‘The Bridge’: How The Penguin New Writing (1940-1950) shaped twentieth-century responses to China

This thesis examines the short stories about China by Chinese and British writers published in the journal The Penguin New Writing (1940-1950). The writers were responding to a traumatic period in history spanning part of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II and its aftermath. TPNW, promoted contemporary writing from around the world and was open both to well-established and little-known writers. Penguin Books’ founder, Allen Lane, backed the journal which had a circulation of 100,000 at its peak and established John Lehmann as one of the finest literary editors of wartime Britain. To date, there has been scant critical analysis of Lehmann’s international venture, and none at all of his interest in modern Chinese literature. Yet his political, aesthetic and personal approach to China provides a fascinating study of the ways in which those on the British Left sought to increase sympathy for the country and its people and how Lehmann redrew representations of the country for his Anglophone readers. This thesis benefited significantly from a dissertation fellowship to visit Lehmann’s editorial archive at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas, where a wealth of previously unseen correspondence between the editor and his Chinese and British writers was discovered. These letters enabled the piecing together of a narrative about Sino-British literary crossings in the 1940s, as well as a reappraisal of neglected Chinese writers Ye Junjian and Kenneth Lo among others. During the decade of TPNW’s existence attitudes towards the Chinese in Britain, particularly on the British Left, became increasingly sympathetic and this thesis evaluates Lehmann’s contribution to ‘the vogue’ for Chinese stories in the mid 1940s. In this heyday for Chinese writers, they sought to push against established Sinophobic stereotypes but as this thesis concludes, there remained limits to British interest in the plight of the Chinese people

Modeling, evaluation, and control of a flexible manufacturing cell using petri nets

This thesis describes the usefulness of Petri nets in modeling, evaluating, and controlling a Flexible Manufacturing Cell (FMC). The basics of Petri net theory are explained and a specific FMC is examined. First, the FMC is modeled. The purpose of modeling is to facilitate the evaluation and provide a framework on which the control methodologies can be applied. The objective of the evaluation is to determine how the FMC would benefit most by replacing or adding equipment. Several ideas on control are combined to form a useful framework for the designing of the control net. With this framework the control net is developed directly from the Petri net used in the modeling and evaluation phases. Through the use of special symbols incorporated into the control net, the basic input and output requirements of the system can be derived from the graphical control net

Information transfer and causality in the sensorimotor loop

This thesis investigates information-theoretic tools for detecting and describing causal influences in embodied agents. It presents an analysis of philosophical and statistical approaches to causation, and in particular focuses on causal Bayes nets and transfer entropy. It argues for a novel perspective that explicitly incorporates the epistemological role of information as a tool for inference. This approach clarifies and resolves some of the known problems associated with such methods. Here it is argued, through a series of experiments, mathematical results and some philosophical accounts, that universally applicable measures of causal influence strength are unlikely to exist. Instead, the focus should be on the role that information-theoretic tools can play in inferential tests for causal relationships in embodied agents particularly, and dynamical systems in general. This thesis details how these two approaches differ. Following directly from these arguments, the thesis proposes a concept of “hidden” information transfer to describe situations where causal influences passing through a chain of variables may be more easily detected at the end-points than at intermediate nodes. This is described using theoretical examples, and also appears in the information dynamics of computer-simulated and real robots developed herein. Practical examples include some minimal models of agent-environment systems, but also a novel complete system for generating locomotion gait patterns using a biologically-inspired decentralized architecture on a walking robotic hexapod

Hidden information transfer in an autonomous swinging robot

This paper describes a hitherto overlooked aspect of the information dynamics of embodied agents, which can be thought of as hidden information transfer. This phenomenon is demonstrated in a minimal model of an autonomous agent. While it is well known that information transfer is generally low between closely synchronised systems, here we show how it is possible that such close synchronisation may serve to “carry” signals between physically separated endpoints. This creates seemingly paradoxical situations where transmitted information is not visible at some intermediate point in a network, yet can be seen later after further processing. We discuss how this relates to existing theories relating information transfer to agent behaviour, and the possible explanation by analogy to communication systems

Self-Paced Experiences: A Participant\u27s Daily Log

As part of my educational requirements, prior to student teaching, at the University of Northern Iowa, I was required to participate in a self-paced classroom. The following is a daily log of my experiences in a class of 18 students in the course, Self-Pacing Biology Experiences (SPBE), at the Malcolm Price Laboratory School. These notes, taken over six weeks, should prove helpful to those teachers considering adoption of self-pacing programs

Holistic facial composite construction and subsequent lineup identification accuracy: Comparing adults and children

When the police have no suspect, they may ask an eyewitness to construct a facial composite of that suspect from memory. Faces are primarily processed holistically, and recently developed computerised holistic facial composite systems (e.g., EFIT-V) have been designed to match these processes. The reported research compared children aged 6–11 years with adults on their ability to construct a recognisable EFIT-V composite. Adult constructor’s EFIT-Vs received significantly higher composite-suspect likeness ratings from assessors than children’s, although there were some notable exceptions. In comparison to adults, the child constructors also overestimated the composite-suspect likeness of their own EFIT-Vs. In a second phase, there were no differences between adult controls and constructors in correct identification rates from video lineups. However, correct suspect identification rates by child constructors were lower than those of child controls, suggesting that a child’s memory for the suspect can be adversely influenced by composite construction. Nevertheless, all child constructors coped with the demands of the EFIT-V system, and the implications for research, theory and the criminal justice system practice are discussed

