Chronology for the Aegean Late Bronze Age 1700-1400 BC

Radiocarbon (carbon-14) data from the Aegean Bronze Age 1700-1400 B.C. show that the Santorini (Thera) eruption must have occurred in the late 17th century B.C. By using carbon-14 dates from the surrounding region, cultural phases, and Bayesian statistical analysis, we established a chronology for the initial Aegean Late Bronze Age cultural phases (Late Minoan IA, IB, and II). This chronology contrasts with conventional archaeological dates and cultural synthesis: stretching out the Late Minoan IA, IB, and II phases by similar to 100 years and requiring reassessment of standard interpretations of associations between the Egyptian and Near Eastern historical dates and phases and those in the Aegean and Cyprus in the mid-second millennium B.C.

Molecular comparisons of the Culex pipiens (L.) complex esterase gene amplicons

The amplification of carboxylesterase genes is a mechanism of organophosphate resistance in Culex mosquitoes. Amplified carboxylesterase genes from an insecticide resistant Culex pipiens strain collected in Cyprus were analysed and compared to other Culex amplified carboxylesterase alleles. A 12 kb section of genomic DNA containing two gene loci coding for carboxylesterase alleles A5 and B5 was cloned and sequenced. A comparison between this amplicon and one from a strain with co-amplified carboxylesterase alleles A2 and B2 revealed a number of differences. The intergenic spacer was 3.7 kb in length in the A5-B5 amplicon (2.7 kb in A2-B2) and contained putative Juan and transposable elements upstream of B5. A fragment of a gene with high homology to aldehyde oxidase was also present immediately downstream of A5. The comparison revealed no differences that would explain the successful spread of the A2-B2 amplicon worldwide whilst the A5-B5 amplicon is restricted to the Mediterranean. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How can a blind engineer access the curriculum?

The arrival of a student who is Blind in the School of Systems Engineering at the University of Reading has made it an interesting and challenging year for all. Visually impaired students have already graduated from other Schools of the University and the School of Systems Engineering has seen three students with visual impairment graduate recently with good degrees. These students could access materials - and do assessments - essentially by means of enlargement and judicious choice of options. The new student had previously been supported by a specialist college. She is a proficient typist and also a user of both Braille and JAWS screen reader, and she is doing a joint course in Cybernetics and Computer Science. The course requires mathematics which itself includes graphs, and also many diagrams including numerous circuit diagrams. The University bought proven equipment such as a scanner to process books into speech or Braille, and screen reading software as well as a specialist machine for producing tactile diagrams for educational use. Clearly it is also important that the student can access assessments and examinations and present answers for marking or feedback (by sighted staff). So the School also used innovative in-house tactile methods to represent diagrams. This paper discusses the success or otherwise of various modifications of course delivery and the way forward for the next three years.

Infotainment across access devices: the perceptual impact of multimedia QoS

The introduction of multimedia on pervasive and mobile communication devices raises a number of perceptual quality issues. However, limited work has been done examining the 3-way interaction between use of equipment, user perceptual quality and quality of service. Our work measures user perceptual quality with the quality of perception (QoP) metrics which comprises levels of informational transfer (objective) and user satisfaction (subjective) when users are presented with multimedia video clips at three different frame rates, using four different display devices. Finally, our results will show that variation in frame-rate does not impact a user’s level of information assimilation (IA), however, does impact a users’ perception of multimedia video ‘quality’.

Cyclones causing wind storms in the Mediterranean: characteristics, trends and links to large-scale patterns

A climatology of cyclones with a focus on their relation to wind storm tracks in the Mediterranean region (MR) is presented. Trends in the frequency of cyclones and wind storms, as well as variations associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the East Atlantic/West Russian (EAWR) and the Scandinavian variability pattern (SCAND) are discussed. The study is based on the ERA40 reanalysis dataset. Wind storm tracks are identified by tracking clusters of adjacent grid boxes characterised by extremely high local wind speeds. The wind track is assigned to a cyclone track independently identified with an objective scheme. Areas with high wind activity – quantified by extreme wind tracks – are typically located south of the Golf of Genoa, south of Cyprus, southeast of Sicily and west of the Iberian Peninsula. About 69% of the wind storms are caused by cyclones located in the Mediterranean region, while the remaining 31% can be attributed to North Atlantic or Northern European cyclones. The North Atlantic Oscillation, the East Atlantic/West Russian pattern and the Scandinavian pattern all influence the amount and spatial distribution of wind inducing cyclones and wind events in the MR. The strongest signals exist for the NAO and the EAWR pattern, which are both associated with an increase in the number of organised strong wind events in the eastern MR during their positive phase. On the other hand, the storm numbers decrease over the western MR for the positive phase of the NAO and over the central MR during the positive phase of the EAWR pattern. The positive phase of the Scandinavian pattern is associated with a decrease in the number of winter wind storms over most of the MR. A third of the trends in the number of wind storms and wind producing cyclones during the winter season of the ERA40 period may be attributed to the variability of the North Atlantic Oscillation.

