Disability, public space performance & spectatorship : Unconscious performers

Why would disabled people want to re-engage, re-enact and re-envisage the everyday encounters in public spaces and places that cast them as ugly, strange, stare-worthy? In Disability, Public Space Performance and Spectatorship: Unconscious Performers, Bree Hadley examines the performance practices of disabled artists in the US, UK, Europe and Australasia who do exactly this. Operating in a live or performance art paradigm, artists like James Cunningham (Australia), Noemi Lakmaier (UK/Austria), Alison Jones (UK), Aaron Williamson (UK), Katherine Araniello (UK), Bill Shannon (US), Back to Back Theatre (Australia), Rita Marcalo (UK), Liz Crow (UK) and Mat Fraser (UK) all use installation and public space performance practices to re-stage their disabled identities in risky, guerilla-style works that remind passersby of their own complicity in the daily social drama of disability. In doing so, they draw spectators' attention to their own role in constructing Western concepts of disability. This book investigates the way each of us can become unconscious performers in a daily social drama that positions disability people as figures of tragedy, stigma or pity, and the aesthetics, politics and ethics of performance practices that intervene very directly in this drama. It constructs a framework for understanding the way spectators are positioned in these practices, and how they contribute to public sphere debates about disability today.

"The Stratified Record upon Which We Set Our Feet" : The Spatial Turn and the Multilayering of History, Geography, and Geology

In Thomas Mann’s tetralogy of the 1930s and 1940s, Joseph and His Brothers, the narrator declares history is not only “that which has happened and that which goes on happening in time,” but it is also “the stratified record upon which we set our feet, the ground beneath us.” By opening up history to its spatial, geographical, and geological dimensions Mann both predicts and encapsulates the twentieth-century’s “spatial turn,” a critical shift that divested geography of its largely passive role as history’s “stage” and brought to the fore intersections between the humanities and the earth sciences. In this paper, I draw out the relationships between history, narrative, geography, and geology revealed by this spatial turn and the questions these pose for thinking about the disciplinary relationship between geography and the humanities. As Mann’s statement exemplifies, the spatial turn itself has often been captured most strikingly in fiction, and I would argue nowhere more so than in Graham Swift’s Waterland (1983) and Anne Michaels’s Fugitive Pieces (1996), both of which present space, place, and landscape as having a palpable influence on history and memory. The geographical/geological line that runs through both Waterland and Fugitive Pieces continues through Tim Robinson’s non-fictional, two-volume “topographical” history Stones of Aran. Robinson’s Stones of Aran—which is not history, not geography, and not literature, and yet is all three—constructs an imaginative geography that renders inseparable geography, geology, history, memory, and the act of writing.

Conspiracy for good

"Tim Kring, Creator of the hit television show 'Heroes' tells how the big idea began, and where you can jump in. "A few years ago, I started thinking about an entirely new way to tell a story, far different from traditional TV. I didn't just want to talk about 'saving the world' in fiction, I wanted to create a narrative that spilled out into the streets. One that you could live inside of for a while. How cool would it be, I thought, to create a story that exists all around you all of the time? On your laptop, your mobile phone, on your sidewalks, as a secret message hidden in your favorite song or while standing at the bus stop on your way to work. And, taking it further, what if your participation over a few weeks or months actually impacts the story's development and creates positive change in the real world because a philanthropic mission is integrated into the narrative itself? The Conspiracy For Good is the culmination of this dream. This is the pilot project for a first-of-itskind interactive story that empowers its audience to take real-life action and create positive change in the world. Call it Social Benefit Storytelling. To achieve this, I need you to participate. Reality and fiction have to blur. Every story needs a villain and you will meet the villain in the STORY SO FAR section on this site. And every story needs a hero. That's where YOU come in. As part of The Conspiracy For Good you will join a collective of thinkers, artists, musicians, and causes, creating a unified voice to fight the forces of social and environmental injustice. This is our site, where together we can follow the story and build a community that focuses on changing the world for the better, one person and one action at a time. Welcome to the Conspiracy." Tim Kring"

