Modifying Sievers: A Theory Of Word Groups In Old English Meter

The classic explanation of Old English meter, Eduard Sievers\u27 Theory of Five Types, has a number of faults. Because it offers a pragmatic description of verse-patterns rather than a justification for them, it is less a theory than a taxonomy. There is inconsistency as to where metrical stress occurs, and the role of resolution. The updated version by A. J. Bliss adds to these faults a proliferation of categories that detracts from the original simplicity of the Types. Recent proposals to simplify resolution or to rely on alliteration solve some problems, but crate others.;The solution proposed here is to allow all six possible Types in a simplified form. Examination of the grounds for rejecting the sixth Type reveals no sound basis for doing so. Having six Types provides a theoretical basis for composition: to use all possible varieties of two lifts and two drops. This allows the retention of the most enduring aspects of Sievers\u27 theory: the concept of Types as a simple guide for poet and audience, and the basic four-part verse. To these are added the concept of the word-group made familiar by Geoffrey Russom. Allowing six Types leads to a radical revision of aspects of resolution and the role of the half-stress.;The Old English texts Beowulf, Juliana, and The Battle of Maldon are used to test the theory, whose university is judged by a brief examination of sixteen Old Norse eddiac poems. The body of hypermetric verses defined by Bliss is used to demonstrate how hypermetric verses are affected by the new theory. The six Types work well for the three sets of texts. In conjunction with some features of the metrical-grammar theories of Calvin B. Kendall, they allow the development of a strategy to illustrate how an Anglo-Saxon reader might have used them as a set of simple templates to decode the meter of an unpunctuated text

Communications in general practice and the domestication of ICT

The NHS is currently being transformed by the implementation of the National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT). This thesis examines the use of Information Communications Technology (ICT) and its consequences for communications in general practice. While drawing on a range of social scientific approaches to ICT, this research explores the particular utility of the 'domestication' framework advanced by Silverstone and Sorensen. It considers how users in general practice 'tame' and use technology by incorporating its affordances into their work roles and communication practices.Drawing on previous survey work, this research adopts a comparative, ethnographic approach, analyzing patterns of talk and writing in two general practices in London. Empirical work involved analysis of local and national policy documentation and two ethnographic studies that were designed to identify changes in attitudes and behaviours across a defined set of actors over time. Interviews generated preliminary evidence as to how multiple users in general practice communicated by a variety of means, including the problems/concerns they encountered or created in doing so. Observation was used to gather further direct evidence of those problems as they were negotiated and resolved.Although the two cases were both of practices that had been identified in an earlier survey as 'paper-light' which might therefore have been assumed to make effective use of ICT, usage was uneven and sharp differences were noted in the way in which broadly similar technologies were domesticated by specific user groups. Analysis of these differences produced three key findings. Firstly, domestication of ICT in general practice is difficult. To be successfully domesticated, ICTs have to be locally negotiated both horizontally and vertically in order to connect with working practices of the individual users. Secondly, the struggle to 'tame' ICTs is shaped by the extent to which different groups of users perceive ICT as assisting or compromising their roles and responsibilities. This, in turn, increases the diversity between user groups. Thirdly, the research indicated the importance of local context and workplace cultures which facilitate or inhibit the negotiations or 'communications about communications' required to domesticate ICTs.A concluding discussion reflects on the changing relationship between ICTs and communications in general practice and, in particular, the impact of ICT on faceto-face communications. The key contribution of the study lies in offering a theoretically-sophisticated framework in which to examine and explicate detailed patterns of communications in general practice. By addressing both electronic and paper-based communication as well as face-to-face interaction, it provides a basis for future research in this area as NPfIT develops

Negotiating and enabling spaces for gender justice

Through feminist informed understandings of injustice, this paper draws on significant research to re-articulate prevailing issues of gender inequity within and beyond the contexts of education in Australia. Following a location of the unconvincing but pervasive warrant for boys' issues to dominate the gender equity scene, the paper turns to a discussion about locating and leveraging strategic points of intervention for transformative gender just educational policy and practice. New and emerging policy environments, more receptive to educational research, that address issues of economic and cultural marginalisation in new times are argued to offer generative spaces to reinvigorate crucial gender debates associated with post-school pathways and social outcomes. Foregrounding feminist concerns in these areas is presented as central to constructing strong policy frames that can better address issues of gender, economic marginalisation and cultural disadvantage. The paper then turns to a discussion about how radical re-envisionings of curriculum and pedagogy, to reflect issues of distributive and cultural justice, might work to dismantle and transform the inequitable power relations and underlying frameworks that generate gender injustice within and beyond the contexts of education. The paper concludes by illustrating the imperative of drawing on transformative gender justice lenses to evaluate and, in particular, anticipate the limits of particular reform agendas and interventions

