776 research outputs found

    Characterization and structure in the development of Tudor comedy

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    The role of characterization in dramatic structure is assessed by theoretical criteria. Characters who perform actions necessary for the completion of the narrative sequence are said to be "bound" to the narrative; those without such obligations are "free". Characters who maintain a single, constant meaning during the course of a play are said to be "static"; characters who change or develop into new roles are "dynamic". Horatian decorum demanded that comic characters be static, and the characters of Plautine and Terentian tradition were almost always bound to narrative intrigue. However, evaluations of six Tudor comedies show an increasing use of non-classical characterization within the comic form. In the early comedies lohan lohan and Roister Doister all characters are bound and static, yet the impetus to enlarge the role of characterization is evident. The characters of lohan lohan are expanded from their French source, and Roister Doister includes extraneous episodes in which Udall displays his braggart hero. Free characters abound in Misogonus; as well the play brings dynamic characterization into the scope of comedy with the conversion of its prodigal son. Free characters offer new possibilities of non-narrative plotting. In comedies of the 1580s favourite traditional characters appear as diversions outside the action, and thematic arrangements of characters inform the increasingly complex plots. Lyly stresses the symbolic potential of characters in Endimion, whereas Greene uses dynamic characterization to heighten the illusion of independent figures in Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay. Love's Labour's Lost exposes the limitations of comic artifice by pulling the characters between convention and individualization. By the end of the sixteenth century free and dynamic characters had become common, and characterization had established a sizable claim on the design of English comedy. These developments set the English form apart from its neoclassical counterparts

    Assessing the George W. Bush Presidency: A Tale of Two Terms

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    In one of the first volumes assessing the full two terms of the George W. Bush presidency, Wroe and Herbert have gathered the work of leading American and European scholars. In fifteen succinct and incisive chapters, authorities such as Jim Pfiffner, John Maltese, Graham Wilson and Alan Gitelson offer assessments of the Bush administration's successes and failures. Extensive attention is paid to Bush's foreign policy, including 'The War on Terror' but the focus is broadened to absorb not only the Bush Doctrine and its repercussions, but also his trade and homeland security policies. The president's domestic leadership in economics and social policy is investigated, as are his dealings as president with the other institutions of the U.S. political system. The result is a comprehensive guide to the Bush presidency and its legacy

    Ontologies, Different Reasoning Strategies, Different Logics, Different Kinds of Knowledge Representation: Working Together

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    The recent experiences in the building, maintenance and reuse of ontologies has shown that the most efficient approach is the collaborative one. However, communication between collaborators such as IT professionals, librarians, web designers and subject matter experts is difficult and time consuming. This is because there are different reasoning strategies, different logics and different kinds of knowledge representation in the applications of Semantic Web. This article intends to be a reference scheme. It uses concise and simple explanations that can be used in common by specialists of different backgrounds working together in an application of Semantic Web

    Privatization of natural monopoly public enterprises : the regulation issue

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    Many developing countries are considering the privatization of public enterprise natural monopolies. Such as monopolies in charge of electricity, natural gas, waterand sewer, and telephone service. The author tries to answer two questions: (i) how great would the efficiency losses be, if any, if a public natural monopoly were privatized and allowed to function as an unregulated entity? and (ii) how much could performance be expected to improve if the privatized natural monopoly operated as a regular firm? The author argues that the deadweight losses from monopoly pricing by unregulated privatized natural monopolies are likely to be modest and may well be outweighed by improvements in technical efficiency. He also argues that regulation is not costless and may well foster static and dynamic efficiency losses greater than the deadweight monopoly losses it is intended to prevent. Also, the reduction of allocative inefficiency is only one of several objectives of regulation. If the case for regulation on efficiency is weak, then much greater attention must be paid to how these other objectives can best be achieved. Historically, achieving distributional equity has been an important objective of regulation. We have very little systematic knowledge about the actual distributional consequences of privatization and deregulation, so more research is needed.Administrative&Regulatory Law,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Access to Markets,Markets and Market Access