Confessions of a Non-Emigrant

Confessions of a Non-Emigrant is innovative in combining two areas of investigation in creative writing and literature. I investigate both the idea of life writing as therapeutic for the author, and the (reflexive and enabling) blurred boundary between life writing and fiction. I set up a dynamic where the narrative of the story (fictionalised memoir) proposes the therapeutic advantage of utilising one’s life-story in fiction (increased sense of coherent identity and agency) and a perspective (through the device of multiple selves), on the constructedness and instability of identity. I mobilise and explore Pennebaker’s argument that making a narrative of one’s life enhances the writer’s sense of a connection with community and place (represented by Brisbane).

An anticipative reactive control strategy to deal with unforeseen obstacles during a multi-sensor-based navigation task

We address the problem of the rangefinder-based avoidance of unforeseen static obstacles during a visual navigation task. We extend previous strategies which are efficient in most cases but remain still hampered by some drawbacks (e.g., risks of collisions or of local minima in some particular cases, etc.). The key idea is to complete the control strategy by adding a controller providing the robot some anticipative skills to guarantee non collision and by defining more general transition conditions to deal with local minima. Simulation results show the proposed strategy efficiency.

Borrowing from the geeks: What can healthcare facility design learn from IT?

People get into healthcare because they want to help society. And when a new hospital is briefed, everyone tries to do their best, but the process is mired by the impossibility of the task. Stakeholders rarely understand the architectural process, nobody can predict the future, and the only thing for certain is that everything will change as the project unfolds, revealing errors in initial assumptions and calculations, shifts in needs, new technologies etc. Yet there’s always pressure to keep to the programme and to press on regardless. This chaos leads eventually to suboptimal results: hospitals the world over are riddled with inefficiencies, idiosyncrasies, incredible wastage and features that lead to poor clinical outcomes. This talk will sketch out the basics of Scrum, the most popular open-source Lean/Agile methodology. It will discuss what healthcare designers can learn from the geeks in Silicon Valley reduce risk, meet deadlines and deliver the highest possible value for the budget despite the uncertainty.

Destinations: 3 Large Cast Plays for Young People

This book is a collection of three large-cast plays written in response to a very specific problem. My work as a teacher of drama often required me to locate a script that would somehow miraculously work for a cast of unknown number and gender, and most likely uneven skills and enthusiasm, who I hadn’t even met yet. It’s a familiar dilemma for teachers and students of drama in education contexts, at whatever level you’re teaching. I’d first addressed this creative problem with scripts such as Gate 38 (2010). I had tried using scripts that already existed, but found they required such extensive editing to suit the parameters of cast and performance duration that I may as well have been writing them myself. Even in the setting of a closed studio, in altering these plays I felt I was bending the vision of the playwright, and certainly their narrative structure, out of shape. Everyone who’s attempted to stage a performance with a large cast of students in an educational setting knows it takes time to truly connect with a play, its social contexts, themes and characters. It also takes a lot of time to get on top of the practicalities of learning, rehearsing, directing and running a performance with young people. Often the curtain goes up on something unfinished and unstable. I was looking for ways to reduce the complexity of staging a script, while maintaining the potential of this process as a site of rich, enjoyable learning. Two of the plays (Duty Free and Please Be Seated) are comprised of multiple monologues, combined with music-driven ensemble sequences. The monologues enable individuals to develop and polish their own performances, work in small groups, and cut down on the laborious detail of directing naturalistic scenes based in character interaction. The third (Australian Drama) involves a lot of duologues, meaning that its rehearsal process can happily employ that mainstay of the drama classroom: small group work. There’s plenty of room to move in terms of gender-blind casting as well. Please be Seated is mainly young women. The scripts also contain ensemble-based interludes which are non-verbal, music driven, with a choreographic element. They have also springboarded further explorations in form. The ethical and aesthetic complexities of verbatim works; the interaction between music and theatre; and meta-concerns related to the performing of performance: ‘how can the act of acting ‘acted’. The narratives of all three of these plays are deliberately open, enabling the flexible casting and on-the hop editing that large-group, time-poor processes sometimes necessitate. Duty Free is about the overseas ‘adventures’ of young people. Please Be Seated is based in verbatim text about young people falling in and out of love. Australian Drama is about young people in a drama classroom trying to connect with each other and put their own shine on dull fragments of the theatrical canon. The plays were published as a collection in hardcopy and digital editions by Playlab Press in 2015. Please be Seated is a co-write with a large group. These co-author’s names are listed in the publication, and below in ‘additional information’.

