Here Be Monsters: Imperialism, Knowledge and the Limits of Empire

It has become a truism in discussions of Imperialist literature to state that the British empire was, in a very significant way, a textual exercise. Empire was simultaneously created and perpetuated through a proliferation of texts (governmental, legal, educational, scientific, fictional) driven significantly by a desire for what Thomas Richards describes as “one great system of knowledge.” The project of assembling this system assumed that all of the “alien” knowledges that it drew upon could be easily assimilated into existing, “universal” (that is, European) epistemological categories. This belief in “one great system” assumed that knowledges from far-flung outposts of empire could, through careful categorization and control, be made to reinforce, rather than threaten, the authority of imperial epistemic rule. But this movement into “new” epistemic as well as physical spaces opened up the disruptive possibility for and encounter with Foucault’s “insurrection of subjugated knowledges.” In the Imperial Gothic stories discussed here, the space between “knowing all there is to know” and the inherent unknowability of the “Other” is played out through representations of failures of classification and anxieties about the limits of knowledge. These anxieties are articulated through what is arguably one of the most heavily regulated signifiers of scientific progress at the turn of the century: the body. In an age that was preoccupied with bodies as spectacles that signified everything from criminal behaviour, psychological disorder, moral standing and racial categorization, the mutable, unclassifiable body functions as a signifier that mediates between imperial fantasies of control and definition and fin-de-siècle anxieties of dissolution and degeneration. In Imperial Gothic fiction these fears appear as a series of complex explorations of the ways in which the gap between the known and the unknown can be charted on and through a monstrous body that moves outside of stable classification

AlN/GaN-based MOS-HEMT technology: processing and device results

Process development of AlN/GaN MOS-HEMTs is presented, along with issues and problems concerning the fabrication processes. The developed technology uses thermally grown Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> as a gate dielectric and surface passivation for devices. Significant improvement in device performance was observed using the following techniques: (1) Ohmic contact optimisation using Al wet etch prior to Ohmic metal deposition and (2) mesa sidewall passivation. DC and RF performance of the fabricated devices will be presented and discussed in this paper

Teaching and learning in information retrieval

A literature review of pedagogical methods for teaching and learning information retrieval is presented. From the analysis of the literature a taxonomy was built and it is used to structure the paper. Information Retrieval (IR) is presented from different points of view: technical levels, educational goals, teaching and learning methods, assessment and curricula. The review is organized around two levels of abstraction which form a taxonomy that deals with the different aspects of pedagogy as applied to information retrieval. The first level looks at the technical level of delivering information retrieval concepts, and at the educational goals as articulated by the two main subject domains where IR is delivered: computer science (CS) and library and information science (LIS). The second level focuses on pedagogical issues, such as teaching and learning methods, delivery modes (classroom, online or e-learning), use of IR systems for teaching, assessment and feedback, and curricula design. The survey, and its bibliography, provides an overview of the pedagogical research carried out in the field of IR. It also provides a guide for educators on approaches that can be applied to improving the student learning experiences

Why Local Authorities should prepare Food Brexit Plans

The UK’s food supply will be affected by Brexit whatever the outcome of the Parliamentary vote on the Draft Withdrawal Agreement. As the 29 March 2019 date for leaving the EU approaches, preparations to ensure we maintain a safe, adequate and sustainable food supply need to start urgently. Local Authorities (LAs) have a vital part to play in these preparations. More guidance, paying attention to the food specifics, is felt to be needed. LAs have a key role in the UK’s food system, with responsibilities including the enforcement of food safety and standards regulation, the control of imported food at ports and airports and the certification of foods for export. They also have unique knowledge of relevant local professionals, institutions, businesses and networks. This briefing aims to help Local Authorities prepare for Food Brexit. It shows why LAs should prepare Food Brexit Plans, and outlines five courses of action they could consider. The briefing recommends that Local Authorities: • Create Food Resilience Teams • Anticipate and reduce the impact of Food Brexit, particularly on SMEs • Narrow the information gap and treat the public openly and fairly • Prepare for public engagement • Be a local food voice so that central government knows the local realities

Compilation of relations for the antisymmetric tensors defined by the Lie algebra cocycles of su(n)su(n)

