The climate and environment of Byzantine Anatolia: integrating science, history, and archaeology

The integration of high-resolution archaeological, textual, and environmental data with longer-term, low-resolution data affords greater precision in identifying some of the causal relationships underlying societal change. Regional and microregional case studies about the Byzantine world—in particular, Anatolia, which for several centuries was the heart of that world—reveal many of the difficulties that researchers face when attempting to assess the influence of environmental factors on human society. The Anatolian case challenges a number of assumptions about the impact of climatic factors on socio-political organization and medium-term historical evolution, highlighting the importance of further collaboration between historians, archaeologists, and climate scientists.

An essay on private equity: the history and fundamentals of fundraising in Brazil

O impacto positivo dos investimentos de Private Equity e Venture Capital (PE/VC) na economia e no mercado de capitais está amplamente documentado pela literatura acadêmica internacional. Nos últimos 40 anos, diversos autores têm estudado a influência desta classe de ativos na criação, no desenvolvimento e na transformação de milhares de empresas ao redor do mundo, especialmente nos Estados Unidos. Entretanto, os estudos sobre os determinantes da captação de recursos de PE/VC têm se desenvolvido apenas mais recentemente, e seus resultados estão longe de ser uma unanimidade. No Brasil, a pesquisa sobre a indústria de PE/VC ainda é escassa. Embora a indústria local venha crescendo rapidamente desde 2006, tendo alcançado US$36,1 bilhões em capital comprometido em 2009, ainda não há estudos sobre as variáveis que influenciam na alocação de capital pelos investidores nesta modalidade de investimento no Brazil. Entender esta dinâmica é importante para o equilíbrio e a eficiência de mercado. Baseado no trabalho de Gompers e Lerner (1998) sobre os determinantes da indústria de PE/VC nos Estados Unidos, este trabalho contribui com a literatura de PE/VC ao: (i) revisitar o começo desta indústria no Brasil; e (ii) identificar quais as variáveis influenciam no desenvolvimento da indústria de PE/VC local. Os resultados deste estudo contribuem para o desenvolvimento acadêmico da indústria de PE/VC no Brasil. Além disso, as discussões aqui apresentadas poderão impactar outras áreas de estudo que são permeadas pelo tema, tais como Gestão de Investimentos, Governança Corporativa, Empreendedorismo e Estratégia. Profissionais de mercado também deverão se interessar no trabalho. As discussões sobre a história e os fundamentos da indústria fornecem aos investidores, empreendedores, gestores de investimentos e formuladores de políticas públicas, entre outros, um melhor entendimento sobre como o ecossistema de PE/VC funciona no Brasil.

Diversity, natural history, and geographic distribution of snakes in the Caatinga, Northeastern Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

History and fate of a small isolated population of Weddell seals at White Island, Antarctica

Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii Lesson) at White Island, Antarctica form a small, completely enclosed, natural population hypothesized to be of recent origin, likely founded by individuals from nearby Erebus Bay. This population constitutes an ideal model to document a founder event and ensuing genetic drift, with implications for conservation. Here we combined historical accounts, census and tagging data since the late 1960s, and genetic data (41 microsatellite loci and mitochondrial DNA sequences) from 84 individuals representing nearly all individuals present between 1990 and 2000 to investigate the history of the founding of the White Island population, document its population dynamics and evaluate possible future threats. We fully resolved parental relationships over three overlapping generations. Cytonuclear disequilibrium among the first generation suggested that it comprised the direct descendants of a founding group. We estimated that the White Island population was founded by a small group of individuals that accessed the island during a brief break in the surrounding sea ice in the mid-1950s, consistent with historical accounts. Direct and indirect methods of calculating effective population size were highly congruent and suggested a minimum founding group consisting of three females and two males. The White Island population showed altered reproductive dynamics compared to Erebus Bay, including highly skewed sex ratio, documented inbred mating events, and the oldest known reproducing Weddell seals. A comparison with the putative source population showed that the White Island population has an effective inbreeding coefficient (Fe) of 0.29. Based on a pedigree analysis including the hypothesized founding group, 86% of the individuals for whom parents were known had inbreeding coefficients ranging 0.09–0.31. This high level of inbreeding was correlated with reduced pup survival. Seals at White Island therefore face the combined effects of low genetic variability, lack of immigration, and inbreeding depression. Ultimately, this study provides evidence of the effects of natural isolation on a large, long-lived vertebrate and can provide clues to the potential effects of anthropogenic- caused isolation of similar taxa.

