A Study in Positivism and Physiology: Readings of Gustave Courbet

This thesis explores ways in which the mid-nineteenth-century current of positivist thought impacted upon the work of the French artist Gustave Courbet (1819-1877). Guided by certain methodological imperatives set out in the theories of Hayden White and Dominick LaCapra – in particular LaCapra’s identification of the need for historical practice to avoid reductive interpretation of data and to recognise the formulation of concepts through intersecting domains of knowledge and the specificity of their articulation in different primary sources – this thesis focuses upon interpretations of Courbet’s work formulated between 1848 and 1878, examines ideas developed within the intersecting domains of positivism and medical science, and highlights the deployment of these ideas for political leverage across the entire political spectrum. The thesis discovers ways in which positivist interpreters of Courbet’s work, including the artist himself, sought to criticise and resolve the social and political problems of the time by drawing upon theories designed to achieve social harmony through scientific understanding of human nature and its evolution. The thesis demonstrates that numerous social commentators referred to the images of people and social conditions in Courbet’s paintings to express positivist views about social decay, the enduring human potential to reform such decay, and an inevitable achievement of social harmony. I show that positivists interpreted the artist’s work with recourse to disciplines such as biology, physiology and physiognomy, as well as concepts such as ‘the physical and the moral,’ according to which the various physical, mental, emotional and moral dimensions of the human constitution were closely interconnected, evident in physical appearance, and crucially influenced by the changing environmental conditions impacting upon them, including society. I also show that, according to such prescriptions, the physical appearance of ordinary contemporary people represented in Courbet’s paintings indicated their physical and moral state and by extension the social conditions forming this state. Such physiognomical principles were often associated with caricature and portraiture to advance the critical and affective nature of Courbet’s paintings, which were seen as aesthetic stimulants in an evolutionary process of social reform. As the project shows, positivists thought that Courbet’s paintings expressed certain ideal notions of equality and materiality that served the political, ideological and often anti-religious interests of the writers concerned; in these views, all humans fostered the same inherent physiological desire for altruistic existence and shared equal status with animals and organisms as physiological beings conceived and sustained within biological nature

The Effect of Settlement Type on the Labour Force Participation of New Zealand Women

A key priority of the present government is to improve women’s participation in the workforce, That education, age and reproduction decisions all play an important role in female labour force participation is well documented, what is less well understood is the role played by the geographic context in which these decisions are made – the relationship between participation and place. The aim of this paper is to explore the way in which different types of settlement are associated with different levels of female participation in the labour force. Our findings reveal that place of residence does affect the propensity of women to engage in wage labour – over and above the standard human capital and demographic determinants. The findings are based on analyses of the 1996 census data of over one million New Zealand women of working age. We use the Statistics New Zealand reclassification of urban and rural locations to define settlement types. A unique feature of this study is the explicit consideration of the relationship between partnership, participation and place. We find that not only does the presence of a (male) partner have a strong and statistically significant influence on female participation by that its effect is also very sensitive in settlement type. Particularly interesting is the different effect partners have on female participation in small versus large urban settings

Glacier-like forms on Mars

More than 1300 glacier-like forms (GLFs) are located in Mars' mid-latitudes. These GLFs are predominantly composed of ice–dust mixtures and are visually similar to terrestrial valley glaciers, showing signs of downhill viscous deformation and an expanded former extent. However, several fundamental aspects of their behavior are virtually unknown, including temporal and spatial variations in mass balance, ice motion, landscape erosion and deposition, and hydrology. Here, we investigate the physical glaciology of martian GLFs. We use satellite images of specific examples and case studies to build on existing knowledge relating to (i) GLF current and former extent, exemplified via a GLF located in Phlegra Montes; (ii) indicators of GLF motion, focusing on the presence of surface crevasses on several GLFs; (iii) processes of GLF debris transfer, focusing on mapping and interpreting boulder trains on one GLF located in Protonilus Mensae, the analysis of which suggests a best-estimate mean GLF flow speed of 7.5 mm a−1; and (iv) GLF hydrology, focusing on supra-GLF gulley networks. On the basis of this information, we summarize the current state of knowledge of the glaciology of martian GLFs and identify future research avenues

