Historical knowledge of sharks: ancient science, earliest American encounters, and American science, fisheries, and utilization

In western civilization, the knowledge of the elasmobranch or selachian fishes (sharks and rays) begins with Aristotle (384–322 B.C.). Two of his extant works, the “Historia Animalium” and the “Generation of Animals,” both written about 330 B.C., demonstrate knowledge of elasmobranch fishes acquired by observation. Roman writers of works on natural history, such as Aelian and Pliny, who followed Aristotle, were compilers of available information. Their contribution was that they prevented the Greek knowledge from being lost, but they added few original observations. The fall of Rome, around 476 A.D., brought a period of economic regression and political chaos. These in turn brought intellectual thought to a standstill for nearly one thousand years, the period known as the Dark Ages. It would not be until the middle of the sixteenth century, well into the Renaissance, that knowledge of elasmobranchs would advance again. The works of Belon, Salviani, Rondelet, and Steno mark the beginnings of ichthyology, including the study of sharks and rays. The knowledge of sharks and rays increased slowly during and after the Renaissance, and the introduction of the Linnaean System of Nomenclature in 1735 marks the beginning of modern ichthyology. However, the first major work on sharks would not appear until the early nineteenth century. Knowledge acquired about sea animals usually follows their economic importance and exploitation, and this was also true with sharks. The first to learn about sharks in North America were the native fishermen who learned how, when, and where to catch them for food or for their oils. The early naturalists in America studied the land animals and plants; they had little interest in sharks. When faunistic works on fishes started to appear, naturalists just enumerated the species of sharks that they could discern. Throughout the U.S. colonial period, sharks were seldom utilized for food, although their liver oil or skins were often utilized. Throughout the nineteenth century, the Spiny Dogfish, Squalus acanthias, was the only shark species utilized in a large scale on both coasts. It was fished for its liver oil, which was used as a lubricant, and for lighting and tanning, and for its skin which was used as an abrasive. During the early part of the twentieth century, the Ocean Leather Company was started to process sea animals (primarily sharks) into leather, oil, fertilizer, fins, etc. The Ocean Leather Company enjoyed a monopoly on the shark leather industry for several decades. In 1937, the liver of the Soupfin Shark, Galeorhinus galeus, was found to be a rich source of vitamin A, and because the outbreak of World War II in 1938 interrupted the shipping of vitamin A from European sources, an intensive shark fishery soon developed along the U.S. West Coast. By 1939 the American shark leather fishery had transformed into the shark liver oil fishery of the early 1940’s, encompassing both coasts. By the late 1940’s, these fisheries were depleted because of overfishing and fishing in the nursery areas. Synthetic vitamin A appeared on the market in 1950, causing the fishery to be discontinued. During World War II, shark attacks on the survivors of sunken ships and downed aviators engendered the search for a shark repellent. This led to research aimed at understanding shark behavior and the sensory biology of sharks. From the late 1950’s to the 1980’s, funding from the Office of Naval Research was responsible for most of what was learned about the sensory biology of sharks.

A compend of history from the earliest times : comprehending a general view of the present state of the world : with respect to civilization, religion, and government : and a brief dissertation on the importance of historical knowledge /

Mode of access: Internet.

A compend of history, from the earliest times; comprehending a general view of the present state of the world, with respect to civilization, religion, and government: and a brief dissertation on the importance of historical knowledge.

Shoemaker

A compend of history from the earliest times : comprehending a general view of the present state of the world, with respect to civilization, religion, and government : and a brief dissertation on the importance of historical knowledge /

Includes bibliographical references.

Knowledge Management Techniques to Augment Textual CBR (PhD Thesis)

The past decade had witnessed an unprecedented growth in the amount of available digital content, and its volume is expected to continue to grow the next few years. Unstructured text data generated from web and enterprise sources form a large fraction of such content. Many of these contain large volumes of reusable data such as solutions to frequently occurring problems, and general know-how that may be reused in appropriate contexts. In this work, we address issues around leveraging unstructured text data from sources as diverse as the web and the enterprise within the Case-based Reasoning framework. Case-based Reasoning (CBR) provides a framework and methodology for systematic reuse of historical knowledge that is available in the form of problemsolution
pairs, in solving new problems. Here, we consider possibilities of enhancing Textual CBR systems under three main themes: procurement, maintenance and retrieval. We adapt and build upon the stateof-the-art techniques from data mining and natural language processing in addressing various challenges therein. Under procurement, we investigate the problem of extracting cases (i.e., problem-solution pairs) from data sources such as incident/experience
reports. We develop case-base maintenance methods specifically tuned to text targeted towards retaining solutions such that the utility of the filtered case base in solving new problems is maximized. Further, we address the problem of query suggestions for textual case-bases and show that exploiting the problem-solution partition can enhance retrieval effectiveness by prioritizing more useful query suggestions. Additionally, we illustrate interpretable clustering as a tool to drill-down to domain specific text collections (since CBR systems are usually very domain specific) and develop techniques for improved similarity assessment in social media sources such as microblogs. Through extensive empirical evaluations, we illustrate the improvements that we are able to
achieve over the state-of-the-art methods for the respective tasks.

