Generic Boundaries Research Articles

Separation of variables for integrable spin–boson models

We formulate the functional Bethe ansatz for bosonic (infinite dimensional) representations of the Yang–Baxter algebra. The main deviation from the standard approach consists in a half infinite Sklyanin lattice made of the eigenvalues of the operator zeros of the Bethe annihilation operator. By a separation of variables, functional TQ-equations are obtained for this half infinite lattice. They provide valuable information about the spectrum of a given Hamiltonian model. We apply this procedure to integrable spin–boson models subject to both twisted and open boundary conditions. In the case of general twisted and certain open boundary conditions polynomial solutions to these TQ-equations are found and we compute the spectrum of both the full transfer matrix and its quasi-classical limit. For generic open boundaries we present a two-parameter family of Bethe equations, derived from TQ-equations that are compatible with polynomial solutions for Q. A connection of these parameters to the boundary fields is still missing.

Unfettering Confession: Ritualized Performance in Spanish Narrative and Drama (review)

PACE, DONALD GENE. Unfettering Confession: Ritualized Performance in Narrative and Drama. Lanham, MD: UP of America, 2009. 88 pp.In Unfettering Confession: Ritualized Performance in Narrative and Drama, Donald Gene Pace proposes to reexamine confession as a literary genre independent of autobiography, of which it has usually been considered a subgenre. He further argues that confession has been traditionally understood almost exclusively as a linguistic practice, against which he proposes to focus on confessions as contextually determined bodily performances. In his approach he brings to bear several theoretical schools, most prominently those of speech act theory and a theory of hegemony based on Gramsci and Foucault.While confessional literature transcends its traditional generic boundaries, author does contend that its primary model is religious and, specifically, Catholic: Whether religious or secular, confession assumes a structure that imitates Roman Catholic religious sacrament of penance (11). This fact serves as a further justification for book's exclusively corpus, because, given their Catholic heritage, Spanish writers are predisposed to utilize confessional frames and refer to penitential scenes (15). author does not attempt to substantiate this assertion in any way, so one can only assume it remains at level of speculation. Nevertheless, reliance on Catholic model does not seem to limit relevance of Pace's thesis concerning power relations revealed by focusing on confessions as an independent genre.The real work of book occurs in readings Pace performs on a series of texts ranging from early modern period to early twentieth century. In each of these cases he tries to shows how confessional structure establishes a hegemonic between confessant and confessor, in which control is ultimately strongest when confessant's consent cements a hegemonic relationship (16). In light of this claim, he goes on to interpret a number of canonical texts as confessional literature, including Cervantes 's Don Quijote, Unamuno's San Manuel Bueno, martir, Ramon Sender's Requiem por un campesino espanol, and Lope de Vega's Fuente Ovejuna, others. For reasons of space, I will focus these comments on his treatment of two early modern texts.Chapter 3, Confession and Liberty, is dedicated to a reading of intercalated novel The Captive's Tale from Don Quijote. At outset, Pace claims that Don Quijote is, among so many things, a confessional novel with a confessional frame as well as many embedded confessional scenes (27). Interpreting tale itself within framework of a religious act of confession, Pace argues that cautivo, in telling Zoraida's story, is essentially serving as a proxy confessant for her, while interlocutors, specifically Dorotea and Luscinda, assume the role of joint confessor (28). With this setup Pace can then proceed to claim that narrative of el cautivo is much more than an individual confession; it is a national confession that proclaims superiority of nation while advancing a subtle appeal for greater catholicity in terms of accepting minority groups (29). Furthermore, combined speech acts produce a collective confession that suggests universal attraction of Christianity and its superiority over Islam (30). …

MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY OF THE CRUSTOSE ERYTHROPELTIDALES (COMPSOPOGONOPHYCEAE, RHODOPHYTA): NEW GENERAPSEUDOERYTHROCLADIAANDMADAGASCARIAAND THE EVOLUTION OF THE UPRIGHT HABIT

