67,772 research outputs found
Harmony and discord within the English ‘counter-culture’, 1965-1975, with particular reference to the ‘rock operas’ Hair, Godspell, Tommy and Jesus Christ Superstar
No full textPhDThis thesis considers the discrete, historically-specific theatrical and musical sub-genre of ‘Rock Opera’ as a lens through which to examine the cultural, political and social changes that are widely assumed to have characterised ‘The Sixties’ in Britain. The musical and dramatic texts, creation and production of Hair (1967), Tommy (1969), Godspell (1971), Jesus Christ Superstar (1970) and other neglected ‘Rock Operas’ of the period are analysed. Their great popularity with ‘mainstream’ audiences is considered and contrasted with the overwhelmingly negative and often internally contradictory reaction towards them from the English ‘counter-culture’. This examination offers new insights into both the ‘counter-culture’ and the ‘mainstream’ against which it claimed to define and differentiate itself.
The four ‘Rock Operas’, two of which are based upon Christian scriptures, are considered as narratives of spiritual quest. The relationship between the often controversial quests for re-defined forms of faith and the apparently precipitous ‘secularization’ and ‘de-Christianization’ of British society during the 1960s and 1970s is considered.
The thesis therefore analyses the ‘Rock Operas’ as significant, enlightening prisms through which to view many of the profound societal debates – over ‘faith’ and ‘belief’ in the widest senses, sexuality, the Vietnam war, generational conflict, drugs and ‘spiritual enlightenment’, and race – which were, to some considerable extent, elevated onto the national, political agenda by the activities of the broadly-defined ‘counter-culture’. It considers subsequent representations of the ‘counter-culture’ as the root of a contested but enduring popular legacy of ‘The Sixties' as a period of profound cultural change
Groups and semigroups with a one-counter word problem
No full textWe prove that a finitely generated semigroup whose word problem is a one-counter language has a linear growth function. This provides us with a very strong restriction on the structure of such a semigroup, which, in particular, yields an elementary proof of a result of Herbst, that a group with a one-counter word problem is virtually cyclic. We prove also that the word problem of a group is an intersection of finitely many one-counter languages if and only if the group is virtually abelian
Design and Experimental Validation of a Ducted Counter-rotating Axial-flow Fans System
No full textAn experimental study on the design of counter-rotating axial-flow fans was carried out. The fans were designed using an inverse method. In particular, the system is designed to have a pure axial discharge flow. The counter-rotating fans operate in a ducted-flow configuration and the overall performances are measured in a normalized test bench. The rotation rate of each fan is independently controlled. The relative axial spacing between fans can vary from 17% to 310%. The results show that the efficiency is strongly increased compared to a conventional rotor or to a rotor-stator stage. The effects of varying the rotation rates ratio on the overall performances are studied and show that the system has a very flexible use, with a large patch of high efficient operating points in the parameter space. The increase of axial spacing causes only a small decrease of the efficienc
A 2 h periodic variation in the low-mass X-ray binary Ser X-1
No full textSpectroscopy of the low-mass X-ray binary Ser X-1 using the Gran Telescopio Canarias have revealed a ?2 h periodic variability that is present in the three strongest emission lines. We tentatively interpret this variability as due to orbital motion, making it the first indication of the orbital period of Ser X-1. Together with the fact that the emission lines are remarkably narrow, but still resolved, we show that a main-sequence K dwarf together with a canonical 1.4 M? neutron star gives a good description of the system. In this scenario, the most likely place for the emission lines to arise is the accretion disc, instead of a localized region in the binary (such as the irradiated surface or the stream-impact point), and their narrowness is due instead to the low inclination (?10°) of Ser X-1
Inclusion problems for one-counter systems
No full textWe study the decidability and complexity of verification problems for infinite-state systems.
A fundamental question in formal verification is if the behaviour of one process is reproducible
by another. This inclusion problem can be studied for various models of computation
and behavioural preorders. It is generally intractable or even undecidable already for very
limited computational models.
The aim of this work is to clarify the status of the decidability and complexity of some
well-known inclusion problems for suitably restricted computational models. In particular, we
address the problems of checking strong and weak simulation and trace inclusion for processes
definable by one-counter automata (OCA), that consist of a finite control and a single counter
ranging over the non-negative integers. We take special interest of the subclass of one-counter
nets (OCNs), that cannot fully test the counter for zero and which is subsumed both by pushdown
automata and Petri nets / vector addition systems.
Our new results include the PSPACE-completeness of strong and weak simulation, and the
undecidability of trace inclusion for OCNs. Moreover, we consider semantic preorders between
OCA/OCN and finite systems and close some gaps regarding their complexity. Finally, we
study deterministic processes, for which simulation and trace inclusion coincide
The New Classical Counter-Revolution: False Path or Illuminating Complement?