Eru Ilúvatar : Jumala J.R.R. Tolkienin legendariumissa

The purpose of my research is to inquire into the essence and activity of God in the legendarium of the English philologist and writer J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973). The legendarium, composed of Tolkien’s writings related to Middle-earth, was begun when he created two Elvish languages, Quenya based on Finnish, Sindarin based on Welsh. Tolkien developed his mythology inspired by Germanic myths and The Kalevala. It is a fictional ancient history set in our world. The legendarium is monotheistic: God is called Eru ‘The One’ and Ilúvatar ‘Father of All’. Eru is the same as the Christian God, for Tolkien wanted to keep his tales consistent with his faith. He said his works were Christian by nature, with the religious element absorbed into the story and the symbolism. In The Silmarillion, set in the primeval ages of Middle-earth, the theological aspects are more conspicuous, while in The Lord of the Rings, which brings the stories to an end, they are mostly limited to symbolic references. The legendarium is unified by its realistic outlook on creaturely abilities and hope expressing itself as humbly defiant resistance. ”The possibility of complexity or of distinctions in the nature of Eru” is a part of the legendarium. Eru Ilúvatar is Trinitarian, as per Tolkien’s faith. Without contextual qualifiers, Eru seems to refer to God the Father, like God in the Bible. Being the creator who dwells outside the world is attributed to Him. The Holy Spirit is the only Person of the Trinity bestown with names: the Flame Imperishable and the Secret Fire. When Eru creates the material world with His word, He sends the Flame Imperishable to burn at the heart of the world. The Secret Fire signifies the Creative Power that belongs to God alone, and is a part of Him. The Son, the Word, is not directly mentioned, but according to one writing Eru must step inside the world in order to save it from corruption, yet remain outside it at the same time. The inner structure of the legendarium refers to the need for a future salvation. The creative word of Eru, “Eä! Let these things Be!”, probably has a connection with the Logos in Christianity. Thus we can find three “distinctions” in Eru: a Creator who dwells outside the world, a Sustainer who dwells inside it and a Redeemer who shall step inside it. Some studies of Tolkien have claimed that Eru is distant and remote. This seems to hold water only partially. Ilúvatar, the Father of All, has a special relation with the Eruhíni, His Children, the immortal Elves and the mortal Men. He communicates with them directly only through the Valar, who resemble archangels. Nevertheless, only the Children of Eru can fight against evil, because their tragic fortunes turn evil into good. Even though religious activities are scarce among them, the fundamental faith and ultimate hope of the “Free Peoples” is directed towards Eru. He is present in the drama of history as the “Author of the Story”, who at times also interferes with its course through catastrophes and eucatastrophes, ‘good catastrophes’. Eru brings about a catastrophe when evil would otherwise bring good to an end, and He brings about a eucatasrophe when creaturely strength is not sufficent for victory. Victory over corruption is especially connected with mortal Men, of whom the most (or least) insignificant people are the Hobbits. However, because of the “primeval disaster” (that is, fall) of Mankind, ultimate salvation can only remain open, a hope for the far future.

