Uruk-Period Mesopotamia

The notion of mechanical reproduction was made famous by Walter Benjamin in a 1936 essay. Benjamin was concerned with modern developments; in this paper I argue that a shift toward pervasive repetitiveness in work and thus a form of mechanical reproduction was already introduced in the Uruk period (4th millennium BCE) in southern Mesopotamia. I consider the ways in which work was conceptualized and structured in Uruk times, and by extension how innovations in the realm of work affected other spheres of life. My examination includes the production and use of pottery, buildings and their constituent mudbricks, durable imagery involving anthropomorphic depictions, and textiles.Ein Aufsatz Walter Benjamins aus dem Jahr 1936 verschaffte dem Begriff der mechanischen Reproduktion zur Berühmtheit. Benjamin beschäftigte sich allerdings mit modernen Ent- wicklungen. Hier argumentiere ich, dass es schon in der Uruk-Zeit im 4. Jt. v.u.Z. in Südmesopotamien eine weit verbreitete Tendenz zu sich wiederholenden Arbeitsvorgängen und damit zu mechanischer Reproduktion festzustellen ist. Ich erörtere, wie Arbeit in der Uruk-Zeit verstanden wurde und strukturiert war, und wie Innovationen im Bereich der Arbeit selbst andere Lebenssphären beeinflusste. Meine Überlegungen schließen Herstellung und Verwendung von Keramik, Bauten und das Baumaterial Lehmziegel, aber auch anthropomorphe Bilder aus dauerhaftem Material und Textilien ei

An Introduction

The centrality of commensality – eating and drinking together in a common physical and social setting – in people’s everyday lives makes it a particularly important location from which to explore social relations and the working of politics. The recent focus in archaeology and related disciplines on feasting and other special commensal occasions needs to be balanced by attention to daily commensality, in which crucial elements of social reproduction take place. I highlight two particular forms of commensal practices, hospitality and provisioning, that resonate with many of the cases discussed in the papers in this volume. Finally, I point to a largely neglected area of study in archaeology, that of hunger and its implications for the politics of commensality

The violence of collecting

Practices of collecting have been integral to archaeology as well as to anthropology more generally since the inception of the disciplines. From the history of collecting in the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it is clear that although the degree of coercion varied, the practices of collecting inevitably took place in contexts of starkly unequal power relations and associated forms of violence. More than just the act of collecting, it is also the ways collections are handled, made available (or not), curated, and discarded that are imbued with different kinds of violence. This article draws on the case of human and other remains recovered in excavations on the campus of the Free University of Berlin (Germany) and examines the ways in which the amassing, use, and discard of collections are entwined with violent practices

Master of Science

thesisData quality has become a significant issue in healthcare as large preexisting databases are integrated to provide greater depth for research and process improvement. Large scale data integration exposes and compounds data quality issues latent in source systems. Although the problems related to data quality in transactional databases have been identified and well-addressed, the application of data quality constraints to large scale data repositories has not and requires novel applications of traditional concepts and methodologies. Despite an abundance of data quality theory, tools and software, there is no consensual technique available to guide developers in the identification of data integrity issues and the application of data quality rules in warehouse-type applications. Data quality measures are frequently developed on an ad hoc basis or methods designed to assure data quality in transactional systems are loosely applied to analytic data stores. These measures are inadequate to address the complex data quality issues in large, integrated data repositories particularly in the healthcare domain with its heterogeneous source systems. This study derives a taxonomy of data quality rules from relational database theory. It describes the development and implementation of data quality rules in the Analytic Health Repository at Intermountain Healthcare and situates the data quality rules in the taxonomy. Further, it identifies areas in which more rigorous data quality iv should be explored. This comparison demonstrates the superiority of a structured approach to data quality rule identification

Literacy barriers to learning and learner experiences

This research is in two phases. The aim of phase one was to explore the school experiences of learners identified as having literacy barriers to learning. Learners were in Year 8 (age 12-13) at the start of the research and Year 9 (age 13-14) by its conclusion. A case study design and the participatory method of ‘photovoice’ was used to elicit and foreground students’ views and experiences. To date there has been little research in this field using participatory methods. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings suggest that the student photographers’ (N=4) were keen to share both their positive and negative experiences of school and in particular the importance they placed on relationships with peers and key staff. The aim of phase two was to use students’ photos, which were developed into individual ‘experience boards’, as a tool to facilitate staff reflections on practice. Three discussion groups (N=7) were held and data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings were viewed and discussed using the framework of Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs. Staff showed a high level of empathy and a desire to interpret and reflect on the photos. The constructs of feeling safe and secure were significant themes across all discussion groups. Furthermore, the lack of photos explicitly about learning challenged staff beliefs about student experiences and enabled them to acknowledge the importance the student photographers placed on these constructs. The use of photovoice stimulated reflection and is likely to have aided staff to better understand student experiences. There are implications for educational psychology practice in relation to taking a more holistic view of understanding and supporting learners with literacy difficulties and also the use of ‘photovoice’ to elicit and foreground student views and experiences as part of consultation or at a more systemic level

An investigation into independent practice as an addition to physiotherapy intervention for patients with recently acquired stroke.

