On the Character of Growth of a Non-Contracting Semigroup

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 47A45.

Tracing the evolution of physics on the backbone of citation networks

Many innovations are inspired by past ideas in a nontrivial way. Tracing these origins and identifying scientific branches is crucial for research inspirations. In this paper, we use citation relations to identify the descendant chart, i.e., the family tree of research papers. Unlike other spanning trees that focus on cost or distance minimization, we make use of the nature of citations and identify the most important parent for each publication, leading to a treelike backbone of the citation network. Measures are introduced to validate the backbone as the descendant chart. We show that citation backbones can well characterize the hierarchical and fractal structure of scientific development, and lead to an accurate classification of fields and subfields. © 2011 American Physical Society.

Maguk urai – a magyar vállalkozó lelkialkata (A magyarországi kisvállalkozók értékvilágának néhány jellemzője) Their own bosses – The character of the Hungarian entrepreneur (Some aspects of the value system of small entrepreneurs in Hungary)

The study uses the value test developed by Shalom Schwartz to examine the value system of Hungarian entrepreneurs. First, the dataset of the last wave of the European Social Survey is used to define those value orientations which generally distinguish entrepreneurs from the rest of society in Europe. Second, the prevalence of these ‘entrepreneurial values’ in the general populations of various countries, and Hungary in particular, is explored. Third, using compatible data from a survey of 300 Hungarian small entrepreneurs, the value orientations that distinguish them from other European entrepreneurs and Hungarian non-entrepreneurs are examined. Multivariate regression analyses allow us to draw a nuanced value-portrait of the typical Hungarian entrepreneur. The main conclusion is that although Hungarian small entrepreneurs share the ’core values’ of entrepreneurs in Europe, they are less adventurous and less materialist, but held personal freedom and human relations especially dear.

Stylization: a method for preserving the character of climate sensitive habitat

Stylization is a method of ornamental plant use usually applied in urban open space and garden design based on aesthetic consideration. Stylization can be seen as a nature-imitating ornamental plant application which evokes the scenery rather than an ecological plant application which assists the processes and functions observed in the nature. From a different point of view, stylization of natural or semi-natural habitats can sometimes serve as a method for preserving the physiognomy of the plant associations that may be affected by the climate change of the 21st century. The vulnerability of the Hungarian habitats has thus far been examined by the researchers only from the botanical point of view but not in terms of its landscape design value. In Hungary coniferous forests are edaphic and classified on this basis. The General National Habitat Classification System (Á-NÉR) distinguishes calcareous Scots pine forests and acidofrequent coniferous forests. The latter seems to be highly sensitive to climate change according to ecological models. The physiognomy and species pool of its subtypes are strongly determined by the dominant coniferous species that can be Norway spruce (Picea abies) or Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). We are going to discuss the methodology of stylization of climate sensitive habitats and briefly refer to acidofrequent coniferous forests as a case study. In the course of stylization those coniferous and deciduous tree species of the studied habitat that are water demanding should be substituted by drought tolerant ones with similar characteristics. A list of the proposed taxa is going to be given.

Stylization: a method for preserving the character of climate sensitive habitats. A case study of acidofrequent mixed forests

Stylization is a common method of ornamental plant use that imitates nature and evokes the scenery. This paper discloses a not yet proposed aspect of stylization, since the method offers the possibility of preserving the physiognomy of those habitats that seem to vanish due to future climate change. In addition, novelty of the method is founded also on that vulnerability of the Hungarian habitats has been examined by the researchers only from the botanical and ecological point of view so far and not in terms of its landscape design value. In Hungary, acidofrequent mixed forests appear to be highly sensitive to climate change according to ecological models. We are going to discuss the methodology of stylization of climate sensitive habitats and briefly refer to acidofrequent mixed forests as a case study. Those coniferous and deciduous tree species of the studied habitat that are water demanding are proposed to be substituted by drought tolerant ones with similar characteristics, and an optionally expandable list of these taxa is presented. Based on this the authors suggest experimental investigations of those of the proposed taxa for which the higher drought tolerance is based on observations only.