Introduction: digital methods and tools for historical research

As an introduction to a series of articles focused on the exploration of particular tools and/or methods to bring together digital technology and historical research, the aim of this paper is mainly to highlight and discuss in what measure those methodological approaches can contribute to improve analytical and interpretative capabilities available to historians. In a moment when the digital world present us with an ever-increasing variety of tools to perform extraction, analysis and visualization of large amounts of text, we thought it would be relevant to bring the digital closer to the vast historical academic community. More than repeating an idea of digital revolution introduced in the historical research, something recurring in the literature since the 1980s, the aim was to show the validity and usefulness of using digital tools and methods, as another set of highly relevant tools that the historians should consider. For this several case studies were used, combining the exploration of specific themes of historical knowledge and the development or discussion of digital methodologies, in order to highlight some changes and challenges that, in our opinion, are already affecting the historians' work, such as a greater focus given to interdisciplinarity and collaborative work, and a need for the form of communication of historical knowledge to become more interactive.

Georg Simmel, the stranger and the sociology of knowledge

The Simmelian stranger has been extensively studied and critiqued. This paper suggests that although this body of literature has contributed to a conceptual refinement of the category, its analysis confines itself to Simmel’s seminal essay on the stranger. A broader and deeper analysis of Simmel’s stranger is possible when we contextualise it within Simmel’s broader intellectual project and link it to his conception of historical knowledge, 10 his reflections on the third element, the cosmopolitan aesthetic sensibility and the genius. It is suggested that the affinities between the stranger and other ideas within his work allow us to ponder the contribution that Simmel can make to the debate on standpoint epistemologies.

Machine prognostics based on health state probability estimation

The ability to accurately predict the remaining useful life of machine components is critical for machine continuous operation and can also improve productivity and enhance system’s safety. In condition-based maintenance (CBM), maintenance is performed based on information collected through condition monitoring and assessment of the machine health. Effective diagnostics and prognostics are important aspects of CBM for maintenance engineers to schedule a repair and to acquire replacement components before the components actually fail. Although a variety of prognostic methodologies have been reported recently, their application in industry is still relatively new and mostly focused on the prediction of specific component degradations. Furthermore, they required significant and sufficient number of fault indicators to accurately prognose the component faults. Hence, sufficient usage of health indicators in prognostics for the effective interpretation of machine degradation process is still required. Major challenges for accurate longterm prediction of remaining useful life (RUL) still remain to be addressed. Therefore, continuous development and improvement of a machine health management system and accurate long-term prediction of machine remnant life is required in real industry application. This thesis presents an integrated diagnostics and prognostics framework based on health state probability estimation for accurate and long-term prediction of machine remnant life. In the proposed model, prior empirical (historical) knowledge is embedded in the integrated diagnostics and prognostics system for classification of impending faults in machine system and accurate probability estimation of discrete degradation stages (health states). The methodology assumes that machine degradation consists of a series of degraded states (health states) which effectively represent the dynamic and stochastic process of machine failure. The estimation of discrete health state probability for the prediction of machine remnant life is performed using the ability of classification algorithms. To employ the appropriate classifier for health state probability estimation in the proposed model, comparative intelligent diagnostic tests were conducted using five different classifiers applied to the progressive fault data of three different faults in a high pressure liquefied natural gas (HP-LNG) pump. As a result of this comparison study, SVMs were employed in heath state probability estimation for the prediction of machine failure in this research. The proposed prognostic methodology has been successfully tested and validated using a number of case studies from simulation tests to real industry applications. The results from two actual failure case studies using simulations and experiments indicate that accurate estimation of health states is achievable and the proposed method provides accurate long-term prediction of machine remnant life. In addition, the results of experimental tests show that the proposed model has the capability of providing early warning of abnormal machine operating conditions by identifying the transitional states of machine fault conditions. Finally, the proposed prognostic model is validated through two industrial case studies. The optimal number of health states which can minimise the model training error without significant decrease of prediction accuracy was also examined through several health states of bearing failure. The results were very encouraging and show that the proposed prognostic model based on health state probability estimation has the potential to be used as a generic and scalable asset health estimation tool in industrial machinery.