Casualty, Causality and Chivalry: the Myth of Chivalry and Racial Violence in Southern Literature

This honors thesis project uses history and literature to analyze the role of the myth of chivalry in mystifying racial violence and oppression in the American South. The central claim is that the myth of chivalry¿ and particularly the exaltation of the white woman¿ is a myth system used to justify racial violence, oppress white womanhood, and allow white patriarchy to maintain political, social and economic dominance. This project traces the role of literature, especially Sir Walter Scott¿s historical romance, in developing the foundational myths of a southern society based in violence, racial hierarchy and gender inequality. It then follows the role of white womanhood in this myth¿ the restrictions on miscegenation, the exaltation of pure white femininity, and the violent actions performed in the name of southern women. With this historical baseline established, this study then explores three works of historical fiction that attempt to subvert this mythology by critiquing and demystifying the myth of chivalry, while also offering counter-narratives to popularized history. These works are Charles Chesnutt¿s 1901 novel The Marrow of Tradition¬, which analyzes the 1898 Wilmington N.C. race riot, Gwendolyn Brooks¿ 1960 poem ¿A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon¿ and Lewis Nordan¿s 1993 novel Wolf Whistle, two works about Emmett Till¿s tragic murder in 1955. This study, then, illuminates the intersection of literature and mythology, revealing how literature is useful for both creating and subverting myth¿and revealing how authors undertake this task.

Nationalism and Literature

Zunic investigated the relationship between nationalism and Serbian literature. He first analysed and evaluated the justifications for a number of critical accusations against Serbian literature. These included mythological and epic foundations (traditionalism), an obsession with national history and with the motif of the Serbian people as an eternal victim, the domination of the collective over the individual (populism), an anachronistic romantic conception of the social function of literature. In order to gain an unbiased judgement of the nationalistic role of contemporary Serbian literature, Zunic prepared a list of those books with the greatest number of copies issued in the decade 1985-1995, and constructed an appropriate hermeneutic procedure of understanding the meaning of the content and form of these works. He concluded that contemporary Serbian literature is in fact occupied with national history, and also with the unmasking of communist totalitarianism. The most influential books express and document either nationally-oriented or civil-oriented world views. The former, although mostly not militant works (with their realistic "closed" form), might have had an ideological influence on the Serbian national consciousness, while the civil-oriented works (with their "open" modern or post-modern form) could not neutralise all these extra-literary effects of the nationally-oriented works, since the predominant way of reading is a communication with the literary content (realised as a testimony of historical facts), and not with the literary form (as a carrier of the artistic value and a "moderator" of any content).

THE FANNED FLAMES OF DISCONTENT: A SOLIDARITY-INSPIRED HISTORY OF THE IDENTITY/IDEOLOGY, CULTURAL HISTORY, AND RHETORICAL STRATEGIES OF THE WOBBLIES DURING THE 1916 MINNESOTA IRON ORE STRIKE

Rooted in critical scholarship this dissertation is an interdisciplinary study, which contends that having a history is a basic human right. Advocating a newly conceived and termed, Solidarity-inspired History framework/practice perspective, the dissertation argues for and then delivers a restorative voice to working-class historical actors during the 1916 Minnesota Iron Ore Strike. Utilizing an interdisciplinary methodological framework the dissertation combines research methods from the Humanities and the Social Sciences to form a working-class history that is a corrective to standardized studies of labor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Oftentimes class interests and power relationships determine the dominant perspectives or voices established in history and disregard people and organizations that run counter to, or in the face of, customary or traditional American themes of patriotism, the Protestant work ethic, adherence to capitalist dogma, or United States exceptionalism. This dissertation counteracts these traditional narratives with a unique, perhaps even revolutionary, examination of the 1916 Minnesota Iron Ore Strike. The intention of this dissertation's critical perspective is to poke, prod, and prompt academics, historians, and the general public to rethink, and then think again, about the place of those who have been dislocated from or altogether forgotten, misplaced, or underrepresented in the historical record. Thus, the purpose of the dissertation is to give voice to historical actors in the dismembered past. Historical actors who have run counter to traditional American narratives often have their body of "evidence" disjointed or completely dislocated from the story of our nation. This type of disremembering creates an artificial recollection of our collective past, which de-articulates past struggles from contemporary groups seeking solidarity and social justice in the present. Class-conscious actors, immigrants, women, the GLBTQ community, and people of color have the right to be remembered on their own terms using primary sources and resources they produced. Therefore, similar to the Wobblies industrial union and its rank-and-file, this dissertation seeks to fan the flames of discontented historical memory by offering a working-class perspective of the 1916 Strike that seeks to interpret the actions, events, people, and places of the strike anew, thus restoring the voices of these marginalized historical actors.