Salaisen evankelistan salaliitto : Uusin keskustelu Klemens Aleksandrialaisen kirjeestä Theodorokselle

This thesis is an assessment of the hoax hypothesis, mainly propagated in Stephen C. Carlson's 2005 monograph "The Gospel Hoax: Morton Smith's Invention of Secret Mark", which suggests that professor Morton Smith (1915-1991) forged Clement of Alexandria's letter to Theodore. This letter Smith claimed to have discovered as an 18th century copy in the monastery of Mar Saba in 1958. The Introduction narrates the discovery story of Morton Smith and traces the manuscript's whereabouts up to its apparent disappearance in 1990 following with a brief history of scholarship of the MS and some methodological considerations. Chapters 2 and 3 deal with the arguments for the hoax (mainly by Stephen C. Carlson) and against it (mainly Scott G. Brown). Chapter 2 looks at the MS in its physical aspects, and chapter 3 assesses its subject matter. I conclude that some of the details fit reasonably well with the hoax hypothesis, but on the whole the arguments against it are more persuasive. Especially Carlson's use of QDE-analysis (Questioned Document Examination) has many problems. Comparing the handwriting of Clement's letter to Morton Smith's handwriting I conclude that there are some "repeated differences" between them suggesting that Smith is not the writer of the disputed letter. Clement's letter to Theodore derives most likely from antiquity though the exact details of its character are not discussed in length in this thesis. In Chapter 4 I take a special look at Stephen C. Carlson's arguments which propose that Morton Smith hid clues of his identity to the MS and the materials surrounding it. Comparing these alleged clues to known pseudoscientific works I conclude that Carlson utilizes here methods normally reserved for building a conspiracy theory; thus Carlson's hoax hypothesis has serious methodological flaws in respect to these hidden clues. I construct a model of these questionable methods titled "a boisterous pseudohistorical method" that contains three parts: 1) beginning with a question that from the beginning implicitly contains the answer, 2) considering everything will do as evidence for the conspiracy theory, and 3) abandoning probability and thinking literally that everything is connected. I propose that Stephen C. Carlson utilizes these pseudoscientific methods in his unearthing of Morton Smith's "clues". Chapter 5 looks briefly at the literary genre I title "textual puzzle -thriller". Because even biblical scholarship follows the signs of the times, I propose Carlson's hoax hypothesis has its literary equivalents in fiction in titles like Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" and in academic works in titles like John Dart's "Decoding Mark". All of these are interested in solving textual puzzles, even though the methodological choices are not acceptable for scholarship. Thus the hoax hypothesis as a whole is alternatively either unpersuasive or plain bad science.

Review of 'Kafka Dances'

Review of Timothy Daly's new Australian play, 'Kafka Dances' in Australasian Drama Studies

Hybrid LCI/VSI Power Circuit-A Universal High-Power Converter Solution for Wound Field Synchronous Motor Drives

Load commutated inverter (LCI)-fed wound field synchronous motor drives are used for medium-voltage high-power drive applications. This drive suffers from drawbacks such as complex starting procedure, sixth harmonic torque pulsations, quasi square wave motor current, notches in the terminal voltages, etc. In this paper, a hybrid converter circuit, consisting of an LCI and a voltage source inverter (VSI), is proposed, which can be a universal high-power converter solution for wound field synchronous motor drives. The proposed circuit, with the addition of a current-controlled VSI, overcomes nearly all of the shortcomings present in the conventional LCI-based system besides providing many additional advantages. In the proposed drive, the motor voltage and current are always sinusoidal even with the LCI switching at the fundamental frequency. The performance of the drive is demonstrated with detailed experimental waveforms from a 15.8-hp salient pole wound field synchronous machine. Finally, a brief description of the control scheme used for the proposed circuit is given.