The Erythropeltidales are a common group of small, mostly epiphytic, marine red algae. Morphologically, they can be divided into two main groups: species that are crustose and species that are upright. Being morphologically simple, generic boundaries and evolutionary trends are controversial or unknown. We focus our molecular phylogenetic analysis on members that are crustose using samples collected from around the world and placed in unialgal culture. Our data indicate that one upright genus, Porphyropsis, is closely related to crustose genera and that the upright habit evolved at least twice in the order. In addition, the genus Sahlingia is supported as distinct from Erythrocladia. Within samples identified as Erythrocladia, three groups are distinguished: Erythrocladia, composed of crustose aggregating filaments with pyrenoids; Pseudoerythrocladia gen. nov., crustose aggregating filaments without pyrenoids, a sister genus to Porphyropsis also without pyrenoids; and Madagascaria gen. nov., a sister genus to all other Erythropeltidales samples that is only subtly different from Erythrocladia. Within these genera, no clear morphological groups are evident, nor is the level of molecular diversity suggestive of multiple species. We suggest that described species, especially in the genus Erythrocladia, are just morphological variants, due to substrate or environmental variation, and further descriptions of these morphologically simple algae must incorporate molecular data and standardized culture conditions. Key index words: Compsopogonophyceae; crusts; Erythrocladia ;E rythropeltidales;Madagascaria; molecular evolution; Porphyropsis; Pseudoerythrocladia ;R hodophyta; taxonomy Abbreviations: CTAB, cetyl trimethylammonium bromide; MPM, modified Provasoli media; mya, million years ago

Editors’ Note

Editors’ Note Duncan Faherty and Maria Farland In his preface to The Algerine Captive (1797), Royall Tyler laments the American predilection for foreign writing, which “excites a fondness for false splendor; and renders the homespun habits of her own country disgusting.” Tyler presents a straight-forward and perhaps predictable solution: Americans need to “write their own books,” and cultivate an appreciation for “homespun” customs, in order to shield themselves against foreign influence. Ironically, more than two-thirds of the novel that follows takes place amid the turbulent waters and foreign shores of the eighteenth-century circum-Atlantic world. Moreover, The Algerine Captive loosely mimics Tobias Smollett’s Roderick Random (1748), underscoring the ways in which American fiction has always been in dialogue with extra-national traditions. Tyler’s preface is among the earliest post-Revolutionary attempts to define the parameters of American fiction, yet the ambiguities, tensions, and ironies lodged within his taxonomy are no less perplexing today. What do we talk about when we talk about American fiction? What do we mean by American? How do we define fiction? As we have undertaken the work of relaunching Studies in American Fiction, these questions have been at the forefront of our conversations with each other, and with colleagues at conferences across the country. Since its founding in 1973 at Northeastern University, SAF has been the only scholarly journal devoted entirely to American fiction. While it would be easy to retrospectively imagine that these questions were unproblematic in the 1970s, and that the operant definitions of terms like “American” and “fiction” were more stable, to read across the wealth of work contained in the pages of the old volumes of SAF is to realize that these issues have energized Americanist scholarship for decades. We are proud to have inherited that mantle, and look forward to publishing essays that continue to reconsider and reorient our collective sense of what it means to study American fiction. We embrace an editorial mission aimed at publishing essays that define the terms “American” and “fiction” broadly, by interrogating and redrawing [End Page 1] both generic and geographical boundaries. In so doing, we hope to build upon the strong foundations established by the previous editors of SAF and to extend this conversation into the twenty-first century. By striving to maintain the longstanding commitment of SAF to publishing exciting new work on writers ranging from Susanna Rowson to Toni Morrison, we also seek to consider forms of writing that do not conform to traditional canons, genres, and forms. Every semester the rediscovery of these neglected texts pressures us to re-imagine and refine our syllabi, yet all too often the print conversations surrounding these texts lag well behind the attention paid to “new” works in our conference panels and classrooms. Studies in American Fiction seeks to address that unfortunate temporal lag by serving as a venue aimed at bringing timely attention to these emergent texts and conversations. In practical terms, this requires editorial practices that stress speed and efficiency while maintaining rigorous professional standards. We believe this emphasis is crucial if we wish to bridge the gap between public praxis and printed scholarship, and to extend the conversations we have in conference rooms—and with students in seminar rooms—so that they become more permanent and less ephemeral. In short, where possible, Studies in American Fiction will aim to make current Americanist scholarship available more quickly. These endeavors will be aided by the innovative editorial structure of Studies in American Fiction: a New York-based collaboration between Fordham University and the CUNY Graduate Center. All too often, academic journals confront problems of continuity, succession, and geographical distance. All too often, rivalry rather than collaboration rules the day. In the present recession, academic publishing also confronts an atmosphere of dwindling resources. SAF seeks to counter these challenges with the rich resources afforded by collaboration and regional institutional networks. Beyond the diverse range of New York’s tri-state area colleges and universities, CUNY and Fordham are themselves comprised of twenty-eight separate campuses. The wealth of scholarly expertise in this regional network is noteworthy. It has become an all too familiar refrain of higher education pundits...

