title: Speaking Through Sacrifice: Rhetorical and Social Functions of Sacrifice within Long-Form Contemporary Fantasy Literature

authors: Elder, Matthew J.

subjects: Sacrifice

abstract: Long-form contemporary fantasy narratives present the opportunity for readers to immerse themselves in worlds both different from and resonant with our own. These narratives are fundamentally invested in questions of how societies change and how they persist. Long-form fantasy works to take readers on a journey away from the old world and towards the new. The scope of these narratives is large, both in terms of the length of the written works, and the scale of time passing within the fiction itself. They create meaning by layering imagery and perspective in pursuit of a resonant affect. 

This thesis posits that due to fantasy’s fundamental investment in change, and because change requires sacrifice, looking to instances of sacrifice within the literature provides useful handholds with which the reader can grasp and manipulate the text. The discussion explores four modes of sacrifice—Martyrdom, Self-Denial, Scapegoating, and Self-Erosion—divided along dual axes of individually chosen/societally mandated sacrifice, and individual act/on-going act sacrifice. Each mode is investigated through a case-study of a single long-form contemporary fantasy text: Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn; Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files; Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle; and N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth. 
The case-studies draw on sociological, cultural, theological, and literary theory to understand the social nature of these acts of sacrifice, and this framework is then applied to the acts playing out in the imagined societies. From this combination of theory and textual example, the thesis arrives at a model of the rhetorical function of each of these modes of sacrifice; essentially, how they communicate ideas to the reader, and how they contribute to the texts’ overall meaning-making. One of the core ways that fantasy achieves the inter-related ends of critiquing problems and proposing solutions is by speaking through acts of sacrifice.

Contemporary life is a challenging blend of rapid innovation and entrenched ideologies. The influence of societal systems over individuals is complex, and the research that this thesis undertakes dives into defining questions of how marginalised individuals can come to be complicit with oppressive systems, and how individual choice can be coerced and thus undermined. The texts that are emerging from the current socio-political climate seem to be searching for ways to articulate this struggle to both resist and change harmful, dominant systems. This thesis investigates the radical potential of sacrifice as a driver of positive social change.

text: Speaking Through Sacrifice: Rhetorical and Social Functions of Sacrifice within Long-Form Contemporary Fantasy Literature Long-form contemporary fantasy narratives present the opportunity for readers to immerse themselves in worlds both different from and resonant with our own. These narratives are fundamentally invested in questions of how societies change and how they persist. Long-form fantasy works to take readers on a journey away from the old world and towards the new. The scope of these narratives is large, both in terms of the length of the written works, and the scale of time passing within the fiction itself. They create meaning by layering imagery and perspective in pursuit of a resonant affect. 

This thesis posits that due to fantasy’s fundamental investment in change, and because change requires sacrifice, looking to instances of sacrifice within the literature provides useful handholds with which the reader can grasp and manipulate the text. The discussion explores four modes of sacrifice—Martyrdom, Self-Denial, Scapegoating, and Self-Erosion—divided along dual axes of individually chosen/societally mandated sacrifice, and individual act/on-going act sacrifice. Each mode is investigated through a case-study of a single long-form contemporary fantasy text: Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn; Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files; Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle; and N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth. 
The case-studies draw on sociological, cultural, theological, and literary theory to understand the social nature of these acts of sacrifice, and this framework is then applied to the acts playing out in the imagined societies. From this combination of theory and textual example, the thesis arrives at a model of the rhetorical function of each of these modes of sacrifice; essentially, how they communicate ideas to the reader, and how they contribute to the texts’ overall meaning-making. One of the core ways that fantasy achieves the inter-related ends of critiquing problems and proposing solutions is by speaking through acts of sacrifice.