Comparative Assessment of Techniques for Bioresource Monitoring Using GIS and Remote Sensing

Growing concern over the status of global and regional bioenergy resources has necessitated the analysis and monitoring of land cover and land use parameters on spatial and temporal scales. The knowledge of land cover and land use is very important in understanding natural resources utilization, conversion and management. Land cover, land use intensity and land use diversity are land quality indicators for sustainable land management. Optimal management of resources aids in maintaining the ecosystem balance and thereby ensures the sustainable development of a region. Thus sustainable development of a region requires a synoptic ecosystem approach in the management of natural resources that relates to the dynamics of natural variability and the effects of human intervention on key indicators of biodiversity and productivity. Spatial and temporal tools such as remote sensing (RS), geographic information system (GIS) and global positioning system (GPS) provide spatial and attribute data at regular intervals with functionalities of a decision support system aid in visualisation, querying, analysis, etc., which would aid in sustainable management of natural resources. Remote sensing data and GIS technologies play an important role in spatially evaluating bioresource availability and demand. This paper explores various land cover and land use techniques that could be used for bioresources monitoring considering the spatial data of Kolar district, Karnataka state, India. Slope and distance based vegetation indices are computed for qualitative and quantitative assessment of land cover using remote spectral measurements. Differentscale mapping of land use pattern in Kolar district is done using supervised classification approaches. Slope based vegetation indices show area under vegetation range from 47.65 % to 49.05% while distance based vegetation indices shoes its range from 40.40% to 47.41%. Land use analyses using maximum likelihood classifier indicate that 46.69% is agricultural land, 42.33% is wasteland (barren land), 4.62% is built up, 3.07% of plantation, 2.77% natural forest and 0.53% water bodies. The comparative analysis of various classifiers, indicate that the Gaussian maximum likelihood classifier has least errors. The computation of talukwise bioresource status shows that Chikballapur Taluk has better availability of resources compared to other taluks in the district.

Boosting-based transfer learning for multi-view head-pose classification from surveillance videos

This work proposes a boosting-based transfer learning approach for head-pose classification from multiple, low-resolution views. Head-pose classification performance is adversely affected when the source (training) and target (test) data arise from different distributions (due to change in face appearance, lighting, etc). Under such conditions, we employ Xferboost, a Logitboost-based transfer learning framework that integrates knowledge from a few labeled target samples with the source model to effectively minimize misclassifications on the target data. Experiments confirm that the Xferboost framework can improve classification performance by up to 6%, when knowledge is transferred between the CLEAR and FBK four-view headpose datasets.

Thermal fatigue on pistons induced by shaped high power laser. Part I: Experimental study of transient temperature field and temperature oscillation

Thermal fatigue behavior is one of the foremost considerations in the design and operation of diesel engines. It is found that thermal fatigue is closely related to the temperature field and temperature fluctuation in the structure. In this paper, spatially shaped high power laser was introduced to simulate thermal loadings on the piston. The incident Gaussian beam was transformed into concentric multi-circular beam of specific intensity distribution with the help of diffractive optical element (DOE), and the transient temperature fields in the piston similar to those under working conditions could be achieved by setting up appropriate loading cycles. Simulation tests for typical thermal loading conditions, i.e., thermal high cycle fatigue (HCF) and thermal shock (or thermal low cycle fatigue, LCF) were carried out. Several important parameters that affect the transient temperature fields and/or temperature oscillations, including controlling mode, intensity distribution of shaped laser, laser power, temporal profile of laser pulse, heating time and cooling time in one thermal cycle, etc., were investigated and discussed. The results show that as a novel method, the shaped high power laser can simulate thermal loadings on pistons efficiently, and it is helpful in the study of thermal fatigue behavior in pistons. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

飞秒脉冲时空变换整形技术

飞秒激光脉冲通过时空变换技术将时域信息变换到空域，通过空域的处理再返回到时域，是实现飞秒激光脉冲整形、测量和控制的一项重要技术。在应用方面，可产生各种所需要的波形．已广泛应用在飞秒化学、信号处理、安全通信、生物学和医学成像等方面。介绍了飞秒时空变换脉冲整形的几种方法。