"So barbarous a practice": Cornish wrecking, ca. 1700-1860, and its survival as popular myth

The popular myth of Cornish wrecking is well-known within British culture, but there has not been a comprehensive, systematic inquiry to separate out the layers of the myth from the actual practices. This study rectifies this omission by examining wrecking activity as reported in popular sources and traditional tales; deconstructing the most widely believed elements; illuminating the complexity of the practices; and investigating the process of myth-making which sustained the image of the wrecker in popular consciousness. It suggests that violent wrecking was not nearly as widespread and invidious as popular histories allow. The coastal populace had their own popular morality, including the use of mediation and constraint, which allowed them to practise wrecking, salvage, and lifesaving activities simultaneously. They did not condone all forms of wrecking; thus it cannot be deemed a 'social crime'. Wreckers did not escape conviction because of local resistance to centralised authority, but as a result of the complex legal practices of discretion that were incorporated into the eighteenth century English criminal justice system. The role of the lord of the manor was also more complex; their relationship with the coastal populace was based on reciprocity as well as antagonism. However, the tightening of governmental control and increasing bureaucratisation in the Victorian period resulted in the loss of customary wreck rights for both the coastal inhabitants and the local elites. At the same time, the press and pulpit were the primary conduits for establishing and popularising the wrecker stereotype through symbolic violence and moral panics. The stereotype became reflexive, touted as an accurate description in Victorian histories, and thus burying the reality of wrecking under accretions of moralising discourse. Therefore, the process of historical 'beach combing' across the disciplinary boundaries has revealed wrecking as a multi-faceted, sophisticated cultural practice and cultural construct

Review of Boundaries of Home: Mapping for Local Empowerment

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.cartographicperspectives.org/index.php/journal/article/view/898.No abstract is available for this item

On the Classification of Bulk and Boundary Conformal Field Theories

The classification of rational conformal field theories is reconsidered from the standpoint of boundary conditions. Solving Cardy's equation expressing the consistency condition on a cylinder is equivalent to finding integer valued representations of the fusion algebra. A complete solution not only yields the admissible boundary conditions but also gives valuable information on the bulk properties.Comment: 7 pages, LaTeX; minor correction

Boundary operators in the O(n) and RSOS matrix models

We study the new boundary condition of the O(n) model proposed by Jacobsen and Saleur using the matrix model. The spectrum of boundary operators and their conformal weights are obtained by solving the loop equations. Using the diagrammatic expansion of the matrix model as well as the loop equations, we make an explicit correspondence between the new boundary condition of the O(n) model and the "alternating height" boundary conditions in RSOS model.Comment: 29 pages, 4 figures; version to appear in JHE

Peptide platforms for metal ion sensing

Naturally occurring motifs have been redesigned to product fluorescent peptidyl-chemosensors that sensitively and selectively recognize Cu(II) or Fe(III). The modular nature of peptide architecture allows preparation and evaluation of potential sensors on solid supports

Boundary changing operators in the O(n) matrix model

We continue the study of boundary operators in the dense O(n) model on the random lattice. The conformal dimension of boundary operators inserted between two JS boundaries of different weight is derived from the matrix model description. Our results are in agreement with the regular lattice findings. A connection is made between the loop equations in the continuum limit and the shift relations of boundary Liouville 3-points functions obtained from Boundary Ground Ring approach.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figures, Introduction and Conclusion improve

Moorean tree snail survival revisited: a multi-island genealogical perspective

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The mass extirpation of the island of Moorea's endemic partulid tree snail fauna, following the deliberate introduction of the alien predator <it>Euglandina rosea</it>, represents one of the highest profile conservation crises of the past thirty years. All of the island's partulids were thought to be extirpated by 1987, with five species persisting in zoos, but intensive field surveys have recently detected a number of surviving wild populations. We report here a mitochondrial (mt) phylogenetic estimate of Moorean partulid wild and captive lineage survival calibrated with a reference museum collection that pre-dates the predator's introduction and that also includes a parallel dataset from the neighboring island of Tahiti.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Although severe winnowing of Moorea's mt lineage diversity has occurred, seven of eight (six <it>Partula</it>; two <it>Samoana</it>) partulid tip clades remain extant. The extinct mt clade occurred predominantly in the <it>P. suturalis </it>species complex and it represented a major component of Moorea's endemic partulid treespace. Extant Moorean mt clades exhibited a complex spectrum of persistence on Moorea, in captivity, and (in the form of five phylogenetically distinct sister lineages) on Tahiti. Most notably, three <it>Partula </it>taxa, bearing two multi-island mt lineages, have survived decades of <it>E. rosea </it>predation on Moorea (<it>P. taeniata</it>) and in the valleys of Tahiti (<it>P. hyalina </it>and <it>P. clara</it>). Their differential persistence was correlated with intrinsic attributes, such as taxonomy and mt lineages, rather than with their respective within-island distribution patterns.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Conservation efforts directed toward Moorean and Tahitian partulids have typically operated within a single island frame of reference, but our discovery of robust genealogical ties among survivors on both islands implies that a multi-island perspective is required. Understanding what genetic and/or ecological factors have enabled <it>Partula taeniata</it>, <it>P. hyalina </it>and <it>P. clara </it>to differentially survive long-term direct exposure to the predator may provide important clues toward developing a viable long term conservation plan for Society Island partulid tree snails.</p

Integrable Boundaries, Conformal Boundary Conditions and A-D-E Fusion Rules

The $sl(2)$ minimal theories are labelled by a Lie algebra pair $(A,G)$ where $G$ is of $A$-$D$-$E$ type. For these theories on a cylinder we conjecture a complete set of conformal boundary conditions labelled by the nodes of the tensor product graph $A\otimes G$. The cylinder partition functions are given by fusion rules arising from the graph fusion algebra of $A\otimes G$. We further conjecture that, for each conformal boundary condition, an integrable boundary condition exists as a solution of the boundary Yang-Baxter equation for the associated lattice model. The theory is illustrated using the $(A_4,D_4)$ or 3-state Potts model.Comment: 4 pages, REVTe