This changes everything: dynamic floras and the disruption of traditional taxonomic practice

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 172 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. R. Thiele

Flora writing has traditionally been an important but sporadic part of the taxonomic process. The gap between the completion of Bentham’s Flora australiensis and the commencement of the Flora of Australia project, for example, was 103 years. Floras are generally written by small teams (occasionally by single authors) based in single or coordinated networks of institutions, and function as authoritative, point-in-time syntheses of taxonomic activity during the years preceding their creation. Of course, since taxonomy is a dynamic and (potentially) open-ended science, it is often the case that as soon as a Flora treatment is published, it is rendered superseded by ongoing taxonomy. The traditional taxonomic process can, thus, be modelled as a cyclic alternation of open, unconstrained, more-or-less unmediated taxonomic activity (hypothesis generation) punctuated by short phases of synthesis, constraint and mediation (hypothesis consolidation). The opportunity to move from paper Flora publication to digital management and delivery of eFloras may substantially change this model. Although traditional Floras are understood to be unitary, authoritative, synthetic, sporadic and static, eFloras are expected to be unitary, authoritative, synthetic, continuous and dynamic. There is potential tension between the first three expectations of an eFlora (that it be unitary, authoritative and synthetic) and the last two (that it be continuous and dynamic). Resolving this tension may necessitate a change in the way taxonomy is conducted, mediated and managed; the implications of such change will need to be carefully considered, and the change will need to be carefully managed, to make the most of the opportunities of eFloras, while retaining the values of an open, vigorous taxonomic science.

RSC Advances ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 6958-6971
Author(s):  
Yaxian Tian ◽  
Zhaoju Tian ◽  
Yanrong Dong ◽  
Xiaohui Wang ◽  
Linsheng Zhan

This review focuses on the way how nanoparticles affect the structure and function of erythrocyte membranes, and is expected to pave the way for development of new nanodrugs.


Author(s):  
Kaitlyn Barton

Rapid advancements in radical life extension technologies contribute to humanity’s ever-changing world. The normalization of radical life extension technologies would signify that the present era in which biology and evolution act as dictators of human life and health would come to an end, thereby ushering in the age of the post-human. The purpose of this paper is to engage in a theological analysis of how and to what degree the ways in which humanity speaks about God could be changed or influenced if radical life extension becomes normative within society. . It is likely that this powerful technology would have a significant impact on many facets of culture, including the way in which humanity engages with religion, in particular Christianity. To accomplish this, the technology that could potentially support radical life extension, namely nanotechnology and cybernetic immortality, will be explained in terms of their relevance and function. Subsequently, the affects of radical life extension for human life will be addressed. Specifically, the implications of the partial or full eradication of human biological and psychological suffering and death through the use of cybernetic immortality and nanotechnology and will be considered. From there, the core theological concepts and narratives will be analyzed in the context of the potential actualization of radical life extension technology. A focus will be placed on the ethic of loving thy neighbour, Christ’s suffering on the cross, the hope of salvation and the Christian hope of entrance into heaven after death. 


2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (104) ◽  
pp. 148-165
Author(s):  
Frederik Tygstrup ◽  
Isak Winkel Holm

Literature and PoliticsLiterature is political by representing the world. The production of literature is a contribution to a general cultural poetics where images of reality are constructed and circulated. At the same time, the practice of literature is institutionalized in such a way that the form and function of the images of reality it produces are conceived and used in a distinctive way. In this article, we suggest distinguishing between a general cultural poetics and a specific literary poetics by using Ernst Cassirer’s neo-Kantian concept of »symbolic forms«. We argue that according to this view, the political significance of literary representational practices resides in the way they activate a common cultural repertoire of historical symbolic forms while at the same time deviating from the common ways of treating these forms.


Antichthon ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 156-172
Author(s):  
James S. McLaren

AbstractDuring the late republic and early principate the Jews who called Rome their home occasionally found themselves in the public gaze. Some of their customs and aspects of their ways of life also attracted occasional comment, often for their apparently strange and foreign manner. At no stage, however, during this period did they feature prominently in the public sphere of life in Rome. The aftermath of the war of 66-70 CE brought about an abrupt change in circumstances for the Jews living in Rome. Apart from the immediate visual celebration of the triumph, there followed a number of substantial monumental and numismatic commemorations of the Roman victory. In this article the purpose and function of those commemorations and the possible consequences for the Jews who lived in Rome are examined. In particular, the impact of the public profiling of the war on Jewish identity and of how the writings of Josephus are to be read in this setting is explored. Rather than regard Josephus as a supporter of the Flavian rulers, writing an account of the war that encouraged fellow Jews to collaborate with Rome, it is argued that he was offering Jews in Rome a counter-narrative to the way the war was being publicly commemorated.