Dulce Maria Loynaz' Jardin: Subversive tropological discourse

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze how the tropes or figurative discourse in Loynaz’s novel, Jardín, becomes a means by which she involves the reader within a text that subverts socio-cultural conventions. Through textual analysis, it explains how the poet communicates her views of the world as a conflictive space where existence is the will to live, life being a human construction like a garden, and a woman’s decision –often frustrated by men– to seek self-realization.^ By tracing some critical studies focused on polarities allegedly present in Jardín, such as: poetry/prose, lyric poetry/novel, word/silence, life/death, character novel/space novel, civilization/barbarism, posmodernismo/vanguardismo, and femininity/feminism, this essay explores Loynaz’s esthetic and ideological codes to demonstrate how opposition can be seen in her novel as part of her arrangement of an artistic philosophy.^ This research refers to three main sources: the semiotician Umberto Eco’s notion of the text’s indeterminacy as an opera aperta, reception theory, and Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism. By applying these theories to the analysis of this novel, I seek to show Loynaz’s literary modus (tropological language) and ideological dictum , which correlate oppositions and transform them as a point of departure to reconsider civilized life. The poet is presented as an esthetic force that compels the reader to question some false values, by creating an implicit but intelligent dialogue between him/her and a lyrical text. To describe such literary procedure, I coin in this study the term dialirismo (dialyricism). ^ My essay is centered on the tropes through which Loynaz creates her dialyrical text. By focusing on metaphor, symbol, synecdoche, and metonymy, I examine Jardín as a convergence of the following conceptual aspects: intertextuality, primitivism, and feminist discourse. I argue that Loynaz’s novel is a creative response to the literary tradition, as well as a proposal to understand writing –and reading– as an open, interactive process in search not only of artistic values but also of critical knowledge.^ This exploration shows how the novelist faces a so-called civilized world through the eyes of her fictional character, Bárbara, who confronts patriarchal discourse. It celebrates Loynaz’s poetic representation of this inquisitive woman, in her fenced garden, as a human being who can see, above and beyond an iron curtain, the possibility to overcome an aggressive male-centered civilization.^

Character education in a Muslim school: A case study of a comprehensive Muslim school's curricula

Deteriorating social behavior, negative media influence and violence among adolescents have given cause to pause and assess character development for the youth of this country. The purpose of this case study was to examine how a Muslim school’s curricula implemented character education. This study used a qualitative single-case methodology to examine character education as it was experienced by the participants in a private Muslim school. Data were collected from participant interviews, document analysis, and observations of classrooms, daily activities and special events. Data were analyzed to determine how character education was defined by the school, the method of delivery for the character education initiatives and the implementation of character education in this Muslim school. Analysis was based on Character Education Partnership’s (CEP) Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education (2007). The results of the study revealed: (a) participants defined character education using varied traits, processes, and expected behaviors. (b) The school delivers its character education curriculum primarily through the Islamic studies division; an add-on delivery method. Still, there was evidence of partial integration of character education in the core courses and (c) based on CEP’s Eleven Principles four were present and five were partially present in the school’s character education initiatives. Findings also revealed that the school’s emphasis on values, morality and spirituality was instrumental in their teaching character. Findings suggest that if participants in the school community work together they might formulate a definition of character education based on common process and expected behavior and create a collaborative working relationship to implement a character education program. Finally, addressing the absent and partially absent elements of the eleven principles could enhance the school’s character education initiatives. The study provides a process by which religious schools could examine their character education programs. The criteria used to measure the use of character education elements are transferable to other settings; however, this method of study does not allow generalization of findings.

Phosphorus cycling and partitioning in an oligotrophic Everglades wetland ecosystem: a radioisotope tracing study

