Building movements: directed improvisation performances : conversing with buildings; assisted falling

For these performances, the new Design Hub building will play the role of architectural surrounds used as spatial research devices, architectural agent and collaborator – by giving the building our attention we aim to bring it and its affordances explicitly into the collective body. In exploring the set of interlinked spaces in the Hub (with an emphasis, we propose, on the stairs) as “elaborately structured pretexts for action” , we anticipate that the beginnings of an approach may emerge and allow us to understand that when a person “flexes her muscles, a person [also] flexes her surroundings”. Arakawa and Gins offer ways to assist us in approaching architecture as a tentative constructing toward a holding in place – in which all modes of sensing and scales of action are exercised – through their notions of ‘architectural surround’ and ‘architectural body’ garnered from chapters ‘Notes for an Architectural Body’ and ‘Architectural Surround’ (Gins and Arakawa, 2002).

Invasion from the skies

Increased competition and shrinking budgets have forced public service broadcasters around the world to reconsider their role. Doordarshan, India’s public service television network, shares the problems faced by its counterparts in more developed countries. Although it continues to enjoy the luxury of being the only television network broadcasting its programs from within national boundaries, it has had to change its policies and programming to compete with foreign television channels including Murdoch’s Star TV. However, it is the Indian audience that has benefited most from this competition from the skies in the form of improved quality and quantity of programs. This paper reports on an audience survey carried out in India earlier this year to gauge television viewers’ perception of these benefits. The paper also gives background on the developments in thetelevision industry in India.

June 2009: The Sky's not Falling but the Roof Was

http://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/dacusfocus/1036/thumbnail.jpg

The risk of falling into the acceleration trap during a privatization process: a case study of a European telecommunication company

A privatização de uma empresa é uma mudança empresarial disruptiva que geralmente coincide com o fim de uma posição de monopólio e da subsequente entrada num ambiente competitivo. Os desafios que a privatização coloca são tão árduos que eles levam muitas vezes a liderança (leadership) para executar planos ambiciosos de mudança empresarial. No entanto, a literatura mostra que muitos deles falharam. Na verdade, esses planos preveem mudanças bruscas e importantes que tendem a empurrar a empresa privatizada na armadilha de aceleração (acceleration trap). Um tipo de “burnout organizacional” (organizational burnout) onde a exaustão e a resignação da força de trabalho afetam drasticamente o desempenho da empresa. A tese, portanto, focalizou em estudar a ligação entre um processo de privatização e o risco de cair na armadilha de aceleração. Uma investigação preliminar sobre a literatura das mudanças empresariais permitiu a concepção de um quadro preliminar teórico que sugere a existência de dois moderadores (moderators) deste relacionamento entre um processo de privatização e a armadilha de aceleração: um “choque cultural” (cultural clash) e um “fraco clima de liderança transformacional” (weak transformational leadership). Em seguida, um estudo de caso - baseado numa empresa de telecomunicações europeia e conduzido através de uma abordagem metodológico não puramente indutivo (non-purely inductive approach) - confirma, mas também aprofunda a compreensão da ação desses dois moderadores. A respeito do moderador “choque cultural” (cultural clash moderator), a análise de dados do estudo de caso da empresa de telecomunicações europeia mostra a importância exercitado tanto por um “choque de identidade corporativa” (corporate identity conflict) como por um “conflito de identidade gerencial” (management identity conflict). Quanto ao moderador “fraco liderança transformacional”, a análise dos dados destaca o papel da “falta de confiança na nova gerência” (lack of trust in the new management), mas também de “sentido do trabalho” (lack of job sense), principalmente através da perda de “orgulho no trabalho” (loss of proudness). Finalmente, a análise dos dados salienta que a “não aceitação do novo sistema de incentivos” (non-acceptance of the new incentive system) afeta significativamente a relação entre a privatização e a armadilha de aceleração, contribuindo tanto para um “choque cultural” como para um “fraco clima de liderança transformacional”.

