The incurious seeker: waiting, and the search for the stranger in the fiction of Samuel Beckett and JM Coetzee

In J.M. Coetzee and the Novel: Writing and Politics after Beckett, Patrick Hayes argues that Coetzee, while influenced by Beckett’s prose style, assimilates it in such a way that his writing not only departs from the latter’s solipsism but also provides “an anti-foundational imagining of moral community” (71). While there is much merit to this argument, Hayes’s distinction between Beckett’s solipsism and Coetzee’s concern with community downplays the extent to which the human subject’s conception of herself depends on the differential process through which community establishes itself. In the first section of this paper I show that, already in Murphy, we find evidence in support of Ileana Marculescu’s argument that Beckett inscribes solipsism in his writing only to subvert it. Murphy’s attempts at solipsistic knowledge fail precisely because he has been estranged from himself by language and community. What appears to be solipsism is, in fact, a search for the self from which he has been divided by community. In Beckett’s writing, the self’s concern with its ability to know itself is always a concern with community

Critical Values for Yen’s Q3: Identification of Local Dependence in the Rasch model using Residual Correlations

The assumption of local independence is central to all IRT models. Violations can lead to inflated estimates of reliability and problems with construct validity. For the most widely used fit statistic Q3 there are currently no well-documented suggestions of the critical values which should be used to indicate local dependence, and for this reason a variety of arbitrary rules of thumb are used. In this study, we used an empirical data example and Monte Carlo simulation to investigate the different factors that can influence the null distribution of residual correlations, with the objective of proposing guidelines that researchers and practitioners can follow when making decisions about local dependence during scale development and validation. We propose that a parametric bootstrapping procedure should be implemented in each separate situation in order to obtain the critical value of local dependence applicable to the data set, and provide example critical values for a number of data structure situations. The results show that for the Q3 fit statistic no single critical value is appropriate for all situations, as the percentiles in the empirical null distribution are influenced by the number of items, the sample size, and the number of response categories. Furthermore, our results show that local dependence should be considered relative to the average observed residual correlation, rather than to a uniform value, as this results in more stable percentiles for the null distribution of an adjusted fit statistic

Analysis of a very large web search engine query log

In this paper we present an analysis of an AltaVista Search Engine query log consisting of approximately 1 billion entries for search requests over a period of six weeks. This represents almost 285 million user sessions, each an attempt to fill a single information need. We present an analysis of individual queries, query duplication, and query sessions. We also present results of a correlation analysis of the log entries, studying the interaction of terms within queries. Our data supports the conjecture that web users differ significantly from the user assumed in the standard information retrieval literature. Specifically, we show that web users type in short queries, mostly look at the first 10 results only, and seldom modify the query. This suggests that traditional information retrieval techniques may not work well for answering web search requests. The correlation analysis showed that the most highly correlated items are constituents of phrases. This result indicates it may be useful for search engines to consider search terms as parts of phrases even if the user did not explicitly specify them as such

How has the OSD affected our state hospitals?

The long-awaited occupation-specific dispensation (OSD) process for state-employed doctors has now been concluded. The final offer, signed and accepted in the bargaining chamber despite being rejected by 92% of doctors in a SAMA survey, has not received much attention or fanfare. At the conclusion of this process, which has been drawn out over several years, many points have emerged that are extremely worrying for the future of health care in this country

ARMS: A Developing Metadata Standard for Describing Astrobiology Research Products

These presentation slides introduce the Astrobiology Resource Metadata Standard (ARMS), a new metadata standard under development at NASA Ames Research Center, in conjunction with the Astrobiology Habitable Environments Database (AHED) project. The intent of this standard is to enable uniform, internet-based search and discovery of astrobiology 'resources', i.e. virtually any product of astrobiology research, including datasets, physical samples, software, publications, websites, images, video, presentations, etc. The current draft of ARMS defines 16 different metadata properties used to describe a given resource, including routine information such as name, resource type, description, personnel, funding, and related publications. But the true power in ARMS lies in four astrobiology-specific pieces of metadata: field site location enables geospatially-restricted search for resources using placenames or geospatial coordinates; research theme associates resources with one of six broad areas of astrobiological research (as identified in the 2015 NASA Astrobiology Strategy document); astrobiology disciplines captures the set of science disciplines most relevant to creation or use of resources; and finally, astrobiology keywords characterize resources in much in the same summarizing way that journal article keywords describe publications. An initial draft of the ARMS standard is being prepared for circulation to the astrobiology community for feedback and revision

The psychometric properties of the Evaluation of Daily Activity Questionnaire in seven musculoskeletal conditions

