Molecular Phylogenies Support Homoplasy of Multiple Morphological Characters Used in the Taxonomy of Heteroscleromorpha (Porifera: Demospongiae)

Sponge classification has long been based mainly on morphocladistic analyses but is now being greatly challenged by more than 12 years of accumulated analyses of molecular data analyses. The current study used phylogenetic hypotheses based on sequence data from 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, and the CO1 barcoding fragment, combined with morphology to justify the resurrection of the order Axinellida Lévi, 1953. Axinellida occupies a key position in different morphologically derived topologies. The abandonment of Axinellida and the establishment of Halichondrida Vosmaer, 1887 sensu lato to contain Halichondriidae Gray, 1867, Axinellidae Carter, 1875, Bubaridae Topsent, 1894, Heteroxyidae Dendy, 1905, and a new family Dictyonellidae van Soest et al., 1990 was based on the conclusion that an axially condensed skeleton evolved independently in separate lineages in preference to the less parsimonious assumption that asters (star-shaped spicules), acanthostyles (club-shaped spicules with spines), and sigmata (C-shaped spicules) each evolved more than once. Our new molecular trees are congruent and contrast with the earlier, morphologically based, trees. The results show that axially condensed skeletons, asters, acanthostyles, and sigmata are all homoplasious characters. The unrecognized homoplasious nature of these characters explains much of the incongruence between molecular-based and morphology-based phylogenies. We use the molecular trees presented here as a basis for re-interpreting the morphological characters within Heteroscleromorpha. The implications for the classification of Heteroscleromorpha are discussed and a new order Biemnida ord. nov. is erected.

History-guided conversational recommendation

Product recommendation is an important aspect of many e-commerce systems. It provides an effective way to help users navigate complex product spaces. In this paper, we focus on critiquing-based recommenders. We present a new critiquing-based approach, History-Guided Recommendation (HGR), which is capable of using the recommendation pairs (item and critique) or critiques only so far in the current recommendation session to predict the most likely product recommendations and therefore short-cut the sometimes protracted recommendation sessions in standard critiquing approaches. The HGR approach shows a significant improvement in the interaction between the user and the recommender. It also enables successfully accepted recommendations to be made much earlier in the session

Depicting Characters and danced Narratives: Handel, 'The Italian troupe', and Marie Sallé

Handel’s London career afforded opportunities for responding to dancers working in distinct styles of movement—most notably the Italian troupe resident at the King’s Theatre in 1726-27, and Marie Sallé at Covent Garden in 1734-35. By studying the dances from Admeto (1727) and Ariodante (1735), this paper will explore Handel's response to the serious and grotesque styles, as well as to the character and narrative modes.

‘“Indelible characters”:Tattoos, Power and the Late Nineteenth-Century Irish Convict Body

Since the late nineteenth-century works of criminologists Lombroso and Lacassagne, tattoos in Europe have been commonly associated with deviant bodies. Like many other studies of tattoos of non-indigenous origin, the locus of our research is the convict body. Given the corporeal emphasis of prison records, we argue that tattoos form a crucial part of the power dynamic. Tattoos in the carceral context embody an inherent paradox of their being a component in the reidentification of 'habitual criminals'. We argue that their presence can be regarded as an expression of convict agency: by the act of imprinting unique identifiers on their bodies, convicts boldly defied the official gaze, while equally their description in official records exacted power over the deviant body. Cursory findings show an alignment with other national studies; corporeal inscriptions in Ireland were more prevalent in men's prisons than women's and associated, however loosely, with certain occupations. For instance, maritime and military motifs find representation. Recidivists were more likely to have tattoos than first-time offenders; inscriptions were described as monotone, rudimentary in design and incorporated a limited range of impressions. Further to our argument that tattoos form an expression of convict defiance of prison authority, we have found an unusual idiosyncrasy in the convict record, that is, that the agency of photography, while undermined in general terms, was manipulated by prison officers.

Swift and Conversational Culture

Swift often noted his aversion to coffee-house conversation and to tavern talk, to gossip and company, and to being buried in Dublin in the years of his Deanship. Yet the popular myth of a morose, unsociable Swift belies both his engagement with various literary and political clubs in his early career and his participation in collaborative and experimental poetic games in his Dublin circles. This essay considers Swift’s involvement with three clubs in London (the Saturday Club, the Brothers’ Club, and the Scriblerians) and his writings on a number of fictional clubs (the Athenian Society, the Calves-Head Club, and a putative Society for the correction of the English language). While Swift wrote very little of his experience of actual clubs, the latter three, in addition to the Scriblerian Club as an imagined, rather than actual clubs, resulted in a number of defining poems and works in his career. When Swift settled in Dublin, poetry written and exchanged in a number of sociable circles characterised much of his published verse and gave glimpses of the circles and informal clubs which he formed among friends there. Although these poems are often dismissed as ‘trifles’, the essay argues that the poems are crucial for our understandings of ‘conversational culture’ or sociability in Swift’s Dublin.

