“Thus seyden sadde folk” : Chaucer’s Oxford Clerk on theological controversy in the 14th century

Of all of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the Clerk’s Tale is perhaps the most disturbing. The alarmingly submissive Griselda and her husband-cum-tormenter Walter have horrified and frustrated scholars with their irrational behavior for centuries. Although considered a teller of one of Chaucer’s “religious tales,” the Clerk’s seeming ambivalence about his tale’s moral has rendered most, if not all, theological readings unsatisfying and inconclusive. For this reason, the Clerk’s Tale has primarily been studied for the glimpse it provides into medieval gender politics. My research, however, attempts to situate the tale within its theological context by paying more attention to its teller – an Oxford-trained cleric. The 14th century witnessed several theological controversies, and Oxford University was often the hotbed of these debates. For instance, the general shift towards nominalism at medieval universities and the realist dissent that arose in response both introduced further ambiguity to the already-complicated problem of theodicy. And towards the end of the century, the rise of Wycliffism – and the eventual quagmire of lollardy – began with the work of John Wyclif and his early followers, all of whom were based at Oxford. Thus, the Oxford Clerk himself provides necessary context for the theological themes found within his tale. Using this context, my research suggests that the famously unsatisfying ambiguity of the story of Griselda may have been Chaucer’s intended theological reading, after all

Robust Binary Neural Network Operation from 233 K to 398 K via Gate Stack and Bias Optimization of Ferroelectric FinFET Synapses

A synergistic approach for optimizing devices, circuits, and neural network architectures was used to abate junction-temperature-change-induced performance degradation of a Fe-FinFET-based artificial neural network. We demonstrated that the digital nature of the binarized neural network, with the "0" state programmed deep in the subthreshold and the "1" state in strong inversion, is crucial for robust DNN inference. The performance of a purely software-based binary neural network (BNN), with 96.1% accuracy for Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology (MNIST) handwritten digit recognition, was used as a baseline. The Fe-FinFET-based BNN (including device-to-device variation at 300 K) achieved 95.7% inference accuracy on the MNIST dataset. Although substantial inference accuracy degradation with temperature change was observed in a nonbinary neural network, the BNN with optimized Fe-FinFETs as synaptic devices had excellent resistance to temperature change effects and maintained a minimum inference accuracy of 95.2% within a temperature range of -233K to 398K after gate stack and bias optimization. However, reprogramming to adjust device conductance was necessary for temperatures higher than 398K.Comment: Accepted to be published in IEEE ED

Berita televisyen dan kebebasan media di Malaysia: suatu kajian terhadap berita televisyen bahasa Inggeris TV2 Dan NTV7

Kebebasan media tidak pernah dipinggirkan dalam wacana dan perbincangan ilmiah. Baru-baru ini, indeks kebebasan akhbar di Malaysia telah dilaporkan jatuh dua kaki tangga ke kedudukan 147, berbanding dengan 145 pada tahun sebelumnya (Reporters Without Borders, 2014). Perkara ini telah menunjukkan betapa pentingnya untuk pengkaji meneliti ruangan kebebasan media, khususnya terhadap kewartawanan dan pemberitaan bahasa Inggeris di televisyen tidak berbayar (free-to-air television), iaitu TV2 dan NTV7. Berita bahasa Inggeris yang dilaporkan di kedua-dua televisyen telah dijadikan sampel kajian dan rujukan dalam kajian ini. Walau bagaimanapun, kajian ini bukanlah sebuah kajian kuantitatif yang melibatkan kajian analisis kandungan. Namun, artikel ini menggunakan analisis konteks yang menumpu kepada asal usul kewartawanan di Malaysia dengan meneliti dasar dan akta negara ini seiring dengan pemilikan saluran televisyen di Malaysia. Seterusnya, sampel kajian telah dianalisis berdasarkan daripada pemerhatian terhadap mitos-mitos seperti nasionalisme dan perpaduan kebangsaan. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa output berita yang bertindak sebagai agen penstabilan dan pembangunan kebangsaan berkait rapat dengan kawalan dan pemilikan terhadap televisyen di Malaysia. Oleh itu, usaha dalam memperolehi ruang kebebasan media merupakan suatu proses yang berterusan dan hanya akan berhasil dengan melangkaui kesemua isu yang dibincangkan dalam artikel

Gardenia Memories

A dazzling stream of golden morning sunlight slants between claret coloured drapes to touch three gardenias on a mahogany dressing table

Linguistic modality and female identity in Chaucer’s "Clerk’s Tale"

While exploring the situated nature of conceptual knowledge, the paper investigates the linguistic construction of identity relative to the language user’s sociocultural situatedness, which is regarded as a derivative of the continuity of language and culture. In this functionally-oriented study, we examine how the situatedness of the language user affects their expression of the selves, which in the article we construe in terms of social roles performed by men and women in a specific cultural community. Importantly, we claim that, although the data are historical in nature, they nevertheless help us address the problem of the elusive nature of human identity, a theme recurring in the linguistic study of subjectivity. We seek to explore the general question of experiential motivation behind the frequency patterns of linguistic usage. We illustrate the issue by referring to the historical data taken from Geoffrey Chaucer’s Clerk’s Tale. The poet’s use of selected modal verbs is contextualized in relation to the late medieval community of his present. We account for the poet’s usage of shul, mot- (in the sense ‘must’), o(u)ght(e), as well as mouen ‘may’, and willen, indicating the need for a more nuanced approach to the way in which the key modal notions of NECESSITY/OBLIGATION are applied in the study of linguistic modality. We thus advocate the adoption of a situated view of the abstract concepts. Furthermore, we argue that the usage patterns concerning the frequency with which the selected modal verbs are used in specific contexts of Chaucer’s narrative might be indicative of the ways in which the identity of a community member was negotiated in the late medieval society of the poet’s present. In conclusion, we indicate the challenges to present-day pragmatic research into the linguistic construction of identity. Specifically, the emphasis is laid on how findings from recent research into situated and social cognition can inform a pragmatic investigation of linguistic subjectivity

K-5 Mathematics Specialists\u27 Teaching and Learning about Fractions

This paper describes the fraction-based mathematical activities of two teachers who are part of 3 Mathematics Specialist preparation program. Their work with fractions is traced from two perspectives: 1) their interactions with students as they struggle with fraction concepts; and, 2) their personal journeys to develop deeper understandings of fractions as participants in the Rational Numbers course that is part of their degree program. Through their stories, we gain a better understanding of the complex nature of their work with students and how their participation in the Mathematics Specialist program helps support their work in the school buildings

Mondelinge geschiedenis in België en de (de-)constructie van collectieve herinnering

Wouters Nico, Aerts Koen. Mondelinge geschiedenis in Belgie en de (de-)constructie van collectieve herinnering. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 92, fasc. 2, 2014. Histoire médiévale, moderne et contemporaine Middeleeuwse, moderne en hedendaagse geschiedenis. pp. 503-511

Oral History as Inquiry: Using Digital Oral History Collections to Teach School Desegregation

A body of literature in both history and history education indicates that when it comes to contemporary historical issues, oral history is one of the essential sources to investigate the past, particularly as a source for “history from below,” experiences of those who were undocumented or ill-recorded. Most of all, with new digital technologies, oral histories are more accessible than ever to those who are interested in using them in their research and teaching. This article uses the topic of school desegregation as a case study to highlight the value of oral histories as a historical methodology for studying the past and a pedagogical tool for teaching