This study of physiotherapy intervention for patients with recently acquired stroke had two defined aims. The first aim was to explore the recovery of symmetry of weight distribution during the postures of sitting and standing and during the movements of rising to stand, sitting down and reaching. This aim involved the comparison of data from stroke patients with data from healthy subjects. The second aim was to determine the effect of a regime of independent practice, based on the evidence for the optimal learning of motor skills. This aim was met using a randomised controlled trial. Twenty-eight patients with stroke were recruited into the randomised controlled trial. Using a blocked randomisation procedure, subjects were assigned to a practice group (n=9) or to a control group (n=19). Using a clinical measurement system, comprising a standard chair and a platform within which were a series of force measuring sections, weekly objective measurements of the symmetry of weight distribution during the specified postures and movements were recorded. Measurements were collected weekly for a maximum of 7 weeks. Both groups received normal physiotherapy intervention, based on the Bobath Concept. In addition to this, the practice group subjects carried out a practice regime aimed at improving sitting balance. The practice regime was carried out daily for 4 weeks. Subjects who were discharged from the hospital prior to the completion of 7 weeks of data collection did not attend for any further measurement sessions. The lack of recorded data from subjects discharged from the hospital placed limitations on the analysis of the study results and on the conclusions that could be drawn from the study. In order to explore the recovery of symmetry of weight distribution in the patients with stroke, patient data were compared with "normative" values collected from 20 young and 20 elderly healthy subjects. The normative values revealed that healthy subjects tended to have highly symmetrical weight distribution, with less than 14% difference in weight distribution between the sides, during sitting, standing, rising to stand and sitting down. During lateral reaching healthy subjects generally distributed between 83% and 97% of body weight to one side. At the time of the baseline measurement 13(11 control group; 2 practice group) of the 28 patients had "normal" weight distribution in sitting; 2 (1 control; 1 practice) in standing; 1 (1 control; 0 practice) in the seat-off phase of rising to stand; 0 in the seat-off phase of sitting down. 10 (8 control; 2 practice) of the patients achieved a "normal" magnitude of weight transference when reaching to the unaffected side, and 13 (10 control; 3 practice) during reaching to the affected side. Following reaching to the unaffected side 12 (9 control; 3 practice) of the patients returned to having "normal" weight distribution in sitting, and following reaching to the affected side 12 (7 control; 5 practice) had "normal" weight distribution in sitting. At the time of the final measurement, 11 (58%) of the 19 control group subjects had “normal” weight distribution in sitting; 7 (36%) in standing; 6 (31%) in rising to stand; 2 (11%) in sitting down; and 12 (64%) achieved “normal” weight transference during reaching to the unaffected side and 13 (68%) during reaching to the affected side. 13 (69%) of the control group subjects achieved "normal" weight distribution during sitting following reaching to the unaffected side, and 10 (53%) during sitting following reaching to the affected side. For the practice group these values were 3 (33%) for sitting; 4 (44%) for standing; 1 (11%) for rising to stand; 1 (11%) for sitting down; 4 (44%) for reaching to die unaffected side and 6 (67%) for reaching to die affected side; and 4 (44%) for sitting after reaching to the unaffected side and 5 (56%) for sitting after reaching to the affected side. Statistical analysis was carried out, using the Chi-squared test, to compare the proportion of control and practice group subjects classified as "unable" to perform a task, or as achieving "normal" or "abnormal" outcomes during each test week. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) between the groups for the tasks of sitting, standing, rising to stand or sitting down, or for the peak weight transference achieved during reaching, on any of the test weeks. There was a significant difference between the groups for the symmetry of weight distribution achieved during sitting following reaching to the unaffected side at week 3 (p=0.016) and during sitting following reaching to the affected side at week 4 (p^.027). Descriptive statistics were used to explore the changes in the outcome measures over the test weeks. This revealed that, although the number of subjects able to perform standing, rising to stand and sitting down increased over the test weeks, there was no observable change in the proportion of subjects able to perform any of the tasks with "normal" symmetry of weight distribution or weight transference over the study period. The lack of difference in the outcome of the practice and control group and the absence of recovery observed in the measured outcomes over the study period are discussed. Based on the study results, methods for improving the regime of independent practice are presented, and potential implications of the lack of change in the ability of the stroke patients to achieve the functional tasks with “normal” symmetry of weight distribution are proposed

Equity vs. Inside Debt Compensation of CEOs and Firm Performance: New Evidence

This paper provides new evidence on the comparative effects of CEO inside debt and the components of equity compensation on firm valuation as measured by Tobin’s Q. We find empirical evidence for the classic Jensen and Meckling (1976) premise that managers should be granted debt and equity in proportion to the ownership structure of the firm. We disaggregate the compensation structure into two components of inside debt: deferred compensation and accumulated pension. We also consider the four components of equity: including unvested shares, stock awards, estimated value of in-the-money unexercised options, as well as the estimated value of all other option awards. We also consider salary and bonus as short term incentives. We find that the effects of the different components of CEO compensation are dependent on the CEO’s time horizon, as measured by the expected period of employment to retirement

Are all things created equal? The incidental in archaeology

Archaeologists evince a strong tendency to impute significance to the material traces they study, a propensity that has been especially marked since the post-processual emphasis on meaning and that has taken on renewed vigour with the turn to materiality. But are there not situations in which things are rather incidental or insignificant? This set of essays emerged from a workshop held in Berlin in April 2018, in which a group of scholars was invited to discuss the place of the incidental in social life in general and in archaeology in particular. Rather than lengthy formal papers, we offer an introduction that presents a general set of reflections on the issue of the incidentalness of things, followed by essays that pursue particular directions raised by that introduction as well as our discussions in Berlin. It is our hope that these brief forays into a complex topic will stimulate further work on this subject