Solid mass falling into the reservoirs shallow water equations validity from the engineering point of view

Water waves generated by a solid mass is a complex phenomenon discussed in this paper by numerical and experimental approaches. A model based on shallow water equations with shocks (Saint Venant) has developed. It can reproduce the amplitude and the energy of the wave quite well, but because it consistently generates a hydraulic jump, it is able to reproduce the profile, in the case of high relative thickness of slide, but in the case of small relative thickness it is unable to reproduce the amplitude of the wave. As the momentum conservation is not verified during the phase of wave creation, a second technique based on discharge transfer coefficient α, is introduced at the zone of impact. Numerical tests have been performed and validated this technique from the experimental results of the wave's height obtained in a flume.

Leituras e imagens do 11 de setembro: reavaliações da história em Falling Man (2007), de Don DeLillo e em Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), de Michael Moore

Pós-graduação em Letras - IBILCE

Effects of strength and balance training on the mobility, fear of falling and grip strength of elderly female fallers

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of virtual reality and strength training on the balance, fear of falling and handgrip strength of older women with a history of falls. The fear of falling, mobility and grip strength were evaluated in 11 elderly fallers (72.4 ± 5.2 years). The faller group was submitted to 12 weeks of virtual reality and muscle strength training. The results showed improvement in mobility (p = 0.0004) and in the fear of falling (p = 0.002). No significant difference was observed for hand grip strength. It can be concluded that virtual reality and muscle strength interventions are beneficial for mobility and fear of falling in older women with a history of falls.

Falling Man: A literatura em busca de possíveis significados para um espaço vazio

September 11 has originated a wide range of artistic manifestations which have not only searched for plausible explanations for the tragedy, but also tried to review the events. In this sense, this paper aims at showing how a novel reevaluates this episode. The attacks made the United States experience a strong sense of vulnerability triggering reactions from the American government, whose quick action was translated into a new national security strategy associated with the war on terror. This paper analyzes the narrative strategies employed by the American author Don DeLillo in his novel Falling Man (2007) in order to reevaluate that tragedy. The debate of the topics is based on texts concerning the relationship between literature and history, postmodern fiction and issues on terrorism. This study contributes to enrich the discussion related to the events that led to the catastrophe and its aftermath, examining characters and groups linked to the September 11 terrorist attacks, revealing multiple truths subjected to social, ideological and historical conditions.

Players, Mao II e Falling Man: O terror em três versões (publicado em 2014)

This paper aims at analyzing the different approaches to terror in the novels Players (1977), Mao II (1991) and Falling Man (2007), by the American writer Don DeLillo. In Players, terror is shown as something attractive and exciting to a character who leads a very tedious personal and professional life; in Mao II, it is connected to the kidnapping of a poet and the text brings up relevant debates focusing on the contrast related to the power of novelists and terrorists in society; and in Falling Man, the author reviews the tragedy of September 11, in an attempt to try to understand the reasons why the attacks happened. The novels show terrorist actions connected to historical processes and also to the present form of capitalism and globalization. Theoretical texts by Bauman (1998), Eagleton (2005), Freitas (1989), Fraser (2000) will be used to discuss the issues addressed in this paper.

Falling Man: A Literatura em busca de possíveis significados para um espaço vazio

September 11 has originated a wide range of artistic manifestations which have not only searched for plausible explanations for the tragedy, but also tried to review the events. In this sense, this paper aims at showing how a novel reevaluates this episode. The attacks made the United States experience a strong sense of vulnerability, triggering reactions from the American government, whose quick action was translated into a new national security strategy, associated with the war on terror. This paper analyzes the narrative strategies employed by the American author Don DeLillo in his novel Falling Man (2007) in order to reevaluate that tragedy. The debate of the topics is based on texts concerning the relationship between literature and history, postmodern fiction and issues on terrorism. This study contributes to enrich the discussion related to the events that led to the catastrophe and its aftermath, examining characters and groups linked to the September 11 terrorist attacks, revealing multiple truths subjected to social, ideological and historical conditions.