Ischemia monitoring in off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery using intravascular near-infrared spectroscopy

BACKGROUND: In off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery, manipulations on the beating heart can lead to transient interruptions of myocardial oxygen supply, which can generate an accumulation of oxygen-dependent metabolites in coronary venous blood. The objective of this study was to evaluate the reliability of intravascular near-infrared spectroscopy as a monitoring method to detect possible ischemic events in off-pump coronary artery bypass procedures. METHODS: In 15 elective patients undergoing off-pump myocardial revascularization, intravascular near-infrared spectroscopic analysis of coronary venous blood was performed. NIR signals were transferred through a fiberoptic catheter for signal emission and collection. For data analysis and processing, a miniature spectrophotometer with multivariate statistical package was used. Signal acquisition and analysis were performed before and after revascularization. Spectroscopic data were compared with hemodynamic parameters, electrocardiogram, transesophageal echocardiography and laboratory findings. RESULTS: A conversion to extracorporeal circulation was not necessary. The mean number of grafts per patient was 3.1 ± 0.6. An intraoperative myocardial ischemia was not evident, as indicated by electrocardiogram and transesophageal echocardiography. Continuous spectroscopic analysis showed reproducible absorption spectra of coronary sinus blood. Due to uneventful intraoperative courses, clear ischemia-related changes could be detected in none of the patients. CONCLUSION: Our initial results show that intravascular near-infrared spectroscopy can reliably be used for an online intraoperative ischemia monitoring in off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery. However, the method has to be further evaluated and standardized to determine the role of spectroscopy in off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery

Effectiveness of a national quality improvement programme to improve survival after emergency abdominal surgery (EPOCH): a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial

BACKGROUND: Emergency abdominal surgery is associated with poor patient outcomes. We studied the effectiveness of a national quality improvement (QI) programme to implement a care pathway to improve survival for these patients. METHODS: We did a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial of patients aged 40 years or older undergoing emergency open major abdominal surgery. Eligible UK National Health Service (NHS) hospitals (those that had an emergency general surgical service, a substantial volume of emergency abdominal surgery cases, and contributed data to the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit) were organised into 15 geographical clusters and commenced the QI programme in a random order, based on a computer-generated random sequence, over an 85-week period with one geographical cluster commencing the intervention every 5 weeks from the second to the 16th time period. Patients were masked to the study group, but it was not possible to mask hospital staff or investigators. The primary outcome measure was mortality within 90 days of surgery. Analyses were done on an intention-to-treat basis. This study is registered with the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN80682973. FINDINGS: Treatment took place between March 3, 2014, and Oct 19, 2015. 22 754 patients were assessed for elegibility. Of 15 873 eligible patients from 93 NHS hospitals, primary outcome data were analysed for 8482 patients in the usual care group and 7374 in the QI group. Eight patients in the usual care group and nine patients in the QI group were not included in the analysis because of missing primary outcome data. The primary outcome of 90-day mortality occurred in 1210 (16%) patients in the QI group compared with 1393 (16%) patients in the usual care group (HR 1·11, 0·96-1·28). INTERPRETATION: No survival benefit was observed from this QI programme to implement a care pathway for patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery. Future QI programmes should ensure that teams have both the time and resources needed to improve patient care. FUNDING: National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research Programme

Effectiveness of a national quality improvement programme to improve survival after emergency abdominal surgery (EPOCH): a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial

Background: Emergency abdominal surgery is associated with poor patient outcomes. We studied the effectiveness of a national quality improvement (QI) programme to implement a care pathway to improve survival for these patients. Methods: We did a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial of patients aged 40 years or older undergoing emergency open major abdominal surgery. Eligible UK National Health Service (NHS) hospitals (those that had an emergency general surgical service, a substantial volume of emergency abdominal surgery cases, and contributed data to the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit) were organised into 15 geographical clusters and commenced the QI programme in a random order, based on a computer-generated random sequence, over an 85-week period with one geographical cluster commencing the intervention every 5 weeks from the second to the 16th time period. Patients were masked to the study group, but it was not possible to mask hospital staff or investigators. The primary outcome measure was mortality within 90 days of surgery. Analyses were done on an intention-to-treat basis. This study is registered with the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN80682973. Findings: Treatment took place between March 3, 2014, and Oct 19, 2015. 22 754 patients were assessed for elegibility. Of 15 873 eligible patients from 93 NHS hospitals, primary outcome data were analysed for 8482 patients in the usual care group and 7374 in the QI group. Eight patients in the usual care group and nine patients in the QI group were not included in the analysis because of missing primary outcome data. The primary outcome of 90-day mortality occurred in 1210 (16%) patients in the QI group compared with 1393 (16%) patients in the usual care group (HR 1·11, 0·96–1·28). Interpretation: No survival benefit was observed from this QI programme to implement a care pathway for patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery. Future QI programmes should ensure that teams have both the time and resources needed to improve patient care. Funding: National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research Programme