber and polymer composites (WFPC) play a very important role in improving the compatibility and adhesion between polar wood fibers and non-polar polymeric matrices. In this paper, we review coupling agents, pretrcatment, and mixing technology for wood fiber and polymer currently used in the manufacture of WFPC. So far, over forty coupling agents have been used in production and research. These agents are classified as organic, inorganic, and organic-inorganic groups, among which organic agents are better than inorganic agents because of stronger interfacial adhesion. The most popular coupling agents currently being used include isocyanates, anhydrides, silanes, and anhydride-modified copolymers. Coupling agents are usually coated on the surface of wood fiber, polymer or both by compounding, blending, soaking, spraying, or other methods. Three basic processes suitable for coupling treatment are discussed: directly coating during mixing and fully or partly pretreating before mixing. The pretreatment of wood fiber and polymer by coating or grafting is the preferred method to improve the mechanical properties of WFPC.

Confined feeding facilities : site selection and management (1993)

Recently, lawsuits against owners of confined livestock and poultry feeding units have not been uncommon. In many cases, penalties have been assessed. Proper attention to site selection when the project was started could have prevented much of the litigation. Many operators could have paid more attention to management, or "housekeeping," and avoided the problem. This guide presents two recent court cases which illustrate the importance of site selection and management. It also offers some general guidelines for selecting a confined feeding facility site and for the management required to reduce odor and water pollution problems

From side to side: Symmetry in handaxes in the British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic

The Acheulean is defined by its iconic tool type, the handaxe, and a suite of other large cutting tools (LCTs). These tools retain information on technical and procedural practices concerned with the manufacture of these butchery tools and carcass processing knives. The Acheulean straddles the period in which more ancient hominin species (H. erectus and H. heidelbergensis) give way to archaic H. sapiens (sensu lato) amongst whom the ancestor of modern humans may be found. The roots of modern behaviour may be present in these handaxe making hominin species, and the handaxes themselves, through proxy data such as bilateral symmetry, may chart hominin cognitive evolution as researchers such as T. Wynn and F. Coolidge (2016), amongst others, have argued. But the search for the earliest consistent application of symmetry, and its persistence thereafter has been hampered by the lack of large datasets, spanning the temporal extent of the Acheulean, and analysed through a single consistent methodology. Our paper has two aims. The first, and in the absence of a large comparative data set of earlier Acheulean handaxes, is to assess the degree to which symmetry is consistently applied to the making of handaxes in the later Acheulean (=<0.5 mya), a time when bilateral planform symmetry should already be an integral component in handaxe making. The dataset we select is the British Acheulean from MIS 13 – MIS 3/4. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time handaxe symmetry has been assessed on a large body of British Acheulean handaxes. Our second aim is to present a relatively simple and low tech methodology for the analysis of handaxes and their symmetry that is widely available and does not require expensive equipment or specialist software/technical knowledge. It works from orthogonal handaxe photographs which many researchers will already have. From such data it may be possible to begin to construct the larger datasets necessary to answer symmetry related questions regarding cognitive evolution. This offers us the opportunity to raise a number of key methodological questions which we believe ought to be debated by researchers before the generation of appropriate datasets begins