Probably the most common and naive intuition about literature is that it is a “representation of life.” Unlike many of the terms in this collection, “representation” has always played a central role in the understanding of literature. Indeed, one might say that it has played the definitive role insofar as the founding fathers of literary theory, Plato and Aristotle, regarded literature as simpl...

The use of stone tools by macaques in Thailand has reduced the size and population density of coastal shellfish: previously it was thought that overharvesting effects resulted from human activity alone.

Hourly PM2.5 observations collected at 12 stations over a 1-year period are used to identify variations between urban and suburban areas in Beijing. The data demonstrates a unique monthly variation form, as compared with other major cities. Urban areas suffer higher PM2.5 concentration (about 92 μg/m³) than suburban areas (about 77 μg/m³), and the average PM2.5 concentration in cold season (abo...

Coastal and shelf environments support high levels of biodiversity that are vital in mediating ecosystem processes, but they are also subject to noise associated with mounting levels of offshore human activity. This has the potential to alter the way in which species interact with their environment, compromising the mediation of important ecosystem properties. Here, we show that exposure to und...

Motion is an important cue for the human visual system. The computer vision driven research in motion has gradually progressed over the past thirty years from the study of motion of rigid objects like boxes to more flexible objects like the human body. The developments in cameras, computers and memory have contributed in part to this maturing of computer vision. Systems that are able to detect ...

Clapping is a little-studied human activity that may be viewed either as a form of communicative group behavior (applause) or as an individual sound-generating activity involving two "articulators"--the hands. The latter aspect was explored in this pilot study by means of acoustical analyses and perceptual experiments. Principal components analysis of 20 subjects' average clap spectra yielded s...

This paper investigates a puzzling feature of social conventions: the fact that they are both arbitrary and normative. We examine how this tension is addressed in sociological accounts of conventional phenomena. Traditional approaches tend to generate either synchronic accounts that fail to consider the arbitrariness of conventions, or diachronic accounts that miss central aspects of their norm...

This paper describes the application of the Activity Theory framework to the analysis of work practices in an organisation, to inform the design of a computer system for supporting collaborative learning in the workplace. A study involving the analysis of an organisation and using Engeström's expanded triangle model of human activity [5] is described. A methodology developed during the study fo...

Understanding the historical dynamics of forest communities is a critical element for accurate prediction of their response to future change. Here, we examine evergreen rainforest distribution in the Sunda Shelf region at the last glacial maximum (LGM), using a spatially explicit model incorporating geographic, paleoclimatic, and geologic evidence. Results indicate that at the LGM, Sundaland ra...

Recent work suggests that the environment experienced in early life can alter life histories in wild populations, but our understanding of the processes involved remains limited. Since anthropogenic environmental change is currently having a major impact on wild populations, this raises the possibility that life histories may be influenced by human activities that alter environmental conditions...