Guido's use of metaphor in Book XI of The ring and the book : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English Literature at Massey University

Little has been written directly on the use of metaphor in The Ring and the Book, although there are four critics who do make some attempt to discuss the effects of Browning's extensive use of figurative lan­guage. Each of these critics acknowledges his inadequacy in this area and is satisfied with simply asserting a proposition. Altick and Loucks in their book, Browning's Roman Murder Story1 , admit their differing views on the way metaphor is used in The Ring and the Book, and therefore make their observations individually. The "first author" suggests that each metaphor is used so exten­sively and in such contradictory contexts that any metaphor which entered the poem with "generally well-defined connotations" ceases to have any clearly defined meaning by the time it has been used by a number of different monologuists. Thus, "The protean quality of language has been amply demonstrated, but so has the weakness of language as a dependable means of communication. Metaphors, it turns out, are at the mercy of human motives..."2. Metaphor, in the view of this author, becomes an inadequate means of communication and an unreliable moral indicator. For example, the Adam and Eve myth is used extensively in the poem, and in normal usage the serpent is accepted as a symbol of evil. However, by the time the poem has ended the serpent has been used to describe Guido, Violante and Pompilia by various speakers. Since this symbol of evil cannot be used to adequately describe both Guido and Pompilia, the symbol or metaphor ceases to have value as a moral indicator. The implications of this view are complex. If we consider the poem in terms of plot, then metaphor becomes somewhat irrelevant, since it cannot assist us in our attempt to form a judgement of the protagonists. But if we consider the poem in terms of what the author is trying to reveal about the problems of language and communication, then the under­mining of the meaning of metaphors becomes crucial. This will be discussed more fully in a later chapter. [From Introduction

Finite Size Scaling in 2d Causal Set Quantum Gravity

We study the $N$-dependent behaviour of $\mathrm{2d}$ causal set quantum gravity. This theory is known to exhibit a phase transition as the analytic continuation parameter $\beta$, akin to an inverse temperature, is varied. Using a scaling analysis we find that the asymptotic regime is reached at relatively small values of $N$. Focussing on the $\mathrm{2d}$ causal set action $S$, we find that $\beta \langle S\rangle$ scales like $N^\nu$ where the scaling exponent $\nu$ takes different values on either side of the phase transition. For $\beta > \beta_c$ we find that $\nu=2$ which is consistent with our analytic predictions for a non-continuum phase in the large $\beta$ regime. For $\beta<\beta_c$ we find that $\nu=0$, consistent with a continuum phase of constant negative curvature thus suggesting a dynamically generated cosmological constant. Moreover, we find strong evidence that the phase transition is first order. Our results strongly suggest that the asymptotic regime is reached in $\mathrm{2d}$ causal set quantum gravity for $N \gtrsim 65$.Comment: 32 pages, 27 figures (v2 typos and missing reference fixed

A qualitative study of young people’s lived experiences of suicide and self-harm:Intentionality, rationality and authenticity

Background: Suicide is a leading cause of death amongst young people and a major public health concern. Although increasing research has identified contributory and protective factors affecting youth suicide, less is known about how young people make sense of suicidal distress themselves. Methods: Using semi-structured interview methods and reflexive thematic analysis, this study explores how 24 young people aged 16–24 in Scotland, UK made sense of their lived experiences of suicidal thoughts and feelings, self-harm, and suicide attempts. Results: Intentionality, rationality, and authenticity formed our central themes. Suicidal thoughts were categorised by participants dependent on their intention to act on them; a distinction often used to downplay the significance of early suicidal thoughts. Escalating suicidal feelings were then described as almost rational responses to adversities; whereas suicide attempts appeared to be described as more impulsive. These narratives seemed to be somewhat shaped by dismissive attitudes participants experienced in response to their suicidal distress, both from professionals and within their close networks. This impacted how participants articulated distress and asked for support. Conclusion: Suicidal thoughts that participants articulated as lacking the intention to act could represent key opportunities for early clinical intervention to prevent suicide. In contrast, stigma, difficulties communicating suicidal distress and dismissive attitudes could serve as barriers to seeking help, and, therefore, additional efforts should be made to ensure young people feel comfortable seeking help