1. Our goal was to quantify short-term phosphorus (P) partitioning and identify the ecosystem components important to P cycling in wetland ecosystems. To do this, we added P radiotracer to oligotrophic, P-limited Everglades marshes. 32PO4 was added to the water column in six 1-m2 enclosed mesocosms located in long-hydroperiod marshes of Shark River Slough, Everglades National Park. Ecosystem components were then repeatedly sampled over 18 days. 2. Water column particulates (>0.45 μm) incorporated radiotracer within the first minute after dosing and stored 95–99% of total water column 32P activity throughout the study. Soluble (<0.45 μm) 32P in the water column, in contrast, was always <5% of the 32P in surface water. Periphyton, both floating and attached to emergent macrophytes, had the highest specific activity of 32P (Bq g−131P) among the different ecosystem components. Fish and aquatic macroinvertebrates also had high affinity for P, whereas emergent macrophytes, soil and flocculent detrital organic matter (floc) had the lowest specific activities of radiotracer. 3. Within the calcareous, floating periphyton mats, 81% of the initial 32P uptake was associated with Ca, but most of this 32P entered and remained within the organic pool (Ca-associated = 14% of total) after 1 day. In the floc layer, 32P rapidly entered the microbial pool and the labile fraction was negligible for most of the study. 4. Budgeting of the radiotracer indicated that 32P moved from particulates in the water column to periphyton and floc and then to the floc and soil over the course of the 18 day incubations. Floc (35% of total) and soil (27%) dominated 32P storage after 18 days, with floating periphyton (12%) and surface water (10%) holding smaller proportions of total ecosystem 32P. 5. To summarise, oligotrophic Everglades marshes exhibited rapid uptake and retention of labile 32P. Components dominated by microbes appear to control short-term P cycling in this oligotrophic ecosystem.

Possible climate change impacts on the hydrological and vegetative character of Everglades National Park, Florida

The increasing threat of global climate change is predicted to have immense influences on ecosystems worldwide, but could be particularly severe to vulnerable wetland environments such as the Everglades. This work investigates the impact global climate change could have on the hydrologic and vegetative makeup of Everglades National Park (ENP) under forecasted emissions scenarios. Using a simple stochastic model of aboveground water levels driven by a fluctuating rainfall input, we link across ENP a location's mean depth and percent time of inundation to the predicted changes in precipitation from climate change. Changes in the hydrologic makeup of ENP are then related to changes in vegetation community composition through the use of relationships developed between two publically available datasets. Results show that under increasing emissions scenarios mean annual precipitation was forecasted to decrease across ENP leading to a marked hydrologic change across the region. Namely, areas were predicted to be shallower in average depth of standing water and inundated less of the time. These hydrologic changes in turn lead to a shift in ENP's vegetative makeup, with xeric vegetative communities becoming more numerous and hydric vegetative communities becoming scarcer. Noticeably, the most widespread of vegetative communities, sawgrass, decreases in abundance under increasing emissions scenarios. These results are an important indicator of the effects climate change may have on the Everglades region and raise important management implications for those seeking to restore this area to its historical hydrologic and vegetative condition.

Goma curriculum, a character education paradigm: Composing a text for shaping classroom character culture

The written text, and approaches to reading it, serves well as an analogy for the classroom space as a "text" that teachers are able to compose; and students are able to read, interpret meaning(s) of, and make responses to and about (Rosenblatt, 1988). Researchers point to ways in which the classroom can be conceptualized as a text to be evoked, experienced, and read (Freire & Macedo, 1987; Powell, 2009; Rosenblatt, 1988; Spears-Bunton & Powell, 2009).^ The present study analyzed secondary data including: 10 transcripts of teacher talks and six self-reports retrieved from the program evaluation archives of DOR Foundation. The data described six teachers' classroom experiences subsequent to professional development centered on Goma character education curriculum that was used during a summer youth program located in South Georgia. Goma, an acronym that stands for Goal, Objective, Method, and Attitude, is a character education paradigm derived from The Inclusive Community Building Ellison Model, the theoretical framework used for this study. The Model identifies conflict resolution as one of its five foci (Hunt, Howard, & Rice, 1998). Hunt (2006) conceived Goma as part of a 7-Step unitary process, also named the 7-Step pathway, to demonstrate how conflict resolution is accomplished within a variety of contexts.^ Analysis of the data involved: (a) a priori coding of teacher talks transcripts using the components of the Goma 7-Step pathway as coding categories, (b) emergent coding of teacher talks transcripts for the types of experiences teachers evidenced, and (c) emergent coding of teachers' self-reports for categories of teachers' instructional activities. Results of the study showed positive influence of Goma curriculum on participating teachers and their instructional practices. Teachers were shown to have had cognitive, instructional, emotional, and social experiences that were most evident when they reported changes in their attitudes toward their students, themselves, and their instructional practices. The present study provided implications for classroom teachers wherein all aspects of teachers' instructional practices can be guided by principles of positive character; and can be used to help compose the kinds of "texts" that may likely contribute to a classroom character culture.^

