bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evolutionary Genetics and Environmental Stress
Authors: Hoffmann Ary A , Parsons Peter A
Published: November 2023

This book concentrates on evolutionary change under environmental stress at levels ranging from the molecular to the biogeographic, with an emphasis on genetic aspects. This approach contrasts with much of the literature of evolutionary biology, as the emphasis here is upon the extreme end of the stress gradient in terms of resistance. Major topics in this interdisciplinary book include the concept of stress and its evolutionary and ecological importance; genetic variation in stress response and the effects of stress on genetic variation; and costs and trade-offs involving stress responses. An approach to stress resistance in terms of energetics permits the development of links between genetics, ecology, physiology, and behaviour. The book concludes with applications concerning range expansions of species, conservation strategies, and pollution effects.
Silencing Gene Expression in Plants
Authors: Rothstein Steven J , Lagrimini L Mark
Published: November 2023

The ability to transform and express genes in plants, while a relatively recent development, has already proven to be extremely useful. The expression of genes isolated from a variety of sources has permitted the generation of plants resistant to herbicides (Shah et al., 1986), insects (Vaeck et al., 1987; Fischhoff et al., 1987) and viruses (Powell Abel et al., 1986). However, for a majority of agronomically important traits, there are a large number of genes which might be expected to influence phenotype. In these cases, it has proven to be extremely difficult to know which alterations in gene expression would lead to a useful change. One of the problems with studying these multi-gene traits is that it has been extremely difficult to isolate mutants which differ only at a single genetic locus.
Reproductive Lifespan And Ageing
Authors: Stearns Stephen C
Published: November 2023

This chapter discusses the evolution of the reproductive lifespan as a balance between selection to increase the number of reproductive events per lifetime and effects that increase the intrinsic sources of mortality with age. The first lengthen life, the second shorten it. The increase in the intrinsic component of mortality rates with age is senescence or ageing. Age-specific selection pressures can adjust the length of life to an intermediate optimum determined by the interaction of selection with trade-offs intrinsic to the organism whether there is any ageing or not. Selection pressures that lengthen life decrease the value of offspring and increase the value of adults. These include lower adult mortality rates, higher juvenile mortality rates, and increased variation in juvenile mortality rates from one reproductive event to the next. The discussion of selection pressures that lengthen the reproductive lifespan starts with the distinction between semelparity (monocarpy in plants, one reproductive event per life) and iteroparity (polycarpy in plants, more than one reproductive event per life). Here the best evidence is descriptive and comparative information on fish and plants.
Discussion Of Part II
Authors: Stearns Stephen C
Published: November 2023

Sherlock Holmes knew the significance of the dog that did not bark. This book did not dwell on life history strategies. The word ‘strategy’ means simply ‘complex adaptation’; it refers to the coordinated evolution of all the life history traits together. Early on there were hopes that only a few syndromes would be found into which most traits fell, but those hopes were premature. It was first necessary to understand the evolution of one trait at a time. This book summarizes that attempt. The problem was more complex than it seemed at first, and it was necessary to reject some of the early claims, analyse the foundations, and build the analysis up trait by trait. This does not mean that life history strategies are unimportant or uninteresting. They have great potential importance. However, their analysis must be based on and consistent with the evolution of the individual traits.
Parent-offspring conflict I: introduction to theory
Authors: Mock Douglas W , Parker Geoffrey A
Published: November 2023

Parents are classically asumed to allocate investment in their young in such a way as to maximize the number surviving, while offspring are assumed to be passive vessels into which parents pour the appropriate care. Once one imagines offspring as actors in this interaction, then conflict must be assumed to lie ;it the hc<1rt of sexual reproduction itself-an offspring attempting from the very beginning to maximize its reproductive success (RS) would presumably want more investment than its parent is selected to give.
Heterotrophic flagellates of planktonic communities, their characteristics and methods of study
Authors: Berninger Ulrike-G , Caron David A , Sanders Robert W , Finlay Bland J
Published: November 2023

Heterotrophic flagellates are an integral and important component of the plankton communities of aquatic ecosystems. Abundances of heterotrophic flagellates in most natural plankton assemblages range from 10 to 10 cells per ml. Recent advances in the methods of counting flagellates and of examining their trophic activities have established that they are significant consumers of bacterial, cyanobacterial, and micro-algal biomass in these environments. Their grazing activities arc the primary factor controlling bacterial densities. Flagellate herbivory can significantly affect the abundances of photosynthetic prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Collectively, the trophic behaviour of these protozoa dictates the fate of a substantial portion of primary and secondary productivity in plank tonic ecosystems.
Cell organization in free-living amitochondriate heterotrophic flagellates
Authors: Brugerolle G
Published: November 2023

The organization of flagellates that primitively lack mitochondria is reviewed. There is an increasing complexity in the organization of membranous and cytoskdctal components of the cells. Genera that arc covered are: Order Pelobion1ida, Pelomyxa, Mastigina, Mastigamoeba, Mastigella; Order Retortamonadida, Chiiomastix, Retortamonas; Order Diplomonadida, Trfpomonas, Hexamita; Ordn Trichomonadida, Pseudotriclwmonas.
Thraustochytrids and other zoosporic marine fungi
Authors: Moss Stephen T
Published: November 2023