Purpose: To psychometrically test the Evaluation of Daily Activity Questionnaire in seven musculoskeletal conditions. Materials and Methods: 1200 people with: ankylosing spondylitis; osteoarthritis; systemic lupus erythematosus; systemic sclerosis; chronic pain; chronic upper limb disorders; or Primary Sjögren’s syndrome completed the Evaluation of Daily Activity Questionnaire, Health Assessment Questionnaire and Short-Form Health Survey v2. We examined internal construct validity using Rasch analysis, internal consistency, concurrent validity with the Health Assessment Questionnaire and Short-Form Health Survey v2. Participants repeated the Evaluation of Daily Activity Questionnaire to assess test-retest reliability. Results: The 12 domains satisfied Rasch model expectations for fit, local dependency, unidimensionality and invariance by age and gender, in each musculoskeletal condition. Internal consistency was consistent with individual use (Cronbach’s alpha >0.90); concurrent validity was strong (Health Assessment Questionnaire: rs =0.60 to 0.92; Short- Form Health Survey v2 Physical Function: rs = -0.61 to -0.91) and test-retest reliability excellent (Intra-Class Correlation Coefficient(2,1) = 0.77 to 0.96). Conclusion: The Evaluation of Daily Activity Questionnaire satisfied Rasch model requirements for construct validity and has good reliability and validity in each MSC. The Evaluation of Daily Activity Questionnaire can be used as a measure of everyday activity in practice and research with people with musculoskeletal conditions

Effect of cadence on locomotor–respiratory coupling during upper-body exercise

Introduction: Asynchronous arm-cranking performed at high cadences elicits greater cardiorespiratory responses compared to low cadences. This has been attributed to increased postural demand and locomotor–respiratory coupling (LRC), and yet, this has not been empirically tested. This study aimed to assess the effects of cadence on cardiorespiratory responses and LRC during upper-body exercise. Methods: Eight recreationally-active men performed arm-cranking exercise at moderate and severe intensities that were separated by 10 min of rest. At each intensity, participants exercised for 4 min at each of three cadences (50, 70, and 90 rev min−1) in a random order, with 4 min rest-periods applied in-between cadences. Exercise measures included LRC via whole- and half-integer ratios, cardiorespiratory function, perceptions of effort (RPE and dyspnoea), and diaphragm EMG using an oesophageal catheter. Results: The prevalence of LRC during moderate exercise was highest at 70 vs. 50 rev min−1 (27 ± 10 vs. 13 ± 9%, p = 0.000) and during severe exercise at 90 vs. 50 rev min−1 (24 ± 7 vs. 18 ± 5%, p = 0.034), with a shorter inspiratory time and higher mean inspiratory flow (p < 0.05) at higher cadences. During moderate exercise, (Formula presented.) and fC were higher at 90 rev min−1 (p < 0.05) relative to 70 and 50 rev min−1 ((Formula presented.) 1.19 ± 0.25 vs. 1.05 ± 0.21 vs. 0.97 ± 0.24 L min−1; fC 116 ± 11 vs. 101 ± 13 vs. 101 ± 12 b min−1), with concomitantly elevated dyspnoea. There were no discernible cadence-mediated effects on diaphragm EMG. Conclusion: Participants engage in LRC to a greater extent at moderate-high cadences which, in turn, increase respiratory airflow. Cadence rate should be carefully considered when designing aerobic training programmes involving the upper-limbs

Seasonality of isoprene emissions and oxidation products above the remote Amazon

The Amazon rainforest is the largest source of isoprene emissions to the atmosphere globally. Under low nitric oxide (NO) conditions (i.e. at NO mixing ratios less than about 40 pptv), isoprene reacts rapidly with hydroxyl (OH) to form isoprene-derived peroxy radicals (ISOPOO), which subsequently react with the hydroperoxyl radical (HO2) to form isoprene epoxydiols (IEPOX). IEPOX compounds are efficient precursors to the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOA). Natural isoprene emissions, therefore, have the potential to influence cloudiness, rainfall, radiation balance and climate. Here, we present the first seasonal analysis of isoprene emissions and concentrations above the Amazon based on eddy covariance flux measurements made at a remote forest location. We reveal the forest to maintain a constant emission potential of isoprene throughout the year (6.9 mg m-2 h-1). The emission potential of isoprene is calculated by normalising the measured fluxes to a set of standard conditions (303 K and 1500 mmol m-2 s-1). During the wet season a factor of two reduction in absolute emissions was observed but this is explained entirely on the basis of meteorology and leaf area index, not by a change in isoprene emissions potential. Using an innovative analysis of the isoprene fluxes, in combination with measurements of its oxidation products and detailed chemical box-modelling, we explore whether concentrations of IEPOX follow the same seasonal cycle as the isoprene precursor. Our analysis implies that during the dry season (Sep–Jan) air pollution from regional biomass burning provides a modest increase in NO concentrations (indirectly inferred from a combination of other anthropogenic tracer measurements and box-modelling) which creates a competing oxidation pathway for ISOPOO; rather than forming IEPOX, alternative products are formed with less propensity to produce aerosol. This competition decreases IEPOX formation rates by a factor of two in the dry season compared with a scenario with no anthropogenic NO pollution, and by 30% throughout the year. The abundance of biogenic SOA precursors in the Amazon appears not to be dictated by the seasonality of natural isoprene emissions as previously thought, but is instead driven by regional anthropogenic pollution which modifies the atmospheric chemistry of isoprene