Machine prognostics based on health state estimation using SVM

The ability to accurately predict the remaining useful life of machine components is critical for machine continuous operation, and can also improve productivity and enhance system safety. In condition-based maintenance (CBM), maintenance is performed based on information collected through condition monitoring and an assessment of the machine health. Effective diagnostics and prognostics are important aspects of CBM for maintenance engineers to schedule a repair and to acquire replacement components before the components actually fail. All machine components are subjected to degradation processes in real environments and they have certain failure characteristics which can be related to the operating conditions. This paper describes a technique for accurate assessment of the remnant life of machines based on health state probability estimation and involving historical knowledge embedded in the closed loop diagnostics and prognostics systems. The technique uses a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier as a tool for estimating health state probability of machine degradation, which can affect the accuracy of prediction. To validate the feasibility of the proposed model, real life historical data from bearings of High Pressure Liquefied Natural Gas (HP-LNG) pumps were analysed and used to obtain the optimal prediction of remaining useful life. The results obtained were very encouraging and showed that the proposed prognostic system based on health state probability estimation has the potential to be used as an estimation tool for remnant life prediction in industrial machinery.

Bearing fault prognosis based on health state probability estimation

In condition-based maintenance (CBM), effective diagnostic and prognostic tools are essential for maintenance engineers to identify imminent fault and predict the remaining useful life before the components finally fail. This enables remedial actions to be taken in advance and reschedule of production if necessary. All machine components are subjected to degradation processes in real environments and they have certain failure characteristics which can be related to the operating conditions. This paper describes a technique for accurate assessment of the remnant life of bearings based on health state probability estimation and historical knowledge embedded in the closed loop diagnostics and prognostics system. The technique uses the Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier as a tool for estimating health state probability of machine degradation process to provide long term prediction. To validate the feasibility of the proposed model, real life fault historical data from bearings of High Pressure-Liquefied Natural Gas (HP-LNG) pumps were analysed and used to obtain the optimal prediction of remaining useful life (RUL). The results obtained were very encouraging and showed that the proposed prognosis system based on health state probability estimation has the potential to be used as an estimation tool for remnant life prediction in industrial machinery.

Pedagoginen liveroolipelaaminen historian opetusmetodina

In this research pedagogical live action role playing is examined as a method of teaching history. The objective of this research is to present and define the concept of pedagogical live action role playing as a method of teaching history and examine its capability in teaching historical empathy. Pedagogical live action role playing is a teaching method under development which has elements from drama pedagogics and different learning theories. The theoretical part of this research consists of play theories and drama pedagogical theories which are relevant to live action role playing, and also the concepts of historical empathy and historical thinking. In drama pedagogics the main sources are the researches of Laakso (2004) and Heikkinen (2002, 2004). The historical part uses the researches of VanSledright (2002), Cooper (2000) and Ashby and Lee (1987) as its main sources. The research was carried out at the Viikki Teacher Training School in the class 6b during autumn 2007. The research material consists of three-phased interviews. During all phases three pupils were interviewed, and during two of the phases, also the teacher of the class was interviewed. The methods used in the interviews were thematic interview and stimulated recall -interview. The data gathered from the interviews was analyzed using content analysis. Pedagogical live action role playing has three phases when teaching history: pre-game (preparations), game (live action role play) and post-game (discussion after the game and in the classroom). The teacher's attention and carefulness is important during all phases. The mistakes made in the pre-game face e.g. in writing the characters seem to cause major problems in the pupils' game experiences. Pedagogical live action role playing is capable of teaching historical empathy, but according to my research this has some conditions, from which the most important is the pupil's historical knowledge before the game. Teaching historical empathy was based on esthetic dualition: the pupil made decions about the actions of his character as him/herself. The more background information the pupil had about the era they played, the more the pupil seemed to make decisions based on his historical empathy, aka his understanding of the era of the larp and of the people of the same era.