Landscapes of polyphase glaciation: eastern Hellas Planitia, Mars

<p>The mid-latitudes of Mars host numerous ice-related landforms that bear many similarities to terrestrial ice masses. This collection of landforms, termed viscous flow features (VFFs), is composed primarily of H₂O ice and shows evidence of viscous deformation. Recent work has hypothesised that VFFs are the diminishing remains of once larger ice masses, formed during one or more previous ice ages, and the landscape therefore records evidence of polyphase glaciation. However, debate persists concerning the former extent and volume of ice, and style of former glaciations. The accompanying map (1:100,000 scale) presents a geomorphic and structural assessment of a glacial landscape in eastern Hellas Planitia, Mars. Here, we present a description of the features identified, comprising four geomorphic units (plains, lobate debris apron, degraded glacial material, and glacier-like form) and 16 structures (craters, moraine-like ridges, flow unit boundaries, arcuate transvers structures, longitudinal surface structures, ring-mold craters, terraces, medial moraine-like ridges, raised textured areas, flow-parallel and flow-transverse lineations, crevasses and crevasse traces, and ridge clusters).</p

The Effect of Settlement Type on the Labour Force Participation of New Zealand Women

A key priority of the present government is to improve women’s participation in the workforce, That education, age and reproduction decisions all play an important role in female labour force participation is well documented, what is less well understood is the role played by the geographic context in which these decisions are made – the relationship between participation and place. The aim of this paper is to explore the way in which different types of settlement are associated with different levels of female participation in the labour force. Our findings reveal that place of residence does affect the propensity of women to engage in wage labour – over and above the standard human capital and demographic determinants. The findings are based on analyses of the 1996 census data of over one million New Zealand women of working age. We use the Statistics New Zealand reclassification of urban and rural locations to define settlement types. A unique feature of this study is the explicit consideration of the relationship between partnership, participation and place. We find that not only does the presence of a (male) partner have a strong and statistically significant influence on female participation by that its effect is also very sensitive in settlement type. Particularly interesting is the different effect partners have on female participation in small versus large urban settings

Eskers in a complete, wet-based glacial system in the Phlegra Montes region, Mars

Although glacial landsystems produced under warm/wet based conditions are very common on Earth, even here, observations of subglacial landforms such as eskers emerging from extant glaciers are rare. This paper describes a system of sinuous ridges emerging from the in situ but now degraded piedmont terminus of a Late Amazonian-aged (∼150 Ma) glacier-like form in the southern Phlegra Montes region of Mars. We believe this to be the first identification of martian eskers that can be directly linked to their parent glacier. Together with their contextual landform assemblage, the eskers are indicative of significant glacial meltwater production and subglacial routing. However, although the eskers are evidence of a wet-based regime, the confinement of the glacial system to a well-defined, regionally significant graben, and the absence of eskers elsewhere in the region, is interpreted as evidence of sub-glacial melting as a response to locally enhanced geothermal heat flux rather than climate-induced warming. These observations offer important new insights to the forcing of glacial dynamic and melting behaviour on Mars by factors other than climate

The fastest national COVID vaccination in Europe - Malta’s strategies

Background: COVID-19 vaccines reduce morbidity and mortality, but mass vaccination faces multiple challenges leading to different vaccination rates in different countries. Malta, a small European country, has achieved a very rapid vaccination rollout. This paper presents a narrative review of Malta’s vaccination strategy and its impact on the country’s COVID-19 situation. Methods: Data was obtained through a literature review of Maltese newspapers and from Malta’s COVID-19 government dashboard. A comprehensive summary of vaccination operations was provided by Malta’s COVID-19 vaccination team. Results: Malta comprised part of the European Commission joint procurement and obtained the maximum vac- cines that were eligible from all manufacturers. Four tier priority population groups were set up, with both vaccine doses (where applicable) allocated and stored for each individual. Multiple hubs were set up to simultaneously administer first and eventually second doses accordingly. To date (August 9, 2021) 398,128 of the population are fully vaccinated and 405,073 received the first dose, with both morbidity and mortality declining progressively as vaccination coverage progressed. Conclusion: Malta has successfully implemented a COVID-19 strategy that rapidly covered a substantial proportion of the population over a short period of time, with herd immunity reached by end of May 2021. Low population vaccination hesitancy and high vaccine doses availability were two major factors in this success.peer-reviewe

An iron-oxygen intermediate formed during the catalytic cycle of cysteine dioxygenase

Cysteine dioxygenase is a key enzyme in the breakdown of cysteine, but its mechanism remains controversial. A combination of spectroscopic and computational studies provides the first evidence of a short-lived intermediate in the catalytic cycle. The intermediate decays within 20 ms and has absorption maxima at 500 and 640 nm