Contemporary life is a challenging blend of rapid innovation and entrenched ideologies. The influence of societal systems over individuals is complex, and the research that this thesis undertakes dives into defining questions of how marginalised individuals can come to be complicit with oppressive systems, and how individual choice can be coerced and thus undermined. The texts that are emerging from the current socio-political climate seem to be searching for ways to articulate this struggle to both resist and change harmful, dominant systems. This thesis investigates the radical potential of sacrifice as a driver of positive social change.

year: 2021

title: Feature subset selection: a correlation based filter approach

authors: Hall, Mark A.

subjects: computer science

abstract: Recent work has shown that feature subset selection can have a position affect on the performance of machine learning algorithms. Some algorithms can be slowed or their performance adversely affected by too much data some of which may be irrelevant or redundant to the learning task. Feature subset selection, then, is a method of enhancing the performance of learning algorithms, reducing the hypothesis search space, and, in some cases, reducing the storage requirement. This paper describes a feature subset selector that uses a correlation based heuristic to determine the goodness of feature subsets, and evaluates its effectiveness with three common ML algorithms: a  decision tree inducer (C4.5), a naive Bayes classifier, and an instance based learner(IBI). Experiments using a number of standard data sets drawn from real and artificial domains are presented. Feature subset selection gave significant improvement for all three algorithms; C4.5 generated smaller decision trees.

text: Feature subset selection: a correlation based filter approach Recent work has shown that feature subset selection can have a position affect on the performance of machine learning algorithms. Some algorithms can be slowed or their performance adversely affected by too much data some of which may be irrelevant or redundant to the learning task. Feature subset selection, then, is a method of enhancing the performance of learning algorithms, reducing the hypothesis search space, and, in some cases, reducing the storage requirement. This paper describes a feature subset selector that uses a correlation based heuristic to determine the goodness of feature subsets, and evaluates its effectiveness with three common ML algorithms: a  decision tree inducer (C4.5), a naive Bayes classifier, and an instance based learner(IBI). Experiments using a number of standard data sets drawn from real and artificial domains are presented. Feature subset selection gave significant improvement for all three algorithms; C4.5 generated smaller decision trees.

year: 1997

title: He Pikinga Waiora Kimi Ora lifestyle programme: Case study of a successful community-based indigenous diabetes intervention.

authors: Masters-Awatere, Bridgette

subjects: Diabetes

abstract: ABSTRACT 
AIM: To co-design and implement a whānau-centred, community-based lifestyle programme (Kimi Ora) intended to ensure no worsening of HbA1c and to improve wellbeing for Māori whānau and communities with diabetes or pre-diabetes. 
METHODS: Māori healthcare providers, community members, research advisors and wider stakeholders used a co-design process underpinned by He Pikinga Waiora to collaboratively develop and implement Kimi Ora Control group comparisons and participants were recruited from Te Kōhao Health. Multi-method monitoring and collection captured individual, whānau and community data. 
RESULTS: Kimi Ora was run in two communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. In total, there were 35 participants who took part in an eight-week programme offered five times alongside a comparison group comprising 21 participants. Kimi Ora resulted in significant improvements on all biomedical measures compared to baseline, and participants had gains relative to the comparison group for variables including weight, BMI, blood pressure and waist measurement. Of particular note was the 100% retention rate and sustained community support for Kimi Ora. 
CONCLUSIONS: Outcomes from Kimi Ora demonstrate this programme, which was actively tailored for and worked with Māori communities in a responsive and flexible manner, resulted in successful biomedical outcomes, high engagement and high retention.

text: He Pikinga Waiora Kimi Ora lifestyle programme: Case study of a successful community-based indigenous diabetes intervention. ABSTRACT 
AIM: To co-design and implement a whānau-centred, community-based lifestyle programme (Kimi Ora) intended to ensure no worsening of HbA1c and to improve wellbeing for Māori whānau and communities with diabetes or pre-diabetes. 
METHODS: Māori healthcare providers, community members, research advisors and wider stakeholders used a co-design process underpinned by He Pikinga Waiora to collaboratively develop and implement Kimi Ora Control group comparisons and participants were recruited from Te Kōhao Health. Multi-method monitoring and collection captured individual, whānau and community data. 
RESULTS: Kimi Ora was run in two communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. In total, there were 35 participants who took part in an eight-week programme offered five times alongside a comparison group comprising 21 participants. Kimi Ora resulted in significant improvements on all biomedical measures compared to baseline, and participants had gains relative to the comparison group for variables including weight, BMI, blood pressure and waist measurement. Of particular note was the 100% retention rate and sustained community support for Kimi Ora. 
CONCLUSIONS: Outcomes from Kimi Ora demonstrate this programme, which was actively tailored for and worked with Māori communities in a responsive and flexible manner, resulted in successful biomedical outcomes, high engagement and high retention.

year: 2021-11-12