Theology and politics in Richard Hooker's thought

Although Richard Hooker’s private attitudes were clericalist and authoritarian, his constitutional theory subordinated clergymen to laymen and monarchy to parliamentary statute. This article explains why his political ideas were nonetheless appropriate to his presumed religious purposes. It notes a very intimate connection between his teleological conception of a law and his hostility towards conventional high Calvinist ideas about predestination. The most significant anomaly within his broadly Aristotelian world-view was his belief that politics is nothing but a means to cope with sin. This too can be linked to his religious ends, but it creates an ambiguity that made his doctrines usable by Locke.

Thought communication and control: a first step using radiotelegraphy

A signalling procedure is described involving a connection, via the Internet, between the nervous system of an able-bodied individual and a robotic prosthesis, and between the nervous systems of two able-bodied human subjects. Neural implant technology is used to directly interface each nervous system with a computer. Neural motor unit and sensory receptor recordings are processed real-time and used as the communication basis. This is seen as a first step towards thought communication, in which the neural implants would be positioned in the central nervous systems of two individuals.

Evolutionary history of vegetative reproduction in Porpidia s. l. (lichen-forming ascomycota)

The evolutionary history of gains and losses of vegetative reproductive propagules (soredia) in Porpidia s.l., a group of lichen-forming ascomycetes, was clarified using Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approaches to monophyly tests and a combined MCMC and maximum likelihood approach to ancestral character state reconstructions. The MCMC framework provided confidence estimates for the reconstructions of relationships and ancestral character states, which formed the basis for tests of evolutionary hypotheses. Monophyly tests rejected all hypotheses that predicted any clustering of reproductive modes in extant taxa. In addition, a nearest-neighbor statistic could not reject the hypothesis that the vegetative reproductive mode is randomly distributed throughout the group. These results show that transitions between presence and absence of the vegetative reproductive mode within Porpidia s.l. occurred several times and independently of each other. Likelihood reconstructions of ancestral character states at selected nodes suggest that - contrary to previous thought - the ancestor to Porpidia s.l. already possessed the vegetative reproductive mode. Furthermore, transition rates are reconstructed asymmetrically with the vegetative reproductive mode being gained at a much lower rate than it is lost. A cautious note has to be added, because a simulation study showed that the ancestral character state reconstructions were highly dependent on taxon sampling. However, our central conclusions, particularly the higher rate of change from vegetative reproductive mode present to absent than vice versa within Porpidia s.l., were found to be broadly independent of taxon sampling. [Ancestral character state reconstructions; Ascomycota, Bayesian inference; hypothesis testing; likelihood; MCMC; Porpidia; reproductive systems]

The symbiotic roles of empirical experimentation and thought experimentation in the learning of physics

This study was an attempt to identify the epistemological roots of knowledge when students carry out hands-on experiments in physics. We found that, within the context of designing a solution to a stated problem, subjects constructed and ran thought experiments intertwined within the processes of conducting physical experiments. We show that the process of alternating between these two modes- empirically experimenting and experimenting in thought- leads towards a convergence on scientifically acceptable concepts. We call this process mutual projection. In the process of mutual projection, external representations were generated. Objects in the physical environment were represented in an imaginary world and these representations were associated with processes in the physical world. It is through this coupling that constituents of both the imaginary world and the physical world gain meaning. We further show that the external representations are rooted in sensory interaction and constitute a semi-symbolic pictorial communication system, a sort of primitive 'language', which is developed as the practical work continues. The constituents of this pictorial communication system are used in the thought experiments taking place in association with the empirical experimentation. The results of this study provide a model of physics learning during hands-on experimentation.

Conversational success in Williams syndrome: communication in the face of cognitive and linguistic limitations

Williams syndrome (WS) is characterized by apparent relative strengths in language, facial processing and social cognition but by profound impairment in spatial cognition, planning and problem solving. Following recent research which suggests that individuals with WS may be less linguistically able than was once thought, in this paper we begin to investigate why and how they may give the impression of linguistic proficiency despite poor standardized test results. This case study of Brendan, a 12-year-old boy with WS, who presents with a considerable lack of linguistic ability, suggests that impressions of linguistic competence may to some extent be the result of conversational strategies which enable him to compensate for various cognitive and linguistic deficits with a considerable degree of success. These conversational strengths are not predicted by his standardized language test results, and provide compelling support for the use of approaches such as Conversation Analysis in the assessment of individuals with communication impairments.