Fungi with flagellated stages are common in marine habitats and comprise an important component of the heterotrophic population. The flagellated form represents the reproductive and dispersive, non-feeding stage of the normally sedentary vegetative body. The number of flagellated stages produced by a single individual is high and in this form are not readily distinguishable from other heterotrophic flagellates.
Heterotrophic flagellates of uncertain taxonomic position
Authors: Patterson David J , Zölffel Michael
Published: November 2023

About 150 genera of small heterotrophic flagellates have been described in the literature which cannot be assigned to well-circumscribed major taxonomic groups. Suprageneric taxa recognized are: apusomonads, cercomonads, desmothoracids, dimorphids, ebriids, Heterolobosea, pseudodendromonads, spongomonads, and thaumatomastigids. In the absence of type material and ambiguous descriptions, many genera are of uncertain validity.
Lipid structure and analysis
Authors: Christie W W
Published: November 2023

Seed oils in general tend to contain a relatively limited number of different fatty acids, commonly C16 or Cl8 in chain length with 0–3 methylene-interrupted double bonds. On the other hand, there are many species which have unusual fatty acids, for example with non-methylene-interrupted double bonds, cyclic structures or oxygenated moieties (Smith 1971).
Structure and ontogeny of seed oil bodies in maize and other species
Authors: Huang A H C , Tzen J T C , Lee K , Bih F Y , Ting J T L , Ratnayake C
Published: November 2023

abstract

Most seeds contain storage oils in the form of triacylglycerols, which comprise 5–50 per cent of the total seed dry weight. The triacylglycerols are densely packed in subcellular organelles called oil bodies (lipid bodies, oleosomes, spherosomes). The spherical oil body is about 0.6–2.5 μm in diameter. It is surrounded by a ‘half-unit’ membrane of one layer of phospholipids about 3 nm thick (Yatsu and Jacks 1972) with proteins embedded in it. The acyl moieties of the membrane phospholipid are believed to orient themselves toward the matrix so that they can have hydrophobic interactions with the internal triacylglycerols. In mature seeds, oil bodies are stable and do not coalesce, even after prolonged storage.
Synthesis, processing, and targeting of legume seed proteins
Authors: Müntz K , Jung R , Saalbach G
Published: November 2023

At some time during its life cycle every plant needs, at least transiently, to accumulate nitrogen reserves. These act as links in sink-source relations if sites and times of overproduction of nitrogen compounds do not coincide with sites and periods of maximum demand during plant ontogenesis. Nitrogen reserves are mainly accumulated in generative and vegetative propagation organs, but they are also deposited in stems of trees during autumn or as vegetative storage protein in leaves, stems, and pods of soybean during different stages of nitrogen transfer from vegetative to generative organs.
Starch synthesis in peas
Authors: Smith Alison M , denyer Kay , martin Cathie
Published: November 2023

In this chapter we describe our current understanding of the process of starch synthesis in the developing pea embryo. Our goal is to understand how this process is regulated, in terms both of the rate at which starch accumulates and of the structures of the starch polymers that are synthesized. This requires a complete picture of the enzymes that catalyse the pathway, and an ability to manipulate the amount of each individual enzyme so that its quantitative importance in the regulation of starch synthesis can be determined. All of the major enzymes of the pathway in pea embryos have now been identified and characterized. We present the picture that emerges and discuss how, in practical terms, the importance of these enzymes in regulation can be assessed.
Control of carbon partitioning in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Authors: Dickinson J Richard
Published: November 2023

Budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (brewer’s or baker’s yeast) is the bestunderstood eukaryote on this planet. There are many reasons why this is the case. Its importance in ‘traditional’ activities such as the brewing of beers, wine-making, the production of potable distilled spirits, and breadmaking means that much is known about its biochemistry and physiology. It is a favourite laboratory organism because it reproduces rapidly (which means that large amounts of material can be obtained quickly for experimentation and results can be gathered speedily). In addition, it is genetically well characterized and it is amenable to genetic manipulation. Indeed, many of the genetic manipulation methods that are available for eukaryotes were first developed in yeast, and some of the most recent of these techniques are still only possible with yeast. Researchers in many different areas regard it as a model eukaryote. It is also the organism of choice for many modern biotechnological purposes because, in addition to the advantages already mentioned, it is not pathogenic, does not produce toxins, is robust in industrial use, has widespread acceptance by the general public, and has a privileged position in law in many countries of the world.
Carbon and cofactor partitioning in oilseeds
Authors: Dennis David T , Blakeley Stephen D
Published: November 2023

Fatty acid biosynthesis in plants occurs only in plastids (Ohlrogge et al. 1979). In the developing endosperm of castor seeds, the biosynthetic pathway from acetate to C18 oleic acid is located in colourless plastids termed leucoplasts (Zilkey and Canvin 1972). In other oilseeds, plastids are sometimes pigmented although the contribution of photosynthesis to fatty acid biosynthesis is probably limited (Thorne 1985).
Cellular regulation during calcification in Emiliania huxleyi
Authors: C. Brownlee , N. Nimer , Dong L F , Merrett M J
Published: November 2023

