China before China: structural history of Chinese archaeology
Xinyi Liu
Abstract
The paper looks into the early development of Chinese archaeology. It focus on the cultural context of the early 20th Century to the shaping of some key archaeological concepts, such as Progress, Revolution and Neolithic. I argue that those concepts create continuous difficulties in understanding the long trajectory of historical event. By employing Structural History developed by the French Annales' school, the paper aims to unfold not only the history of our discipline, but also the time scales of archaeological topics.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 13:10 - 14:00 Entertaining Room, Darwin College
[Further Details]
Structures of Membrane Proteins
Abstract
All living cells to date are surrounded by a membrane. It is hard to imagine how life could have evolved without a membrane that separates components of vital metabolic processes from the external milieu; hence membranes provide an identity to the cell. Within these membranes, there are number of proteins that perform vital biological processes such as signalling or transport. Knowledge on the structure of membrane proteins tells us how they are oriented relative to the lipid bilayer and often suggests how they work and in search for better drugs to improve human and animal health.
Thursday, May 10, 2012 13:10 - 14:00 Entertaining Room, Darwin College
[Further Details]
Union's Role in Strike Resolution in China
Cheng Chang
Abstract
Trade unions in China are placed in a difficult position between the state and the workers. The paper considers and contrasts the parts played by unions in dispute resolution, by means of two case studies. Although the primary aims of both unions in the cases were defusing the strikes, the strategies adopted by them can be distinguished. The paper tries to interpret the distinctive strategies by looking at the interactions between the workplace unions and unions at higher levels in the strike.
Tuesday, May 08, 2012 13:10 - 14:00 Entertaining Room, Darwin College
[Further Details]
Evolution: where would we be without viruses
Abstract
When Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species went to press in 1859, viruses had yet to be discovered – it would be another 40 years after publication before the ‘concept of viruses’ was proposed, and a century later before breakthroughs in viral research would provide a clear understanding of their genetic make-up, how they replicate and how they cause disease.
Thursday, May 03, 2012 13:10 - 14:00 Entertaining Room, Darwin College
[Further Details]
Homer's 'Battle of the Frogs and Mice' and the Meaning of Parody
Paul Dean
Abstract
What did parody mean to the Greeks and what does Greek parody mean to us? This paper sets out to
establish what parody, or parodia, meant for the Greeks, and the extent to which audience response to parody
differed during the Greek period from the later usages it inspired. For the Greeks, parody indicated a specific
literary form rather than a technique. This discussed, I shall then turn to examine the only surviving example
of this form, the Battle of Frogs and Mice (Batrachomyomachia), supposedly written by Homer. This firstcentury
Greek poem poses scholars a variety of questions.
Tuesday, May 01, 2012 13:10 - 14:00 Entertaining Room, Darwin College
[Further Details]
"Life" Before the Start of Evolution
Abstract
In this talk I shall present PRISM, PRimordial Interaction SiMulator, a new approach that enables having a better view through its prism on the most mysterious period of the evolution of life, the period of primordial interactions where the evolutionary driving force did not exist. Starting as a hobby and taking 5 days for building and testing, the outcome of the simulations seems can be influential for better understanding of the primordial interactions and the propensity of matter to form life organics, for astrobiology and interstellar spectroscopy.
Thursday, April 26, 2012 13:10 - 14:00 Entertaining Room, Darwin College
[Further Details]
Economic Thought and the Victorian Individual: Examining Narratives of Daily Life
Hannah Scally
Abstract
How did Victorians make sense of daily economic life? We know a great deal about the development of more formally articulated narratives of economic activity - Ricardo, J.S. Mill, Ruskin, Chalmers - narratives that contributed to the emerging discipline of economics, and helped Victorians structure the evolving systems of high capitalism. But we still know relatively little of the conceptual landscape of small-scale economic practice - the logic of individual spending, selling and saving, of borrowing and lending, which took place at a remove from these formal, orthodox narratives.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012 13:10 - 14:00 Entertaining Room, Darwin College
[Further Details]
What is it like to be an anxious monkey? : Characterising trait-anxiety phenotypes in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)
Abstract
Anxiety is a subjective emotional experience towards negative environmental stimuli, that is associated with feelings of nervousness, tension and worry. Individuals with high trait anxiety are more likely to develop psychiatric mood and anxiety disorders. However, the underlying neural mechanisms of this trait are not well understood.
With thier small body size and relatively high reproductive rate, the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is a widely used primate model in scientific research.
Thursday, March 08, 2012 13:10 - 14:00 Entertaining Room, Darwin College
[Further Details]
Live Forever - Germ cells provide the enduring link between all generations
Abstract
While all other cells perish after death, germ cell give rise to the next generation. To acquire this remarkable ability they need to undergo some unique processes during their development.
I will explain why it is iportant and interesting to study germ cells and what those unique processes are and how we study them in mice.
Thursday, March 01, 2012 13:10 - 14:00 Entertaining Room, Darwin College
[Further Details]