Complex history of a chromosomal paralogy region: insights from amphioxus aromatic amino acid hydroxylase genes and insulin-related genes

Aromatic amino acid hydroxylase (AAAH) genes and insulin-like genes form part of an extensive paralogy region shared by human chromosomes 11 and 12, thought to have arisen by tetraploidy in early vertebrate evolution. Cloning of a complementary DNA (cDNA) for an amphioxus (Branchiostoma floridae) hydroxylase gene (AmphiPAH) allowed us to investigate the ancestry of the human chromosome 11/12 paralogy region. Molecular phylogenetic evidence reveals that AmphiPAH is orthologous to vertebrate phenylalanine (PAH) genes; the implication is that all three vertebrate AAAH genes arose early in metazoan evolution, predating vertebrates. In contrast, our phylogenetic analysis of amphioxus and vertebrate insulin-related gene sequences is consistent with duplication of these genes during early chordate ancestry. The conclusion is that two tightly linked gene families on human chromosomes 11 and 12 were not duplicated coincidentally. We rationalize this paradox by invoking gene loss in the AAAH gene family and conclude that paralogous genes shared by paralogous chromosomes need not have identical evolutionary histories.

Black stem rust "...two blighted ears of wheat, which few persons would have thought it worthwhile to carry with them round the world..."

A brief survey of the history of this most severe pathogen of wheat and our developing understanding of it.

Research review: reading comprehension in developmental disorders of language and communication

Background: Deficits in reading airment (SLI), Down syndrome (DS) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Methods: In this review (based on a search of the ISI Web of Knowledge database to 2011), the Simple View of Reading is used as a framework for considering reading comprehension in these groups. Conclusions: There is substantial evidence for reading comprehension impairments in SLI and growing evidence that weaknesses in this domain are common in DS and ASD. Further, in these groups reading comprehension is typically more impaired than word recognition. However, there is also evidence that some children and adolescents with DS, ASD and a history of SLI develop reading comprehension and word recognition skills at or above the age appropriate level. This review of the literature indicates that factors including word recognition, oral language, nonverbal ability and working memory may explain reading comprehension difficulties in SLI, DS and ASD. In addition, it highlights methodological issues, implications of poor reading comprehension and fruitful areas for future research.

The new Brazilian cinema

In the second half of the 1990s, Brazil experienced a cinematic boom. Many of the new films were received enthusiastically by audiences and critics and released worldwide. This passionately argued and illuminating book provides the first comprehensive critical account of what is known as the 'Renaissance of Brazilian cinema' and demonstrates just how thought-provoking and inspiring Brazilian cinema has become. Contributors: José Carlos Avellar - Ivana Bentes - Stephanie Dennison - Verônica Ferreira Dias - Carlos Diegues - Amir Labaki - Maria Esther Maciel - José Álvaro Moisés - Laura Mulvey - Lúcia Nagib - Luiz Zanin Oricchio - Fernão Pessoa Ramos - Lisa Shaw - Robert Stam - João Luiz Vieira - Ismail Xavier.

Pause for thought

The recent slowdown (or 'pause') in global surface temperature rise is a hot topic for climate scientists and the wider public. We discuss how climate scientists have tried to communicate the pause and suggest that 'many-to-many' communication offers a key opportunity to directly engage with the public.

Re-evaluating the place of urban planning history

This commentary seeks to prompt new discussion about the place of urban planning history in the era of contemporary globalisation. Given the deep historic engagement of urban planning thought and practice with ‘place’ shaping and thus with the constitution of society, culture and politics, we ask how relevant is planning's legacy to the shaping of present day cities. Late twentieth century urban sociology, cultural and economic geography have demonstrated the increasing significance of intercity relations and the functional porosity of metropolitan boundaries in the network society, however statutory urban planning systems remain tied to the administrative geographies of states. This ‘territorial fixing’ of practice constrains the operational space of planning and, we argue, also limits its vision to geopolitical scales and agendas that have receding relevance for emerging urban relations. We propose that a re-evaluation of planning history could have an important part to play in addressing this spatial conundrum.

The horizontal spread of a vertical malady: cosmopolitanism and history in Pernambuco’s recent cinematic sensation

Brazil’s recent cinematic sensation, O som ao redor/Neighboring Sounds (Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2012), displays an effective integration of form and content, as exemplified by its vertical figuration that crystallizes the devastating effects of property development and global capitalism. This chapter will attempt to unravel a two-way drive within this vertical motif: a movement off the ground, resulting in global cosmopolitanism; and another into the ground, in search of the social history and film history at its base. As I hope to demonstrate, despite the characters’ late postmodernist disconnect from local context and history, O som ao redor offers a perspicacious insight into regional and national history that contributes an original and exciting addition to Brazilian and world cinema.