The evidence for the coordination of calcification and cellular metabolism in the coccolithophorid, Emiliania huxleyi, is reviewed. Experimental evidence strongly suggests that the carbon source for photosynthesis is CO2, while calcification uses HCO3as an external substrate. Calcification is dependent on photosynthesis both as a supply of energy and reducing power, and as a sink for CO2 and protons produced during the net calcification reaction. Calcification, on the other hand, can provide a source of CO2 for photosynthesis in the absence of any CO2 concentrating mechanism. Spatial separation of calcite formation and CO2 production occurs, with calcite formation occurring in the Golgi/coccolith vesicle. Measurements of intracellular pH and intracellular dissolved inorganic carbon indicate that significant CO2 production can occur in the cytosol. Calcification and photosynthesis appear to be under both thermodynamic and kinetic control. The opposing effects of calcification and photosynthesis on cytosolic pH invoke a likely role for pH in coordination of these processes.
Mechanisms of calcification: Emilianiahuxleyi as a model system
Authors: Jong E W De Vrind-De , Van Emburg P R , Vrind P M De
Published: November 2023

Coccolithophorids are haptophytes which form calcified scales called coccoliths. Heterococcoliths consist of unit elements of an often complex shape and are formed intracellularly. Holococcoliths contain rhombohedral calcite crystals and are apparently formed extracellularly. We assume that similar mechanisms play a role in the nucleation and growth control of both heterococcoliths and holococcoliths. The formation of heterococcoliths in the species Emilianiahuxleyi is described as a model system. Coccoliths were observed with transmission electron microscopy. They were subjected to morphometric and crystallographic analysis and a model approach for the morphogenesis of coccoliths is briefly described. It is concluded that the majority of faces of the unit elements of coccoliths represent biologically inhibited faces instead of crystal faces of calcite. An acidic polysaccharide isolated from coccoliths is thought to play a role in crystal growth control. A similar function is attributed to the organic skins associated with the mineral elements of coccoliths of other coccolithophorid species.
Haptophytes as components of marine phytoplankton
Authors: Thomsen Helge A , Buck Kurt R , Chavez Francisco P
Published: November 2023

The Haptophyta comprises 11 unmineralized genera with approximately 80 species, and more than 200 coccolithophorid species allocated to about 70 different genera. Results from Pacific Ocean surveys indicate, based on epifluorescence microscopical counts, that the biomass and relative contribution of haptophytes to autotrophic biomass is relatively low, 13 ± 9%, and constant over a wide variety of environmental settings. Also the biomass contribution of haptophytess to the nanoplankton, 37 ± 20%, is remarkably consistent worldwide.
Students days at Manchester
Authors: Williams Trevor I
Published: November 2023

Although the academic world was largely terra incognita so far as the business-oriented Chesterfield household was concerned, the decision that Robert should read chemistry at a university more or less dictated that he should do so at Manchester. Apart from its geographical convenience, located no more than forty miles from Chesterfield, this would be the natural inclination of such a strongly Nonconformist family.
The first Chair
Authors: Williams Trevor I
Published: November 2023

The school of organic chemistry presided over by W. H. Perkin Jr at Manchester from 1892 until he was appointed Waynflete Professor at Oxford in 1912 was internationally famous, even in comparison with the great German schools, such as that of Emil Fischer in Berlin. To have been appointed Assistant Lecturer and Demonstrator there at the early age of twenty-three augured well for Robinson’s future: he could reasonably expect to climb steadily up the academic ladder in Britain, and in the fullness of time achieve one of the more prestigious professorships—which, indeed, is what he did. At first sight, therefore, it is something of a surprise to find him applying, in 1912, for a newly created chair in the University of Sydney, literally on the other side of the world. Whatever the attractions of Australia it was undeniably remote, and cut off from the main stream of academic activity: the journey out from Britain occupied several weeks, and postal communication took just as long. Even within Australia communications were not good.
Systems of agricultural production in the Northern Littoral Region
Authors: Martin M J
Published: November 2023

The Mediterranean coastal zone of Egypt, known as the Northern Littoral Region can be divided into two sections: 1. The north-west coastal zone, which comprises the arid zone west of Alexandria along the Mediterranean coast and includes El Amiriya, Burg el Arab, El Alamein, Sidi Abdel Rahman, El Daba, Fuka, Baqquish, Marsa Matruh, Sidi Barrani, and Salum at the Libyan border. The Qattara Depression and Siwa mark the southern regional boundaries inland, and the region is administered by the Marsa Matruh governorate.
Irrigation development programmes
Authors: Skold M D , Richardson E V
Published: November 2023