Systematic Revision of the Epipetrum Group of Dioscorea (Dioscoreaceae) Endemic to Chile

A systematic revision of the Epipetrum group of Dioscorea (Dioscoreaceae), which traditionally included three taxa endemic to Chile, is presented. We evaluated the taxonomic value of macro- and micromorphological traits to delimit generic boundaries with respect to other yams and to identify and separate its taxa. The comprehensive survey included 10 qualitative and 43 quantitative traits related to all plant organs and new microanatomical features of leaf, fruits, seeds, and pollen. Discriminant analyses were conducted with three accumula- tive morphological data sets to test seven taxonomic hypotheses of differentiation among taxa. Our results indicate that these taxa are charac- terized by the combination of prominent pistillodes in male flowers and a base chromosome number of x = 7, which separate it from all other Dioscoreaceae, plus different sets of morpho-anatomical traits that differentiate it from other putatively closely related yams with unwinged seeds in Dioscorea (the Borderea group, the Nanarepenta group, the Tamus group, etc.). Dioscorea biloba is the most distinctive species. Our analy- ses revealed significant morphological differences between northern and southern populations of this species resulting in the recognition of two subspecies, the northern D. biloba subsp. biloba , and the new southern D. biloba subsp. coquimbana . Dioscorea humilis and D. polyanthes are morphologically similar and only differ in qualitative leaf traits. This minor variation is better treated by reducing D. polyanthes to subspecific rank in D. humilis , and the combination D. humilis subsp. polyanthes is made herein.

Further disintegration and redefinition of Clerodendrum (Lamiaceae): Implications for the understanding of the evolution of an intriguing breeding strategy

AbstractThe genus Clerodendrum s.l. is polyphyletic. Although recent studies have resulted in C. subg. Cyclonema and C. sect. Konocalyx being removed to the resurrected genus Rotheca, and the unispecific genus Huxleya being sunk into Clerodendrum, it has been unclear whether Clerodendrum as currently circumscribed is monophyletic, particularly in relation to the American genera Aegiphila, Amasonia, and Tetraclea. This phylogenetic study employs four relatively fast‐evolving chloroplast DNA regions, trnT‐L, trnL‐F, trnD‐T, and trnS‐fM, to clarify the generic boundaries of Clerodendrum and its relationship to allied genera. The results corroborate previous studies that there are three well‐supported clades in the currently recognized Clerodendrum: an Asian clade, an African clade, and a Pantropical Coastal clade. The Asian clade and African clade are sister groups and together form a monophyletic group. However, the Pantropical Coastal clade is more closely related to the three American genera than it is to the other two Clerodendrum clades. In addition, a Caribbean species, C. spinosum, is found to be more closely related to the American genera than it is to any of the three major Clerodendrum groups. These results indicate that Clerodendrum as currently circumscribed is not monophyletic. We propose to separate the Pantropical Coastal clade and C. spinosum by reviving the genera Volkameria (including Huxleya) and Ovieda, respectively for these, and to restrict Clerodendrum to the Asian and African clades. Brief descriptions of the genera to be recognized are provided. All Neotropical 'Clerodendrum' taxa are referred to other genera, necessitating six new combinations, which are also provided, where required, for two other well‐studied Old World Volkameria species; all names ever used in Ovieda are given their modern placings (two placed newly in synonymy). The study also sheds light on the evolution of an intriguing breeding strategy that avoids self‐pollination or/and sexual interference. This strategy involves presentation of pollen and stigma in the centre of the flower in a sequential fashion by moving the filaments and style. It appears to have evolved in the common ancestor of Clerodendrum, Volkameria, Ovieda, Amasonia, Tetraclea, Aegiphila and Kalaharia, and still occurs in all of these taxa except Aegiphila, where it has been succeeded by a heterostylous system.

<i>Beyond Terror: Gender, Narrative, Human Rights</i> (review)

