scholarly journals How to Distil Words and Obtain Culture History

2006 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 499-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Vansina
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
African History ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Central European ◽  
Anglophone Literature ◽  
Large Scale Problems ◽  
Culture History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Critical Scrutiny ◽  
Extended Discussion

Nearly every historian of early African history has recently encountered studies that use the history of words as a source for history more generally defined, an approach also known as words-and-things. Indeed, by now a more or less elaborate use of words-and-things has become fashionable, especially in the Anglophone literature. A number of short presentations of the overall principles underlying this approach have been published, but they all lack an extended discussion of the methodological issues involved. Perhaps this is the main reason why words-and- things analyses are almost never subjected to critical scrutiny, while the conclusions of studies based on them, however weak or strong they might be, tend to be accepted as gospel—a most unsatisfactory situation. Hence a book-length study of the methodology involved in the application of words-and-things should be very welcome.As Klein-Arendt's book is devoted exclusively to this subject, it should fill the gap. Yet it will disorient most readers of this journal because K-A is not concerned with the solution of smaller- or large-scale problems of history as understood by such readers, but focuses on the epistemology of the central European school known as Kulturgeschichte (more or less “Culture History”), to which he subscribes and which is likely to be largely unknown to most readers. Yet when the expression “words-and-things” was first coined in 1909. it was intended to be a tool to elucidate Kulturgeschichte. Indeed, the journal from which the label stems was called Wörter und Sachen. Kulturhistorische Zeitschrift für Sprach-und Sachforschung (Words and Things, a Journal of Culture History for Research in Languages and Things) and on its very first page Rudolf Meringer stated that “[linguistics is only a portion of the science of culture … We hold that the future of Kulturgeschichte resides in the union of the science of language with the science of things” in which “things” stood for what came to be better known as “culture traits.”

scholarly journals Dimensions of Epistemology and the Case for Africa’s Indigenous Ways of Knowing

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Amaechi Udefi
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Philosophical Work ◽  
Philosophical Practice ◽  
Intellectual Community ◽  
Large Scale Problems ◽  
History Of ◽  
Indigenous Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Modes Of Thought

philosophical practice has taken a new turn since it survived the large scale problems and debates which characterized its early beginnings in an African environment and intellectual community. The metaphilosophical issues then concerned about its status, relevance and methodology appropriate or usable for doing it. Although the issues that troubled African philosophers then may have subsided, yet some of them have and are still expressing reservations on the possibility of having Africa‟s indigenous ways of knowing, just as they deny the possibility of „African physics‟ or „African arithmetic‟. Paulin Hountondji, a leading African philosopher, is reputed for denying African traditional thought as philosophy, which he prefers to type as ethnophilosophy, simply because it thrives on orality and other ethnographical materials like proverbs, parables, folklores, fables, songs etc. For him, the piece, at best can qualify as ethnographical or anthropological monographs as opposed to philosophical work which relies on written texts and documentation on the basis of which “theoretical knowledge and significant intellectual exchange and innovation can” be achieved in Africa. Hountondji‟s position is, to say the least, exclusionist, since it denies and debars African modes of thought and heritage a position in the on-going philosophical conversation or discourse. The paper shares Hountondji‟s vision of adoption of an attitude of critical, scientific and skeptical orientation in African societies. However, it rejects the views of Hountondji and other scholars who deny African intellectual and cognitive systems and argues that their position rests on one sided conception or dimension of epistemology. The other intention of the paper is to show that philosophical practice is as old as the history of mankind in Africa, though Hountondj has expressed the view that philosophy as an academic discipline started in African Universities only in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Materials for the history of the gospel-Baptist movement in Ukraine

1996 ◽  
pp. 4-15
Author(s):  
S. Golovaschenko ◽  
Petro Kosuha
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Theological Seminary ◽  
National Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Evangelical Christians ◽  
Evangelical Christian ◽  
First Results ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fruitful Cooperation ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

The report is based on the first results of the study "The History of the Evangelical Christians-Baptists in Ukraine", carried out in 1994-1996 by the joint efforts of the Department of Religious Studies at the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Odessa Theological Seminary of Evangelical Christian Baptists. A large-scale description and research of archival sources on the history of evangelical movements in our country gave the first experience of fruitful cooperation between secular and church researchers.

ACTION ON MATTER: THE HISTORY OF THE UNIQUELY AFRICAN TAMPER AND CONCAVE ANVIL POT-FORMING TECHNIQUE

2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Sterner ◽  
Nicholas David
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
Weight Ratio ◽  
High Volume ◽  
Efficient Production ◽  
Arid Environments ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Culture History ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Diffusion

The publication, largely by ethnoarchaeologists, of new data on the tamper and concave anvil technique of pot-forming (TCA) permits a reassessment of this uniquely African technique, its toolkit, and its culture history. A survey, inspired by the technologie culturelle school, of its varied expressions in the southern Saharan, Sahelian and northern Sudan zones from Mali to Sudan and extending north into Egypt emphasises the potential of the technique for the efficient production of spherical water jars of high volume to weight ratio, much appreciated in arid environments. The technique is demanding and therefore practised for the most part by specialists. The origins and diffusion of the technique are assessed in the light of the ethnological, archaeological, linguistic, and historical evidence, and a four stage historical development is sketched.