Twentieth century events have brought an increasing population pressure to the cultivated lands of Egypt. In 1900 there was 0.29 ha of cropped area per caput, now only about one-third of that amount exists for each person (Table 16.1). The rapid population growth of the past 40 years is exerting a two-way pressure on the land base. Egypt is essentially a narrow valley stretching from Aswan to Cairo along the Nile River before fanning out into the Delta. Not only must the land supply a population increasing over the past three decades at a rate in excess of 2.4 per cent annually, but the agricultural land base itself is threatened by urban expansion (Adams 1985; Gardner and Parker 1985; Ikran 1980). To replace lands lost to the expanding space requirements of cities, reclamation of inherently less productive lands in the coastal areas and on the deserts has enabled the maintenance of a slightly increasing amount of cultivated land.
Fertilizers
Authors: El-Fouly M M
Published: November 2023

Egypt has a long tradition of using chemical fertilizers, its first use of Chilean nitrates dating back to 1902. For over thirty years all chemical fertilizers were imported, until the local production of phosphate fertilizers started in 1936 and later the production of nitrogen fertilizers in 1951. The great demand for food, highly productive soil, availability of good quality irrigation water, optimum climatic conditions, and the use of new technology have contributed to a continuous increase in fertilizer production and thus, in fertilizer use. The increase in fertilizer use is influenced mainly by the following factors: cropping index and rotation, use of high yielding cultivars, degree of cultivation of newly reclaimed areas, requirements for subsidized fertilizers determined by the Ministry of Agriculture each season, amount of subsidies available for fertilizers, local production and the availability of fertilizers when they are needed. Tables 17.1 and 17.2 show the quantities of fertilizers distributed to farmers by the Principal Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit (PBDAC) between 1970 and 1990, together with the official fertilizer requirement (an amount fixed by Ministerial Decree each season) for the years 1981/2 until 1988/9.
Agricultural mechanization and farm equipment supply
Authors: Khan A U
Published: November 2023

The cultivated land area in Egypt is about six million feddans which is about 3 per cent of the total land area. This is concentrated primarily in the Nile Valley and in the Nile Delta. The entire crop area is irrigated except for some rain-fed areas on the Mediterranean coast. The availability of additional water, due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam, led to increased cropping intensities on the old lands and the reclamation of over one million feddans of new desert lands. However, year-round irrigation has magnified drainage and soil salinity problems and this has affected the supply and quality of land.
The components of agriculture
Authors: Ren Chen
Published: November 2023

The general meaning of agriculture in China is that agriculture consists of agriculture (i.e. cropping), forestry, animal husbandry, sideline activities, and fishery - that is, five types of activity. It should be noted that the term agriculture has two meanings in China: the broad meaning just described, or the narrow sense within that broad meaning as a synonym for cropping. The word agriculture in ‘gross output of industries and agriculture’, as quoted in the national statistics, denotes agriculture in the broad sense. The word agriculture in the name ‘Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fishery’ (MAAHF), denotes agriculture in the narrow sense. (This name has recently been shortened to ‘Ministry of Agriculture’.) To many Chinese, agriculture just means to cultivate land to grow crops. The people who grow crops may occasionally breed one or two pigs, keep a dozen or so fowl, plant trees around their house or village, or weave straw or bamboo articles in their spare time - but these are all minor activities. Of course, this is not the view of the minority nationalities who rely on animal husbandry. But they form only a very small proportion of the total population of China, and they make only a small contribution to the country’s total production. These minorities, then, are an exception, and the Chinese as a whole usually look upon crop cultivation as the mainstay of agriculture.
The Ten Agricultural Regions Of China
Authors: Shenghua Yang
Published: November 2023

The different agricultural regions of China, and the problems facing them, will be described in this Chapter. The regionalization system for agriculture now used widely in China is the system proposed by the National Committee for Agricultural Regionalization and published in 1981. This divided the whole country into IO agricultural regions as follows (see Fig. 4.1):
Infrastructure And Agricultural Inputs
Authors: Weixin Wang
Published: November 2023

Irrigation systems have a long history in China. The earliest recorded irrigation system was the Que Bei (Peony Pond), a reservoir project in the years 598-591 BC, to the south of the Huai He River in the present day province of Anhui. The renowned Dujiangyan irrigation scheme built in 256-251 BC has been in service for more than 22 centuries and is now watering farming areas of 587 000 ha in Sichuan province. However it was not until about the third century BC that there was an increase in irrigation projects. Before the eighth century AD such schemes were mainly constructed in North China, and thereafter mainly in southern China.
The rural economy
Authors: Dao Chen , Lifeng Xie , Chaohui Yao
Published: November 2023

In China, agriculture has always been regarded as an important part of the national economy. For the past 30 years agricultural policy has been drafted in accordance with the principle that ‘agriculture is the basis of the national economy and “grain” is the basis of that basis’. The background to the formulation of agricultural policy is that China has a population of one billion people, which is more than 20 per cent of the population of the world, but her cultivated area is only seven per cent of that of the world; hence food supply is the main problem to be solved.
Government and infrastructure
Authors: Woodward P R
Published: November 2023