    Two tales of a city: Salford in regional filmmaking, 1957-1973

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    This discussion considers the role of moving image in constructing aspects of regional identity, with particular reference to footage produced by two very different filmmakers who filmed in Ordsall, Salford during the 1960s. Their respective footage covers a period of profound social and physical change associated with housing clearance and urban renewal schemes. This article, which is based upon archival film footage in the North West Film Archive at Manchester Metropolitan University, seeks to convey the richness and multi-facetted nature of this footage and to highlight its value in the historical exploration of identity formation. The piece begins with a brief consideration of archival film as a source of historical evidence and associated issues of interpretation. This is followed by an introduction to the locality that features in the two filmmakers’ work and brief reference to how it has been represented in the past. Attention then turns to each of the filmmakers: first, John Michael Goodger, former lecturer at the University of Salford, who made a trilogy of films to chart the changing character of Ordsall in the late 1960s; second, Ralph Brookes, an amateur home movie maker who also documented the transformation of the terraced streets around where he lived. These contrasting versions of Ordsall highlight some of the challenges offered by using film in a study of regional identities. They also illustrate the enormous potential of such material in helping to elucidate the shifting and multiple nature of place meanings

    George MacLeod’s open-air preaching: performance and counter-performance

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    Stuart Blythe uses the methodology of performance to analyse George MacLeod’s open-air preaching. He points out that MacLeod’s preaching was derived from a theology of the incarnation, and an understanding of the paradoxes and dichotomies of common human life. This preaching, Blythe suggests, was also a counter-performance in the context of outlooks and ideologies inimical to the gospel. The paper raises interesting issues related to preaching as performance, and the further question as to whether or not the life and work of the Church as a whole might now be better understood as a counter-performance.Publisher PD

    Emily Brontë : the mind of a visionary

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    Bibliography: leaves 216-226.This dissertation is an investigation of the visionary and philosophical aspects of Emily Brontë's works. The first five chapters deal with the visionary process such as visions, spirit guides, dreams, imagination, encounters with the darker side of the self and a union with the divine. There is considerable evidence of these mystical avenues in both her poetry and in Wuthering Heights which have been explored. It is shown how Emily Brontë's mysticism is a direct result of personal experiences which augment her reputation as one of the leading mystics in the world of literature. There are however tensions in her works, such as the cynicism of her own intellect in accepting the visionary experiences as authentic and periods of suffering when her faith is tested. These tensions have been considered within the context of her mystical encounters and philosophy. The remaining four chapters deal with the philosophy of Emily Brontë per se. Her beliefs in respect of heaven and hell, mercy and justice, power and survival, and pantheism are considered in depth. It is argued that she is an unorthodox thinker who does not believe in an eternal hell and that she has drawn inspiration for this idea from Frederick Maurice and Ralph Waldo Emerson. It is also shown how issues of power have been of interest to her from a young age and how this needs to be integrated within her philosophy. To the writer power needs to be tempered by compassion if it is to be of use to society or the individual. Her pantheistic spirit is also investigated and related to the mystical ideas

    1/f noise from the laws of thermodynamics for finite-size fluctuations

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    abstract: Computer simulations of the Ising model exhibit white noise if thermal fluctuations are governed by Boltzmann's factor alone; whereas we find that the same model exhibits 1/f noise if Boltzmann's factor is extended to include local alignment entropy to all orders. We show that this nonlinear correction maintains maximum entropy during equilibrium fluctuations. Indeed, as with the usual way to resolve Gibbs' paradox that avoids entropy reduction during reversible processes, the correction yields the statistics of indistinguishable particles. The correction also ensures conservation of energy if an instantaneous contribution from local entropy is included. Thus, a common mechanism for 1/f noise comes from assuming that finite-size fluctuations strictly obey the laws of thermodynamics, even in small parts of a large system. Empirical evidence for the model comes from its ability to match the measured temperature dependence of the spectral-density exponents in several metals and to show non-Gaussian fluctuations characteristic of nanoscale systems.Copyright 2014 by the American Physical Society. View the article as published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.90.01214
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