743 research outputs found
Radical change in the genre of the detective novel: Raymond Chandler and Paul Auster
No full textThis thesis will examine the careers of authors Raymond Chandler and Paul Auster. The paper will define and examine "hard-boiled" and postmodern literary genres in which Raymond Chandler and Paul Auster have written their crime novels. Topics of discussion in this thesis will include Chandler‘s and Auster‘s biographical backgrounds and the influences on their fiction, the literary genres of detective fiction and mystery fiction, and the narrative structures of Chandler‘s and Auster‘s novels. Raymond Chandler‘s novel, The Big Sleep and Paul Auster‘s novel, City of Glass will also be discussed.M.A.L.S.Includes bibliographical referencesby Devon L. Alle
Palaeoecological, archaeological and historical data and the making of Devon landscapes. I. The Blackdown Hills
No full textThis paper presents the first systematic study of the vegetation history of a range of low hills in SW England, UK,lying between more researched fenlands and uplands. After the palaeoecological sites were located bespoke archaeological, historical and documentary studies of the surrounding landscape were undertaken specifically to inform palynological interpretation at each site. The region has a distinctive archaeology with late Mesolithic tool scatters, some evidence of early Neolithic agriculture, many Bronze Age funerary monuments and Romano- British iron-working. Historical studies have suggested that the present landscape pattern is largely early Medieval. However, the pollen evidence suggests a significantly different Holocene vegetation history in comparison with other areas in lowland England, with evidence of incomplete forest clearance in later-Prehistory (Bronze?Iron Age). Woodland persistence on steep, but poorly drained, slopes, was probably due to the unsuitability of these areas for mixed farming. Instead they may have been under woodland management (e.g. coppicing) associated with the iron-working industry. Data from two of the sites also suggest that later Iron Age and Romano-British impact may have been geographically restricted. The documented Medieval land management that maintained the patchwork of small fields, woods and heathlands had its origins in later Prehistory, but there is also evidence of landscape change in the 6th–9th centuries AD. We conclude that the Blackdown Hills area was one of many ‘distinctive subregions’, which due to a combination of edaphic, topographic and cultural factors could qualify as an eco-cultural region or ‘pays’. It is argued that the use of such eco-culturally distinctive regions or pays can provide a spatial and archaeological framework for palaeoecology, which has implications for landscape research, designation and heritage management
Music and elite identity in the English country house, c.1790-1840
No full textIn this thesis I investigate two untapped music book collections that belonged to two women. Elizabeth Sykes Egerton (1777-1853) and Lydia Hoare Acland (1786-1856) lived at Tatton Park, Cheshire, and Killerton House, Devon, respectively. Upon their marriage in the early nineteenth century, they brought with them the music books they had compiled so far to their new homes, and they continued to collect and play music after marriage. I examine the vocal music in Elizabeth’s and Lydia’s collections, and I aim to show how selected vocal music repertoires contributed toward the construction of landed elite identity in these women and their husbands, concentrating on gender, class, national identity and religion.In chapter one, I concentrate on songs that depict destitute and suffering individuals to move both listeners and performers to compassion. The songs are topical and provide insights into contemporary understandings of sympathy and landed elite responsibility for the distressed. In chapter two, I focus on the ingoing and outgoing movements of music in the country house, and the consumption of foreign music in the home. I divide the chapter into two sections, first examining Elizabeth’s Italian vocal music that she collected during her girlhood years in London and York in the 1790s. The Italian music that Elizabeth brought to Tatton complemented other Italian objects and items in the home. Italian culture appealed to the Egerton family both before and after Elizabeth and Wilbraham married. In the second section, I investigate Lydia and her family’s journey to Vienna for the Congress in 1814-1815. Lydia took away with her a book of vocal music to remind her of home in a foreign environment. While away in Vienna, the Aclands attended concerts and music salons, and they purchased music books to bring back home to add to their collection. In the final chapter, I concentrate on the man of the house at music and I consider the social expectations, duties and responsibilities that had befallen our landed elite men, Thomas Dyke Acland and Wilbraham Egerton. I discuss Thomas’s and Wilbraham’s musical engagements and occasions for performing music, and how men’s music-making contributed to a masculine identity.By placing the vocal music in broader social and cultural contexts, reading personal correspondence, newspaper articles, account books and diaries, we can begin to understand what our families thought about music, and how they used and experienced music in and around their homes, forming an important part of their lifestyle
Independently getting off the floor (IGO): a feasibility study of teaching people with stroke to get up after a fall
No full textThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Mark Allen Healthcare via the DOI in this record.Background: Falls are common among stroke survivors but many are not taught how to get up again. A technique from Action for Rehabilitation following Neurological Injury (ARNI) addresses this problem. We investigated the feasibility and safety of teaching this technique to stroke survivors.
