A Biologist’s View of Individual Cultural Identity for the Study of Cities

The behaviour of urban populations is compared with the systems directing behaviour in individuals. This is both a metaphor and a mechanistic parallel. The biological model draws upon recent developments in brain research and psychological and cultural anthropology. The development and operation of the personal value-system are seen as constituting Identity in an individual, and Culture in a community. A mechanism is proposed by which social attachments between individuals lead to the adoption of new values into the system. The ability to differentiate own group from other is seen as intrinsic and socially necessary, made peaceful by specific values and adversarial by others. Identity development is such a complex process that it cannot be predicted in detail, but explicated in retrospect. A model may be useful in understanding conflicts of values, and how some are modifiable and others not.Identity, Cultural meaning system, Values, Attachment, Social identity theory

Integrable Lattice Realizations of N=1 Superconformal Boundary Conditions

We construct integrable boundary conditions for sl(2) coset models with central charges c=3/2-12/(m(m+2)) and m=3,4,... The associated cylinder partition functions are generating functions for the branching functions but these boundary conditions manifestly break the superconformal symmetry. We show that there are additional integrable boundary conditions, satisfying the boundary Yang-Baxter equation, which respect the superconformal symmetry and lead to generating functions for the superconformal characters in both Ramond and Neveu-Schwarz sectors. We also present general formulas for the cylinder partition functions. This involves an alternative derivation of the superconformal Verlinde formula recently proposed by Nepomechie.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures; section 2 rewritten; journal-ref. adde

Engineering Coexistence

A response to the issues raised by the English GM coexistence consultation

The novel in motion: an approach to modern fiction

(print) xiv, 155 p. ; 24 cmIntroduction : The Novel in Motion ix -- ONE Toward the Novel in Motion : Movement and the Narrative Eye 3 -- TWO From Realism to Modernism : Two Pictures in Joyce's Portrait 11 -- THREE Reeling through Faulkner 24 -- FOUR From Joyce to Beckett : The Tale That Wags the Telling 38 -- FIVE Enter the Frame : The Loss of Clarity 56 -- SIX Dislocation in Nabokov's Black (Hole) Humor : Lolita and Pale Fire 66 -- SEVEN Where're They At, Where're They Going? : Thomas Pynchon and the American Novel in Motion 83 -- EIGHT Robert Coover's Kaleidoscopic Spectacle 102 -- NINE Riding the Surf : Raymond Federman, Walter Abish, and Ronald Sukenick 118 -- TEN Bring Back That Line, Bring Back That Time 131 -- Notes 145 -- Index 15

Are income-related differences in active travel associated with physical environmental characteristics? A multi-level ecological approach

Background: Rates of active travel vary by socio-economic position, with higher rates generally observed among less affluent populations. Aspects of both social and built environments have been shown to affect active travel, but little research has explored the influence of physical environmental characteristics, and less has examined whether physical environment affects socio-economic inequality in active travel. This study explored income-related differences in active travel in relation to multiple physical environmental characteristics including air pollution, climate and levels of green space, in urban areas across England. We hypothesised that any gradient in the relationship between income and active travel would be least pronounced in the least physically environmentally-deprived areas where higher income populations may be more likely to choose active transport as a means of travel.<p></p> Methods: Adults aged 16+ living in urban areas (n = 20,146) were selected from the 2002 and 2003 waves of the UK National Travel Survey. The mode of all short non-recreational trips undertaken by the sample was identified (n = 205,673). Three-level binary logistic regression models were used to explore how associations between the trip being active (by bike/walking) and three income groups, varied by level of multiple physical environmental deprivation.<p></p> Results: Likelihood of making an active trip among the lowest income group appeared unaffected by physical environmental deprivation; 15.4% of their non-recreational trips were active in both the least and most environmentally-deprived areas. The income-related gradient in making active trips remained steep in the least environmentally-deprived areas because those in the highest income groups were markedly less likely to choose active travel when physical environment was ‘good’, compared to those on the lowest incomes (OR = 0.44, 95% CI = 0.22 to 0.89).<p></p> Conclusions: The socio-economic gradient in active travel seems independent of physical environmental characteristics. Whilst more affluent populations enjoy advantages on some health outcomes, they will still benefit from increasing their levels of physical activity through active travel. Benefits of active travel to the whole community would include reduced vehicle emissions, reduced carbon consumption, the preservation or enhancement of infrastructure and the presentation of a ‘normalised’ behaviour

Cape Cod Evening

pages 95-9

Through to Cyberspace: And What Janus Found There

A few years ago, I was presenting at a workshop in electronic records management for state agencies in Arizona. Many in the crowd came from agencies that had done little or no thinking about how they would manage their electronic records. They had basic questions, like ―How long do I need to keep email?

Pathfinding in VRML

Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) is a scene description language which describes three dimensional (3D) space to a computer. Thus the three axis of space that is inherent in our dimension X Y and Z is represented inside a computer. To many people VRML represents a new beginning for the World Wide Web (WWW) because it behaves more like the real world. VRML is experimental, interactive, continuous and of course, three dimensional. Algorithms in computing have been designed for 2D problem solving and this does not necessarily translate to problem solving on a 3D level. The aim of this project was to experiment with one of these algorithms within the domain of 3D space (VRML). This project chose to use an algorithm based on solving shortest path problems and then translate this algorithm for it to work in a 3D environment. Java, a programming language, was used to find the shortest path. The shortest path was then shown via the use of an animated camera going through the 3D environment in effect delivering a pathfinding system. VRML was used as the basis to create the 3D environment, thus the project creates a pathfinding system that can be used as a navigational tool within a VRML world