Cholesteatoma triggering squamous cell carcinoma: case report and literature review of a rare tumor

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to report a case of squamous cell carcinoma of the petrous part of the temporal bone associated with a long history of secondary acquired cholesteatoma in a 71-year-old man. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We present the case of a 71-year-old man diagnosed with secondary acquired cholesteatoma in 1950. Treatments consisted of repetitive surgery owing to several relapses. In 2004, he presented with progressive fetid otorrhea. Clinical and computed tomography findings were indicative for relapsing cholesteatoma and a subtotal petrosectomy was performed. RESULTS: Histologic work-up demonstrated a moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. The staging revealed stadium pT3 cN0 cM0. Postoperative treatment consisted of local radiation therapy with intensity-modulated beam geometry with a total of 64.2 Gy in 30 fractions using a simultaneous integrated boost. CONCLUSION: Middle ear carcinoma can arise from acquired cholesteatoma. The pathogenesis of squamous cell carcinoma associated with cholesteatoma has not been elucidated satisfactorily. Due to the complex anatomic features, intensity-modulated radiation therapy is the technique of choice for postoperative radiotherapy.

Diagnosis of cardiac metastasis from cervical cancer in a 33-year-old patient using multimodal imaging studies: a case report and literature review.

We report a case of a 33-year-old woman with emergency admission due to dyspnoea and fever. History included squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix in complete remission. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scanning of the chest, which was indicated to rule out pneumonia, revealed an infiltrative cardiac mass. Further assessment of the tumour by echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed transmural infiltration of the apical interventricular septum with a mass extending into the left and right ventricle cavities. The mass was highly suspicious for a cardiac metastasis. Cardiac metastases from cervical cancer are extremely rare. Recurrence of cervical carcinoma involving the heart should be considered even after a curative therapy approach. Non-invasive imaging plays a paramount role in investigating cardiac masses. Echocardiography, CT and MRI are complementary imaging modalities for complete work-up of intracardiac lesions.

The Challenge of Prenatal Diagnostic Work-Up of Maternally Inherited X-Linked Opitz G/BBB: Case Report and Literature Review

Background. Prenatal diagnosis of Optiz G/BBB syndrome (OS) is challenging because the characteristic clinical features, such as facial and genitourinary anomalies, may be subtle at sonography and rather unspecific. Furthermore, molecular testing of the disease gene is not routinely performed, unless a specific diagnosis is suggested. Method. Both familial and ultrasound data were used to achieve the diagnosis of X-linked OS (XLOS), which was confirmed by molecular testing of MID1 gene (Xp22.3) at birth. Results. Sequencing of MID1 gene disclosed the nucleotide change c.1285 +1 G>T, previously associated with XLOS. Conclusions. This case illustrates current challenges of the prenatal diagnostic work-up of XLOS and exemplifies how clinical investigation, including family history, and accurate US foetal investigations can lead to the correct diagnosis.

A historical account of types of fuzzy sets and their relationships

In this paper, we review the definition and basic properties of the different types of fuzzy sets that have appeared up to now in the literature. We also analyze the relationships between them and enumerate some of the applications in which they have been used.

Revision of the Sauropterygian reptile genus Cymatosaurus v. Fritsch, 1894, and the relationships of Germanosaurus Nopcsa, 1928, from the Middle Triassic of Europe / Olivier Rieppel --.

n.s. no.36(1997)

Children's books in England & America in the seventeenth century : a history and checklist, together with The young Christian's library, the first printed catalogue of books for children.

The young Christian's library is a facsimile reproduction of the Bodleian Library copy of the original ed. published in 1710.

The world's history and its makers /

Mode of access: Internet.