Perceptions of character education in a Seventh-day Adventist school

Character education has been viewed by many educators as having significant historical, academic, and social value. Many stakeholders in education argue for character development as a curricular experience. While understanding the degree to which character education is of worth to stakeholders of institutions is important, understanding students, teachers, and administrators perspectives from their lived experiences is likewise significant. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain a deeper understanding of character education within a Biblical framework environment by examining the lived experiences of students, administrators, and teachers of a Seventh-day Adventist School. Phenomenology describes individuals' daily experiences of phenomena, the manner in which these experiences are structured, and focuses analysis on the perspectives of the persons having the experience (Moustakas, 1994). This inquiry was undertaken to answer the question: What are the perceptions of students, teachers, and an administrator toward character education in a Seventh-day Adventist school setting? Ten participants (seven students and three adults) formed the homogeneous purposive sample, and the major data collection tool was semi-structured interviews (Patton, 1990; Seidman, 2006). Three 90-minute open-ended interviews were conducted with each of the participants. Data analysis included a three-phase process of description, reduction and interpretation. The findings from this study revealed that participants perceived that their involvement in the school's character education program decreased the tendency to violence, improved their conduct and ethical sensibility, enhanced their ability to engage in decision-making concerning social relationships and their impact on others, brought to their attention the emerging global awareness of moral deficiency, and fostered incremental progress from practice and recognition of vices to their acquisition of virtues. The findings, therefore, provide a model for teaching character education from a Seventh-day Adventist perspective. The model is also relevant for non-Seventh day Adventists who aspire to teach character education as a means to improving social and moral conditions in schools.

Tracing Antilles: History, Culture, and Art in the Work of Humberto Castro

This flyer promotes the event "Tracing Antilles: History, Culture, and Art in the Work of Humberto Castro" cosponsored by the Cuban Research Institute and the Frost Art Museum.

Examining Seasonally Pulsed Detrital Transport in the Coastal Everglades Using a Sediment Tracing Technique

The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration includes plans to restore freshwater delivery to Taylor Slough, a shallow drainage basin in the Southern Everglades, ultimately resulting in increased freshwater flow to the downstream Taylor River estuary. The effect of altered hydrologic regime on the transport dynamics of flocculent, estuarine detritus is not well understood. We utilized a paramagnetic sediment tracer to examine detrital transport in three Taylor River pond/creek pairs during early wet versus late wet transition season estuarine flow conditions. Flux of floc tracer was greatest in the downstream direction during all observations, and was most pronounced during the early wet season, coincident with shallower water depth and faster discharge from northern Taylor River. Floc tracer was more likely to move upriver during the late wet/dry season. We observed a floc tracer transport velocity of approximately 1.74 to 1.78 m/day across both seasonal hydrologic conditions. Tracer dynamics were also surprisingly site-dependent, which may highlight the importance of channel geomorphology in regulating hydrologic and sediment transport conditions. Our data suggest that restoration of surface water delivery to Taylor River will influence downstream loading of detritus material into riverine ponds. These detrital inputs have the potential to enhance ecosystem primary productivity and/or secondary productivity.

Idleness and passion: Hamlet's tragic character in the light of stoicism and medieval Christian philosophy

This thesis explores the character of Hamlet in Shakespeare's same-titled work in the light of certain aspects of stoicism and medieval Christian philosophy. Throughout the course of the play we see Hamlet struggling with his thoughts. At first he deliberates without taking action as a consequence of his reasoning, but in the later stages of the play he gives in to passion, which ultimately leads to his own demise. The thesis gives an account of certain aspects of both philosophies that are displayed in the play and shows how those ideas influence the character of Hamlet and contextualize his personal tragedy. Hamlet fails to follow the philosophies that he praises and to grow as a character by overcoming his passions over the course of the play.