Reviewed by: Beyond Terror: Gender, Narrative, Human Rights John Cappucci (bio) Beyond Terror: Gender, Narrative, Human Rights. By Elizabeth Swanson Goldberg. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2007. 272 pp. Cloth $60.00, paper $23.95. Elizabeth Swanson Goldberg's Beyond Terror: Gender, Narrative, Human Rights is a unique work that provides an "ethic of fictionalizing historical experiences" (193). The author focuses her attention on the inhuman and criminal acts of torture, rape, and genocide depicted in a series of selected [End Page 117] films, novels, and other media (193). The author's basic argument is that the process of "fictionalizing historical atrocities necessitates attention to the ethical claims originating from the experiences of victims and survivors of historical atrocities" (16). Goldberg asserts that the ethical issues that have emerged from these forms of narrative are essentially "unsettled" (17) in an era in which postmodernism continues to sway scholars and to imbue the "ethical turn in literary studies" with a sense of uncertainty (17). Beyond Terror is divided into five core chapters plus an epilogue. The first three chapters all address the depiction of torture in selected films and novels; however, in order to provide a more nuanced examination of the complex concept of torture, Goldberg breaks the chapters up thematically: chapter one explores safety, chapter two citizenship, and chapter three desire. The fourth chapter discusses rape, while the fifth chapter concerns itself with genocide. The first chapter begins with a brief exposé of one of the most talked-about films of the last decade of the twentieth century: Schindler's List (1993). Goldberg's decision to begin the chapter with a discussion of this film is smart, considering that most readers will have an intimate familiarity with it. This blockbuster is an exemplar of a type of film that Goldberg calls the "counterhistorical drama" (28). Goldberg defines the counterhistorical drama as form that not only traverses the "generic boundaries" of film but also presents a "counternarrative" to the accepted and "official version" of the historical event (29). In addition, counterhistorical dramatic films tend to make use of a contemporary version of the bildungsroman archetype, whereby a Western protagonist is forced to contend with the "undemocratic practices" of a non-Western and/or subaltern nation (29). Goldberg analyzes three films in this new genre: John Boorman's Beyond Rangoon (1995), Richard Attenborough's Cry Freedom (1985), and David O. Russell's Three Kings (1999). She looks at how these three films have constructed a notion of safety in the face of torture that has occurred in non-Western states, arguing that the tortured body of the non-Westerner unintentionally "becomes [the] signifier of the relative safety and security of the western body from such acts" (33). In other words, the idea that "it can't happen to me" is emphasized throughout these films to different degrees (17). In the second chapter, Goldberg further explores the origins of the "myth of western bodily safety" (59) that is depicted in counternarrative dramatic films. Often, one hears people saying "You can't do that! I'm an American citizen." The assumption is that one's diplomatic status acts as a sort of "geopolitical shield" (58) protecting the Westerner from the forms of torture that non-Westerners habitually experience. Goldberg looks at how such a "cultural/national/ideological distinction" (58) manifests itself in Oliver Stone's Salvador (1987) and Jon Avent's Red Corner (1995). [End Page 118] The claim that the "privileged national" (59) is infallible tends to be made only by white, heterosexual, Christian males. The third chapter begins with a discussion of Alan Dershowitz's speech on the proliferation of torture practices in the post-9/11 environment. In an address given at the City University of New York, Dershowitz argued that governmental intelligence agencies have the right to obtain internationally recognized "torture warrants" that would permit them to torture a suspect who they think is involved in terrorist activity in order to extract information from him or her (88). What Dershowitz did not realize was that his speech was to be preceded by an address by Sister Dianna Ortiz, director and founder of the Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition...

“Border Liners”. The Ship of Fools Tradition in Sixteenth-Century England

This paper investigates the effect of Sebastian Brandt’s The Ship of Fools in sixteenth-century England. My starting point is Michel Foucault’s Madness and Civilization and I attempt to trace the philological background and the way Brandt’s text determined early-Renaissance satire and later ’fool literature’ in England. My goal is to articulate the fact that the transgression of the ship does not manifest itself merely in the act of translation but also in the liminal position of the fool and the transgression among generic boundaries as well.

レベルセット法を用いた熱構造連成問題に対するトポロジー最適化(機械力学,計測,自動制御)

In structural designs considering thermal loading, maximization of temperature diffusivity as well as structural stiffness are important and indispensable goals that optimal solutions to design problems need to achieve to reduce operating temperatures and extend product durability. In this paper, a new topology optimization method, based on the level set method and Finite Element Method and including design-dependent effects, is constructed for coupled thermal and structural problems, and multi-objective optimization problems having generic heat transfer boundaries in a fixed design domain are formulated. First, a topology optimization method for coupled thermal and structural problems that uses a level set method incorporating fictitious interface energy is briefly explained. Next, a new objective function that can take into account both temperature diffusivity and stiffness maximization is formulated, based on the concept of total potential energy maximization for the thermal and structural problems. An optimization algorithm that uses the Finite Element Method when solving the equilibrium equation and updating the level set function is then constructed. Finally, several numerical examples are presented to confirm the usefulness of the proposed method.

Highlights of the Didymellaceae: A polyphasic approach to characterise Phoma and related pleosporalean genera.