Sudan has had very unstable government since Independence in 1956, having been beset by repeated changes from liberal democracy to military rule and back again; two periods of civil war (the second of which is still not concluded at the time of writing, in December 1989); and a number of major changes to the structure of regional and local government and administration. It was proposed after the overthrow of former President Numeiri in April 1985 that, shortly, there should be a constitutional conference to review the whole future of Sudan’s system of government, but until that took place there should be a parliamentary constitution similar to that which was in operation before Numeiri took power in 1969.
Maturation of the immune response
Authors: Rowe Glenn
Published: November 2023

The models of the immune system we have considered so far have treated the various components (B cells, antibodies, antigens, and so on.) as abstract objects which may be characterized by a few numerical parameters. While this sort of model is useful for getting a feel for how a complex system operates, we would like a model which allows us to include a bit more of the experimentally determined features of the cells and molecules of the immune system. We will examine such a model, proposed by Weinand (1990), in this chapter. Weinand’ s model deals with the specific problem of initial stimulation of the immune system with an antigen, and the subsequent maturation of the response through proliferation and hypermutation of the B cells.
WHY ARE PLAGUE AND TYPHOID SO DEADLY?
Authors: Lax Alistair J
Published: November 2023

I am fond of pointing out to students that nine-tenths of the cells that make each of us what we are happen to be bacterial—only 10 per cent are our own cells. Of course this is not quite as horrifying as it seems, because the bacteria that inhabit our gut and live on our skin are about 10,000th the size of our own cells. Therefore, although our bacteria outnumber our cells by 10:1, they constitute only about 0.1 per cent of us in terms of weight. Nevertheless this highlights that not all bacteria are bad for us. Not only do we live quite happily with our harmless bacterial companions, but we actually need them to help us to digest food and to ward off dangerous bacteria.
Deviant Biology
Authors: Lax Alistair J
Published: November 2023

Biological weapons hit the headlines in October 2001 with the US anthrax attacks. The anthrax scare in the USA was followed by the discovery of ricin-making equipment in London in early 2003 and the topic has stayed in the news ever since. The possibility that Iraq had retained a biological weapons programme was the justification for the 2003 Gulf War and led to post-war repercussions when bio-weapons could not be found. There is therefore no doubt about the potency of these weapons to cause alarm—even without their wide-spread deployment.
Finding My Feet
Authors: Wilkins Maurice
Published: November 2023

On one of my visits to Cambridge to sit scholarship exams I walked out to the Solar Physics Observatory and rang the front door bell. I explained that I was busy making reflecting telescopes as well as taking scholarship exams. Roderick Redman, the Observatory Director, took me around the Observatory and told me that the next day Cyril Burch, who had exciting new ideas about making telescopes, would be having tea at his house and I ought to join the party. It was very exciting and I found the discussions with Burch very useful. Because of the rift between the Wilkinses and the Huttons, I knew nothing then about my grand- mother Mary Hutton’s many contacts with the Astronomer Royal at Cambridge.
Randall's Circus
Authors: Wilkins Maurice
Published: November 2023

I arrived back in England in August. I found the nation very exhausted, like someone after a severe bout of flu. That was quite a shock after energetic California, which in comparison had been barely touched by the war. I hurried to Wylde Green to see my parents and younger sister Jasmine. They would have got my letter only a few days before, telling them that I would be alone – I had hesitated to give them news of my divorce. I realized that I had made a great mistake in sending the letter to my father at the school clinic where he worked. I had done so in order to protect my mother, but it must have been hard for my father to undertake his day of work after receiving such news. I had tried to be kind, but had not judged the situation well. Nevertheless, at home my parents seemed quiet and normal, and they did not assail me with questions. I ate excellent porridge again. My father was trying to finish writing his book about poverty and child health, and he sur- prised me by being more upset by my divorce than was my loving mother.
Crystal Ganes
Authors: Wilkins Maurice
Published: November 2023

Then came the very big news that DNA was the gene material. For about two years our lab had a special advantage in knowing this; the scientific community as a whole was still living in the belief that DNA was little more than an accessory to the proteins that were the basic element of genes. DNA had seemed much too simple to be gene material. We obtained this very important understanding of DNA because our lab had research students who were not weighed down by the authority of older scientists (Honor Fell, though an authority, did not throw her weight about). The crucial person was research student Geoffrey Brown, who was very bright and enquiring. He had graduated in 1929 in our Physics Department and had begun PhD work with Randall on the spectroscopy of cells. Geoffrey went to many conferences to learn about genetics and biochemistry. He also learned bio- chemistry from Dermott Taylor in the King’s Biochemistry Department. Taylor had worked in New York, and knew Avery, who had strong evidence that genes were DNA and not protein.
Semantics and “Primitive Thought”
Authors: Wierzbicka Anna
Published: November 2023

The question of universal semantic primitives is closely linked with that of the “psychic unity of mankind” (Boas 1938c).
The Tower of Babel
Authors: Yaguello Marina
Published: November 2023