Voice parameters predict sex-specific body morphology in men and women

Studies of several mammalian species confirm that formant frequencies (vocal tract resonances) predict height and weight better than does fundamental frequency (F0, perceived as pitch) in same-sex adults due to differential anatomical constraints. However, our recent meta-analysis (Pisanski et al., 2014, Animal Behaviour, 95, 89–99) indicated that formants and F0 could explain no more than 10% and 2% of the variance in human height, respectively, controlling for sex and age. Here, we examined whether other voice parameters, many of which are affected by sex hormones, can indicate additional variance in human body size or shape, and whether these relationships differ between the sexes. Using a cross-cultural sample of 700 men and women, we examined relationships among 19 voice parameters (minimum–maximum F0, mean F0, F0 variability, formant-based vocal tract length estimates, shimmer, jitter, harmonics-to-noise ratio) and eight indices of body size or shape (height, weight, body mass index, hip, waist and chest circumferences, waist-to-hip ratio, chest-to-hip ratio). Our results confirm that formant measures explain the most variance in heights and weights of men and women, whereas shimmer, jitter and harmonics-to-noise ratio do not indicate height, weight or body mass index in either sex. In contrast, these perturbation and noise parameters, in addition to F0 range and variability, explained more variance in body shape than did formants or mean F0, particularly among men. Shimmer or jitter explained the most variance in men's hip circumferences (12%) and chest-to-hip ratios (6%), whereas harmonics-to-noise ratio and formants explained the most variance in women's waist-to-hip ratios (11%), and significantly more than in men's waist-to-hip ratios. Our study represents the most comprehensive analysis of vocal indicators of human body size to date and offers a foundation for future research examining the hormonal mechanisms of voice production in humans and perceptual playback experiments

Corpus-Guided Contrast Sets for Morphosyntactic Feature Detection in Low-Resource English Varieties

The study of language variation examines how language varies between and within different groups of speakers, shedding light on how we use language to construct identities and how social contexts affect language use. A common method is to identify instances of a certain linguistic feature - say, the zero copula construction - in a corpus, and analyze the feature's distribution across speakers, topics, and other variables, to either gain a qualitative understanding of the feature's function or systematically measure variation. In this paper, we explore the challenging task of automatic morphosyntactic feature detection in low-resource English varieties. We present a human-in-the-loop approach to generate and filter effective contrast sets via corpus-guided edits. We show that our approach improves feature detection for both Indian English and African American English, demonstrate how it can assist linguistic research, and release our fine-tuned models for use by other researchers.Comment: Field Matters Workshop at COLING 202