Laughter and Humour as Conversational Mind-Reading Displays

Laughter and humor are pervasive phenomena in conversa- tional interactions. This paper argues that they function as displays of mind-reading abilities in social interactions–as suggested by the Analogi- cal Peacock Hypothesis (APH). In this view, they are both social bonding signals and can elevate one’s social status. The relational combination of concepts in humor is addressed. However, it is in the inclusion of context and receiver knowledge, required by the APH view, that it contributes the most to existing theories. Taboo and offensive humor are addressed in terms of costly signaling, and implications for human computer inter- action and some possible routes to solutions are suggested.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Critical Media Literacy and Disney Female Characters

The purpose of this research project was to use a qualitative approach to explore Critical Media Literacy (CML) with young girls by collaboratively analyzing Disney animated films. My goal was to provide a safe and encouraging space for children to share their perspectives and opinions of Disney animated female characters featured in The Little Mermaid (Ashman, Musker, & Clements, 1989), Cinderella (Disney, Geronimi, Jackson, & Luske, 1950), and The Princess and the Frog (Del Vecho, Clements, & Musker, 2009). I used CML as my theoretical framework as it provided an inquisitive approach to watching films, which, in turn, encouraged the participants to use critical thinking pertaining to the images of female characters in Disney. I also incorporated feminist theory as the majority of discussion revolved around the physical appearance of female characters as well as the participants’ understandings of femininity. I conducted two focus groups with 4 young girls, aged 7 to 11, to gain insight into their understanding of Disney female characters. An inquisitive and collaborative approach to watching films revealed three themes: (a) powerful women in Disney are mean and ugly; (b) heterosexual relationships are paramount; and (c) Disney Princesses are always pretty and nice. I concluded by recommending the importance of CML and collaborative film-watching with young children as the simplicity of asking questions encourages young people to become aware of, challenge, and think critically about the media they are consuming.

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UANL

Between the spheres : male characters and the performance of femininity in four victorian novels, 1849-1886

“Between the Spheres: Male Characters and the Performance of Femininity in Four Victorian Novels, 1849-1886” définit le célibataire domestique, analyse les effets de l’érosion des frontières entre les domaines public et privé et retrace l’évolution du discours public au sujet de la masculinité dans quatre œuvres: Shirley écrit par Charlotte Brontë, Lady Audley’s Secret de Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Daniel Deronda par George Eliot, et The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde de Robert Louis Stevenson. En identifiant le célibataire domestique comme personnage récurrent à la dernière moitié du dixneuvième siècle, cette dissertation démontre comment ce personnage arrive à représenter l’incertitude face aux questions de sexualité, non seulement dans des rôles féminins mais aussi dans les positions de l’homme dans la société et la remise en question du concept de la masculinité. Tout comme il y eu de femmes à l’affût de la liberté au-delà du domaine privé, des hommes aussi cherchèrent leur liberté au sein du domaine domestique par des performances féminines. Le célibataire domestique rapporte sur le concept New Woman de cette période par sa tendance de promouvoir de nouvelles définitions de la masculinité victorienne et les limites entre sexes. Le célibataire domestique passe du domaine public, plutôt masculin, vers le domaine privé, plutôt féminin en participitant dans le discours féminin, tel que les sujets de le domesticité, la chastité, la moralité, le mariage, et l’amour. En s’inspirant de l’analyse des domaines public et privé par Jürgen Habermas, cette dissertation revoit les rôles de ces domaines et leur élasticité dans les quatre œuvres en question ainsi que le sort des célibataires domestiques. L’assignation de sexe à ces domaines mena à la recherche de nouveaux formes de masculinité, produisant une définition de mâle liée au statut de la femme dans le domaine privé. Le célibataire domestique se déplace facilement entre ces domaines sans souffrir d’accusations de tendances effeminées ou d’aliénation sociale, à l’encontre des conséquences qu’ont souffert les personnages femelles pour leur comportement inhabituel. Chaque chapitre de cette dissertation considère les changements dans le discours de la sexualité afin de suivre la migration du célibataire domestique du domaine féminin au milieu du dixneuvième siècle jusqu’un nouveau domaine à la fin de siècle qui estompe la distinction rigide crue être en place tout au long de la période victorienne.

Deictic shifts and discursive strategies in Othello

Ce mémoire, “Deictic Shifts and Discursive Strategies in Othello”, est une étude des outils linguistiques et les stratégies utilisées par les différents personnages de la pièce. Il explore la façon dont le texte est construit et les différentes techniques qui le régissent de l'intérieur. Il étudie également l'utilisation de certains outils tels que les déplacements, les références déictiques indexicaux, les actes de langage et la rhétorique, et la façon dont ils permettent aux intervenants d'obtenir des résultats différents en fonction de la situation où ils sont. Ce travail est divisé en trois chapitres: le premier est consacré aux discours publics où je trace les différentes techniques utilisées par les personnages tel que la monopolization de la parole, la défense ou la persuasion de leurs interlocuteurs. Le deuxième chapitre se concentre sur les discours orientés vers une seule personne et montre comment les discours peuvent être utilisés pour avoir un effet sur l’interlocuteur. La première partie de ce chapitre traite de la sémiotique de choc. La deuxième partie est consacrée à la sémiotique de la tromperie et de manipulation. Le dernier chapitre est consacré aux soliloques et met l'accent sur l'écart entre les paroles de Iago et les réponses émotionnelles ainsi que les changements dans la personnalité d'Othello et de l'effet connexe de ces changements sur sa langue.