All natural languages have in common certain universal properties, or characteristics which can be used to define what human language is. For, beyond the extraordinary diversity of the languages spoken in the world, we need to recognize the fundamental unity of human language, what is specific to it as compared with non-human codes of communication. Humankind has always been aware of this, if only at a mythical level. It could even be argued that the myth of the Tower of Babel (the biblical explanation for the diversity of languages) and the nostalgia for the lost paradise of the single, primeval, pre-Babel language, find their echo in the contemporary search for language universals, the mental operations which under lie the workings of all languages.
Words as Signs
Authors: Yaguello Marina
Published: November 2023

But giving something a name is not the same as putting labels on objects, as the Academicians of Balnibarbi seem to think in Swift's Gulliver's Travels. They suggest replacing words--which have the disadvantage of differing from one language to another-by objects which one could carry around on one's back and use for communication. Apart from the obvious practical dis advantage of such a system, an object would be quite unable to indicate simply by virtue of its physical reality--the properties it possesses, or its membership of a class of objects, or whether it was countable or uncount able, present in, or absent from the context of communication: language, indeed, does not require objects to be present in order to refer to them, nor even that the objects exist.
Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Authors: Yaguello Marina
Published: November 2023

Word order is a characteristic feature of any syntactic system: its role is more or less important, depending on whether the language is an inflectional or an analytic one. In inflectional languages, such as Latin, Russian, or German, nouns are declined: their endings vary in order to indicate their function in the sentence-subject, object, instrument, location, etc. This is called declension and each separate form is a case. Declensions may also affect adjectives and determiners.
Lesson V
Authors: Mcgregor R S
Published: November 2023

Perfective forms denote completedness of action, without specific reference to time. They are used chiefly, but not only, of events occurring in past time.
Lesson XIX
Authors: Mcgregor R S
Published: November 2023

COMPOSITE verbal expressions with passive force are used in the majority of aspectual, tense, and modal patterns and as infinitives.
Lesson XXIII
Authors: Mcgregor R S
Published: November 2023

Reduplication is a frequent syntactic device in Hindi sentences, and generally has distributive force.
Lesson XXV
Authors: Mcgregor R S
Published: November 2023

All the above forms are used in direct case, often with following.
Classical genres: tragedy, comedy, satyr-plays, and epic
Authors: Lennard John , Luckhurst Mary
Published: November 2023

Only blunt formulations can have much general truth, and the bluntest of all, that tragedies end in death and comedies in marriage, is true enough if understood to mean that tragedies habitually lead their consumers to expect a death,2 and comedies to expect a loving union. Sexuality and mortality are human constants, corresponding with other basic oppositions-joy/grief, company/solitude, rise/fall and many post-Aristotelian definitions of comedy and tragedy com bine these terms, for example to label tragedy as concerned with the fall of individuals, and comedy with the joys of company.
Religious genres: the liturgy, Mysteries, and Moralities
Authors: Lennard John , Luckhurst Mary
Published: November 2023

All drama may begin in religious ritual, and in many religions artistic performance of text and/or movement is central: Buddhism and Hinduism in particular have active concepts of sacred dance, as do some Jewish sects. In Islam modesty-codes make public female performance other than mourning unusual and some imams think acting an abdication of self-control like drunkenness. Christianity, especially Protestantism, has a history of anti-theatricality: theatre is associated doctrinally with the commandment against graven images (Exodus 20:4) and socially with supposed licentiousness, but the liturgy (the structure and formulae of a service including Communion) is itself performative, involving dialogue between priests and congregation, choric speech, and audience-participation in a mystery.
Eighteenth-and nineteenth century genres: burlesque, sentimental and gothic drama, pantomime, melodrama, music-hall, farce, and well-made plays
Authors: Lennard John , Luckhurst Mary
Published: November 2023

In 1662 William Davenant (1606-68) and Thomas Killigrew (1612- 83) were granted exclusive rights to perform drama in London, rights inherited by their successors, extended by the 173 7 Licensing Act, and ended only when the 1843 Theatre Regulation Act abolished theatrical monopoly. The relevant laws governed only non-musical drama, and other theatres found ways of operating by including songs, dancing, and musical interludes in their performances: thus legitimate and illegitimate theatre competed throughout the period 1662-1843, and theatrical monopoly profoundly affected generic developments.
The impact of technology: light, sound, radio- and TV-plays, and film-genres
Authors: Lennard John , Luckhurst Mary
Published: November 2023

The history of stage-lighting predates electricity. Renaissance dialogue often describes the quality of light to compensate for effects that could not be controlled: Kent in King Lear tells Oswald, “Draw you rogue, for though it be night, yet the Moone shines, Ile make a sop oth’ Moonshine of you” (2.2.30-2), and Mooneshine in the inset ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ in Dream is an extended joke on necessity. Torches and ‘tapers’ (candles), frequently referred to in stage directions and dialogue, symbolically represent night as well as adding atmosphere, and emphasize what those in the theatrical world can and can’t see or hear, as in Paris’s tense nocturnal arrival at Juliet’s tomb:
The study
Authors: Lennard John , Luckhurst Mary
Published: November 2023