LIS programs in pandemic: Challenges, resilience & opportunities

Panel overview: Library & information science programs and their parent schools and universities are no strangers to experiencing natural disasters. Many are situated in environments prone to hurricanes, flood, winter storms and wildfires and have experienced one or more of such events in the past. As a field that prides itself for supporting people’s informational needs, especially of those under-served populations, we as LIS educators have often stepped up to support our students and broader communities in a time of need. However, the experience of global COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to not only our organizations and profession but also to our personal lives. In this difficult and complex situation how are LIS programs coping and looking into the future? A panel of four LIS Program/School directors and program chairs will share their personal experiences in leading their organizations during the time of COVID-19. The panelists will reflect upon challenges that their programs experienced as the pandemic crisis emerged and evolved, the lessons we are learning about our preparedness and resilience to function during the time of crisis and the emerging opportunities for the future. Panel structure: The panel will be organized into three thematic units. Each unit will start with panelists’ sharing their reflections through illustrative examples and narrative stories reflecting their own experiences and experiences of their faculty, staff and students. Following introductory remarks on each of the themes, the audience will be invited to contribute their own experiences and observations. Panel Topics: - COVID-19 is here! This topic will focus on the first signs of pandemic and how the LIS programs were prepared, especially the emergency activation mechanisms, immediate challenges and first responses. From the perspectives of their different geographical locations and settings (large urban, small urban, rural) and program modalities, the panelists will share how they experienced “pivot” to functioning under conditions of COVID-19. - It’s a marathon, not a sprint! In this topic the panelists will discuss the issues and creative solutions for organizing continuity and success of educational processes in their programs under the conditions of pandemic. The panelists will discuss actions taken to ensure physical safety and mental health of both faculty and students; academic accommodations that were provided and monitoring mechanisms for ensuring engagement and feedback from LIS communities in their programs. - Challenges are new opportunities! The final topics will explore challenges that still need to be addressed (such as the impact of pandemic on faculty productivity; concerns about student enrollment) and new ideas that are emerging about providing LIS education (e.g., flexibility of instructional formats; online collaboration; unique LIS research contributions). The panelists will identify lessons learned and changes that are being evaluated and planned in their programs. Prior to the panel the panelists will create a collaborative digital whiteboard (Google Jamboard - https://jamboard.google.com/) that will include the three main themes of the panel. During the presentation, audience participants will have an opportunity to contribute personal comments and artifacts related to the panel topic. Following the panel, this digital white board will be preserved to commemorate our collective experience with pandemic. Panelists: Sanda Erdelez, Professor and Director at Simmons University School of Library and Information Science. She is a human information behavior researcher and educator with more than 25 years of experience in the LIS field, including teaching at University of Texas and Austin and University of Missouri- Columbia. Dr. Erdelez’ contribution to the panel will focus on the importance of effective and participatory communication processes during pandemic and on LIS programs/schools taking on a leadership role at their home institutions in the areas of specialized expertise, such as online learning and information needs and uses research. Jenny Bossaller, LIS Program Chair and Associate Professor at the iSchool at the University of Missouri – Columbia. Her teaching and research focus encompasses public libraries, information policy, and the history of libraries and information. She co-developed a public library leadership program, with Denice Adkins, that emphasizes community and professional immersion (PuLL). She is currently working on an interdisciplinary team to revitalize the iSchool's health librarianship program, which focuses on community engagement, which has proven to be especially difficult to manage during COVID. Dr. Bossaller will discuss problems and opportunities that arose during COVID regarding students’ community engagement and practicum options. Lisa O’Connor is Chair and Associate Professor of the Department of Library and Information Science at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Previously, she taught at the University of Kentucky and was an academic librarian, serving as both an information literacy education coordinator and business librarian. She has published in the areas of IL assessment and information behavior. Dr. O’Connor’s contributions to the panel will address the challenges of managing growth in the midst of the pandemic, including enrollment management and onboarding and mentoring new faculty. R. David Lankes, Professor and Director of the School of Information Science and Associate Dean, College of Information and Communications at the University of South Carolina. He has served on advisory boards and study teams in the fields of libraries, telecommunications, education, and transportation including at the National Academies. Lankes has been a visiting fellow at the National Library of Canada, The Harvard School of Education, France’s national library school Enssib, and was the first fellow of ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy. Dr. Lankes will present how through active research and advocacy agendas with a focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion LIS programs are well situated to help our society in a time of need

Follow-up of breast cancer patients: Preliminary findings from nurse-patient consultations and patients surveys

BACKGROUND: Although clinicians in both primary and tertiary care settings are involved in the care of breast cancer patients following the active treatment phase, few studies report how patients interact with health care providers.METHODS: Participants in this breast cancer follow-up study were recruited from a hospital based nurse-led follow-up clinic in Western Australia. Methods included audio taped, transcribed consultations with Specialist Breast Nurses (SBNs) and patient self-completed surveys.RESULTS: Preliminary data suggest that SBNs play an important role in supporting women to deal with the impact of breast cancer in the years following active treatment. The data suggest that the process of adjustment to a diagnosis of cancer continues for many years after the treatment has ceased. In many cases the women require on-going support to recalibrate their response to normal physical changes that may or may not be a consequence of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary data map the plethora of issues that influence cancer patients in the years following treatment. Women who were attending follow-up appointments for breast cancer experienced similar levels of enablement following SBN consultations as would be expected from consultations with general practitioners