Fungal taxonomists routinely encounter problems when dealing with asexual fungal species due to poly- and paraphyletic generic phylogenies, and unclear species boundaries. These problems are aptly illustrated in the genus Phoma. This phytopathologically significant fungal genus is currently subdivided into nine sections which are mainly based on a single or just a few morphological characters. However, this subdivision is ambiguous as several of the section-specific characters can occur within a single species. In addition, many teleomorph genera have been linked to Phoma, three of which are recognised here. In this study it is attempted to delineate generic boundaries, and to come to a generic circumscription which is more correct from an evolutionary point of view by means of multilocus sequence typing. Therefore, multiple analyses were conducted utilising sequences obtained from 28S nrDNA (Large Subunit - LSU), 18S nrDNA (Small Subunit - SSU), the Internal Transcribed Spacer regions 1 & 2 and 5.8S nrDNA (ITS), and part of the β-tubulin (TUB) gene region. A total of 324 strains were included in the analyses of which most belonged to Phoma taxa, whilst 54 to related pleosporalean fungi. In total, 206 taxa were investigated, of which 159 are known to have affinities to Phoma. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the current Boeremaean subdivision is incorrect from an evolutionary point of view, revealing the genus to be highly polyphyletic. Phoma species are retrieved in six distinct clades within the Pleosporales, and appear to reside in different families. The majority of the species, however, including the generic type, clustered in a recently established family, Didymellaceae. In the second part of this study, the phylogenetic variation of the species and varieties in this clade was further assessed. Next to the genus Didymella, which is considered to be the sole teleomorph of Phoma s. str., we also retrieved taxa belonging to the teleomorph genera Leptosphaerulina and Macroventuria in this clade. Based on the sequence data obtained, the Didymellaceae segregate into at least 18 distinct clusters, of which many can be associated with several specific taxonomic characters. Four of these clusters were defined well enough by means of phylogeny and morphology, so that the associated taxa could be transferred to separate genera. Aditionally, this study addresses the taxonomic description of eight species and two varieties that are novel to science, and the recombination of 61 additional taxa.

Molecular Phylogenetic Placement of the Recently Described Armored Scale Insect Abgrallaspis aguacatae and Several Congeners (Hemiptera: Diaspididae)

Abstract ‘Hass’ avocado, Persea americana Miller, fruit being imported into California from Mexico are infested with high levels of a previously unknown species of armored scale insect (Hemiptera: Diaspididae). This species has recently been described and given the name Abgrallaspis aguacatae Evans, Watson & Miller. However, the validity of morphological characters used to diagnose genera within the tribe Aspidiotini (Diaspididae) is the subject of continued debate. Here, we seek to circumnavigate the inherent problems associated with interpretation of somewhat plastic phenotypic characters. We use two different nuclear gene regions (28S and Elongation Factor 1α) and three different analysis methods (maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian analyses) to infer phylogeny from DNA sequence data for 35 aspidiotine species. Our analyses suggest that the new species is misplaced in the genus Abgrallaspis Balachowsky and that this genus and several closely allied genera are paraphyletic or polyphyletic. The findings of our analyses are discussed specifically in relation to the current placement of A. aguacatae and more broadly in relation to the long-recognized problem of defining generic boundaries between Abgrallaspis, Diaspidiotus Berlese, and Hemiberlesia Cockerell.

Morphometric study of Euchiton (Gnaphalieae: Asteraceae)

A morphometric study was undertaken to survey taxa in the genus Euchiton Cass., distributed across Australia, New Zealand and South-east Asia. Phenetic analyses of herbarium specimens showed several taxa to be well delimited, including E. brassii (Mattf.) Anderb., E. breviscapus (Mattf.) Anderb., E. lateralis (C.J.Webb) Breitw. & J.M.Ward, E. limosus (D.G.Drury) Holub, E. litticola A.M.Buchanan, E. traversii (Hook.f.) Holub and E. umbricola (J.H.Willis) Anderb. However, the analyses showed that the remainder of Euchiton taxa are not yet satisfactorily resolved taxonomically. The distributions of E. involucratus (G.Forst.) Holub and E. sphaericus (Willd.) Holub were elucidated, although these widespread species would benefit from more research. Further research is necessary into species delimitation between E. paludosus (Petrie) Holub and E. polylepis (D.G.Drury) Breitw. & J.M.Ward and within the E. japonicus complex, including E. audax (D.G.Drury) Holub, E. collinus Cass., E. delicatus (D.G.Drury) Holub, E. ensifer (D.G.Drury) Holub, E. japonicus (Thunb.) Holub and E. ruahinicus (D.G.Drury) Breitw. & J.M.Ward. Recognition of a proposed taxon E. ‘gracilis’ was not supported and description at this point is not recommended. The New Zealand material of E. audax, E. delicatus and E. ensifer was shown to differ from the Australian material in the micromorphology of the cypselae. Euchiton collinus is considered a synonym of E. japonicus, which also includes the Australian material attributed to E. audax, E. delicatus and E. ensifer. The presence of E. limosus in Australia was confirmed, with it differing from E. involucratus in having glabrous cypselae with paired papillae in both Australian and New Zealand material. Generic boundaries of Euchiton are problematic. The generic placement of Gnaphalium clemensiae Mattf. and E. umbricola remains unresolved. Insufficient data were available to make taxonomic conclusions regarding the generic placement of G. chiliastrum (Mattf.) P.Royen and G. heleios P.Royen from New Guinea.