No full textIn this paper the author responds to Laurence Seidman’s recent article, ‘The New Classical Counter-Revolution: A False Path for Macroeconomics’. The author challenges the view that new classical macroeconomics has been a false path and provides a critique of Seidman’s arguments with respect to his interpretation of the 1970s ‘stagflation’, the relevance of new classical macroeconomics for practical policymaking, the contribution of real business cycle theory, and the new classical content of contemporary macroeconomic textbooks. The author concludes that the new classical counter-revolution has had an extremely productive influence on the current mainstream new neoclassical synthesis framework.
From Belfast to Basra: Britain and the 'tri-partite counter-insurgency model'
No full textCounter-insurgency assumed a status during the twentieth century as one of the British military‟s fortes. A wealth of asymmetric warfare experience was accumulated after World War Two, as the small wars of decolonisation offered the army of a fading imperial power the opportunity to regularly deploy against an irregular enemy. Yet this quantity of experience has been misguidedly conflated with quality. This thesis holds that the British, far from being the counter-insurgent exemplars that history has benevolently cast them, have in fact consistently proven to be slow learners and slow strategic burners in the realm of counter-insurgency warfare.
The case study-based nature of this thesis, utilising the chronologically and geographically dispersed examples of Malaya (1948-60), Kenya (1952-60), South Yemen (1962-67), the first decade of the Northern Irish „Troubles‟ (1969-79), culminates with an analysis of the recent British counter-insurgency campaign in southern Iraq (2003-09).
This thesis will blend historical narrative with critical analysis in order to establish a new paradigm through which to interpret and analyse British inertia in counter-insurgency and help unpack the mythology of inherent British competence in the realm of irregular warfare. Three major dimensions emerge. These elements constitute a „Tri-Partite Counter-Insurgency Model‟, and were carefully selected as comprising the major causal and impacting factors contributing to success or failure in counter-insurgency, and were settled upon after an exhaustive review of primary and secondary literature relating to counter-insurgency, both historical and doctrinal. The Tri-Partite Model is constructed by three interactive and interdependent factors: the counter-insurgent, the insurgent, and the international political context
Counter-Terrorism in New Europe
No full textIn recent years the nature of terrorism has changed dramatically and has taken on a new combination of characteristics. The fight against this terrorism has become a global concern and central issue of international government policies. Counter-terrorism policies have transformed all around the world, and the importance states place on certain aspects of their counter-terrorist measures vary considerably. There is no agreement on how best to fight terrorism. Within the European Union (EU) this disagreement is the most visible, with some countries supporting the United States in their military fight against terrorism, while other strongly oppose it. This paper will focus on five of the ten new EU members that joined in 2004 (Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Malta) and review some of their existing counter-terrorism measures. In doing so the paper will examine the strengths and weaknesses of each individual state’s policy and highlight some of the general trends and patterns among them
Counter-Archiving Migration: Tracing the Records of Protests against UNHCR
No full textThe archives of migration are piecemeal and scattered. This is both an epistemological problem, and a matter of political concern in an international order that forces people to migrate, racializes them, and renders them subject to violence. In response, we explore the potential of counter-Archiving migration. First, we explain why archives matter politically, and consider which traces of migration are stored and which are absent or lost. Second, we develop a methodology for counter-Archiving migration. Third, we illustrate a process of counter-Archiving, taking protests and violent evictions outside the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) offices as an analytical lens. We begin with an "along the grain"reading of official archives; we then turn to ethnography to trace the memories, practices, and material remnants of migrants' struggles. Our analysis makes the case for counter-Archival work in and beyond the field of migration. We argue that this approach serves to disrupt the epistemic violence of classification systems and categories associated with border violence; to chart the contestations and transformations of the global order from below; and to articulate new horizons of justice
Counter-accounting and social transformation: Yaṉangu way
No full textPurpose: This study explores citizen activism in the articulation of a politicised counter-account of Aboriginal rights. It aims to uncover the enabling factors for a successful challenge to established political norms and the obstacles to the fullest expression of a radical imagining. Design/methodology/approach: Laclau and Mouffe's theory of hegemony and discourse is used to frame the movement's success in challenging the prevailing system of urbanised healthcare delivery. Empirical materials were collected through extensive ethnographic fieldwork. Findings: The findings from this longitudinal study identify the factors that predominantly influence the transformational success of an Yaṉangu social movement, such as the institutionalisation of group identity, articulation of a discourse connected to Aboriginal rights to self-determination, demonstration of an alternative imaginary and creation of strong external alliances. Originality/value: This study offers a rich empirical analysis of counter-accounting in action, drawing on Aboriginal governance traditions of non-confrontational discourse and collective accountability to conceptualise agonistic engagement. These findings contribute to the practical and theoretical construction of democratic accounting and successful citizen activism.</p
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