This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive compilation of results, many new here, involving the invariant totally antisymmetric tensors (Omega tensors) which define the Lie algebra cohomology cocycles of $su(n)$, and that play an essential role in the optimal definition of Racah-Casimir operators of $su(n)$. Since the Omega tensors occur naturally within the algebra of totally antisymmetrised products of $\lambda$-matrices of $su(n)$, relations within this algebra are studied in detail, and then employed to provide a powerful means of deriving important Omega tensor/cocycle identities. The results include formulas for the squares of all the Omega tensors of $su(n)$. Various key derivations are given to illustrate the methods employed.Comment: Latex file (run thrice). Misprints corrected, Refs. updated. Published in IJMPA 16, 1377-1405 (2001

Quantum mechanics over a q-deformed (0+1)-dimensional superspace

We built up a explicit realization of (0+1)-dimensional q-deformed superspace coordinates as operators on standard superspace. A q-generalization of supersymmetric transformations is obtained, enabling us to introduce scalar superfields and a q-supersymmetric action. We consider a functional integral based on this action. Integration is implemented, at the level of the coordinates and at the level of the fields, as traces over the corresponding representation spaces. Evaluation of these traces lead us to standard functional integrals. The generation of a mass term for the fermion field leads, at this level, to an explicitely broken version of supersymmetric quantum mechanics.Comment: 11 pages, Late

One-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of imploding spherical plasma liners with detailed equation-of-state modeling

This work extends the one-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic imploding spherical argon plasma liner simulations of T. J. Awe et al. [Phys. Plasmas 18, 072705 (2011)] by using a detailed tabular equation-of-state (EOS) model, whereas Awe et al. used a polytropic EOS model. Results using the tabular EOS model give lower stagnation pressures by a factor of 3.9-8.6 and lower peak ion temperatures compared to the polytropic EOS results. Both local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) and non-LTE EOS models were used in this work, giving similar results on stagnation pressure. The lower stagnation pressures using a tabular EOS model are attributed to a reduction in the liner's ability to compress arising from the energy sink introduced by ionization and electron excitation, which are not accounted for in a polytropic EOS model. Variation of the plasma liner species for the same initial liner geometry, mass density, and velocity was also explored using the LTE tabular EOS model, showing that the highest stagnation pressure is achieved with the highest atomic mass species for the constraints imposed.Comment: 21 pages, 3 tables, 7 figures, accepted for publication by Phys. Plasmas (9/24/2012

Objective evaluation of recreational facilities: Development and reliability of the Recreational Facility Audit Tool

The characteristics of recreational facilities are determinants of facility use and physical activity, yet there are few validated and extensive audit tools gauging characteristics of recreational facilities. This study aimed to describe the development of a 111-item audit tool that objectively evaluates the characteristics of recreational facilities across 10 domains, including the availability of sports facilities, accessibility to the facility, availability of supportive amenities, conditions of changing rooms, conditions of toilets, management, policy, environmental safety, aesthetics, and social environment. The intra- and inter-rater reliability indices of the audit tool were also examined. In the intra-rater reliability tests, 20 recreational facilities were examined twice by the same auditor, with one week apart between each audit. The inter-rater reliability was assessed using data from 20 recreational facilities that were examined twice by two independent auditors. Kappa statistics, percent agreement and intra-class correlation coefficients were computed. The average intra- and inter-rater percent agreement was 96.9% and 90.6% respectively. The majority of items (n=107 and 101) showed either good percent agreement or acceptable kappa values in the intra- and interreliability tests respectively. The overall intra- and inter-rater reliability of the audit tool was acceptable. Subjective and time-sensitive audit items may need clearer descriptions and multiple repeated measures to improve their reliability. The audit tool can be used to reliably assess indoor sports centres, parks, sports grounds, playgrounds and swimming pools. The objective data collected by this audit tool would contribute to the understanding of relationships between characteristics of recreational facilities, usage and physical activity.published_or_final_versio

How socio-economic status affects physical activity participation in Hong Kong adolescents.

Conference Theme: Promoting Healthy Eating and Activity WorldwideSession - S30 The IPEN Adolescent Study: results on the associations of neighborhood income and walkability on physical activity and sedentary behaviors: abstract 30.2PURPOSE: There is evidence that socio-economic status (SES) is associated with physical activity (PA) participation. Lower SES is predictive of lower levels of leisure-time PA. However, most of this research has been conducted in the West and on adults. SES inequalities in PA among youth and Asian populations remain are underexplored. Thus, this study examined SES differences in PA among Hong Kong adolescents and explored environmental and psychosocial mediators of the relationships between SES indicators and PA participation. METHOD: A sample …postprin