The Colonial Efficacy of Casta Paintings

How can we understand artworks as classification systems? Is art a valid object of study in information science? If we answer “yes” to the latter question, how do we examine the first question? Casta paintings in colonial New Spain present a robust opportunity to understand art’s classificatory and documentary powers. In order to evaluate the efficacy of casta paintings as a classification system, it is necessary analyze how these works, as objects of colonial visual culture, enacted subjugation on multiple levels. Complex networks of power produce every classification system. Colonial power, particularly in urban New Spain, was often performed in seemingly paradoxical manners. Casta paintings responded to colonial anxieties about miscegenation, but they also acknowledged the realities of racial amalgamations in colonial New Spain. Put simply, New Spain was simultaneously a jewel for the Spanish Empire and the heart of an evil, non-Christian Other. This context reveals the critical necessity of social classification systems for European colonial expansion. To evaluate the knowledge organization casta paintings produced for colonial powers, I will focus on those held in the Denver Art Museum’s (DAM) New World Department. The DAM’s holdings include a complete set of sixteen casta paintings by Francisco Clapera, along with individual works by Jose de Alcibar and unidentified artists. Recognizable signifiers in these paintings enacted social classification at several levels in colonial New Spain.1 For the methodology of this project, I follow Jonathan Furner’s approach to evaluating classification systems.2 Furner’s prompt for classification researchers to evaluate how classification systems represent identity begets evaluation classification systems’ ideological and material structures. In the case of casta paintings, it makes sense to appraise their functions of identity representation on the one hand, and their descriptive power and retrieval functions on the other hand

Diversity of emergent dynamics in competitive threshold-linear networks: a preliminary report

Threshold-linear networks consist of simple units interacting in the presence of a threshold nonlinearity. Competitive threshold-linear networks have long been known to exhibit multistability, where the activity of the network settles into one of potentially many steady states. In this work, we find conditions that guarantee the absence of steady states, while maintaining bounded activity. These conditions lead us to define a combinatorial family of competitive threshold-linear networks, parametrized by a simple directed graph. By exploring this family, we discover that threshold-linear networks are capable of displaying a surprisingly rich variety of nonlinear dynamics, including limit cycles, quasiperiodic attractors, and chaos. In particular, several types of nonlinear behaviors can co-exist in the same network. Our mathematical results also enable us to engineer networks with multiple dynamic patterns. Taken together, these theoretical and computational findings suggest that threshold-linear networks may be a valuable tool for understanding the relationship between network connectivity and emergent dynamics.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures. Preliminary repor

The Only Canadians: Canada's French and the British Connection

Canada has two long-standing national myths: Loyalism and the Conquest. The nature of these myths, their historical founding, and the tenacity with which they reinforce each other are examined. During Canada's early years, the name "Canadian" applied only to the nation's French. English Canadians were British. Working chronologically and using literary examples set in the context of their day, this essay demonstrates the resentment felt by French Canadians over Loyalism's grip on their English-speaking compatriots. Does Canada's continued adherence to the British monarchy keep Canada divided and prevent a sense of common nationality?Le Canada perpétue depuis longtemps deux mythes, à savoir le loyalisme et la conquête. La nature de ces mythes ainsi que leur fondement historique et la ténacité de leurs liens réciproques sont examinés ici. Dans les premières années du Canada, le terme « Canadien » désignait exclusivement des Canadiens français, alors qu’on appelait les Canadiens anglais, des Britanniques. La présente étude démontre, selon un ordre chronologique et à l’aide d’exemples littéraires replacés dans le contexte de leur époque, le ressentiment des Canadiens français à l’égard du loyalisme dont faisaient preuve leurs compatriotes anglophones. Est-ce que l’adhésion du Canada à la monarchie britannique divise toujours le Canada et l’empêche d’avoir un sens de nationalité commune

Foot Characteristics in Association With Inversion Ankle Injury

Objective: To review the literature that provides information to assist in analyzing the role of the foot in acute and chronic lateral ankle injury. Data Sources: We searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, Institute for Scientific Information's Web of Science, and SPORT Discus from 1965–2005 using the terms lateral, ankle, ligament, injury, risk factors, foot, subtalar joint, talocrural joint, gait analysis, and foot biomechanics. Data Synthesis: We found substantial information on the incidence and treatment of lateral ankle sprains in sport but very few articles that focused on risk factors associated with these injuries and even less information on the foot as it relates to this condition. Moreover, little information was available regarding the risk factors associated with the development of chronic instability after a lateral ankle sprain. We critically analyzed the foot articulations and the foot's role in the mechanism of injury to assist our clinical synopsis. Conclusions/Recommendations: An in-depth review of the foot complex in relation to lateral ankle sprains strongly suggested its importance when treating and preventing inversion ankle trauma. Throughout the literature, the only static foot measurements that show a significant correlation to this condition are an identified cavovarus deformity, increased foot width, and increased calcaneal eversion range of motion. Authors also provided dynamic measurements of the foot, which produced several significant findings that we discuss. Although our findings offer some insight into the relationship between foot characteristics and lateral ankle injuries, future research is needed to confirm the results of this review and expand this area of investigation