Morphological character analysis in Turkish Micromeria Benth. (Lamiaceae) species with a numerical taxonomic study

As an initial part of a revisional study based on the genus Micromeria Benth. (Lamiaceae), extensive field studies, herbarium and literature surveys, and multivariate analysis have been conducted. Recently, many morphological and molecular studies have been conducted on the genus Micromeria and related genera. Consequently, the generic boundaries of Micromeria have dramatically changed. Therefore, a morphometric analysis was carried out on Turkish Micromeria s.l. species, belonging to sect. Micromeria, sect. Cymularia Boiss., and sect. Pseudomelissa Benth., 2 Clinopodium L. species, and 2 Mentha L. species in order to understand their taxonomic relationship. For morphometric analysis, 27 morphological characters and their states were investigated by means of MVSP software. Our results supported previous molecular studies. The members of the sect. Pseudomelissa should be transferred to the genus Clinopodium. Turkish Micromeria species are now represented by 8 species belonging to sect. Micromeria and sect. Cymularia. In addition, the taxonomic position of Micromeria cymuligera Boiss. & Hausskn. (sect. Cymularia) is discussed. The most important diagnostic characters of the Micromeria species such as leaf and calyx are illustrated.

<i>Gattungsinterferenzen in der späten Heldendichtung</i> (review)

Reviewed by: Gattungsinterferenzen in der späten Heldendichtung Olga V. Trokhimenko Gattungsinterferenzen in der späten Heldendichtung. By Sonja Kerth. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2008. Pp. 463. EUR 65. "Kein Text ist verständlich ohne das Universum der Texte, die man Kultur nennt" (p. 17): Sonja Kerth's Habilitationsschrift on generic interferences (Gattungsinterferenzen) in late medieval German heroic epic strongly attests the validity of this statement. Following in the footsteps of Mikhail Bakhtin, Julia Kristeva, Gérard Genette, and Renate Lachmann, Kerth explores the workings of intertextuality in premodern works, particularly those that seem to push the boundaries of their genre. Undertaking any comprehensive analysis of the late heroic epic is no feeble deed. The German Middle Ages are known for not only their incredible amount of courtly romances, but also tales inspired by a distant Germanic past—the time of the great migrations and of the fifth-century rulers Theodoric the Great (MHG Dietrich von Bern), Odoacer (MHG Ermanarich), Attila (MHG Etzel), and their retainers. Even without Kudrun, the most studied representative of this type, Kerth had to face an enormous corpus of the post-Nibelungenlied, thirteenth- and fourteenth-century texts, many of which exist in multiple manuscript witnesses. The result is a 377 page-long study of both historical and mythical (or legendary) epics, followed by indices and a truly extensive bibliography. The later heroic epics are known to present a mixture of influences, sharing with their predecessors, the Hildebrandslied and the Nibelungenlied, their content, their ethos, and oftentimes their strophic form. Yet as a product of high-medieval courtly society, they also reflect the thirteenth-century literary tastes and the contemporaneous fascination with love service, knightly adventures, and the fantastic. Kerth's work brings to light the scope and nature of this hybridization. Besides the sheer number of available texts, the difficulty of her undertaking lies in the diversity of the late heroic epics and in the lack of an ideal model for what could be seen as the "archetypal heroic" (p. 11). The Nibelungenlied, the major referent text for her later poems, already displays the uneasy coexistence of the heroic and the courtly. It is no wonder then that the later epics would reveal what Kerth calls "an epic hero on Arthurian tracks" (ein heldenepischer Recke auf arthurischen Pfaden, p. 1). One may thus wonder how to approach such hybrid texts: as mere variants of Arthurian romance or as successors to the heroic poetry of old. Kerth's work questions the usefulness and absoluteness of the dichotomy "the heroic" vs. "the romance" for late heroic literature and casts doubt on attempts to confine these texts to strict generic boundaries. A more productive approach, she claims, would be to study the interplay of different elements, to approach the heroic epic as a dialogue between texts, i.e., as intertext. Impressive in its scope, the study falls into two halves, theoretical and methodological foundations (chs. 1–2) and their practical applications (chs. 3–6). The introduction (or ch. 1) contains two thoroughgoing surveys of scholarship on intertextuality and Middle High German heroic epic. Chapter 2 presents Kerth's methodology, the three types of intertextual references that she traces across the whole corpus of Dietrich-epics in subsequent chapters: Einzelreferenzen (references to specific, individual texts in the form of quotations, borrowings, and motifs); Systemreferenzen (architextuality, more general or transcendent categories such as types of discourse and literary genres); and finally, Wissensreferenzen (preexisting common cultural knowledge, on the recognition of which the compilers or redactors of the individual texts rely, such as, for example, Siegfried's impenetrable skin or Dietrich's fire breath). Having set out her categories, Kerth methodically [End Page 103] applies them to her texts, moving from the historical Dietrich-epic (Dietrichs Flucht, Alpharts Tod, and Rabenschlacht in chapter 3) towards more and more romance-like mythical poems (aventiurehafte Epen), such as Virginal, three manuscript witnesses of the Eckenlied, four versions of Laurin, Goldemar, and Wunderer in chapter 4; Biterolf und Dietleib in chapter 5; and concluding with the Ortnit/Wolfdietrich-complex in chapter 6. As Kerth painstakingly demonstrates, the boundaries of this genre are indeed highly permeable: in addition to the oral tradition and the Nibelungenlied, one...