A written play-text must be written somewhere. One such space is evoked in Jonson’s ‘An Execration upon Vulcan’, written after fire destroyed his rooms and books in November 1623; the poem is a partial inventory both of his own books and of his mental furniture, suggesting the range of sources on which he drew. He mentions verse and prose romances, tales of adventure that many of his characters know and admire or scorn, the Talmud and Koran, classical works and translations, his own English Grammar, some poems, and a substantial work-in-progress about Henry V; books in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew borrowed from three notable scholars, Richard Carew (1555-1620), Robert Cotton (1571-1631), and John Selden (1584-1654), may have been among those destroyed.
Rehearsal and administrative spaces
Authors: Lennard John , Luckhurst Mary
Published: November 2023

Rehearsal has long been mystified and academically neglected, but since 1900 has increasingly been recognized both as a process in its own right and as a vital component of performance deserving study.1 It is easy to assume that rehearsals use the stage itself, but commercial stages are usually occupied by another play/set during the rehearsal period of a new production, access may be impossible until just before opening, and many companies now use whatever adequate space is most easily (and cheaply) rentable.
The stage and auditorium
Authors: Lennard John , Luckhurst Mary
Published: November 2023

Space is neither neutral nor passive. Any given spatial relation of audience to performers limits some and enables other possibilities, and the processes whereby the costs of space and architecture, limits of technology and finance, and (imagined) needs of performance interact to determine the material forms of stages are highly complex-compare the state-funded building of a flagship theatre (Kennedy Center, NT), the charitably funded construction of Globe III, and the privately funded conversion of a pre-existing space into a black hole, all of which coexist.
Directors
Authors: Lennard John , Luckhurst Mary
Published: November 2023

The rise of the director was perhaps the major phenomenon of twentieth-century theatre. Before c.1875-1900 the actor-manager or leading actor of a company dictated the organization of rehearsals, and a play’s overall artistic coherence was unimportant. In the late nineteenth century perceptions began to change, influenced by the Meiningen Court Theatre productions1 (1874-90) which featured careful choreography and emphasis on rehearsal-process; the rise of lbsenite playwrights who demanded coherent production-values to match their cause-and-effect plays; and Andre Antoine (1858-1943), who from the mid-1880s mounted Naturalist productions in small, independent theatres with rigour and artistic consistency.
Production staff, stage-crew, and front-of-house
Authors: Lennard John , Luckhurst Mary
Published: November 2023

Cinema-goers usually leave as the credits roll and theatre-goers rarely trouble themselves with small-print in the programme, but without the work of scores of people professional performance would be impossible. Stage-historians need specific knowledge of theatre personnel to understand why and by whom particular decisions were made in a given theatre, and for play-readers and critics a general knowledge is a helpful defence against error. In 1927, for example, the distinguished bibliographer Ronald McKerrow (1872-1940) made”A Suggestion regarding Shakespeare’s Manuscripts”:
Teachers and readers
Authors: Lennard John , Luckhurst Mary
Published: November 2023

Children usually first experience drama as performance, and for some the fun leads happily into play-reading with a lively sense of per formative possibilities; but most people first read drama seriously at school, and though many teachers recognize in casting and reading aloud that plays require a different way of reading than novels and poetry, the reductive approach too often embodied in criticism and examining stunts the development of play-reading. There is also a regrettable tendency to treat (expensive) theatre-visits or video resources as either authoritative or culpably ‘unfaithful’ to the sanctioned edition of the text, rather than variant possibilities.
The play-text since the 1950s
Authors: Lennard John , Luckhurst Mary
Published: November 2023

All canons are ideologically constructed; in contemporary canons it shows. With limited hindsight and partial experience of unresolved political debates, all critics inevitably project illusion as well as revealing actuality. That contemporary Anglophone playwriting has roots in the 1950s, when certain playwrights (Brecht, Beckett, Genet, Ionesco, Osborne, Pinter) began to make an impact on stages in Europe and the US, is easily agreed, but the degree of discontinuity created by that impact is moot.
Period and special papers
Authors: Lennard John , Luckhurst Mary
Published: November 2023

For timed essays (usually one hour) in closed exams many of the points made in the last chapter apply: the economy of technical jargon, the need to scrutinize rubrics with care, time-watching, and so on. The formulation of TEQ rubrics varies from place to place and paper to paper: in Shakespeare papers genre-based questions are common (‘Discuss X in any three comedies’), but in period papers author-based questions are often preferred (‘ “Z was no playwright, but a frustrated novelist.” 1 Every candidate should, however, know before entering whether to guess if they don’t know: sometimes it’s good strategy, but many multiple-choice papers have deductions for wrong answers specifically to make it a liability.
Sample answers
Authors: Lennard John , Luckhurst Mary
Published: November 2023

These five timed TEQs and practical criticisms were written either during their authors’ preparation for the Cambridge English Tripos 2001 or in the exams themselves. The questions all come from Tripos papers of recent years, in Shakespeare, Literary Criticism, and Tragedy; the answers were all written in one hour except number 5, which takes the Tragedy paper option of a single three-hour answer. Spelling mistakes and solecisms attributable to haste have been silently corrected, and the style of quotations and emphases standardized, but answers have otherwise been transcribed without alteration. Passages set for comment were not identified in the question-papers, but for the benefit of readers we have supplied authors, titles, and dates in crotchets.
Renaissance genres: Commedia dell’arte, tragicomedy, masque, and opera
Authors: Lennard John , Luckhurst Mary
Published: November 2023