Methods: Stroke survivors (mean 7.1 years post-stroke) with mild-to-moderate disability (mean modified Rankin Score 2.4), who could get up with assistance but not independently, received up to six sessions of training to independently get off the floor (IGO). The primary outcome was IGO success; safety and feasibility were investigated by participant and trainer interviews, biomechanical and video analysis and expert panel review.
Findings: Six of the 10 participants achieved IGO and five of nine retained the skill two months post-training. One to six sessions (median 3) were needed to master IGO; one minor but no serious adverse events occurred. Expert reviewers indicated training involved an acceptable risk of falls and no concerns for knee and wrist positions.
Conclusions: This feasibility study indicates IGO may be useful. IGO was taught to and safely used by selected stroke survivors. Further assessment of IGO has now been part of a pilot randomised controlled trial of ARNI based stroke rehabilitation.The study was part-funded by the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust small research grants scheme.
This paper presents independent research part-funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust
Base metal chemistry and catalysis
No full textThis perspective provides an entry-level conversation concerning base metal catalysis as a green and sustainable solution in industrial and academic contexts. We establish a definition of “base metal,” challenging readers to consider the ethical implications of metal sourcing. We explore what it means to be “sustainable” and provide information on current efforts in synthetic chemistry. We provide examples of current catalytic trends and transformations in popular fields such as cross-coupling and small-molecule conversion, highlighting relevant base metal systems. Finally, we consider social context—for example, decisions related to catalyst development are often driven by factors including costliness, safety, social adoptability (whether society will accept its usage), and performance. How do we move base metal catalysis to the forefront? Is society concerned if materials are fabricated from cheaper and more abundant sources? How does the synthetic chemistry community guide this knowledge translation
Collective Invention during the British Industrial Revolution The Case of the Cornish Pumping Engine
No full textIn this paper, we argue that together with individual inventors and firms, what Robert C. Allen (1983) has termed as collective invention settings (that is settings in which rival firms freely release each other pertinent technical information), were also a crucial source of innovation in the industrial revolution period. Until now, this has been very little considered in the literature. This paper focuses on one of these cases: the Cornish mining district. In Cornwall, during the early nineteenth century, a notable collective invention setting, gradually emerged. This case is particularly remarkable because it was capable of generating a continuous and sustained flow of improvements in steam pumping technology which in the end greatly contributed to improve the thermodynamic efficiency of the steam engine. In this paper we study in detail the specific economic circumstances that led to the formation of this collective invention setting and we analyses its consequences for the rate of technological innovationCollective inventions, information sharing, case study
The provenancing of flint artefacts using palynological techniques
No full textThe provenancing of flint artefacts has proved problematic in the past. Acid maceration to extract age-diagnostic organic-walled microplankton from sedimentary materials is a technique routinely employed in both industrial hydrocarbon exploration and Quaternary studies. Here we assess the application of this technique to provenance determination of flint nodules from three locations (two in southern England and one in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland), each of which has abundant local evidence of flint utilization for artefact manufacture in prehistory. We show that, whilst not all flint nodules yield abundant or well preserved organic-walled microfossils assemblages, there is a significant potential for the use of this technique, which deserves further investigation
Chronicles of Oklahoma
No full textArticle describes the life and career of middleweight boxing champion Tom Abbott, the grandfather of the author. Devon Abbott illustrates his impact not just in the ring, but in his careers as a football and track coach and a chief of police in McAlester, Oklahoma
Sustainable earth walls to meet the building regulations
No full textThe thermal conductivity and diffusivity of un-fired clay bricks, a straw clay mixture and straw bales have been measured using a thermal probe technique, with an iterative method for data analysis. The steady-state air-to-air thermal transmittance, or U-value, and the time-dependent thermal properties of some proposed sustainable earth wall constructions are presented. Sustainable cavity walls of un-fired clay bricks with paper, straw or wool cavity insulation have thermal transmittances less than 0.35 W/m2 K, and therefore meet the current United Kingdom Building Regulations. A review of possible methods for thermally up-grading existing earth walls, by adding an internal insulated timber frame construction, again demonstrates possible compliance with the current UK thermal regulations
ACT Family Violence Intervention Program review
No full textThis paper reports on a review of the Australian Capital Territory’s Family Violence Intervention Program, which provides an interagency response to family violence matters.
The scope of the review was to analyse the program’s activities and outcomes using 2007–08 data provided by participating agencies, supported by in-depth interviews with key stakeholders including victims whose matters had been finalised in court. After the completion of this report, additional data from 2008–09 and 2009–10 was made available by some Family Violence Intervention Program (FVIP) participating agencies. Although not within the scope of this evaluation, these data pointed to some preliminary improvements in the FVIP
- …