Chapter 8. Biodiversity and Biogeography of the Moss-mice of New Guinea: A Taxonomic Revision of Pseudohydromys (Muridae: Murinae)

Morphological investigations involving nearly all available museum material representing New Guinea “moss-mice” (rodents traditionally classified in the genera Pseudohydromys, Neohydromys, Mayermys, and Microhydromys) reveal outstanding undiagnosed taxic diversity (a minimum of 16 species, versus the eight species previously described) and allow for redefinition of generic boundaries among these little-studied rodents. Apart from Microhydromys Tate and Archbold, 1941 (comprising two species, as recently revised by Helgen et al., in press), herein we recognize two genera of New Guinea moss-mice: Pseudohydromys Rümmler, 1934 (now incorporating Neohydromys Laurie, 1952, Mayermys Laurie and Hill, 1954, and “Microhydromys” musseri Flannery, 1989) and a newly described genus, Mirzamys. Species of Pseudohydromys are recorded from montane areas throughout New Guinea (elevations spanning 600 to at least 3800 meters), including the mountain ranges of the Central Cordillera, the Huon Peninsula, and the North Coastal ranges. We diagnose and review 12 species of Pseudohydromys, including six species described as new. The new genus Mirzamys is erected to accommodate two newly described species of small terrestrial rodents from middle and upper montane forests and subalpine grassland edges (1900–3450 m) in the mountains of central New Guinea. Together these two new species represent a distinctive hydromyin lineage that resembles the terrestrial New Guinea hydromyin genera Pseudohydromys and Paraleptomys in various traits. Ecological attributes of all recognized moss-mice taxa, both previously and newly described, are reviewed in light of all information currently available about their biology.

Distance statistics in quadrangulations with a boundary, or with a self-avoiding loop

We consider quadrangulations with a boundary and derive explicit expressions for the generating functions of these maps with either a marked vertex at a prescribed distance from the boundary, or two boundary vertices at a prescribed mutual distance in the map. For large maps, this yields explicit formulae for the bulk–boundary and boundary–boundary correlators in the various encountered scaling regimes: a small boundary, a dense boundary and a critical boundary regime. The critical boundary regime is characterized by a one-parameter family of scaling functions interpolating between the Brownian map and the Brownian continuum random tree. We discuss the cases of both generic and self-avoiding boundaries, which are shown to share the same universal scaling limit. We finally address the question of the bulk–loop distance statistics in the context of planar quadrangulations equipped with a self-avoiding loop. Here again, a new family of scaling functions describing critical loops is discovered.

Molecular phylogenetics and generic assessment in the tribe Morindeae (Rubiaceae–Rubioideae): How to circumscribe Morinda L. to be monophyletic?

Most of the species of the family Rubiaceae with flowers arranged in head inflorescences are currently classified in three distantly related tribes, Naucleeae (subfamily Cinchonoideae) and Morindeae and Schradereae (subfamily Rubioideae). Within Morindeae the type genus Morinda is traditionally and currently circumscribed based on its head inflorescences and syncarpous fruits (syncarps). These characters are also present in some members of its allied genera, raising doubts about the monophyly of Morinda. We perform Bayesian phylogenetic analyses using combined nrETS/nrITS/ trnT-F data for 67 Morindeae taxa and five outgroups from the closely related tribes Mitchelleae and Gaertnereae to rigorously test the monophyly of Morinda as currently delimited and assess the phylogenetic value of head inflorescences and syncarps in Morinda and Morindeae and to evaluate generic relationships and limits in Morindeae. Our analyses demonstrate that head inflorescences and syncarps in Morinda and Morindeae are evolutionarily labile. Morinda is highly paraphyletic, unless the genera Coelospermum, Gynochthodes, Pogonolobus, and Sarcopygme are also included. Morindeae comprises four well-supported and morphologically distinct major lineages: Appunia clade, Morinda clade (including Sarcopygme and the lectotype M. royoc), Coelospermum clade (containing Pogonolobus and Morinda reticulata), and Gynochthodes–Morinda clade. Four possible alternatives for revising generic boundaries are presented to establish monophyletic units. We favor the recognition of the four major lineages of Morindeae as separate genera, because this classification reflects the occurrence of a considerable morphological diversity in the tribe and the phylogenetic and taxonomic distinctness of its newly delimited genera.