Integration of Ecological and Engineering Aspects in Planning Large Scale Tidal Power Development in the Bay of Fundy, Canada

1984 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 281-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald C Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Feasibility Studies ◽  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Final Decision ◽  
Power Development ◽  
Tidal Power ◽  
History Of ◽  
Scientists And Engineers ◽  
The Many ◽  
University Scientists

Large-scale tidal power development in the Bay of Fundy has been given serious consideration for over 60 years. There has been a long history of productive interaction between environmental scientists and engineers durinn the many feasibility studies undertaken. Up until recently, tidal power proposals were dropped on economic grounds. However, large-scale development in the upper reaches of the Bay of Fundy now appears to be economically viable and a pre-commitment design program is highly likely in the near future. A large number of basic scientific research studies have been and are being conducted by government and university scientists. Likely environmental impacts have been examined by scientists and engineers together in a preliminary fashion on several occasions. A full environmental assessment will be conducted before a final decision is made and the results will definately influence the outcome.

scholarly journals A Survey on Edge Performance Benchmarking

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Blesson Varghese ◽  
Nan Wang ◽  
David Bermbach ◽  
Cheol-Ho Hong ◽  
Eyal De Lara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Future Internet ◽  
Coupled Systems ◽  
Operational Conditions ◽  
Loosely Coupled ◽  
Performance Benchmarking ◽  
The Past ◽  
Geographically Dispersed ◽  
Tightly Coupled ◽  
History Of

Edge computing is the next Internet frontier that will leverage computing resources located near users, sensors, and data stores to provide more responsive services. Therefore, it is envisioned that a large-scale, geographically dispersed, and resource-rich distributed system will emerge and play a key role in the future Internet. However, given the loosely coupled nature of such complex systems, their operational conditions are expected to change significantly over time. In this context, the performance characteristics of such systems will need to be captured rapidly, which is referred to as performance benchmarking, for application deployment, resource orchestration, and adaptive decision-making. Edge performance benchmarking is a nascent research avenue that has started gaining momentum over the past five years. This article first reviews articles published over the past three decades to trace the history of performance benchmarking from tightly coupled to loosely coupled systems. It then systematically classifies previous research to identify the system under test, techniques analyzed, and benchmark runtime in edge performance benchmarking.

scholarly journals Efficacy and safety of Si-Jun-Zi-Tang-based therapies for functional (non-ulcer) dyspepsia: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaping Wang ◽  
Bin Liu ◽  
Xiuqiong Fu ◽  
Tiejun Tong ◽  
Zhiling Yu
Keyword(s):  
Relapse Rate ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Primary Outcome ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Risk Of Bias ◽  
Efficacy And Safety ◽  
History Of ◽  
Non Ulcer Dyspepsia

Abstract Background The traditional Chinese medicine formula Si-Jun-Zi-Tang (SJZT) has a long history of application in the treatment of functional dyspepsia (non-ulcer dyspepsia, FD)-like symptoms. SJZT-based therapies have been claimed to be beneficial in managing FD. This study aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of SJZT-based therapies in treating FD by meta-analysis. Methods Systematic searches for RCTs were conducted in seven databases (up to February 2019) without language restrictions. Data were analyzed using Cochrane RevMan software version 5.3.0 and Stata software version 13.1, and reported as relative risk (RR) or odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The primary outcome was response rate and the secondary outcomes were gastric emptying, quality of life, adverse effects and relapse rate. The quality of evidence was evaluated according to criteria from the Cochrane risk of bias. Results A total of 341 potentially relevant publications were identified, and 12 RCTs were eligible for inclusion. For the response rate, there was a statically significant benefit in favor of SJZT-based therapies (RR = 1.23; 95% CI 1.17 to 1.30). However, the benefit was limited to modified SJZT (MSJZT). The relapse rate of FD patients received SJZT-based therapies was lower than that of patients who received conventional medicines (OR = 0.23; 95% CI 0.10 to 0.51). No SJZT-based therapies-related adverse effect was reported. Conclusion SJZT-based prescriptions may be effective in treating FD and no serious side-effects were identified, but the effect on response rate appeared to be limited to MSJZT. The results should be interpreted with caution as all the included studies were considered at a high risk of bias. Standardized, large-scale and strictly designed RCTs are needed to further validate the benefits of SJZT-based therapies for FD management. Trial registration Systematic review registration: [PROSPERO registration: CRD42019139136].

scholarly journals Investigation of Improved Cooperative Coevolution for Large-Scale Global Optimization Problems

Algorithms ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 146
Author(s):  
Aleksei Vakhnin ◽  
Evgenii Sopov
Keyword(s):  
Global Optimization ◽  
Evolutionary Algorithms ◽  
Numerical Experiments ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Optimization Problems ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Fixed Number ◽  
High Dimensional ◽  
Cooperative Coevolution ◽  
Large Scale Problems

Modern real-valued optimization problems are complex and high-dimensional, and they are known as “large-scale global optimization (LSGO)” problems. Classic evolutionary algorithms (EAs) perform poorly on this class of problems because of the curse of dimensionality. Cooperative Coevolution (CC) is a high-performed framework for performing the decomposition of large-scale problems into smaller and easier subproblems by grouping objective variables. The efficiency of CC strongly depends on the size of groups and the grouping approach. In this study, an improved CC (iCC) approach for solving LSGO problems has been proposed and investigated. iCC changes the number of variables in subcomponents dynamically during the optimization process. The SHADE algorithm is used as a subcomponent optimizer. We have investigated the performance of iCC-SHADE and CC-SHADE on fifteen problems from the LSGO CEC’13 benchmark set provided by the IEEE Congress of Evolutionary Computation. The results of numerical experiments have shown that iCC-SHADE outperforms, on average, CC-SHADE with a fixed number of subcomponents. Also, we have compared iCC-SHADE with some state-of-the-art LSGO metaheuristics. The experimental results have shown that the proposed algorithm is competitive with other efficient metaheuristics.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document