Digital code-switching between Cypriot and Standard Greek: performance and identity play online

Studies of code-switching in writing are very limited in comparison with the numerous investigations of this phenomenon in oral communication. Recent research has revealed that in text-based computer-mediated communication internet users bring into play the various languages available in their linguistic repertoire and, consequently, switch between them. In this case study, I investigate digital code-switching between Cypriot and Standard Greek, the two varieties of Greek spoken on the island of Cyprus. Following Auer’s conversation analytic approach and Gafaranga’s view that conversational structure coexists with social structure, I investigate code-switching in online interactions. The data to be analysed here, unlike those considered in most studies of code-switching, are written data, obtained from channel #Cyprus of Internet Relay Chat. The results suggest that code-switching in writing is influenced not only by macro-sociolinguistic factors, but they are also shaped by the medium- and social-specific characteristics of Internet Relay Chat. This, in turn, allows internet users to gain access to different roles and perform various identities within this online context.

Writing in a non-standard Greek variety: Romanized Cypriot Greek in online chat

Cypriot Greek, a variety of Greek spoken in the island of Cyprus, is relatively distinct from Standard Greek in all linguistic domains. The regional variety does not have a standard, official orthography and it is rarely used for everyday written purposes. Following technological development and the emergence of Computer-mediated Communication, a Romanized version of written CG is now widely used in online text-based communication, among teenagers and young adults (Themistocleous, C. (2008), The use of Cypriot-Greek in synchronous computer-mediated communication (PhD thesis), University of Manchester). In this study, I present the innovative ways that Greek-Cypriots use Roman characters in an effort to represent features of their spoken language in their online writings. By analysing data obtained from channel #Cyprus of Internet Relay Chat, I demonstrate how the choice of writing in CG affects the ways that Roman characters are used. I argue that this practice is not just a response to technological constrains but it actually has a wider social significance.

Teacher stance as reflected in feedback on student writing: An empirical study of secondary school teachers in five countries

This study examines the feedback practices of 110 EFL teachers from five different countries (Cyprus, France, Korea, Spain, and Thailand), working in secondary school contexts. All provided feedback on the same student essay. The coding scheme developed to analyse the feedback operates on two axes: the stance the teachers assumed when providing feedback, and the focus of their feedback. Most teachers reacted as language teachers, rather than as readers of communication. The teachers overwhelmingly focused on grammar in their feedback and assumed what we called a Provider role, providing the correct forms for the student. A second role, Initiator, was also present, in which teachers indicate errors or issues to the learner but expect the learner to pick this up and work on it. This role was associated with a more even spread of feedback focus, where teachers also provided feedback on other areas, such as lexis, style and discourse.

Industrial relations in South-Eastern Europe: disaggregating the contexts

This study critically evaluates industrial relations (IR) in South-Eastern Europe and points towards future practical and research-oriented opportunities in the region. A survey of organizational policies and practices has been used to explore the state of IR in both private and public organizations in this region. Specifically, the data, collected in 2009–2010 (including the latest changes due to the economic crisis), cover 840 different organizations located in Slovenia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus. We discuss the development of ‘regional-specific’ IR policies, the ‘importing’ of varieties of capitalism models, the diffusion of the European Union social model and the role of foreign MNCs in changing IR in the region.

Radical left-wing Euroscepticism in the 2014 elections: a cross-European comparison

This article examines the varied performance of radical left-wing Eurosceptic parties during the 2014 EP elections. While the performance of the radical right during this 'earthquake' election has been widely discussed, little attention has been paid to the radical left. The article examines the result comparatively, and identifies that: (1) across Europe, radical left-wing euroscepticism is limited to few countries, including Greece, Cyprus, France and Portugal; (2) the countries that have experienced the worst of the economic crisis did not experience a significant rise in far right-wing party support but did experience the rise of left-wing euroscepticism; (3) from this sample only Greece experienced the rise of both the radical right and radical left.