Introduction to and Bibliography of Central European Women's Holocaust Life Writing in English

In her "Introduction to and Bibliography of Central European Women's Holocaust Life Writing in English," Louise O. Vasvári discusses aspects and perspectives of women's life writing, including her criteria of selection, the problematics of sourcing, issues of translation, and processes of publication. While the authors listed in the bibliography are overwhelmingly Jewish and from Central and East Europe, there are works listed by others whose experiences also offer important testimony not only on the camps but also on other aspects of the Holocaust. The bibliography suggests that women have written as much and, especially during the last decades, more than men about the Holocaust. Vasvári postulates that life writing -- a term utilized mostly in gender studies but useful for other types of texts -- is a useful designation for the texts at hand because it elides generic boundaries between history, fiction, documentary, and literature. It also raises questions about issues much debated in Holocaust scholarship, including author versus narrator, witness, history, memory, interpretation, culture, identity, and canon versus social perspectives of literature. Finally, life writing also elides the often valorized judgment on the literary merit of individual works.

Phylogenetic Classification of Subtribe Castillejinae (Orobanchaceae)

Recent molecular systematic research has indicated the need for a revised circumscription of generic boundaries in subtribe Castillejinae (tribe Pedicularideae, Orobanchaceae). Based on a well-resolved and well-supported phylogenetic hypothesis, we present a formal reclassification of the major lineages comprising the Castillejinae. Prior to this treatment, subtribe Castillejinae included Castilleja (ca. 190 spp.), Cordylanthus (18 spp.), Orthocarpus (9 spp.), Triphysaria (5 spp.), and the monotypic genera Clevelandia and Ophiocephalus. In the classification presented here, Orthocarpus and Triphysaria retain their current circumscriptions, Castilleja is expanded to include Clevelandia and Ophiocephalus, and Cordylanthus is split into three genera; a key to the genera as they are recognized here is provided. Two new combinations, Castilleja beldingii and Castilleja ophiocephala, are proposed within the expanded Castilleja. The concept of Cordylanthus is restricted to the 13 species formerly recognized as subg. Cordylanthus, while subg. Dicranostegia and subg. Hemistegia are elevated to genus level (Dicranostegia and Chloropyron, respectively). We resurrect the generic name Chloropyron for the halophytes previously recognized as subg. Hemistegia. Five new combinations are proposed for Chloropyron (Chloropyron maritimum subsp. canescens, Chloropyron maritimum subsp. palustre, Chloropyron molle subsp. hispidum, Chloropyron palmatum, and Chloropyron tecopense). In addition to the formal classification, we provide phylogenetic clade definitions for Castillejinae, each of the genera, and two additional clades that are not assigned formal ranks. Morphological characteristics used to recognize traditional groups are evaluated, and synapomorphies are discussed. Finally, the current infrageneric classifications for Castilleja and Cordylanthus are evaluated in light of the recent molecular phylogenetic analyses.

Molecular phylogeny of Phoma and allied anamorph genera: Towards a reclassification of the Phoma complex

The present generic concept of Phoma is broadly defined, with nine sections being recognised based on morphological characters. Teleomorph states of Phoma have been described in the genera Didymella, Leptosphaeria, Pleospora and Mycosphaerella, indicating that Phoma anamorphs represent a polyphyletic group. In an attempt to delineate generic boundaries, representative strains of the various Phoma sections and allied coelomycetous genera were included for study. Sequence data of the 18S nrDNA (SSU) and the 28S nrDNA (LSU) regions of 18 Phoma strains included were compared with those of representative strains of 39 allied anamorph genera, including Ascochyta, Coniothyrium, Deuterophoma, Microsphaeropsis, Pleurophoma, Pyrenochaeta, and 11 teleomorph genera. The type species of the Phoma sections Phoma, Phyllostictoides, Sclerophomella, Macrospora and Peyronellaea grouped in a subclade in the Pleosporales with the type species of Ascochyta and Microsphaeropsis. The new family Didymellaceae is proposed to accommodate these Phoma sections and related anamorph genera. The present study demonstrated that Phoma radicina, the type species of Phoma sect. Paraphoma and Phoma heteromorphospora, the type species of Phoma sect. Heterospora can be assigned to the Phaeosphaeriaceae and Leptosphaeriaceae respectively.