The Renaissance or rebirth of classical culture was founded on its physical recovery: statues were dug from the ground, texts system artically rescued from obscurity and saved from progressive physical decay. As recovered knowledge flowed north from fourteenth-century Italy to sixteenth-century England, artistic practice and theory, like national/cultural self-perceptions, were profoundly altered. Painters developed perspective, musicians harmony, poets rhyme and stanza forms, and prose-writers a new punctuation leading to the grammatical sentence; joined-up writing replaced gothic scripts, printing began international standardization and revolutionized the commerce and materiality of written texts, and recognizably modern science began, prompted by classical architecture, engineering, and medicine. In theatre too the recovery of classical drama played a vital part, combined (as in all arts) with survivals and legacies of mediaeval practice; but Renaissance theatre was birth as much as rebirth.
Sociolinguistic Patterns
Authors: Romaine Suzanne
Published: November 2023

IT has been known for some time that differences in language are tied to social class. In the 1950s, for example, it was suggested that certain lexical and phonological differences in English could be classified as U (upper class) or non-U (lower class), e.g. serviette (non-U) v. table-napkin (U), to take what was then one of the best known of all linguistic class-indicators of England. Notable pairs are have one’s bath (U) v. take a bath (non-U), writing paper v. note paper (non-U), pudding (U) v. sweet (non-U), or what would be called ‘dessert’ in the USA. Previously, most studies of variability were concerned with regional variation or dialectology.
Pidgin and Creole Languages
Authors: Romaine Suzanne
Published: November 2023

IN his speech to the English-speaking Union Conference in Ottawa, the Duke of Edinburgh made reference to one of the best known pidgin and creole languages in observing that he was ‘referred to in that splendid language as “Fella belong Mrs. Queen”‘. Although the Duke was right to consider Tok Pisin (‘talk pidgin’) spoken in Papua New Guinea as a language rather than a dialect of English, he was wrong about his designation. He would be called ‘man bilong kwin’. Contrary to what many Europeans think about Tok Pisin,fella cannot be used in this way at all to mean ‘man’ or ‘husband’, so the Duke’s statement is ungrammatical. Fella can be used only as a suffix in Tok Pisin and has a number of grammatical functions, e.g. to mark adjectives and numerals, as in tupela blakpe!a pik ‘two black pigs’, and to mark the second person plural form of ‘you’, as in yupela i no ken go ‘you (plural) cannot go’.
Religion: The Useless Hypothesis
Authors: Gaskin J C A
Published: November 2023

Section XI of the Enquiry (‘Of a Particular Providence and of a Future State’) is concerned with religion and the existence of a deity. It is designed both to show that the supposition of God’s existence is useless as an hypothesis for explaining the phenomena of the universe or the vicissitudes of human life, and to show that belief in a provident God is not an essential part of the functioning of morality.
Numbers and Classes
Authors: Giaquinto M
Published: November 2023

The conceptual clarification described in the previous chapter dispenses with infinitesimals. But that was not felt to be good enough: some account of the real numbers was also needed. This chapter first explains that need and presents the two best known accounts of real numbers. That is followed by a sketch of the way in which the ideas for the transfinite ordinal and cardinal number systems grew out of the study of classes of points, and the rudiments of those number systems are presented. Finally, we look at accounts of the natural numbers. This will complete an account of the nineteenth-century movement to clarify mathematical concepts and to place the accepted practices and theorems of mathematics on a sound footing.
Principia Mathematica
Authors: Giaquinto M
Published: November 2023

Among the aims of Principia Mathematica (PM) is the reformulation of mathematical propositions in terms of a minimal number of undefined elements and the deduction of all established mathematics, thus reformulated, from a minimal number of unproved premisses.Russell took the undefined elements to be logical and inferred that the success of the project would show that mathematical truths are truths of logical form:

Mathematics, therefore, is wholly composed of propositions which only contain variables and logical constants, that is to say, purely formal propositions-for the logical constants are those which constitute form.
Ramsey’s Attempt to Rescue Logicism
Authors: Giaquinto M
Published: November 2023

Just when the first volume of the second edition of Principia Mathematica was published, Frank Ramsey, a Cambridge philosopher and mathematician then only 22 years old, published his own view of the foundations of mathematics.1 Agreeing with Whitehead and Russell that the truths of pure mathematics are truths of logic, he proposed that a theory of simple types be taken as our foundational system, thereby avoiding the obstacles posed by the order restrictions. These views are elaborated and defended in one substantial paper on the topic, The Foundations of Mathematics.2 In this chapter I consider first Ramsey’s justification for his claim that a foundational system may ignore order distinctions, and then his defence of the claim that pure mathematics is logic, as realized in a system of simple types.