1997 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry A. Fields

In this paper the nature and function of teacher rules in Year I and 2 primary classrooms is discussed. It is argued that the classroom is a complex mini-society which children must come to understand if they are to adjust to and succeed in school. Rules, it is believed, help children make sense of the world of the classroom. Rules are viewed as serving both a managerial function (helping to establish order) and as a mechanism for defining and understanding the ‘way of life’ in the classroom. Against this backdrop of perspectives on school and teacher rules, the rules of 60 Year 1 and 2 teachers were examined. The findings are discussed with reference to the above two perspectives and to the importance of rules in reinforcing the authority of the teacher in the classroom.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiera Lindsey

This article discusses a recent art project created by the Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi artist Jonathon Jones, which was commissioned to commemorate the opening of the revitalized Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney in early 2020. Jones’ work involves a dramatic installation of red and white crushed stones laid throughout the grounds of the barracks, merging the image of the emu footprint with that of the English broad convict arrow to ‘consider Australia’s layered history and contemporary cultural relations’. This work was accompanied by a ‘specially-curated programme’ of performances, workshops, storytelling and Artist Talks. Together, these elements were designed to unpack how certain ‘stories determine the ways we came together as a nation’. As one of the speakers of the Artist Talk’s programme, I had a unique opportunity to experiment with what colleagues and I have been calling ‘Creative histories’ in reference to the way some artists and historians are choosing to communicate their research about the past in ways that experiment with form and function and push disciplinary or generic boundaries. This article reflects upon how these two distinct creative history projects – one visual art, the other performative – renegotiate the complex and contested pasts of the Hyde Park Barracks. I suggest that both examples speak to the role of memory and creativity in shaping cultural responses to Australia’s colonial past, while Jones' programme illustrates how Indigenous artists and academics are making a profound intervention into contemporary understandings of how history is ‘done’ in Australia.


2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
VASSILIOS PAIPAIS

AbstractThis article is principally concerned with the way some sophisticated critical approaches in International Relations (IR) tend to compromise their critical edge in their engagement with the self/other problematique. Critical approaches that understand critique as total non-violence towards, or unreflective affirmation of, alterity risk falling back into precritical paths. That is, either a particularistic, assimilative universalism with pretensions of true universality or a radical incommensurability and the impossibility of communication with the other. This is what this article understands as the paradox of the politics of critique. Instead, what is more important than seeking a final overcoming or dismissal of the self/other opposition is to gain the insight that it is the perpetual striving to preserve the tension and ambivalence between self and other that rescues both critique's authority and function.


2016 ◽  
Vol 120 (1223) ◽  
pp. 201-208
Author(s):  
D. Southwood

ABSTRACTIn the last century and a half, space has moved from the realm of fantasy to everyday reality. In parallel, the way space has been regarded by the person in the street and the ideas of what access to space might be used for have evolved extraordinarily.


2007 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chee-Hoo Lum ◽  
Patricia Shehan Campbell

In this ethnographic study, we examined the musicking behaviors of schoolchildren at one American elementary school. The aim was to gain an understanding of the nature and context of rhythmic and melodic expressions made and heard by children, emanating from other children, as well as adults within the school environment. Time, place, and function figured as contextual considerations in the investigation of the sonic surrounds of the school; knowing when, where, and why the music occurred added meaningful dimensions to the description of children's soundscapes. The open-ended sociability of music and its pervasiveness at play and in learning were reminders of music's role in serving human functions, finding its way into private spaces, and webbing within social interactions. Also intriguing were the variety of forms of children's expressions, ranging from rhythmic play and melodic utterances to familiar songs and their parodies, and the way teachers used music for social signaling and facilitating learning.


1970 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph O'Malley

The development of Marx's mature social and political theory may be traced back in his writings to his political journalism of 1842–43, where a germinal doctrine on man's social nature supports a normative concept of the nature and function of political institutions. But his developing theory first achieved a measure of systematic rigor in his Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right. This work, Marx's earliest major theoretical writing, has lately received increased attention from scholars. My purpose here is to complement existing studies by highlighting certain methodological features of the work, specifically the way in which Marx combined elements of philosophical and political criticism in a systematic effort to develop his own political theory in opposition to the method and institutional conclusions of Hegel.


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