Investigating the pathological mechanism of neuropathy in POEMS syndrome

POEMS syndrome (Polyneuropathy, Organomegaly, Endocrinopathy, Monoclonal gammopathy, Skin disorder) is a rare disease characterised by an inflammatory polyneuropathy an a monoclonal plasma cell dyscrasia. POEMS syndrome causes some of the most significant disability and mortality of any inflammatory neuropathy. The pathophysiology is unknown but recognised to be cytokine mediated, notably driven by vascular endothelial growth factor, however little is known about the other mediators at play. This thesis collates clinical data from the largest POEMS cohorti in Europe in order to study the characteristic disease features, optimise therapies and identify factors that influence outcome. Utilising our POEMS sample biobank, we carry out highly sensitive immunoassays to study the cytokines released in POEMS syndrome, and whether they correlate with disease activity. We go on to study the proteome of POEMS syndrome through mass spectrometry, to uncover the biological pathway involved and identify a number of novel, potentially pathogenic molecules. Fluid biomarkers of neuropathy in POEMS syndrome and related neuropathies are additionally explored. The development and optimisation of a homebrew immunoassay for peripherin, a peripheral nerve specific biomarker is detailed. The potential clinical utility of this biomarker is compared against that of serum neurofilament light. Finally, we attempt to model the neuropathogenesis of POEMS neuropathy in vitro using a novel human induced pleuripotent stem cell derived neuronal culture system

Study of the lactobacilli associated with grass silage

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:D74095/87 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Associations Between Severe Obesity and Depression: Results From the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005-2006

IntroductionMy objectives were to investigate the association between obesity and depression in a representative sample of American adults, investigate sex and severity of obesity as modifiers of the association between depression and body mass index, determine whether large waist circumference is associated with depression, and explore whether specific health behaviors and poor physical health are possible mediators of the association between obesity and depression, if found.MethodsThe sample consisted of 3,599 nonpregnant adults aged 20 years or older from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005-2006. I operationalized obesity as body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference from the anthropometric measurements of participants and current depression from Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) scores. I ran logistic regression models with depression as the dependent variable.ResultsIn unadjusted analyses, large waist circumference (≥88 cm for women and ≥102 cm for men) and class III obesity (BMI ≥40 kg/m2) were associated with higher prevalence of depression in women only. All of these associations dramatically weakened after adjusting for demographic factors, self-rated health status, and number of chronic conditions.ConclusionThese findings support an association between depression and obesity in women who are severely obese. Future studies should investigate poor physical health as a possible mediator of the association between obesity and depression in this population of women

Controlling the crystal polymorph by exploiting the time dependence of nucleation rates

Most substances can crystallise into two or more different crystal lattices, called polymorphs. Despite this, there are no systems in which we can quantitatively predict the probability of one competing polymorph forming, instead of the other. We address this problem using large scale (hundreds of events) studies of the competing nucleation of the alpha and gamma polymorphs of glycine. In situ Raman spectroscopy is used to identify the polymorph of each crystal. We find that the nucleation kinetics of the two polymorphs is very different. Nucleation of the alpha polymorph starts off slowly but accelerates, while nucleation of the gamma polymorph starts off fast but then slows. We exploit this difference to increase the purity with which we obtain the gamma polymorph by a factor of ten. The statistics of the nucleation of crystals is analogous to that of human mortality, and using a result from medical statistics we show that conventional nucleation data can say nothing about what, if any, are the correlations between competing nucleation processes. Thus we can show that, with data of our form, it is impossible to disentangle the competing nucleation processes. We also find that the growth rate and the shape of a crystal depends on when it nucleated. This is new evidence that nucleation and growth are linked.Comment: 8 pages, plus 17 pages of supplementary materia

OrganiZational communication and organiSational communication: Binaries and the fragments of a field

In this paper, I employ personal narrative to help cast light on connections and tensions between organiZational communication research, as produced in the United States, and organiSational communication research, as produced in Aotearoa New Zealand. I address the issue by highlighting three sets of differences between these bodies of research: canonical, institutional and theoretical. I then unpack how these differences are apparent in my own university before sketching out three ways in which we might productively use such tensions to achieve radical engagement, and critique disciplinary others, identities, and locations