Saberes do corpo: capoeira, cultura corporal e educação

A Capoeira é defesa, é ataque, é ginga de corpo, é malandragem, ação e reação, um jogo de xadrez, segundo alguns capoeiristas. Para uns, esporte, para outros dança, luta, briga, filosofia de vida. Mas há ainda os que a veem como um espetáculo acrobático de habilidades corporais propagado nos filmes, shows, jogos de vídeo game, eventos turísticos, acabando por criar determinados estereótipos corporais de beleza e desempenho físico. Nesse sentido, a pesquisa teve como objetivo descrever, analisar e interpretar a cultura corporal, assim como a percepção de capoeiristas em relação ao corpo na capoeira, e dos seus contramestres/mestrando, localizados em diferentes grupos de capoeira situados em diferentes instituições, tais como: Bloco de carnaval; Clube esportivo; Academia de ginástica. Parte-se do entendimento de cultura corporal enquanto expressão de uma cultura historicamente construída, acumulada, ressignificada e expressa pelos movimentos corporais que destaca traços marcantes de um determinado grupo, de uma determinada localidade. Neste caso, dos diferentes grupos de capoeira e de suas respectivas instituições. Qual a percepção dos capoeiristas em relação ao seu próprio corpo, ao corpo de seus colegas e de seu contramestre/mestrando de capoeira? O que esperam os capoeiristas aprenderem na capoeira? E para esses capoeiristas e seus contramestres/mestrando qual o principal objetivo ao se ensinar/aprender capoeira? Seria algo em torno de um aspecto mais tecnicista que visasse prioritariamente o desenvolvimento e aperfeiçoamento das técnicas dos movimentos, floreios, esquivas? Ou também, aliado a estes aspectos, seria mais importante, para os capoeiristas, conhecer a história da capoeira, como esta veio ao longo do tempo se ressignificando e resistindo para ser hoje reconhecida como um esporte verdadeiramente nacional? Será que haveria aqueles que praticassem capoeira simplesmente para manter um padrão corporal estético propagado pela mídia e pela indústria da moda? A partir das observações, reflexões e interpretações das entrevistas chega-se a conclusão que de fato as instituições nas quais os grupos realizam suas práticas podem influenciar na filosofia de ensino/aprendizado destes. E que as percepções e interesses dos capoeiristas em relação ao próprio corpo variam pela busca de um melhor desempenho técnico, padrão de estética e pelo conhecimento histórico da capoeira, dos movimentos, golpes, esquivas e como estes vem ao longo do tempo se ressignificando

Quem foi Colombo? A questão étnico-racial nos livros didáticos de história: a descrição do colonizador após as leis 10639/03 e 11645/08

A presente dissertação se propõe a contribuir para as análises dos processos ligados à implementação das leis 10639/03 e 11645/08. Questionamo-nos acerca dos desdobramentos do imperativo das leis nos livros didáticos de história, sobretudo, no uso do conceito de colonizador no processo de explicação da relação entre diferentes povos e culturas nas coleções da disciplina história. Como estão descritas essas relações? Há mudanças institucionalizadas pelo PNLD ou pelas leis: que descrições de significados culturais, políticos os sujeitos implicados nos eventos de ocupação do território americano são apresentados nos manuais de ensino de história? Buscamos entender quais as relações de colonialidade do saber se estabelecem na sistematização dos conteúdos de história, tendo em vista que os atos de colonização envolvem dinâmicas que se chocam com as premissas hierárquicas simplificadas nos processos de ensino de história na escola de acordo com as descrições dos livros didáticos. As maneiras pelas quais o colonizador é rotulado como conquistador, supervalorizando a dimensão europeia do processo e subvalorizando os referenciais da cultura local representados nos povos pré-colombianos são problematizadas nessa dissertação sob duas perspectivas: (1) a superficialização das relações hierárquicas nos processos de colonização, dessa forma, inscrita no feixe de possibilidades que corrobora com as estratégias de perpetuação das simplificações das funções dos atores sociais no período colonial descritas nos manuais didáticos de história; (2) ou como reação prática ou simplista, como estratégia que modifica a realidade histórica social ao sabor das conveniências políticas, suas relações de poder e desenvolvimento de políticas públicas. A pesquisa fundamentou-se na análise de uma coleção de livro didático de história para o ensino médio (1 ao 3 anos) mais usadas efetivamente nas escolas públicas do município de Cabo Frio, Estado do Rio de Janeiro. A pesquisa delimita dois eixos, o primeiro, por meio da análise do histórico das legislações 10639/03 e 11645/08, leis nas quais são baseadas as regulamentações sobre o ensino étnico-racial e grande parte das discussões sobre ações afirmativas no Brasil; um segundo, no qual se estabeleceu investigação aos sentidos atribuídos ao que se define como colonizador e a percepção de quais são as descrições classificadas como colonialidade do saber histórico nos livros didáticos. Tal discussão sobre o colonizador pode contribuir na reflexão crítica sobre a institucionalização do saber histórico escolar do livro didático e de normalização nacional como os PNLDs, quanto às disputas de poder que ocorrem entre os atores políticos no processo de justificativa histórica das políticas públicas como as ações afirmativas.

Are There Any Lessons of History?: The English School and the Activity of Being an Historian

Bain, William, 'Are There Any Lessons of History?: The English School and the Activity of Being an Historian', International Politics (2007) 44(5) pp.513-530 RAE2008